BATTLE OF LEWES

Posted by ricey on December 26, 2006 5:59 PM

On December 13, 1263, a deed was signed and sealed in London by which the King of France was appointed arbitrator between Henry III. and the Barons. Representatives of both sides repaired to Amiens to state their case. Henry in person arrived there on January 12, 1264, and remained until January 25th. Simon de Montfort started from Kenilworth in order to be present as leader of the Baronial party, but, owing to a fall from his horse, was so injured as-to be compelled to return before he had proceeded more than twenty miles.
The decision of Louis of France, delivered with much ceremony on January 23rd at Amiens, was practically hostile to the Barons. Both sides, however, seem to have construed the decision as suited to their particular views, and it was clear that peace would not be maintained. In the resumption of actual hostilities probably the Barons were the aggressors, evidence pointing in that direction.
Henry, on his part, began to prepare for war at Windsor, then marched to Woodstock, whence he summoned the leaders of his party to meet him at Oxford. On March 12, 1264, he ordered Oxford to be cleared of all the students, probably because he mistrusted them, and not without reason. On the following day the Bishop of Lichfield and the Archdeacon of .Norwich were named to go to Brackley in Northamptonshire to meet certain delegates from the Barons, the meeting to be presided over by John de Valencia, envoy from France. Imme­diately Henry was calling on all his adherents to arm and collect by March 30th. Still attempts at negotiation went on, but all came to nothing. London disregarded the award of the French king ; so also did the Barons of the Cinque Ports, and by the majority of the general public the same course was taken. The city rose on March 31st under the leadership of two citizens, by name Thomas de Puvelesdon and Stephen Buckerell. The bell of St. Paul's was rung to muster the malcontents, -who armed, and then proceeded to destroy the houses and property of those known to be Joyal, the king's own houses, and those of his brother Richard (titular king of the Romans), being included in the general destruction.
Simon de Montfort summoned; the Barons to meet at Northampton, where he raised the banner of Peterborough Abbey. Before, however, the assembly took place, Prince Edward, with a hastily raised force, assaulted the town. The assault took place on April 5th. Through the treachery of Guy, Prior of the Cluniac Priory of St. Andrew, a band of forty Royalist knights, under Philip Basset, was admitted through a secretly contrived and cleverly concealed breach in the convent wall. The garrison of the castle had been occupied meanwhile by a sham parley.

Basset took possession of the town with ease, and the castle surrendered two days later, Simon de Montfort, junior, being among the prisoners. Northampton was sacked, and many barbarities committed by the victors. The loss of so many important partisans was a serious blow to De Montfort. According to chronicles, the Oxford men ejected from their colleges were in afms, and did much execution during the fight at- Northampton with slings, bows, and crossbows, becoming' prisoners and narrowly escaping death after the fall of the castle. Simon de Montfort had already advanced as far as St. Albans to the relief of the besieged, when the news of the fall of North­ampton reached him. He returned to London and retaliated by plundering the property of De Valena and other foreigner;:. The deposits of money in the Temple were seized, and :i general massacre of Jews took place on the plea of treachery intended by that ever unpopular and wealthy race, Montfort now besieged Rochester, using for the purpose of breaching the walls many curious engines of war of a kind till then unknown in England. Warenne, Hugh de Percy, Roger de Leyburne, and John Kitzalan defended the town and castle. By the means of a fireship Montfort destroyed the bridge and seized one of the city gates during the confusion, the garrison retreating into the castle. Rochester was then pillaged, the ecclesiastical buildings suffering severely. For several days the siege was pressed, but on news of the approach of1 the royal army Montfort withdrew, returning to* London on April 23rd. Prince Edward had in the meantime captured in succession Leicester and Nottingham, the latter, tike Northampton, being betrayed. Both towns were plundered, and he then determined to perform the same kindly office for London. Montfort had, however, forestalled him there by his return from Rochester. Edward therefore crossed the Thames at Kingston and marched straight for Rochester, reaching it on the fifth day after leaving Nottingham. It is said that the horses, not men, suffered heavily on this rapid march. A small body of Montfort's men, who had been left to blockade ' Rochester Castle, were captured, and as a punishment deprived of hands and feet.

