The King's Dogge (18 page)

Thomas Broughton and I had originally intended to spend a few days resting the men in Bruges, but within hours of arriving we received news that made these plans change quickly. Maximilian had laid siege to Therouanne,
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a border town about nine days' march away, but was in trouble. Not only were the French supplying it from sea, but also they were sending reinforcements there. Within a day we heard news that a French Army was approaching the Burgundians from the south-west and, if the two French forces combined, they would outnumber Maximilian.

To make matters worse, it seemed there were no reinforcements to send to Maximilian and his was in fact the only army in Burgundy. If Maximilian was defeated the French could advance swiftly into the centre of the duchy completely unopposed. Clearly the sooner we marched the better.

I conferred with Thomas David, the captain of archers who Richard had assigned to me. In a town full of unemployed mercenary troops, he was finding it a simple matter to recruit men and estimated that our force of 500 could leave in two days.

In the heat of midsummer, we marched without stopping. Whereas in England archers will progress to war – where possible – on horses, here there seemed only a small number and the ones we could obtain were required for scouting and foraging. After a week, the men were exhausted and I ordered a period of rest while we awaited the return of Broughton and the scouts.

In fact, they arrived the next afternoon accompanied by two German officers from Maximilian's army, which lay only two days' march away. The idea, it was explained, was for them to brief us on the situation before we all arrived at Maximilian's camp.

I looked at them curiously. Both were clearly old soldiers, tough and determined ones at that. The face of the older one, Strolheim, was covered with scars; he spoke no English, but some French, and as we ate he talked at length with Thomas Broughton. When he finished, Broughton turned to Thomas David and me.

‘I will not repeat what he has told me word for word, but I'll give you a summary and then you can ask whatever questions you want me to put to him.'

Thomas Broughton was concise. Maximilian's army comprised solely Flemish peasants and numbered around 10,000 men. It was made up of pikemen – ‘I will explain about that in a moment' – and was situated thirty miles south of our current position. The siege of Therouanne had been abandoned due to the threat of the French Army approaching from the south. Equally, it was believed that the French troops in Therouanne had left the town and were trying to join with the advancing French. If they succeeded in doing this, the French would number 14,000 men.

Military intelligence indicated that the French Army was made up of men-at-arms, a few archers, a large number of crossbowmen and horse: both knights and light horse. They had cannons and were well supplied. The Burgundian Army comprised only pikemen with a few Burgundian nobles and their retinues. They had a small number of cannons, since most had been left at Therouanne. Supplies were low.

He paused and asked Strolheim a question, who nodded and yelled at his servant, who returned a moment later carrying something which he laid on the ground. We all rose to inspect it.

‘A pike,' translated Broughton. ‘Eighteen feet long, it can outrange any other weapon on the battlefield – except bows, of course. Now imagine you are a plain man-at-arms with your sword or poleaxe and you face a row of 100 of these. Behind them is another row of 100 – they fight in columns or squares – and the second row points their pike over the shoulders of the man in the first row.'

‘You would not stand a chance,' observed Thomas David.

‘Yes,' Broughton continued, ‘you would be dead before you could even get close and if, by a miracle, you did manage to kill your man, they have tens of such rows behind them. Once a column such as this starts to move, the sheer weight and force of it allows it to just push through any opposition.'

I stared at the pike; this was a totally new form of warfare, but there was an obvious weakness to it.

‘Hold on, Thomas; concentred archery fire could massacre such a column before it came up to the enemy position?'

‘The pikemen have helmets, breastplates, sometimes even additional body armour – that would neutralise arrows to a degree. Crossbows, of course, could stop them, but you can only fire off one crossbow bolt a minute and be accurate at seventy or so paces.' He shook his head. ‘So that would not be too much of a problem for the pikemen.'

Strolheim interrupted him; Broughton listened and turned back to us.

‘He says he understands a little of what we are saying and tells me that the Swiss columns use their own crossbowmen to drive away enemy archers and this, perhaps, is a role we can perform?'

Strolheim continued to talk while I moved away to give instructions to begin the march down to Maximilian's camp. The sooner we arrived, the better.

Broughton resumed when I returned.

‘Swiss pikemen defeated the Burgundian Armies of Duke Charles at three battles. Duke Charles tried everything to stop the columns – cannons, archers, crossbowmen, flank attacks – and each time he failed.' He pointed to Strolheim. ‘He was at Nancy and said that to face a column of pikes advancing at you was the most terrifying experience he has ever had.'

We prepared to move, as Strolheim continued to talk.

‘It seems that Maximilian is determined not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor,' Broughton translated. ‘He sent for the Count of Romount, whose estates are in Bern in Switzerland, and asked him to create a pike force. Maximilian sent his own officers to help him. For the Flemish peasants, the pike is an easy weapon. They are a stolid people and strong. The pike needs no special skill and the formation is excellent for inexperienced troops. You are closely surrounded by your comrades and feel safe, since your weapon easily outreaches the enemy. Also, unless you are at the front, you cannot even see the enemy, so you don't feel frightened.'

