The Victories of Count Raoul Part 2: The Inconvenient War
September 2, 1068-August 17, 1070
I admit that I took great pleasure at the thought that Duke Robert the Old might face some punishment on Earth before he faced the Eternal Fire, for he was far and away the most sinful man in all of France. Since blackmailing his brother the late King Henry into granting him the Duchy of Burgundy, he had used his authority to rob his vassals blind. Nothing was sacred to him, he plundered cathedrals and abbeys whenever it took his fancy. His brutality became so infamous that bishops refused to dedicate churches in his land, for fear that he would kidnap them and hold them ransom.
Duke Robert’s sins even extended to his own family. At one of his many banquets he attacked his father-in-law over a joke. He had his men kill his brother-in-law when he tried to intervene, and killed his father-in-law with his own bare hands. He then abandoned his wife and took a young one more pleasing to his eye. Since these vile acts, it is said that Duke Robert has not had one peaceful night’s sleep, haunted by the vengeful ghosts of those he had slain.
This sort of criminality would never be allowed in a just realm, however in recent years the kingdom of France had begun to stray from God. There is no better example of this decline than the current reigning monarch King Phillipe. This callow youth has led our country since he was a boy of 8, and I fear that it has had an extremely bad effect on his character. According to my friends in the royal court, he takes no greater delight than in torturing his enemies in increasingly bizarre and unpleasant ways. His mood swings drastically from moment to moment, from spiteful glee to fits of hysterical guilt and self-isolation.
He does have his virtues however. Notably he is very generous towards the poor and the church, although these donations always seem to follow some particularly heinous execution. Perhaps it was this spirit of charity which persuaded him to take an old woman nearly 15 years his senior as his wife, or more likely it was due to the advantages of an alliance with one of the most powerful kings of Spain.
Since the king had not acted against Duke Robert, a coalition of three counts decided to take matters into their own hands. Count Raoul and Guillaume had the forces bolstered by the aid of Count Richard of Rouen. Together they pledged to bring Duke Robert to justice for his crimes. However I suspect my liege was far more interested in securing the support of the powerful armies of Auxerre for his ambitions than any real feeling of moral outrage.
Duke Robert had exhausted his men in futile squabbles with other nobles, and his vassals spared but little support for their hated liege. To bolster his meagre forces, he made alliances with two minor counts. More dangerous than all of these was his pact with a rich and powerful King Antso of Navarre.
Count Raoul gathered his men outside his castle in Berry. Neglecting to lead the expedition himself, he instead sent his best commander Mayor Aymor to lead the men. He claimed it was because he needed to take care of his sick wife, but I suspect it had more to do with wanting to focus his attention on the situation in Touraine.
Count Raoul couldn’t have made a better pick than Aymar, who was by far the best commander in his lands. His knowledge of the French countryside was formidable, and gave him a leg up against most of his opponents. This observation of his considerable abilities has nothing to do with the fact that he is my cousin, it is instead borne out of years of impartial contemplation.
Aymar led our soldiers up to the fields of Dijon, where they were joined by the men of Count Richard. There we inflicted a great defeat on the Duke Robert, his men quickly abandoning their arms and fleeing at the first sign of blood. Few were willing to lay down their lives for their despised Duke. Following this victory, Dijon castle was put under siege. If our men could take the jewel of Burgundy, victory would be within our grasp.
The siege dragged on for months, until our forces were bolstered by the army of Count Guillaume. Unfortunately, it had seen better days. Count Guillaume had foolishly tried to take the fight to the Navarese, who had decimated his army in a crushing defeat off the banks of the river Rhône. Count Guillaume’s men arrived only just in time to warn us of the approaching forces of Duke Robert, who had finally managed to unite his allied armies. The war had been a stalemate for these past 8 months, but this outcome of this battle looked to be one which would decide the entire conflict.
Aymar was put in charge of the alliance’s forces. He left a small contingent of men to prevent the men of Dijon from leaving their castle, and took the rest of his army to a field 2 miles from the castle. This was to prevent being smashed against the castle like metal pounded between a hammer and an anvil if the battle went south.
Commanding the opposing army was a sinister Navarese count known only as “the Silver Mask.” His face was rumoured to be so horribly mutilated that one look would stop your heart. He was more than just an ugly face however, it was his strategic cunning which was responsible for the defeat of Count Guillaume.
Aymar had his men set a few traps in the large field where he had set his camp. He had his men train, but otherwise kept still. The army of the Silver Mask were urged to make haste by the Infante (1) of Navarre, who hated France and wanted to be home by Christmas.
The night before the battle, there was a terrible rainstorm. Aymar had planned for the fickleness of the French climate and had brought the appropriate supplies. However, the Navarese were not used to the damp and had to discard much of their supplies on the fast march on Dijon. As such most of their men suffered a miserable and sleepless night.
The Silver Mask had wanted the men to have a week's rest while he tried to get in contact with the men inside Dijon castle to arrange a sortee, but he was overruled by the Infante. He demanded that they begin marching early in the morning to get the whole thing over with more quickly. Horses and men got stuck in the mud, and the whole army moved at a crawl. Some of Aymar’s traps were triggered by men too tired to see them. In order to avoid the traps, the Silver Mask ordered the men to break formation and move with great care over the field.
