by Griff Hosker
Robin had been in the kitchen for some time listening, “Aye Captain, that I will, and I saw some lye soap. That will cleanse him. I will see to it.” From that moment on Robin took a special interest in Michael and became a sort of big brother to him.
I nodded, “And I will find some clothes for you!”
Robin shook his head, “I have looked already, Captain, and there is nothing to fit.”
I smiled, “We shall see!”
Robin was right but, when I examined the chests and cupboards, I found a good pair of breeks, some hose, a tunic and a good shirt. I also found some needles and thread in the kitchen. My apprenticeship might come in handy. Michael was naked and wrapped in a blanket when I entered the kitchen again, but he was clean and he smelled not of shit but of soap, it was an improvement. Robin had used his knife to remove the longest hair and now he had made a lather and was using his dagger to carefully shave Michel’s head. They both looked at me curiously as I carefully unpicked the breeks.
I smiled at them, “When I was your age, Michael, I was a tailor’s apprentice. This just shows that a man can change his stars if he chooses.”
After his head was shaved, I tossed him the hose, “They will not fit well but they will be more comfortable than nothing.”
By the time he had donned them, my men had come in and, after helping themselves to horns of ale from the barrel, they looked at me with interest. They also stared at Michael. After what he had been through such scrutiny did not worry him.
“Fill in the hole. I do not want any to fall in and then help yourself to Robin’s stew!”
I finished sewing the breeks. Stephen the Tailor would have given me a clip for the stitches were not all the same size, but I knew that they would not tear. I tossed them to him, and he put them on. I began to unpick the shirt which he would wear next to his skin.
As I sewed, I spoke, “So, Michael, what would you do now that you are freed?” Ned gave me a questioning look, but Robin shook his head. He would explain later.
Michael was pleased with his breeks and he was grinning, “To be honest, Captain, I know not. I am now an orphan and all that I know is following the army around.” He looked around him, “I could be your servant, Captain! I can fetch wood and I can cook and…”
I began to sew the shirt, “I am not sure, Michael, for we are the vanguard and we ride.”
“I can ride, Captain, and the horses in the stable are mainly the ones that de Gisors captured from my father’s friends. I know the animals!”
Robin butted in, “Captain, it is our Christian duty!”
I glared at him, “When I need a lesson in charity, I will ask for it, Puck! Fetch me some stew!”
He was not put out and said cheerfully, “Aye, Captain, and some wine to cool your temper too, eh?”
“I know not why I put up with you, Robin Goodfellow!”
As he ladled stew into a wooden bowl he said, “Because I can hide in plain sight and I am the third-best archer in the company!”
I bit the thread and threw the shirt at Michael, “Here, I will finish the tunic when I have eaten.” As he finished dressing, I said, “There are a pair of shoes in the bedroom. If you pad them then you might be able to wear them until we kill a Norman your size.”
He started to head upstairs and then stopped, “Then I can stay with you?”
“For the present, aye, but if Prince Edward needs your horse you will have to travel with the baggage and the carpenters.”
Laughing he said, “And I have done that before.”
He ran upstairs; all his hurts seemed to be behind him.
“That was kindly done, Captain.”
“Aye, well, Ned, I hate cruelty to any child and his father died for England. We will keep him until we return to England and then see what we can do.”
For some reason, the extra mouth we had to feed seemed to endear me further with my men. I knew not why.
One of the horses we had taken was little more than a pony and too small for any archer save, perhaps, Robin Goodfellow and so Michael rode with us. He proved himself useful by holding the horses of myself, Ned and Jack and he was right, he was good with horses. The next day was a repetition of the first except that we used Sainte-Mère-Église as a base and brought the horses and supplies we found there. Over the next few days, we scoured the land for twenty miles around the village and found many more horses. The other archers joined us on the evening of that day, and with more men, we were able to forage further afield.
It was seven days after we had landed that Prince Edward reached Sainte-Mère-Église with the rest of the vanguard. We now had eight hundred mounted archers and the Prince was more than happy with our work. If he noticed Michael, he did not say anything and, on the nineteenth of July as the rest of the army caught up with us, we headed to Carentan. We left Sainte-Mère-Église a burning ruin with just the stone church remaining. All trace of Bertrand de Gisors was eliminated. The Normans and the French knew that we were coming, the refugees had told them so but without a castle, the soldiers abandoned the town and headed to Saint-Lô. Carentan suffered the same fate as the other towns through which we had passed. Smoke towards the coast told us that the fleet was doing the same as we were. Saint-Lô was also abandoned and proved to be the richest pickings thus far. We found fine houses and all that the people had taken was what they could carry. Chests were dug up and we found fine clothes and garments. Michael could throw away the ones I had made for him and he was dressed as a young noble. Other archers and men at arms heard of his story. Many of the men at arms knew William, his father, and we had so many clothes for him that it was fortunate that we also found a leather case to hold them. There was no real problem as the only one in the army that they would fit was Michael.
