Battle for Norfolk Castle

**General Brewster** · August 06, 2018, 05:50 AM

de Clare's Forces

de Mowbray's Forces

The army under command of Sir Roger de Mowbray arrived well rested but after a long march. The march had seen the army come from Chester to relieve one of the castles that was owned by the de Mowbray family. Richard was ahead of the column that was deploying for battle with the castle in their sight. Mowbray's forces were motivated, de Clare had pillaged the home towns of each and every member of Roger's army and it made them vengeful.

**Lord William** · August 06, 2018, 06:54 AM

83 Knights
122 sergeants
115 footmen
115 long bowmen
116 fyrdmen
87 Hoblars

Total: 638

80 garrisoned troops arrived to support Richard after the order was given to abandon the provinces

**Trot** · August 06, 2018, 07:48 AM

Surprise roll 9. The lack of outriders meant no one saw a thing until it was far to late. Mowbray's force was coming fast towards the encircling army at Norfolk.

They would barely have time to form up lines before the battle was upon them.

ooc Mowbary gets a +4 to roll across the board and both sides need orders.

**Barry Goldwater** · August 06, 2018, 08:36 AM

Battle map

**Barry Goldwater** · August 06, 2018, 12:26 PM

The Battle of Norwich began with Mowbray's forces taking the initiative. Having taken De Clare's reavers by surprise, on account of the latter's lack of mounted scouts to warn him of any approaching foe, they quickly formed up and bore down on the De Clare encampment as a whole. For his part, De Clare scrambled to direct his army to the woods outside of the village of New Catton, still within sight of Norwich's walls, and to try to reorder them into a coherent battle formation before Mowbray's troops were upon them.

The first casualties were inflicted by De Clare's archers, who had made it to the tree line, shortly before the two armies met head-on. As it was, given the numerical disparity between the two armies' divisions, when the lines collided and the Mowbray garrison sallied forth it was perhaps little surprise that the Clare men were thrown back into the woods in short order. The Mowbray pushed to envelop the Clare formation, driving them off the open ground and into the woods entirely. Lord Clare had ordered his archers to withdraw first in the face of such an onslaught, climb the trees and shoot from there, which seemed like a good idea until Mowbray men had driven the Clare foot back so hard that they could start surrounding said trees, making it impossible for those archers who didn't bail out at the first chance to get down safely.

It was at this moment that Clare played his last trump card. His cavalry, long hidden in the woods and remaining inactive even as their infantry was pushed into the trees, finally sprang into action and swept around the forest's outskirts to charge into the rear of the Mowbray left wing. At this point it was a doomed effort, since Sir Mowbray had succeeded in crushing the opposing Clare divisions, but the Clare knights and hobelars fought like men possessed and were freshly rested while their adversaries had worn themselves out in the earlier fighting; the consequence was that, at the least, they managed to throw the Mowbray army into confused disorder at the moment of the latter's triumph and inflict heavy damage on the left flank before also being forced to retreat. Mowbray had ordered a party of 25 knights to hunt down De Clare, but these men ran into De Clare's reserve in the woods, who promptly covered their lord's retreat at grievous cost to themselves. Thus did the battle end in a clear Mowbray victory, but with De Clare still alive and on the loose: for now, Mowbray's vengeful tenants will have to be content with just finishing off the wounded and stragglers of the defeated enemy army.

Outcome: Mowbray victory

Mowbray charas & survivors

De Clare charas & survivors

**Lord William** · August 06, 2018, 12:45 PM

Richard and his army retreat to castle Clare

**Barry Goldwater** · August 06, 2018, 05:26 PM

A small party of riders come to the Mowbray camp from Bury St Edmunds, unarmed and flying a royal dragon standard rather than any personal banner - clearly envoys, not knightly retainers, and representatives of the Crown above any one lord. They invite Mowbray to talk peace in the encampment of the Earl of Arundel, who has come north as an arbiter empowered by and representative of royal authority, and insist that he bring an escort of no more than twenty men; according to the messengers, not only will De Vere guarantee the baron's safety, but so will the Crown, for this is a feud that higher powers than any earl would like to end.

**Barry Goldwater** · August 09, 2018, 10:34 PM

A missive is sent to Mowbray's captains in the days following his arrest/fall into a coma and, presumably, the disbandment of William de Clare's soldiers. It is penned by the practiced hand of the Earl of Arundel himself.

Originally Posted by Aubrey de Vere

Honorable captains,

I regret to inform you that I've had no choice but to place your commander, Sir Roger de Mowbray, under arrest for insisting on breaching the terms I had set for a ceasefire and negotiation, despite all my efforts to diplomatically compel him into abiding by said rules. His exertions aggravated his wounds and he fainted from atop his horse, whereupon I took him and his retinue into my custody. My physicians have been tending to him day and night, but though I have been informed that his condition remains relatively stable, he has yet to regain consciousness. If you wish to see the truth for yourself, I invite you to send any one of your number to this encampment with exactly five guards, so that he may report back once he has seen Sir Mowbray with his own eyes. Bring even one more and you will be refused entry.

In the meantime, I write not only to inform you of the above developments, but also to inform you - from my capacity not as Earl of Arundel, but Royal Treasurer and an official charged by the Queen Emma and both of our Kings with enforcing a restoration of peace and law - that you must disband and send your soldiers home post-haste. The King's war in Wales has concluded and he returns home at the head of his army, while Lord de Clare's own has not moved from Clare Castle all this time. Though he feared Sir Mowbray's insistence on bringing additional knights to the peace table no matter what assurances I gave was due to your commander secretly plotting to assassinate him, and is thus understandably reluctant to stand down his own army, I have prevailed upon Lord Clare to stand down at least William de Clare's soldiers as a show of good faith, and he is set to dismiss what remains of his army as soon as he hears of your own disbandment.

Until the King's host arrives in East Anglia, which I estimate will occur sometime in the next few weeks, my army remains standing as a guarantor of peace; De Clare cannot move to attack you or harry your homes further without me knowing about it, and promptly stopping him. I therefore urge you to send your soldiers home at once, giving them a chance to rebuild what has been lost, and in so doing take the penultimate step in bringing this senseless cycle of violence to an end. I must further warn you that if you persist in the same stubborn course of defiance as your commander and remain in the field as a menace to De Clare's own lands and tenants, in spite of all the assurances of safety that I and my own army provide, I and King Edgar may soon be left with no choice but to declare you outlaws.

Regards,
Aubrey de Vere, (titles)