A March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XVI

  A WAR OF THE CHURCH

  "You have been but a short time absent this voyage," Sir Ralph said ashis son and Edgar rode up to the castle.

  "Truly we have been but a short time, father," Albert said, "but wehave seen much. Of course the news has not yet reached you, but thearmy of Flanders has been utterly broken by the French. Whether VanArtevelde was killed we know not, but of the fifty thousand men whomarched to battle, we doubt whether half ever returned to their homes."

  "That was indeed a terrible defeat. And how bore you yourselves in thebattle?"

  "It was rough work, though short, father. Five other English knightswere with us; four of these were killed, and one we left behind at afarm, grievously wounded. Each of us had two men-at-arms, and of thefourteen two were left behind wounded sorely, one remained in charge ofhis master and them, and Edgar's man here is the only one who rode toSluys with us; the rest are dead. So, too, might we have been but forthe strength and temper of our armour."

  "Did not the Flemings fight sturdily, then?"

  "They fought sturdily for a time, but altogether without leader ororder. They took up a strong position, but impatient of an hour'sdelay, marched from it to give battle, and being attacked on bothflanks, as well as in front, were driven into a close mass, so that fewcould use their arms, and, were it only to find breathing space, theyhad to fly."

  "'Tis bad news, indeed. Had they prevailed, their alliance with uswould have brought about great things, for Artevelde would have putFlanders under English protection, and between us we could havewithstood all the attacks of France and Burgundy."

  "Think you that Ghent will be taken, Edgar?"

  "That I cannot say, Sir Ralph. However great their loss may be, theGhentois are like to make an obstinate defence, judging from the way inwhich they withstood their earl with all Flanders at his back. Theywill know that they have no mercy to expect if they yield, and Ibelieve that so long as there is a man left to wield arms the city willhold out. As to the other towns of Flanders, they are as fickle as thewind, and will all open their gates to the King of France, who, seeingthat it is by his power alone that Flanders has been taken, willassuredly hold it as his own in the future."

  "Now that you have returned, it would be well, Edgar, that you and myson should practise with the lance. 'Tis a knightly weapon, and aknight should at least know how to use it well. There is a piece ofground but a quarter of a mile away that I have been looking at, andfind that it will make a good tilting-ground, and I will teach you allthat I know in the matter."

  Edgar thankfully embraced the offer and, after going into the castle topay his respects to the dame and her daughter, went home with HalCarter, whose wounds were still sore.

  The news that came from Flanders to England from time to time was bad.It was first heard how terrible had been the slaughter of the Flemingsafter the victory, and that in all thirty-four thousand had beenkilled. Then the news came that Courtray, although it opened its gateswithout resistance, had been first pillaged and then burnt, and thatBruges had surrendered, but had been only spared from pillage by thepayment of a great sum of money. None of the other towns had offeredany resistance, but Ghent had shut her gates, and the French, deemingthat the operations of the siege would be too severe to be undertakenin winter, had marched away, their return being hastened by the news ofan insurrection in France.

  The king, however, had declared Flanders to be a portion of France, andthe Earl of Flanders had done homage to him as his liege lord. The newsof the merciless slaughter of the Flemings, and of the cruel treatmentof Courtray, aroused great indignation in England, which was increasedwhen it was heard that all the rich English merchants in Bruges hadbeen obliged to fly for their lives, and that all other Englishmenfound in the towns had been seized by the Earl of Flanders, and throwninto prison, and their goods confiscated.

  The young knights practised at tilting daily under the eye of SirRalph, and at the end of three months could carry off rings skilfully,and could couch their lances truly, whether at breast-piece or helm. Itwas nigh two years since they had first ridden to London, and both hadgrown tall and greatly widened. Edgar was still by far the taller andstronger, and was now an exceptionally powerful young man. Albert wasof a fair strength and stature, and from his constant practice withEdgar, had attained almost as great a skill with his weapons. When theyjousted they always used lighter spears than when they practised at thering, for in a charge, Edgar's weight and strength would have carriedAlbert out of his saddle, and that with such force as might have causedhim serious injury; the lances therefore were made so slight as toshiver at the shock.

