Henry II (The Anarchy Book 13)

by Griff Hosker

  “That has a castle, lord.”

  “I know, Wulfric, but it does not have a large garrison. If we can trap the population of Northallerton in the castle, then it will either surrender or they will die. Our northern borders have been quiet since the peace?”

  Sir Gilles nodded. He was the northernmost of my knights. “Aye lord. I have taken a weekly patrol around our borders and the Scots have kept the peace.”

  Wulfric chuckled, “You must have frightened the Earl of Northumberland the last time you chased him home!”

  “I think his father has recognised that he will continue to bleed men if he tangles with us. We are a thorn too sharp to grasp.”

  “When do we leave, lord?”

  “In four days, Sir Hugh. Leave a garrison to guard your castle but bring your archers and best men at arms. We ride mounted. If you have not enough horses, then leave those without mounts behind. I would have us move quickly. We take neither wagons nor carts. We have enough arrows, lances and spears?”

  Sir John nodded, “We do, lord. Alf has had his smiths producing the heads for the past year in anticipation of war. The fletchers have not stopped fletching. We have enough and we have lead balls in great numbers.”

  “Then we will take boy slingers on ponies. Good, then we gather at Yarm four days hence. God speed.”

  I summoned Aiden along with his two woodsmen, Edgar and Edward. “I want the land around Thirsk and Northallerton scouting out. How many men do we face? Where are their cattle and horse herds?”

  “We raid, lord?”

  “We raid and hope to lure the enemy from behind their walls.”

  Aiden nodded, “This is a good time of year, lord. They are gathering in their grain and the men will be busy bringing animals closer to their halls in readiness for the winter.”

  “And that is why I have chosen it. We leave from Yarm in four days.”

  Left alone I went to my church and the grave of my wife and my child. As was my habit I prayed there. I spoke quietly to them both but my words were intended for my dead wife. I told her of Henry and my hopes. I spoke of our son, William. He was an empty space in my heart. Had his mother been alive then it would have broken hers. I could do nothing about it save bear it stoically. I had some hours before dark and so I wandered through my burgeoning manor. The houses and huts had spilled well beyond the old ditch and wall. Soon the walls and the battles we fought there would be a memory kept alive by the old.

  I stopped by Alf and his forges. He was older now, as were we all, and his sons were the ones toiling away. He was casting his steely eye over the proceedings. He stood when I entered, “Lord, you should be doing as I am doing. You should be watching others toil. You have earned the right.”

  I smiled, “I am afraid, Alf, that a lord of the manor has responsibilities and duties until the day he dies. I knew it when I accepted the title.”

  “And your son chose not to accept the responsibilities, lord.” My brow furrowed. “I mean no offence, lord, but a man who has a son expects him to follow in his footsteps. Perhaps when he returns from the Crusades he can take the weight from your shoulders.”

  There were few I would allow to speak as Alf had but he had earned the right. He, Dick and Wulfric were the ones who had been with me from the start.

  “Perhaps, Alf, but I will not allow myself to have hopes which might be dashed. I am young enough yet to work for our future king.”

  “Then until that day comes we will continue to make the best swords, spear heads and arrows in the land.”

  The army I gathered at Yarm showed me that when the time came we could field a healthy force. Gone were the days when we had defended our land with less than a hundred and fifty men. Now we numbered three hundred or more and we were all mounted. If I emptied all my castles and called out the fyrd then I could command over six hundred men as well as twenty boys with slings. There were kings who could not call upon that number.

  Aiden and his scouts had returned. “The lord of Thirsk has five knights and twenty men at arms. His archers are but a handful. We went into the town, for it was market day and the information was easily discovered. Northallerton has a garrison of ten knights and fifteen men at arms. They have ten archers.”

  “You have done well. Now I wish you to wait close to York and let us know if any venture forth to stop our privations.”

  “Aye, lord.”

