[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (21 page)

An hour later Alan was pleasantly surprised to find
twenty-two
men standing in the
Hall
. Four were his own, including Owain.
Most were Englishmen.

“Good evening,
Hlaford
!
”
he began. “You’ve just volunteered for special service. As ‘men of the forest’ you have special skills. Firstly, tomorrow you’ll be hunting wildlife to feed the army, since the supplies have just about run out and it’ll be several days before we get more from Chester. Several of you will be tracking the herds that the villagers have tried to hide. They’ll be out there, within a mile or so, in a clearing in the forest. Find them.

“The day after
tomorrow
we march north up the Clwyd Valley. You’ve seen what the valleys are like here
- d
ense forest with
thick undergrowth. And, as we
’
ve found out so far, a bowman behind every bush. Those other bastards in the army couldn’t find their arse if they used both hands and a map.
I’m
sick of people trying to shoot arrows in my back. I’m sure
you
are. It’s time for us to go hunting men- the most danger
ous game!

“
You’ll go ahead of the army, on foot with several men who you trust to be not
too
loud in the forest to watch your back. I’m sure you can train them to move quietly
,
since your liv
e
s
will depend on it. We’ll have ten scouting groups each of six men, under your command and direction. Small groups of Welshmen you will kill yourselves
;
report back
any
larger groups
you find
for us to send
you
support. The army will move
as fast or
as
slow as you direct.

“
I want every bush checked. I want to know the name of every fucking fox! The only Welshman I want to see is one with your arrow in his back! Take your time. Do it right. The Welsh will expect it to be easy. They’re used to both us blundering about like blind oxen and
won’t expect to be hunted. Don’t
you
expect it to be easy
- i
t won’t. The Welsh know each valley, every stand of trees and every stream. They already know the names of the damn foxes. We need to move
safely
across unfamiliar country, but as quickly as we can. But I’m sure that any competent poacher… sorry
hunter
… can be blindfolded and still be able to tell if there is a warrior within
100
paces.

“We’re going to leave behind us a trail of dead Welshmen who never even knew we were there. Whatever weapons you want are yours
. If anybody doesn’t have a bow
, let me know. Any questions? No? Good hunting!”

*
* 
*
*

The following morning dawned overcast and soon rain began to drizzle down. Alan arranged for his
own
‘huntsmen’
,
Owain, Wulfric, Leofwin
e
and Swein
,
to track where the local livestock had been hidden.
The hunters were set loose before four in the forenoon- d
awn was very early. Apart from Alan’s four men, six others went into the local forests to hunt wildlife.

Twelve other poachers went to hunt men, departing on foot and most taking with them one or two men who they took the opportunity to train to move silently and to whom they could whisper the secrets of the forest.

Those hunting food had quick success. Wildlife teemed in the river and forest. Owain quickly found the tracks to where the swine had been driven. They were a mile or so from the village
,
feasting on acorns from the oak trees.
T
wo swineherds ran off as soon as the English appeared. A small herd of cattle was found by Leofwine
and
again the herdsmen decamped quickly. Other hunters found herds of deer or wild cattle, additional men being called in to kill the wild animals before the
y
could escape- unlike the domesticated animals wh
ich
returned happily to the village and their fate.

Large fires were lit to smoke and dry meat and fish to last for the next few days. Other
animals
were roasted or boiled for immediate consumption. Vegetables, once picked, were boiled for use that day or p
laced
into sacks for future use
- p
eas, beans,
cabbage and carrots. The only regret of the men was that there was no bread and no ale.

To the north the poachers were having success
in locating the enemy, but not
yet killing
them
. T
en
groups of hunters moved silently on foot down the path through the trees and tangled undergrowth on the west
side
of the river, leaving before first light
. A
nother two pairs work
ed
down the path on the east of the river. As expected, the enemy was on the west of the river. They knew where the invaders were and where they were most likely to go. It would make little sense for the Anglo-Norman force to cross the river at Denbigh and then do the same again to cross back onto the west bank at St Asaph, at the confluence of the Rivers Elwy and Clwyd.

Moving in conjunction
,
the Anglo-Norman scouts moved fifty o
r
so paces at a time through the trees on each side of the path, avoiding the path itself. One pair would creep forward, carefully scan the forest and listen. They were seeking not only the direct signs of the enemy, but also the sights and sounds of the forest that would indicate the presence of danger. When satisfied they would wave one of the supporting pairs forward.

The discipline of the Welsh warriors was less than perfect. They could
often
be heard talking, about what the Anglo-Normans knew not as they were speaking Welsh, but presumably grumbling about the rain
which
was now falling
more
heavi
ly
. In other cases their location was given away by the birds, or a few times just by the
feeling
that somebody was watching and that
something
foreign was in the forest. Then the scouts would pause until either satisfied they were wrong
or had located
the men sitting in ambush.

