Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m8s7h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T03:35:36.299Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aelred of Rievaulx's Rhetoric and Morale at the Battle of the Standard, 1138

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

John R. E. Bliese
Get access

Extract

The morale or fighting spirit of an army has always been a most important if intangible factor in military success. Clausewitz believed that “the moral [psychological] elements are among the most important in war.” Field-Marshal Montgomery went so far as to claim that “the morale of the soldier is the greatest single factor in war.” And Napoleon's dictum has often been quoted: in war “the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” Since morale is such an elusive quality, however, its role in military history can be nearly lost in the study of battles of long ago. Indeed, the historians of medieval warfare have been little concerned with it. Philippe Contamine, in his War in the Middle Ages, includes a short chapter on courage, which focuses on theological definitions of courage as a virtue and risk assessment in the wars of the later middle ages. J. F. Verbruggen makes a number of valuable comments on the psychology of war. But these two are notable exceptions. Of course, the evidence for mental states in medieval battles is severely limited, but even what little there is has been largely overlooked.

For at least one significant battle, the Battle of the Standard, there is evidence which shows the psychology of one of the two armies which faced one another on a foggy August morning in 1138. We can see in considerable detail the low morale of the northern English forces as they tried in desperation to stop a devastating invasion by the king of Scotland. We can see their concerns and fears, and some of the attempts by the leaders to overcome them and rouse their spirits. We indeed get a remarkable glimpse of “the face of battle”—or at least the pre-battle. Military historians of the middle ages have neglected this building of battle morale entirely; although other historians have made passing reference to it. Since the evidence for the morale of the English army at the Battle of the Standard is so unusual and full, it deserves greater attention. The developments leading up to the battle will be considered briefly, and then evidence that reveals the psychology of a medieval army will be considered in detail.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , Winter 1988 , pp. 543 - 556
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 von Clausewitz, Carl, On War, ed, and trans, by Howard, Michael and Paret, Peter (Princeton, 1976), p. 184Google Scholar.

2 Quoted by Richardson, F. M., Fighting Spirit (London, 1978), p. 1Google Scholar.

3 Ibid.

4 Contamine, Philippe, War in the Middle Ages, trans. Jones, Michael (Oxford, 1984), ch. 9Google Scholar.

5 Verbruggen, J. F., The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages, trans. by Willard, Sumner and Southern, S.C.M. (Amsterdam, 1977), see esp. pp. 39–52 and 249–250Google Scholar.

6 Beeler, John, Warfare in England. 1066–1189 (Ithaca, N.Y., 1966), p. 88Google Scholar.

7 To borrow John Keegan's phrase (The Face of Battle [New York, 1976]Google ScholarPubMed).

8 For example, John Beeler, Warfare in England; Oman, Charles, A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (London, 1924)Google Scholar.

9 Squire, Aelred, Aelred of Rievaulx (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1981), pp. 74–81Google Scholar; Nicholl, Donald, Thurston, Archbishop of York (1114–1140) (York, 1964), pp. 220–226Google Scholar.

10 Richard of Hexham writes, “this took place in other wars, but in this to a far greater extent.” Historia de Gestis Regis Stephani et de Bella Standardii, in Raine, James, ed., The Priory of Hexham, 2 vols. (Surtees Society, 1864–1865), 1: 83Google Scholar. Stevenson, Joseph, trans., Church Historians of England, 5 vols, in 8 (London, 1854–1858), 41: 45Google Scholar.

11 Nicholl, , Thurstan, p. 222Google Scholar. Richard of Hexham, Historia, p. 86 (Raine); p. 47 (Stevenson).

12 Ritchie, R. L. Graeme, The Normans in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1954), p. xviGoogle Scholar.

13 See the speech Aelred of Rievaulx attributes to Robert, attempting to persuade his long time friend David to end this war. Relatio de Standardo, ed. by Howlett, Richard in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, 4 vols. (Rolls Series), 3: 192–95Google Scholar.

14 Squire, , Aelred, p. 80Google Scholar.

15 Nicholl, , Thurston, p. 225Google Scholar.

16 Ritchie, , Normans in Scotland, p. 256Google Scholar.

17 Beeler, , Warfare in England, pp. 86–87Google Scholar.

18 Richard of Hexham and John of Hexham both describe this standard. It was a ship's mast set up in a frame. From the top was hung a silver pyx containing the Host, and three banners, of St. Peter the Apostle, St. John of Beverly, and St. Wilfrid of Ripon. Richard of Hexham, Historia, pp. 90–91 (Raine); p. 49 (Stevenson). The Chronicle of John, Prior of Hexham, in Raine, , Priory of Hexham, 1: 119Google Scholar; trans, by Stevenson, , Church Historians of England, 4, 1: 9–10Google Scholar.

