Blood Cries Afar (42 page)

The march to Lincoln saw yet another major episode of ravaging. Wendover reports the event: ‘the barons therefore passed through the valley of Belvoir, where everything was seized by these robbers, because the French infantry, who were the filth and scum of their country, left nothing untouched.’
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He portrays the footsoldiers as impoverished wretches, forced into plunder by their great need. This is where the war came closest of all to Wendover: his priory lay just below William d’Albini’s Castle of Belvoir with sweeping views across the valley. When the army arrived at Lincoln its leaders lodged in the town. Gilbert de Gant and Hugh d’Arras, now greatly reinforced, renewed their assaults on the castle, which continued to defend itself bravely, as it had done since March, under the redoubtable command of Nichola de Hay.

By Friday 12 May William Marshal was appraised of the precarious situation at Lincoln. Already angered by the retreat of the royalist Mountsorrel force, he held a major war council during which he urged that now was the time for decisive action. His biographer imbues his hero with powerful oratory powers in a stirring, patriotic speech:

Hear me, you noble, loyal knights. In God’s name hear me now. Defend our name, for ourselves and for the sake of our loved ones, our wives and our children; defend our land and win for ourselves the highest honour; safeguard the peace of the Holy Church which our enemies have broken and infringed, and gain redemption and pardon for all our sins. Now that we have taken on the burden of armed combat, let us make sure there is no coward amongst us! We shall be a lily-livered lot if we do not now take revenge on those who have come from France to take for themselves the lands of our men.
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He told his captains that with Louis’s force split, there was a great opportunity to engage with the enemy. Battles were risky and could be conclusive, and so William had advised an eagerly agreeable John against this course at Louis’s landing exactly a year before – but now was the time to ‘play for the highest stakes’. ‘These words,’ says his biographer, ‘put hope in their hearts, cheered, strengthened and emboldened them.’ He ordered his army to launch an attack on the large Anglo-French forces at Lincoln; his men ‘did not hesitate to advance’. The time had come for battle.
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The regent along with Guala, Peter des Roches and other members of his council, organised a muster of royalist forces fifteen miles south-west of Lincoln at Newark on 15 May. On the command of the king, royalist castles emptied of soldiers leaving only skeleton garrisons behind as their forces converged on Newark, keen, says Wendover, to fight for their country (
pro patria
). He gives the royalist army size as 400 knights, nearly 250 crossbowmen and innumerable army auxiliaries; the
History of William Marshal
corroborates the number of knights with ‘405 knights’ (he later says 406) but reckons there were many more crossbowmen at ‘only 317’, unconvincingly trying to portray the army as a small one (and hence magnifying the enemy). The muster was a major event in itself: gathered there were William Marshal, Guala and Peter des Roches, the Earl of Salisbury, John Marshal, Robert de Vieuxpont, the Earl of Derby, Brian de Lisle, Philip Mark, Robet de Gaugi, William d’Albini, Philip d’Albini and, of course, Falkes de Bréauté; representing the episcopate were the Bishops of Hertford, Bath, Exeter, Salisbury, Worcester, and Lincoln; and, the very symbol of the reinvigorated royalist cause, the young King himself. The holiness of their crusade, minor as it was, was emphasised over three days during which the clergy heard confession, administered communion and solemnly excommunicated the rebels yet again, specifically those in Lincoln. Ominously, the anathema also extended to the inhabitants of this populous city. The royalist soldiers marked themselves with their white crosses. If a soldier fell his spiritual armour thus fortified by absolution and blessings would guarantee his salvation on Judgment Day. All was not harmony, however, and, as usual, squabbles and disagreements broke out. The Earl of Chester, who had previously complained that William Marshal was too old to be in command, insisted that he had the honour of leading the front rank of the army or else he would quit the army. He was too powerful, and with too strong a contingent, to be denied. David Crouch has suggested that the habitually cautious Marshal may have been stung into a battle-seeking policy by the Earl of Chester’s insults.
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The army refreshed, armoured and prepared itself for the coming clash. On Friday 19 May, while Guala and King Henry went to Nottingham, the army set out for Lincoln and battle.