Each ambush site was carefully mentally recorded and they reached the edge of the forest near St Asaph a little before noon
. There they
turn
ed
and beginning the journey back. The return was quicker
- t
he positions of the enemy were known but not taken for granted. The
same procedure was followed as before, but in a more abbreviated manner. No additional ambush places were
located
on the
return
, but the hunters did take the time to diverge and follow pathways to the nearby hills where the
y found
large caves. Groups of people could be seen
; s
omet
imes these were solely warriors;
other times they were villagers who had taken shelter. Occasionally the caves were used to house livestock. Again, note was taken for later report.

After the scouts returned Alan spent half the night in discussions with them, with a large piece of parchment, quill and ink. Although illiterate, the huntsmen had the incredibly retentive memories that the unlettered usually possess. They’d paid particular attention to their surroundings and could describe the journey virtually step by step. Alan carefully recorded the information from each
man
onto the parchment.

Next morning the army, with replete stomachs after a large breakfast and carrying meat and vegetables for a week of campaigning, moved out well before first light. The hunters acted as pointer-dogs, bringing small parties of soldiers within close range of the unsuspecting Welshmen, who were then attacked from the rear or the flank
s
. Of the
23
ambush points identified, only two notice
d the
approaching
danger in time to resist.

The caves containing the villagers were left
unmolested
, although Alan had to argue long and hard with fitzOsbern to achieve that, citing the need to move quickly and the unnecessary delay that would occur. The earl wanted to visit vengeance on every man, woman and child in Wales, but an argument that they needed to stay focused, stay compact and move quickly if they were to be successful won the day. The caves with livestock were visited and, to the regret of all, the animals
were
slaughtered except a few
driven off
to be cooked for the
army
pot
s
that night. Cattle, swine and sheep were worth money, but not here and now. They couldn’t drove them to England through hostile territory and they were the main wealth of the Welsh hillsmen. Killing them removed the wea
lth of the Vale for many years.

The caves with warriors w
ere
another matter entirely. No soldier willingly proceeds in enemy territory with a known force of the enemy behind them and
100
men were sent to each such cave to attack with stealth and without warning. Over
100
ponies were taken, putting more of the invaders on horseback
-
although with no overall improvement in the pace of advance, which had to be that of the slowest foot-soldier
.
However
,
the horses
offered greater mobility and options for later. Many of the Norman bowmen swapped their weapons for the superior bows used by the Welsh
, taking these
and the larger arrows
from slain Welshmen
.

From Denbigh to St Asaph was a little more than nine miles. Moving with caution, taking out the ambushers and clearing the caves, they pa
ssed into the vale of the Afon Elwy
and saw St Asaph a short distance ahead. The few lookouts were easily dealt with, as the
Welsh thought
enemy were nine miles away and no warning of their approach had been received.

The Welsh village was unprepared and unsuspecting. St Asaph had a long history, back to the Romans and before. It had
a Celtic monastery
, despite its small size of less than
500
souls
. William fitzOsbern sent a group of trusted men to guard the gate of the monastery with the first wave to attack the village. The men had been strictly instructed not to burn the village- or at least not until they
departed
. As the Anglo-Norman force approached from the
south, a stream of villagers
fled into the forest to the west and north, meaning that there were few people in the village when fitzOsbern’s men entered. This was by no means a disadvantage as it minimised problems with controlling the men. Only a few aged and sick remained, and
the
few who were caring for them were generally left
unmolested
. And
there were
the monks in the monastery.

Prior Gryffyd met William fitzOsbern at the gate of the monastery and invited him inside. Alan and the other officers were busy trying to
maintain
control of the men sacking the village, to ensure an orderly looting with no disputes between the looters and a minimum of rapine and destruction. Stripping the village clean took little time. There were barely forty
rough cottages with minimal contents of value and many soldiers doing the searching. The village, poor as it was, did replenish the food supplies,
and
allow
ed
bread to be baked while the men gathered vegetables and killed and cooked swine and chickens. Between the contents of the cottages and the tavern there was enough ale for each man to sup a quart, much to their satisfaction as
all
knew that water is unhealthy
to drink
.

The scouts were already working their way downriver to the next village of Rhuddlan, a little over three miles away. Alan would have liked to push on and secure Rhuddlan that afternoon while the enemy were still unawares and unprepared, but accepted that moving professional troops away from a village that had not
yet
been thoroughly looted was impossible and that
t
he
y
would have to be satisfied with one village a day.

Rhuddlan was an important place. It was strategically located on the middle of the north coast of Wales on the coast road between Caernarfon and Chester,
and
at the lowest point that the River Clwyd could be bridged. As the seat of Cantref Rhos
,
and formerly the seat of the
then
Welsh k
ing Gruffydd ap Llywelyn until just five years previously, Alan was hopeful that King Bleddyn would make a stand there
- n
ot that Alan
expected fitzOsbern
to fight fair. Hereto
on the march along the river
they had encountered mainly local forces and fought with superiority of numbers and equipment. Now they may face warriors called together by the
ir
king, who could call on several thousand men and outnumber the invaders.