THE WELCOME RICHARD HAD received in English towns and villages paled in comparison with the reception he got at Nottingham. Many of the soldiers had fought with him in past campaigns, and he was mobbed by men who were delighted that he was free, and even happier that he was here, for none doubted that his presence would guarantee victory; by now, Richard’s reputation as a battlefield commander had become a weapon in and of itself.
Once relative calm had been restored, Richard wanted to know all they could tell him about the castle. What he heard was not encouraging. Perched on a steep sandstone cliff a hundred feet above the River Leen, it had three separate baileys, separated by deep, dry moats; the outer bailey was enclosed by a timber palisade, but the middle and inner baileys were protected by stone walls and the square tower keep was on a rocky motte fifteen feet higher than its bailey. Continuing the bad news, David, the Earl of Huntingdon, told him that the castle was strongly garrisoned and Randolph, Earl of Chester, reported that it was said to be provisioned for a lengthy siege, making it unlikely the garrison could be starved into surrendering. But Richard had no interest in that approach, for the more time he spent in England dealing with John’s rebellion, the more time it gave Philippe to seize Norman towns and castles.
“Show me,” he said, and they led him out to see the stronghold’s defenses for himself. The siege camp was a large one, occupying the deer park to the west, the open field and hill to the north, and the streets closest to the castle gatehouse that faced the town. The people unlucky enough to live in this exposed area had fled to safer neighborhoods in the two boroughs of the city, their houses appropriated by the earls for lodgings and command headquarters. Richard studied the castle with a frown, for he saw at once what a challenge it posed. He felt anger stirring when the Earl of Chester said the garrison remained defiant, refusing to believe the king had truly returned.
“They will not be doubting for long,” he vowed and pointed to the house closest to the castle. “I’ll set up my quarters there.”
André grinned, remembering Richard’s first great military triumph, when at age twenty-one, he’d taken Taillebourg, a castle said to be utterly impregnable, pitching his tents so provocatively close to the town walls that the garrison could not resist the temptation and sallied forth for a surprise attack upon the young Angevin duke. Only it had not been a surprise, for Richard had been expecting it, and when they tried to retreat back into the town, Richard and his men forced their way in with them and soon had the victory. The garrison at Nottingham would not be so foolish, but André felt sure many of them would be unnerved to see the Lionheart’s banner flying so close to their walls.
They’d been joined by Richard’s uncle, Hamelin, the Earl of Surrey, who’d returned from escorting Eleanor to the Holy Trinity priory in Lenton, a mile to the south. But as he started to assure Richard that she’d been given a warm welcome by the prior, crossbowmen up on the castle walls began to shoot down into the camp and several soldiers were struck, one of them collapsing almost at Richard’s feet, a bolt driven through his eye into his brain. Looking from the dead man to the cocky defenders, cheering their success, Richard’s eyes darkened to slate, his hand closing around the hilt of his sword.
“We attack now,” he said. “Arm yourselves.”
THE EARLS HAD ALREADY filled the outer moat in preparation for an assault, although they’d not yet launched one. Since the first ring of defenses was timber, Richard called for a battering ram, his crossbowmen giving such effective cover that the defenders on the wall were unable to offer real resistance. When the wood splintered under the impact, Richard was one of the first to clamber through the shattered gate into the outer bailey, with his knights right behind him, shouting the battle cry of the English royal House, “Dex Aie!”
Men up on the middle bailey walls began to shoot at the invaders, but they were carrying large shields that deflected most of the bolts and at first they advanced almost unopposed. When the besieged realized they were in danger of losing the outer bailey, they hastily organized a sortie and came running through the barbican to confront the attackers.