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NORTHALLERTON (THE BATTLE OF THE STANDARD)

Posted by ricey on December 26, 2006 12:13 PM

NORTHALLERTON (THE BATTLE OF THE STANDARD

August 22, 1138

In the year 1138, taking advantage of the disturbed state of England, David, King of Scotland, invaded the kingdom. The hands of King Stephen were fully occupied in keeping order among the dis­affected inhabitants of the south of England. The north of England for years had periodically suffered from Scottish incursions—in fact the condition of things there may be best described as a state of perpetual apprehension. For it must be remembered that the conditions of what is called civilised warfare—bad enough in these days—were in those totally absent. An invasion meant plunder, destruction of property, and outrage of every description—the excessive cruelty of the Scotch being a marked feature.

Thurstan, Archbishop of York, an aged ecclesiastic, had been appointed by Stephen, the Lieutenant of the North. News came to him of the intended Scottish invasion, and that Yorkshire specially was the object of attack. There could, indeed, have been but little plunder to be obtained in either of the other more northerly counties. Assembling in all haste the forces available in the neighbourhood, and appealing to the dwellers further south, an army of defence was organised. In this campaign—a campaign which, on the English side, assumed almost the appearance of a holy war—the full power of the clergy was employed. Commanded by Thurstan's pastoral letter, the village priests preached resistance, and with un­qualified success. Locally, the response was as it were a levde en masse. .Of the names handed down as joining in the capacity of leaders, the following list will suffice : Walter l'Espec, William, Earl of Albemarle, Robert de Bruce, Bernard de Baliol, Adam de Bruce, Gilbert de Lacy, Walter de Gaut, Roger de Mowbray, William de Peverill, Robert de Ferrers, Robert de Stuteville, Richard de Courcy, William Fossard, and Galfrid Assaline. These were, of course, accompanied by their retainers, who were presumably well armed and equipped. Baliol brought a small contingent direct from Stephen. De Stuteville hailed from the county of Nottingham, while Ferrers, Peverill, and Assaline were Derbyshire men. The place of rendezvous was York, and there the army was augmented by the personal retainers of the archbishop. Into the custody of this army was committed the cross and banner of St. Peter of York and the banners of St. John of Beverly, St. Wilfred of Ripon, and St. Cuthbert of. Durham. Numerous clergy accompanied the army when it set forth, at the head of these being the suffragan, the Bishop of Orkney, by name Ralph Nowell. The position of the Scotch king was somewhat peculiar. Son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling, he had married Matilda, widow of Simon de St. Liz, the Norman Earl of Northampton, and daughter of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria. He received the honour of Huntingdon on his marriage, and thus became an English baron. As an English baron, though for three years King of Scotland, he swore fealty to Matilda in 1127. By the will of his brother Edgar, who died in 1107, David became Earl or Prince of Cumbria; and over this district, a wide and im­portant one, he reigned almost as a king. Objections were raised by Alexander I. to this dismemberment of the Scottish kingdom ; but David, supported by the Norman barons, managed to retain his possession. It is curious to note that during the negotiations prior to the battle of the Standard, both Bernard de Baliol and Robert de Bruce did not hesitate to remind him of the fact while urging his withdrawal.

On the pretext of acting in the interests of Matilda, David invaded England in 1135, but, Stephen proving too powerful, a treaty was entered into at Durham which involved the cession of certain territory by David. As a recompense his son Henry was confirmed in the honour of Huntingdon, with the addition of Doncaster and Carlisle. Stephen also pledged his word that he would make no grant of the earldom of Northumbria until the claims of Henry were fully considered and legally argued. This peace was, however, broken, and for three years a bar-
barous war was carried'on. Then, in n38, came the invasion of Yorkshire—an event finally precipitated by the point-blank refusal of Stephen,'in 1137, to adjudicate without further delay on the disputed claim to the earldom of Northumbria.

On January 10th a night attack, under the command of FitzDuncan, was made on Walter I'Espec's Castle of Wark, and failed. Reinforced by fthe army under David and Prince Henry, the Scotch laid siege to the place in regular form, and beset it for a space of three weeks. David and Henry then passed into Northumbria, bent on plunder. The siege was raised.
On May 8th the garrison, still under the command of John de Bussey, the nephew of 1'Espec, sallied forth and intercepted a convoy of Scottish provisions. This brought their foes back, and the siege was recommenced. Wark surrendered on November 11th.

