Outside Dijon, 1126 AD
Prinz Henry stared at the inquisitor and the inquisitor stared back. The cheek of the man, the presumptuousness! Henry was the heir to the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Swabia, Army Commander, Knight. And this inquisitor, in his plain white and black commoners’ garb, was what? He was nothing. And yet there he stood, in front of the Prinz, baldly staring him down.
Henry looked uneasily around him. His handpicked knights stood respectfully to attention. His best men, the men who would guard him with their lives, had ushered the inquisitor reverently into Henry’s presence, had bowed and scraped in front of the commoner. And slowly it dawned on Henry. These men owed their allegiance to Henry, yet Henry was but a man. The inquisitor was an agent of God almighty and no man took precedence over Him. The knights were good Catholics first, loyal Germans a distant second. And so Henry started to understand what Manfred had once said to him: I am not afraid of dying in a castle breach. I fear no man at arms. I fear only the Inquisition.
Only Henry’s guard dog, Verginius, showed the appropriate degree of hospitality to the Papal guest, growing lowly at the inquisitor. Henry primly admonished the beast, although inwardly, his heart was filled with satisfaction at the animal’s undiplomatic display. The inquisitor must be a Frenchman, Henry mused. He had named his dog Verginius after a Roman Republican who shared the canine’s hostility towards the French.
I trust his Holiness is well? Henry inquired blandly.
The inquisitor nodded, disinterestedly, but then barked: ”His Holiness is most displeased at your prosecution of this war”.
Henry slowly poured a glass of wine, picked it up and sipped it before deigning to reply: ”As you know, Milan started this war by an unprovoked attack on us. We can hardly be condemned for fighting back, can we?”
”You are embarked on a war of conquest! You have taken Milan, Genoa and now stand poised to strike before Dijon! Your response is most disproportionate! His Holiness is very displeased at this spilling of Christian blood! You must end this fratricidal war!”
Henry pursed his lips and then mused: ”I rather think that is what Chancellor Sigismund intends.” End this war on our terms, with the extinction of Milan, Henry meant.
The inquisitor looked at the Prince sat in front of him, and shook his head.
“Your father embarked on a long conflict with the Holy See. You would be foolish to follow in his path.”
Henry spoke coldly: “Were you an Emissary of the Holy See, Sir, I would be happy to discuss matters of diplomacy with you. I would assure you that I have only the friendliest of intentions towards his Holiness. And indeed venture to suggest that the Pontiff has no truer supporter in the Diet. But you, Sir, are no Papal Emissary and have no standing in my court. I invited you here out of respect, but I see now that it is not reciprocated. I wish you farewell, Sir, I have a battle to attend to.”
“You are a fool, young man, to treat a Papal servant with such disregard. I will leave you now to your blood letting. But know this - you have come to my attention and only the most pious regard that development with equanimity. Good day, young Prince.”
Henry waved the inquisitor off, distractedly. But inside, he felt a ripple of dread. Damn it, let’s get this assault over with and get the hell out of here, he thought uneasily.
Right, let’s see. What’s the situation? We have 602 men. We are well provided with cavalry and missiles, but sorely lacking in infantry - only one regiment of town militia and 54 spear militia. Is this a joke? How am I supposed to take a settlement with only cavalry and missiles? What siege equipment has Sigismund ordered prepared? Only one ram? And two sets of ladders? What am I supposed to do? Carry our warhorses up the ladder?
What’s the opposition? Two regiments of Italian militia and two of Italian spear militia. Great, what we lack - solid infantry - they have in number.
How to do this? Try to use one ram to break open two gates? No, the enemy towers would cut down our men before they left the first. Use our missiles to fire over the settlement walls? No, without line of sight, our missiles would be ineffective while our archers themselves would be cut down by the enemy towers. Try to barrel through with my own escort? No, against so many spears packed in the narrow streets, the only result would be Sigismund as the new faction heir.
I have to fight clever. But how? Let’s distract them. Set up two battle groups: one, at the front gates, to the south, and one at the western gates. Both should be equipped with the ladders, with cavalry and with archers. Then, let’s hide a third battle group near the east gate. Keep it small: the few spear militia carrying the battering ram, my escort and a regiment of peasant archers. With any luck, the enemy will be preoccupied with my two visible battle groups and not notice the third until it is too late.
And so it was. The Milanese deployed pairs of regiments to face the south and western battle group; but no men were set to guard the east gate. Even when the battering ram smashed down the gate, no troops moved east. Even when Henry ordered his cavalry to move round the settlement to the east gate, there was no Milanese reaction. Only when Henry’s men were racing for the town square did the enemy turn away from the two battle groups of Germans with ladders.
Henry’s 54 spearmen briefly occupied the town square, but found themselves facing six times their number. Though Henry and his archers tried to provide support, it was hopeless and the Germans were driven from the square. But the spearmen had bought Henry time. Time for his mounted sergeants to get to the east gate; time for his ladders to move unopposed onto the enemy walls.
Henry’s archers fell back from the town square towards the east gate, pursued by one regiment of Milanese. Before the Milanese could reach the east gate and man the towers, Henry rallied his few spearmen and led them, and his escort, in a counterattack. The fighting was brutal and for a time Henry feared he may fall, but the toughness of his escort and the demoralising effect of the fire arrows loosed in support broke the morale of the first enemy regiment.
A second regiment of Milanese militia headed back to the south gate, as German archers scaled their ladders. Henry ordered the mounted sergeants to provide support to the archers. They bravely attacked the Milanese militia from the front, but in the narrow streets were unable to charge and soon began to suffer terribly. They withdrew towards the east gate, pursued by the enemy militia. In doing so, the pursuers exposed their backs to the German archers on the walls, suffering grievously from their arrows. Soon the enemy militia were wavering. When the German mounted sergeants realised this, they halted their horses and returned, putting the Milanese to flight.
On the west gate, the German town militia had also scaled the walls unopposed, but the third regiment of Milanese returned to the walls and hurried to intercept them. With the towers now firing in support of the Milanese, the Germans realised that contesting the walls was unsound and so they raced down the steps, off the walls, towards the town centre. The fourth Milanese regiment was also hurrying from the town centre to catch the German town militia, but the Imperial infantry were able to take another road back - evading both pursuing regiments.
Having broken the first enemy regiment, Henry now reoccupied the town centre. He ordered fire arrows be loosed at the fourth enemy regiment and then sent his regiment of knights to battle them. Cavalry versus spearmen in narrow streets was a potentially foolhardy move, but the Milanese were losing spirit - they routed without much loss to the German knights. Then the German town militia turned to face the third enemy regiment. Supported by Henry’s own escort and the other horse, the Germans slew the garrison captain, bringing a successful end to the assault.
Henry ordered the town occupied. Sacking it would yield only 4000 florins, not worth blackening the good name of a future Emperor. When Henry looked at the casualty lists, he whistled: he had lost only 122 men - most notably half the mounted sergeants who had bought time at the south gate. Given the trepidation which Henry had begun the assault, this was a good result. Still, Henry hoped not to enjoy his victory for too long. Immediately on taking up residence in the town, he wrote the Chancellor an urgent note, informing him of the conversation with the inquisitor and begging to be moved rapidly away from his orb, to Bern and perhaps in time to Innsbruck to help his father face the Viennese threat.
Re: Battle reports thread - King of the Romans PBM
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