475 – The Fall of Mowbray

Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie, and this is episode 475:

The Fall of Mowbray.

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Night fell, and gradually

everything within Bambora and the Malvoisin went quiet.

Sure, there were the occasional patrols and the occasional muffled voice as two people shared a moment or simply tried to keep themselves awake while on watch.

But for the most part, there was no sound except for the waves lapping against the shore.

It was time.

King Rufus had taken most of his army to Wales, and the walls were now only lightly watched.

So this was their best chance to make their escape.

So Robert de Mowbray, along with thirty knights, snuck out of the postern gate of Bamborough.

Now keep in mind, we're talking about thirty one men, carrying arms and armor, and they were moving along uneven terrain and stone paths.

And while I am sure that they were doing their best to be quiet, and I'm sure they were trying to take advantage of the ambient noise from the sea, there's only so much you could do in that situation.

If Robert wanted to save his skin, he should have gone alone, but he was too ambitious to be satisfied with just being alive.

He wanted to retake Newcastle, and to do that, he'd need his boys.

So he took the chance, and he went for it, and it must have been absolutely nerve-wracking.

But after an agonizing journey out of the fortress, where every clank must have rang in their ears like a siren, they finally reached the water, where they boarded a small boat and cast off.

And now that they were on the water, floating away from the siege lines, they all started to breathe again, and Gideas may have set in amongst the group.

Because they just did it.

They escaped, and they were on their way to Newcastle and their inevitable return to victory.

Except they'd been spotted, and the garrison at the Malvoisin appears to have let them go because they knew exactly where this little band was headed.

So they dispatched riders to Newcastle to warn them of who was coming.

Meanwhile, near the border of Wales, Rufus and his army were closing in on Montgomery Castle, and they were hyped.

The Welsh had been a problem for Rufus since, well, forever.

Every time he'd gone into Wales, it had ended in disaster.

There was just something about this place and the people who lived in it that flummoxed him.

And he was good at war.

He was a king who had spent his entire life training in chivalric warfare, and his record in the field stood as a testament to how well he had learned those lessons.

It was a record that was quite impressive until you factored in this god-forsaken western strip of land.

And the worst part is that these people didn't even seem to like each other that much, and so conquering them should have been easy.

Yet they managed to band together just long enough to foil Rufus every single time.

But this time would be different.

This time the king had a huge army that was rested and itching for battle after all those long, boring nights at the siege lines.

And this time,

he knew exactly where his enemy was.

By taking Montgomery Castle, these foolish Welshmen must have thought they'd secured a major victory.

But in reality, they had ensured their own destruction.

That castle might look like a defensive position to them, but he knew it would be their tomb.

Because Rufus was a chivalric king, and he knew exactly how to bring down a castle.

And he had the resources and the logistical experience to make that happen.

He had even summoned additional forces so he could be absolutely sure to really kick the hell out of these guys.

Finally, he was gonna get some payback.

But of course, an army of that size isn't subtle on the landscape.

So there was no element of surprise here.

Also, by now, it was late September, so the autumn rains had come, and that was slowing down their advance significantly.

And so the Welshmen within Montgomery knew the English army was marching towards them long before anyone appeared on the horizon.

And they weren't stupid.

This castle wasn't their best defensive position.

It was merely a hard point for them to seize.

The thing that made the Welsh distinct in this era is that they still seem to understand that power did not come from buildings.

It came from the land.

Their strength and their best position was in the hills and the woods of Wales herself.

And so before Rufus and his increasingly soggy army even got within sight of the castle, the Welsh rebels had already vanished into the countryside.

Now, of course, there was no sense in leaving a castle for the enemy to shelter in, which is why John of Worcester tells us that they demolished that castle before departing.

And you know how I've been praising Rufus's dramatic flair and pragmatism in recent episodes?

That's because they do appear to be genuine character traits, and he was using them to great effect within English politics.

But don't think those were his only character traits.

And when Rufus turned the corner and saw the smoking ruin of Montgomery Castle and he realized that the Welsh rebels were nowhere to be seen, that other side came out.

The moody, unstable side, the cruel side.

The Welsh had just denied Rufus a victory that he felt he was owed.

And as we've seen time and time again, when Rufus felt thwarted, those were the moments where he was most likely to act impulsively and rashly.

And true to form, rather than doing the smart thing and returning to Bamborough to finish the siege that he had already started,

and rather than taking into account how bad the weather was and how it was only gonna get worse, instead of factoring in how poor his track record was whenever he went into Wales, or taking on the crucial evidence that he wasn't dealing with a small band of disorganized malcontents, but instead a well-organized military unit capable of overwhelming and seizing a castle.