We marched on as Broughton continued his translation. The Flemings had apparently been training hard and were basing their formation on the Swiss pattern of having two separate columns; the one under the Count of Romount numbered 6,000 men and the other, under Engelbert, Court of Nassau, had 4,000. By creating two separate columns, not only did the army possess greater manoeuvrability but, additionally, each column was only vulnerable on one flank. The basic idea was that the larger column would smash into the French line first, the smaller one a moment later, to take advantage of the devastation that had already been caused.

Strolheim said something and Thomas looked at us both.

‘He says do you have any questions?'

‘Will the flanks of the advancing columns be vulnerable to cavalry?' Thomas David asked.

Strolheim said not. Unless a fully-fledged cavalry chase looked likely, the columns kept moving. If, however, a charge materialised, then the first two ranks of men on the exposed side extended their pikes and impaled the charging horses.

‘Would broken ground, a river or a wood stop a column?' I wanted to know. ‘Surely once a column is stopped it could be shot at continuously from a distance and, once it is sufficiently destroyed, you could send in men-at-arms.' I paused to think. ‘At close quarters on a one-to-one basis, the pikeman with his long weapon would be at a great disadvantage to a soldier with a sword, surely?'

Strolheim agreed. The only way to stop the column was by using natural geographical advantages, but fortunately this part of the country was flat and, additionally, the total absence of rain for many weeks had dried out the rivers. There were no such obstacles. In turn, Strolheim wanted to know what protection our archers could give against enemy crossbowmen and it was Thomas David who explained the advantage we could add to the Burgundian Army. For one, our archers could shoot initially ten times faster than the crossbowmen and had a greater range. Also, as we had 500 archers, not only could we protect the flanks as we advanced, but we would be able to fire on the French line as the column advanced – right up to the moment the column smashed through. Strolheim smiled as this was relayed back to him.

I walked round our little camp that night with Thomas Broughton. He was hoarse but excited.

‘It will be a massacre, Francis,' he said while taking swigs from his wine flask. ‘The French must be more stupid than Duke Charles – the combination of pikemen with English archers will annihilate them.'

We spoke of how to best deploy the archers in the forthcoming battle, although that was fairly simple. As we parted, though, I felt uneasy; everything seemed too straightforward. And the more I thought about it, the more disquieted I became. Until today, I had little or no knowledge of the potential of mass pike formations and had not realised that Duke Charles owed his three defeats to pikemen, but undoubtedly the French would have done. Equally, they would have known that Duke Charles had cannon, crossbowmen, archers and cavalry and had still been beaten, and they would know that Maximilian's army was made up of pikemen. Yet despite this, they were not only preparing to fight the Burgundian pikemen on terrain that offered them no significant advantage, but were preparing to do so with the same types of troops that Duke Charles had taken with him when he lost on three separate occasions. To make it even more puzzling, they were advancing towards the Burgundians fairly swiftly, with no doubt a degree of confidence.

I couldn't conclude that the French were ignorant of military affairs, since only a few years ago they had driven the English almost completely out of France. The only logical explanation for their action was that somehow they had a plan to defeat the pikemen. Defying recent military precedents, they must know of a way of achieving what Duke Charles had failed to do – namely, beating an army of pikemen while using conventional forces.

Sleep eluded me completely. I could not see what the strategy of the French could be. Cannon fire would cause casualties – but a cannon can take up to an hour to load and fire. Our archers would outshoot their crossbowmen. Their horsemen would be unlikely to attack an unbroken pike column and, according to Strolheim, there were no natural geographical barriers to stop the columns. Logically, there was no way that the French could beat the pikemen, let alone pikemen whose advance would be protected by English archers. So why were the French advancing so confidently?

It was hot in Maximilian's tent, but it afforded a degree of privacy in the camp that was required for the meeting. We were amazed at how sparsely the camp was furnished. The lack of water had caused many of the draught oxen and horses to be slaughtered and, as such, it had been impossible to move much from the camp outside Therouanne to the present location.

The issue of supply was critical. Occasionally lumbering wagons would arrive, but the lack of rain had severely reduced the water supply. Food was only slightly less of a problem; all the surrounding area had been ruthlessly looted to try and satisfy the needs of 10,000 hungry men. No one at the meeting seemed to have any idea how to resolve these problems. The Burgundian nobles, threadbare but proud, stood silently, more concerned with the future of their duchy than the needs of their army.

Maximilian's German officers pointed out that since the French were only two days' march away, battle would commence soon; the best thing to do was to reduce rations still further and slaughter what remained of the draught oxen, retaining only those necessary to move the three cannons.

Maximilian, richly dressed, young but with a remarkably strong jaw-line, sat silently as all this was relayed back to him. He said something and Haldi, the aide that had been assigned to us on our arrival, translated.

‘He says that he requires the most up-to-date information on the French positions and the composition of their army.'

One of the Germans stepped forward and the small, fair-haired Haldi began talking quietly.

‘The French are two days' march away. They number between 12,000 and 14,000; 3,000 of these are crossbowmen. There are a small number of archers. There are 8,000 men-at-arms and a large number of horse. The French have made camp and are receiving many wagons bearing pavises.'