Battle of Mortemer, 1054 ⚔️ How did William defend Normandy? ⚔️ Part 2 ⚔️ Medieval DOCUMENTARY

The precarious minority of Duke William of Normandy was firmly set aside, with his victory alongside King Henry I of France, at the Battle of Valadun. Yet the young William the Bastard would have many struggles ahead of him, before the iconic conquest that would immortalize him in the annals of history. In the years following Valadun, William consolidated his hold on the duchy, tearing down unlicensed castles, and generally enforcing his own authority on his irritable vassals. Guy of Brion had fled following his defeat at the battle, holding out in his near impregnable castle at Brion for three years before William slowly starved him out by building siege castles. With this challenge to his authority dealt with, the great and the good surrounding the young duke were eager to have him married to secure the succession and newly strengthened regime. It was decided that William should wed Matilda, daughter of the Count of Flanders, a wise match, given it would secure an ally to the east. Curiously, given subsequent events, it may have been William and Count Baldwin's overlord, King Henry himself, who suggested the match, the potential bride being his own niece, and thus of royal stock. Despite the initial objection of the Pope to the match on grounds of consanguinity, the two were wed by 1051. Yet, though William of Poitiers has the Norman capital of Rouen celebrating the match, across the channel, Duke William's cousin, King Edward the Confessor, likely lamented it, the Flemish being a traditional haven of England's enemies. By 1051, King Edward also faced a crisis that would in time ultimately transform the prospects of William. In what began as a dispute over the appointment of archbishopal positions eventually devolved into open conflict between Edward and his most powerful earl, Godwin. On visiting the realm in 1051, Eustace, the king's brother-in-law, was involved in a brawl with some of the men of Dover, resulting in deaths on both sides. Godwin exercised a powerful influence over the king. Resentful of the overmighty earl's power, Edward leapt at the chance to topple Godwin, using the incident at Dover to corner Godwin into a dilemma. Either punish his own people at Dover, or rebel. Having chosen the latter, Edward had forced Godwin's exile to Flanders in 1051. It was around this time that the Confessor likely confirmed a choice made earlier, at a council in March, that William of Normandy be his preferred successor to the throne of England. Indeed, with Godwin banished, Edward set aside his daughter Queen Edith, hoping to divorce and remarry… the impregnable castle that was the emblem of the might of Richard I, which protected his lands in France and helped him assert his supremacy in Normandy. The diversion of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle confirms a visit by the Duke. Then soon came Duke William from beyond the sea with a great retinue of Frenchmen, and the king received and as many of his companions as it pleased him, and let him go again. According to the historian Mark Morris, the descriptive received meaning as a vassal. That Edward took William as his man indicates a mutual bond of convenience. King Edward was no fool, and likely knew Godwin and his family would make a bid to return. One safeguard to his own newly won authority, as well as to offset the new Norman-Flemish alliance, was to draw William closer to him with an offer of preference for his succession to the throne of England. If this was the plan, then events unravelled this ambition, given Godwin's triumphant return to power in 1052. The exiled Earl of Wessex had not been idle during the previous months in Flanders, and, leveraging support within England, he raided along the coast, ultimately compelling Edward's climb down in London by later 1052. Duke William was likely informed of this ill turn of fortune by the newly exiled Robert of Jumiège in the same year, though the banished archbishop did drag along with him valuable Godwins and hostages, that William gladly accepted. Yet the English succession was far from William's only concern around this time. Geoffrey Martel, the formidable Count of Anjou, pursued an expansionist foreign policy by moving into Maine in 1047, and even seizing the bishop of Clermont and clapping him in irons. However, such brazen acts provoked the ire of William's ally and overlord King Henry, who after summoning an alliance of his vassals, pushed into Angevin territory. Naturally William, given his debt of gratitude for Henry's aid at Val-le-Dun, backed his sovereign, participating in the capture of Moulin-en-Castle, near Anjou's itself. In retaliation, Geoffrey pushed north in 1051 by Alençon, well within William's own backyard. William reacted by raising his own force and heading south to meet Geoffrey head-on. The Count sensibly avoided open battle, instead strengthening the defenses of Donfront and daring William to attack it, in the hopes of drawing the Duke into a long siege of attrition, which would drain Norman resources and the will to fight. Having committed to the siege at Donfront, William also seized the initiative in confronting the men of Alençon. In what would have been a stunning success, the Duke rode hard for the town, almost catching the men there completely unawares. Luckily for them, the burghers of the town slammed the gates shut. It was then that an infamous series of events progressed. The brash men of Alençon, certain that William could not lay siege to both them and Donfront simultaneously, mocked William's illegitimacy by reportedly shouting, "'Hides! Hides for the Tanner!'", referring to his grandfather. These insults struck a dangerous nerve and provoked a brutal response from William, who marched 32 recently captured citizens of Alençon to within sight of their people and had their hands and feet hacked off. This gruesome spectacle was enough to induce the immediate surrender of the defenders in the citadel and, as word spread to the defenders of Donfront, they too gave in following assurances that they would not suffer the fate of the 32 at Alençon. Importantly too, the Belemmer border region was now firmly placed under William's influence, with one of