By the time the Navarese army had crossed the field, it was already past noon. While the Navarese were distracted with the traps, Aymar had been getting all his men in formation and waiting for the mud to dry. Suddenly, he ordered his men to charge. The Silver Mask quickly ordered his men back into formation, but it was too late and the battle began badly. However, the Silver Mask was not one to be beaten so easily, and rallied his men to push back. The French ranks began to waver when the Silver Mask personally slew Count Raoul’s Steward, Mayor Guillaume.
The battle went back and forth, but eventually the French gained the upper hand when everyone heard the shouts that the Infante had been captured. The morale of the Navarese collapsed, and they fled from the field. The Silver Mask used a reserve of cavalry to screen their retreat, limiting any further losses.
At the end of the day, more than 1000 men lay dead and hundreds more were injured. This bloodbath at least served a purpose, as the garrison of castle Dijon lost all hope and surrendered to the Counts’ Alliance. The Infante was sent to Count Raoul, where he enjoyed a comfortable stay in the castle dungeons for the next 9 months.
Unfortunately, I had to come into contact often with the man. I was the only one in Count Raoul’s court who could speak Basque as the Infante never bothered to learn French. Basque is already a difficult enough language(2), but I struggled to understand even the slightest thing he said because of his pronounced stutter and lisp. When I could understand him I found him to be a very difficult character, whining about wanting to go home and how his cell wasn’t to his liking. I fear for Navarre should he ever become king.
Our victory at Dijon sent shockwaves throughout France. The King’s hated uncle was openly being challenged by a collection of mere counts, and somehow they were coming out on top? Many nobles began to question the King’s authority. After all, if they could defend themselves from tyrants, why bother paying taxes to him?
The King acted quickly. He said that he was acting to give his subjects more freedom because he wanted to reward their loyalty to him, others say that he was just acting because he was petrified of rebellion. Whatever his motives, the king signed a new charter limiting the powers of the crown. Although it made him popular among much of the nobility, I thought it was a foolish act. A lack of royal authority is just what enabled devils like Duke Robert to abuse their subjects with impunity in the first place.
With Dijon taken, the Count Alliance set off for Autun. With most of his territories occupied, Duke Robert would be forced to the bargaining table. Unfortunately, the Silver Mask knew this too, and set about besieging the garrison we’d left in Dijon.
Meanwhile, I’d finally managed to negotiate a deal with King Antso. In return for his son’s freedom, he was to give us 50 Livres. I don’t know who was more glad to see the Infante Fernando go, me or the Infante himself.
Finally Autun fell to our armies, and I thought this war was done at last, but it was not to be. Unfortunately for us, the Silver Mask had recaptured Dijon and hanged our entire garrison. Now he was marching on our position and was expected to arrive in 10 days. Aymar decided to go on the offensive and met him on the fields of Chalon.
It was a fierce fight. Without the Infante to encumber him, the Silver Mask was an even more dangerous opponent. Due to months of planning and preparations, he’d even managed to have a small advantage in numbers. However, he had forgotten one crucial thing: the importance of quality. Yes the Silver Mask had managed to press a few hundred more peasants into his service, but in knights and men-at-arms he was badly outnumbered. Our trained veterans were making short work of the greenhorns, when the Silver Mask came face to face with Mayor Aymar.
Snarling that he wanted to give him a scar just as ugly as his own, the Silver Mask slashed at Aymor. He desperately parried but the Silver Mask was too strong and his blade cut a gash from his temple to his eye. Swiftly some of the knights rode to his aid and the Silver Mask was forced to retreat once more.
Unfortunately, Mayor Aymar has been injured in the attack. While the rest of the allies went back to siege Dijon again, Mayor Aymar was brought back to Berry by his men so that he could receive the proper care. Unfortunately, due to the negligence of Count Raoul, we had no court physician so I was obliged to care for Aymar as best I could.
Not everything was so grim in the castle. It turned out that Countess Gerberge wasn’t sick, she was pregnant! I managed to secure funds for a proper midwife and the Countess gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Count Raoul named him Eudes, after his grandfather. Not very original people, these nobles.
With his excuse gone and his best commander injured, Count Raoul took command of his army and began marching to Dijon to help with the siege. It was finished by the time he got there, and this time Duke Robert was all out of cards. The Navarrese had gone home, and his other allies had deserted him. If he wanted to keep his head, he had to make concessions.
Duke Robert was forced to do the following things. Firstly, he was obliged to return all stolen property that he had taken from the church and from his counts. Secondly, he was obliged to give up every power over his vassals except the right to take their lands if their house went extinct. Thirdly, he was forced to make public penance for his sins, sitting at the back of the church wearing naught but a sackcloth. (3)
As much as I was pleased to see that wretched man humbled at last, I received a letter with very bad news. I was glad that Count Raoul was not there to read it with me. Raynaud kindly offered to be the bearer of bad news, but I decided it should be my cross to bear. If someone had to be the victim of his anger, I would rather it wouldn’t be one of his only friends. Still, as I handed the message to a courier, I worried if I might have been too bold. The message was brief but to the point:
The Anjoues have fallen. Champagne has won.
Author’s Notes:
1.Infante, meaning child, is a title accorded to all children and all children of the heir apparent in Iberian kingdoms.
2.Basque is the only language isolate in Europe, which means it has absolutely no genealogical connection with other languages. It is thought that Basque is the only pre-Indo European language that still survives in Europe.
3.Public Penance was a way to atone for great sins in the Catholic church. Doing things like sitting at the very back or outside of the church, and wearing a sackcloth and ashes were common forms of public penance, but there were others. One of the most famous instances of Public Penance was King Henry II’s barefoot walk to the shrine of Thomas à Becket.