The Standard.] A DISPUTED SUCCESSION. fierce feudal barons had an aversion to female succession; the feeling was so strong that it prevailed over their oaths and their good faith, and prepared the way for the usurpation of Stephen, Count of Blois, third son of Adela, daughter of the victor of Hastings, who claimed the vacant throne in opposition to Maud, urging that he was the first prince of the blood, and that it was disgraceful for men to submit to a woman's rule. His brother, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, gained for him the leading clergy, and he was joyfully received by the citizens of London, after he had escorted the embalmed body of Henry to the Abbey of Reading, where, on the interment day, he lent his shoulder to bear the leaden coffin. The first to draw his sword for Maud was her uncle, David I., King of Scotland." Thrice in one year he ravaged with great severity all Northumberland, which he claimed as his own, and on the third occasion he marched as far as Yorkshire. On the approach of Stephen with an army, he deemed it advisable to fall back on Roxburgh, where he took up a strong position, and prepared to give battle; but Stephen, on discovering that some of his nobles had a secret understanding with the enemy, avoided the snare that was laid for him, and, after laying waste the Scottish frontier, retreated south. In March, 1138, David, re-entered Northumberland, urged, it is supposed, by letters from his niece, the Empress Maud, the justice of whose claim to the throne of England he felt keenly, as she was the only legitimate daughter of King Henry. At the same time, curiously enough, he was uncle to the queen of Stephen. England was at this time in a very deplorable condition, and the inhabitants of her northern counties had few other resources on which to rely than their own valour and the good policy of Thurstan, the aged Archbishop of York, who, in his decrepit form, displayed all the energy of a youthful warrior. Stephen was so pressed in the South of England, where many of the barons had risen in opposition to his government, that he could raise no army of any consequence to oppose the invading Scots, who mustered 26,000 men; and the only succour he could send to the north was a body of lances under Bernard de Baliol, a Yorkshire baron, whose descendants were afterwards to bear a prominent and ignoble part in Scottish history. But Thurstan had already assembled the northern barons, exhorting them "to fight for their families and their God; he assured them of victory, and promised heaven to those who might fall in so sacred a cause." Aged, and unable to appear in public on account of many infirmities, this noble old prelate deputed an ecclesiastic named Ralph Nowel, whom, in the exercise of his usurped authority over the Scottish Church, he had named. Bishop of Orkney, to act as his representative. The archbishop issued an order for all the ecclesiastics in every parish of his diocese to appear in procession, with their crosses, banners, and: relics, and enjoined all men capable of bearing arms to repair to the general rendezvous of the northern barons at Thirsk, in defence of Christ's Church against the barbarians. Three days werespent in fasting and devotion; on the fourth Thurstan made them swear never to desert each other in the coming strife. He promised victory to all who were penitent. At York he heard the confessions of the barons, and delivered into their hands his crozier and his metropolitan banner, which was dedicated to St. Peter. The chiefs who came were William, Earl of Albemarle, Robert de Ferrars, William Percy, Roger de Mowbray, Ilbert de Lacy, and Walter l'Espec, an aged Norman warrior of great experience. Meanwhile the Scots were coming on with sword and with flame. David detached his nephew, William, at the head of a body of Galloway men, into the West of England, where, on the 4th of June, he defeated a considerable force near Clitheroe, and carried off much spoil. The king by this time had laid siege to the strong castle of Norham, which Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, had erected nineteen years before to repress the inroads of the Scottish borderers; it was surrendered, and dismantled by David, who marched south through Northumberland and Durham without opposition, till he came to Alverton, now called Northallerton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, on the 22nd of August. The English army was drawn up in array of battle on Cutton Moor, close by this place. It was then a wide waste of purple heather, dark green gorse, and stunted bushes. There they had erected a remarkable standard, consisting of the mast of a ship securely lashed to a fourwheeled car or wain. On the summit of this mast was placed a large crucifix, having in its centre a silver box containing the consecrated host, and below it waved the banners of three patron saints Peter of York, Wilfred of Ripon, and John of Beverley. Hence the name of the conflict, the "Battle of the Standard.” At its base, sheathed in armour, with his helmet open, old Walter l'Espec harangued his followers; and, at the conclusion of his speech, gave his ungauntleted hand to William, Earl of Albemarle WALTER L'ESPEC AND THE EARL OF ALBEMARLE (see page 11). sentative of the energetic old Thurstan delivered a speech for the encouragement of the army. It opened thus, according to Matthew of Paris :"Illustrious chiefs of England, by blood and race Normans, before whom France trembles-to whom fair England has submitted-under whom Apulia has been restored to her station-and whose names are famous at Antioch and Jerusalem; here are the Scots, who fear you, undertaking to drive you from your estates!" every man repaired to his place. From the Conquest to the close of the twelfth century but little change had taken place in the armour and weapons of the English; but five distinct varieties