CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SIEGE OF EVESHAM CASTLE.
Upon the day before starting out to head the expedition against theoutlaws, Sir Rudolph sent word to the Lady Margaret that she mustprepare to become his wife at the end of the week. He had provided twotiring maids for her by ordering two of the franklins to send in theirdaughters for that purpose, and these mingled their tears withMargaret's at the situation in which they were placed. She repliedfirmly to the messenger of the knight that no power on earth couldoblige her to marry him. He might drive her to the altar; but though hekilled her there, her lips should refuse to say the words which wouldunite them.
The following morning, early, the castle rang with the din ofpreparation. The great portion of the mercenaries were encamped in tentsoutside the walls, for, spacious as it was, Evesham could hardly containfour hundred men in addition to its usual garrison. The men-at-arms wereprovided with heavy axes to cut their way through the bushes. Somecarried bundles of straw, to fire the wood should it be foundpracticable to do so; and as it was now summer and the wind was blowinghigh, Sir Rudolph hoped that the dry grass and bushes would catch, andwould do more even than his men-at-arms in clearing the forest of thosewhom he designated the villains infesting it. They had, too, with themseveral fierce dogs trained to hunting the deer, and these, the knighthoped, would do good service in tracking the outlaws. He and the knightsand the men-at-arms with him were all dismounted, for he felt thathorses would in the forest be an incumbrance, and he was determinedhimself to lead the way to the men-at-arms.
When they reached the forest they were saluted by a shower of arrows;but as all were clad in mail, these at a distance effected but littleharm. As they came closer, however, the clothyard arrows began to piercethe coarse and ill-made armor of the foot soldiers, although the finerarmor of the knights kept out the shafts which struck against it. SirRudolph and his knights leading the way, they entered the forest andgradually pressed their invisible foe backward through the trees. Thedogs did good service, going on ahead and attacking the archers; but,one by one, they were soon shot, and the assailants left to their owndevices. Several attempts were made to fire the wood. But these failed,the fire burning but a short time and then dying out of itself. Inaddition to the fighting men, Sir Rudolph had impressed into the serviceall the serfs of his domain, and these, armed with axes, were directedto cut down the trees as the force proceeded, Sir Rudolph declaring thathe would not cease until he had leveled the whole forest, though itmight take him months to do so.
The assailants gained ground steadily, the resistance being less severethan Sir Rudolph had anticipated. Several small huts and clearings inthe forest which had been used by the outlaws, and round which smallcrops had been planted, were destroyed, and all seemed to promise wellfor the success of the enterprise.
It was about two hours after they had left the castle, when a heavy cartfilled with fagots was seen approaching its gates. The garrison, who hadnot the least fear of any attack, paid no attention to it until itreached the edge of the moat. Then the warder, seeing that it containedfagots, lowered the drawbridge without question, raised the portcullis,and opened the gates.
"From whom do you bring this wood?" he asked as the man driving the oxenbegan to cross the bridge.
"From the franklin of Hopeburn."
"It is well," said the warder, "for he is in arrear now, and should havesent in the firewood two months since. Take it to the woodhouse at theother end of the court."
The heavy wagon crossed the drawbridge, but as it was entering the gateit came suddenly to a stop. With a blow of his ox goad Cnut leveled thewarder to the ground, and cutting the cords of the bullocks, drove theminto the yard ahead. As he did so the pile of fagots fell asunder, andtwelve men armed with bow and pike leaped out. The men-at-arms standingnear, lounging in the courtyard, gave a shout of alarm, and thegarrison, surprised at this sudden cry, ran to their arms. At first theywere completely panic-stricken. But seeing after a time how small wasthe number of their assailants, they took heart and advanced againstthem. The passage was narrow, and the twelve men formed a wall acrossit. Six of them with their pikes advanced, the other six with bent bowsstanding behind them and delivering their arrows between their heads.The garrison fought stoutly, and although losing many, were pressing thelittle band backward. In vain the assistant-warder tried to lower theportcullis, or to close the gates. The former fell on to the top of thewagon, and was there retained. The gates also were barred by theobstacle. The chains of the drawbridge had at once been cut. Cnutencouraged his followers by his shouts, and armed with a heavy ax, didgood service upon the assailants. But four of his party had fallen, andthe rest were giving way, when a shout was heard, and over thedrawbridge poured Cuthbert and one hundred and fifty of the outlaws ofthe forest. Struck with terror at this attack, the garrison drew back,and the foresters poured into the yard. For a few minutes there was afierce fight; but the defenders of the castle, disheartened and taken bysurprise, were either cut down or, throwing down their arms, cried forquarter.
