Looking forward along the length of Havorn Alan was surprised at how crowded the ship was. Forty men were pulling steadily on the oars. They faced towards the rear of the ship, the two rows of oarsmen occupying two-thirds of the width of the ship and leaving a narrow aisle down the centre. The small ballista, unique to Alan’s ships and specially built by him, occupied most of the small space in the bow. Ten archers found what space they could, mainly sitting in the aisle with wet bottoms from the inch or so of water that had either seeped in through the caulking or was left over from the last shower of rain.
The men all wore leather scale-armour at the insistence of Sven, who set an example. Danes and Norwegians usually wore chain-mail byrnies, although not always when at sea. Given Sven’s brief comment that not many men could swim in rough open seas wearing forty pounds or so of steel, most of the men had opted for armour made of boiled leather, which weighed about one-third of that. Along the saxboards, the sides of the ships, were tied the oarsmen’s personal weapons. These were cross-bows for use at distance, boarding pikes and both long and short swords. The archers kept their longbows with them, unstrung, along with sheaves of arrows. Two barrels of spare arrows sat before and abaft the mast. The yard and the woollen sail were currently lowered.
Alan marvelled at the military force packed into such a small hull, barely twenty paces long by three wide, and the way that the light, swift and manoeuvrable ships could project power at long distances and at great speed. King William was a man who had fought all his battles on land against foes who travelled on foot or horseback. His lack of understanding of the importance of a strong naval force to protect coastal trade and repel raiders was something that irked Alan. He wished that he could have more than two ships. He could afford to buy them, but the manning requirements of fifty or more men per ship made such a plan impossible. The men he did have were fyrdmen, fishermen and farmers from the sea-side villages, who usually spent one day a week in training. Alan had doubled that at the moment to two days and the current day’s training was to take advantage of the strong southerly winds that had the sea forming a short chop with waves up to six feet high and a short swell.
As soon as they left the shelter of Alresford Creek the boat began to pitch up and down as the men rowed into the wind. The motion disturbed the rhythm of the rowing, with oarsmen ‘catching crabs’ and having their oars skim across the surface in the troughs and bite too deeply on the crests. Sven became animated for the first time that Alan had seen him, shouting curses and directions at the oarsmen, telling them to watch each wave and adjust the depth of their stroke while maintaining rhythm. Alan went amidships and stood next to the mast, wrapping one arm around it to maintain his balance.
Once the ship was a mile offshore Sven turned west, putting the longship side-on to the wind and waves. The motion increased dramatically as the ship rolled and plunged like a berserk horse. Sven’s shouted imprecations grew even hotter and more personal, with many references to mothers and their marital status. The sailing crew were instructed to raise and lower the sail several times, oarsmen assisting with pulling on the ropes that controlled the mast and yard. The mast itself was raised and lowered repeatedly, the kerling and the mast-fish being man-handled into and out of place with the activity disturbing the adjacent rowers. The ship’s motion had made a number of men ill. Some had been able to find a place at the side, while others were forced to vomit where they sat. Alan had difficulty in controlling his own stomach as the ship rose and fell and rolled side to side.
With the mast lowered and the oarsmen at work Sven then ordered an empty barrel thrown over the side. The archers stood and tried to maintain their footing as the ship plunged and rolled and the bowmen tried to shoot at a moving target from a moving shooting position. Next the oarsmen were given the opportunity to use their cross-bows before Sven ordered the ballista crew into action. They were ordered only to use plain iron bolts without Alan’s secret incendiary mixture called ‘Wildfire’, similar to Greek Fire, as the motion of the ship made it likely that the mixture would be dropped and their own ship burned instead of the target. The ballista crew were surprisingly accurate out to three hundred yards. While the target barrel was hit only once, at least a third of the shots would have hit a ship sixty feet long. The flat trajectory and the velocity of the bolt meant that when the target was in the sights a quick release of the bolt would see it usually strike home before the target had moved or disappeared into a wave trough, and that unlike arrows the wind hardly affected the aim. The archers were then given another opportunity for nearly an hour, before Sven ordered the oars on one side of the ship stilled for a few moments and pointed the ship towards home. He could have sailed most of the way back, but insisted on the men rowing as part of the objective of the training cruise was to have the oarsmen fit and able to row all day.
