[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (45 page)

Thorrington was in uproar. The v
illage
g
reen was filled with groups of armed men
sitting quietly
, some in armour and some without. The villagers hurried about dispensing a substantial breakfast from supplies provided by Alan with little regard for the fact that it was Friday. True, part of the meal was salted or s
moked fish, but that was co
incidental and reflected what was kept in barrels in the storeroom against such need. But there was also cheese, fresh bread and butter for the men and ham and eggs for the officers. Erian, the plump and stocky taverner, was dispensing at Alan’s instructions one quart of ale- and only one- per man. Gimm the armourer and Aethelhard the blacksmith were busy performing last
minute repairs in their adjoining workshops, the whoosh of bellows and the ring of hammer on steel being clearly heard.

By mid-morning Alan was surprised at the turnout. Other than the manors in the far north-west and those to the east in the path of the Danes, virtually every able-bodied man
in the Hundred
had mustered. The thegns had led the men of their manors and villages, most arriving on foot after a march of several hours. All of the men of Alan’s own manors were there, some
200
men all properly armed and equipped and all properly trained, led by their thegns and head-cheorls. The men of Queen Edith’s lands at Wix were led by her
thegn
Adamnan. Also present were
Godwin of Weeley, Alstan of Dickley, Harold of Frinton, Frewin, Ednoth and Alfward from Tendring, Leax of Birch Hall, Leofstan of Great and Little Holland, Withgar from Little Bentley, Alwin of Little Bromley, Brictmer of Great Bromley, Ketel of Frating, Ednoth of Little Oakley, Alric of Michaelstow, Leofson of Moze- even
Alfhelm of Jacques Hall on the far north coast of the Hundred and Robert fitzWymarc’s man
Gerard of Cholet from Elmstead
.

Absent were
Edward and
Albyn of Bruges
from St Osyth,
Normans Roger de Montivilliers and Geoffrey of Rouen from Clacton and any representatives of the substantial lands held by the Church at The Naze and Wrabness. Also absent was
Brctsi of Foulton who had ridden north to join the rebels. Engelric’s men from Frowick Hall were also not present, but their absence and that of the men from St Osyth was explained by the column
s
of smoke rising to the south-east
. I
t was unlikely that most of tho
se men would ever muster again.

Just after
dawn Alan had sent for the men from Alresford, to be led by Algar, Edwin and Edwold.
Excluding Alan’s own men, i
n all
21
thegns and knights would be present for the battle, with over
400
men. Alan found the response pleasing, given that he had no authority to call any muster- only the
sheriff
could formally issue a call to the fyrd. That virtually every thegn in the Hundred had responded positively was satisfying and made possible an attempt to resist the invaders.

From his own seven manors, excluding Wivenhoe whose men had been told to remain to protect their own village as they were on the direct path that any raiding force to Colchester must take, Alan himself mustered
207
fyrdmen.
Of these 50
, including
some
removed from the ships, were longbowmen, the rest split
fairly evenly
between swordsmen and spearmen. All Alan’s fyrdmen were reasonably well-trained despite their part-time status and he was sure they would give a good account of themselves. Many of the men from the other manors, in particular the sons of the ruling thegns, were also well-trained as Alan had been more than happy to provide training to the sergeants and section-leaders of the thegns in the Hundred, in anticipation of just this eventuality.

Alan also had
50
full-time infantry,
20
being professional huscarles, and
30
cavalrymen. A number of the sons of the local thegns had been through Alan’s cavalry training school and knew that horses were more than just a means of transport to the battlefield. Including the
small
detachment brought by Gerard de Cholet from Elmstead Alan expected to have
50
reasonably competent horsemen. He thought that these, together with the longbowmen and the proper use of the battlefield itself, should tip the balance in his favour.

Unusually, the muster of the fyrdmen of the Hundred provided men who almost without exception were properly equipped for battle, instead of the more usual peasantry carrying hay-forks and sickles. This was because Alan’s distribution of the booty from the attack by the Danes on Wivenhoe two years
previously
had provided a wealth of swords, armour and helmets
-
as well as the
trading
contents of the ships seized by Alan which formed the basis of the current wealth enjoyed by himself and Anne.

Alan set the villagers to work digging pits
in front of the defensive position
which
would be occupied by his men
,
each
pit
eight feet deep and with short sharpened
stakes
driven into the mud which quickly accumulated at the bottom
of each pit
. The land was flat and the enemy had clear sight of the preparations. With no surprise to be achieved Alan didn
’
t order the pits camouflaged. The fact that the enemy could see and know about the pits did not mean that they would not be effective. Their main
function
was to channel the movement of the Danes when they attacked.

It took the Danish leader some time to retrieve the men he had dispatched to St Osyth and get the re
mainder
of his men ready to meet the challenge to their north. He appeared to be in no hurry and the Danes ate a leisurely lunch before starting to form up.

