Lord Edward's Archer

by Griff Hosker

  King Henry spoke. “My son might be right. There is more to you than meets the eye. Tell me, archer, the south gate. Did it have a double gate?”

  “No, your majesty.”

  “And you say the ditch is in a state of ill repair?”

  “It is.”

  He looked at his sons. “Then we will attack the southern gate. A dawn attack might well catch them asleep. We can use the bridge over the Nene to bring all of our men to the attack.”

  “But my captain’s idea is a good one.”

  “It is, and I commend your choice of archer. Nonetheless, an attack on the priory wall would necessitate fording the river, and there is no guarantee of success.” He smiled and took out a golden mark. “You have done well. This is for your trouble, and I will watch you when we go to war.”

  I bowed and left. A short while later Sir John hurried out after me. “Well done, Gerald, that cannot have been easy. I think the prince likes your plan. Come to his quarters on the morrow, and bring Captain William with you.”

  At that meeting we formulated a plan to attack the priory. Our master was confident he could persuade his father to go along with his idea.

  We left for Northampton on the third day of April. We rode behind the dragon standard, which I was told meant that no quarter would be given. Captain William did not think that meant much. “It is to terrify the rank and file. King Henry hopes that they will flee when we are near.”

  We camped on the Friday night so that we could be in a position to attack the town on the morning of Saturday, the fifth day of April. We would not be attacking with the rest of the army. Prince Edward had persuaded his father to allow us to make a diversionary attack on the walls. His father had liked the idea of drawing defenders to the north-west of the town and allowing his men to use ladders to scale the southern defences. I knew that he would lose more men there than Prince Edward would. However, I had a great responsibility. I had told the prince that we could remove the stones and gain entry for our knights. I had to do as I had promised.

  Prince Edward himself came to speak to Captain William and me. “When we fight tomorrow, do not slay the knights! They are worth coin to us. Demand that they surrender. Wound them if you must, but do not slay them. They are worthless if you do. Alive, they can be used to bargain.”

  After he had left us I said, “He puts men’s lives at risk. What if they do not surrender? Do we let them slay us?”

  “Did you not hear him? Wound them. Your archers are good enough to put an arrow where they will be incapacitated and not dead.” He was right, and I nodded.

  It was impossible to move such a large army through the land and remain hidden. We knew that Simon de Montfort would be summoning his men to London so that he could march north and meet us in the field. Attacking Northampton was a declaration of war. We camped separately from the rest of the army. We would be assaulting the wall with just five hundred men. Half would be the local levy, and the rest would be knights and professional soldiers. It would be Prince Edward’s own men who would break down the wall and hold it until the knights could enter the priory and thence the town. A fifth of our band had fought together in the chevauchée. We knew each other. All enmity had been forgotten. We had all profited from the chevauchée. More than that, we had all fought alongside one another. We were fast becoming a band of brothers.

  The next morning we headed for Northampton. In one way, King Henry’s strategy was a good one. His attack would be on the main road from London. If relief was coming, they would have to get through our forces. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon. Camp was made. Those inside the town knew we were there but could do nothing about it. They were needed on the walls, and our attack had negated their numbers. Richard of Cornwall was sent to the east gates to prevent those being used. As soon as it was dark, we left.

  Jack and I led. We had ridden this route in daylight and knew it. The trees and the undergrowth around the river disguised our movement, although I have no doubt that the sentries on the walls would have heard us. We halted in the place where Jack and I had left our horses on the scouting expedition. We did not speak. Prince Edward and Sir John, along with Captain William, joined us. I pointed to the wall. Prince Edward had asked us to demolish a section, forty horse-lengths wide. Captain William’s men would aid us. Leaving our bows on the west bank, Jack and I led the two bands across the river. The ditch was slightly wider than I remembered. I hoped that the others would think to put the stones we removed into the ditch.

  We worked silently. The monks were in their church, for we could hear them chanting. The smell of incense drifted over to us. I was working with my men, and they emulated me, laying the stones into the ditch so that the horses would be able to cross. It was slow and painstaking work. The archers were stronger, and I could see that we were demolishing the wall faster than the men at arms. The hint of dawn was in the sky when we heard the shout from the south gate. King Henry had launched his attack. It was early in the day, and he would lose men as a result. The idea had been that we would launch a surprise attack from within the town, rendering the defence of the south gate irrelevant. That was when I realised that Prince Edward was a better leader than his father. We worked on urgently. We removed our section, and I sent half of our men back to fetch the bows and tell the prince we were almost ready to attack.

  I was just stringing my bow, the sun visible in the sky, when there was a shout. Men ran towards us.

  Captain William shouted, “Stand to!”

  I looked across the river. The prince was not yet ready. His father’s premature attack had caught him out. It was men from the town who ran at us first. Our arrows found flesh, for they wore no mail. None came even close to the men at arms. Then I heard a shout and saw three riders approach. There was a warhorse ridden by a knight. The other two were a squire and a sergeant at arms. My men would leave the knight and squire alone. Six arrows struck the unfortunate sergeant at arms. The squire wisely reined in, but the knight dropped his reins and bravely charged towards us. I dropped my bow and drew my sword. I could not risk him falling from his horse and breaking his neck. His horse took the decision for him. My waving arm and sword made it swerve. It baulked at the partly demolished wall, close by Captain William’s men. The knight soared over his horse’s head, cleared the wall and landed in the ditch.

