Hoodsman: Popes and Emperors

by Smith, Skye

  When it was Raynar's turn to report, he told them in his simple Greek that the Venetian fleet was waiting with ten galleys of provisions in a lagoon not five miles from here, and on this side of the ridge, and the pass. He handed the Emperor's clerk a scroll from the Doxe, and a scroll from the ships that listed the provisions they brought.

  Since he had been introduced as a captain, Raynar was allowed to stay with the generals as they made some snap decisions. Decisions so bad that he had to speak out.

  "You cannot attack the Normans immediately," he told them, despite Doukas pulling him back, and warning him to keep quiet. "They have no men in the pass because they are laying a trap. They do not want you to make camp in the pass where it can be easily defended. They want you to make camp on the coastal plain, and attack them on the coastal plain."

  One of the generals, Gregory Pakour-something-or-other, hissed at him, "Who are you to tell generals their craft. You will leave us and ...."

  "I am a man," Raynar interrupted speaking overtop of the general's hissed words. "who has been fighting Norman knights for fifteen years. I know their tactics, their strengths, and their weaknesses. I know how to beat them, and how to lose to them. Who are YOU to tell ME how to fight Normans?"

  At the rudeness of this captain of shepherds, two of the general's field commanders leaped at him to pummel him, but neither of them made it within reaching distance before they were pulled down, one to each side by two tall blond shepherds who held wicked looking fish filleting knives to their throats.

  At the flash of unsheathed steel, the Emperor's personal guard got involved. It was Doukas that stopped the shedding of blood by stepping between the guards and the Venetian shepherds yelling "Hold, Hold. Let us hear out the Venetian before we dispatch him. I am interested in what he knows, even if the rest of you are not."

  The general turned to the emperor and bowed slightly and said, "I commanded our Norman mercenaries for ten years before they quit our army to follow the banners of Norman dukes. I will not be spoken to ....."

  "Be calm and listen, Gregory," replied Alexius. "It will be you who will tell us if his words are true, once he has finished speaking.” He waved his guards away from the Venetian shepherd, and motioned everyone else to be still. "Speak Citizen Captain. You have our ears."

  "Excellency," Raynar began, "Guiscard will expect his heavy cavalry, his knights, to defeat your shieldmen and poke gaping holes in your lines of infantry. To do that, he must choose the battlefield, and he must chose one that has no hazards or traps for his horses. His heavy cavalry are useless in this pass, or along the rocky edges of the mountain ridges. He wants you to advance towards him out onto the open coastal plain.

  Your archers and infantry have been looking for traps in the ridges and passes and have found none. That is because they think like infantry, not like cavalry. That wide open, flat, bare land in front of you is the trap, not this pass. You have not surprised Guiscard. He is waiting for you to fight on his terms. Terms which give his knights the advantage."

  "Is that all?" asked the general, impatient for his turn to speak.

  "I could speak strategy and tactics all day," said Raynar. "You have archers with you, and I am told that there are a lot of them. The Norman knights fear archers. The surest way to defeat the knights, and therefore Guiscard, it to take their horses away from them. Tell your archers to kill the horses. Tell them to ignore the men as targets until all of their horses are dead or crippled."

  At this there was outrage from all sides. Captured horses were a valuable part of the battlefield plunder. Captured horses would allow many of this army to ride home to Constantinople in triumph, rather than walk. General Gregory was loudest of all. "You see. He speaks like a coward who would rob us of the glory and wealth of finishing these Normans."

  Raynar stood frozen in place and did not react or argue with the calls against his wisdom. He simply caught the Emperor's eye and stared fixedly at him. Alexius motioned to his bodyguard and they banged their swords against their shields to silence the calls.

  When there was quiet again, Alexius asked his general, "Do you fault his advice, other than for reasons of battlefield trophies?" Gregory looked at his emperor and at this Captain of shepherds and thought carefully before he said, "No."