Well, instead of doing any of that, the Red King gave in to his baser instinct and chased after the Welsh rebels.

Because this was a man who at times was clearly socially brilliant, and in other times was also just an angry oath.

oath.

And it gets worse, because by now we all know that autumn weather was tough on a medieval army.

But the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that the weather of this year was particularly bad.

And considering that it was likely early October at this point, those rains weren't gonna get any better.

Basically, this was not a good time to launch a campaign.

And Rufus knew that, but he didn't care.

He had a plan, and he was king.

So if the facts didn't support his plan, then the facts would have to change because this was happening.

And as for what that plan was,

well, based on what little were told, Rufus decided on a campaign similar to the genocidal campaign adopted by Harold and Tostig Godwinson a generation earlier.

He would spread out his forces and methodically kill his way through the country, with the strategy behind it being that, if there are no Welshmen, then there will be no Welsh rebels.

So the orders were given, and the army dispersed and began sweeping through the countryside.

A countryside that the knights and the English soldiers didn't know.

But the Welsh did.

And complicating matters, it was a landscape that presented challenges to a chivalric army even at the best of times, And this weather ensured that it was not the best of times.

Meanwhile, Mowbray and his boys arrived at Newcastle.

Now, as you might remember from the last episode, the whole reason Mowbray was here was because he was invited.

A messenger had snuck past enemy lines and told him that if he could make it to Newcastle, he would be welcomed and the war would continue.

So now that he was here, it was go time, right?

Well,

here's the thing.

If you're a rebel in any circumstance against any regime, your first priority is informational hygiene.

You simply cannot assume that everyone who says they're on your side is actually on your side.

And you can't assume that every piece of intel is actually reliable.

In fact, any clever regime will be working very hard to get people into your circle and feed you misinformation.

And Mowbray really should have been more careful with who he trusted.

But I suspect that as supplies in Bambora got low, that messenger was a very welcome bit of good news.

And so Mowbray didn't stop and ask himself how exactly this messenger got past the siege lines, or why the people of Newcastle wanted him to come to them instead of marching on Bamborough to relieve his siege.

In fact, it doesn't appear he asked any of the questions that a competent rebel would ask.

Instead, Mowbray wanted this to be true, and so he believed it.

And he went for it.

And when he and his men arrived at Newcastle, they discovered not a friendly force looking to continue the rebellion, but rather an armed garrison looking to capture them.

And I'm guessing at that point, he realized why most rebel leaders who live long enough start to develop a bit of well-earned paranoia.

Now, unfortunately, the scribes don't paint much of a picture of what happens next.

They just blandly state that Mowbray was discovered and he failed to take the city.

Even Florence of Worcester, who's our best source for this event, simply states that Mowbray's arrival was anticipated and so he failed to take the city.

But despite the tea-time tones of those entries, I suspect that whatever actually happened was chaotic and terrifying.

And I'm sure it was also an emotional moment when Mowbray realized that he'd just stupidly walked into a trap.

And interestingly, Florence goes on and tells us that somehow Mowbray and his men escaped capture and fled to the monastery of St.

Oswin at Tynemouth, where they seized it and locked themselves inside, with that garrison in hot pursuit.

Now, Florence is frustratingly vague here, but the escape must have been fast and desperate.

And I assume the flight to the monastery must have involved stolen horses or maybe a hastily rowed boat, because that was a 10-mile journey, and I don't think they could have stayed ahead of the Newcastle garrison if they were just on foot.

But however it happened, according to Worcester, once they got to the monastery, they locked themselves in and prepared for another siege.

And a siege was what they got.

But remember, at most, there were 31 men holding that monastery.

So this wasn't a rebel army holding the fortress of Bamborough.

Similarly, rather than having a full royal army besieging them, it was mostly just the garrison of Newcastle.

So this battle was smaller, but also much more intense.

Because unlike Bambora, assault was very much on the table for the besieging forces.

And considering that this was a monastery and not a fortress, I'm guessing that the defense probably looked a bit like your average zombie film.

Lots of barricaded doors and windows and increasingly exhausted men trying trying to play whack-a-mole as the enemy forces try and find different ways inside.

And Florence of Worcester tells us that this lasted for six long days, with both sides taking serious casualties.

But eventually, the royal forces broke in, and as his men tried to hold them back, Mowbray fled into the church, seeking sanctuary.

It was a strategy that did not work.

And at some point in the struggle, Mowbray was wounded and dragged out of the church, where he was imprisoned along with his men.

Well, those of his men who survived, which apparently wasn't many.

Meanwhile, out west, the Welsh campaign was rapidly devolving into an absolute debacle.