Without a hill or rise to use to mask his intentions, Alan placed his men fifty paces be
hind
the last of the defensive pits. As Danes traditionally fought only as heavy infantry, with no archers or cavalry, this made planning relatively easy- although it
necessarily
didn
’
t make any battle easy as the Danes were excellent fighters in the
ir
traditional Northern-European manner.
The
English
had
over 2
00
men placed in six groups, with a small gap between each group. Each group was three ranks deep,
swordsmen
at the front and
spearmen in the second rank,
with
two groups for each of the three exits from the pattern of defensive ditches. Ten archers were placed on the right, or western, flank. The flat nature of the battlefield would make vision and shooting difficult for the archers, but they were stationed just to the west of the defensive line, standing
knee-deep
in the mud of the marsh, giving them a clear shot almost until the lines engaged. Another
10
archers were positioned in view on the left flank, next to the tree line. Twenty more were hidden in the trees
on the
east
ern flank,
along with
30
of Alan’s swordsmen to provide them with close protection, positioned
out of sight 75
paces
ahead
of the English line.

An area had been cleared of trees inside the tree line,
50
paces ahead of the main line of resistance and just behind the archers,
20
paces inside the trees and
40
wide by
10
paces deep,
with
the undergrowth between the clearing and the battlefield be
ing
cleared
. Here stood the
50
strong cavalry, out of sight and divided into two groups
, e
ach man carr
ying
a
short
lance.

A reserve of
100
men, half carrying Alan’s green shields, stood to the rear of the main body of troops, together with ten archers.

Alan had never recovered from his distress at the effects of his use of Wildfire at Wivenhoe two years before when he had taken information contained in ancient texts and the chemistry experiments of a student friend
from his youth
to produce a self-igniting incendiary mixture. Containers of incendiary material, each holding about one gallon had proven totally devastating at that battle. The mixture burned fiercely, adhering to any surface and could not be put out with water.
He has s
ee
n
a dozen or more men immolated
with e
very
shot
, screaming as they beat at the flames, rolled on the ground or threw themselves in pits of water to try
unsuccessfully
to douse the flames
. This vision
, and dealing with the wounded to whom a small splash of Wildfire had meant the loss of a limb and a single drop meant a hole the size of a silver penny burnt clear through the body, had resulted in a resolution not to use the fearsome weapon again if it could be avoided.
However,
he had four onagers set up in the fortified bailey
at Thorrington
and charcoal braziers on hand if the Danes broke through and threatened his family and his village. He now viewed
this
as a weapon of last resort
- but one which would be used if required
.

As the Danes took their time readying themselves, Alan’s men lounged about in their positions, eating a cold meal of dried beef jerky, bread and cheese washed down with water from the small skin that each man carried as part of his equipment.

Eventually, at about two in the afternoon, the Danes approached. Alan estimated their numbers at about
800
, with probably about another
50
holding the ships and village. Alan turned and spoke to his servant Leof, who leaped onto a horse and with two guards galloped away with instructions to be given to Alan’s ships standing off the coast to the west.

The small Danish army slowly moved en masse and on foot, with no apparent formation, towards the large band of Englishmen. The Englishmen rose and took their places in line, chatting to each other and making encouraging comments to bolster themselves and their compatriots. Shoulders were slapped and arms grasped. Wagers were made between men as to who w
ou
l
d
kill the most Danes, while the
men
tried to ignore the empty feeling of fear in their stomachs.

The Danes
paused
close to the first line of defensive pits, about
150
paces from the English line. The pits were arrayed over a depth of about
100
paces and, although carefully planned, seemed haphazard and inconsequential. The Danes would soon learn otherwise.

A tall bearded man in a gilded helmet which shone brilliantly in the sun stepped clear in front of the Danes, turned and began to shout exhortations to his men, waving his arms.

“Kill him!” Alan quietly instructed Owain the Welsh master-bowman who stood at his side. Owain already had an arrow in hand and with a single fluid movement notched the arrow, raised the bow and loosed. A moment later the bodkin-tipped arrow smashed into the back of the Da
ne between the shoulders, pierced
the
chain-mail
byrnie and thr
e
w the man forward onto his face with more than two feet of arrow showing between his shoulder-blades.

After a moment of blank stupefaction the Danes gave a wild hoarse battle-cry and leaped forward. Alan turned first to the archers on the west flank, and then those on the east flank, in each case raising a clenched fist above his head in a pumping motion. No instructions were
yet
given to the men hiding in the forest to the east. Twenty longbowmen began
to
rain
a hail
of arrows into the Danes, each delivering an aimed arrow every four
or five
seconds. At such short range the trajectory was flat and more than half of the arrows struck shields. When they did not, the sheer power of the longbow
drove the bodkin-tipped armour-
piercing arrow through whatever it hit, be
it
chain-mail
, helmet or flesh.

Danes were falling, disrupting those who followed behind. Then the Danes reached the main part of the seemingly useless defensive pits. Seeing them, the men skirted
around
them, but they were slowed
-
and more particularly were forced into three narrow channels. This made the job of the archers easier. They simply had to select a target from the mass of armoured men.
From their advanced positions, with the natural protection offered by the mudflat, t
he
archers on the right flank
were now able to
mainly
avoid the shields, smashing ar
rows into the sides of the foe
, while those on the left flank still had to carefully chose their target
.