It did not take the direct route. The castle and neighbouring cathedral sit solidly atop a ridge on the original Roman site (see map in picture section). The walled city spread south from here, dropping steeply to the River Whitham, losing 175 feet of height over 700 yards. An assault over the south wall or through its gate would entail passing through marshy ground and crossing the river; this would be difficult enough, but the long slog uphill – onerous enough under normal walking conditions, never mind fighting every inch of the way encumbered by heavy armour and wielding weaponry – was impracticable to the point of being impossible. Another practical consideration, somewhat overlooked, was that the royalists would want to establish swift communications with the besieged garrisons so as to co-ordinate movements. Therefore the royalists headed to the north to arrive before the city on the gradual, sloping ridge that extended over a few miles. This was the site of the First Battle of Lincoln in 1141, when King Stephen was captured after a valiant lone stand wielding a battle-axe. The upper city was walled internally and the castle surrounded by a deep ditch.
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During John’s reign, 300 marks had been spent on reinforcing its defences. The besieging forces were within the city, attacking the castle from its north and south and its gate from the east; the west gate, opening to the plain and open countryside (and hence to communication with royalist forces), appears not to have been secured externally, possibly because the rebels would have felt exposed outside the walls and more prone to a relief attack. The royalists therefore approached the city via a detour through Torksey. The biographer of William Marshal says that the army spent the night here; Wendover, our local guide, says they encamped at Stow, about eight miles from the city and just off a Roman road. With an army of this size there may well have been more than one encampment spread between the two places. Most of the soldiers trying to settle down for the night would have anticipated that this was the eve of battle.

That the Battle of Lincoln is an important episode in the history of the time is clear from the space afforded it in contemporary accounts. The terse and to the point Barnwell and Dunstable annalists devote two-and-a-half pages to it between them. The informative factual account by Wendover takes up over eight pages; the twenty pages of more heroic and dramatic retelling in the
History of William the Marshal
, being in verse, amounts to about the same, although its tendency towards grandiose and unlikely speeches by the combatants tends to reduce its utility. These two main sources differ in some details, but overall they corroborate each other strongly. (The Anonymous of Béthune, distant from events in the south, has only a few short lines on Lincoln.) The battle can therefore be reconstructed in considerable detail.

On the sunny morning of 20 May, the royalist army advanced on Lincoln in close battle order and with their standards and shields glistening in the sun; these ‘struck terror into all who saw them’, says Wendover. According to the Marshal’s biographer, leading the way was Ranulf Earl of Chester, ‘a brave and highly experienced knight’. Following him was the Marshal with his son, and in the third formation was William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury. In the rear was the division commanded by Peter des Roches. Wendover says that there were seven dense and well-formed battalions. He convincingly reports that crossbowmen made up the vanguard a mile to the front of the column: this was an important defensive measure against a frontal attack or ambush. In the rear was the baggage train. It is clear from the sources that the morale of the army was very high. Wendover says the men ‘flew to arms, mounted their horses quickly and struck camp rejoicing’; they were ‘all determined to conquer or die’ for their just cause. A royalist poem written just after the battle, devoid of detail but brimful of righteous religious hyperbole, relishes their advance on Lincoln in similar terms: ‘The royal standards glitter, and the formations under oath follow, when clear faith draws out their faces, the bright signs of the cross paint the excelling chests of the youth, a common will strengthens their hearts; there was one sole hope of conquering.’
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It was in this way the royalists came within sight of the walls of Lincoln before 6 am. Their first action was to establish contact with the castle garrison, who must have been tingling with anticipation at the prospect of relief. William Marshal sent his nephew John to the castle’s west gate. On his way there he met Geoffrey de Serland, sent by Lady Nicola to meet with him. Geoffrey showed John the castle postern gate on the western side from which sorties could be made and, crucially, troops brought in. As John hurried back at about 6:30 am to relay this important information he was set on by some French knights. A small combat ensued but John fought off his attackers and made his way back to his own lines.

