Subject: Medieval Warfare
History is often defined as the story of epic wars, and nothing says “epic” like a war with knights and castles and heroic deeds. These wars are often more historically verifiable than Ancient wars, roughly spanning the 5th through the 16th centuries.
Arn - Riket vid vägens slut (Arn: The Kingdom at Road's End)
- Director: Peter Flinth
- Release Date: 2008
- Production Country: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Germany
Returned home from the Crusades at long last, Arn marries and begins to build a home and a life with his new family. But when his friend King Knut dies, leaving a mere child as his heir, Arn must sally forth once again to defend his people and do his part for the eventual unification of Sweden.
Arn - Tempelriddaren (Arn: The Knight Templar)
- Director: Peter Flinth
- Release Date: 2007
- Production Country: Sweden, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany
Caught on the wrong side of a civil war and in bed with his fiancée, Arn is sentenced to twenty years' penance for his crimes. Trained by a Templar in the arts of war, Arn heads out to do battle in Palestine with his fellow knights, hoping to live long enough to return home.
Boj na Kosovu (Battle of Kosovo)
- Director: Zdravko Sotra
- Release Date: 1989
- Production Country: Yugoslavia
On June 28, 1389 at Kosovo Polje, the Serbian Emperor Lazar and the Ottoman Sultan Murat send their armies into an epic battle against one another.
First Knight
- Director: Jerry Zucker
- Release Date: 1995
- Production Country: United States
Young Guenevere refuses to break her promise to marry an aging King Arthur (in return for his protection over her people and her lands), no matter how dashing the young wandering warrior Lancelot may be; but, when Lancelot turns up at Arthur's court, Guenevere realizes that her feelings are not so easily denied, especially when Lancelot refuses to take "no" for an answer.
Hwangsanbul (Once Upon a Time in the Battlefield)
- Director: Jun-ik Lee
- Release Date: 2003
- Production Country: South Korea
As the armies of the Kingdom of Silla march north, the people of Baekje flee in terror, leaving their dissolute king with only one noble, the mighty general Kye-baek, to send to his kingdom's defense, with 5,000 men to defend his country against the 50,000 man strong Silla army when they meet at the pass of Hwangsanbul.
Ironclad
- Director: Jonathan English
- Release Date: 2011
- Production Country: United Kingdom, United States, Germany
King John recruits an army of mercenaries and sets out to restore his power over the rebellious barons who forced him to sign a charter limiting his power over freedmen. The barons, perhaps not surprisingly, are not willing to roll back these protections, so the two groups meet head-on at Rochester Castle in southern England
Istanbul'un fethi (The Conquest of Constantinople)
- Director: Aydin Arakon
- Release Date: 1954
- Production Country: Turkey
Mehmet the Conqueror defeats the Byzantine Empire and claims Constaninople as his own capital.
Ivanhoe
- Director: Richard Thorpe
- Release Date: 1952
- Production Country: United States
Disinherited by his father for following a Norman king, Ivanhoe, a young Saxon knight, returns home from the Crusades intending to seek his father's pardon, but before he is able to approach his father, he finds out that he must rescue King Richard from captivity and help restore him to the throne, the throne his father is willing to fight all the Normans in England in order to see restored to a Saxon king.
Jan Hus
- Director: Otakar Vávra
- Release Date: 1954
- Production Country: Czechoslovakia
Jan Hus, priest and cleric, takes on the pope and the promise of forgiveness, but is persecuted for this and other "heresies" that, a century later, will lead to Protestantism.
Jan Žižka
- Director: Otakar Vávra
- Release Date: 1957
- Production Country: Czechoslovakia
The heretic Jan Hus is dead and the King of Bohemia has restored his kingdom to the "true" church. But the common people are not as ready to return to the religious system that so obviously favored the wealthy. When they take up arms to protest, they are led by the man who was once one of the king's most trusted soldiers.
Kingdom of Heaven
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Release Date: 2005
- Production Country: United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Morocco
A young French blacksmith in the 12th century discovers he is the son of a Lord and inherits an estate near Jerusalem where he ultimately defends the city.
Krzyżacy (Black Cross or Knights of the Teutonic Order)
- Director: Aleksander Ford
- Release Date: 1960
- Production Country: Poland
Returning from war, Jagienka vows to bring his beautiful fiancée, Danuska, three trophies from their enemy, the Teutonic Knights. But after they are married, Danuska is kidnapped by four rogue Knights and Jagienka may be forced to collect the rest of his trophies as a tribute to his wife, if he cannot rescue her before she is killed.
La conquista de Albania (The Conquest of Albania)
- Director: Alfonso Ungría
- Release Date: 1984
- Production Country: Spain
Accompanied by a group of bored mercenaries and his faithful squire, Luis of Navarre sets out with grand dreams and intentions to reclaim the Albanian throne he inherited from his wife. But the journey to the rebellious kingdom is long and hard and, in the end, Luis must ask himself whether success is the same as happiness.
La regina dei tartari (The Huns or Queen of the Tartars)
- Director: Sergio Grieco
- Release Date: 1960
- Production Country: Italy, France
Orphaned as a child when her tribe is massacred, Tanya is raised by friendly neighbors where she learns to fight as a warrior and, once queen, is ready to lead her people into battle, until she discovers that her enemy happens to the be the man she loves.
Musa (The Warrior or The Ultimate Warrior)
- Director: Sung-su Kim
- Release Date: 2001
- Production Country: South Korea, China
A group of Korean warriors, sent into exile by a hostile Ming government, chase a Yuan-Mongol troop across the desert, hoping to rescue the Ming princess the Mongols have kidnapped and return her home, restoring their own honor both in China and at home.
Proti všem (Against All)
- Director: Otakar Vávra
- Release Date: 1958
- Production Country: Czechoslovakia
In the midst of the Hussite Wars, a young woman flees with others in her village to a fortified village, unaware of looming disaster.
Robin Hood
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Release Date: 2010
- Production Country: United States, United Kingdom
Returning home after a decade away at war, the common soldier Robin Longstride is asked to impersonate a dead knight, much to the dismay of the knight's widow who does not like or trust the upstart soldier. But when corrupt local officials attempt to confiscate her family's lands, she has to admit the man has his uses.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
- Director: Kevin Reynolds
- Release Date: 1991
- Production Country: United States
Returning from the Crusades and charged with watching over his dead comrade's sister, Robin of Locksley discovers his lands have been confiscated by Prince John, his friend's sister imprisoned by the local Sheriff, and the common people under a heavy tax burden. Naturally, he is the man to correct all of these wrongs.
Shi san tai bao (The Heroic Ones)
- Director: Cheh Chang
- Release Date: 1970
- Production Country: Hong Kong
Internal rivalries hamper a Tang general and his thirteen "sons" in their attempts to fight off invading armies.
Soldier of God
- Director: David Hogan
- Release Date: 2005
- Production Country: United States
Disillusioned by the greed of his fellow knights, a Templar flees a disastrous battle only to become lost in the wilderness. Rescued by a Muslim pilgrim, the Templar finds refuge in an isolated oasis, where he gradually realizes that his greatest enemies may not be the Muslims he came to fight, but the prejudices and beliefs of his own people.