When they returned to the head of Alresford Creek, some half mile from Thorrington, the tide was half out, exposing a large mudflat that the men had to struggle through, up to their knees in thick black mud, to reach the shore. Sven had left four men on board with instructions to properly moor the ship when the tide returned. As he and Alan squelched their way home he commented, “Not bad. They’re improving and will give the Danes a run for their money. They’re farmers most of the year as well, not like us Norwegians. We had difficult conditions today and they didn’t do too badly. In good conditions the longbowmen and the ballista will be a real surprise for the Danes. Your men may not be as good as Vikings, but they are as good as the Danes!”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Thorrington July 1069
It was with a very strong sense of deja vu that Alan sat at the high-table in the Hall. Just after midnight on Friday 24th July, the eve of the Feast of St James the Apostle, he had been roused by a messenger from the lookout at the mouth of Barfleet Creek and informed that a number of longships had approached the village of Brightlingsea in the moonlight several hours before. ‘At least ten ships’ probably meant that the lookout hadn’t bothered to take off his boots to be able to more accurately count the raiders. As well as nearly sixteen hours of sunlight each day, there was a full moon and calm weather- excellent raiding conditions.
Riders had been dispatched along the roads to the west, north-west, north, north-east and east. The glow of fires against the night sky from Brightlingsea showed there was no need to send a rider in that direction. Alan hoped that Edsel, the King’s Reeve of Brightlingsea, was still alive and had learnt the lesson of his refusal to participate in the collective defense efforts undertaken by the others in the Hundred. Alan tried his best to snatch moments of sleep as messengers hurried to and fro, Huscarle Brand dealing with most of the minor matters. He heard reports of fires to the south-east, almost certainly the village of St Osyth. Anne. The servants of the Hall were kept busy providing food, drink and straw palliasses to the arriving messengers.
First light was due at about four in the morning. By three in the morning over 400 men were gathered at Thorrington, having come as far as fifteen miles from Dovercourt and Cliff to the north and Frinton in the east. Not only the men of Alan’s own manors had mustered, but also those of the other thegns including Engelric’s man Leax, the thegn of Birch Hall to the north-east. Leofstan mentioned that he had ridden through Great Clacton on the way and that the inhabitants were hurriedly organising defences, not unreasonable since they were the next village to the east after St Osyth.
Mounted scouts had been dispatched and reported back that there were seventeen longships in Barfleet Creek near Brightlingsea, less than two miles from Thorrington. Alresford and Wivenhoe to the west reported no ships in sight. This was a favourable report, but given that the longships could move so quickly and loom unheralded out of the sea-haze, not necessarily to be relied on. Seventeen ships meant probably nigh on 800 hundred men. Alan was certain that once again their main target would be Colchester, which meant that the Danes had to pass Wivenhoe. The village was now much more strongly held than two y
ears previously, as it belonged to Anne and both time and money had been lavished on fortifications and equipment since the last raid. The men of Wivenhoe and Alresford had been instructed to remain with their villages but to adopt defensive positions, armed and ready as required.
At first light Alan rode out on a rouncey together with half a dozen scouts towards Barfleet Creek. The creek was a shallow tidal inlet that wandered north and west from the sea and whose headwaters were a mile south-east of Thorrington. The land was flat, low-lying and, until close to the village, soft and marshy despite the recent lack of rain. The Danish longships were drawn up on the west bank of the creek just north of the village of Brightlingsea. A quick count confirmed they were in fact seventeen in number. A haze of smoke hung over the village and a number of charred ruins could be seen, including several outlying farmhouses. Alan’s manor of Great Bentley was on the east side of the creek and appeared deserted, in accordance with his instructions. The stables of the horse stud lay empty, the horses being led to safety inland. Also empty were the byres and pig-pens, with the cattle and swine also having been driven away. The people were either with their livestock in woods several miles north or at the apparent safety of Thorrington. Alan hoped that the Danes would be satisfied to loot what they could from the empty village and not put it to the torch.