  I used Dick and Phillip of Piercebridge to act as cattle gatherers. They rode ahead in two columns to sweep around Thirsk and capture the horses, cows and sheep which had yet to be brought in from the pastures. At the same time, I would lead my two hundred knights, archers and men at arms to the hall of Sir Walter. The warm days of summer had passed and there was the chill of autumn in the air. The grain had been gathered and was now awaiting storage. The capture of Thirsk’s grain would hurt York and thereby, Stephen.

  We had to pass smaller manors to reach Thirsk. As Dick had passed this way before us they had had warning and were in their halls waiting. We ignored them. They were small and we could pick them off at our leisure. It meant, however, that Walter of Thirsk had had warning of our approach. His men had fled into their hall. The people who were too slow were left to fend for themselves. Often raided by the Scots they took to their heels as my horses approached. We let them go. We were not after slaves. They would flee to Northallerton and provide more mouths for that lord to feed. Some would, no doubt, head to York. The splash of their arrival would eventually reach Stephen; like a stone thrown into a pond. At first it would worry, then irritate and finally, frighten.

  Dick and Phillip of Piercebridge had sixty archers with them. I still had eighty with me. We reined in two hundred paces from the fortified hall. It was partly made of stone. The door was half way up the wall and reached by a ladder. The ground floor was taken up by the stables. There was one tower and in it were the handful of archers. His men at arms were not to be seen.

  “Archers, clear the tower. Slingers see if you can hit a few heads! Sir Wulfric, prepare fire. If they will not come out to fight, then we will burn them out.”

  Sir Walter lost his archers in one rain storm of missiles. Wulfric’s men used the interlude to run towards the door and place faggots beneath it. They lit them and the woods began to burn and then to smoke. I dismounted and strode towards the hall. I knew that if I shouted then they would hear me. “Sir Walter this is the Earl of Cleveland. You are surrounded and we will burn your hall. Surrender or die.”

  The smoke from the fires Sir Wulfric had lit began to smoke. The wind took it towards the hall. I waited. I began to tire of the silence. “I want fire arrows sent into the door!”

  When the arrows thudded into the door they smoked. They would not set it alight. That was not their purpose. The smoke from the faggots would continue to rise and heat up the stones. The mortar would weaken. Those inside would smell the burning and know that I meant what I had promised. The door smouldered rather than burned but after s short time a voice said, “We surrender. We have women in here.”

  “Then come out.” I turned to Richard, “Take ten men at arms and escort the knights and their families back to Stockton.”

  “Aye lord.” He looked disappointed.

  “There will be more opportunity for battle at Northallerton.”

  Wulfric spat, “Spineless! They should have fought!”

  “Sir Wulfric, they have families and you do not.”

  “Aye lord and that is why I do not have a family. They would be a hostage to fortune.”

  “And what will remain when you have gone?” He was silent.

  The five knights, three women and four children emerged first. I said, “Have you horses, Sir Walter?”

  He brightened, “Yes, Earl. Are we to be given our freedom?”

  I laughed, “I was thinking of saving your legs. You will be my guests in Stockton until I have ransom. You have family with land and money do you not?”

  He looked at me glumly, “We do.”


  Just then the men at arms began to emerge. Seeing us gather their lord as prisoner five of them bolted. They did not get far. My archers made their backs look like hedgehogs. “The rest of you, if you wish to die then run! Otherwise lay your weapons down. Wilfred, have their hands bound.”

  Sir Walter asked, “What will you do with them?”

  “I know not yet. If I deserved the reputation your people have given me then I would hang them but I am a fair lord. We will feed them and we will give them beds.” I pointed to Sir Walter’s squire, “You, take your horse and ride to York. Tell the Sheriff that I have Sir Walter and his knights. Tell him to send ransom to my castle.”

  Happy to be free he said, “Aye lord!” and raced to get his horse before I could change my mind.

  After Richard had taken his charges away we began to search the hall for food and valuables. They had done a poor job of burying the gold and the jewels. The earth was freshly turned. The lowing of cattle and the neighing of horses heralded the arrival of my archers.

