by Griff Hosker
“Then they will not be ready if we ride forth to meet them. If we rode tomorrow how many men could the Irish muster?”
“You mean, my lord, how many Irish warriors are close enough to fight us?”
“Aye, if we rode forth tomorrow how many men would face us?”
“Many hundreds, Your Highness.”
“Then let us tempt them. Let us make them see who rides abroad in their land. If we can we will bloody their nose.”
“Is that wise?”
I thought King Richard would turn on the Earl but, instead, he smiled. “If we bring them to battle in the next few days then we will win. If we retire to Kildare what will they then do?”
“They will bring every warrior they can to drive us hence. They will try to organize a formal battle.”
“By which time the Duke of Lancaster will have landed the rest of our men, and instead of the Irish facing a thousand men it will be eight thousand. I want a single victory to destroy their armies and then we can destroy their homes so that they cannot rebel again.”
I was impressed. He had listened to all that had been said. It was a bold move. He was trying to make a name for himself as a commander. It was what his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, had tried in Galatia and the Baltic. Henry Bolingbroke had failed. Would King Richard succeed?
There was a moment then which marked a change. “Sir William, I shall not need you and your men tomorrow. I will lead my knights and those of Kildare. My guards can guard my baggage and you and your men can be a reserve.”
I did not argue for there was little point. I was disappointed but I did not think that the Irish would be foolish enough to attack the King of England. In the event, I was proved wrong.
We rose and rode forth. The King ordered all of our banners to be unfurled. He was making a statement to the Irish. We crossed from Kildare into the land ruled by the Dempsey Clan. They supported Cathal mac Ruaidri Ó Conchobair, the King of Connaught. We saw no scouts and the King had none out but we must have been seen for, at noon, as we watered our horses, we saw men gathering on a hill some two miles from us. In the time it took for us to mount and move towards them the numbers had been swollen by reinforcements. The hillside was soon filled with a mass of men.
The King shouted to Dick of Craven to guard the baggage and he led two hundred knights, their squires and some sergeants forward. He had archers but they rode behind the men at arms. He had ignored his own words to the Earl of Kildare. It was though there were two demons inside the King and they were fighting. He led over five hundred mounted men. The two hundred archers could have been deployed and they would have guaranteed us victory. The King did not use them. John of Gaunt had not reached us yet. The King was trying to prove that he did not need the aid of the House of Lancaster to win. The line of horsemen was two hundred men wide. It meant it was a shallow line. The Irish on the hill were in a mass of men but I estimated the lines to be thirty or forty deep. I made a decision. I would disobey my orders. I would not be a reserve.
Turning to my men at arms and archers I said, “Follow me!”
I was riding Jack and I spurred him. I did not intend to charge. I just wanted to threaten the right flank of the Irishmen. I had just forty-three men with me but twenty of them were archers and we could do some damage.
The King and his knights were approaching the Irish properly. They had their spears raised and they were cantering rather than galloping. They were keeping their lines tight and riding boot to boot. The Irish had just formed on the hill as they had arrived. Their chiefs and kings were gathered on the top. Some men in the front rank had spears but others did not. The King and his knights had a chance. A slight chance but a chance nonetheless. I worried about how the Irish might fight. The King and his earls rode mailed horses but the Irish were brave enough to throw themselves beneath the horses and use their knives to gut them.
We rode hard. I had no intention of charging the Irish. I saw some of the knights on the left flank looking over to me as though I was stealing their glory! I was not, I was trying to save their lives. When we closed with the right flank of the Irish, I saw them turn their shields, spears and swords toward us. A third of their men anticipated an attack from us. We would attack but not in the way they anticipated. When we were two hundred paces from their line I shouted, “Halt! Dismount! Horse holders!”
We had practised this and five warriors grabbed the reins of the horses. I drew my sword and swung my shield around. John and Tom stood behind me. Ralph was one of the horse holders. My men spread out in a thin line.
“Alan, you know what to do!”
“Aye, lord. Unleash the wrath of God on these barbarians!”
“Tom, unfurl the banner. Let them know who we are.”
As Alan shouted, “Release!” the King’s line hit the Irish. There was a clash and clatter of metal on wood and the crunching of bodies broken by hooves. Horses neighed and men screamed. It was the sound of primitive battle. The combination of the joint attacks confused the Irish. Alan managed two more flights before those with shields raised them. The forty arrows killed or wounded more than twenty. His third and fourth flights had the same effect. By the eighth flight, the wild Irish had had enough and they ran at us. I had no opportunity to see what the King was doing. We had our own battle here. In the two hundred paces they had to cross, Alan and his archers killed or wounded fifty more men, and then they hit us. The arrows had thinned them so that the Irish tribesmen did not hit us as one. Even so, the wild men of the west threw themselves at our swords. Many of the first of them died without striking a blow.
I blocked the blows of their swords on my shield. Some were so poorly made that they bent. Spears were thrown at us from those advancing. They had fire-hardened tips. They sounded dangerous as they rattled off helmets but they did no harm. I slashed my sword sideways. I struck flesh. I raised it to strike down and saw that it was bloody. All the time the arrows sent from behind us slowed down the advance so that the twenty or so men who reached us were easily dispatched. The next twenty or so were also sent to their deaths. They stopped attacking and fell back out of arrow range. That gave relief to Alan and his archers.
