VI: THE GREAT CRUSADE
“Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas”
(I will it, I order it, let my will stand for a reason)
Juvenal
While Severus calmly and quietly went about the business of administering the Romano-Pictish realm, the ever increasing family of High King Drest were fracturing into cabals and rival factions.
Drest naturally favoured his own sons Naiton, Galam and Ciniod, but he was also careful to foster good relations with his son-in-law Uuredac of the Mumainha who he had made governor of Hibernia. His younger brothers Taran and Fotla were given figurehead governorships in the former Roman provinces, which Severus effortlessly sidelined due to his iron grip on the administrative corps of the civilised regions.
Cirech was a particular problem. As the son of a defeated Pictish rival, he had good reason to plot against Drest and was also proven in battle. Drest needed a safe place to put Cirech which didn't give him the opportunity to stage a coup.
Eventually Drest found that the majority of his time was being spent foiling the efforts of his family to create their own independent fiefdoms by sequestering the Royal taxes (or raising their own in parallel) and recruiting bands of armed retainers with which to pursue their private feuds.
Drest became so desperate that he finally turned to Severus for advice. It was Severus, who had both anticipated and secretly encouraged this crisis, who now suggested the Crusade. It would be the ideal vent for the excess energies of the Royal Family, let them kill foreigners rather than each other.
Even though Drest had no burning desire to increase his empire, the power of the Franks was waxing and in all probability they would soon cast their covetous eyes to Britannia anyway, and by that time they might well be too strong to resist. Better to face them now while the Imperium Constantini still existed and Frankish forces needed to be spread across their every border.
As soon as Drest gave his permission, Severus began assembling the Crusading Army. The means for its creation had already been prepared during the long peace, and Severus was able to put men into training simultaneously all across the realm.
It took two years to recruit, train and equip the invasion force and concentrate it near Londinium. At the same time, the shipyards worked to produce a fleet large enough to guarantee a safe crossing against the many pirates of the Germanicum Mare.
During this period Severus had been hoping that the Franks at Hatomagus might clash with Macrinus at Samarobriva, giving him the opportunity to land there and snatch the city. But instead they marched off to Condata. Well, no matter, Hatomagus would do admirably as an initial base on the Continent, and Samarobriva could be absorbed when the time was right.
Final Preparations
It was the fall of Condata that finally decided Drest to launch the invasion. He cursed the day he had let Severus persuade him to allow the Saxons back into Britannia and was already worried about their tenuous neutrality. It now seemed the Franks were about to control the entire Gaul coast, a dire prospect for Pictavia if the Saxons made common cause with them.
Drest and Severus reviewed the host just before it embarked for Gaul. It was the largest and most elite army employed in Britannia since the departure of Imperial authority.
The Roman-British contingent:
- Graal Cavalry: 3 vexillations
- Fleet archers: 6 ordines
- Milites Stationarii: 3 ordines
The Gaelic and Pictish:
- Mormaer cavalry: 3 bands
- Marchan cavalry: 2 bands
- Gai Aurmahr (Armoured Spearmen) : 6 bands
- Gaimorlom (Pikemen): 5 bands
- Aumue Boai (Wildmen): 4 bands
- Chodaoer (Axemen): 3 bands
Drest then waited for favourable reports from Talorc Morbet his spy master in Hatomagus to coincide with suitable weather for a crossing. Finally it came, and the fleet began shuttling soldiers across to the beaches of Gaul.
Drest took with him his son Naiton, and his most dangerous potential rivals Cirech and Severus. Once established, he divided his host into two armies, the main force under his own command, the other given to Cirech to serve as an advance guard. Severus was made responsible for logistics and reinforcements.
The Landing in Gaul
The landing had been unopposed and Severus stood atop a hill watching the return of the fleet with its second load of warriors. This area of Gaul seemed to be very poor with many villages abandoned, perhaps due to the pirate raids of recent years. He made a mental note to urge Drest to move inland as soon as possible before the army ran short of food.
That evening, he received an anonymous visitor in his tent. They conversed quietly for an hour or so, the stranger appraising Severus of the goings on at the camp of Cirech, and Severus in turn instructing him as to which rumours needed to be encouraged. It was important to keep Cirech and Drest is a state of mutual distrust, so Severus was conscientious in his efforts to ensure that the bad relations continued.