of body-armour were worn by them about the time of the Standard-a scaly suit of steel, with a chapelle de fer, or iron cap; a hauberk of iron rings; a suit of mascled or quilted armour ; another of rings set edgewise; and a fifth of tegulated mail, composed of small square plates of The Standard.] MISSION OF BRUCE AND BALIOL. steel lapping over each other like tiles, with a long flowing tunic of cloth below. Gonfanons fluttered from the spear-heads; and knights wore nasal helmets and kite-shaped shields of iron, but their spears were simply pointed goads. Though the red lion had been one national emblem of the Scots for more than a hundred years, and traditionally the thistle for a much longer period, on this day the standard borne by them was simply a long lance with a tuft of blooming mountain hea 13 men-at-arms, with the men of Moray and from other parts covering the rear. Such was the singularly mixed force led by the Scottish king; for in his ranks were many men of England who favoured the cause of his niece the empress, or were disgusted with Stephen's rule at home. Favoured by a dense fog and the smoke of burning villages, which concealed his advance for a time, he was not without hope of taking the English by surprise; but they were fully prepared, and every Norman barons, inspired by a humanity somewhat new to them, sent to the Scottish army Robert Bruce, Earl of Annandale, and Bernard de Baliol, nobles who held vast estates in both countries, to offer as conditions of peace "to procure from Stephen a full grant of the earldom of Northumberland in favour of Prince Henry." ther attached to it; and the armour and equipment | man stood to his arms. Ere the battle began, the of the Lowlanders were pretty much like those of the English. The vanguard consisted of the men of Lothian and Teviotdale, the moss-troopers of Liddesdale and Cumberland, and the fierce and wild men of Galloway under their principal chiefs, Ulric and Donald, led by Prince Henry, who was reinforced by a body-guard of men-at-arms under Eustace Fitzjohn, a Norman baron of Northumberland, whom Stephen had offended by depriving him of the castle of Bamborough. The second line was composed of the Highland and Island clans, armed with their round targets, two-handed claymores, and tuaghs or pole-axes. The third, or reserve line, under the king, consisted of a strong body of Saxon and Norman knights and The speech of Bruce, which was long, and contains many curious facts, is reported at length by Alred, a contemporary and confidant of David, hence it may be assumed to be substantially accurate; but David rejected all proposals. Then exclaimed William MacDonoquhy, his nephew, "Bruce, thou art a false traitor!" Whereupon Bruce and Baliol departed, renouncing their allegiance to the Scottish crown, and the advance was resumed. The king, resolving now to place some Norman knights and Saxon archers in the van, gave terrible offence to the bare-kneed Celts who were in his army, and it threatened the most disastrous consequences. "Whence comes this mighty confidence in those Normans?" asked Malise, Earl of Strathearn, scornfully. "I wear no armour; but there is not one among them who will advance beyond me this day." "Rude earl," replied Allan de Piercy, a Norman knight, you boast of what you dare not do." David had to interfere, and place the Celtic clans of Galloway in the van, and reserve to himself the command of the Scots properly so called. The English were drawn up in a dense mass around the sacred standard. Their men-at-arms dismounted, and sending their horses to the rear, mingled with the archers, and met the shock of battle on foot. It was begun by the fierce "wild men," as they were named, of Galloway, who flung themselves sword in hand on the serried English spears with shouts of "Albanaich! Albanaich!" which means, "We are the men of Albyn!" The spearmen gave way; but a heavy shower of arrows threw the Celts into disorder, and as they fell back the English taunted them by shouting, "Erygh! Erygh!" ("Ye are but Irish! ye are but Irish!") Prince Henry now rushed on at the head of his mailed cavalry, charging with lances levelled, and broke through the English ranks, says Alred, “as if they had been spiders' webs," and actually dispersed those who guarded the horses in the rear. Ulric and Donald had fallen, yet the Galloway men rallied without them, and renewed the attack; the other lines were closing up, and for two hours the battle was but one wild mêlée of men and horses wedged and struggling together. Thus far one account. Another says that it was in vain that the Scots, "after giving three shouts in the manner of their nation," sought with their swords to break through the forest of spears. "Their courage only exposed them to the deadly aim of the archers; and at the end of two hours, disheartened by their loss, they wavered, broke, and fled." The story goes that when the Galloway men rallied, and with terrible yells were about to renew the attack, an English soldier, with singular tact and presence of mind, suddenly elevated a human head upon his spear, and shouted, "Behold the head of the King of the Scots!" This spread speedy consternation, and the men of Galloway fled, falling back upon the second line, while the third abandoned the field without striking a blow. On foot, David strove to rally them, but in vain: then his knights and men-at-arms, perceiving that the day was lost, constrained him to quit the field. Placing himself at their head, he covered the retreat and prevented the pursuit of his ill-matched army as far as Carlisle, when, enraged by their defeat and the loss of some thousands of their number, fired with mutual animosities and petty national jealousies, they assaulted each other, and fought promiscuously among themselves. It was on the 25th August that David entered Carlisle, and there for some days he was in great uncertainty