  "You are like to be employing your weapons to better advantage soon,"Sir Ralph said one day on his return from London. "You know of therivalry between the two popes, and that we hold for Urban while Francechampions Clement."

  "Yes, sir," Edgar said; "but how is that likely to give occasion for usto betake ourselves to arms again?"

  "Urban is going to use us as his instrument against France and Spain. Abull was received yesterday, of which copies have also been sent to allthe bishops, calling upon Richard to engage in a sort of Holy War tothis end. He has ordered that all church property throughout Englandshall be taxed, and that the bishops shall exhort all persons to giveas much as they can afford for the same purpose. To all those who takepart in the war he gives absolution from all sins, and the same tothose who, staying at home, contribute to the Church's need.

  "The sum of money thus raised, which, I doubt not, will be great, is tobe devoted partly to an expedition against France, and partly to oneunder Lancaster against Spain. As it is a church war, the expedition toFrance is to be led by a churchman, and Urban has chosen Sir HenrySpencer, Bishop of Norwich, who, if you will remember, bore himself sostoutly against the insurgents in his diocese, as the nominal leader.The king has taken the matter up heartily, and many of the knights whomI met at Court are also well content, seeing that the war is to beconducted at the expense of the Church and not of themselves; and Idoubt not that a large number of knights and gentlemen will take partin the expedition, which is of the nature of a crusade.

  "More than that, I met an old friend, Sir Hugh Calverley, with whom Ihave fought side by side a score of times, and whose name is, ofcourse, well known to you. He is minded also to go, partly because hehates the French, and partly because of the pope's blessing andabsolution. Seeing that, I said to him, 'As you are going, Sir Hugh, Ipray you to do me a favour.'

  "'There is no one I would more willingly oblige, old friend,' he said.

  "'My son,' I went on, 'and a friend of his whom I regard almost as ason, were knighted more than a year since, as you may have heard, fortheir valiant conduct in the time of the troubles here.'

  "'I have heard the story,' he said. 'It is well known to all at Court.'

  "'Since then, Sir Hugh, they have been over in Flanders, where theygained the approbation of Van Artevelde by their conduct, and foughtstoutly at the grievous battle of Rosbecque. But hitherto they have hadno knightly leader. They have gained such experience as they could bythemselves, but I would that they should campaign in the train of avaliant and well-known knight like yourself, under whose eyes theycould gain distinction as well as a knowledge of military affairs.'

  "'I will take them with me gladly,' he said. 'They must be youngknights of rare mettle, and even apart from my regard for you I shouldbe right glad to have them ride with me.'"

  Both the young knights gave exclamations of pleasure. It was hard for aknight unattached to the train of some well-known leader to rise todistinction, and there was no English knight living who bore a higherreputation than Sir Hugh Calverley, so that to ride under him would bean honour indeed. But some months passed before the preparations werecomplete. Throughout England the bishops and priests preached andincited the people to what they considered a Holy War. The promises ofabsolution of past and future sins were in proportion to the moneygiven. In the diocese of London alone, a tu
n full of gold and silverwas gathered, and by Lent the total amounted to what at that time wasthe fabulous sum of 2,500,000 francs. Thomas, Bishop of London, andbrother to the Earl of Devonshire, was appointed by Urban to go withthe Duke of Lancaster to Spain, as chief captain, with two thousandspears and four thousand archers, and half the money gathered was to bespent on this expedition, and the other half on that of the Bishop ofNorwich.

