Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

of Northallerton in 1138 the priests wore white vestments clearly distinguishing them
from the warriors. As the army moved into the fray the priests, including Bishop Ralph
of the Orkneys, stood on the hill above praying for God's intercession against the
Scots. They focused their prayers around a caroccio, a cart on which was fixed a ship's
mast bearing the banners of three local saints: Peter the Apostle (the patron of York
Cathedral), John of Beverley and Wilfrid of Ripon. This was an unusual thing in
northern European warfare, so much so that it gave its name to the battle which is also
known as the Battle of the Standard. Such practices were much more common
amongst the town militia of Italian urban armies, where the caroccio was as much a
symbol of town pride as a spiritual powerhouse. Individual saints' banners, and
sometimes even their relics, were carried onto the battlefield on a regular basis as a
means of obtaining divine aid in the coming conflict. This was vitally important as
battle was often seen as a judicial duel writ large; the outcome being a judgement by
God on the righteousness (or otherwise) of the armies' cause.
At Northallerton one of the commanders, Walter d'Espec, gave an oration to
the Anglo-Norman troops. It focused, according to Aelred of Rievaulx, on the strength
of the Anglo-Normans under difficult circumstances, the need to protect English
women and children from a barbarous enemy and the anti-Christian acts of the Scots,
and the divine aid of the saints and God. Such pre-battle harangues are common in the
records of medieval battles, but, whilst they might be the words of the chronicler rather
than the warrior leaders, the evidence does suggest an attempt to bolster the morale
of their troops by pre-battle orations. They tend to have common themes, generally
making reference to the righteousness of the cause, the support of Christ and the
saints, the weaknesses of the enemy. Perhaps more realistic is William of Malmesbury 's
record of the actions of Henry I on the eve of Robert Curthose's expected invasion,
the king offering tactical advice to his footsoldiers.
As we have seen, armies were split into their divisions at the onset of the campaign.
This meant that when the army arrived on the field it was a relatively simple matter
of ranging the divisions across it. Quite where each ward was placed in relation to the
others depended on the circumstances of the field and the enemy, of course, but on the
whole the main guard was placed so as to be first to contact the enemy. Far from being
a case of 'line em up and let 'era go', as most popular depictions of battle would have
it, battle plans were made. They were generally quite simple, nicely summarized by the
leader of Henry I sfamilia at Bourgtheroulde in 1124: 'the best plan is for one section
of our men to dismount ready for battle and fight on foot, while the rest remain
mounted ready for the fray. Let us also place a force of archers in the front line and
compel the enemy troops to slow down by wounding their horses.' Plans were
important, and it was necessary for them to be kept simple for once the armies engaged
CAMPAIGN AND BATTLE •*}*•
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