Ten minutes after the wagon had crossed the drawbridge the castle wassafely in possession of Sir Cuthbert. The bridge was raised, the wagonremoved, the portcullis lowered, and to the external eye all remained asbefore.
Cuthbert at once made his way to the chamber where the Lady Margaret wasconfined, and her joy at her deliverance was great indeed. So unlimitedwas her faith in Sir Cuthbert that she had never lost confidence; andalthough it did not seem possible that in the face of such disparity ofnumbers he could rescue her from the power of Sir Rudolph, yet she hadnot given up hope. The joy of the farmers' daughters who had beencarried off to act as her attendants was little inferior to her own; foronce in the power of this reckless baron, the girls had small hopes ofever being allowed to return again to their parents.
The flag of Sir Rudolph was thrown down from the keep, and that of thelate earl hoisted in its stead; for Cuthbert himself, although he hadassumed the cognizance which King Richard had granted him, had not yetany flag or pennon emblazoned with it.
No words can portray the stupefaction and rage of Sir Rudolph when a manwho had managed to slip unobserved from the castle at the time of itscapture bore the news to him in the forest. All opposition there hadceased, and the whole of the troops were engaged in aiding the peasantsin cutting wide roads through the trees across the forest, so as to makeit penetrable by horsemen in every direction. It was supposed that theoutlaws had gradually stolen away through the thickets and taken to theopen country, intending to scatter to their homes, or other distanthiding-places; and the news that they had by a ruse captured the castlecame as a thunder-clap.
Sir Rudolph's first impulse was to call his men together and to marchtoward the castle. The drawbridge was up and the walls bristled witharmed men. It was useless to attempt a parley; still more useless tothink of attacking the stronghold without the proper machines andappliances. Foaming with rage, Sir Rudolph took possession of a cottagenear, camped his men around and prepared for a siege.
There were among the mercenaries many men accustomed to the use ofengines of war. Many, too, had aided in making them; and these were atonce set to work to construct the various machines in use at that time.Before the invention of gunpowder, castles such as those of the Englishbarons were able to defy any attack by an armed force for a long period.Their walls were so thick that even the balistas, casting huge stones,were unable to breach them except after a very long time. The moatswhich surrounded them were wide and deep, and any attempt at storming byladders was therefore extremely difficult; and these buildings wereconsequently more often captured by famine than by other means. Ofprovisions, as Sir Rudolph knew, there was a considerable supply atpresent in the castle, for he had collected a large number of bullocksin order to feed the strong body who had been added to the garrison. Thegranaries, too, were well stored; and with a groan Sir Rudolph thoughtof the rich stores of French wines which he had collected in hiscellars.
After much deliber
ation with the knights with him and the captain of themercenaries, it was agreed in the first instance to attempt to attackthe place by filling up a portion of the moat and ascending by scalingladders. Huge screens of wood were made, and these were placed onwagons; the wagons themselves were filled with bags of earth, and alarge number of men getting beneath them shoved the ponderous machinesforward to the edge of the moat. The bags of stones and earth were thenthrown in, and the wagons pushed backward to obtain a fresh supply. Thisoperation was of course an exceedingly slow one, a whole day beingoccupied with each trip of the wagons. They were not unmolested in theiradvance, for, from the walls, mangonels and other machines hurled greatstones down upon the wooden screens, succeeding sometimes, in spite oftheir thickness, in crashing through them, killing many of the menbeneath. The experiment was also tried of throwing balls of Greek firedown upon the wood; but as this was green and freshly felled it wouldnot take fire, but the flames dropping through, with much boiling pitchand other materials, did grievously burn and scald the soldiers workingbelow it. Upon both sides every device was tried. The crossbowmen amongthe mercenaries kept up a fire upon the walls to hinder the defendersfrom interfering with the operations, while the archers above shotsteadily, and killed many of those who ventured within range of theirbows.