Saint-Lô was burned and left in ruins, a testament to this policy of running from us. I wondered if the French would fight us at all. They chose Caen as the place to fight us!
Chapter 11
Caen had a castle. A very strong castle with a huge circular keep; it was the place where they had buried the Conqueror and, I suppose that they saw it as a place we could not take easily which was why they chose it to halt us. They had the river to protect it and a curtain and town wall. In theory, we should have been forced to fight for it over weeks rather than days. The difference was the seven thousand archers whom the King had brought. We had not had to draw bow yet in numbers and, as we lined up, three hundred paces from the town wall, we were eager to show the French what we could do. We knew that they intended to fight us for they lined their walls with men at arms and crossbowmen as well as spearmen and townsfolk. I guessed that the ones who had fled east would now be ready to fight us. They had abandoned their homes and would see this as a chance to rid their land of the God-Damns! We had been the vanguard and led by Prince Edward but now it was his father and the other leader, the Earl of Northampton who took the decisions. We had the town surrounded and there appeared to be no hurry, but the King had three ranks of archers lined up within hours of our arrival. Prince Edward’s archers were the largest number of archers and we occupied the front line. Behind us were the Earl of Northampton’s men and finally the King’s. We each had two bags of arrows and could loose forty-eight before we needed to replenish them. As most of us had not used our bows since we left England, they would send an arrow further than the French realised and the three hundred paces might have seemed extreme, but it was not. The King was on a white horse and he rode down the line. It was a brave thing to do as the crossbows were in range although, as I realised, at that range and with the plate armour the King was wearing it was unlikely that he would be hurt but I admired him for his bravado.
“Archers of England, we are here to win back that land which is rightfully England’s and belongs to my family. This land belonged to William Duke of Normandy and he became King of England. Today you shall make it English once more.”
We all cheered and waited for Captain Harry, the King’s archer, to give
us our order.
“Draw!”
I had never heard so many bows drawn at once and it made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle for it sounded like a living beast. The creature we had become was made of many different parts, but it was though our hearts beat as one. Although we would all loose together each of us would be in our own world and rhythm. Every one of us would have our own target in our head and as we loosed and eliminated the target we would move on. I was closest to the gatehouse and I saw a man at arms standing close to a crenulation. There was a crossbow too, but the operator was hiding. Perhaps he had fought against us before and knew that in this battle there would be only one winner.
“Loose!”
It was impossible for every arrow to be sent at exactly the same moment and so the whistling noise, so reminiscent of birds taking flight, rolled on for longer than normal. Of course, I was already drawing a second arrow, but I watched my arrow smack into the shoulder of a man at arms. Even though it was a bodkin arrow it might not be fatal at that range for if the man had any plate on him it would slow the entry of the missile. With so many thousands of arrows being sent at the walls, it would have been a surprise if men had not been killed. We sent a dozen flights and then the Earl of Northampton sent in his division of men at arms with scaling ladders. The walls were small enough to be able to use them.
I had used a war bag of thirty arrows when Captain Harry shouted, “Archers, rest!”
I knew what was coming next and so I turned to Michael was who was standing behind the third rank of archers. “Put my bow in my case and watch my arrows!” We would be storming the walls and archers had the dilemma of dropping a bow or slinging it. Neither was a satisfactory state of affairs and I saw Ned and some of the others looking enviously at me as Michael scurried off. He showed initiative, however, when he returned and ran up to Ned and Jack.
“Masters, I can carry yours too!”
He had just passed through the third rank when Prince Edward gave the order for the whole of the army to advance. The men at arms had scaled the walls for so many defenders had been knocked from it that they managed to gain the fighting platform over a large area in a very short time. I ran, not to the ladders but the main gate to the town for the first men at arms would open it. Unencumbered by bows and bags of arrows Ned, Jack and I easily outstripped not only the mailed men at arms but the rest of the archers. The gates creaked open when we were forty paces from them. I saw that two of our men at arms who had opened them had blood on their tunics although whose blood it was harder to identify. I drew my sword before we passed through the gate and then I held my axe in my left hand. The French had many men at arms inside the castle and almost every man we saw had a sword or a weapon in his hand. They were, however, defeated before they began for they had fallen back at every stage and we had been in Normandy for fourteen nights and this was the first time they had fought us. The three of us ran at some crossbowmen who had descended the walls and were trying to load their crossbows. Even though there were six of them and they were thirty paces from us the three of us never hesitated for a moment. If we had then one of the bolts would have struck us. I was the fastest and the most confident. I struck the middle of their line before they had even raised their weapons and I used my sword to sweep up and knock a crossbow into the air whilst smashing my axe into the skull of a second man. The head made a sucking sound as I pulled it out. The soldier whose crossbow I had hit had fallen and I used my sword to skewer him to the ground. I was amongst them now and after pulling out my sword I hacked across the brigandine of a third. I whipped my head around to look for another target but all six lay dead. While Ned and I stood guard, Jack stripped them of their purses.
