David the Prince - Scotland 03 (57 page)

They were now, of course, behind Stephen's lines, and must be prepared to come across groups of the enemy, camped or otherwise. But they knew that the main force was camped another four miles ahead, in the Coldstream area, facing their own delaying force; so any troops they might run into hereabouts would be apt
to.be

supply people, stragglers, second-rate fighters, and as such little trouble to themselves. Indeed, it might be advantageous to encounter some of these, in order to spread
rumour and possible
panic forward.

In the event they saw nobody, and
rode
northwards into the dark plain of the Merse. About a mile in, they turned west again, parallel with Tweed. It was now well after midnight. They avoided villages and farmsteads, which
might be enemy-occupied.

With the glow of camp-fires ahead, somewhat reduced now-although that was perhaps partly the effect of the much brigh
ter glare coming from behind, to the east, where the shipping burned in the estuary - they halted for a brief hour or so of rest. David explained his new strategy. They would split into groups, or wedges, as Hugo and William had suggested - say four, of fifty men each. But they would not descend upon battle-ready troops but on sleeping men. This might not be accepted warfare, nor yet chivalrous; but it should be effective and ought to produce more alarm. It was the spirit of the enemy he was concerned to assail, rather than their bodies. Four wedges of horsemen crashing down out of the night ought to create a deal of apprehension and despondency.

Groups of fifty under David, de Soulis, Hugo and the Lord William were marshalled into approximate arrowhead formations, and riding thus they spread over a fairly wide area north of the camps. Four or five thousand men sleeping in the open take up a lot of space. There were no tents nor pavilions in this encampment; presumably Stephen and his chief leaders slept in Coldstream cottages. But the fighting-men lay on the frosted ground. Hence the large numbers of fires, hundreds of them, each with its tight circle of sleepers as close around as they dared, the sentinels seeking to keep the embers refuelled. Observing this from as near as they dared advance, quietly, David decided that it was all to the good. The fires could be made to assist them, and the sentinels, being preoccupied with wood-gathering, would be the less effective opponents.

The four groups spaced themselves well apart, perhaps four hundred yards. The King, furthest to the west, had a whin-bush set alight as signal, to blaze furiously. Then all the wedges broke into a trot, a canter and a gallop, to thunder down upon the sleeping encampment area.

There could be no coherent description of what followed, utter chaos and wild surprise and panic on the one hand, disciplined and inexorable manoeuvre and quartering on the other. In formation, looser than had they been in actual battle and daylight, the groups bored headlong into and through the circles of recumbent men around the fires, swords flailing, hooves pounding and trampling, causing bloody ruin, scattering the blazing wood and embers, creating utter confusion, then wheeling on to the next circle and the next. Weaving in roughly figure-of-eight patterns, the attackers turned that sleeping army into a fleeing, yelling, leaderless mob in only minutes, ungovernable, every man for himself. Some groupings amongst those not attacked first did seek to rally and put up some defence; but bemused with sleep, in no formation, surrounded by screaming horror and with no central direction, they were no match for the armoured, mounted knightly wedges.

It was bloody nightmare and disaster.

In the midst of it, David himself was trying to think as a general and not as a captain of cavalry, difficult as this was in the fierce action and heady excitement. As it became evident that the English could not rally and form any coherent opposing force for some time, he wondered whether to break off and make a dash for Coldstream township, where he anticipated that Stephen and the enemy leadership were ensconced, to exploit this unconventional victory to the full. But he could not be sure that they were at Coldstream, however probable. They would be warned by now, surely. Again, he did not know what sort of numbers might be with Stephen and his lords - possibly many times more than two hundred, and his best knights probably. So such an attempt might well be a failure and tend to undo much that had been achieved. His own men were tired and in no state to face fresh and rested knights who had had time to marshal themselves, even though they might be dismounted - and no doubt Stephen would have stolen some horses since his landing. It was not practicable.

When there seemed little more that the wedges could usefully do, he had his horn blown to reassemble his scattered company. Three proved to be missing and eight wounded in some degree - extraordinarily light casualties considering the havoc wrought. Leaving the stricken area, they trotted off westwards. Behind them the entire eastern sky was now red with the false dawn of the burning fleet.

In less than two miles they ran into the aroused vanguard of their own defensive force, in the Birgham area, advancing slowly, in mystification as to what was going on ahead. This force was commanded by the young Earl Cospatrick and Simon Loccard, another of Hugo's vassals, an experienced fighter. These David ordered to marshal their entire force, which had been sleeping after an exhausting day, and at once to advance on the disorganised enemy before these could recover and reform, to keep up the pressure. Then he led his weary ten-score back to the village of Eccles nearby, for desperately needed sleep and rest and feed for the horses.

In the morning they learned that the English were in full and disorderly flight, retiring on Berwick. What they would do then was questionable. But finding their fleet destroyed and probably with a much exaggerated idea as to the numbers arrayed against them, the chances we
re that they would retreat into Nort
humbria, and probably keep on retreating. Much would depend on whether reinforcements were on their way; but on the other hand they would realise that, in a hostile invaded country, reinforcements would be apt to reach the defenders more powerfully and effectively.

By mid-afternoon David's scouts sent information that Stephen was indeed in full retreat southwards, by land, leaving his shattered fleet to extricate itself, and the northern detachment which had marched towards Dunbar, as best it could. The invasion was over.

David would have followed up his enemy, but just had not the manpower available, as yet. Besides enough was probably enough, meantime.

30

T
hereafter, of course
, the King was faced with the same problem as heretofore, only more so. A large army descended upon Tweeddale from all quarters,
probably one of the largest Scotl
and had ever assembled - when the urgent need for it had passed. The actuality of invasion had stirred the land as nothing else would, and contingents had come from as far away as the Highlands and Mar. Fergus even brought six thousand from Galloway. David found himself with a host of over fifty thousand - and all Tweedside quickly groaned under their presence, yet had to feed them.