After ten days' labor a portion of the moat some twenty yards in lengthwas filled with bags of earth, and all was ready for the assault. Thebesiegers had prepared great numbers of strong ladders, and these werebrought up under shelter of the screens. Then, all being ready, thetrumpets sounded for the assault, and the troops moved forward in aclose body, covering themselves with their shields so that no man's heador body was visible, each protecting the one before him with his shieldheld over him. Thus the body presented the appearance of a greatscale-covered animal. In many respects, indeed, the warfare of thosedays was changed in no way from that of the time of the Romans. In thetwelve hundred years which had elapsed between the siege of Jerusalemand the days of the Crusades there had been but little change in arms orarmor, and the operations which Titus undertook for the reduction of theJewish stronghold differed but little from those which a Norman baronemployed in besieging his neighbor's castle.
Within Evesham Castle all was contentment and merriment during thesedays. The garrison had no fear whatever of being unable to repel theassault when it should be delivered. Huge stones had been collected innumbers on the walls, caldrons of pitch, beneath which fires keptsimmering, stood there in readiness. Long poles with hooks with which toseize the ladders and cut them down were laid there; and all thatprecaution and science could do was prepared.
Cuthbert passed much of the day, when not required upon the walls,chatting with the Lady Margaret, who, attended by her maidens, satworking in her bower. She had learned to read from the good nuns of theconvent--an accomplishment which was by no means general, even among thedaughters of nobles; but books were rare, and Evesham boasted but fewmanuscripts. Here Margaret learned in full all the details of Cuthbert'sadventures since leaving England, and the fondness with which as a childshe had regarded the lad grew gradually into the affection of a woman.
The courage of the garrison was high, for although they believed thatsooner or later the castle might be carried by the besiegers, they hadalready been told by Cnut that there was a means of egress unknown tothe besiegers, and that when the time came they would be able to escapeunharmed. This, while it in no way detracted from their determination todefend the castle to the last, yet rendered their task a far lighter andmore agreeable one than it would have been had they seen the gallowsstanding before them as the end of the siege.
As the testudo, as it was called in those days, advanced toward thecastle, the machines upon the walls--catapults, mangonels andarbalasts--poured forth showers of stones and darts upon it, breaking upthe array of shields and killing many; and as these openings were made,the archers, seizing their time, poured in volleys of arrows. Themercenaries, however, accustomed to war, advanced steadily, and madegood their footing beneath the castle wall, and proceeded to rear theirladders. Here, although free from the action of the machines, they wereexposed to the hand missiles, which were scarcely less destructive. Ingood order, and with firmness, however, they reared the ladders, andmounted to the assault, covering themselves as well as they could withtheir shields. In vain, however, did they mount. The defenders poureddown showers of boiling pitch and oil, which penetrated the crevices oftheir armor and caused intolerable torment. Great stones were toppledover from the battlements upon them; and sometimes the ladders, seizedby the poles with hooks, were cast backward, with all upon them, on thethrong below. For half an hour, encouraged by the shouts of Sir Rudolphand their leaders, the soldiers strove gallantly; but were at lastcompelled to draw off, having lost nigh one hundred men, without onegaining a footing upon the walls.