Chivvied by the warnings from Severus, Drest sent Cirech's army off to the south-east in search of a Frankish force known to be observing Samarobreva. He marched his own army up to the walls of Hatomagus and began the construction of siege-works. Peering into the town from the tops of nearby trees, Drest's scouts found that their catch was rather small, just four ordines against Drest's twenty, but well protected by their massive walls.
The Picts blocked all routes out of the city and settled down to work through the winter gathering supplies, building camps, and creating siege equipment.
The overwhelming force of the Picts, and the ease with which they had shut the Franks up in Hatomagus assisted Severus in his dealings with local mercenaries and disaffected chieftains. Pictish gold was able to attract three ordines of Foederati (which went to Cirech) and, the greatest prize of all, and ordo of heavy infantry Bucelarii equipped as Comitatenses. These joined Drest outside the walls of Hatomagus.
The boredom of the siege was briefly interrupted by news of a great sea battle on the Germanicum Mare. Pirates had formed a consortium to attempt to regain access to their favourite raiding targets, but the Pictish fleet, following strict orders from Severus, had remained concentrated so that when the pirates struck, the inexperienced Pictish sailors had the benefit of numbers and their training in massed manoeuvre to offset the individual skills of the enemy.
Mindful of the fierce reputation of the Franks in battle. Drest allowed the siege to drag on for six months while Cirech's scouts and Severus's spies searched for Frankish field armies. In the end the only army found was that of Merovaeus (youngest son of Faramund), significantly smaller than Cirech's force and apparently unwilling to risk all at Hatomagus.
Assault on Hatomagus
It was spring, the bone-chilling cold and viscous clinging mud of winter were gone and new growth was making a spirited attempt to reclaim the Pictish siege camps for the realm of the forest.
Until yesterday Prydwyn had been supremely bored, all of the siege work projects were long completed and even hunting was losing its allure now that most of the local game had either been eaten or become excessively wary of men with spears. He had even asked his scary uncle Severus for a job away from Drest's army, but Severus had been insistent that he stay put.
But then Drest had announced that the assault was finally going to be mounted. Prydwin's ordo of Milites Stationarii would have the honour of manning one of the seven siege towers. As the morning mist burned away in preparation for what was clearly going to be a warm sunny day, Prydwyn stood with his Centenarius waiting for the signal to advance.
The signal took the form of a fanfare of trumpets, Drest clearly wanted the defenders to see all the siege towers. All seven started rumbling forward simultaneously, and within a few minutes the lookout at the top of Prydwyn's tower shouted down that the Franks were abandoning their walls.
A few Franks must have remained behind because Prydwyn's men came under arrow fire from a nearby tower, but they just hunched under their large scutums and carried on pushing. Once the tower had reached the wall, the arrows stopped coming and Prydwin joined his men climbing up to the assault platform.
The bridge crashed down and the senior maniple ran out onto the wall. It was deserted. Men ran off along the parapet in both directions to secure the section of wall assigned to the ordo. Prydwin noticed that the ordo to his left had spotted Franks in the street below. His men cheered as a dozen Franks fell to Pictish archers and the remainder ran off into the city.
Drest's main column could now be seen streaming in through a captured gatehouse. It was time to come down from the wall and assist in the assault. Prydwyn chose a tower to his right and directed his Ducenarius to lead the way.
Following close behind, Prydwyn emerged into the street near the Triumphal Arch of Constantine. A band of Chodaoer in front of him had just encountered a large party of Frankish heavy infantry. After a moment of shock, the Chodaoer loosed their javelins, but then the Franks threw their axes and charged in.
The thrown axes did much slaughter among the unarmoured Picts, and the Chodaoer wavered. But Prydwyn deployed his ordo at the double and advanced it into the midst of the Chodaoer to steady them. The melee stabilised with Chodaoer and Franks exchanging axe-blows while the Milites covered their comrades with their large scutums and poked optimistically with their spears. Some Pictish archers on the walls also helped, keeping up a harassing fire against the backs of the Franks.