  "Then John Doukas," said Alexius in the tone of a command, "have your Seljuks intersperse with the front line of our infantry. They are to run forward twenty paces from those lines and clear the way of Normans with their arrows, and then stop and allow the front line to catch up to them before they run forward again. If the knights fear arrows so much, then perhaps this will keep them off the battlefield until we have crossed the open land."

  * * * * *

  With Doukas as his vouchsafe, Raynar and his men walked back through the ranks and ranks of men marching across the inner valley towards the pass that would take them to the coastal plain and the upcoming battle. He was searching for the Varangians, and especially for the lords who had fled or had been exiled from England by the Conqueror.

  Eventually he spotted them, and with the approval of Doukas, pulled them aside to show them the list of names that he carried. The list of which of them now had drawing rights to access their wealth in Venice. Raynar recognized a few by name, and some by face. He had fought along side some of them at the disastrous battle at the River Aire in Yorkshire in '69. He had fought alongside others when they helped to take over the fortress of Montreuil-Sur-Mer for Philippe of France in '76. Most he just knew as names on a list of accounts.

  Few of them remembered his face, though most knew his name. He was Hereward's man. The one who had claimed their individual treasures from the Abbey of Peterburgh in the Fens, and then smuggled that treasure across the sea to Flanders.

  There was no time for the sharing of stories. It was enough that word spread amongst them that any of them who had left wealth in trust with Hereward or with the monastery in Brugge, could now draw upon that wealth in Venice.

  They ignored his news about King Canute of Denmark assembling a fleet with which to take back the Danelaw, because their own news from Denmark was more up to date. They were, after all, living in Constantinople, which was the news and message hub of the world.

  Raynar was crestfallen at what these men were telling him as they reshouldered their weapons to continue their march into battle. They would rather be a mercenary in Constantinople, surrounded by wealth and comfort and warm weather, than once again be the lord of muddy lands, and of villages of rough farmers, in a petty kingdom of cold winters and cool summers.

  Ned shook him out of his stupor. "Oye, Ray. Our mission is complete. Let's be on our way. If we leave now, we can be back at the ships by sunset.” Raynar shrugged and nodded his head as he watched two thousand Varangians, half of them English exiles, march into the pass on their way to the coastal plain. The plain that he was sure was a Norman trap. He turned to Doukas and told him that to complete their scouting mission they must report back to the fleet.

  "NO," replied John Doukas sharply. "The emperor wants you standing close to him as the battle unfolds. He may need your advice."

  * * * * *

  Emperor Alexius and his royal bodyguard were staying well back from the front lines, between the front lines and the reserves. The reserves included the elite Byzantine Excubitors and Vestiaritai guards, and the only cavalry, some light horsemen from Thessaly who would be needed to carry orders and messages around the battlefield.

  There were three sections to the Byzantine front lines, all of them some form of infantry. The North section commanded by General Gregory was composed of various small armies pulled from the provinces. Doukas explained to Raynar that the presence of those small armies meant that there were vast stretches of their eastern borders left poorly defended. The middle section was all Byzantine Greeks, well armoured and well armed, and commanded by Alexius himself.

  The south section, the section closest to the city, included the English Varangians and various ot
her mercenaries, like Turks and Franks and was commanded by another general, Niki Meliss-something-or-other. The seven thousand Seljuk skirmishers were spread throughout all three front lines. Ahmad, the Seljuk commander, was standing close to Raynar, or more correctly, close to Doukas so as to interpret any orders for his Seljuks.

  Ahmad turned to the man he had first met on the top of the ridge above the pass, the Venetian messenger dressed as a shepherd, and said, "I am told that I have you to thank for putting all of my men in danger in the front of the line."

  At first Raynar did not know if the man was angry or just talking strategy. He had a frightening face, a face scarred from fighting, and he hissed his Greek perhaps because of how his mother tongue was spoken. "Your men are skirmishers. This is nothing new to them."