That evening another council of war was held without. Already some largemachines for which Sir Rudolph had sent had arrived. In anticipation ofthe possibility of failure, two castles upon wheels had been prepared,and between these a huge beam with an iron head was hung. This was uponthe following day pushed forward on the newly-formed ground across themoat. Upon the upper part of each tower were armed men who workedmachines casting sheaves of arrows and other missiles. Below were thosewho worked the ram. To each side of the beam were attached numerouscords, and with these it was swung backward and forward, giving heavyblows each stroke upon the wall. The machines for casting stones, whichhad arrived, were also brought in play, and day and night thesethundered against the walls; while the ram repeated its ceaseless blowsupon the same spot, until the stone crumbled before it.
Very valiantly did the garrison oppose themselves to these efforts. Buteach day showed the progress made by the besiegers. Their forces hadbeen increased, Prince John having ordered his captain at Gloucester tosend another one hundred men to the assistance of Sir Rudolph. Othertowers had now been prepared. These were larger than the first, andovertopped the castle walls. From the upper story were drawbridges, soformed as to drop from the structures upon the walls, and thus enablethe besiegers to rush upon them. The process was facilitated by the factthat the battlements had been shot away by the great stones, and therewas a clear space on which the drawbridges could fall. The attack wasmade with great vigor; but for a long time the besieged maintained theirpost, and drove back the assailants as they poured out across thedrawbridges on to the wall. At last Cuthbert saw that the forces opposedto him were too numerous to be resisted, and gave orders to his men tofall back upon the inner keep.
Making one rush, and clearing the wall of those who had gained afooting, the garrison fell back hastily, and were safely within themassive keep before the enemy had mustered in sufficient numbers uponthe wall to interfere with them. The drawbridge was now lowered, and thewhole of the assailants gained footing within the castle. They werestill far from having achieved a victory. The walls of the keep weremassive and strong, and its top far higher than the walls, so that fromabove a storm of arrows poured down upon all who ventured to showthemselves. The keep had no windows low enough down for access to begained; and those on the floors above were so narrow, and protected bybars, that it seemed by scaling the walls alone could an entry beeffected. This was far too desperate an enterprise to be attempted, forthe keep rose eighty feet above the courtyard. It was upon the door,solid and studded with iron, that the attempt had to be made.
Several efforts were made by Sir Rudolph, who fought with a braveryworthy of a better cause, to assault and batter down the door. Protectedby wooden shields from the rain of missiles from above, he and hisknights hacked at the door with their battle-axes. But in vain. It hadbeen strengthened by beams behind, and by stones piled up against it.Then fire was tried. Fagots were collected in the forest, and brought;and a huge pile having been heaped against the door, it was lighted. "Wecould doubtless prolong the siege for some days, Lady Margaret," saidCuthbert, "but the castle is ours; and we wish not, when the time comesthat we sh
all again be masters of it, that it should be a mere heap ofruins. Methinks we have done enough. With but small losses on our side,we have killed great numbers of the enemy, and have held them at bay fora month. Therefore, I think that to-night it will be well for us toleave the place."
Lady Margaret was rejoiced at the news that the time for escape hadcome, for the perpetual clash of war, the rattling of arrows, theponderous thud of heavy stones caused a din very alarming to a younggirl; and although the room in which she sat, looking into the innercourt of the castle, was not exposed to missiles, she trembled at thethought that brave men were being killed, and that at any moment a shotmight strike Cuthbert, and so leave her without a friend or protector.
Content with having destroyed the door, the assailants made no furthereffort that evening, but prepared in the morning to attack it, pull downthe stones filled behind it, and force their way into the keep. Therewas, with the exception of the main entrance, but one means of exit, asmall postern door behind the castle, and throughout the siege a strongbody of troops had been posted here, to prevent the garrison making asortie. Feeling secure therefore that upon the following day his enemieswould fall into his power, Sir Rudolph retired to rest.
