LION RAMPANT... BETWEEN A ROCK AND THE VILLAGE PEOPLE!

Brother Stultus and the Village People Steadfastly Await the Scottish Onslaught!

After the unfortunate events of Saint Winifred's Day, King William, the Lion of the Scots, lead his army north, intending to rest and await the arrival of reinforcements from over the border, before resuming his raiding activities across the north of England. At the village of Edmondsley, the retinue of Earl Donnchad of Fife, was charged with the defence of the ancient bridge crossing the Cong Burn, giving the King and his forces time to continue their march unmolested by the pursuing English host.

Early that morning, the Earl, believing that the English had given up their pursuit, began to organise his retinue for a withdrawal over the river.

His plans, however, were interrupted by the arrival of the tempestuous English priest, Brother Stultus, at the head of a group of local Fyrd, who took up position in the church yard of Saint Periwinkle's on the north side of the Burn and prepared to defend God's Acre with their miserable rustic lives.

Just moments later, a breathless shaggy Galwegian warrior rushed breathlessly into the Scottish camp with the news that English banners had been seen approaching the village from the south! With an enemy host to the southward and the tiresome holy man and his village people across the Burn, Earl Donnchad knew that he was going to have a fight on his hands to extricate his retinue from the jaws of the loathsome Sassenachs.

Before the Scottish Earl could buckle on his warbelt, a group of English knights, lead by William de Stuteville, appeared out of the morning mist to the south.

The Earl gathered his household knights around him and hurriedly gave the order for his heavy cavalry to launch an attack against de Stuteville...

However, as the Scots bravely advanced, de Glanville and his mounted knights arrived and the Scottish cavalry suddenly found themselves isolated from the rest of their warband and facing a superior unit of mounted knights!

Undaunted and desperate to buy time for their Earl, the Scottish heavy cavalry hurled themselves against the counter-charging English knights, loosing three casualties to a single opponent.

Meanwhile, to the north, the Scottish bidowers dashed across the bridge to engage Brother Stultus and his fyrdmen.

Eager to press home his advantage, de Glanville urged his knights forward to re-engage with the Scottish cavalry. With half their number already casualties, the result was a forgone conclusion and the Scots were driven back again, with a further two riders falling victim to the English knights. 

Over the bridge, Brother Stultus and his peasant rabble came under a hail of missiles from the Bidowers, but little damage was done!

With the Bidowers failing to make any impression, Brother Brian led the Scottish Yeomen across the bridge and into battle against the Fyrd... the battle for the churchyard pitted monk against monk and the outcome was going to be bloody!

The cover of the church wall gave the Fyrd some extra protection but they were driven back and found themselves pinned against the church wall.

With the Fyrd pinned helplessly against the church wall, the Bidowers finally found their mark and brought down most of their remaining number... and worse...

Brother Stultus received a mortal wound and prepared to meet his maker.

Back to the south, two units of English heavy spearmen pushed forward to engage the Scots. The Scottish Lowland Spears had formed up in a Wall of Spears formation, to meet them, but the Englishmen's advance had brought them in range of the deadly Galwegian warriors, who instantly hurled themselves forward in a terrifying wild charge.

Not for the first time, in spite of their devastating charge, the Galwegians found themselves pushed back, unable to make a significant impression against the heavy English armour and the Spearmen were able to press on to contact the deadly silent wall of long Scottish spears.

The clash of spears was horrific, causing hideous casualties on both sides, but the tighter formation of the Scots was sufficient to drive the English back.

The casualties took their toll upon the English and they fell back from the fray... battered!

The English spearmen would feel the impact of their losses and soon found themselves scattering to the four winds, their courage shattered!

With the Earl and his henchmen making good their escape over the bridge and the remnants of the Galwegians struggling to cross the river, the final act of the Battle of Edmondsley came to its inevitable conclusion. Sir William de Stuteville and his knights crashed into the Wall of Spears, which had been reformed by the Scottish spearmen closer to the road.

After suffering further casualties, the courage of the Scottishmen finally broke and their brave stand was over. They had the honour of being the last Scottish unit to remain fighting on the south side of the river, but the punishment they received from spearmen and knights combined was too much and they turned and fled over the bridge, where they were able to re-unite with the rest of Earl Donnchad's retinue.

And so, the field of battle was left to the mockery of the dead. The Scottish objective was to get as much of Earl Donnchad's retinue safely across the river as possible and, it is arguable, that they achieved a victory, as they succeeded in extricating the Earl and his knights, all but one of the Yeomen and the entire unit of Bidowers. Most of the Galwegians escaped by crossing the river and even the majority of the Lowland Spearmen managed to re-join the retinue after their courage failed and they fled across the bridge. Only the heavy cavalry suffered a complete disaster after they were sacrificed to hold up the advance of the English. The English themselves suffered few casualties, although the only one of the two spearmen units available to engage with the enemy did eventually break and fled the field after their encounters with the Galwegians and the Lowland Spears.

Tribute must be paid to Brother Stultus and his lowly band of village people... normally, a monk can not be attached to a unit of Levied Infantry, but in this scenario, it was appropriate for a local holy man to lead the peasantry in a desperate attempt to block the escape of the raiding retinue of the Scottish Earl. In the final analysis, the Fyrd crumbled pretty quickly when they were attacked by the more experienced Scottish Yeomen, lead by their own Holy Man, Brother Brian, combined with the withering missile fire of the Bidowers. So, in years to come, on cold and dark winter evenings, the people of Edmondsley will sit around their meagre fires and warm themselves with the story of the day their forebears, lead by the troublesome priest, Brother Stultus, sacrificed their lives to help drive the heathen raiders back over the border from whence they came...