The Sword Brothers

by Peter Darman

  As well as the sword and shield Lukas instructed them in the use of the spear, axe and crossbow, the boys being particularly keen on these items because, unlike tuition in the use of the sword, they were handed real weapons with which to practise. The long days meant they spent many hours training, in the afternoons shooting crossbow bolts at targets of packed straw, wielding axes or learning spear thrusts, but the mornings were given over to the sword and shield. Always the sword and shield.

  ‘Keep moving,’ Lukas bellowed at his charges as they practised thrusting with a spear. ‘Just because it’s a spear does not mean you have to stand still. You stop moving, you die. How many times do I have to tell you?’

  Just for good measure he walked among them with a waster in his hand, administering a sharp blow to the hamstrings or back of anyone still stationary.

  The boys had been at Wenden for four months now and even in that short time the constant training and hearty diet had made them stronger and more agile. Hans still looked as though he had gone without food for a month but now he had a lithe rather than a gaunt appearance. His eyes were bright and alert and his hair thick rather than straggly.

  ‘They look like a pack of ravenous wolves,’ remarked Rudolf who was leading his horse prior to undertaking a patrol with a dozen mounted sergeants. He held the reins of a palfrey, one of a score of such well-bred mounts that were used for patrols and general riding. The great warhorses were used for battle and though they were ridden around the castle to keep them in rude health, they were far too valuable for general-purpose riding.

  ‘They are coming along nicely,’ replied Lukas. ‘I might let them have their own swords next year. The bishop should be arriving soon.’

  Every castle had a loft full of pigeons that were used to carry messages between each castle and Riga. In this way news could be relayed to an outpost in a few hours rather than days or even weeks. Wenden was no different and had been alerted by courier pigeon that Bishop Albert and his army were on their way from Riga.

  ‘Perhaps this year we will finally rid the world of Lembit and his Estonian heathens,’ continued Lukas, nodding at the boys thrusting with their spears. ‘Perhaps they will need ploughs instead of weapons.’

  ‘You really think that, Lukas?’ asked Rudolf.

  ‘Why not? The Livs and Letts have been subdued. Why not the Estonians?’

  Rudolf placed his foot in the stirrup and then hoisted himself into the saddle. ‘Even if we defeat Lembit there remain the Russians to be dealt with, in addition to the Oeselians. I think these boys will spend a good few years yet holding swords rather than ploughs.’

  He raised a hand to Lukas and then trotted towards the compound’s entrance, his men following. A week later Bishop Albert arrived.

  Conrad and his companions had never seen so much colour and splendour as when the bishop’s army made camp at Wenden. A forest of tents sprang up around the castle, many topped by pennants bearing heraldic symbols from Saxony, Thuringia and Franconia where the crusaders had been drawn from. Conrad saw shields and banners sporting eagles, bells, trumpets, lions, wolves, bears, boars, oxen and stags. Horses wore caparisons bearing strange beasts that he had never heard of: white unicorns with a single horn and cloven hooves like a deer; and blue griffins that had the head, chest, wings and forelegs of an eagle with the hindquarters and legs of a lion. Other shields bore the images of fantastic sea creatures: yellow half-fish, half-lions, red half-fish and half-horses. Brightly coloured banners fluttered in the breeze showing black and silver serpents and lizards, with armoured knights bearing fierce red dragons on their surcoats. Other knights had heraldic symbols of three animal heads on their shields, such as bulls, griffins and boars.