An hour before midnight the garrison assembled in the hall. The tablewas removed, and Cuthbert having pressed the spring, which was at adistance from the stone and could not be discovered without a knowledgeof its existence, the stone turned aside by means of a counterpoise, anda flight of steps was seen. Torches had been prepared. Cnut and a chosenband went first; Cuthbert followed, with Lady Margaret and herattendants; and the rest of the archers brought up the rear, a trustyman being left in charge at last with orders to swing back the stoneinto its place, having first hauled the table over the spot, so thattheir means of escape should be unknown.
The passage was long and dreary, the walls were damp with wet, and themassive doors so swollen by moisture that it was with the greatestdifficulty they could be opened. At last, however, they emerged intothe little friary in the wood. It was deserted, the priest who usuallydwelt there having fled when the siege began. The stone which there, asin the castle, concealed the exit, was carefully closed, and the partythen emerged into the open air. Here Cuthbert bade adieu to hiscomrades. Cnut had very anxiously begged to be allowed to accompany himand share his fortunes, and Cuthbert had promised him that if at anytime he should again take up arms in England, he would summon him to hisside, but that at present as he knew not whither his steps would beturned, it would be better that he should be unattended. The archers hadall agreed to scatter far and wide through the country, many of themproceeding to Nottingham and joining the bands in the forest ofSherwood.
Cuthbert himself had determined to make his way to the castle of hisfriend, Sir Baldwin, and to leave the Lady Margaret in his charge. Cnuthurried on at full speed to the house of a franklin, some three milesdistant. Here horses were obtained and saddled, and dresses prepared;and when Cuthbert with Lady Margaret arrived there, no time was lost.Dressed as a yeoman, with the Lady Margaret as his sister, he mounted ahorse, with her behind him on a pillion. The other damsels also mounted,as it would not have been safe for them to remain near Evesham. Theytherefore purposed taking refuge in a convent near Gloucester for thepresent. Bidding a hearty adieu to Cnut, and with thanks to the franklinwho had aided them, they set forward on their journey. By morning theyhad reached the convent, and here the two girls were left, and Cuthbertcontinued his journey. He left his charge at a convent a day's ridedistant from the castle of Sir Baldwin, as he wished to consult theknight first as to the best way of her entering the castle withoutexciting talk or suspicion.
Sir Baldwin received him with joy. He had heard something of his doings,and the news of the siege of Evesham had been noised abroad. He told himthat he was in communication with many other barons, and that ere longthey hoped to rise against the tyranny of Prince John, but that atpresent they were powerless, as many, hoping that King Richard wouldreturn ere long, shrank from involving the country in a civil war. WhenCuthbert told him that the daughter of his old friend was at a conventbut a day's ride distant, and that he sought protection for her, SirBaldwin instantly offered her hospitality.
"I will," he said, "send my good wife to fetch her. Some here know yourpresence, and it would be better therefore that she did not arrive forsome days, as her coming will then seem to be unconnected with yourself.My wife and I will, a week hence, give out that we are going to fetch acousin of my wife's to stay here with her; and when we return nosuspicion will be excited that she is other than she seems. Should it beotherwise, I need not say that Sir Baldwin of Bethune will defend hiscastle against any of the minions of Prince John. But I have no fearthat her presence here will be discovered. What think you of doing inthe meantime?"
"I am thinking," Cuthbert said, "of going east. No news has beenobtained of our lord the king save that he is a prisoner in the hands ofthe emperor; but where confined, or how, we know not. It is my intent totravel to the Tyrol, and to trace his steps from the time that he wascaptured. Then, when I obtain knowledge of the place where he is kept, Iwill return, and consult upon the best steps to be taken. My presence inEngland is now useless. Did the barons raise the standard of KingRichard against the prince, I should at once return and join them. Butwithout land or vassals, I can do nothing here, and shall be indeed likea hunted hare, for I know that the false earl will move heaven and earthto capture me."
Sir Baldwin approved of the resolution; but recommended Cuthbert to takeevery precaution not to fall himself into the hands of the emperor;"for," he said, "if we cannot discover the prison of King Richard, Ifear that it would be hopeless indeed ever to attempt to find that inwhich a simple knight is confined."