The death of King John Landless brought a change radical in the historical course of Angevin England. After almost two years of hard fighting and with the ghost of the Magna Carta still fresh, a nine-year-old boy named Enrique ascended the throne. The future Henry III, was under the watchful eye of the legendary knight William the Marshal . A man who has passed to this day as an example of the perfect medieval knight, faithful and combative who served Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, John I and Henry III until his last hours.
The First Barons' War (1215-1217) had shaken the country, and to John's detriment it was proposed that the Crown be occupied by Louis of France, the future Louis VIII. Luis took advantage of the situation to gather support among the disgruntled barons and try to get the throne of England. Names like Saer de Quincy, Robert Fitzwalter, and young Thomas, Earl of Perche, made up the cream of Louis's army. This had recruited a powerful army that was added to the forces of Gilberto de Gante and Hugo de Arras. At the end of April, Luis had made the decision to camp in Farnham, a small town in Surrey that had excellent communications with most of the country. Here he made the decision to divide his army in two to be able to better maneuver in the taking of Lincoln, an objective of vital importance to continue with the conquest of England.
Lincoln was a city that, in turn, had a castle located to the northwest, and it was one of the keys to winning the center of the country. It was also an important key to deepen the supply line to the north of England. Leading Lincoln was Nicola de la Haie, sheriff who had benefited from Juan's latest reforms and had been left in charge of the place [1]. The castle, which was already being besieged since March by Gilberto de Gante and Hugo de Arras, was preparing to have to withstand the force led by Fitzwalter and Perche , thus reinforcing the siege.
William addresses Lincoln
The realistic response was swift. The old gentleman from Berkshire took advantage of the division of the Anglo-French army to raise an army at Newark-On-Trent, in the middle of the country. This army, led by William, contained such important names as the mercenary Faulkes de Bréauté [2] and the Earls of Aumale, Derby and Salisbury, among others. The Church, moreover, was represented by Pedro des Roches, the warrior bishop of Winchester, who had had to flee when he lost the city to Louis's forces. This, in addition, blessed the action and made the royalist troops embroider a white cross on their clothes since they had papal protection .
The forces at stake, based on the data we have, seemed fairly even. The chronicler Roger of Wendover tells us how William's force contained 406 knights and 317 crossbowmen not counting Lincoln's garrison. Meanwhile, the French numbered just under 1,000 infantry and about 500 cavalry.
A sunny May 20, 1217 began with a speech by William, who harangued his forces arguing that the French invader had to be expelled and that, if not, they would lose their land, women and children. Henry's army was divided into four sections, also called "battles" . The first by Ranulf of Chester, the second by the Marshal, the third by William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, and the last in reserve by the religious Pedro des Roches. The vanguard was formed by the crossbowmen , many of them hardened in numerous campaigns under Juan's mandate despite their humble status.
The old Marshal quickly analyzed the situation. He thus decided that he had to communicate with the castle garrison to face the forces of Luis. One of the garrison knights, named Godfrey of Sunderland, sneaked out a secret door to meet William, but not before having to dodge a French patrol. When Guillermo processed the information Godofredo considered that the chances that the enemy forces could make a sortie were quite high. He sent Des Roches into reserve to cover his right flank. Guillermo's fear of a French frontal charge it was such that he even arranged for many of the knights to be prepared to sacrifice their own mounts and act as a hindrance to the charges, since the terrain did not help.
Meanwhile, the Anglo-French army relied on their slight numerical superiority and the information gathered by their scouts . Fitzgerald concluded that they should meet him on a nearby hill. The twenty-one-year-old Tomás had other information about Enrique's army:his scouts had been confused and believed that the English troops were twice what they really were. This confusion arose because the explorers counted two royal banners. What they did not know is that one of them corresponded to the supply wagon, therefore the French took a more defensive position. The lack of a single command on the rebel side would prove decisive in contention.