The royalist army drew itself up in a new formation in case of a sortie from the city. The Marshal dispatched the 317 crossbowmen under Peter des Roches’ command to his right flank and ordered them to spread out in a long line ready to shoot down the warhorses of the enemy, should they charge. The experienced warrior bishop does not seem to have been perturbed by an edict of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 that expressly forbade clerics from commanding crossbow contingents. William Marshal then instructed 200 cavalry to be prepared to kill their own horses with their knives ‘so as to be able,’ says his biographer, ‘to take shelter behind them, if necessary, in an emergency’. The subtext is that it would also make flight from the battlefield less likely. At the Battle of Towton in 1461, Edward IV slew his horse to raise the morale of his troops and a sign of his commitment to remain on the battlefield.
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A reconnoitring party under Robert Fitzwalter and the Earl of Winchester was sent out from the city to assess the power of the enemy. It is likely that it was this group that had the encounter with John Marshal. There followed some confused intelligence gathering on the rebel side, which may have cost them dear. Wendover tells of how the party reported back positively after estimating the royalist numbers and said that the Anglo-French force should ride out to meet them: ‘The enemy come against us in good order, but we are many more than they; therefore our counsel is that we should sortie to the top of the hill and meet them; if we do, we shall catch them like larks.’ The Marshal’s biographer, who does not record this reconnoitring mission, gives the number of French knights as 611 and infantry as 1000, a figure that excludes the English barons with them; Wendover had given the size of the Anglo-French relief force to Mountsorrel as 600 knights in total, to which must be added those of Gilbert de Gant and the rebel forces at Lincoln. With over 400 knights recorded in the royalist army, we are talking about very large armies. Both the poet biographer and Wendover say that the French then made their own scouting party to gather intelligence. According to Wendover, Thomas, the Count of Perche, responded to the plan with the perplexing: ‘You have estimated them according to your knowledge; and now we shall go out and estimate them the French way.’ He and Simon de Poissy, appointed captain of the Cambridge garrison by Louis in February before Simon led his men to Lincoln, rode out beyond the city walls and on to the plain to make their own assessment of the army drawn up before them. The Marshal’s biographer has them make a different judgment on the army, saying it was ‘better equipped for war and more resolute to wage it’ than anybody ‘had ever seen in any land’. Wendover corroborates this but offers far more telling detail for the discrepancy of the two reports. The French made the mistake of counting the standards of the nobles twice, not realising that each nobleman had two standards: one with the troops – ‘so that they might been known in battle’ – and another in the rear with the baggage. The result was a major overestimation – doubling the size of the royalist army. On their return they held a counsel with the other leading figures – Gilbert de Gant, the Count of Hertford, William de Mowbray and the initial scouting party – and proposed a more defensive plan: while one part of their force guarded the gates to prevent a royalist irruption, the other should concentrate on taking the castle. Their siege operations had continued and even increased in urgency in the knowledge of the royalist advance: the sooner they took the castle the safer they would be. There was disagreement over this plan, probably from Robert Fitzwalter and Saer de Quincy, but a majority decision prevailed. The gates were secured and guarded and the Franco-baronial force prepared for a defence.

The Marshal’s biographer says they thereby felt reasonably secure, as ‘the King’s men had not the power to attack them inside the city, whatever the pretence they put up.’ They also believed that the rigours of the march and the prospect of a long siege (of the besiegers) would take its toll on a weary royalist army. But, as his biographer relates, the Marshal used the withdrawal to exhort his troops further: ‘My lords, my friends, look how those mustered with a view to riding to attack you have already shown their true colours and retreated behind their walls; that is what God promised us. God gives us great glory!’ The Marshal sent a herald to the rebels to discuss terms; he was met, a contemporary poem tells us, with insults and threats.
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The Bishop of Winchester, as much a wielder of weapons as of crosiers, took the initiative at this stage. At the end of his account, the biographer of the Marshal declares that ‘the worthy Bishop of Winchester, Peter des Roches, who was in charge that day of advising our side, was not slow or slothful, and he knew how to make use of his arms.’ This does not mean that the biographer is contradicting himself when he initially depicts William Marshal as giving battle orders. Rather, it can be read either that des Roches was, as stated, simply the chief tactician, or that while Marshal was in charge of the overall operation, des Roches was in command in the field. The biographer of the Marshal tells the story of how the Bishop rode near to the walls with his contingent of crossbowmen and there, telling them to wait, took just one soldier with him through the postern gate into the castle. He wanted to see for himself the situation within the city walls and what would be the best way to proceed with action. The castle’s defences had been seriously compromised by constant bombardment from the mangonels and catapults ‘which were breaking everything in sight’ and which threatened the Bishop’s safety. He met with Nichola de Hay before, the biographer says, leaving by another postern gate on the town side to actually enter the city. Surveying the scene, he noticed the old western gate to the upper city and close to the castle that had been blocked up with stone and cement. He gave orders for it to be knocked down so that the army outside could enter and engage the rebels within the confines of the walls. He returned to his men in high spirits and with great expectations, both militarily and politically, joking (half in jest but with earnest intent) that he should claim the Bishop’s palace as his residence for ‘I have arranged that entrance for the safe and valorous entry of our men.’