  Dick looked to be in good spirits. “A hundred head of cattle, lord, and twenty horses. There are five colts who would be warhorses. They must have thought them valuable as the four horse guards were willing to die for them.”

  “Sir Phillip have your archers take them to my castle. Sir Richard is on his way there already. We will divide them up when this raid is over.”

  We ate well that night. We slaughtered two of the cattle and four sheep. While we ate, I summoned Ralph of Nottingham. “Speak with the captured men at arms. If any of them are worth taking on, then let me know.”

  “Yes lord.”

  I knew that by the time it was late evening that the word would have reached both Northallerton and York that I was hunting. Northallerton would be fortifying its walls and preparing for battle. Men would be marching from York to come to its aid. More importantly the Sheriff would have sent a message south. It would not bring Stephen immediately but it would give him pause for thought.

  The next morning, we left and headed north. I had twenty archers remain in Thirsk to watch for the column which would try to fight us. We reached Northallerton in less than four hours. The captured men at arms were made to run. It would drive any thoughts of escape from them. There was a castle at Northallerton but it was a wooden one. A motte and bailey structure it would not long stand a siege. We surrounded it.

  “Do we build a ram, lord?”

  “There is no need, Sir Harold. We have it completely surrounded and they are going nowhere. Unless I miss my guess we will have an enemy to fight by dark when the men of York come to bring us to battle. Make sure that the men have rest. Ralph, fetch the men you said were amenable to change.”

  Eight of the men at arms had said they wished to serve me. Ralph brought them before my knights and me. “My man at arms has said that you might be willing to serve me.”

  “Aye lord.” They all spoke up.

  Wulfric growled, “The Earl would expect a little more in the way of a backbone than you showed yesterday.”

  One of them, a huge warrior, was not intimidated, “I am William of Wiske and I would have fought on but when the knights who lead you do not then why fight?”

  I nodded, “You will find that my men fight. If you wish to fight for me then swear an oath on my sword. The pommel stone is taken from that of King Harold. It will bind you to me.”

  They all did as I asked and I had another eight men. This was the first time I had fought and ended up with more men than I started.

  We lit fires around their walls. My men foraged for what they had not managed to take inside the castle. We found chickens, sheep and a goat. I had my men pointedly cook them before their walls. It would make those within even hungrier for they would be on short rations already. A siege could last months. Each of my knights was responsible for one sector of the siege works. Realistically we were just a line of warriors. We had neither trenches nor ramparts. We did have horses and I hoped that they would sally forth but they did not.

  My men returned from Stockton the next morning. Before that Edgar rode in, “Lord, Aiden sent me. Knights and men at arms are heading up the road from York. He is shadowing them.”

  “Good. Keep watch on them.”

  We had time to prepare. I knew they would have to come up the Thirsk Road. The land was flat and would suit horses. Leaving a third of my men to watch the town I led other two hundred south of the town. I had fought the burghers of York before and I would not fight them the same way. Previously I had used stakes and traps. They would be expecting that. I would use my horses as a weapon. I mounted my archers. By placing them all on the flanks I had two mobile weapons which would be faster than the lumbering men who marched towards us. Dick commanded half and Phillip the other seventy-five. My knights and men at arms I retained in the centre. I had just fifteen men in the front rank. It meant we had ten ranks of men at arms and squires. I placed the squires in the fifth rank. They would be used when we had broken their attack. We dismounted and we waited. The boy slingers could guard the horses.

  The archers I had left in Thirsk galloped in during the middle of the afternoon. “They come lord. They are just two miles behind us.”

  “How many are there, Aelric?”

  “We counted thirty banners. They have a hundred men mounted and two hundred on foot.”

  “The fyrd?”

  “About eighty are fyrd. They are at the rear.”

  “And who leads them?”

  “De Waleran.”

