Almogavar Bow

From FFXIclopedia, the free Final Fantasy XI encyclopedia

Statistics Almogavar bow (Marksmanship) All Races DMG: 15 Delay: 288 Ranged Attack +4 Lv. 20 WAR / THF / DRK / RNG Damage Per Second: 3.13 TP Per Hit: 7.6%	Other Uses Resale Price: 970~1,025 gil
Synthesis Recipes None	Used in Recipes None
Desynthesis Recipe None	Obtained From Desynthesis None

How to Obtain

Auction House Category: Weapons > Ranged (

)

Dropped From

Name	Level	Zone
Fraelissa (NM)	33-35	Jugner Forest

Historical Background

The Almogavars were mercenaries working for the Kingdoms of Aragon and Catalonia, a medieval union of two kingdoms (located in modern-day Spain) during the 13th & 14th centuries CE. They were usually deployed in Italy and the Levant region (modern Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan). They were most well-known for their activities during the Reconquista, the effort by Europeans to retake the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim Moors which lasted from 722-1492 CE. Their greatest achievement was the founding of the Aragon vassal state, the Duchy of Athens in 1310 and helping establish Aragon & Catalonia as a major power with control over the Mediterranean in the late Middle Ages. They were most often deployed against the kingdom of France, the Byzantine Empire, and the Moors. They were renowned for their vigorous fighting style and expert tactics, in part because of their speed & agility relative to knights, enumbered in their heavy armor and their habit of targetting knight's horses to remove their strategic advantage and make their armor work against them. Their war cry was "Desperta ferro!" (meaning "awake, iron!").

They were originally people from the mountains and forests Pyrenees (primarily Catalans, Basque, Navarrese, and Mozarabs [Christians who had once lived undre Muslim rule]), though later came to be from anywhere in the nations they served. They wore a samarra (sheep-skin coat) or tunic, no armor, and were equipped with a short sword, shield, and javelins. They were generally given a free hand to conduct raids and pillage or overthrow the enemies of their employer, unlike soldiers of the period, who were vassals serving a lord of chief knight. However, in more directed war campaigns, they were occasionally put under orders from a knight or noble. They had a very limited hierarchy and organization, with there only being 3 ranks, the equivalents of Private, Sergeant, and Captain. They were highly mobile, unlike the feudal armies of the time, carrying little provisions and living off the land. Their name derives from the Arabic word Al-Mugavari, which means "devastator" or "raider".