Crécy

by Griff Hosker

  William and his men left us a few miles from our camp, and we hurried on. I spied a farm and a small hall just five miles after parting from the other archers. I saw horses grazing in the fenced fields and I did not bother to scout it out but just waved my sword in a circle, the signal to surround the farm. The few men who came out to stop us were quickly slain and the women and children fled across the fields. I had Jack take four men and collect the horse herd. While they found halters and saddles the rest of us looted the farm for gold, weapons and food. We sent the thirty horses back to the main camp with the four men. They knew that they would be given a share of any loot. By late afternoon we had captured a total of eighty horses and so much loot that we had to keep six of the horses just to carry it. We reached Sainte-Mère-Église just before dark and the French were not expecting us. The burning farms we had left should have given them an indication that something was wrong, but they appeared to have ignored it.

  This was the largest place we had found, and I contemplated waiting until the Prince arrived with his division. I only had thirty men with me; the rest were still on the road returning horses to the Prince. On the other hand, the longer we waited then the fewer horses there would be for us to collect. In the end, the decision was taken for me when William Jauderell and twenty of his men arrived. We had taken so many horses on our way south that he and his men had had less to do. His arrival meant that I had an opportunity to use his men and to block any escape from the village.

  “William, take your men around the village and dismount them. You can stop any men escaping from this village. We will ride in as though we are men at arms and when they flee you can take out their men.”

  He cocked his head to the side, “And the women?”

  I smiled, “We let the women and children go. True, they will spread the word of our presence but the ships which are raiding the coast and the smoke in the sky from the burned farms will have already done so. The women will exaggerate our numbers and make more garrisons flee at our approach. Let us spread fear.”

  He smiled, “I bow to your superior knowledge.” He mounted and led his men around the village which was centred on the stone church and had, so far as I knew, more than a hundred houses. Such a place might have as many as thirty horses.

  I adjusted Megs’ girth as I spoke to my men. “Jack, I want you to take five men. Tie your horses to yonder trees and head into the village. Conceal yourselves and work your way through; use your bows to slay any men. When we ride in you can eliminate any who try to escape. We will come in at dusk. Try to stop them from seeking sanctuary in the church. Tonight, I intend us to sleep under a roof and eat well!”

  I waited until the sun was setting and then drew my sword. Pointing it forward I dug my heels into the side of Megs. With eight others I galloped down the road towards the town. The rest of my mounted archers would find other ways into the village. Surprisingly the sound of our hooves did not seem to alarm the villagers. Perhaps they thought that we were Frenchmen. As we neared the village, I saw two men standing by the first house. Before they could shout a warning, they were pitched backwards, and I saw arrows sticking from them. Even then there appeared to be little panic for most of the villagers were indoors enjoying their evening meal. As we passed the first bodies then a couple of heads emerged from doorways to see who came and that was when the alarm was given. They must have been terrified to see helmeted horsemen galloping through their streets and when a woman screamed so shrilly that it hurt my ears then panic did set in. Men rushed out into the street with whatever weapon they had to hand. Most of these were part of the local levy and had a short sword or an axe. Jack and his men did what I had asked them and all of those who threatened us were struck by an arrow. By the time we reached the church, there was a mass exodus of panicking villagers. A few ran towards the church. As I had ordered Jack and his archers were running amongst them and the men were slain. Leaving Jack to secure the church we pursued those who ran. I heard hooves ahead and knew that some of the men had taken horses which must have been stabled close by their homes. William would stop them.

  As soon as I came across the first body with an arrow in his front, I raised my sword and shouted, “Back, and search every house and stable. We seek horses and booty!” I knew that William Jauderell and his archers had stopped the men. I wheeled my horse around and looked for large houses. Robin Goodfellow had attached himself to me and I headed towards a house, set back from the main road which looked larger than the others for it had a second floor and was the only one we had seen like that. It had a trough outside and that suggested horses. Tying Megs to a hitching post I drew my rondel as well as my sword and, waving Robin around to the rear, I opened the front door. I heard a noise from the darkened interior. It sounded like someone was digging and I knew immediately what it was. Someone had buried treasure and they were digging it up. I heard voices too speaking French. The glow I saw confirmed that they had a light to help them see.

  “Hurry or the God-Damns will be here!”

  “I am digging as fast as I can, master, you buried it too deeply. We should have used the boy to help us!”

  I heard the sound of a slap and then the digging continued. The sound appeared to be coming from the rear and that suggested a kitchen. I went down a narrow passage and saw the glow from a fire. The noise grew louder. Robin would be at the rear and he would prevent an escape in that direction.

  The first voice I had heard spoke again and this time was excited, “There it is, quickly and we will escape before they arrive.”

