Magna Carta (Border Knight Book 4)

by Griff Hosker

  The baron arrived. He shouted, “I wondered when you would get here, Earl. Those knights you thought to coerce have joined me here. If you wish me to support a nine-year-old king then I fear you are wasting your time.”

  “You would rather follow a French King?” He did not answer. “King Henry and the Council of regents have empowered me to give you the choice of swearing an oath of fealty to King Henry or suffering the consequences if you do not.”

  “And what would they be?”

  I paused so that my words would have the greatest effect. “Excommunication.” His silence was eloquent. “I have brought Father Abelard with me so that he can attest to the truth of what I say.” Father Abelard nodded.

  “I do not believe you. Why would the Pope do that? He excommunicated Henry’s father for many years.”

  “And now Cardinal Bicchieri is a supporter of King Henry who has promised to go on Holy Crusade!”

  “I would say you lie but this sounds like a plan of yours. You are ever cunning. It makes no difference to me. I do not believe you.”

  “Then I suggest that you speak with your people for some of them may not relish the removal of God’s grace. They know, as does all of England that I never lie. I will return in two days, Baron. If you need me earlier you will find me feasting on Warkworth beef.”

  As we turned Sir William laughed, “Each time I ride with you, Sir Thomas I learn something new. A clever barb about the cattle right at the end; I could almost hear the hunger pangs already.”

  Father Abelard said, “The baron is being unfair to his people if he does not tell them of the Pope’s decision. A man’s soul is more precious than either land or gold.”

  “You are right Father Abelard but de Clavering seeks power and coin. That is why he rebels. Men’s souls do not worry him.”

  That evening Sir Edward and my men returned with more animals and blunted swords. “Trouble?”

  “Sir Geoffrey of Ulgham and his men objected when we took their animals.”

  “You told them of the excommunication?”

  “Aye, lord. We did as you said. We asked the baron to choose the King or Prince Louis. He said he could not support a boy.” We took the animals and he and his men tried to take them back.” Three of his men died before he withdrew.”

  “Tomorrow I will send David and his archers further south. We need to know if our enemies move upon us. I cannot believe that de Vesci and de Percy will sit behind their walls while we ride through their land.”

  “It could be that they fear you.”

  I shook my head. “That may be true of de Clavering but not the other two. They have too high an opinion of themselves.”

  My decision was one of the wisest that I ever took. Before noon David rode in, “Lord, there is an army heading from Morthpath. I saw the banners of your enemies. They are coming to relieve the siege.”

  We did not have long. “Alfred, ride around the castle. Tell Baron Stanhope that I need his knights and most of his men at arms. He should leave enough men to prevent the enemy sortieing. You should be able to find a ford upstream. It is vital that they join us.”

  “Aye lord.”

  “William, find Ridley and bring him here. Sir Edward have the knights prepare for battle.” As they left I turned to David of Wales. “We will use the ridge and Gloster Hill to meet them. We anchor one flank in the village and tempt them to ride betwixt the ridge and the river. Have your archers on that flank.”

  He smiled, “The ground there is boggy and muddy, lord. It will be a death trap.”

  The hill was the highest point for miles around. I had used the potential of such a hill at Bylnge and although this was a pimple in comparison, it would serve. Our stakes now faced the wrong direction but, as they protected the village they would help deter an outflanking movement. When William and Ridley arrived, I explained what I needed. Ridley the Giant was calmness personified. “Consider it done, lord.”

  William helped me to dress for war. “Today William you will take over from Alfred and you will carry my standard. It is a hard task.”

  “I know, Alfred has been instructing me. I need my shield and I cannot use a sword. My skills as a horseman will be sorely tested.”

  “Good and you must stay behind me for I will instruct you to signal with the banner.”

  “I will.”

  A bedraggled Alfred led the knights and men at arms of Durham to join me. We had to array them quickly for one of David’s archers rode in to say that the enemy were at Hauxley. The would be upon us soon. I mounted Flame and rode to the hill’s peak so that I could see my men. We had interspersed knights and men at arms. We only had enough for a double line. Some archers made a third rank but the bulk of our bow men were on our right flank where I was leaving a sufficient gap on the other side of the small farm, to tempt them to try to flank us.

  This time there would be no preamble. The rebel barons would form lines of battle and charge. Even as they began to move into position I saw that they outnumbered us but, once again, it was in men on foot and not knights. Had we not ensured that many rebels had switched sides then we might have faced overwhelming numbers. This was why they came. I was eating in to their support. I needed to be removed. If they had planned this well then de Clavering would sortie behind us once we were engaged. I had Father Abelard and the servants watching north.

  When the rebels deployed before us I saw that they had strengthened their left. They were going to try to flank us up the narrow beck. David and his archers would thin their ranks as they attempted to join up with the forces in the castle. Whoever was leading the rebels, and I suspected it was de Percy, thought that they had me trapped against the sea, the river and the castle.