19 Aelred, , Relatio, p. 185Google Scholar.

20 “Rhetoric and Morale: A Study of Medieval Battle Orations,” paper presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May, 1985Google Scholar. I am preparing a study for publication. An analysis of a much smaller number of speeches may be found in my dissertation, “Medieval Rhetoric: Its Study and Practice in Northern Europe from 1050 to 1250” (Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas, 1973), chapters 4–7Google Scholar.

21 The topoi are explained in the standard rhetorical treatises of the time: Cicero's, De Inventione, book 2 and the Rhetorica ad Herennium, books 2 and 3.

22 The concept of a vocabulary of motives is developed by Mills, C. Wright, “Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motive,” American Sociological Review 5 (1940): 904–913CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 Examples of each of these commonplaces will be given in the notes. Orderic Vitalis describes a commander exhorting his troops: “Today on this battlefield the courage and determination of every champion will be manifest to all” (The Ecclesiastical History, 6 vols., ed. and trans. by Chibnall, Marjorie [Oxford, 1969–1980], 6:348–49)Google Scholar.

24 Typical is King Philip before the Battle of Bouvines: “We ought faithfully to trust that God will be merciful to us sinners and give us the victory over his enemies and ours” (William the Breton, Gesta Philippi Augusti, in Oeuvres de Rigord et de Guillaume le Breton, 2 vols., ed. by Delaborde, H. François [Paris, 1882–1885], 1: 273Google Scholar).

25 Giraldus Cambrensis has Oiarmait compare the two sides confronting one another; “Humility will fight for us against arrogance and license” (The Conquest of Ireland, ed. and trans. by Scott, A. B. and Martin, F. X. [Dublin, 1978], pp. 46–47)Google Scholar.

26 Geoffrey of Monmouth has a speaker stress their great numerical superiority over the enemy (Historia Regum Britanniae, ed. by Faral, Edmond, La Légende Arthurienne, 3 vols. [Paris, 1929], 3: 206Google Scholar).

27 Another of Geoffrey's orators calls the enemy “base exiles,” mere weaklings (“half-males”) whom they will soon take “as if they were sheep” (ibid., 3: 88).

28 In the chronicle attributed to Benedict of Peterborough the commander warns; “There is one thing, bravest nobles, that I want to stress firmly: it is not possible to tum back as fugitives. For we are so surrounded from all sides by our enemies that since there is no hope of flight, this alone remains, that we conquer or we fall” (The Chronicle of the Reigns of Henry II and Richard I, 2 vols, ed. by Stubbs, William [Rolls Series], 1: 53)Google Scholar.

29 Typtcal is the short description of Edmund who, before doing battle with Cnut, bids his men to remember that they are fighting for their country and children, their wives and homes (Florence of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis, 2 vols., ed. by Thorpe, Benjamin [London, 1848], 1: 174)Google Scholar.

30 Henry of Huntingdon's speech for Duke William before the Battle of Hastings is for the most part a long enumeration of past Norman victories, going all the way back to Hasting, and Rollo, (Historia Anglorum, ed. by Arnold, Thomas [Rolls Series], pp. 200–02)Google Scholar.

31 In the Gesta Francorum there is that incandescent line showing the mixture of piety and hope of gain of the First Crusaders. At the Battle of Dorylaeum the knights encouraged each other by passing a message along their line: “Stand fast all together, trusting in Christ and in the victory of the Holy Cross. Today, please God, you will all gain much booty” (Gesta Francorum, ed. and trans. by Hill, Rosalind [London, 1962], pp. 19–20)Google Scholar.

32 Baudri of Dol uses a fine a fortiori argument: “If some foreign enemy kills any of your relatives, would you not avenge your blood? By much more ought you to avenge your God” (Historia Hierosolymitana, Recueil des Historiens des Croisades: Historiens Occidentaux, 5 vols. [Paris, 1844–1895], 4: 101)Google Scholar.

33 Near the end of his long sermon to the Second Crusaders attacking the walls of Lisbon, the priest draws this conclusion: “If it should happen that any one signed with this cross should die, we do not believe that life has been taken from him, for we have no doubt that he is changed into something better. Here, therefore, to live is glory and to die is gain” (De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi, ed. and trans. by David, Charles Wendell [New York, 1936], pp. 156–57)Google Scholar.

34 Orderic relates that at Antioch Bohemond sent reinforcements during a battle, asking them not to tarnish the glorious name of Frenchmen (Ecclesiastical History, 5: 78–79Google Scholar).