  The bishop’s army was a most impressive sight and the boys were agreed that no force on earth would be able to withstand it. Bishop Albert himself came not as a man of peace but as a scourge of the heathen, dressed as he was in mail armour, full-face helmet surmounted by a metal bishop’s mitre painted white and bearing a silver cross on the front, red surcoat adorned with Riga’s twin key symbol and a red shield painted with the same motif. He rode a great warhorse whose caparison also sported the twin keys symbol. The twenty knights who formed his bodyguard were armed and attired in a similar fashion, as were his sergeants, though they wore kettle helmets instead of the full-face variety. These were German lords and their vassals who had settled in and around Riga and who willingly joined the bishop in his crusade to rid Livonia and Estonia of pagans. Also recruited from in and around Riga were the bishop’s three hundred militia spearmen and three hundred crossbowmen, though the latter were actually mercenaries in the pay of the church who were billeted in the city’s castle. Like most German towns and cities Riga was administratively divided into quarters, each one responsible for raising, equipping and drilling a certain number of men. Though prosperous through trade and donations Riga was not yet wealthy enough to raise and equip both spearmen and crossbowmen. A spearman alone required a large shield, mail armour, helmet, sword, dagger and spear, in addition to food while on campaign. The spearmen of Riga’s garrison remained in the town to protect the archdeacon.

  The two hundred German crusader knights formed the core of the bishop’s army. Each knight brought with him two lesser-armoured horsemen recruited from his retainers, plus his squire. The knight and his two retainer horsemen, termed ‘lesser knights’, were termed a ‘gleve’ and fought as such on the battlefield. Occasionally a knight was accompanied by two or three mercenary horsemen instead of retainers, who would often dismount to fight on foot in battle.

  The Sword Brothers made up a small part of the force encamped around Wenden, the brother knights from the castles of Kremon and Segewold being added to those at Wenden to give a total of thirty-six heavy horsemen. Supporting them were fifty sergeants of the order. Small garrisons of sergeants had been left behind at Kremon and Segewold to ensure a line of continuous communications with Riga. In addition, the garrisons of those strongholds along the Dvina – at Holm, Uexkull, Lennewarden and Kokenhusen – had been untouched to ensure the security of Livonia’s southern border.

  Finally there were the support personnel, without whom the army could not function. These included farriers, carpenters, cobblers, armourers, fletchers, surgeons, engineers, porters and chaplains. Conrad did not understand why the bishop had brought fifteen minstrels with him but was informed that their music brought him closer to God at the end of a long day.

  The day of the army’s arrival was exciting enough, but as the hours passed and Conrad and his companions watched the encampment take shape from the compound’s earth and timber rampart they were struck by the great number of horses and wagons that accompanied the soldiers. There were hundreds of warhorses and hundreds more palfreys and packhorses. The carts and wagons were loaded with supplies for three months’ campaigning – grain, wine, beer, dried fish and meat – plus tools. These included axes, planes, augers, boards, spades and iron shovels. Other wagons were loaded with armour, weapons, tents, saddles, crossbow bolts, shields and lances. The carts and wagons were brought inside the compound for security, as were the siege engines that had been broken down into their constituent parts and loaded onto wagons by the engineers. Everyone else save the bishop, his knights and the most senior crusaders were kept outside Wenden’s perimeter.

  The bishop’s companions were quartered in the castle’s dormitory, Conrad and the other boys being evicted to sleep in a tent they erected in the compound below the castle. Master Berthold gave up his room so the bishop could sleep in it during his residence at Wenden.

  ‘Our stay will be brief,’ announced Bishop Albert as he wiped his mouth with a cloth, Conrad taking his empty bowl from the table in front of him.

  The candles in the dining room cast a poor light, making the building’s austere interior even more dismal.

  Conrad’s companions cleared the empty dishes of the others sitting in the company of the bishop: Master Berthold, Brother Rudolf, Gran
d Master Volquin, the masters of the castles of Kremon and Segewold and two German knights whom the bishop had designated as commander and deputy-commander of the crusader contingent.

  ‘We wait until Caupo arrives and then we will march north into Estonia,’ continued the bishop. He looked at Master Berthold. ‘What news do you have of Lembit?’

  ‘He sits in his stronghold at Lehola, bishop,’ answered Berthold.

  ‘Where is this place?’ asked the crusader commander, a swarthy individual with a deep voice and huge hands.

  ‘Around eighty miles to the north,’ replied Berthold.

  ‘Six days’ march,’ said the crusader.

  ‘More like ten,’ Rudolf corrected him, ‘given the state of the tracks and the number of waterways we will have to go around.’