To return now to the battle of the Standard. The English army marched from York to Thirsk, where it encamped, while Bruce and Baliol set forth to visit the Scottish camp in an endeavour to procure the withdrawal of- the invaders. As a bribe the coveted earldom was plainly promised. David, how­ever, would not give way ; nay, he is even stated to have laughed scornfully at the envoys. Formally renouncing their homage due to the king—Bruce held in fief the Jordship of Annandale, and Baliol the manor of Woodhorn—the two returned to Thirsk. Both men were old companions of the Scotch king ; both had been on most friendly terms with him at the court of Henry I., and Baliol had certainly been present on-the occasion of the
homage to Matilda—nay more, had himself done homage at the same time. A curious tradition states that the fief of Annandale was saved to the Bruce family through the second son of Robert Bruce, who, it is averred, fought in the Scottish ranks at Northallerton,. and, it is added, was actually taken prisoner by his own father.

From Thtrsk the English army marched towards North­allerton, and took up a position on Cowton Moor, distant three miles north-west of the town. Here, on a small rising ground, was raised the historic standard from which the battle takes its name. This standard was thus composed : A mast was affixed to a small, low waggon-; on the top of the mast, in a pix, a consecrated wafer was enclosed, while from cross-pieces nailed to the mast lower down were hanging the four sacred banners previously mentioned. A discrepancy exists in the accounts of these banners ; some authorities name four, others only mention two, but of these that of St. Peter of York is always named one. On a scroll nailed to the pole, and within reading distance for those who could read, was the legend—

" Dicitur a stando standardum, quod stetit iltic Militia; probitas vinccre sivc mori" ;

the author of these quaint lines being Hugh Sotevagina, the precentor and archdeacon of York.
This remarkable and conspicuous standard, posted as it was upon the crest of the little hill, formed, as it was intended to form, a"rallying-point for the English. Of the site of the battle little description is needful. The Standard Hill is the highest point, and from it down to the town the ground gently slopes. The English were drawn up in three lines half way down the hill. The front rank was composed of archers, the second professedly of spearmen, but doubtless considerably leavened with men armed with all kinds of weapons, such as scythes, bills, axes, and the like.* Behind these were drawn up the knights, squires, pages, and men-at-arms, all being dismounted. On the top of the hill the standard was guarded, and the ecclesiastical division offered prayers. In the rear again the horses were collected and picketed. David, who knew well both the value of mailed knights and the value of archers, at first disposed his army in a rational manner, i.e., with the mail-clad troops and the archers in the front line. National jealousy, however, caused a most angry altercation and a fatal alteration in the dispositions. It appears that the Galwegians, i.e., men of Galloway, who fought almost naked with the utmost ferocity and disregard of their lives, had been wont ever to fight in the front Jine. They, in common with their chiefs, utterly despised mail-clad troops, and, headed by Malise, Ear] of. Strathearn, they angrily, complained of the slight. Earl Alan de Percy rejoined, and words nearly led to blows. The king was compelled to give way, if only to prevent disaster. The men of Galloway were placed in the front rank, supported by his bodyguard of French and English knights and the Scotch troops. This was the composition of the centre. One wing (the right), chiefly derived from Cumberland and Teviotdale, consisting of archers, spearmen, and knights, was commanded by Prince Henry ; the leader of the other, furnished from the west of Scotland, the Isles, and the Lowlands, is unknown, though it may have been Ear] Alan.
The battle commenced by a savage charge on the part of the centre, the Galwegians rushing up the gentle slope with loud war-cries and nearly into the English Jine of spears which were levelled between the archers. ' Then the archers who had reserved their fire poured out volleys in quick succession and at short range. The execution done was terrible, and it was a method of warfare to which the savage men of Galloway were entirely unaccustomed. They recoiled and fell into confusion— in the hail of shafts blindly striking at friend or foe alike. At this point, when his presence was most needed, the Earl of Lothian was fatally wounded by an arrow, and this loss completed the discomfiture of the Galwegians. Wounded and without a leader, they gave way; next some fled, and soon the relics of the tribe were in full retreat. The flight of the centre had by this time become general. Still in the circumscribed space, for the battle-ground is ot small dimensions, it was impossible that the wings should not have known the fate of the centre. A sort of panic occurred which was only checked by the personal intrepidity and influence of Henry, who rallied his men, and, more than that, led them in a charge which went far to redeem the fortunes of the day. Henry, with a few followers, cut his way through the English lines, and had some difficulty in disengaging himself therefrom. It is stated that he was compelled to cover his armour with a cloak in order to pass as a friend among the enemy, with whom he mixed, and that thus he escaped.