  The enemy horns sounded. “Stand to!” Our men at arms and knights were on the slope. They had a curved double line behind which the archers stood. I had just twenty knights and squires with me. We were the only reserve but as most of the knights were my own household knights I was confident that we could deal with any break in our line. The ground was still frozen hard except for the ground twenty paces in front of my men at arms and knights. That had been softened and churned up as we had moved over it. The whole rebel line came as one. Their crossbows and archers were before their knights, men at arms and levy.

  The forty archers who were behind my lines let loose their arrows. David and the bulk of my bowmen waited. The forty arrows struck the advancing men. They did not look to see the results of their work, they kept loosing arrow after arrow. We had plenty of arrows and the fact that just one in five found flesh was expensive. They were being thinned and they had not even reached the muddy ground. When they were fifty paces from my men at arms a horn sounded and the rebel knights charged. When they hit the muddy ground, it was as though they had struck ice for their horses could not keep their footing. As horses slipped then men were hit. When their line struck ours, there was the sound of spears shattering. On slightly higher ground our spears hit faces and helmets while the men of Northumberland struck shields. The cries and shouts told me that men had been hurt.

  On our right the heavier press of men had already begun to flow around Henry Youngblood and the men at arms of Stanhope and Spennymoor. David of Wales shouted, “Draw!” I was close enough to hear the creak of yew as the bows were pulled back. When he shouted, “Release!” it was as though a hundred birds had taken flight at once. I turned my attention back to the centre. Our men were holding while on our left the rebels were making no headway at all. Sir Fótr and the knights of Durham were like rocks. Their spears were broken and now they were hewing heads with their swords. They were fighting men at arms and Sir Fótr and the knights who followed him were winning. When I looked to the right I saw that de Percy, who led that attack had pushed my men at arms back but, in his wake, he left a muddy field littered with bodies.

  I saw an opportunity. “William stay here with the standard. Knights, dismount!” If my knights were confused by my command they said nothing. We had b
een visible on our horses and now we disappeared for the fighting warriors obscured us. I waved my spear and led the knights and their squires towards the river and the sea. As we dropped down Gloster Hill towards Amble I said, “Mount!”

  Once mounted we rode around the houses and huts which made up Amble. I did not form line. Instead I just shouted, “Charge!”

  With spears levelled we burst out from behind the buildings and behind the men at arms. There were just forty of us but our approach had been as silent as men creeping at night. It was only when we galloped that they knew we were there. As I speared a man at arms in the side there was a wail which rippled west. Our archers were now causing greater casualties. I stabbed another man at arms and then spied Eustace de Vesci. I spurred Flame and he responded immediately. The rebel baron had to turn his horse and disengage from Sir Richard of Fissebourne. Two men at arms tried to intercept me but arrows from the archers on the hill hit them in the back. I pulled back my arm and rammed it at de Vesci. He was a strong man. My spear smashed into his shield and then the head embedded itself in his shoulder. Still he kept his saddle. Spurring his horse and with blood pouring from his wound he and his squire galloped across my front. I was alone and by the time I had drawn my sword he was gone. I had to fight off two of his men at arms and it might have ended badly had not Alfred, now with a spear instead of a standard appeared and speared one, allowing me to hack into the arm of the other. I heard de Percy’s horn and the rebels fell back. We had won.

  We could not give pursuit. We had been hard pressed and most of my men were dismounted. Instead our line surged forward and those that did not surrender were butchered. We had no ransom for the knights fled and left just the dead. We saw to our wounded and then David of Wales sent archers to follow the rebels. I wanted to know where they were going.

  As we ate, around our campfires David of Stanhope asked, “Why do you not speak with de Clavering? He might surrender.”

  “Oh he will surrender but I want you and your knights to return to the town. I will give him a night to wonder and to worry. When I make my demands then he will surrender.”

  William was full of the battle. It was the first time he had carried the banner. Although he had not joined his brother in the charge he had been instrumental in fixing the enemy’s attention on our banner. I had not had to risk him. I praised him and saw him grow. “And you did well Alfred. Those men at arms might have done for me. I made the cardinal error of charging too far.”

  “I was with you lord and you would have beaten those two. I just did that which I was supposed to do. I watched your back.”

  The next morning, we returned to the gate. I did not give de Clavering the chance to speak. “Your plan failed! You were the bait and de Vesci and de Percy thought to trap me against this castle. That is why you did not raise the drawbridge! Had you had more courage then you might have obeyed your orders and sallied forth but you did not and now you have lost. Surrender and swear allegiance or suffer the consequences.”

  “Consequences?”

  “You have more mouths in the castle than you can feed. Who will starve and who will die? People have long memories. Last night there were voices in your castle speaking of excommunication and a punishment from God.” The guilty look he gave to the priest next to him confirmed what I had conjectured. “We are happy to sit here until disease and famine are rife. When you are struck with the pestilence then you will beg us to help you and we will not. You surrender now and bend the knee or you will all die. Men, women, children and the old!”

  I saw his men at arms looking at each other. The baron was considering his options and he had few. He nodded, “We surrender and I will swear an oath to King Henry!”