  Conrad filled the crusader’s cup with wine and then moved behind him to refill the Master of Kremon’s cup.

  ‘Who is this Caupo?’ asked the crusader commander’s deputy.

  ‘The King of the Livs,’ replied Bishop Albert.

  The crusader commander looked alarmed. ‘A pagan?’

  The bishop smiled. ‘A former pagan. Now a convert to the church and a servant of Christ. Seven years ago he accompanied me on a visit to Rome to see the Holy Father himself. I count him among my most loyal subjects.’

  The two crusaders looked at each other in confusion but asked no more questions about Caupo, the former pagan who now provided soldiers to fight beside the crusaders and the Sword Brothers. He resided at the hill fort of Treiden, around twelve miles southwest of Wenden. He may have had the trust of the bishop but those Livonians who were in exile and still in arms against the crusaders regarded him as a traitor. Lembit for his part had promised to kill him and mount his head on a pole on Treiden’s highest rampart. The Sword Brothers also did not trust him, less for the fact that he was a former pagan but more because he was a king who could summon several hundred men to his banner at a moment’s notice. And in a land where Christian castles were few, widely separated and had small garrisons, a man who commanded such power was dangerous indeed.

  He arrived the next day with a retinue of four hundred warriors on foot and a score of men on ponies. Caupo himself led them on a pony and was dressed in a simple grey tunic, mail armour vest, brown leggings and boots. He carried a sword in a red scabbard and a round shield painted red with a huge metal boss in the centre. His simple helmet with its large nasal guard partly obscured his large face but not his beard. Only a few of his men – his mounted bodyguard – wore mail armour and carried swords. The rest were dressed in tunics in varying shades of red, brown and black and grey leggings fastened round the calves with gaiters. All carried spears, round wooden shields and had knives in sheaths hanging from their leather belts. Some also carried axes tucked into their belts. There were at most fifty archers among Caupo’s soldiers.

  Bishop Albert received the Liv king warmly outside the chapel in the castle courtyard, the crusader leaders and Sword Brother commanders looking on with blank faces. The bishop then put an arm around Caupo’s shoulders and led him away while his men were shown to their allocated camping spot, which was well away from the rest of the army. The latter was spread over a few square miles around the castle and its horses had to be taken further out so they could graze on the lush summer grass. On average each acre of grassland could provide enough grazing for twenty-five horses, though the longer the army stayed at Wenden the more the ground would be stripped bare. In addition, every horse required at least ten gallons of water a day and so the squires, porters and Conrad and his associates were detailed to ferry the beasts to the Gauja so they could drink.

  Conrad may have been greatly impressed by the army upon its arrival, but his enthusiasm soon diminished when he and the others found that they were given additional daily duties that involved shovelling horse dung into wheelbarrows to keep the camp clean.

  The day after Caupo’s arrival came ill tidings from Riga.

  A courier pigeon brought news that a great fleet carrying Kurs had appeared in the Dvina and had disgorged hundreds of warriors who had attempted to storm Riga. Fortunately they had been spotted in time and the town gates had been closed. But the Kurs had then turned their attention to the surrounding countryside, burning and pillaging defenceless villages and farms in their path. Archdeacon Stefan wrote that it had been a miracle that Riga had not fallen and he implored the bishop to return with his army.

  After reading the missive Bishop Albert handed it to Grand Master Volquin and sighed. ‘I must return to Riga.’

  Volquin read Stefan’s note and then ordered the bishop’s guards to go and fetch the senior Sword Brothers and crusaders.

  The bishop sat in Berthold’s chair in the Hall of the Master and held his head in his hands. This was a grievous blow indeed. If Riga fell then ten years’ work would be undone and the crusade in Livonia might collapse altogether. He felt the weight of responsibility bear heavily upon his shoulders.

  ‘If Riga’s gates are closed then it will not fall,’ said Volquin, trying to reassure the bishop.

