Warlord of the North (26 page)

Philip shouted, "Archers dismount!"

We now had archers within and without the wagon. The ones in the wagon had their bows strung.  They were ready to release as soon as the enemy closed within their range. We drew swords and prepared to meet them. We could have fought on foot but I knew that the enemy horses would baulk at the barrier of the wagon.  I wondered if the leader of these men knew that.  As they came I saw just one knight.  These were men at arms.  The livery was that of De Brus but not the standard. He had sent a lesser knight to do this deed.

Philip shouted, "Release!" and the ten archers in the wagon sent their shafts at the enemy.  They aimed and five arrows found their targets.  One horse slewed around and slid to the ground mortally wounded. One man at arms clutched his arm.

"Release!"

This time the archers behind the wagon released their arrows high in the air.  These were blind strikes but they kept releasing.  It meant that the men at arms had to put their shields up to prevent the arrows from hitting them. I suspect their mail was not the best. The closer they came to us the greater the impact of the arrows.  I saw the knight take an arrow in the narrow gap between the brow of his helmet and his coif.  He was thrown backwards over his saddle.

And then they were within sword range.  As I had expected their horses turned rather than risk the wall of horses and wagon. The leading man at arms brought his sword around to hack at my body.  I blocked it with my shield and sliced down with my own sword.  He could not both strike and defend.  My sword sliced through the mail and lopped off his arm below the elbow.

A spear clattered into the side of my helmet. The straps broke and my helmet fell from my head.  Gilles' sword stabbed out and found a gap under the arm of the man at arms.  He wheeled away.  And then Wulfric went berserk. Perhaps it was the sight of my helmet flying from my head or the fact that it was my squire who had saved my life.  Whatever the reason he gave a roar and spurred his horse into the heart of the whirling men at arms. He stood in the saddle and whirled his axe in a wide circle. Those who were slow to duck and dive out of the way were struck.  Two men fell to the ground. One was mortally wounded. My other men at arms exploited the gap created by Wulfric and followed him into the heart of the enemy.

I spurred Rolf and rode at the man at arms who was levelling his spear to take a wild Wulfric in the back.  He did not see me coming as he pulled back his arm to strike what would be a fatal blow. I rode across the rear of his horse and swung my sword horizontally across his cantle. My blade bit through his mail and into his flesh.  He threw his arms into the air and the spear fell to the ground. A second enemy wheeled his horse to face me.  He too had a spear and, seeing that my helmet had gone aimed his spear at my head.  It was a mistake.  I raised my shield, ducked behind it and arrowed my hand towards his middle.  The spear head slipped over my shield and rose up.  He impaled himself upon my sword.  Such was the collision that my hand was only stopped by his middle.  It took all of my strength to keep hold of my sword.

As I recovered my blade I looked around and saw that the enemy were fleeing.  We had broken them. I raised my sword in triumph and my men cheered. Then I heard Edgar, "My lord, it is Wulfric.  He has fallen."

I looked around and saw that Wulfric lay on the ground.  Blood was coming from his side.  He opened his eyes, "I am sorry lord, I lost my temper, I fear, for the last time."

"Don't you dare die on me, Wulfric! I have to chastise you when you are well!"

And then his eyes closed.

Wulfric took until after Yule to recover. The wound was a deep one and had required over thirty stitches.  I worried that his shield arm would not be as strong again but Wulfric, once he was up and about was confident that he would be as strong after as he was before.

The snows followed us home. The grey scudding clouds had given way to heavy snow laden ones.  We were lucky to get the
'Adela'
away before winter set in. I entrusted my message to Gilles. He would tell Leofric who would, in turn, tell the Empress. I impressed upon Gilles the need to make my views and position clear. I would have gone myself but I feared for the mischief which De Brus, Mandeville and the Scots might cause in my absence. Wulfric's wound decided me. We watched
'Adela'
disappear into a white storm of whirling snow.  I did not envy him the journey but knew that once he had passed Dover then the weather would marginally improve and by the time he reached the Loire it would be like an English autumn.

It was not just the weather which made us an island.  We were now totally surrounded by enemies. The Archbishop had made it quite clear to me that the Bishop of Durham was no longer neutral.  Stephen the Usurper had allowed the Palatinate to pay less taxes in return for tightening their borders with us. Our only door to the outside world was the Tees and we were now left with one ship tied to our jetty.  That would be our only escape. I knew that, realistically, I would never take that way out but for the women who stood by their knights it would be a way out.  For the rest of us we stood behind our walls and we watched as winter tightened its icy grip.  We had survived one year of the reign of Stephen of Blois.  Until now he had allowed us to live.  I had spurned his offer of friendship and now it would be war, to the death. I was truly a Warlord and I was fighting, as my father had done, to preserve a way of life. The spirit of the Housecarl lived on in me and my men.

Allaghia- a subdivision of a Bandon-about 400 hundred men (Byzantium)

Akolouthos - The commander of the Varangian Guard (Byzantium)

Al-Andalus- Spain

Angevin- the people of Anjou, mainly the ruling family

Bandon- Byzantine regiment of cavalry -normally 1500 men (Byzantium)

Battle- a formation in war (a modern battalion)

Booth Castle – Bewcastle north of Hadrian’s Wall

Butts- targets for archers

Cadge- the frame upon which hunting birds are carried (by a codger- hence the phrase old codger being the old man who carries the frame)

Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd- Son of Gruffudd ap Cynan

chausses
- mail leggings. (They were separate- imagine lady's stockings!)

