The Relief of Metz, 1095
After leaving the Conseil, my lord was quite enraged and inebriated. He immediately set out to relieve Metz.
The Duc deployed his army on the high ground. The Metz garrison arrived from the Northwest. The French were to the east. My lord was alarmed. They had almost negated our advantage in height and they were uncomfortably close to our lines.
However, Captain Athalwolf made a curious decision. He turned his army to face the Metz garrison. His knights even began to trot west.
Duc Hugues ordered a cavalry advance upon seeing this. Baron Bertin de Montsault and Thomas de Saint-Amand joined him. I assumed this was to take advantage of German disorganization and to keep the peasants from being ridden down. However, the Duke's orders were slurred, laced with profanity and the key phrase was, "Let's go kill those bastards!" This makes analysis difficult.
The Nobles of Lorraine charged at the Germans. Duc Hugues and Thomas at archers, while Bertin focused on dismounted knights.
They relied on the strength of their charge and withdrew afterwards, never staying to fight for long. As one Noble left, another would sweep in.
The enemy knights, who had stopped their advance on the peasants, were curiously passive about the savaging of their foot.
As time passed the Germans were able to form a somewhat cohesive formation. Our Nobles had taken losses: Spearmen were sometimes able to come to their brethren's assistance or archers had enough time to loose. Charges occasionally were not pulled back quickly enough. The Duc signalled a withdrawal back to our infantry line. By this time the Germans had lost 40% of their strength.
They responded to the withdrawal by advancing on us. They were still disorganized however, a company of archers got too far ahead.
This proved far too appealing for my lord.
The Germans agained formed up.
Their approach was now more cautious. By this time the cavalry had rejoined our infantry line, Bertin to the left and Duc Hugues and Thomas to the right.
Unfortunately, my lord again attempted to charge a company of archers ahead of their advance. This time, he was counter-charged by knights and spearmen. The Duc attempted to retreat, but was caught. The rest of the Germans leaped forward to meet our line.
Thomas charged in to save our lord but the situation was alarming. Despite their losses, the Germans still had an advantage in foot. Our own advantage in cavalry was now negated.
But then the spearmen on the German right broke. They had started the day vainly chasing our cavalry to and fro, then they had marched up a steep hill to fight well rested opponents during which they had been loosed on by archers. Finally, they could tell Bertin was about to charge their flank and rear. They could take no more and fled.
Our infantry converged on the remaining German foot. The Metz garrison, after a long journey, fell on their archers. Thomas and Duc Hugues managed to fight off Athalwolf and his knights. They all broke.
The rout was on. We captured nearly all those who fled.
Victory was ours. The German survivors were ransomed for 2056 florins. They fled to Staufen.
The Battle of Gorze Abbey
My lord was not done. He was still drunk and belligerent. Thomas and the militia were left behind, as they had come all the way from Reims, and our army fell on a force of Germans east of Metz.
The enemy was near Gorze Abbey.
The Duc was content to wait for them on a hill west of the Abbey, for without archers of their own they would be forced to come to grips.
They closed, and the German knights appeared to form up for a charge. Our crossbowmen were making this difficult to accomplish.
Their infantry charged forward. Bertin and my lord charged in from the flanks to envelop them. However the German knights counter-charged Duc Hugues.
My lord took losses, however the Germans were crushed.
This time a ransom was refused. There were now no Germans left betweem the Moselle and the Rhine.
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