Several Danish scouts could be seen moving through the area on horseback, presumably on steeds seized at Brightlingsea that night. A large number of men were clustered around cooking fires on the shore near the ships or moving through the village. Alan presumed that he could only see a small part of the Danish force and that many others would be resting in the village or on the ships after their exertions in the night attack.
Alan had expected and hoped that the Danes would board their ships and move on to Colchester, just a few miles up the estuary. However, from the relaxed atmosphere of the camp in front of him, it appeared that a move to attack the city was not an immediate concern for the invaders- which meant that Thorrington could expect a visit later that day.
The villages were some two miles apart, the road running virtually north-south along a narrow patch of relatively firm ground between the salt-marshes at the head of the Alresford Creek to the west and Barfleet Creek to the east. There was another route along the west bank of Barfleet Creek, but given the swampy nature of the ground no commander would use that when a suitable alternative was available.
Alan discounted the possibility of the Danes boarding their ships to travel the mile or so to the head of Barfleet Creek. The effort involved, the need to wait for the flood tide which would not be until evening and the requirement to disembark across a mudflat while under attack by archers would not appeal to any leader. At a point a little less than a mile south of the village of Thorrington the road that the Danes would take skirted a marsh to the east of Alresford Creek. At that point was a large stand of trees and tangled undergrowth that continued east through to the salt-marsh that ran on the west side of Barfleet Creek, and which left a clear area near the road only 150 paces or so wide. It was at this natural choke-point that Alan intended his men to make a stand.
Without further delay he dispatched 100 men to hold the chosen battlefield and archers and horsemen to drive away the Danish scouts so that preparations could be made without observation by prying eyes. He also ordered to sea his own two longships, currently in Alresford Creek just to the west of Thorrington, so as not to be detected and with instructions to maintain contact and await further orders. The ships had been stripped of their archers and half of their oarsmen as the extra sixty trained men may make all the difference in the battle that would be decided on land. Alan was by no means sanguine as to the outcome, knowing he was on the wrong side of two to one numbers, and he was troubled by the fact that his wife and child would be in his house no more than a mile from his back.
Thorrington was in uproar. The village green was filled with groups of armed men sitting quietly, some in armour and some without. The villagers hurried about dispensing a substantial breakfast from supplies provided by Alan with little regard for the fact that it was Friday. True, part of the meal was salted or smoked fish, but that was coincidental and reflected what was kept in barrels in the storeroom against such need. But there was also cheese, fresh bread and butter for the men and ham and eggs for the officers. Erian, the plump and stocky taverner, was dispensing at Alan’s instructions one quart of ale- and only one- per man. Gimm the armourer and Aethelhard the blacksmith were busy performing last minute repairs in their adjoining workshops, the whoosh of bellows and the ring of hammer on steel being clearly heard.
By mid-morning Alan was surprised at the turnout. Other than the manors in the far north-west and those to the east in the path of the Danes, virtually every able-bodied man in the Hundred had mustered. The thegns had led the men of their manors and villages, most arriving on foot after a march of several hours. All of the men of Alan’s own manors were there, some 200 men all properly armed and equipped and all properly trained, led by their thegns and head-cheorls. The men of Queen Edith’s lands at Wix were led by her thegn Adamnan. Also present were Godwin of Weeley, Alstan of Dickley, Harold of Frinton, Frewin, Ednoth and Alfward from Tendring, Leax of Birch Hall, Leofstan of Great and Little Holland, Withgar from Little Bentley, Alwin of Little Bromley, Brictmer of Great Bromley, Ketel of Frating, Ednoth of Little Oakley, Alric of Michaelstow, Leofson of Moze- even Alfhelm of Jacques Hall on the far north coast of the Hundred and Robert fitzWymarc’s man Gerard of Cholet from Elmstead.