as to the fate of his gallant son, Prince Henry, whose impetuosity had carried him through the ranks of the English. "On his return from the chase of fugitives in the rear, finding the battle lost, he commanded his men to throw away their banners, and so mingling with the pursuers, he passed them undiscovered, and after many hazards succeeded in reaching Carlisle on the third day after the king his father." In their retreat the Galloway men carried off many Englishwomen, who were only restored through the intervention of Alberic, Bishop of Ostia, the papal legate, a circumstance which affords some proof of the barbarity of the times, and the ferocity of the troops who carried on the war. Yet David who led them was founder of twelve of the most magnificent abbeys in Scotland. At Carlisle he exacted a solemn oath from all that they should never again desert him in war; and after storming and razing to the ground Walter l'Espec's castle of Werk, he returned to Scotland more like a conqueror than one whose army had been so totally routed, as the victors of Northallerton were not in a condition to follow up the advantage they had gained; and, ultimately, through the mediation of the legate and the Queen of England, peace was concluded on the 9th April, 1139. The old monastic writers of England dwelt with great satisfaction on the singular battle of the Standard, which they considered to have been won, less by the valour and hardihood of those who fought under old Walter l'Espec of Werk, than the influence of the holy relics and the banners of St. Peter of York, St. Wilfred of Ripon, and St. John of Beverley. The place where they stood is still called the Standard Hill at Northallerton. The Damme.] ENGLAND'S FIRST GREAT NAVAL BATTLE. 15 CHAPTER III. THE DAMME-BOUVINES-DOVER, 1214-1217. Ir is somewhat remarkable that it is in the time of The leading causes of the first great naval battle were as follows:-John having divorced Joanna, married Isabella of Angoulême. This, with the murder of Arthur, roused his enemies against him, and they speedily stripped him of Normandy, and all that the Plantagenet kings once held in France. His quarrel with the Pope drew upon England the spiritual terrors of an interdict, and for six years there was no religious service in the land; the churches were closed, the unused bells hung rusting in their spires; the statues of the saints were draped in black, and the dead were interred without prayer or ceremony, while the living were under a curse. This state of matters caused Philip Augustus of France, a wily and ambitious sovereign, to conceive the idea of invading England, and annexing it as a fief to his crown. That which William of Normandy had done before, might it not be done again? The opportunity was most favourable, and accordingly he made such great preparations for the complete conquest of England, at the call of the Pope too, that John, hitherto unmoved, yielded; and sensible that of the 60,000 soldiers whom he called his, not one was to be trusted, he took a new oath of fealty to the pontiff, and agreed to pay into his coffers 1,000 marks yearly rent for his kingdom of England and lordship of Ireland. This was in 1213, and now he took vigorous measures for rallying round him a large body of his subjects, and by the middle of April he had a great fleet as well as a large army assembled at Dover. The French monarch had determined to chastise Ferrand, Count of Flanders, for refusing to join with him in this expedition against England, and forming a secret treaty with John, who sent him armed aid. For this purpose he marched into the Low Countries, while his fleet sailed from the Seine to the Damme, an old town five miles from Bruges, on a canal of the same name, which extends from the latter city to Moerkerke. The fleet is said to have numbered 1,700 sail; and to anticipate and destroy all attempt at invasion, that of the English, consisting of only 500 sail, put to sea under Henry II.'s son by the fair Rosamond Clifford, William with the Long Sword, Earl of Salisbury; John's brother, the Duke of Holland; and the Count de Boulogne. The vessels of those days were but small. Their masts were usually made in one piece; the sails were large and square; the tops were large round turrets, where archers and crossbow-men lurked; the sides were always furnished with iron grapnels; the poops and prows were high; and the knights on board were wont to hang their shields around the gunwale before assuming them for battle. Long sweeps at times aided the sails, and around the masts were usually racked the axes and pikes of the crew. According to De Mezeray, when Salisbury with his fleet appeared off the Damme, he found a great many of Philip's vessels at anchor in the roadstead, with most of their crews ashore. Others were moored inside the harbour and along the coast. Be all that as it may, he ordered an immediate attack on those in the roads; and in a very short time the English captured 300 sail100 more of a small size were lying high and dry upon the beach. These were pillaged of all they contained and all that could be carried off, and were then set on flames. In their boats the English seamen next assailed the vessels lying within the harbour; "and those Frenchmen," says old Holinshed, "that were gone into the country, perceiving that their enemies were come by the running away of the mariners, returned with all speed to their ships to aid their fellows, and so made valiant resistance for a time, till the Englishmen, getting on land and ranging themselves on either side of the haven, beat the Frenchmen on both sides; and the ships being grappled together in front, they fought on the decks as it had been in a pitched field, till that finally the Frenchmen were not able to sustain the force of the Englishmen, but were constrained, after long fighting and great slaughter, to yield themselves prisoners." |