  I stepped into the kitchen and saw a warrior. He wore a long mail hauberk and had a good sword on his belt. He was a well-made warrior and looked to be strong. His hair was cropped short in the Norman style. The other was also a warrior wearing a leather metal studded brigandine. He was bending over a hole in the ground and trying to pull out a chest. The mailed man sensed my movement and turned around. He had no spurs and that made him a Norman man at arms. He was not to be underestimated. He hauled out his sword and turned to face me as the other man dragged the chest out of the ground. He turned and headed for the back door. The Norman had drawn his sword quickly even as I slashed at him. I was right to be wary for he deftly blocked my sword and turned it to riposte at my body. If I had not had my dagger ready, then he would have skewered me. His sword almost shaved my hose. I punched at him with the hilt of my sword for the low ceiling prevented me from slashing down at him. The crosspiece caught his eye and he grunted in pain. Holding my dagger against his sword to stop him from striking again I pulled back my sword hand and punched at his face once more. This time I connected with his nose. As the bone and cartilage broke and blood-spattered, I heard a shout from the rear. Robin had taken the other one. The man at arms reeled a little and, losing his footing, stepped into the hole. As he fell backwards, I heard a snap as his leg broke and this time he screamed. I would take no more chances and I lunged with my sword and ended his pain.

  Robin appeared in the doorway, his sword and dagger at the ready. When he saw me whole, he smiled, “I have the other dead outside. He has a chest!”

  “And it was worth risking capture. Did you spy any other?”

  He shook his head. “There are four horses in the stable and one of them is a courser.”

  “That would be the one belonging to the man at arms. They spoke of a boy. You search upstairs and I will search the rest of the house.”

  “There are several other buildings outside but none of them looks like they could hold a man. They look like animal byres.”

  There was a tallow candle burning in the kitchen and Robin lit another he found. He took the candle and headed up the stairs. I sheathed my dagger and used the other candle to search the rest of the downstairs. There was a large room, but the furnishings suggested a bachelor. I saw no sign of a woman. There was a shield on the wall and two spears in the corner which confirmed that this was a man at arms. A bascinet helmet sat on the table. The other room downstairs was a st
oreroom and had treasure we could use. I decided that we would use this as our home for the night. It was the spoils of war! I was seeking a boy. Boys could become men and could fight us! It was not something I enjoyed but I would have to find him and eliminate the threat. I stepped outside the kitchen door into the darkness. I saw the dead man and the chest, and I heard the horses neighing and shifting nervously in the stable. Holding the candle before me I confirmed that the buildings were animal byres or storerooms. I opened the first one and found a pig and her young. The clucking in the second told me what lay within before I opened it. The third door looked to be another pig pen but, when I opened it, I found the boy. He was no more than twelve or thirteen summers old, it was hard to tell for the dirt and dried blood, but he would soon be a man and I drew back my sword to end his life.

  When he spoke it was in English, “Mercy, I beg you, master, mercy!”

  I stopped the blow and jammed my sword into the ground. I put my hand in to help him out. “Come, for I am an English archer and serve Prince Edward.”

  He shook his head and pointed to his neck where was there was a leather collar, “I cannot for I am chained to the wall.”

  Anger filled me and I wished I had made the man at arms suffer more than I had. I went closer to the boy so that I could see better. As I did so I saw that he was dressed in rags. “Hold this so that I may see more clearly.” I handed him the candle. There was barely enough room to crawl in and I smelled human waste; the candle showed some of it smeared on what passed for breeks. The boy had been kept here and treated worse than an animal. There was a tale here! I could see that there was a chain which held the leather collar. “I will have to cut through the leather. This may take some time.”

  The boy said, “So long as I am out of my gaol I care not, sir!”

  I placed my hand between the leather and the boy’s neck so that I would not cut him. I started to use my dagger to saw through the leather close to the metal ring which bound it to the chain. It was fortunate that I had placed my hand there for the dagger’s blade suddenly cut through the leather and cut the back of my hand. It was nothing but had it been the boy’s neck…. I stepped out and held my hand down. When he came out, I saw that he was thin and emaciated. He was shaking. I sheathed my sword and dagger and went to the dead man. Taking his cloak, I wrapped it around the boy’s shoulders. I took the candle and was leading him back into the house when Robin arrived. He looked at the boy in surprise. I said, “He is English. Bring in the chest and whatever else this man has. “We will stay here this night, but this boy needs our care.”

  When we entered the kitchen, the boy saw the body of the Norman man at arms and he spat at it. “I hope you rot in hell, you bastard!”

  I sat him on the chair and went to the pot which was bubbling on the fire. There was a stew of some sort and I ladled a bowl of it and, after finding a spoon gave them to the boy. Robin returned with the chest. “Get rid of the Norman and bring back his mail and whatever else of value he has.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  The boy was eating so greedily that I knew he had not eaten well, if at all. Questions would have to wait. He finished his first bowl and I gave him a second before Robin returned. “Watch the boy and I will return once I have spoken with the others.” I lowered my voice, “He will need cleaning up before the others see him.”

