MacDidz: The Scottish Blog

[Didz]

Summer 1103: Wallace goes sightseeing in London
Whilst Edward made finishing touches to his preparations to march, Raudri Wallace made his way to London. He quickly confirmed that his previous assumption that Prince Henry was in London had been correct, and that the new King Henry was resident in the city accompanied by an army of about 400 men, including a personal retinue of 62 knights and 21 Archers. The rest of the army were spearmen of varying and dubious quality.

Winter 1103: Remember the Danish.
Edmund sends word from Edinburgh that he has found a volunteer suitable and willing to go and talk to the Danes. He is a Stewart by the name of Angus and will sail for Antwerp in the next tide. Edmund also explains that he has taken the initiative of attaching a man called Gille Petair to Angus Stewart's staff. Petair can do a reasonable impression of a Frenchman, and smells strongly of garlic (or worse). Therefore, it is hoped that he will be able to acquire any information which the Danes might not be willing to disclose to Angus. He also reports that the latest scouting reports from the ships patrolling the Danish coast confirm that a large Danish army is massing near Antwerp and that a powerful Danish fleet lies off the coast near Bruges.

Concerned but satisfied that all that can be done to placate the Danes is being done, Edward marches south with his army intent on dealing with the English presence on the Island once and for all.

He is joined en-route by 160 mailed knights from Wales. In fact, the army marching on London could hardly be called a Scottish army. Whilst, it did include 240 Scottish Archers and the 62 Scottish Knights of Edwards personal retinue, the remainder were either mercenaries, Welsh or locally raised English Knights keen to win favour with their new King.