  Chapter 15

  The Battle of Lincoln

  We spent twenty days in the north. De Vesci and de Percy locked themselves in their castles. We left them alone. They were finished as a fighting force. We reached our homes at the end of January. We had little ransom and treasure to show but what we did have was a peaceful north and the end of the rebel threat. Of course, I knew that if the Earl Marshal lost in the south then Prince Louis would come north and reignite the flames of rebellion. But I had done my duty.

  There were letters waiting for me when I reached my home. Sir Ralph had defeated Robert de Ros the Baron of Helmsley and he had forced the rebel knight to swear an oath. It meant there were no major barons left to defy King Henry in the north. The campaign had cost us men and, being fought in winter, had diminished our horses. But we had won! For the next two months we worked to become a fighting force again. I learned from the Earl Marshal that despite his best efforts Prince Louis had failed to take Dover Castle. A siege of three months had not succeeded and he had withdrawn.

  Alfred began to prepare to become a knight. All the work he had done with Petr now helped him. I told him that he would have to wait until William could function as a true squire and not just a standard bearer.

  “There is no rush, father. I am still learning but I would be a knight for I saw, at Warkworth, that you need more men like Sir Edward and Sir William. The knights who were your squires fight better than any others. One day William will follow me and become a knight too.”

  I nodded, “And you need to look around for someone who can become your squire. Candidates are not as common as you might think.”

  Another missive arrived in April. Prince Louis had returned to the siege of Dover while his other leaders and the rebels tried to push out from London. The Earl Marshal might have been old but he was showing that he had lost neither his fighting spirit nor his skill. I began to believe that there was hope.

  As the new grass appeared and our animals had their young, my eldest daughter, Rebekah became a woman. Unlike my sons who knew that when they became a man, they would bear arms and become a warrior or some might choose to be a priest, for a woman there was little choice. Rebekah had no suitors and that, along with her changed state, mean that she and her mother were like jousting knights. The land might have been at peace but not so my hall. There were arguments and rows which disturbed all. That was why my Aunt Ruth was a godsend. She had lived alone for most of her life. Her husband, Sir Ralph of Gainford had been slain by the Scots. When Rebekah began to complain and moan it was Aunt Ruth who dealt with her. Rebekah and my wife clashed too often. My aunt had a way of diverting aggression and making Rebekah think about her life.

  However, after she had calmed her down for the fourth time in as many days, Aunt Ruth said, “You need a celebration.”

  “Celebration? We have little to celebrate, Aunt Ruth.”

  She laughed, “Half empty Thomas! Of course, you do. You have your life to celebrate. You lost all and were abandoned by your King yet look at you now! You are one of the five or six most influential barons in the land. From what Alfred has told me the King holds you in equal esteem with the Earl Marshal! High praise indeed but I do not speak of a celebration now. This needs to be planned. Rebekah needs something to anticipate. She needs a stage on which she can be seen. This summer she will see fourteen summers. King Henry’ mother had been married for two years when she was that age. You plan for Alfred to be knighted?” I nodded. “Then choose a date and make it into something worthy, a feast, a festival. Make it special so that knights and their families will come. Rebekah can help to plan it. It will make her work so that she is too tired to be argumentative. Midsummer’s Day! This would be a propitious time.”

  I was not convinced but, after speaking with my wife, who thought it a wonderful idea, I mentioned it next to Alfred. “If you think I am ready, father then so be it. I would prefer to wait a year or two.”

  I liked the honesty of his answer but it did not help me. However, when I confided in him the real reason he changed completely. “I will do it for my sister. I am glad that I was not born a woman. I would hate to sit at home while others went to war.”

  Rebekah was delighted! Peace reigned in my land and in my home. While Rebekah and her mother plann
ed a feast I sat with Geoffrey, my steward and Alfred and we planned a war. The latest letter from the south had told us that Prince Louis had left the siege of Dover and was leading an army north. They were already at Northampton. Geoffrey had already gathered the supplies we would need. We had spare spears and the local fletchers had been making arrows since the battle of Warkworth.

  Alfred said, “But the Earl has not yet sent for us. Why is that, father?”

  “He has armies to hand. There are more men now than he once had. He must keep pressure on the army besieging Dover and watch Prince Louis. He does not yet know where he needs us. We are the surprise. All will think that we are staying in the north. They will not expect us. Can you imagine the effect of our banner on a battlefield? However, if we leave too soon then they can plan for us. We will receive a command but it will come by rider and we will need to leave within hours of the message. That is why we sit here and Geoffrey looks at his lists and his wax tablets.”

  My steward smiled, “It is another lesson for you, Master Alfred, on your road to winning the spurs. From what I have seen being a knight is only partially about going to war. Your father has to know how to fight the peace too!” He rose. “I will go and see the tanner. It would not do for baldrics to break at the wrong time.”

  When he had gone Alfred asked, “You know who you will take?”

  “I do. I intend to leave the knights of Durham here. I will leave Sir William in my stead. He needs to spend more time with his wife.” His lady had been ill during his last absence. As his sons were with him on campaign she had had to endure it with just her daughters. William had felt guilty. “The rest I will take and Sir Ralph and Sir Peter. From the letters I have had from de la Gray the County of York is stable now.”