  Albert looked up at him. ‘That might be. But what about the villagers, farmers and landowners who live beyond its walls? No doubt they have already been killed or forced to flee into the forests. And what of the women and children? Captured, no doubt, and carried off into slavery. Monstrous.’

  Half an hour later the hall was filled with mail-clad men as the bishop relayed the news to them.

  ‘We must return to Riga immediately,’ he said. ‘Give the order to your soldiers.’

  The crusader leaders looked most surprised at this and looked at each other in confusion.

  ‘Who are these Kurs?’ asked their commander.

  ‘Pirates and robbers who live beyond the southern shore of the Gulf of Riga,’ replied Volquin. ‘Raiders who plunder and pillage the godly.’

  ‘They have siege engines?’ asked the swarthy crusader.

  Volquin shook his head. ‘Siege warfare is unknown to them.’

  The crusader spread his arms. ‘Then they will be gone before we reach Riga. Its walls are strong and it has a garrison. It is safe enough, surely.’

  ‘No,’ said Bishop Albert firmly. ‘It is an insult against me and against God that these Kurs attack Riga and the surrounding area. If we do nothing we will appear weak and helpless in the face of a pagan attack. We must return to rid the land of the Kurs to show that the armies of Christ cannot be defeated.’

  ‘We came here to kill pagans, not to chase bandits,’ said the crusader commander, his fellow knights murmuring their agreement.

  The bishop glowered at him. ‘I hope you came here to serve God rather than your own vanity.’

  The crusader commander held the bishop’s icy stare for a few seconds and then shrugged disinterestedly. ‘We are happy to kill whoever you want dead, lord bishop.’

  The other crusaders smiled and slapped him on the back.

  ‘We are fifty miles from Riga,’ said Volquin as the bishop retook his seat and continued to study the crusader commander. ‘The quickest way to get there is by river but with the amount of wagons and horses that are here that is clearly impossible. Therefore I propose that the crusaders, the bishop’s knights and sergeants, together with my own Sword Brothers and their sergeants, will form a mounted column to get to Riga as quickly as possible. The bishop’s spearmen and crossbowmen, together with King Caupo’s warriors, can accompany the more slow-moving wagons back to Riga in the wake of the mounted column.’

  The crusaders looked at Caupo and his four lieutenants behind him and then at each other. Their commander spoke once more.

  ‘You would entrust the wagons and supplies to barbarians?’

  Caupo’s men bristled at this slight but the king had heard it all before. He knew that he had once been a pagan who had fought the bishop, and would forever have to bear the insults and disdain of the arrogant young men on their big horses who arrived every year to wage war against the unconverted.r />
  He merely smiled at the crusaders as the bishop spoke slowly and purposely.

  ‘King Caupo has my full trust. No more will be said on the matter.’

  The crusader camp was dismantled that afternoon, Conrad and the others assisting the porters and young squires who had come from Germany to pack the tents and supplies into wagons. After the meeting in the chapel the bishop and Grand Master Volquin decided that there was little point in hauling the siege engines to Riga, only for them to be transported back north once the Kurs had been defeated. The wagons carrying them and their ammunition would therefore remain at Wenden along with the engineers who operated them. The long summer days meant that the mounted knights and sergeants could depart for Riga that very afternoon, each man carrying sacks of food and fodder behind him on his horse. The squires also rode south with their masters, each one holding the reins of their knight’s warhorse as they departed Wenden. The bishop led the way surrounded by his bodyguard, followed by Volquin and his Sword Brothers and Caupo, who left behind his foot soldiers to escort the wagons.

  The wagons left the following morning, escorted by Caupo’s warriors and the bishop’s spearmen and crossbowmen. It had not rained for many days and so the tracks they would traverse would at least be dry, but they were still rutted, full of holes and their surfaces damaged by water erosion caused by downpours and flooding. This meant the rate of advance was tortuous – no more than five miles a day – but at least there was no shortage of fresh water with the Gauja always nearby on the column’s right flank. The crusaders might have been disparaging about Caupo’s warriors but the bishop’s foot soldiers were glad to have them guarding the column of wagons and carts that stretched over several miles.