by Griff Hosker
John and I had all the war gear we needed but Tom had little. We had him some good buskins made. I knew not where we would be fighting but strong footwear was essential. As John had reminded me, we had collected many serviceable weapons over the years. I had a good short sword and scabbard which I gave him and he chose a ballock dagger as his second weapon. He would not need a spear for, now that I was a banneret, I had a standard. Tom would carry that. When they were done John went with him to make the shield he would need.
Roger of Chester took five days to find the men we needed. They all had their own swords and helmets. Most had a shield but they would need to have my staff painted upon them. All had a hauberk. Some were made of mail and longer than others. They were obviously ones which had been passed down to them. We would not look as uniform as the men of the Earl of Northampton but they looked like warriors all. They ranged from one who looked younger than John, James Jameson, to Oliver the Bastard, a grizzled old veteran. Roger introduced them: Gilbert of Ely, Uriah Longface, Dick Dickson, Mark the Minstrel, Stephen of Morpeth, Will of Stockton, Ulf the Swede and Richard son of Richard.
“Mark the Minstrel?”
The man was a tall blond warrior. He bore scars but his name suggested other. “Aye, lord. I got the name in Castile when I fought for the Duke of Lancaster. I sang as I slew the Spaniards. I find singing gives me a rhythm. If it causes offence...”
I waved a hand, “Sing away!” He smiled and nodded. “You are hired by me for a war. I know not yet where we fight nor whom we fight but we fight for King Richard and the Duke of Lancaster.” They looked relieved. “When it is over you may wish to serve another. If not, then I will try to find the payment for you.” I nodded towards my hall. “The purse strings are my wife’s domain.” They smiled. For the next fortnight, we prepare for war. “Your shields will match your surcoats. The cloaks will be here by the end of the week. There are spare weapons in the armoury. Take what you wish. Your horses will be here shortly and, for the rest, you will train with Roger of Chester and learn to fight our way.”
The archers took longer to find. Northampton was a major castle and sergeants at arms gravitated there. Archers often did not seek a new paymaster. Frequently, they would eke out a living in the woods hunting, illegally, for game. Most enjoyed that solitary life. However, Alan found the men we needed. This time they did not have any semblance of uniform about them. Alan assured me that all of them had had experience in campaigns. He even knew three of them from Castile. Two had served with the Earl of Northampton in the Baltic. The other five were unknown. Alan had tested their skill and attested to it.
I gave them the same speech as I had to the men at arms. “You will be equipped as men of Weedon. I know that archers are often independent men. When this campaign is over if you wish your freedom then it will be granted. I will try to find employment for all others.”
They nodded. Alan had already told me that one was quite vocal, it was he, Much Longbow, who spoke, “That is well spoke, my lord, and we are all grateful.” He pointed to his buskins which were heavily scuffed, “As you can see, lord, we have had hard times.”
I nodded, “If that is your way of asking for payment up front then ask. You will learn that I prefer straight words for that is what you shall receive from me.”
“Again, my lord, fairly spoke and I am suitably chastised. Payment would not come amiss. We will not run.”
Alan of the Wood growled, “For if you did your corpse would never be found!”
The others laughed at Much’s obvious discomfort. They would do.
Our assembly was complete. My men rode in with horses. Red Ralph was also with them. He grinned, “There were many horses and, besides, I had a yearning to see this fine manor. It is impressive, Sir William!”
I laughed, “None of that Sir William nonsense or I shall set the dogs upon you. Come meet my wife and children. This is well met!”
It was a merry feast we held. Red Ralph had always been witty and now, with the benefit of an easy life and a comfortable wife, he was even funnier. My wife roared at his tales of campaigns. My children had no grandfather and Red Ralph was old enough to play the part. He loved children and, as his were grown, he played the grandfather with funny voices and games. It was an enjoyable time for all, then after he left, we began the work that would make my company a fighting force to be feared!