The town was now filled with the English, Welsh and Breton army. I did not doubt that many were trying to flee through the other gate, but few would manage it for we pressed and chased them through the streets. Some men at arms and some archers entered the shops and homes to begin their looting sooner rather than later. I knew that there would be more to be had from the better homes and businesses closer to the keep and the river. The keep was a strong one, but our rapid attack had made the French flee without defending it. I did not think that Duke William would have been happy at such capitulation. My archers and I did not pursue all the way to the other side of the town for we had done our part and there was a town to be sacked. I have heard men, usually churchmen, speak of a chevauchée as a barbaric excuse for men to behave badly. That is not so. King Edward used it, as I would in later times, as a good strategy. True, we would take what we could and burn what was left but the people of the place we raided would be already dead or fled by then. We were simply diminishing the ability of a people to fight. Such raids encouraged kings and counts to do one of two things, either to bring an army to battle or talk of peace. We had not done enough damage to France yet and so there would be no peace.
It was that first day which saw the greatest slaughter. On the second day bodies were taken from the town to be burned and King Edward’s clerks counted them as the carpenters and miners we had brought piled them and burned them. We saw little of that for we spent two days looting Caen. It was the second biggest city in Normandy, and it was rich. Once again, we profited, and I collected as much treasure in those two days as I had given to Basil of Tarsus for safekeeping. My men and I found a house to use while we were in Caen. It was close to the gates and most of our army had passed it and moved on. We liked to have a roof over our heads while we collected our treasure. We fetched Michael and our better horses for there was a small stable attached to the house. Michael had spoken truly, and he was a good cook. With a fine kitchen, he set to work to cook for my forty men and me. We found things he could use as we foraged for the next two days. I, too, was now looking for different sorts of things. If I was to be a man at arms, then I needed an aketon or gambeson; a padded garment to wear beneath my new mail. I found the stiffening body of a man at arms who had tumbled from the fighting platform. His mail had been stripped but he had a good aketon and the man was my size. The fall had killed him but left the aketon undamaged. Balin was making me a helmet but I found an arming cap on another body. This man had been hacked in two by an axe, but his head was undamaged. I had been too slow in my search to find plate, but I told my men that, in future raids, they should look out for plate. If they were curious then they were also wise enough not to ask me.
King Edward dismissed the fleet and sent them back to England with orders to return with supplies and reinforcements north of the Somme at a small port called Le Crotoy. He had grand plans. We left Caen a ruin, but we tarried too long there. I can see that now but, at the time, it seemed as though the French were beaten, and we could march all the way to Paris. For the next week, we raided and looted taking Troarn, Lisieux and Brionne in turn. Captain Harry had come to value my archers and often spoke to me when he came from the councils of war. We still travelled in our three divisions but when we took a town the King would gather his leaders and plan his strategy. Thus it was that I had more of an idea about the grand plan and I knew that King Edward planned to take Rouen which was the largest town in Normandy and the richest. With that prize then the King of France would be forced to sue for peace. Most of the army cared not about a peace for the wagons were laden with loot and many men emulated me and carried their treasure in money belts beneath their clothes.
We halted at Brionne and we were cooking a pig we had found, the first since Sainte-Mère-Église. The sow and piglets we had taken at our first halt had lasted us four days and had been good eating; I hoped this one would last as long. I was salivating as the flesh crackled on the fire when Sir John Chandos sought me out, “Archer, the Prince and his father would have a word with you.”
Nodding a warning to Michael to keep some good meat for me I left and headed for the mayor’s house which had been commandeered by the King. As I entered, I saw a French knight, Count Godfrey d’Harcourt. He was often seen in the company of the Prince. It was the
King who spoke, “John Hawkwood, I want you to choose your best ten men and guard Count Godfrey. He goes to scout out the bridges across the Seine. You are to protect him at all costs.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“You will leave this night for I am anxious to take Rouen.”
My heart sank. The evening I had envisaged was now ruined and, at best, I would be eating pork on the back of a horse. The amphora of wine we had would be consumed by my men. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
The French knight said, “I will bring my men to your camp.”
I was dismissed. When I reached the house we were using, I shouted, “Ned, Jack, come here. Robin, I shall need you!” My tone did not invite tardiness and the three of them were there in moments. “I am to take ten men and scout. Robin, here are the nine men you and I will lead.” I rattled off their names. “Get some of the cooked pig for we eat on the hoof.”
Robin grinned for he was hard to dishearten, “Then that is all to the good, for we will have the choice of the best cuts and I, for one, like the fresh juices and fat dripping down my chin!”
He hurried off, “Ned, I leave you in command. My treasure box and that which I have taken are with the spare horse. Have Michael watch over it.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Just then I heard the hooves of the Count and the six men of his household. “Are you ready, archer?”
I stepped outside. I did not like this arrogant French Count for the tone he used was one of a master to a slave and if Prince Edward and Sir John Chandos spoke to me kindly then so should he. “I was asked to choose my men and I am doing so,”
“My lord.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I am a French count and you will address me as my lord.”
I shrugged, “You are a Frenchman who has changed sides. You have no lands and your title means nothing to me.”
