Annals of a Fortress

by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc

The whole of the 10th of June was employed by the Burgundians in completing their works in the western court of the bailey, clearing the breach, c, and working at a wooden movable tower, designed to attack and command the rampart between the gate and the corner tower, Q, of the castle; for this rampart, raised on the rock, could not be undermined. The duke, aware by this time of the strength of the place, and supposing the defenders to be more numerous than they really were, was unwilling henceforth to run any hazards. As far as was possible he manned the tops of the ramparts of that part of the bailey which was in his possession, succeeded in setting fire to the roofs and floors of the towers m and m', and commenced a mining attack on the tower v'. It was no longer the interest of the defenders to guard these works, which weakened them to no purpose. They therefore evacuated them, threw down the bridge uniting the eastern rampart of the bailey with the corner tower, and retired permanently within the castle. Meantime the Burgundians were working at their movable tower outside the old palisade, C, that had been destroyed, and covered the outside with fresh hides to preserve it from the Greek fire. They filled up the ditch in front of the tower p,[See [Fig. 45.]] not without difficulty protecting themselves with fascines and mantelets.

On the 20th of June the tower was completed, and the road for it constructed of strong planks firmly fastened as far as the filling up of the ditch. For the few last days the enemy had been incessantly working the catapults and two trebuchets against the crest of the defences of the castle between the gate and the tower, Q, and had tried to set fire to the hoarding and roofs; but these ramparts were higher than those of the bailey, and the baron had covered all the timbers with hides and blankets always kept wet, so that the flaming darts of the Burgundians were ineffectual against them. The roofs, too, were carefully watched. The hoarding, however, was almost entirely destroyed by the projectiles, and its débris had been removed by the garrison, as only embarrassing the defence. The whole of the crown of the tower, P, was greatly damaged, especially as it did not rise above the crest of the curtain. Seeing the enemy's preparations, the baron mounted a strong mantelet of thick wood and a catapult on the platform of this tower, P, which had no roof. Then, to meet every contingency, he had a strong retrenchment made from the angle, t, to the opposite tower, behind the tower, Q.

In the evening of this day, the 20th of June, the wooden tower began to be moved, borne along on huge rollers. As soon as it was about thirty yards from the rampart, the baron had the catapult directed upon it, and sent against it cases of Greek fire fixed near the iron points of the darts. The fresh hides protected it well, and the points did not stick in the wood; so the fire fell on the ground, and the Burgundians, under cover of the base-work of the tower, flung off the flaming cases by means of forks. This gave them plenty to do, and the tower advanced but slowly, while the further it proceeded the greater was the chance of its taking fire. The baron, who had but a small quantity of Greek fire remaining, was afraid to waste it. Already five cases had been thrown without effect; so he resolved to wait till the tower was close to the ramparts.

At this time of the year (June 21) the nights are not completely dark, and day breaks early. At two o'clock in the morning the wooden tower was on the counterscarp of the ditch. The mound that filled it presented a slope towards the ramparts, and was covered with planks. At a signal, the tower, urged on from behind by means of twenty powerful levers, rolled quickly along its inclined plane and came into collision with the summit of the tower P, above which it rose ten feet. The shock made the walls tremble, and a shower of stones and darts was poured upon the defenders from the top of the wooden tower. Then a bridge fell noisily on the head of the tower above-mentioned, shattered the mantelets and the catapult; and the assailants, uttering formidable shouts, leaped on the platform.

Anseric was at the top of the tower, Q, and Baron Guy was posted on the battlements of the gate. Both of them, rushing towards the curtains, attacked in their turn the assaulting column on this narrow rampart; many on both sides fell within the court, and were killed or had their limbs broken.

Numbers conferred no advantage, since it was impossible to deploy; so that the crowd of assailants that continued to pour forth from the wooden tower had to fight on the right and the left in a space six feet wide. The staircase of the tower, P, having been blocked up, the enemy could not get down through it; so that, driven into a corner on the platform of the tower, they had to make their way along one curtain or the other. Anseric, at the head of his troop, was cutting an ensanguined road before him with a long-handled axe. At his side, his men, armed with pikes and hooks, stabbed or grappled with and threw down the wall those who attempted to approach their lord. These unfortunate men fell from a height of twenty-five feet on the débris of hoarding which the garrison had thrown down within, to clear the rampart walk.

The crossbowmen, posted at the top of the wooden tower, discharged quarrels on the two bands; but the men were well protected with armour, and the quarrels rebounded from their helmets or were arrested by their hauberks. Friar Jerome, armed with an enormous mace, mounted on a merlon, felled all who came within his reach.

The duke, remaining at the bottom of the wooden tower, and supposing the rampart taken, was urging on his men-at-arms that they might follow up with overwhelming numbers those who had first reached the rampart. Thanks to Anseric's efforts and those of the baron, there was some amount of delay at the top of the tower, and the exit from the bridge could not be readily effected. The assailants who were coming up behind the front of the assault were pressing upon those before them, and this pressure only increased the confusion.

By dint of numbers, however, the Burgundians succeeded in gaining a footing on the tower; and the two bands of defenders were not sufficiently numerous to thrust them back. Seeing that they were going to be absolutely overwhelmed, the baron called Father Jerome, who, leaping from merlon to merlon, succeeded in reaching him.

A word spoken in the friar's ear made him run towards the neighbouring tower belonging to the gate. A moment afterwards and a strong crossbow mounted on the upper story of the work, behind the hoarding, shot quarrels, to which cases of Greek fire were fastened, against the sides of the wooden tower, which was not so well protected by skins as its front. The friar took a cool aim at the exposed part of the timbers, chiefly about seven or eight feet above the base of the tower. He had ten of these cases left, and all were aimed with a sure hand, being attached to strong quarrels, whose points were well sharpened. Four of the quarrels failed to stick, but the six others were fixed firmly in the timber, and the cases they bore spread a tenacious and burning lava over the wood.