Chapter 12
When we reached Westminster, it was as though a new hive of bees had begun to produce honey. As I went, with John and Tom, to the King’s side I could not believe the speed of the servants as they whirled from room to room. Leaving my squires outside the hall I entered a maelstrom of the great and the good in the land. The King was transformed. Gone was the sallow, haunted figure grieving for his wife. In his place was a whirlwind.
The Duke of Lancaster saw me and came over to me. The King was busy in conversation with a man I later discovered was Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare. The Duke said, “You have the men?”
“Aye, lord.”
“Good. We go to Ireland.”
“Ireland? Was not Robert de Vere the Duke of Ireland?”
“He was and he made a mess of that too. He allowed the Irish to defeat our knights and it emboldened them. They have begun to reclaim parts of their lands. Cathal mac Ruaidri Ó Conchobair, King of Connaught, is seen as the most serious threat. He has joined with another of their petty kings, Maelsechlainn Ó Cellaigh, King of Uí Maine. The Irish seem to have kings where we have barons! The Earl of Kildare has brought us this news and the King is transformed.” He pointed, “Is this the same man who was drowning in a sea of despair?”
“It is a miracle, my lord, but…”
“But is it just temporary? Aye, Sir William, I fear that too. Now that you are here things will improve again. He asked for you often. I told him why you left him and he is mollified.” Lowering his voice, he said, “You were the King’s bodyguard and I know you to be an honest man and so I will tell you this. When we buried Queen Anne, the Earl of Arundel insulted the King by leaving the funeral early. The King struck him. I fear the enmity from the time of the Lords Appellant may surface once more. I have counselled my son and he is chastened but my brother Gloucester and Warwick are still dangerous men. They are not here and that tells you much. Watch for treachery!” He put his hand on my shoulder and guided me, “Come, let us go and listen.”
The Earl of Kildare was speaking and I heard the passion in his voice, “They raid, King Richard, and they burn and pillage.”
“Do they have castles?”
“There are some in the west but none can compare with those we have in The Pale, Ulster, Wexford, Kildare and Ormond.”
“Which begs the question, my lord, why have the knights in those castles not sallied forth and destroyed these raiders? The Irish will become emboldened and that will make them harder to quash!” The Earl looked abashed. “Do you have men armed with the war bow?”
“We use crossbows, lord!”
“Then it is no wonder that you have lost so much land!” He looked up and suddenly saw me, “Will! At last someone other than my uncle who speaks sense. If you were to take Ireland, what would you do?”
“I would use horsemen to pin down the Irish and then have our archers slaughter them. They wear no mail!”
The King laughed, “See? A humble man at arms who is now a knight knows more than one who can trace his lineage back to the time of the first Henry!” He waved over John of Gaunt, “Uncle, we know the problem, now we need the solution. I wish an army gathered at Chester and a fleet to take us to The Pale. I leave for Chester within the week. The army follows at utmost speed.”
The Duke of Lancaster recognised the size of the task he had been given but he smiled and said, “Yes, King Richard!” for he knew that this was part of the recovery of the King.
The King led me away to a chamber attached to the hall. He nodded to Dick of Craven who closed the door behind us and stood guard. “I was sorr
y that you were not at the funeral. Anne would have liked that. She was very fond of you. You were the only knight she ever truly trusted.”
“I wished to be there but your uncle sent me on an errand.”
“I know. He appears to mean well although I suspect his motives. You know that he still harbours ambitions for his son.” I said nothing for it would be futile. The King saw daggers in shadows. His eyes flickered nervously from side to side. “I now have the Kingdom in my own hands. They think they are safe but I will have my vengeance on them. First, I will show them all that I am a warrior like my father and my grandfather. They challenge me because I have never fought a war.” He looked at me with pleading in his eyes, “When I faced down the mob that was braver than a battle, was it not? I had no armour and I faced down an army who wished my death! They did not see that as courage. I will show them!”