The reading of the battle continued at the hands of William, who quickly blocked access to the north and west gates of the city with the Earl of Chester. It is here that the mercenary Faulkes de Bréauté he asserted his salary in a fearless action. Faulkes entered through the door Godofredo used to communicate with the outside to reinforce the castle garrison. The crossbowmen that he was able to introduce they not only raised morale among the royalist garrison, but reinforced the interior battlements by taking the rebels by surprise. In fact, the crossbowmen caused the rebels a great deal of confusion. Faulkes followed William's advice and ordered his crossbowmen to direct their fire at the enemy horses. Soon, the streets of Lincoln were littered with the carcasses of the animals, making it difficult for rebel forces to move and denying the famed French cavalry any ability to maneuver.
The advance of the royalist external force prepared to cross the door, and it is here that a controversial episode, narrated in William the Marshal's own chronicle, tells us that the old gentleman took off his helmet and shouted:«God is with the Marshal!» Guillermo, no more and no less than seventy years old, seemed to continue to be in great physical shape.
Caught between the departure of Faulkes' forces and the royalists, the scuffle in the streets of Lincoln was terrible. Panic among the Anglo-French ranks caused many of their crossbowmen to kill their own men by mistake. The combat was fought street by street . Robert of Ropsley [3] faced the Earl of Salisbury in single combat, which would have ended with the death of the latter if it had not been for the intervention of William, who unloaded a strong cut on Robert's shoulder.
In the cathedral area Perche's forces were surrounded . Forced to surrender, the young and arrogant Tomás refused and prepared to charge up to three times to try to escape. The result was disastrous:most of his men perished, including himself, mortally wounded. The Frenchman was finished off by a knight named Sir Reginaldo Crocq, who thrust his dagger through the visor of Perche's helmet. Although it was of little use, since Reginaldo Crocq would not see another dawn either:he would bleed to death that night from a mortal wound.
The death of Thomas, Count of Perche, was the trigger for an accelerated surrender , soon an orgy of looting and blood was unleashed in the city. Roger of Wendover tells us how the king's men ransacked the houses, disrespecting even the clerics, even stealing numerous liturgical objects from the cathedral, apart from throwing the women into the River Witham [4]. As is customary in medieval warfare, most deaths occurred at this point in the conflict.
The fate of those defeated in the Battle of Lincoln
The Earls of Hereford and Winchester, Gilbert of Ghent and Fitzgerald were captured along with numerous knights. The total sum was 46 barons and 300 knights [5]. The reign of Juan I had been really bloody . The fourth son of the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II was not ready to reign. The lack of training and the angry character of the young man had sown hatred and mistrust among the nobility of the Angevin Empire. Prisoners in his day were generally treated really badly. After the battle of Mirebeau (1202), most of the prisoners were imprisoned in harsh conditions, it is even believed that Arthur of Brittany could have been killed by John while he was in jail. Juan, in addition, had a great animosity towards traitors and used to execute them, as he did in Rochester (1215) with an archer who had changed sides months before.
In the case of the Lincoln prisoners –removing the tide of violence that was unleashed against the civilian population, in most cases the most affected–, the code of chivalry is respected with profit. The regent of the English Crown, William the Marshal, displaying the propaganda of him as an exemplary knight, spared the lives of all the enemy soldiers. All those who fought for Luis were forgiven , from the lowliest soldier to the gentlemen with possessions in England. Their lives were spared and they were released. William's act was such that he respected even his possessions, both on the continent and in England itself.
Conclusion
The battle of Lincoln was, in the words of many specialists, totally decisive for the future of medieval England . The struggle between the Capetians and the Angevins came to a really critical point. The victory of the royalists consolidated the throne of the young Enrique, a kingdom mired in internal struggles. In addition, the kingdom of the fleur de lis was strengthened on the continent. The war machine, which since Bouvines (1214) had achieved important successes under the meticulous direction of King Felipe Augusto , could only be stopped in Dover in two different sieges (1216 and 1217), in a series of poliorcetic operations that the French had to participate by force if they wanted to continue with the invasion, since Dover was the door to England. Louis's command had managed to form a compact army and resources that seemed almost unattainable for an England that was withering between internal struggles.