Standard Hill

By the time Prince Henry had succeeded in returning to-his own side of the field his wing was in full flight, and similar defeat had been sustained by the other wing. The Galwegians' had vanished from rhe battle, leaving their two chiefs, Ulgeric and Dunewald, dead. .Only the royal bodyguard, a picked corps of English and French knights, stood firm. It is said that Prince Henry, placing. himself at the head of this forlorn hope, endeavoured in a fruitless charge to avert complete disaster.

The Battlefield

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Battle of Hastings

Posted by ricey on December 22, 2006 11:54 PM

I continue my blog on famous battlefields in England. Although as I have explained previously it is often illegal to Metal Detect on these fields, there is absolutely nothing wrong in contacting land owners in the vicinity and ask if you can detect on their land.

Battle Of Hastings

On September 27th, when at length the wind was favourable, William Duke of Normandy set sail for England, landing on the following day at Pevensey. The disembarkation, contrary to expectation, was unopposed, thanks probably to the absence of the English fleet, which had been withdrawn during August to act against the invaders of the east coast. Harold, too, was in the north, and hence, to all intents and purposes, the south was perfectly defenceless. It was owing to the withdrawal of the fleet that William had been enabled to move his expedition from its first mustering-place at the mouth of the Dive to a second base of operations at the mouth of the Somme.
The disembarkation of the invaders was conducted with all care and military precaution, the ships being run ashore in line. Armour, horses, and stores were prepared for landing, the men armed, and finally in military array the expedition formed up on the beach, William himself being traditionally the first to set foot on land. That William was a 'leader who had due regard for
details is evident, if old chroniclers and poets are to be credited even in part. The very orders issued to the fleet before starting point to this, so does the fact that the archers landed first and then spread in skirmishing order along the shore, to give time for the more heavily armed foot to form and the mailed knights to mount the horses as soon as they were hoisted out or forced over the low bulwarks of the vessels. No enemy, however,appeared, and Pevensey was duly occupied. There the invaders remained for the space of one day—a day busily occupied in either forming an entrenched camp or adapting some of the existing Roman earthworks, to the end that a garrison left therein should protect their ships.

On the morrow an advance was made to Hastings, and if by any road it must have been by a Roman road. Here, too, the invader met with no opposition, though a garrison (probably small) occupied the place. At Hastings William established his headquarters, and there sat down wisely to await events. Of its fortifications there are no records, and presumably the Norman camp was pitched on the hill where now the ruins of the castle stand. In the move from Pevensey to Hastings there was wisdom, since here roads run east, west, and north, the last named leading to London. At Hastings some kind of a fort was erected as a defence to the camp, and the balance of prob­ability is that this took the form of a wooden castle similar in type to those known to have been at times constructed across the Channel, viz., a ditch within which was a mound and on the summit of the mound a wooden tower. William had not brought with him a large store of food—in fact, beyond wine his supply seems to have been scanty. Food to support an army was soon needed, and then foraging parties spread over the neighbouring country. Ravaging became the order of the day ; but this was a deliberate policy.
William, leaving his ships under a slender or even a strong guard at Pevensey, dared not march into the interior. That a battle and a great one must be fought he, despite all the sooth­sayers in the world, knew full well. Defeated near his ships there would at least be a chance of retreat; defeated far inland a retreat through miles of hostile country would in all probability have meant extermination. The fall both of garrison and ships might be anticipated if once his main body marched inland for any distance. William the invader therefore awaited with patience the Saxon host he well knew would soon appear and fight. Harold to defend his kingdom must come to the south coast ; William to obtain that kingdom would not budge without first forcing a battle on that coast.
This is noteworthy, for whether Yorkist, Lancastrian, Stuart,' or common rebel in later times landed on the coast the custom almost always was to march instantly into some town or city. But in civil strife to raise the country was ever the first intention. William the invader had no friends in England either pledged to rise or whom he could reason­ably hope to win over. But the manner of the fight to come was as yet uncertain. He was defended in his Norman camp — a camp fortified after Norman military fashion — a stronghold which he and his knew full well how to defend.

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