I wondered who ‘them’ were. “Show who, Your Majesty?”
“Why my uncle, Gloucester, along with Warwick and Arundel! They killed my friend Sir Simon and drove my dearest ally, Robert de Vere, from my land. They humiliated me and put fetters upon me. I am King of England and I will have no fetters! You will help me, William. You have kept your oath and that is rare.” He gave me a sly look, “Keep your eyes and ears open. Tell me all that they say about me. I trust only you and my guards.”
I did not like this position. I was no spy. I just nodded. I was loyal to the King but the loyalty stopped at murder.
“I will have you at my side when we ride to Chester. You and your men will accompany my guards on the ship when we sail to The Pale. If they send assassins, they will find Will Strongstaff!”
I should have been flattered by the King’s words but I was more concerned about the manner in which he had spoken. The Duke of Gloucester was of royal blood. How could he wreak vengeance on him? I liked it not. He was being duplicitous. He was feigning friendship with John of Gaunt while plotting against him. Henry Bolingbroke had confided in me and I believed that he harboured no treacherous thoughts. With Anne dead and no new Queen at the King’s side then all Henry Bolingbroke had to do was wait and he would be King of England. After I left him, I went to the Abbey and I prayed at the tomb of the Queen. I asked for God’s help. I could not ride the wild horse that was King Richard without help. I was treading a fine line. If I fell then it would be my head I would lose and, worse, my family would lose all that they had worked for. I could not allow that to happen. John and Tom also prayed. I knew not what was their prayer. A man’s prayers were private.
I left the Abbey and sought out my men. “We will be heading for Chester. The King would have us and Dick of Craven’s men to guard him. We have a great responsibility. The archers will guard our baggage. If there is trouble on the road then you will be best placed to react to it.”
Alan of the Wood nodded. “And where do we fight, Lord? Wales?”
“No, Alan, we fight in Ireland.”
Much Longbow shook his head, “They are wild men there, lord!”
Alan shook his head, “We have fought Irishmen before, Much. Have you?”
“I have heard terrible tales of what they do to men when they capture them!”
“And do you know that they fight without armour? That they have piss poor swords? And they use hunting bows with stone tips?”
He looked abashed, “No, Captain!”
“Then I suggest that you listen more and speak less. Sorry, my lord.”
I smiled, “Questions I can handle. We leave within the week. One thing I do know about Ireland is that we cannot rely on a ready supply of arrows. I know we have plenty but buy as many others as you need. I will find the coin.”
“We just need shafts, lord. We each have our own feathers and we have many tips.”
“Good. At least this will not be a cold war!”
Roger of Chester shook his head, “Just a wet one. I am glad I still have my sealskin cape!”
It was not just the King who left London. The Duke of Lancaster brought a hundred knights with him, Thomas le Despenser brought twenty knights. The Earl of Rutland brought twenty. The Earl of Sheffield would meet us on the road and we heard that the Earls of Kent and Huntingdon were also on their way. We would pick up men north of Stratford and more in the Welsh Marches. The Duke of Lancaster confided in me that six thousand men would be crossing the Irish Sea. I was just glad that the voyage was a short one and we were landing in The Pale which was safely in our hands.
As we rode John asked, “Lord, who is the Earl of Chester?”
“There is no Earl of Chester. The title goes to the Prince of Wales. That was the King. If he had a son then he would be Prince of Wales. The knights of Chester will be joining us. They are the most loyal men in the kingdom save our company.”
Tom had the furled banner in his hand. It could have been with the horses but he was inordinately proud of it. His mother and some of the women had sewn it. Magda, who had helped, told Harold Four Fingers that the fact our women had sewn it would make it stronger. My wife had made the sign of the cross but Magda was adamant. She spoke of how the women in her village would weave and that there were spells in the wool they wove. That was witchcraft. Magda had shocked Eleanor by shrugging. Her people believed that witches were a force for good. So far Harold had failed in his attempt to convert her.