  "What is new," replied Ahmad, "is that we are fighting alongside the Byzantines, not against them. Why do I fear that the Emperor would be best pleased by an outcome where all the Norman leaders were killed, so that their army would become his, and that seven thousand dangerous Seljuk skirmishers would die achieving that, and never return to his Eastern border?"

  * * * * *

  * * * * *

  The Hoodsman - Popes and Emperors by Skye Smith

  Chapter 18 - The Battle of Dyrrhachium in October 1081

  Across the open plain from them, the Norman army was assembling. So much for surprise, hah. They formed a shorter thicker line than that of the Byzantine army they were facing. This filled the men around the Emperor with courage, because it meant that their army would outflank the Normans on both sides.

  "You forget their heavy cavalry," Raynar hissed at them loud enough for Alexius to hear. "They have the advantage of mobility and speed. You will not outflank the Normans for they can stretch their lines in every direction depending on the need."

  Ned and the others were silent. They were busy estimating the size of these armies. Buck was first with his count of the Normans. "I figure them at twenty five thousand fighting men, and us about the same. That is fifty thousand fighting men on one battlefield. That is astounding."

  "Unbelievable," Raynar sighed. "So many men's lives at risk, all because a couple of nobs are having an argument about land. I have fought on English battlefields where there were more than five thousand men, but this is ten times that. Unbelievable. Frightening."

  At a signal from the Emperor's flagmen, his front line began walking forward. So did the Normans infantry but not their cavalry. Once the Seljuk's bows were in range, the Seljuks ran forward in front of their own line and loosed about four arrows each.

  These Seljuks were not amateurs. They did not shoot their arrows at the front line of Normans, all of whom were behind shields, and neither did they volley them high and un-aimed to fall randomly on the battlefield. They aimed just high of the front row of shields, and let the weight of the points pull the arrows down into the infantry who were standing directly behind the front row of shieldmen.

  A few crossbowmen came forward from the Norman ranks and tried some shots, but they were still out of range. Some of them became pin cushions to Seljuk arrows, but most quickly darted back behind the shields. There was some confusion in the Norman ranks, but generally the next move of the Norman front line was not to step forward, but to step backwards.

  Instead of the Seljuks moving back behind their own line, the Byzantine line moved up to where they were standing, and then the whole movement of men was repeated. The Norman line was slowly backing away from the Seljuk arrows, and the Byzantine line was slowly moving forward. As the Byzantine line moved forward, so did Alexius and his guards and advisors, and behind them, so did the reserves.

  "You see, I was right," complained Raynar to Doukas, "they are pulling us further and further into open, flat land. We are being baited to keep us moving into a trap that will be sprung by their knights.” Doukas ignored his words. Ahmad did not.

  "How would you do this differently," asked Ahmad.

  "I would not have left the rockier land closer to the ridge. I would have created ditches and pike lines, and laid down iron thorns to create a safe place for our infantry to run to, and regroup if they need to retreat. I would have sent small units forward, rather than the entire line. Small units as bait to make them use their knights. Draw the knights towards your Seljuk arrows so that you can kill the horses before the larger infantry battle begins."

  "Did you say kill the horses," asked Ahmad. "My men would never target the horses. They want to capture them, and claim them as their own. The Byzantines forced my men to walk to this battle so they could make sure we did not raid their empire. On horseback we are invincible, so our horses are worth more to us than our wives. You will see. My men will kill the knights with their arrows and steal their horses and fight the rest of this battle from horseback."

  "Ahmad, you have no idea who you are fighting. Norman heavy cavalry knights ride the biggest of horses, and therefore can wear heavy armour. Your light Seljuk arrows will bounce off that armour. However, if you can make the knight fall from his horse, then you can defeat him. When he must fight on his own two feet, then his heavy armour and heavy weapons quickly tire him, and slow him down, until he is doomed."