Try as they might, the Picts were unable to push the Franks back. But luckily the main column arrived behind the Franks and, while they were distracted, Prydwyn led a quick charge with his reserve maniple. The Franks gave way and the Chodaoer were instantly upon them. Not a single Frank escaped with his life.
The main column now plunged into the narrow streets of the inner city. Prydwin felt useless leading his men near the back of it and also slightly nervous when he looked up at the blank windows of the tenements on either side.
Inevitably the column was ambushed. Word came back that it was the cavalry of Duva, the Frankish commander. Prydwyn saw the silvery forms of the Gai Aurmahr pushing their way to the front and a long melee ensued, Pictish spears keeping the Frankish horses at arms length, while slashing Frankish sabres blocked the Pictish advance.
Chodaoer came up and started swiping at the legs of the horses with their axes, while the sheer pressure of Picts from the rear of column slowly pushed those at the front into a tight mass around the Franks. A dozen of the Gai Aurmahr fell to the sabres, despite their scale armour, but soon the Franks were in trouble, each horse stuck fast in a crowd of desperate Picts. Once Duva was brought down, the fight went out of the Franks and when they unwisely tried to ride out of the fight, most of them were easily brought down.
The column pushed on, finally emerging into the central plaza where the rest of the Franks waited. The Gai Aurmahr ran out to form a line facing the Franks, while archers trotted along the line behind them to find a good firing position on the flank. However, the Franks were having none of this. They launched a swarm of axes into the archers, causing heavy casualties and then charged straight onto the Pictish spears.
The Gai Aurmahr line was pushed back until the street from which the Picts were trying to emerge was sealed. Frankish
axes rose and fell with frightening speed and Pictish spearmen began to go down in numbers.
Prydwyn pushed forward alone, wishing he had a horse, trying to find somewhere his men could have an impact on the battle. As a result he was witness to the arrival of the Bucelarii who emerged from a different street. Seeing the fighting, they ran across the plaza, loosed their pila, and launched themselves at the Frankish rear.
Even surrounded, the Franks continued to fight on with great courage and skill. They lasted for almost hour, their number slowly diminishing until, at the end, just a handful fought back-to-back, still weaving their pairs of axes in a bolus of death.
Prydwyn was forced to watch the fight from the rear while the elites fought it out. It was only after the last Frank fell, the awful cost of the battle could be properly seen. The dead and wounded lay thick along the original Pictish line. Only twenty of an original 180 Gai Aurmahr had survived, and most of those were wounded, their armour no match for Frankish axe-blows. More then eighty archers had been killed by thrown axes before the Frankish charge without having been able to fire a single volley. The Wildmen had given a good account of themselves, but ironically it was the mercenary Bucelarii who had had the greatest success. Prydwyn was sure that Drest would soon be instructing Uncle Severus to find some more of them to hire.
After the Battle
With Hatomagus captured, Drest rounded up the civilian population and segregated them by tribe of origin. The locally descended Remi and Carnutes were released, but foreigners and those known to have collaborated with the Franks were transported back to Britannia where most of them would join the ranks of the slave army which powered the Pictish War economy.
Prydwyn, with his good Latin, was required to help with the segregation. It was pure chance that he spotted a face he recognised amongst a group destined for the slave pens. A quiet word and small gift to the guard captain secured the man into his care. Prydwyn immediately took the man to his domesticus and set the both of them on the road to see Uncle Severus, on the pretext of a requisition for new equipment for the ordo.
Watching the wagon depart, Prydwyn regretted being unable to speak at length, but he knew that Uncle Severus would be keen to interview a son of Constantine as soon as possible. But he couldn't help wondering how on earth Julian had come to be here in the first place.
Senator
Re: [IB AAR] Severus The God
Campidoctor
love your noggin
EMPRESS OF ALL THINGS
Originally Posted by Juvenal
The next episode is definitely in production. The pictures are done, but I am still engaged in a programme of interviews to get eye-witness accounts of the upcoming events.
Indefinitely Banned
Domesticus
Domesticus
Praepositus
I win, you lose!
can't wait to see the resolve from that field battle you are talking about. I'm thinking a huge clash between Franks and Celts which will mark the course of your great invasion?
Protector Domesticus
(Okay, just once)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
...is my daddy!