35 Before a battle in the Holy Land, the Master of the Templars stresses that “it is not difficult to conquer either with many or with few when the victory is from heaven,” and the Master of the Hospitallers recalls the victory of Abraham with only three hundred slaves over four kings (De Expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum Libellus, in Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Anglicanum, ed. by Stevenson, Joseph [Rolls Series], p. 212Google Scholar).

36 The story was frequently told of Duke Robert of Normandy at Dorylaeum, rallying the fleeing Crusaders and calling on them to follow him. Henry of Huntingdon (Historia Anglorum, p. 221) seems to be the original source of this speech.

37 Ibid, pp. 262–63; Forester, Thomas, trans., The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon (London, 1853), pp. 267–69Google Scholar.

38 Aelred, , Relatio, pp. 185–89Google Scholar. For the date see Powicke, F. M., ed., The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx, by Daniel, Walter (London, 1950), p. xcviiGoogle Scholar; and Squire, , Aelred, p. 82Google Scholar.

39 Ibid., p. 77. See also Raine, , Priory of Hexham, I: 89Google Scholar.

40 Nicholl suggests that both Ralph and Walter may have exhorted the army (Thurstan, p. 225). There are also indications of other words of encouragement, spoken by the priests to their men (Aelred, , Relatio, p. 192Google Scholar).

41 Roger of Wendover, Chronica, sive Flores Historiarum, 4 vols., ed. by Coxe, Henry O. (London, 1841–1842), 2: 223–24Google Scholar. The speech is somewhat abridged by Roger.

42 Considerably shortened in his Historia Minor, 3 vols., ed. by SirMadden, Frederic (Rolls Series), 1: 259Google Scholar.

43 Complete in Roger of Hoveden's, Chronica, 4 vols., ed. by Stubbs, William (Rolls Series), 1: 193–94Google Scholar.

44 Benedict of Peterborough, Chronicle, 1: 52–53Google ScholarPubMed.

45 Squire, Aelred, “Historical Factors in the Formation of Aelred of Rievaulx,” Collectanea Ordinis Cisterciensium Reformatorum 22 (1960): 277Google Scholar.

46 As Partner, Nancy calls it in Serious Entertainments (Chicago, 1977)Google Scholar.

47 Squire, , Aelred, p. 78Google Scholar.

48 The editor notes that William of Newburgh “also tells this erroneous story” (Relatio, p. 186).

49 Its importance to the other side is shown in the references to it in a speech Aelred attributes to the Galwegians. They demanded that David grant them the right to form the front rank in the battle, even though they wore no armor. “What gain were their hauberks to the Gauls at Clitheroe? Did not these men unarmed, as they say, compel them to throw away their hauberks, to forget their helmets, to leave behind their shields? … We gained at Clitheroe the victory over mail-clad men …” (Relatio, p. 190; Anderson, Alan O., trans., Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers (London, 1908), pp. 198–99Google Scholar).

50 Aelred, , Relatio, p. 189Google Scholar. John of Hexham, Chronicle, p. 119 (Raine); p. 10 (Stevenson).

51 Aelred, , Relatio, p. 189Google Scholar.

52 The priest's sermon in De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi, pp. 146–59.

53 Nicholl, , Thurstan, p. 226Google Scholar: “Ailred's insight into Walter's character certainly comes through …”

54 Aelred, , Relatio, p. 183Google Scholar.

55 We know of Walter's interest in historical stories. See Squire, , Aelred, p. 77Google Scholar.

56 Squire notes that, if anything, Aelred had motive to downplay these atrocities. He had, after all, grown up in David's court, and would want to portray his former royal patron in the best light (ibid., pp. 75–76).

57 Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, pp. 256–57.

58 Ritchie, , Normans in Scotland, p. 266Google Scholar, explains this reference: “The ‘dancers,’ though not the ‘dancing-girls,’ may represent continuance of Irish custom in the Isles and in the West and South-West of Scotland. “The Irish were accustomed to take the field in fine clothes and fringed mantles and gay tunics and to be accompanied by poets, musicians, jugglers and jesters.’“ His quotation is from Hodgkin, R.H., A History of the Anglo-Saxons (Oxford, 1952), pp. 488–89Google Scholar.

59 Squire, , Aelred, p. 78Google Scholar: “If he does not actually report their very words, we may be confident that he makes them say what they would have wished to have said. In this way he has a great deal to tell us.”

60 Aelred, , Relatio, p. 194Google Scholar.

61 An excellent account may be found in Beeler, , Warfare in England, pp. 86–93Google Scholar.