his chief lieutenants, Roger of Montgomery, marrying Mabel of Belemmer. The siege of Alençon was probably over by the end of 1051, allowing the Duke's aforementioned journey to England. Unfortunately for William, these successes also concerned King Henry. Henry had viewed the rise of Geoffrey as the greater evil, but by August of 1052, a charter places Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, at the King's court in Orléans. William was clearly the greater threat, given both his success in the 1051 campaign, and then his close bond and promised succession in England. Given this, it's hardly surprising Henry decided to act as a vassal, with the vast resources and wealth of England behind them, at the capacity to pose a serious challenge. King Henry's chance came with the rebellion of another of William's relations, in 1053. William, Count of Arc, was a legitimate son of Duke Richard II, and though a prominent figure in the Duke's government during his youth, relations had soured, the Count even deserting the ducal army during the siege of Donfront. For this, William had confiscated the Count's castle at Arc. In the first half of 1053, Count William struck back by bribing the garrison of the castle, and reoccupying it. Duke William responded quickly, fearing the entirety of Upper Normandy may declare for the Count. The Duke succeeded in confining his rival within the castle, while building his own siege castle, hoping to starve him out. Alas, the Count of Arc had the backing of King Henry himself, who intended to crush the upstart Duke through overwhelming force. He planned for two royal armies to invade the duchy simultaneously, with the first under Angeron, Count of Pontieu, invading Eastern Normandy, with his own advancing on Rouen itself. In addition, Geoffrey Martel would come up from the south. Luckily for William, the invasions were poorly coordinated. Angeron's men were surprised and dealt heavy casualties at Saint-Aubin-sur-Cy on October 25th, with their general too being cut down. Worse for Henry, his man in Arc was forced into ignominious surrender, once again after promises that he and his men would retain their hands and feet. Unfortunately for William, his success only enraged King Henry, who invaded with an even more formidable force in February of 1054. William's victories had also provoked envy and concern in other great men, such as William of Aquitaine and Theobald of Blois, as well as Geoffrey Martel himself, all of whom accompanied their king in a two-pronged invasion of Normandy. The allied force under Henry's brother Odo entered into the northeastern area of the duchy, while the king himself marched from the southeast, the likely objective being, for the two to close a large pincer around Rouen itself. William mirrored the division of the invading forces by splitting his own, leading one by himself by shadowing and harassing the kings as he advanced. Contrary to popular perception, pitched battles were not often sought given the huge stakes involved. Usually combatants only resorting to such a desperate gamble when at their last ebb, as William had done with Henry at Valadun. Instead, the duke harassed the royal army, picking off those foolish enough to break off for supplies. In this way, William aimed to bleed the enemy dry and force its retreat. While William dealt with the king, another Norman force led by Robert the Count of Ewe, Hugh of Gournay, and Walter Giffard, moved to counter the northern royal army. The invading army under Odo were confident of a free passage to harry the land and people as they pleased, and having entered close to Amol, the invaders cut a trail of blood, rape, and pillage through the land, before reaching the town of Mortimer. In the town, according to Wace, Odo's men by day delivered the country up to pillage and devoted the night to revelry, searching out the wine and killing the cattle, eating and drinking their fill. However, the Normans were not idle, having carefully concealed their camps and movements in the woods and forests of the country. Informed of Odo's movements by their own spies, the barons decided to march through the night to surprise and eliminate the incautious French. They reached the town just prior to sunrise and blocked every exit in, before setting fires throughout the place. Panic and confusion spread as swiftly as the flames, the French scurrying towards the exits, only to be met with the enraged faces and war cries of the Normans. The fighting at these checkpoints was fierce and hard-fought, the French likely spurred on to fight to the last, given there was no other means of escape. However, the initial surprise, general unpreparedness of the invaders, and determination of the Normans proved decisive. Odo's army was ground down to defeat in a general melee that lasted from daybreak until 3 pm. Odo escaped the bite of a Norman blade, instead being taken captive, as was Guy the Count of Ponthieu, who would languish for two years in captivity in Barrière. Valerand, the brother of the recently deceased Angerande of Ponthieu, was not so lucky. William learned quickly of his baron's success and took the opportunity to strike a psychological blow to Henry's army. Sending a man to where the royal army was encamped, William ordered that he disrupt the French as they slept with the words Frenchmen! Frenchmen! Arise! Make ready for your flight! Ye sleep too long! Go forth at once to bury your friends, who lie dead at Mortimer! Demoralization soon soured into full-blown panic. Henry ordered a general withdrawal, heading back to Paris, while the other great lords retired to their respective domains. William had proved himself a truly skilled commander, having successfully turned back this latest threat to his authority through use of Fabian tactics, good intelligence, and the decisive actions of his own lieutenants. King Henry, for his part, fumed as he conceded a grudging peace with his over-mighty vassal. In exchange for those men taken at Mortimer, he pledged non-interference in William's expansion to the detriment of Geoffrey. For Henry, though, William's rise as the preeminent lord of his kingdom still remained an intolerable reality he would soon move to crush, once and for all. As always, we'll see you in the next one!