Conquest

William escaped at a gallop into the trees and out of sight, and Hereward ordered his squadrons to return to their original positions. Short of impaling William on a lance, the ambush had been a great success: Hereward had lost over 30 men and a few more had serious injuries, but there were over 250 Norman dead and William’s entire baggage train had been captured.

There were a dozen or so Norman soldiers from the battle who had not been able to flee the carnage. Hereward learned from these prisoners that many of their fellow soldiers were appalled at what had been happening in recent weeks, but that William was constantly in a rage and would listen to no one, not even his senior lieutenants. William had split his force into four as it left York. One group had gone north-east towards the coast, a second had made for Lincoln and the South, and a third had moved south-west towards Wakefield and Doncaster. William’s group, about 500 strong including his own Matilda Squadron, had travelled as far as Durham, which had been put to the sword in an orgy of killing. None of the local people was spared, no building was left standing, nothing edible was left alive, and all food stores and smokehouses were destroyed. The group was now bound for Chester.

The Duke’s regime was almost unbearable. He made his men ride for twelve hours every day; it was pitch black when they broke camp in the mornings and just as dark when they made camp in the evenings. When they were ordered to leave York in the winter, there was significant discontent in the ranks, but when it was discovered that they were to go through the Pennines to Chester, murmurs of mutiny began. When hints of this reached William, he had the ringleaders singled-out and flogged in front of all his squadrons. The talk stopped, but the resentment grew deeper.

Hereward had heard enough. The morale of William’s men was clearly at a low ebb, and disgruntled men do not fight well. In addition, William was obviously in a constant rage, and men in ferment make mistakes; perhaps he would soon present Hereward with the opportunity he prayed for.

Alphonso asked Hereward what should be done with the Norman prisoners.

‘Let them go. Tell them to help their wounded, but they must fend for themselves.’

‘We should kill them. They’ve been slaughtering the innocent — women and children. Besides, when they are found, they’ll tell William everything they’ve seen and heard here.’

‘Let the Normans do the cold-blooded killing. We will have plenty of opportunity to kill them in battle. As for what they reveal about us, William will know all our secrets long before we see these men again.’

Hereward looked back on the scene of the ambush.

The wind had relented, allowing the snow to fall gently on the fells. The valley was no longer the light and dark of a winter idyll. Chat’s Burn had turned crimson; the chestnut flanks of the fallen horses glistened in the snow amid the bloodied shapes of the dead.

In a series of lightning strikes from horseback and night-time guerrilla attacks, Hereward harassed William all the way to Chester.

None of the encounters was on the same scale as Chat’s Burn, but they were effective. At long last, the Normans were on the run. By the time they reached Chester, William’s force had dwindled to less than half the strength he had when he left York.

On several occasions, their eyes met and they came close to one another, but Hereward’s force was too small to do anything other than harry and withdraw. William also seemed to retain his good fortune: well-aimed arrows and lances missed him by inches or struck men close to him. He was never isolated from his elite defenders, and he was always able to find an escape route from any trap Hereward had designed for him. Even so, it was a disconcerting and embarrassing experience for the Duke.

However, Hereward soon had to face yet more disappointment.

Eadric, his English rebels and their Welsh allies had abandoned Chester and fled to the relative safety of Wales as soon as they heard that William’s murderous campaign had turned westwards. The Normans were able to ride into the burgh unopposed, depriving Hereward of any more opportunities to snipe at them. William licked his wounds and sent for reinforcements. Hereward moved inland, towards Stafford, and found a remote place to camp and plan his next move. It also provided an opportunity to make a tally of the significant booty he had taken from William at Chat’s Burn. It was a major windfall: there was a considerable amount of money, enough to keep his campaign going for some time, although not enough to entice the Danes into more action. There was also a plentiful supply of food, armour and clothes, plus over sixty horses, including nearly thirty cavalry destriers.