  “Aye, Captain. The poor bairn is in a bad way- how could a man treat another like this?”

  “I know not but we shall find out!” The village was relatively quiet for all opposition had been eliminated. I went to the centre of the village and saw William, “Did you take many horses?”

  “Fifteen and there are more in the village.”

  “If you set two sentries on the south road, I will put two on the north. Let us go and find the priest.”

  Even as we walked towards the church, we saw women and children helping some old folk and they were fleeing from the church. I saw Ned there and he was glowering at Rafe the Dull. Ned shook his head, “Sorry Captain, Rafe here is well named!”

  Rafe was a huge archer who could release arrow after arrow without any sign of weakening but in all other matters, he was slow. Some of the archers said, somewhat unkindly, that he had been dropped on his head as a child. My other archers were, generally, protective of him and did not take advantage of him. If he had not been an archer, then I do not know what he would have done to live.

  I had learned to speak to him as though he was a child, “Rafe, tell me what happened, and I will not be angry.”

  “Ned had told them all to leave the church and I was seeking booty when there was a movement behind me. I turned and struck out, Captain, I did not know it was the priest.”

  I sighed, it was an accident, but the villagers would spread the story of violent English archers who disregarded God and his priests. “To make amends you must take him and bury him in the churchyard. Make a cross for him and when that is done Ned will write the priest’s name on the cross and all will be well.”

  Rafe’s face lit up, taking my words for forgiveness and his task of burial as absolution, “Thank you, Captain!” With contemptuous ease, he slung the body on his back and headed out of the church.

  William said, “Is he a good archer?”

  “Aye, but he has the mind of a seven-year-old. Ask him next week of this and it will be gone from his mind as though it was never there. He is harmless, unless of course he aims his bow at you!”

  William nodded and spread his arm around the interior of the church, “And this?”

  I shrugged, “The sin is committed and if we do not take what is within then others will.”

  “You are right. I will see that you and your men have fair division.”

  That done I turned to Ned, “We have the large house at the south side of the village. Put two men on guard duty at the north end of the village and then join us. We have food.”

  He nodded, “Dull Rafe’s mistake apart, this has been a good day, has it not?”

  “That it has, and it bodes well for the rest of this campaign.”

  I made my way back to our temporary home. With the rest of the vanguard just a few miles down the road, we had no real fear of an attack, but four sentries would be enough to keep us safe. I knew that Ned would pick the two archers who had done the least during the attack. It would not be a punishment but encouragement to emulate the rest the next time we went into action. When I entered the kitchen, I saw that Robin had tried to clean the soiled breeks, but the boy needed a good wash. In a perfect world, we would have bathed him but this was war and we would have to do the best that we could. Robin stood and came over to me, “A sad tale, Captain and I am glad we killed those two Normans. His back looks like he has been a galley slave for twenty years or more!”

  “I told the lads we had food on the go, get something sorted eh? That stew will make a good start.”

  “There is a ham and plenty of beans and greens. I will see to it.”

  I sat down opposite the boy. I saw that he was almost a youth. Perhaps I had thought him younger than he actually was; he was very thin. He reminded me of me when I had been an apprentice. “I am John Hawkwood, a vintenar.”

  “I know, Captain, I saw you at Cadzand.”

  I looked surprised, “You were there?”

  Shaking his head, he said, “Not at the battle but I was with the army. My name is Michael son of William and my father was a man at arms. We were not well off for we had fallen on hard times, but my father was a good soldier. My mother died two years since; God cursed us when he took her for our lives were worse after that day. My father said we should have taken the cross to make up for whatever sin we had committed. We did not and he regretted that until the day he died. My father had no horse and so he often fought afoot. When the King held his tournament at Brussels, we were with the company of Sir John Hayley and there were just ten of us. Sir John had lost a wager at the tournament and we were heading for Dunkerque to embark for England when we
were ambushed. Sir John and his squire escaped but the others fought to protect my father, me and the other man who had no horse, Roger of Lewes. I held the horses and they fought until they all died.”

  I saw him filling up. He was still young and so I poured two goblets of the wine Robin had found and offered one to Michael, “Let us drink to the bravery of brothers in arms who fought until the end. For a warrior, it is a good end.”

  He drank deeply and I gestured for him to continue with the tale. He nodded with his head at the hole in the floor, “The man you slew was Bertrand de Gisors and he was a man at arms. My father slew his brother before he was overcome. In retribution, my father’s body was butchered like an animal and…” he shook his head unable to finish but I knew what they would have done to his body.

  “I understand but you were kept like an animal, why?”

  “Butchering my father was not enough for he wanted vengeance. He fed me just enough to keep me alive and he took pleasure in beating me each day.”

  Now I understood Robin’s words. “Let us get you sorted out eh? My men will be coming soon when they have finished their work and we should make you presentable. There is water out the back. Go and wash the grime from you.” I knew there would be lice and nits. “When you return Robin will give you archer’s hair!”