1230-1259 Henry III

Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1233. Of the fierce battle between the marshal and the Poictevins.

In the same year the marshal [aged 42], on one of his foraging incursions into the territories of his enemies, came to the town of Monmouth [Map], which was hostile to him, where he ordered his army to proceed on their expedition, whilst he with a hundred of his fellow knights turned aside towards the castle of that place to examine its condition, as he purposed to besiege it in a few days; but as he was riding round the walls of the town, he was seen by Baldwin de Guisnes [aged 33], to whom the king had entrusted the charge of that castle [Map] together with several Poictevins, and understanding that the marshal was there with only a few followers for the purpose of examining the castle, he sallied out with a thousand brave and well-equipped soldiers, and pursued him at full speed, designing to make him and his followers prisoners and bring them into the town. The earl Marshal's companions however, when they saw the impetuous advance of the enemy, advised him to consult their safety by flight, saying that it would be rash for such a few of them to engage with such a number of the enemy; to which the marshal replied that he had never as yet turned his back on his enemies in battle, and declared that he would not do so now, and exhorted them to defend themselves bravely and not to die unavenged. The troops from the castle then rushed fiercely on them and attacked them with their lances and swords [Battle of Monmouth]: a severe though very unequal conflict then ensued, yet although there were only a hundred of the marshal's party to oppose a thousand of their adversaries, they fought for a great part of the day. But Baldwin de Guisnes with twelve of his stoutest and best armed soldiers made au attack on the marshal in person, and endeavoured to take him prisoner and carry him off to the castle; he however kept them at a distance, brandishing his sword right and left, and struck down whoever came within reach, either killing them or stunning them hy the force of his blows, and although engaged single-handed against twelve enemies, defended himself for a length of time. His enemies at length, not daring to approach him, killed the horse he rode with their lances; but the marshal, who was well practised in the French way of fighting, seized one of the knights who was attacking him by the feet, and dragged him to the ground, and then quickly mounting his adversary's horse, he renewed the battle. The knight Baldwin was ashamed that the marshal defended himself single-handed against so many of his enemies for such a time, and made a desperate attack on him, and seizing his helmet, tore it from his head with such violence, that blood gushed forth from his mouth and nostrils; he then seized the marshal's horse by the bridle, and endeavoured to drag it with its rider towards the castle, whilst others assisted him by impelling the marshal on from behind. The latter however, sweeping his sword behind him, struck two of his enemies to the earth stunned, but could not then release himself from their grasp. At this juncture however a cross-bowman amongst the marshal's company, seeing his lord in danger, discharged an arrow from his bow, which, striking Baldwin, who was dragging the marshal away, in the breast, entered his body, notwithstanding his armour, and he fell to the earth believing himself mortally wounded; his companions on seeing this, left the marshal, and went to raise Baldwin from the ground, for they thought that he was dead.

Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1234. 1st April 1234. When the troops were drawn up, the earl marshal [aged 43] saw that there were a great many to engage with only a few, he however exhorted his men to battle, asserting that he had undertaken this war for the sake of justice and the laws of England on account of the oppression of the Poietevins, thinking that they all were faithful to him, when in fact they were traitors. he then dashed boldly into the midst of the enemy, and forcing his way through them he opened a road for his knights with his sword, but only fifteen knights, his own retainers, followed him and endeavoured to disperse their enemies. His sworn dependants and knights on whom he trusted, as had been pre-agreed amongst these traitors, gave themselves up as prisoners to the enemies without force, without being wounded either by lance or sword, as if they were friends glad to see one another; some of them tied, without striking a blow, to the churches and convents, leaving the marshal with only fifteen knights. These however defended themselves bravely, unequal as the struggle was, against a hundred and forty; the whole weight of the battle however fell on the marshal, who then first discovered the treacherous design against his life, but, although attacked on all sides by his enemies, he still defended himself and slew six of them. A knight of gigantic size, to whom Richard de Burgh had given his armour, indignant at seeing this, made a rush at the marshal in order to kill him at once, and endeavoured forcibly to snatch his helmet from his head; the marshal, when he saw this man, thought that it was Richard de Burgh, and exclaimed, "Fly, vilest of traitors, lest I kill you;" to which he replied, "I will not fly, but will come nearer you;" he then lifted up his hands to seize the marshal's helmet, but the latter, by one blow of his sword, cut off both of his hands although covered with armour. Another of them, seeing his companion wounded, rushed with all the speed of his horse at the marshal, and exerting all his force struck him on his head, but owing to his helmet the blow took no effect; the earl however returned the blow and cut his enemy in two as far as the middle, after which not one of them would come near him for a long while. The leaders of his enemies, in a state of consternation, than urged on a host of people who had come there with lances, pitchforks, axes, and halberds, to surround the marshal, kill his horse, and bring him to the ground; and they at once surrounded and overwhelmed him, piercing his horse with many wounds; they could not even then however dismount him, they therefore cut off the horse's feet with their axes; the marshal then fell with his horse, overcome with fatigue, having been engaged fighting from the first hour of the day till the eleventh, and his enemies, rushing on him, lifted up his armour and mortally wounded him in the back. The nobles themselves on learning that he was mortally wounded, and lying as it were lifeless on the ground, conveyed him with scarcely any signs of life, to his own castle, which Maurice the justiciary had taken possession of but shortly before, where he was placed in close confinement and attended by only one young man of his party. He there remained in the hands of his enemies. This battle was fought on Saturday the first day of April.

Chronica Majora by Matthew Paris.

April 1236. About the same time, several nobles and powerful men from the various provinces of the West, namely from Galloway, the Isle of Man, and parts of Ireland, assembled at the instance of Hugh de Lacy [aged 60], whose daughter had been married to Alan of Galloway, lately deceased, and they all united together for the purpose of restoring Galloway to the illegitimate son of the aforesaid Alan, and of annulling by force the just disposition made by the king of Scots [aged 37], who had distributed the inheritance amongst the three daughters of Alan, to whom it belonged by hereditary right. In order, therefore, to revoke and annul his distribution, and to restore the territory to the aforesaid Thomas, or to the son of Thomas, Alan's brother, or at least to one of that family, these presumptuous chiefs flew to arms, and, bursting forth into insolence, endeavoured to free themselves from the authority of the king. And in order to bring their attempts to the desired result, they entered into a strange kind of treaty, by means of a certain mode of divination, yet according to an abominable custom of their ancestors. For all these barbarians and their chiefs and magistrates drew blood from a vein near the heart, and poured it into a large cup, they then stirred and mixed it up, and afterwards, drinking to one another, quaffed it off, as a token that they were from that time forth allied by an indissoluble and, as it were, kindred treaty, and indivisible both in prosperity and adversity, even at the risk of their heads. They therefore provoked the king and the kingdom to war, burning their own houses and those of their neighbours, that the king, when he arrived, might not find either shelter or food for his army, and indulged in rapine and incendiarism, heaping injury on injury. On hearing of this, the king of Scotland collected his forces from all quarters, and, marching to meet them, drew up his forces in order and engaged them in open battle; and the fortune of war turning against the Galwegians, they were put to flight, and the royal troops, pursuing them at the sword's point, slew many thousands of them, and those who were taken alive by the king and his soldiers were put to an ignominious death without any chance of ransoming themselves. Some threw themselves on the king's mercy, and were consigned to close imprisonment by him till he could consult as to what should be done with them, and all of them, together with their descendants, he, not without good reason, disinherited. Having gained this victory the king glorified God, the lord of armies, and listening to good counsel, he sent word to Roger de Quincy [aged 41], earl of Winchester, John Baliol [aged 28], and William, the son of the earl of Albemarle, that, as they had married the three sisters, the daughters of Alan of Galloway, they might now, as the disturbances were quelled, hold peaceable possession of the rights pertaining to them. This battle took place in the month of April, the fortune of war favouring the king of Scots.