  The expeditions were to set out together, but one progressed far morerapidly than the other. The Bishop of Norwich was very popular. He wasof ancient lineage, had personally shown great bravery, and was highlyesteemed. Upon the other hand, the Duke of Lancaster was hated. Thusgreat numbers of knights and others enlisted eagerly under the bishop,while very few were willing to take service under the duke. Fivehundred spearmen, and fifteen hundred men-at-arms and archers were soonenrolled under the bishop's banner. A great number of priests, too,followed the example of the bishop, threw aside the cassock and cladthemselves in armour to go to the war in the spirit of crusaders.

  Great numbers passed over from Dover and Sandwich in parties to wait atCalais for the arrival of their leaders. At Easter, the bishop, SirHugh Calverley, and two of the principal knights attended the king andhis council, and swore to do their best to bring to an end the matteron which they were engaged, and to war only against the supporters ofClement. The king begged them to wait for a month at Calais, promisingthat he would send them over many men-at-arms and archers, and SirWilliam Beauchamp as marshal to the army. The bishop promised the kingto do this, and he and his party sailed from Dover and arrived atCalais on April 23, 1383.

  The young knights had gone up to town a month before by invitation ofSir Robert Gaiton, and had stayed with him for a week. At the end ofthat time he presented each of them with a superb suit of Milan steel,richly inlaid with gold, and two fine war-horses.

  "It is a gift that I have long promised you," he said. "I gave ordersto my agents in Italy a year since to spare neither time nor trouble toobtain the best that the armourers of Milan could turn out. The horsesare of Yorkshire breed, and are warranted sound at every point."

  "It is a princely present, Sir Robert," Edgar said, "and, indeed, amost timely one, for truly we have well-nigh grown out of the othersuits, although when we got them it seemed to us that we should neverbe able to fill them properly; but of late we have been forced to easethe straps, and to leave spaces between the pieces, by which lance orarrow might well find entrance."

  Sir Ralph had gone up with them and introduced them to Sir Hugh, whopromised to give them two days' warning when they were to join him atSandwich or Dover. During this week Edgar for the most part went aboutalone, Albert, at first to his surprise, and then to his amusement,always making some pretext or other for not accompanying him, butpassing, as he found on his return, the greater portion of the time inthe house, in discourse, as he said, with Dame Gaiton, but as Edgarshrewdly guessed, chiefly with Ursula, who, he found, obligingly kepthis friend company while the dame was engaged in her household duties.It seemed to him, too, that on the ride back to St. Alwyth Albert wasunusually silent and depressed in spirits.

  Edgar himself, however, experienced something of the same feeling whenhe took his last farewell from the De Courcys before starting forDover. On this occasion each took with him four men-at-arms, stoutfellows, Albert's being picked men from among the De Courcy retainers,while Hal Carter had selected his three mates from among the villagers,and had, during the last three months, trained them assiduously in theuse of their arms.

  "How long do you think that you are likely to be away, Edgar?" hisfather asked, the evening before the party started.

  "I cannot tell you, father, but I do not think that it will be long. Ifthe expedition had started six months ago, it would have arrived inFlanders in time to have helped the Flemings, and with their aid theFrench might have been driven flying over the frontier; but I cannotsee what two or three thousand men can do. We cannot fight the wholestrength of France by ourselves."

  "It seems to me a hare-brained affair altogether," Mr. Ormskirk said;"almost as mad, only in a different way, as the crusade of Peter theHermit. The Church has surely trouble enough in these days, what withmen like Wickliffe, who denounce her errors, and point out how far shehas fallen back from the simple ways of old times, what with theimpatience or indifference of no small part of the people, the pomp andwasteful confusion of the prelates, and the laziness of the monks--shehas plenty of matters to look after without meddling in militaryaffairs.

  "What would she say if a score of nobles were to take upon themselvesto tell her to set her house in order, to adopt reforms, and to throwaside sloth and luxury; and yet the Church is stirring up a war, andraising and paying an army of fighting men--and for what? To settlewhich of two men shall be pope. The simple thing would be to hold ahigh tournament, and to let Urban and Clement don armour and decidebetween themselves, in fair fight, who should be pope. They might aswell do that as set other men to fight for them. I see not what goodcan come of it, Edgar."