I glanced to my right and saw that the knights, supported by the men at arms, had pushed the Irish up the hill but it had been at a cost. I saw unhorsed knights. We had done what I intended and I shouted, “Mount and reform.”
We hurried back to the horse holders. Ralph held Jack’s reins while I mounted. We formed two lines. They were not long lines but the Irish must have thought we were going to attack. I turned and shouted to the King’s archers, “Archers, join us!”
The Captain of archers had been waiting to get into the battle. He had seen what Alan had done and he galloped over with his archers. There were two hundred horses. They were liveried and, as they covered the three hundred paces to us, the Irish must have thought they were more men at arms come to charge them. A horn sounded and the Irish began to disengage. They were not mailed men and they scurried from the battle. The King and his knights had exhausted their horses. There was no pursuit. When the archers joined us, I sent them to help the King. They were dispatching the Irish wounded. We walked our horses towards the Irish we had slain.
We dismounted and my men went amongst them collecting the weapons and helmets. Some of the Irish were chiefs and had old fashioned torcs around their necks. Others wore battle bracelets made of silver and gold alloy. All was collected. My men would share it out later. My archers collected arrows. Only shafts which were broken would be left. They would take the fletch and the heads. All of my archers could make arrows. A good archer made his own missiles. Ralph came back towards Tom and me, he had four swords and a couple of helmets. “That was not much of a battle, lord. They did not stand long.”
“That was not a battle. That was an encounter. They came to see who we were. When the Irish fight they arrange a battle. The King’s attack unsettled them. He did not fight it the way he should have but we won and it will allo
w the next part of the campaign to be fought successfully.”
A horn sounded and we headed back to Kildare. I saw that many knights were riding their second horses. Destriers had died. The knights who had lost them would not be happy. We had not fought knights. Had we done so, there would have been ransom which would have paid for the horses. We might even have captured horses. The few horsemen had been riding hill ponies. We reached Dick of Craven first. He shook his head, “You fought the battle well, Sir William. The King should have used archers.”
“Perhaps he will use them later.”
We reached the castle and a rider was sent to the Duke of Lancaster to ask him to bring the rest of the army as soon as he could. The King was enough of a realist to know that it would take some time to ferry all of the army from Chester and then to march them across The Pale and then Kildare. I had displeased the King by my action and I was not invited to the feast in Kildare Castle. I did not mind, I enjoyed the company of my men.
Dick of Craven came to join us at the fire later on. He brought a jug of the wine from the feasting hall. He chuckled as he poured it. Roger of Chester said, “What amuses you, Dick of Craven?”
“When the lords were eating, one of the Earl of Rutland’s knights asked why the King did not do as you had done and use archers to support the attack! The silence that fell upon the hall sounded like thunder! I thought the King’s head would burst it was so red and angry. Sir Henry was sent from the hall but he was just speaking what the others were thinking. There are many knights who lost horses.”
Harold Four Fingers asked, “The King made a mistake and others paid. It is not right.”
Dick of Craven shook his head, “Curb those thoughts and do not give them a voice, Harold Four Fingers. That is treason. King Richard can do no wrong. He is King.” He stood. “I just thought I would bring you the wine, Sir William, and the news that others think you did right.”
When Dick had gone, Roger divided the treasure, little though it was. The swords would be returned to Weedon and given to Martin the Smith. He would use them for more mail. I called over Alan of the Woods and Stephen the Tracker. “I do not think there will be a battle tomorrow. I know not what the King intends but I would know what is out there. I want you two to lead my archers in two hunting parties. One goes south and west and the other goes north and west. Find where the Irish are gathering.”
They nodded and then went to choose their men. They would mix the old and the new. My archers also had to become as one.
“Ralph, did the horses suffer today?”
“No, lord. They are rested and this is good grazing.”
“We will not have to use them for a few days. I have ordered the archers out tomorrow. When they return, we will need to rest their horses.”
“Aye, lord. Do I have to stay with the horses each time we fight?”
“You are keen to fight?”
“I am here to learn to be a warrior, I could hold horses on my father’s farm.”
I nodded, “You make a fair point. I will let you fight the next time we meet the Irish.”
As I lay down on my fur and pulled my cloak up around me, I wondered just how long it would take the Irish to gather enough men to fight us.
Chapter 13
When my men returned it was with the news that there was no sign of the Irish for more than thirty miles. The horses were lathered and the archers weary when they walked their horses back into the camp. I went to the castle to report to the King. He made me wait for an hour. I watched the hourglass being turned. It was another punishment. The King had more faces than a man looking in a cracked mirror. When he did agree to see me, his face was stern.
“Your Majesty, I sent my archers to seek the Irish. They are not close to the castle.”
“Then my victory, despite the fact that you disobeyed my orders, is complete.” I said nothing and the King said, “You disagree, Sir William? Answer me.”
