Medieval chroniclers described battlefield slaughter in hyperbolically gory, visceral imagery

Evidence

Guts burst forth, so that doubtless a hundred would be needed to bury what was left on the field. Castles [containing men riding elephants] clattered down, camels burst open, dromedaries drew close to death quickly. The blood foamed forth from them into the streams nearby, so that horses galloped knee-deep in that valley. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 245