  “Good, join Dick and his men.” I waved James forward. “You will ride next to me with my banner. You have Wulfric on your right.”

  “Thank you for the honour, lord.”

  “Take care and survive but keep my banner prominently displayed. Mount!”

  My army mounted. The enemy had marched since dawn both men and horses would be tired. If I had led them then I would have made camp and attacked when fresh but De Waleran would be keen to impress Stephen. He would try to defeat me through sheer weight of numbers. He did not know that I had almost as many men as he did. The fact that only two thirds of my army faced him was irrelevant.

  The old Roman Road meant we saw them when they were three quarters of a mile away. Dick and Phillip knew what they had to do. There would be no trumpets to warn the enemy. They would advance and see us squatting, like a toad, across the road. They halted half a mile from us and I saw a conference as banners gathered at their front.

  “I hope they do not think we outnumber them and withdraw lord. My sword arm yearns for work.”

  “Do not worry, Wulfric. If they camp, then we will attack their camp but I think they will attack. The fyrd have a habit of drifting off. See how De Waleran has a line of horsemen behind the fyrd. It is to discourage desertion. He will fight. If he does not, then he will lose a large part of his army this night. Ready your lances.”

  I saw that the men of York had decided to fight. They placed the knights and mounted men at arms on the flanks. They thought that my mounted archers were just lightly armed horsemen. They would sweep them from the field while their men on foot held us off. It would have been a good plan if my flanks were not made up of men with bows.

  They began to advance. The foot naturally moved slower than the horses. My archers moved off as though they were going to face and fight the enemy horse. I saw the shields of the men from York come around and their lances were lowered as they prepared to strike my horsemen. Suddenly both sets of archers turned. Dick took his east and Phillip, west. It looked as though they were fleeing. The men of York had anticipated a foe being before them and they were riding hard. They did not stop but wheeled to converge on us. Had we remained still then it would have gone ill for us.

  “For Henry and the Empress!” I spurred Rolf and my horse leapt forward. Our horses had been well rested and we were ready.

  With the attention of the men of York on us my two bands of horseman had halted, strung their bows and began to send their deadly arrows into the
backs of the knights and men at arms. My squires and the warriors behind waited. Just sixty men would strike the bulk of the Yorkist army. I had given De Waleran a dilemma. He was with those on foot. I heard his horn sound as he tried to recall his horses for they had lost cohesion and were without purpose. Attacked by archers some turned to face the new foe. Others carried on towards my squires while a few charged the flanks of my men. Whatever advantage they had had in numbers was now lost.

  I was slightly ahead of James and Wulfric. My banner fluttered above James. He would lower it and use it as a spear when we closed with the enemy. I pulled back my hand and punched at the man at arms in the front rank. He pulled his shield up for protection. My lance shattered as it struck the top of his shield and his helmet but the force felled him. Falling backwards he made a hole in the line and, as I pulled back on Rolf’s reins, he reared and clattered the next man whose spear was still vertical. I punched to the side with my shield as I drew my sword.

  The wolf on my shield and my banner had been recognised and as Rolf and I sliced through the heart of the men of York I heard a wail, “It is the Warlord!”

  Wulfric, Harold and the rest of my knights had smashed through the front ranks and panic spread amongst our enemies. One man at arms hacked at my leg with his spear. The mail on my legs stopped the blade from cutting but it was a powerful blow. I would feel it in the morning. He had used two hands to make the strike and he paid the price as my sword sliced across his neck. Continuing forward I used the tip of my sword to pierce the eye of the knight who tried to rally the men around him. Before me lay the fyrd. Or they would have done had not the sight of Rolf rearing his hooves and my men heading towards them made them forget their fear of the men behind and flee.

  We hit the line of horsemen when they were not moving. As we rode war horses they simply bowled over the smaller palfreys of the men at arms. I caught a spear on my shield and then swept my sword sideways to bite into the side of the man at arms. He had poor mail and the links severed easily.