  "Albert and myself are of the same opinion, father. Certainly with twoor three thousand men we can hardly expect to march to Paris and forcethe King of France to declare for our pope. Still, we shall march ingood company, and shall both be proud to do so under the banner of sodistinguished a knight as Sir Hugh Calverley."

  "I say naught against that, Edgar; but I would rather see you startwith him as knights-errant, willing at all times to couch a lance fordamsels in distress. The day has passed for crusades. Surely we havehad experience enough to see that solid advantages are not to be won byreligious enthusiasm. Men may be so inspired to deeds of wondrousvalour, but there is no instance of permanent good arising out of suchexpeditions. As for this in which you are going to embark, it seems tome to be the height of folly."

  The next day the two young knights rode to Canterbury, and thence toDover. The following evening the Bishop of Norwich, with his train, SirHugh Calverley, and other knights, arrived, and the next morningembarked with their following and horses on board three ships, andsailed to Calais. Those who had preceded them were already impatient totake the field. The news that there was to be a further delay of amonth until Sir William Beauchamp with reinforcements should arrive,caused much disappointment and vexation.

  "'Tis unfortunate," Sir Hugh said, one evening a few days later to theknights of his party, "that there are not more men here accustomed towar, and who have learned that patience and obedience are as needful asstrong arms, if a campaign is to be carried out successfully. TheBishop of Norwich is young and fiery, and he hath many like himselfround him, so that he frets openly at this delay. Moreover, Sir ThomasTrivet and Sir William Helmon are too full of ardour to act withdiscretion, and are ready enough to back up the bishop in his hotdesire to be doing something. I regret that this army is not, like thearmy which fought at Crecy and Poictiers, composed of men well inuredto war, with a great number of good archers and led by experiencedwarriors, instead of a hasty gathering of men, who have been fired bythe exhortations of the priests and the promises of the pope.

  "We are but a small gathering. We may take some castles, and defeat theforces that the nobles here gather against us, but more than that wecannot do unless England arms in earnest. I foresaw this, and spoke tothe council when they prayed me to go with the bishop; but when theypointed out that what I said made it all the more needful that one ofgrave experience and years should go with him, and prayed me to acceptthe office, I consented."

  On the 4th of May the Bishop of Norwich took advantage of Sir Hugh'sabsence--he having gone for two days to see a cousin who was commanderof Guines--to call the other leaders together, and said that it wastime they did some deed of arms, and rightly employed the money withwhich the Church had furnished them. All agreed with him, and thebishop then proposed that instead of entering France they should marchto Flanders, which was now a portion of France. To this Sir ThomasTrivet and Sir William Helmon cordially agreed.

  When Sir Hugh re
turned another council was called, and the matter waslaid before him. Sir Hugh opposed it altogether. In the first place,they had given their word to the king to wait for a month for thepromised reinforcements; in the second place, they had not come over asEnglishmen to fight the French, but as followers of Pope Urban to fightthose of Clement, and the men of Flanders were, like themselves,followers of Urban. The bishop answered him very hotly, and as theother knights and all present agreed with the bishop, Sir Hughreluctantly gave way, and said that if they were determined upon goingto Flanders he would ride with them. Accordingly notice was giventhrough the town that the force would march the next morning. Allassembled at the order to the number of three thousand, and marchedfrom Calais to Gravelines.

  No preparations for defence had been made there, for there was no warbetween England and Flanders. However, the burghers defended the placefor a short time, and then withdrew, with their wives and families, tothe cathedral, which was a place of strength. Here they defendedthemselves for two days. The church was then stormed, and all itsdefenders put to the sword. The news excited the greatest surprise andindignation in Flanders, and the earl at once sent two English knightswho were with him to Gravelines to protest, and with orders to obtainfrom the bishop a safe-conduct to go to England to lay the matterbefore the English king and his council.