Finally, the lack of unity in the Anglo-French command turned out to be fatal , coupled with Fitzgerald's undervaluation of the royalist army. The astuteness of an experienced soldier like Faulkes de Bréauté, an expert in giving coups, and the correct reading of events by William the Marshal made the battle of Lincoln, as Master Duby well described:«for the Marshal, Lincoln it is the Bouvines that his advanced age made him lose” [6].
The life of William the Marshal was a life practically dedicated to the profession of war and as the king's herald abroad. Being the fourth son of a minor nobleman, the search for a higher position caused him to fight in numerous arenas, such as in Picardy, where he excelled as a soldier and achieved high esteem by the English nobility for his victories in tournaments. . His role as commander of Henry II's forces in the rebellion of his sons and as the king's spokesman abroad elevated him to the highest echelons [7]. Finally his role in the crusades, where even on one occasion he saved King Richard from death in a skirmish against the Muslims. The loyalty he professed to a king as despotic as Juan sin Tierra was, caused an almost magical aura to be created about his person since his time. The old marshal also gave advice on how to govern young Henry on his deathbed and was made a Knight of the Templar Order in his last hours of 1219, as he had always wanted. Therefore, the battle of Lincoln is a finishing touch to the career of what in his time was the best knight in Christendom.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
- The History of William Marshal, trans:Nigel Bryant (2016), London, Boydell Press.
- Flowers Historiarium Vol III , VV. AA (2016), Nabu Press.
Secondary sources
- Asbridge, T. (2015), The Greatest Knight:The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power behind Five English Thrones, Simon and Schuster.
- Contaminate,P. (1984). War in the Middle Ages, Barcelona, Labour.
- Duby, G. (1987) William the Marshal , pp.167, Madrid, Alianza.
- Gillingham, J. (2002) Richard the Lionheart , trans:Bernardo Santano Moreno, Madrid, Silex.
- Housley, H. (2005):“The war in Europe. 1200-1320”, in M. Keen (ed.):History of warfare in the Middle Ages. Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp.151-177.
- Knighton,A (2016) ‘’¿ What Happened to the prisoners of war?’’ , Medieval Warfare Vol VII, N2, ‘’A war for England , The Battle of Lincoln ’’ pp.39.
- McGlynn, S. (2016) ''The Battle of Lincoln'', pp26-33. Medieval Warfare Vol VII, N2 . ‘’A war for England, the Battle of Lincoln’’ .
- Norgate, K. (2013 [1902]), John Lackland, London, Theclassic.us.
- Strickland, M. (1996), War and Chivalry:The conduct and Perception of War in England and Normandy, 1066-1217 , Cambridge University Press.
Notes
[1] In 1212 Juan ''Sin Tierra'' endowed the sheriffs with great power to try to guarantee the loyalty of knights, barons and counts, controlling their maneuvers. Contaminate, P. (1984). War in the Middle Ages , Editorial Labor, Barcelona, pp.112.
[2] Faulkes de Breáuté was an Anglo-Norman knight who fought in numerous European arenas, such as Flanders, England, France and even South Wales, and who remained loyal to John see:Norgate, K. (2013 [1902]), John Lackland , Theclassic.us, London, p. 255.
[3] Robert of Ropsley was one of the sheriffs who remained loyal to John during the First Barons' War, but when he died he lost royal favor and changed side.
[4] Luard, H. (1890) Flores Historiarum vol. 2 , Ed. Nabu Press, p. 168.
[5] Knighton,A (2016) «¿ What Happened to the prisoners of war?», Medieval Warfare Vol VII , N2, A war for England, p. 39.
[6] Duby, G. (1987) William the Marshal , Editorial Alliance, Madrid, p. 167.
[7] Gillingham, J. (1999) Richard the Lionheart , translation:Bernardo Santano Moreno, Editorial Silex, Madrid, p.172.