Absent were Edward and Albyn of Bruges from St Osyth, Normans Roger de Montivilliers and Geoffrey of Rouen from Clacton and any representatives of the substantial lands held by the Church at The Naze and Wrabness. Also absent was Brctsi of Foulton who had ridden north to join the rebels. Engelric’s men from Frowick Hall were also not present, but their absence and that of the men from St Osyth was explained by the columns of smoke rising to the south-east. It was unlikely that most of those men would ever muster again.
Just after dawn Alan had sent for the men from Alresford, to be led by Algar, Edwin and Edwold. Excluding Alan’s own men, in all 21 thegns and knights would be present for the battle, with over 400 men. Alan found the response pleasing, given that he had no authority to call any muster- only the sheriff could formally issue a call to the fyrd. That virtually every thegn in the Hundred had responded positively was satisfying and made possible an attempt to resist the invaders.
From his own seven manors, excluding Wivenhoe whose men had been told to remain to protect their own village as they were on the direct path that any raiding force to Colchester must take, Alan himself mustered 207 fyrdmen. Of these 50, including some removed from the ships, were longbowmen, the rest split fairly evenly between swordsmen and spearmen. All Alan’s fyrdmen were reasonably well-trained despite their part-time status and he was sure they would give a good account of themselves. Many of the men from the other manors, in particular the sons of the ruling thegns, were also well-trained as Alan had been more than happy to provide training to the sergeants and section-leaders of the thegns in the Hundred, in anticipation of just this eventuality.
Alan also had 50 full-time infantry, 20 being professional huscarles, and 30 cavalrymen. A number of the sons of the local thegns had been through Alan’s cavalry training school and knew that horses were more than just a means of transport to the battlefield. Including the small detachment brought by Gerard de Cholet from Elmstead Alan expected to have 50 reasonably competent horsemen. He thought that these, together with the longbowmen and the proper use of the battlefield itself, should tip the balance in his favour.
Unusually, the muster of the fyrdmen of the Hundred provided men who almost without exception were properly equipped for battle, instead of the more usual peasantry carrying hay-forks and sickles. This was because Alan’s distribution of the booty from the attack by the Danes on Wivenhoe two years previously had provided a wealth of swords, armour and helmets- as well a
s the trading contents of the ships seized by Alan which formed the basis of the current wealth enjoyed by himself and Anne.
Alan set the villagers to work digging pits in front of the defensive position which would be occupied by his men, each pit eight feet deep and with short sharpened stakes driven into the mud which quickly accumulated at the bottom of each pit. The land was flat and the enemy had clear sight of the preparations. With no surprise to be achieved Alan didn’t order the pits camouflaged. The fact that the enemy could see and know about the pits did not mean that they would not be effective. Their main function was to channel the movement of the Danes when they attacked.
It took the Danish leader some time to retrieve the men he had dispatched to St Osyth and get the remainder of his men ready to meet the challenge to their north. He appeared to be in no hurry and the Danes ate a leisurely lunch before starting to form up.
Without a hill or rise to use to mask his intentions, Alan placed his men fifty paces behind the last of the defensive pits. As Danes traditionally fought only as heavy infantry, with no archers or cavalry, this made planning relatively easy- although it necessarily didn’t make any battle easy as the Danes were excellent fighters in their traditional Northern-European manner. The English had over 200 men placed in six groups, with a small gap between each group. Each group was three ranks deep, swordsmen at the front and spearmen in the second rank, with two groups for each of the three exits from the pattern of defensive ditches. Ten archers were placed on the right, or western, flank. The flat nature of the battlefield would make vision and shooting difficult for the archers, but they were stationed just to the west of the defensive line, standing knee-deep in the mud of the marsh, giving them a clear shot almost until the lines engaged. Another 10 archers were positioned in view on the left flank, next to the tree line. Twenty more were hidden in the trees on the eastern flank, along with 30 of Alan’s swordsmen to provide them with close protection, positioned out of sight 75 paces ahead of the English line.
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