  When they arrived at Gravelines the bishop refused their request for asafe-conduct, but told them to tell the earl that he was not warringagainst Flanders, nor was his army an army of England, but of PopeUrban, and that, although the greater portion of Flanders was Urbanist,the Lord of Bar--in whose dominion Gravelines stood--was for Clement,and so were his people. If he and they would acknowledge Pope Urban, hewould march away without doing damage and paying for all he took, butunless they did so he would force them to submit. The people of Artois,however, who were French rather than Flemings, took the matter in theirown hands, and twelve thousand men, under some knights from Nieuportand other towns, marched to Dunkirk and then to Mardyck, a largevillage not far from Gravelines.

  Edgar and Albert had taken no part in the attack upon the cathedral,but remained with Sir Hugh Calverley in the house that he occupied assoon as resistance of the entry to the town had ended.

  "On the field I will fight with the rest," he said, "but I will have nohand in this matter. There has been no defiance sent to the Earl ofFlanders nor received from him, and 'tis not my habit to fight burghersagainst whom we have no complaint, and who are but defending theirhomes against us."

  The two young knights were well pleased with this decision. It was anage when quarter was but seldom given, and wholesale slaughtersfollowed battles, so that they had, naturally, the ideas common to thetime. Still, they both felt that this attack was wholly unprovoked andaltogether beyond the scope of the expedition, and were well pleasedthat their leader would have naught to do with it. It was, however, adifferent matter when they heard that an army twelve thousand strongwas coming out against them, and they were quite ready to take theirshare in the fight.

  While waiting at Gravelines several other knights had joined the army,among them Sir Nicholas Clifton and Sir Hugh's cousin, the commander ofGuines, Sir Hugh Spencer, nephew of the bishop, and others.

  The force consisted of six hundred mounted men, sixteen hundredarchers, and the rest foot-men. They found that the Flemings had fallenback to Dunkirk, and had taken up a position in front of that town. Thebishop, on approaching them, sent forward a herald, to ask them whetherthey were for Pope Urban or Clement, and that if they were for Urban hehad no quarrel with them. As soon, however, as the herald approached,the Flemings fell upon him and killed him. This excited the most livelyindignation among the English, for among all civilized people theperson of a herald was held to be sacred.

  The bishop and knights at once drew up the force in order of battle.The men on foot were formed into a wedge. The archers were placed onthe two flanks of the unmounted men-at-arms, while the cavalry preparedto charge as soon as opportunity offered. The army was preceded by thestandard of the Church. The trumpets on both sides sounded, and as theycame within range the English archers poured flights of arrows amongthe Flemings. These advanced boldly to the attack of the foot-men.Again and again the horsemen charged down upon them, but were unable tobreak their solid lines, and for a time the battle was doubtful, butthe English archers decided the fate of the day. The Flemings, althoughthey resisted firmly the charge of the men-at-arms, were unable tosustain the terrible and continuous rain of arrows, and their frontline fell back.

  As soon as they did so the second line wavered and broke. Then thebishop with his knights and men-at-arms charged furiously down uponthem, and the battle was over. The Flemings broke and fled in wilddisorder, but the English pursued them so hotly that they enteredDunkirk with them. Here again and again they attempted to make a stand,but speedily gave way before the onslaught of the English. No onedistinguished themselves in the battle more than did the priests andmonks who were fighting on the side of the bishop, and it was saidamong the others that these must have mistaken their vocation, and thathad they entered the army instead of the Church they would have maderight valiant knights.

  The English loss was four hundred, that of the Flemings was very muchheavier. There died, however, among them no knights or persons ofquality, for the rising was one of the people themselves, and as yetthe Earl of Flanders was waiting for the King of England's reply to themessage he had sent by the two knights from Sluys. The English,however, considered that the absence of any horsemen or knights was dueto the fact that these remembered what terrible havoc had been madeamong the chivalry of France at Crecy and Poictiers, and cared not toexpose themselves to that risk.