  I ran directly to him. I hoped he was not dead, for we might be blamed. Already the prince and his men were fording the river. The knight’s helmet had fallen from his head and he looked up at me. I shouted at him, “Surrender, my lord, or die!” He did not know that I would not kill him. Behind me was Jack of Lincoln, and with his split nose we looked like bandits rather than members of Prince Edward’s retinue.

  He held out his hand, “I yield, bowman!”

  I pulled him out as Prince Edward arrived. The prince was grinning, “Well done, Captain, you have captured Simon de Montfort the Younger.” He turned in his saddle, “Sir Aubrey, escort him to safety!” Then he stood in his stirrups, unsheathed his sword and shouted, “God and King Henry! On my warriors!” The horsemen clambered over the half-demolished wall. I sheathed my sword and picked up my bow. We followed the horsemen.

  We had slain some of the townsfolk, but others were racing to try to send us back from whence we came. The horsemen were terrifying enough, but when our arrows began to fall amongst them they surrendered. They were forced to ride down the streets of the town, but we were able to go through the gates of the Black Friar’s monastery, which was next to St Andrew’s Priory. We saw the men on the castle walls. Amazingly, I saw that part of the wall had fallen and been hurriedly repaired with wood. The turrets had no wooden roof to protect them. We had the opportunity to end this battle quickly.

  “Dick, son of Robin, find Captain William and bring him hence. We have a God-given chance to enter the castle without casualties.”

  “Aye, Captain!”

  There was no ditch, and the curtain wall was undefended. Part of King Henr
y’s plan had succeeded. The attention was on the south and the east. The north and west were deserted. We were fewer than thirty paces from the inner wall and keep when I saw the first soldiers run to the fighting platform on the wall walk. All three of them were hit by a shower of arrows.

  “Start to pull down the wooden repairs! Quickly! The first in will have the first choice!”

  My men set to. While half watched, the other half began to tear at the wood. Some of my men had hatchets which we used to cut kindling. They began to use them to make holes in the wood. Ralph Dickson was the first to reach us.

  “A stroke of luck, Gerald!”

  “Aye, let us not waste it.”

  The men at arms had axe-armed warriors amongst them and made short work of the wood. With an arrow nocked, I led my men through the breach. The gate to the keep was open. Captain William arrived and shouted, “Hold the keep, Captain Gerald, and I will secure the gate! We have them!”

  I saw a man running from the main gate. He spied us and shouted a warning. My arrow struck him in mid-stride. I dropped my bow and drew my sword, “Archers, follow me.” I ran to the door, which remained enticingly open. I could hear shouts from within as they saw Captain William and his men running to the defenders at the main gate and into the inner ward. I saw a hand gripping the edge of the door, and I swung my sword, slicing through the fingers. I hauled it open. A man at arms stood there. He was fully mailed, with helmet and shield. He raised his sword. I was a dead man. Two arrows flew from behind me and he fell dead.

  “Robin, you and Matty hold the gate. Keep it open. The rest of you, with me.”

  The interior was in as bad a state of repair as the outside. Men at arms ran down the stairs towards us. At such close range my men could not miss. With the ground level cleared I hurried to the stairs. John of Nottingham had also discarded his bow, and we moved up the stairs with Jack of Lincoln and Dick, son of Robin, behind, with bows drawn. The others were ensuring that no defenders remained hidden to ambush us. The keep had an open wooden staircase. I had my dagger out, as well as my sword. As with all castles it was designed to favour the defender. As I turned the corner of the keep, a pair of men at arms suddenly leapt from the door. They had the space to swing their swords. Even as I lifted my dagger to block the first sword, two arrows flew to end their lives. The door ahead of us slammed shut.

  Below me I heard the sound of feet running in, as Captain William led a handful of his men into the keep. “Come, you lazy lummoxes! The archers will have all the treasure.”

  The ill-repair of the castle was shown when John of Nottingham and I hit the door with our shoulders. Instead of remaining unmoved, there was a definite creak, and powder came from the hinges. The door had not been well made and the mortar was deteriorating. Captain William and four of his men appeared on the step below us.

  “This needs men with mail.” We moved down the wall to allow the four of them to charge the door. “On three. One, two, three!”

  John and I had weakened it, and when they hit the door it collapsed inwards, taking them with it. We ran over their prostrate bodies and into the chamber. It was the main hall, and there was a table, chairs and wall hangings. More importantly, there were twenty men. I saw two knights with their squires. The rest were men at arms and fair game. My two archers had followed us, and they sent two arrows into the nearest men at arms. John and I moved closer together. Neither of us were as good with swords as the men at arms.

  Four enemy men at arms ran at us. I was dimly aware of Captain William and his four men at arms getting to their feet. Two of the men trying to get at us were slain by my archers. The other two realised that their best chance of avoiding an arrow was to close with us. They rushed us. Like John and I, they were armed with sword and dagger. The difference was that they knew how to use them. I reacted. I blocked the sword strike with my dagger. Had I not been as strong as I was, then I would not have held it.

