Winning His Spurs | Page 8

consisted of
some ten or twelve knights and barons, some 150 or 160 Norman
men-at-arms, a miscellaneous gathering of other retainers, 200 strong,
and some eighty of the forest men. These last were not to fight under
the earl's banner, but were to act on their own account. There were
among them outlaws, escaped serfs, and some men guilty of bloodshed.
The earl then could not have suffered these men to fight under his flag
until purged in some way of their offences.
This arrangement suited the foresters well.
Their strong point was shooting; and by taking up their own position,
and following their own tactics, under the leadership of Cnut, they
would be able to do far more execution, and that with less risk to
themselves, than if compelled to fight according to the fashion of the
Normans.
As they approached the castle a trumpet was blown, and the herald,
advancing, demanded its surrender, stigmatized the Baron of Wortham
as a false knight and a disgrace to his class, and warned all those within
the castle to abstain from giving him aid or countenance, but to submit
themselves to the earl, Sir Walter of Evesham, the representative of

King Richard.
The reply to the summons was a burst of taunting laughter from the
walls; and scarcely had the herald withdrawn, than a flight of arrows
showed that the besieged were perfectly ready for the fray.
Indeed, the baron had not been idle. Already the dispute between
himself and the earl had come to such a point that it was certain that
sooner or later open hostilities would break out.
He had therefore been for some time quietly accumulating a large store
of provisions and munitions of war, and strengthening the castle in
every way.
The moat had been cleaned out, and filled to the brim with water. Great
quantities of heavy stones had been accumulated on the most exposed
points of the walls, in readiness to hurl upon any who might try to
climb. Huge sheaves of arrows and piles of crossbow bolts, were in
readiness, and in all, save the number of men, Wortham had for weeks
been prepared for the siege.
On the day when the attempt to carry off the earl's daughter had failed,
the baron, seeing that his bold stroke to obtain a hostage which would
have enabled him to make his own terms with the earl, had been
thwarted, knew that the struggle was inevitable.
Fleet messengers had been sent in all directions. To Gloucester and
Hereford, Stafford, and even Oxford, men had ridden, with letters to the
baron's friends, beseeching them to march to his assistance.
"I can," he said, "defend my hold for weeks. But it is only by aid from
without that I can finally hope to break the power of this braggart earl."
Many of those to whom he addressed his call had speedily complied
with his demand, while those at a distance might be expected to reply
later to the appeal.
There were many among the barons who considered the mildness of the

Earl of Evesham towards the Saxons in his district to be a mistake, and
who, although not actually approving of the tyranny and brutality of the
Baron of Wortham, yet looked upon his cause to some extent as their
own.
The Castle of Wortham stood upon ground but very slightly elevated
above the surrounding country. A deep and wide moat ran round it, and
this could, by diverting a rivulet, be filled at will.
From the edge of the moat the walls rose high, and with strong flanking
towers and battlements.
There were strong works also beyond the moat opposite to the
drawbridge; while in the centre of the castle rose the keep, from whose
summit the archers, and the machines for casting stones and darts,
could command the whole circuit of defence.
As Cuthbert, accompanied by one of the hinds of the farm, took his
post high up in a lofty tree, where at his ease he could command a view
of the proceedings, he marvelled much in what manner an attack upon
so fair a fortress would be commenced.
"It will be straightforward work to attack the outwork," he said, "but
that once won, I see not how we are to proceed against the castle itself.
The machines that the earl has will scarcely hurl stones strong enough
even to knock the mortar from the walls. Ladders are useless where
they cannot be planted; and if the garrison are as brave as the castle is
strong, methinks that the earl has embarked upon a business that will
keep him here till next spring."
There was little time lost in commencing the conflict.
The foresters, skirmishing up near to the castle, and taking advantage of
every inequality