The Welsh just kept melting into the countryside whenever Rufus' forces got anywhere near them.

And the English were finding it impossible to force the Welsh into a battle.

And their lack of knowledge of the land, combined with the fact that they were easily spotted, meant that they were even finding it difficult to find any Welshmen at all.

You know, except for those moments where Welshmen jumped out of nowhere and started stabbing knights.

They definitely noticed that.

And it was happening quite a lot.

Now, the chronicle tries to spin that bit, saying that the Royal Army penetrated deep into Wales and that the Welsh would just disappear into the wilds, and they frame it all as cowardice.

But the other sources, like Worcester, also report that Rufus was losing large numbers of men and horses during this campaign.

And when you look at the accounts in combination, one picture becomes very clear.

The Welsh were using guerrilla tactics with wild success.

And it didn't take long before Rufus realized that, yet again, he was getting his ass kicked in Wales.

So the Red King retreated back to England in search of some good news.

And as luck would have it, at Newcastle he got some.

They had Mowbray in custody.

Oh, hell yeah

And the king wasted no time.

He had Mowbray loaded up onto I don't know, a cart or something, or maybe just made him walk while shackled.

But however he did it, he ordered that Mowbray be dragged all the way back to Bambora.

And while Florence doesn't explicitly state it, it does sound like he was dragged there by the king and his very soggy, moderately wounded, and partially depopulated army.

Once there, Mowbray was brought into view of the remaining forces of Bamborough.

including his wife Matilda and his kinsman and fellow kingkiller, Morel.

This was probably done by bringing the defeated Earl up to the battlements of the Malvois Inn.

And the theatrical part of Rufus probably would have wanted to do something funny and cutting, like shouting, Hey Matilda, I believe you've misplaced your husband.

We found him wandering the countryside, and if you'd like him back, he's right here, and he's mostly uninjured.

Mostly.

But after Wales, theatrical Rufus was on break, and the Rufus were much more familiar with, the Rufus that inspired this rebellion in the first place, was back online.

So instead, he just shouted that if Matilda, who was in command at this point, didn't immediately surrender the castle, then he was going to cut Mowbray's eyes out, right then and there.

So Matilda surrendered Bamborough.

Now honestly, I'm guessing this had more to do with strategy than a desire to spare her husband's eyes.

As you might remember, we have no indications that Matilda wanted this rebellion.

And Orderic paints her as someone who expected a husband, but ended up with a war instead.

And I think this next part is important.

We have other accounts that speak of how Bamborough was really low on supplies.

And so my suspicion is that the real motivating factor here was that with the capture of Mowbray and his failure to secure help from Newcastle, it was clear that no relieving force was coming to save them, and surrender was their only choice now.

So the gates were open, and the royal forces swarmed in.

Bamborough was taken, and its defenders were taken into custody, though Matilda was immediately released, which, honestly, seems pretty fair to me.

Though I'm sure politics did play a role in there as well, since she came from a very well-connected family, and so even if she was more involved in this whole thing than it seemed, locking her up would have been politically messy.

Rufus then seized the Earldom of Northumberland for himself, and he appointed no successor.

That earldom would now be a royal possession.

Then, with all of this unpleasantness finely handled, and with the weather fully turning against them, it was November at this point, the king ordered his army to retire south.

He'd return to Windsor and reconvene his court there.

Meanwhile, at pretty much this exact same moment, far south in Aquitaine, a religious council was summoned by Pope Urban II.

Now, this isn't a papacy podcast, and this whole thing went on for over a week, so I'm not going to go into everything that was was discussed.

But what matters most for our story, and honestly what continues to matter for history in general, was what happened on that last day.

Because on the last day, Pope Urban II gave a lengthy speech.

And we do have multiple accounts of this speech, but at the same time, they're not in agreement on all the details.

And they came from figures like Robert of Reims and Fulker of Charters, who, while they do give us wonderful details, were also no strangers to adding a little spice to a story.

But the gist of it was that Pope Urban II believed it was time for the church to get into the business of conquest.

Now, of course, he didn't put it like that.

Instead, he spoke about the evil nature of non-Christians and went on at length about how they did terrible things to perfectly peaceful Christians.

And he told the audience that God himself must be protected.

He declared that Christ commands everyone capable of bearing arms, regardless of their lineage or title, to take up arms and go to the Holy Land.

Now, he did exclude women without male guardians, as well as the elderly and clergy, unless their bishop approved of it.

But if you were a dude who was capable of bearing arms, he didn't care if your name was fancy or not.

He wanted you to get over to the Holy Land and defend Christ.

Now, framing invasion as a defensive war is a clever rhetorical trick, and we're going to see it over and over again throughout history.