  Captain William and his men at arms were carving their way into the enemy. My two archers had less chance of hitting anyone, for the room was crowded, but all that I was trying to do was stay alive. I swung my sword somewhat clumsily at the man I was fighting and he flicked it away with his dagger. I saw him twist the dagger and begin to bring it back to stab me. I had to resort to street fighting and brute strength. As the blade came up, I hooked my right leg behind his left and pushed with my shoulder. We tumbled to the ground. His sword arm dragged me down. As we landed he gave a soft sigh. I felt blood in my hand. As I stood I saw that my body weight had forced the dagger into his body. I rose and turned in time to see the other man at arms with his sword ready to skewer John of Nottingham. I brought my sword around with such force that it cut through his mail and into his body. He fell, dying.

  “I owe you a life, Captain! I was a dead man for sure!”

  “We are brothers in arms, John, we owe each other nothing.”

  The two knights and squires stood before the remaining ten men at arms. It was a stand-off. Captain William shouted, “Yield, Sir Peter!”

  “To a man at arms? Never! We will die first!”

  Captain William was hamstrung. We could not kill them. I said, “Jack of Lincoln. Choose a squire and pin his foot to the floor.”

  The squires heard me, but the speed of Jack was such that the arrow buried itself up to its fletch and pinned the foot of one of them to the floorboards before either of them could react.

  “Sir Peter, there are worse things than death. My archers are so accurate that I could have named a toe. Prince Edward and the king will be here soon, and then you will surrender. Save the lives of your men at arms. Yield to Captain William!”

  The whimpering squire ensured that they obeyed. They sheathed their swords. It would not do to hand them over to a commoner, but the men at arms handed over their swords. Two bows, with arrows aimed at them, ensured their compliance. Captain William escorted the two knights and the squires downstairs. Ralph Dickon bound the foot of the squire, who glowered murderously at us as he left.

  Before the nobles came, we made sure that we took all that there was to take from the dead and the purses of the men at arms. They allowed us to do so. There was an understanding. We were all men of war. Had the roles been reversed, then we would have expected the same treatment. We would share with Captain William and his men later. After escorting the prisoners to the inner ward, we ransacked the upper floors. To the victor goes the spoils. I had heard the phrase, and it was now that I truly understood it. We had taken the risks and our chances, and we had been rewarded.

  We used two chests to carry our booty down the stairs. The inner ward was filled with horses, knights, prisoners and, of course, the king and his son. John of Nottingham and my men slipped out through the hole in the wall we had made, carrying the chests. Our horses were still across the river by the priory.

  Prince Edward was speaking with Sir John and Captain William. King Henry nodded to me and said, somewhat grudgingly, “It seems your archer has ideas, my son. I am surprised. I did not think that the common man had the wit for such thoughts. Perhaps, in the past, some lord laid with one of his ancestors. Still, if he comes up with such devices, perhaps you are well advised to keep him around you.”

  Sir John felt honour bound to defend me, “My liege, Captain Gerald captured Simon de Montfort and he and Captain William captured Peter de Montfort! Had they been knights, then they would both be rich men.”

  King Henry gave a reptilian smile and said, “But as they are commoners, then the crown will benefit from their capture. Sir John, have the keep searched. There must be valuables inside! Let us profit from its capture, eh?”

  “Aye, my lord.”

  I gave a wry smile to Captain William. They would be disappointed. I might be Prince Edward’s archer, but I knew enough about nobility to be my own man. Gone was the innocent who had followed a faithless knight. Now I followed a future king, but I would always watch out for myself.

  Epilogue

  The capt
ure of Northampton was the first act in a civil war which would last for two years. King Henry and his army were full of hope. When we went north with Prince Edward and took first Leicester, followed by Nottingham and Grantham, we did not have to fight at any of them. The sight of our host made their castellans surrender. The defeat at Northampton had been like a dam breaking. We thought we had destroyed the de Montfort power. Taking Tutbury involved a short siege where we did not have to loose a single arrow. Prince Edward then showed that he had a harder side. He burned every de Ferrers and de Montfort manor that he could find. He was making a statement.

  As we were finishing burning Tutbury, a messenger came from the king. John de Warenne was being besieged in Rochester Castle. Simon de Montfort had roused himself and come east with an army, to take the southern half of the kingdom. The civil war had begun in earnest, and we headed south. None of us knew what the next two years would bring, but I knew that I was now the captain of the archers, who served the next king of England. My fate was inextricably bound with his. I would rise and fall with him.

  This was meant to be.

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  Glossary

  Candlemas – a Christian celebration, forty days after Christmas – February 2nd

  Chevauchée – a raid by mounted horsemen

  Coningeston – Coniston, Cumbria

  Oswald’s Cross – Oswestry

  Lothnwistoft – Lowestoft, Suffolk

  Matlac – Matlock, Derbyshire

  muntator –light horseman (hobelar)

  Rocheberie – Rugby, Warwickshire