I was in dangerous territory but I had trained the King. Even though it might cost me I would answer him truthfully, “King Richard, we slew two hundred men on the battlefield. My men and I counted the bodies of just four chieftains. Where are their knights? Where are their kings? We caught them by surprise. It is my belief that they are gathering their forces to fight us on a ground of their choosing. It was a victory but not the one you sought.”
He frowned. It was a sure sign that he was thinking. He then rose and said, “I thank you for sending your archers out. I will send for you tomorrow when I have had the opportunity to discuss strategy with my lieutenants.”
I had gone from being a close confidante to a messenger. The unpredictable and erratic King of England had returned. This time I could not blame the late Earl of Oxford. The worm in the King’s head made him hard to predict.
The Duke of Lancaster arrived the following day at noon. The camp grew tenfold. The good grazing which Ralph had spoken of would soon be gone. The King did not send for me as he had said. I stayed in the camp with my men. It was the following morning when one of the King’s pages, Peter, found me. The King and his uncle were alone and the door closed behind me.
“The King has told me of your action the other day in the skirmish. On reflection, he thinks it was well done.” The King would not apologise but his uncle would do it for him. “We are going to take the army into Connaught. If the Irish will not bring their army to battle, we will take the war to them. We would have you and your company twenty miles ahead of the vanguard.”
I gave the Duke a sharp look, “We are bait, my lord?”
The King said, “I told you, uncle, Will might be low born but he has a mind as sharp as any. No, Will. I would not lose you and your men. Let us say that we are hunters and we wish you to start the prey. You and your men are more than capable of dealing with any warband you might meet and, if you meet their army, then you are quick enough to return and tell us. If you pass settlements then sack them. Burn their homes and their crops. Slaughter their animals. We will make them fight us.”
Despite the King’s words, I knew that I was bait. I was no longer needed to protect the King for he had a new coterie of knights and lords he was gathering around him. They were the new Robert de Vere. I just hoped that none were as ambitious as the Earl of Oxford had been. “We head west, my lord?” I looked at the Duke.
“Yes, Sir William. We head for Galway. You do not go as the only knight. I have a young knight who would follow you. Sir Henry of Stratford is serving with me. He brought just his squire. You know the knight, I believe?”
I smiled, “I trained him.”
“Good, then he can follow your banner. He married the daughter of Marie de St. Hilaire of Hainaut. She is a lady of my acquaintance.”
I hid my smile, Marie de St. Hilaire of Hainaut was his mistress. Sir Henry had done well for himself. “He is a good knight. He and his squire know their business.”
The Duke gave me a wry smile, “I am pleased that you approve. We leave the day after tomorrow. We would have you and your men on the road before dawn. I will supply you with four riders to keep us informed of your progress.” And with that, I was dismissed.
I did not mind the isolation. I was not reliant on another. Oft times the Blue Company had had this role and within the Blue Company, Red Ralph and Peter the Priest were always the scouts.
We had spare sumpters but now I regretted not bringing servants to lead them. We would have to waste men at arms or archers to do so. It could not be helped. When I told my men that Sir Henry and Peter were to join us, they were delighted. They had seen little of Sir Henry since he had been knighted but, for the years he had been trained by me, he had been part of our company. Peter was an old soldier and was never happier than when he was with my men at arms.
“John, take down the tent and send it to the baggage. We will not need it. We leave our chests here with our spare surcoats. We will go dirty if we have to. We take cloaks and all the weaponry we can muster.”
“Aye, lord, come, Ral
ph and Tom, we have work to do.”
Tom asked, “Where do we sleep then?”
John laughed, “You will learn to make a hovel. It can be cosy enough. We had them in the Baltic and they were warm even in the ice.”
I went to speak to Alan and Roger. I had just explained our task when I heard hooves behind me. I turned and saw Sir Henry, Peter and two servants leading Sir Henry’s warhorse.
He dismounted. His grin told me that he was pleased to see me. He had grown into a man. He was now about twenty-three years of age and looked like a confident warrior rather than the diffident youth who had come to me. “Good to see you, my lord. A banneret now!” He gave a mock bow.
I laughed, “I can still give your coxcomb a clip!” I embraced him, “Good to see you too and congratulations on your marriage.”
He blushed a little, “Thank you, lord. I have a beautiful wife in Marie and she is with child which is a double cause for congratulations. It is why I left my men at arms to guard my home. The memory of Captain Mavesyn still haunts me.”
“It is good to have you, and you too, Peter.”
“It is good to be back, my lord. This is Jacob and Abraham. They are servants but they can handle a sword if they have to.”
“Good. Sir Henry, walk with me and I will tell you of our task and what we have learned of the men we fight.”
When we had finished, we returned to the camp where my men were cooking our supper. I had been honest with Sir Henry. He did not have as much experience of war. “This will be the first time I have drawn my sword in anger since Radcot Bridge and the race to Stratford. I hope I have not forgotten how to use it.”
“You will not but I should warn you these warriors we war against will not seek to take you prisoner. They will gut your horse and then try to butcher you. If you can take their head with one blow then do so.”
He lowered his voice, “Then why does the King fight them?”
“They challenged his authority. This is a message for those in England and across the border in Scotland. This is King Richard flexing his muscles and exorcising the death of his wife from his mind.”