But as good as Urban's pitch was, it wasn't going to convince everyone.

And I think that's why he went on and made an appeal to the most morally flexible members of European society, saying that anyone who had waged an unjust war or had fought against his family member, as well as thieves, malcontents, troublemakers, all of those people should go east and fight for God.

Because if you die in this holy war, or even if you die on the journey to take part in this holy war, your sins will be absolved.

Pope Urban was offering salvation even to those with blood on their hands.

If you had killed a fellow Christian, you could atone by killing a non-Christian in God's name.

Now, in theory, only those with pure motives were promised remission.

But in practice, this quickly became a spiritual loophole large enough to ride an armored war horse through.

And the general vibe was that you could literally kill your way back into heaven.

And needless to say, Urban's target audience here covered a wide swath of feudal Europe.

And in the room that day, his pitch was met with cries of Deus Volt, God wills it.

And that was almost certainly by design.

Because this wasn't an impromptu speech.

It wasn't an idea that Urban just happened to have recently.

This was a project of the church that had been decades in the the making.

And Urban's pitch was a carefully managed presentation, no less slick and carefully orchestrated as a TED Talk.

And those first holy men crying Deus Volt, they were part of the performance.

Though, once that crowd started going, a vibe like that can be infectious.

But infectious or not.

Just because Urban made this speech doesn't mean that armies immediately began mobilizing.

There was still a lot of work to get this thing going and a lot of social persuasion that needed to be applied.

And so now it was on to the next phase, the press tour.

Urban and his allies needed to sell this concept to the men and women who would ultimately be tasked with fighting and dying for his vision.

But with Urban's speech, the idea was loose in the world.

A holy war framed as defense.

A continent's worth of sins promised redemption in blood.

A papacy that had just rewritten its role from shepherd to general.

Whatever else was still to come, the speeches, the recruitment tours, the letters, the banners, the spell had now been cast.

Crusade.

It was a message that would echo through time.

Urban was setting in motion a concept that was so potent that men seeking power and control would wield it for centuries, right through to our modern day.

But here, in the 11th century, it was still a new idea, but it was spreading fast, through corridors of power and across cathedrals and castle halls, including one in Windsor, where a certain red king was busy busy making his own preparations.

Because while Rome was preparing for war abroad, Rufus was preparing for his Christmas court.

Now, granted, normally court is a busy affair, and a holiday court is especially so.

But this Christmas court of 1095

was something else.

With Mowbray imprisoned in Windsor Castle and the rebellion put down, Rufus decided to pull out all the stops and really celebrate the holiday.

So he invited everyone.

All of his tenants in chief were invited to the Christmas court.

And this meant that damn near anyone of stature within England, clerical or lay, was summoned to attend this party at Windsor.

And given everything that had been going on lately, I don't think anyone would dare snub him.

In fact, even though the Bishop Bishop of Durham was terribly ill, even he made it to court.

Though I do suspect that Rufus regretted that in the end.

Because here's the thing.

Rufus wanted everyone at court, not because he was feeling jolly, but because he had a list of traitors.

And Gilbert wasn't the only turncoat that was providing him with names.

When Bambera fell, Morell must have been sweating.

I mean, he had already been involved in that prior regicide, and he was one of the architects of this current attempted regicide.

And the king was not in a very good mood.

And so Morel did what many rebels do when they're cornered.

He snitched.

He told the king that, sure, Gilbert gave him some of the names of the conspirators, but that again, Gilbert was just a knight.

Morel, on the other hand, was Mowbray's kin, and so he could provide the king with far more names, you know, if the king was interested.

And so Rufus was hosting a Christmas party, not because he was feeling particularly happy with the season, but because he wanted to accuse people of disloyalty and begin enacting punishments.

And I just realized that maybe my parents are just really enthusiastic historical reenactors.

Anyway, that illness of the Bishop of Durham really threw a wrench into the king's plan.

Because on Christmas Day, before he got the chance to do his grand plan, the bishop had a seizure so severe that it threw him into a coma.

And that just completely ruined the vibe.

Not even Rufus would be able to enjoy some good old-fashioned Christmas-themed revenge if there was an elderly bishop dying in the next room.

That would just take all the fun right out of it.

And even worse, Anselm immediately rushed to the bishop's side and focused all his attention on his care.

So even if Rufus pressed on, he would be lacking a key member of his council.

This whole thing was just deeply inconvenient.

And so the Red King just grumpily continued his Christmas dinner, musing over what could have been.

Less than a week later, the Bishop of Durham died.

And the king began making preparations for his next court in Salisbury.

And this time, there wouldn't be any sick bishops to get in the way of his fun.

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