Conroi- A group of knights fighting together

Demesne- estate

Destrier- war horse

Doxy- prostitute

Fess- a horizontal line in heraldry

Galloglass- Irish mercenaries

Gambeson- a padded tunic worn underneath mail.  When worn by an archer they came to the waist. It was more of a quilted jacket but I have used the term freely

Gonfanon- A standard used in Medieval times (Also known as a Gonfalon in Italy)

Gruffudd ap Cynan- King of Gwynedd until 1137

Hartness- the manor which became Hartlepool

Hautwesel- Haltwhistle

Kataphractos (pl. oi)- Armoured Byzantine horseman (Byzantium)

Kometes/Komes- General (Count) (Byzantium)

Kentarchos- Second in command of an Allaghia (Byzantium)

Kontos (pl. oi) - Lance (Byzantium)

Lusitania- Portugal

Mansio- staging houses along Roman Roads

Maredudd ap Bleddyn- King of Powys

Mêlée- a medieval fight between knights

Mummer- an actor from a medieval tableau

Musselmen- Muslims

Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)

Nomismata- a gold coin equivalent to an aureus

Outremer- the kingdoms of the Holy Land

Owain ap Gruffudd- Son of Gruffudd ap Cynan and King of Gwynedd from 1137

Palfrey- a riding horse

Poitevin- the language of Aquitaine

Pyx- a box containing a holy relic (Shakespeare’s Pax from Henry V)

Refuge- a safe area for squires and captives (tournaments)

Sauve qui peut – Every man for himself (French)

Serdica- Sofia (Byzantium)

Surcoat- a tunic worn over mail or armour

Sumpter- pack horse

Tagmata- Byzantine cavalry (Byzantium)

Turmachai -Commander of a Bandon of cavalry (Byzantium)

Ventail – a piece of mail which covered the neck and the lower face.

Wulfestun- Wolviston (Durham)

Map courtesy of Wikipedia

Courtesy of Wikipedia –Public Domain

Stockton Castle c 1136

The book is set during one of the most turbulent and complicated times in British history. Henry I of England and Normandy’s eldest son William died. The king named his daughter, the Empress Matilda as his heir.  However her husband, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire died and she remarried.  Her new husband was Geoffrey of Anjou and she had children by him. (The future Henry II of England and Normandy- The Lion in Winter!)

I have used the word Saxon many times both for the language and the people.  The invasion of the Normans had only taken place some fifty or sixty years before this book was set.  Both the language and the people would change and evolve.  The Normans tried to impose their language upon the Saxons who already lived there.  It did not work and Anglo-Saxon or English as it became known prevailed. Part of this was due to the fact that the Norman ladies used Saxon/English nannies to look after their babies and children.  As they spoke to them in their native tongue the young Normans grew up speaking English.  Of course many Norman words became part of English- honour, chivalry, ham, lake but it took another century, until after the time of Richard 1st, for one language to be used throughout the land. In my next book I will change the word Saxon for English.  By the time of Henry 1st's death the ordinary folk thought of themselves as English.

A cog was a small trading ship which developed from the Viking knarr.  It had high sides and a flat bottom.  There was one sail and steering oar on the starboard (steer board) side. By this time some had had small wooden castles built at the bow and stern and these were used to house archers.  These ships would be built bigger as the centuries wore on.  They had no deck save at the stern where the ship was conned. The holds were covered with canvas when they had goods to transport.

I have introduced Eleanor of Aquitaine here.  She was about 8 in 1129 and her father was Duke William.  As she eventually marries Matilda's son I thought I would introduce her. The Empress Matilda did leave her husband in 1130.  It was not a happy marriage.

The Emperor John Komnenos fought against the Hungarians under King later Saint Stephen.  He lost and had to sue for peace.  The incident with our hero is purely fictional.

There was never an Earl of Cleveland although the area known as Cleveland did exist and was south of the river.  At this time the only northern earls were those of Northumberland.  The incumbent was Gospatric who rebelled against England when King Henry died.

The Scots were taking advantage of a power vacuum on their borders.  They did, according to chroniclers of the time behave particularly badly.

"an execrable army, more atrocious than the pagans, neither fearing God nor regarding man, spread desolation over the whole province and slaughtered everywhere people of either sex, of every age and rank, destroying, pillaging and burning towns, churches and houses"

"Then (horrible to relate) they carried off, like so much booty, the noble matrons and chaste virgins, together with other women. These naked, fettered, herded together; by whips and thongs they drove before them, goading them with their spears and other weapons. This took place in other wars, but in this to a far greater extent."

"For the sick on their couches, women pregnant and in childbed, infants in the womb, innocents at the breast, or on the mother's knee, with the mothers themselves, decrepit old men and worn-out old women, and persons debilitated from whatever cause, wherever they met with them, they put to the edge of the sword, and transfixed with their spears; and by how much more horrible a death they could dispatch them, so much the more did they rejoice."

Robert of Hexham

Following the birth of the second of Matilda and Geoffrey's two children relations between Matilda and her father became strained.  Many Normans disliked the idea of handing power to Anjou.  There were many minor incursions and rebellions, many of them supported by the French. It was following Stephen of Blois' sudden coronation that kingdom and dukedom  were divided.  Stephen controlled England and Matilda fought to claim Normandy. Matilda’s half brother, Robert of Gloucester (one of Henry’s bastards) declared for Matilda and a civil war ensued. The war went on until Stephen died and was called the anarchy because everyone was looking out for themselves.  There were no sides as such. Allies could become enemies overnight.  Murder, ambush and assassination became the order of the day. The only warriors who could be relied upon were the household knights of a lord- his oathsworn. The feudal system, which had been an ordered pyramid, was thrown into confusion by the civil war. Lords created their own conroi, or groups of knights and men at arms. Successful lords would ensure that they had a mixture of knights, archers and foot soldiers. The idea of knights at this time always fighting on horseback is not necessarily true.  There were many examples of knights dismounting to fight on foot and, frequently, this proved to be successful.