But this time the King was in a different mood. If anything was clear, it was that Stephen and the English required to be taught a lesson. For once he was disinclined to damp down his warlike supporters and talk peace and patience and the benefits of diplomacy over battle. On every count his policies of restraint, bargain and detente had failed or been cynically made a mock of. Now he had no option but to try main force — with mighty main force to hand. Indeed, he could do no other. Had he sought to disperse this vast army a second time, it was highly doubtful whether he could ever have assembled another. Anyway, his lords would probably have revolted.

So, in late March, it was full-scale invasion. They would punish Stephen, take over Northumbria and Cumbria by force and
occupation, establish the Scotti
sh border from Tees to Ribble once and for all, and if advisable march on further south. And, to be sure, they would do so against a usurper, claiming Maud as rightful occupant of the English throne.

Fifty thousand was far too numerous a host to handle conveniently as one unit; besides, since territorial annexation was a large part of the objective, division was called for; although the various forces were to keep in touch as far as possible. Division was advisable for other reasons also. Already there had been fighting between various contingents, the Galloway men being particularly aggressive and unruly, tough warriors but difficult to manage and at odds with all. To some extent the same applied with others, the true Scots from beyond Forth despising the Lothian and Mersemen whom they looked on as little better than Englishmen, the Highlanders decrying the Lowlanders, almost all suspicious of the Normans, and the native Scots earls resentful against the new men and claiming all superior commands.

So David divided his fifty thousand into four, and carefully put native lords nominally at the head of each. The Lord William of Allerdale, being a prince of the royal house, he put in command of the extreme western force, which was to march through Cumbria to the Lancashire border; the Earl Cospatrick, with his Lothian, Merse and Teviotdale host, was to take the eastern coastal route; and in the lofty central area, two divisions were to advance, one under his son Henry and Malise, Earl ofStrathearn on the left, keeping in touch with Cospatrick; the other under the Earl Fergus linking with William. David himself, with his remaining earls and a tight bodyguard of some two hundred Norman knights, would march with Fergus -since he reckoned that he alone might be able to keep that man and his Galloway kerns in any sort of order.

The great venture commenced - and Tweedside heaved sighs of relief to see the end of them all. The Lord William set off up Teviotdale, for Esk and the Solway to Caer-luel; whilst Cospatrick went down Tweed to the Northumbrian coast. Henry and Strathearn marched up Rule Water and over Carter Fell for Redesdale, while David and Fergus turned up the Till valley to round the north-eastern end of the Cheviots into the moor country beyond. This, of course, would be no fast-moving invasion, for the vast majority were necessarily on foot. Anyway, there was no rush. They had months, if necessary, before the hay-harvest would demand the return of many,
to maintain the land's economy.
But some, on the extremities, had further to march than others, inevitably, and it was important to keep an approximate line, ninety miles long as it would be, to avoid any outflanking attempts. The two central arrays would have to proceed more slowly, therefore. There were few castles to reduce this time, most having been dealt with on the previous occasion, with little rebuilding.

David, then, was prepared to stop at Wark Castle, right at the beginning. It had been able to defy him before, being notably strongly-sited, and it would give the over-eager Galloway men something to sober them a little, perhaps. Again they did not manage to take the place, however, and had not the time to starve it out; whether this served to tone down the Galwegians was extremely doubtful.

Leaving Wark, the march southwards went on. They had to face no opposition. Stephen had apparently hurried back to London and left no occupying forces behind. Word from the various component units indicated that the Northumbrians and Cumbrians almost everywhere welcomed the Scots once more. But the difficulty was to keep the invading troops from treating them as conquered enemy, despite all David's exhortations and commands. On the former invasion he had had five thousand men under his own personal command; now he had ten times that number, many of them as far as forty and fifty miles off.. News of sackings, burnings and savageries began to loom large in the reports which he insisted should come constantly to him at the centre.

The King grew more and more concerned, as he entered the great and populous inland vale of the Tyne. He did not have to .rely on hearsay either, for Fergus's men were the worst offenders of all, and their lord seemed little disposed to stop them. At six thousand, they made up half the force the monarch himself marched with. There were constant recriminations and appeals, but little betterment. When, nearing Hexham, David heard of the burning of two churches, he recognised that drastic measures must be taken. He sent orders that the entire army was to halt for three days, and all senior commanders to report to him in person at Hexham.

Grumbling, they all came, from coast to coast. And at Hexham Priory, which itself had suffered some small damage, he held a council, in which he declared his anger and abhorrence at what was happening, tongue-lashing his lords and leaders in a fashion none of them had ever before experienced, the King markedly unlike die quiet, unassuming and friendly man they knew. The Earl Fergus in especial was lambasted before them all, and told that if he could not control his hordes, he could turn round there and then and march them back to Galloway. Then the said earl was ordered to assemble all his men, and there, before them all and before the Prior of Hexham and the gathered townsfolk, he was
made to hang a group of his Gal
wegians who had been caught red-handed at their looting and ravaging. David had had his clerks write out a large number of brief royal warrants, which he now signed before the company, and handed these out to his lieutenants, for future distribution to churchmen who believed their premises endangered or their lands threatened, promising punishment of offenders and compensation — which compensation, he assured, would be recovered by the royal treasury from the lords and barons of the troops concerned. With this warning he sent all back to their commands, the advance to be resumed in two days.

There was still no news of Stephen or any English reaction. De Vesci and de Meschin were either lying very low somewhere, or had departed south with their monarch. No real fighting took place anywhere along the ninety-mile line — which in itself was something of a test of morale for a spirited and mighty armed host, however satisfactory to the King. But behaviour did improve.