  Flint called to Raynar to get his attention. "The Norman lines are changing, Ray. Something’s not right. I think we should nock up.” He didn't wait for agreement, but pulled his four heavy arrows from his bedroll, and strung his strange shepherds crook-come-bow, and enabled the dagger end of the staff by twisting off the hollow foot of the staff.

  Ahmad was immediately interested in this strange weapon, and asked Raynar to show him how his shepherds crook became a weapon with many uses.

  "Pay attention," Buck scolded them both. "I see knights moving behind the Norman lines. Not many, so they just mean to test us.” He pointed his arm and yelled so all around him and around the Emperor would look. "A conroi of knights is just coming through the Norman line. I make it, what, fifteen of them. Three groups of five."

  "Fuck," Raynar cursed loudly. "They are carrying longer and heavier lances than the last time I faced knights."

  "Aye," replied Buck. "They have no interest in fighting our shieldmen. Not with those lances. They must want to just punch holes in the line for their infantry to pour through. Yeh, look, the infantry is running in behind them. But why only fifteen."

  "Like you said, a test. They want to see the effect of the light Seljuk arrows on their armour and horses. They want to see if our shieldmen carry long weapons like pikes or pole axes."

  As they watched, three groups of five knights hit the shieldwall of the center of the front line in three places, but each conroi stayed closely bunched together. The Seljuk arrows had not even slowed them down, and the knights did not slow down to slash at the archers as they charged through them. They did not want to loose momentum before they hit the shieldwall. The infantry running in their wake would finish the archers.

  The knights lowered their lances to shield height and hit the shieldwall. Each group of five were riding closely packed together, so when their lances hit shields they hit five shields that were next to each other. They hit the shields so hard that they knocked over the men holding them, and then the giant horses were into the line and trampling on the men that had been knocked over."

  "They are coming to attack the emperor," yelled Doukas to the Emperor's personal guard. Those guards had pikes and knew how to use them against cavalry. They ran forward in front of their emperor and dug the base of their pikes into the dry soil and then angled the points forward a horse-chest height.

  The conrois of knights were now through the front line and the Byzantines behind the front line were trying to close the hole, while the Norman infantry that had run in the wake of the knights were fighting to keep open the hole in the shield wall that the knights had created. There was now nothing but open land between the charging knights and the Emperors personal guard and their pikes. The advisors like Doukas and Raynar had moved to the side so that they were
no longer between the charging horses and the line of pikes.

  Ahmad ordered the closest of his archers to loose at the knights, but meanwhile four men dressed as shepherds were drawing heavy arrows and waiting for sure shots at the chests and hearts of the great galloping beasts. They aimed at the lead group of five, and loosed. Three of the horses crumpled immediately to their knees in mid gallop, and their knights went flying forward out of the saddles.

  Another horse careened sideways into the fifth, and then lost its footing and went down in front of the fifth, and the fifth horse tried to jump it, but failed to clear it, and tripped and two horses and two knights fell in a tangle of armour and horses legs.

  Meanwhile the light Seljuk arrows were bouncing off the armour of the other knights, and not even distracting them from their line of attack. Worse, the arrows did not even slow them down. By the time the four shepherds loosed their next arrows, they no longer had a chest shot at five horses, but side shots at ten. Unfortunately at that angle, half of the horses were hidden behind the closest ones.

  They hit every horse they could see, and now four more horses were stumbling or rearing, or careening sideways into other horses. Some of the knights dropped their lances so they could use one hand to hold onto the saddle and the other to try to control the horse. While nocking their next arrows, the four shepherds ran towards the Emperor, hoping to get a better angle at the six horses still charging.

  Before they could find more good targets, the six horses hit the line of pikes and the carnage of men and beasts was dreadful. The knights had sacrificed their horses onto the pikes in order to push a hole through the personal guard. Two knights made it through, and were pointing their lances at the Emperor who was mounted, and trying to turn his horse away from them.