The King waved for me to ride next to him. He had four squires with him and they had all been chosen by the King. They made room so that Blaze could ride next to his courser. “When you were in the Baltic, William, I understand that you fought savages.”
It was an oversimplification but he was right, “They were barbarians, lord, and many fought half-naked.”
“Then why did my cousin fail to take Vilnius?”
“He was not in command, my liege. The King of Poland made mistakes.”
“But were the barbarians easy to kill? They must have been if they had no armour.” He was genuinely interested.
“The opposite, sire. They fought on beyond all hope with limbs missing and mortal wounds.” I knew why he questioned me, “The Irish are different, for they believe in God. Their priests will bless them before they fight. They have poor armour and weapons but they love to fight. If we were not there, they would fight each other and slaughter their neighbours. It is how they are. You were told that there were many kings and there are. Ulf the Swede told us that he had fought in Ireland as a mercenary. He had fought for the O’Connor clan. The chief of that clan had aspirations to be a king. Ulf fought in mail but no matter how many of the enemy he slew there were always more to fight. If you kill their chief then they may retire to lick their wounds and to appoint a new chief but, if not, then they will keep fighting.”
“Then how do we stop them?”
“Simple, destroy their homes and threaten their families.”
“That has no honour in it.”
I nodded, “You did not ask what is the honourable way to stop them. If you had, I would have said nothing can stop them.”
“You seem to know a lot about them.”
“I spoke with the Earl of Kildare’s knights. They told me. I like to know what sort of enemy will face me. Once you are beyond The Pale and the Earldoms then you are in a land which has not changed for five thousand years. They still have hill forts and clans who are fiercely loyal to each other. These two Kings have done something unusual. They have managed to forge an army from clans which hate each other. We will need to slaughter them when they attack and, if they try to regroup, then we sack their villages and take captive their people.” Part of me remembered the four women who had chosen death rather than be used by the King of Poland. I hoped the Irish were not like that.
When we reached Chester my men and the King’s guards were housed, with the senior lords, in the castle. The rest camped. Some ships had been gathered but not enough. The King spent an increasing amount of time with men like the Earls of Huntingdon, Rutland, Kent and Nottingham. All had remained loyal when the Lords Appellant had in
flicted their vengeance on the King. All had suffered equally at their hands. Now the King was using those men to become his replacement for the Earl of Oxford. At heart, he still thought of me as a bodyguard.
After three days the King, now more decisive than I had ever seen him, made an important decision. “The crossing is not a long one. We use the ships we have and we ferry the army across. This will give me an opportunity to examine the borderlands and to decide the best way to attack the Irish!”
And so, I was amongst the first to land in Dublin. With one of the finest castles on the island, we were safe. A series of small castles at places like Athboy, Kells, Kilcock and Trim ensured that no Irish army could get close to the King. We had almost a thousand men landed and we rode west to view the border. The land was green. I saw hills which the Irish called mountains but it looked to me to be a perfect country for horses. We had come in summer and that gave us four months to subjugate the Irish and return to England.
Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare, led us. He and twenty of his household knights formed the vanguard. We stayed at the Earl’s castle of Kildare.
As we ate that night in the huge feasting hall the impulsive King asked, “Tell me, Kildare, how do the Irish fight? Do they array their men in battle lines as we do? Knights in the centre protected by archers and men at arms?”
“The Irish fight in a strange way, King Richard. They like to arrange a battle. They send emissaries and they agree on a battlefield and decide numbers. They turn up and fight until one has lost so many men that they flee. As for order? They do have knights but few of them. It is the lords of the clans who emulate us. King Cathal mac Ruaidri Ó Conchobair and his sons as well as chosen oathsworn have mail hauberks and ride war horses. We might meet twenty or so. They have chiefs who are mailed. Those do not use cavalry as we do. Their horses are hill ponies. They use them to get to a battle. They fight dismounted.”