Crusade

‘Very well, I will send eight conroi, half my personal squadron; they will be ready in two days. I will also send some Flemish infantry — they’re always keen to fight if the price is right — and four companies of archers. Edwin will be Squadron Commander; Sweyn and Adela will be your aides, with a troop of my own knights led by Hugh Percy and Ralph of Mortemer. I can’t have the entire force led by the English!’

I returned to Rochester to give Odo Duke Robert’s answer.

Again, Odo’s ominous circle of supporters stood around him like bodyguards. This time, the setting was his great hall, high in the keep of Rochester’s imposing motte and bailey, not a tiny barn in the countryside. The setting made the gathering much more imposing. It was obvious that these men meant business.

Odo’s planned rebellion was not just an idle conspiracy; he meant to seize the throne.

As soon as I told him of Robert’s support, Odo ordered his forces to launch the attack, but he was not pleased that the Duke had decided to stay in Normandy and that he was only prepared to commit a small force.

‘I suppose he’s trying to be a clever bugger and having it both ways, leaving it to me to present him with a kingdom.’

‘It is nearly 1,000 men, including the finest from his personal squadron.’

‘Don’t try to deceive me; I know exactly what his game is.’

‘I think you both understand one another’s tactics. The field is yours; Duke Robert lends his support.’

‘I was told you were clever with words. I know the field is mine. But as you know only too well, kingdoms are won by men who are prepared to fight for them, not by sitting back and waiting to see how the tide is turning.’

‘My Lord Bishop, Robert will throw himself into the fray when the time is right. If he came here with a large army and took the throne, he would, understandably, want to rule both England and Normandy from here, something I think you would prefer not to happen. You were very clear that you hoped Robert would spend most of his time in Normandy.’

I had countered Odo’s initial gambit, and he knew it. He did not want Robert in England, interfering with his plans to be England’s sub-regulus and to use it as his stepping stone to the papacy.

‘I know my nephew is not cunning enough to have thought all this through, so it must be you. You should have been a cardinal. They’re all like you — very clever and very devious.’

Odo meant his comment as a compliment, one that I was happy to accept.

I took my leave, musing on Odo’s bold words. I was sorely tempted to comment that he was about to make his bed and was going to have to lie in it.

19. Revolt at Rochester

The main centres of the uprising were in Northumbria, the south-west and in Kent and Sussex. Instigated by the rebels, raiding parties from the Welsh tribes also crossed into the Marches to loot and plunder, and Malcolm of Scotland seized the opportunity to attack in the north-west.

It was the middle of a particularly warm spring, and the country appeared prosperous and serene. The burghs were flourishing and the farmers busy in their fields. The uprising caught Rufus completely by surprise. He was hunting in the New Forest when news of the rebellion reached him, and he returned to Winchester immediately.

He summoned his council and ordered half his treasury in Winchester and a quarter of his London bullion to be made available to pay for a counter-attack.

England was soon in chaos. The Norman hierarchy was split almost down the middle; in many places, earls and bishops who supported Rufus were neighbours of those who supported Odo. Sometimes the fighting was a small local skirmish, but there were also large pitched battles involving hundreds of men.

There were many Englishmen in the service of their Norman masters and many minor English landowners whose land had not been lost to Normans; all were caught up in the fighting. The bloodshed was wholesale and affected almost every corner of the land. Families were divided; brother fought brother, and lifelong friends became mortal enemies.

My assessment of Odo as a wily and ambitious bishop, but a less competent general, proved to be accurate. Instead of using both the element of surprise and his superior numbers to press home his advantage, he dithered. The rebellion was well supported but concentrated around the strongholds of the rebels. Rather than riding out to coordinate the separate groups and take the fight to Rufus, he sat in Rochester waiting for the King to come to him. Robert of Mortain did the same in Pevensey.

This was disastrous for the rebellion. It gave Rufus time to gather his forces and to persuade many isolated rebels in small pockets around the country to abandon the cause. By the generous use of the vast wealth of his Exchequer, he assembled a large army of loyal Norman lords and knights and, enticed by bulging purses of coin, a significant number of English infantry.