First Siege of Gestoria (1406)
| First Siege of Gestoria | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Vionnan Anarchy (1398 - 1411) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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 County of Briceport |
 Kingdom of Frankenlisch | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Count William Brice II |
Sir Gerald Smythe † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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7,000 Men |
3,500 Garrison Troops | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 2,500 Killed and Wounded |
2,000 Killed | ||||||||
The First Siege of Gestoria was the first major battle in the Frankenlischian intervention during the Vionnan Anarchy, it was the first of four Sieges of Gestoria throughout history. Frankenlischian forces under Harald Picroft, the Duke of Gestoria, defended the city of Gestoria for eighteen days against a coalition of forces four times their size under the Vionnan Alliance.
Background
In May 1406 King Osmund II of Frankenlisch was approached by a party of Vionnan nobles including the Duke of Larkinge, the Count of Ballaeter and Balderic Randell. The group requested that King Osmund allow them to recruit mercenaries from Frankenlischian lands to join their conflict against King Lawrence of the Riverland. The talks quickly became heated as King Osmund rejected their requests and the Vionnan nobles returned to their respective territories, raising what remained of their levies later that month and marching on Gestoria led by Lord William Brice, the Count of Briceport. King Osmund ordered the mobilisation of the Royal Army on the First of June that year and Prince Haakon of the Fallen Isles took command of these forces on the Fourth.
Siege
William Brice II commanded a force of 23,000 men, mainly peasant levies and Prodavan mercenaries, and began to besiege Gestoria on the 22nd of May. He was quickly alerted to the mobilisation of the Frankenlischian Army as a raven from Frankenlisch was intercepted heading for Gestoria itself bearing news of King Osmund's call to war. This put Brice in a precarious position, Prince Haakon, the young commander of the Royal Army, could march down to Gestoria in just over a week and attack the besieging forces in a battle that would be risky for both sides, that said, the Prince could also wait for reinforcements from the rest of Frankenlisch. In a risky move, one that many of Brice's knights and subordinates called into question, Brice gambled and decided to lay siege to the city for two weeks, building up siege equipment and preparing his men to storm the city.
The situation within the walls was dire yet organised, the Duke of Gestoria, Harald Picroft, took command of defensive operations on the 23rd and organised a force of 2,000 unmarried men into a militia to defend the city, arming them with spears, crossbows and axes while a further 1,500 men and women volunteered to man the walls, these volunteers remained unarmed by the Duke but a local knight, Sir Gerald Smythe, spent much of his personal fortune on arming this force with swords and shields from the castle's armoury and craftsmen within the city. At the time the city's population was 42,000, the second largest town in the Kingdom of Frankenlisch, the largest being Frankenlisch with a population of 61,000. The city's walls were built in 1099 and had not received any kind of upgrading since, despite being well maintained. Gestoria's castle, built in 1240 was Gestoria's only modern defensive structure following major upgrading and repair works in 1370.
Lord Brice's position wasn't without fault, the threat of Prince Haakon arriving with Frankenlischian Housecarls was an ever-pressing threat that only increased as time went on. To make matters worse his troops were badly armed as only Brice's personal forces had been given proper weapons and armour, the troops from Larkinge and Ballaeter armed only with tools and without any armour thicker than padded cloth. In response to this predicament, Brice sent out riders daily to nearby settlements to buy spears, swords, axes and shields along with leather for armour, despite protests from his men, Brice insisted that all equipment must be paid for rather than pillaged, he personally paid for the equipment of five hundred men from Ballaeter to press his point and there was likely no more argument. Facing the threat of Frankenlischian reinforcements and with his forces running short on fresh food, Count Brice called a war council with his senior knights and ordered the attack to begin on the eighth with a second effort on the ninth should this attack fail.
First Attacks
The first assault against Gestoria was carried out on the Eighth of June at midday. On the offer of "Five ounces of gold to every man who lives and three ounces to the family of each man slain", three hundred men from Larkinge volunteered to be the first attack wave. The attack was ordered around 11 am, the first wave advanced against the East Gate of the city with scaling ladders and a ram. The ram reached the gate but was abandoned following heavy losses. The ladders fared better and around 200 men reached the walls despite coming under fire from crossbowmen, climbed the walls and there fought for about half an hour before being pushed back with heavy losses.
Facing pressure from his allies, Brice was forced to order a second assault, this time five hundred men strong and mainly made up of mercenaries and levies from Ballaeter. This attack, making use of the ram already in place and with more ladders, breached the east gate and managed to hold a portion of the wall for three hours without reinforcement before being repulsed by Sir Gerald Smythe's citizenry, the wave having sustained moderate losses. A third wave was planned for the day but decided against by Brice who wanted to allow his engineers one more night to work on equipment.
Final Assault
The following day, at 9 am, Brice began his third attack with an advance against the city's South Gate with 1000 Ballaetan and Larkingen levies with ladders and a shielded ram. The attack was met with heavy resistance but under the leadership of Sir Isaac Strong, the ram breached the gate and men began to flood the city's southern defences. Where the last two attacks failed, Brice hoped his own, more proficient levies would succeed. He ordered an attack with twenty ladders, three siege towers and three thousand men from the County of Briceport. This attack took time to reach the walls but eventually most of the ladders and all of the siege towers were put into place and the Briceport levies began to clear out the eastern defences of the city.
The West Gate saw very little fighting beside a light harassment from archers who fired arrows at the garrison from the woods surrounding Gestoria, following the battle, Lord Brice had these woods cut back so they would be of less use to a Frankenlischian counterattacking army. By 11 am the South Gate had been captured with light casualties and the Alliance forces on that flank began to fight their way towards the West Gate and the East Gate to relieve Brice's hard-pressed forces. By this point, the situation on the city walls looked hopeless to Lord Picroft and he ordered a general retreat to the castle, civilians, soldiers and militiamen alike flooded to the castle before the gates were closed just past midday. Brice's men now had command of the city and many of his mercenaries took to looting the houses and were cut down by roving bands of Gerald Smythe's militia. Brice's levies, on the other hand, retained their discipline and by 2 pm the situation was fully in hand and the city had been cleared of defenders.
Brice now prepared his final push against the castle, he had to take it quickly as a relieving army was sure to be on its way and artillery, including Ballistae and Mangonels, positioned on the castle walls began to pelt his men with missiles causing moderate casualties among the disorganised mercenaries. Duke Picroft, at this point, realised that the battle was lost and was reported to be seen weeping as he knew the fate in store for the population of a city that resisted so stubbornly. He was approached around 3 pm, a mere half hour before the final Vionnan attack, by Sir Gerald Smythe who had been blinded in one eye during the fighting, Smythe told Picroft that his militia and most of the city's garrison had agreed to act as a rearguard so that the Duke could lead the city's population and the remainder of the garrison to the safety of Prince Haakon's army. After some convincing, the Duke agreed and led much of the city's citizens out through the castle sewers.
The final assault was launched at 3.30 pm, Brice led his main reserves, a force of 6,000 men, against the entire southern wall of the castle which held for several hours under relentless assault. Brice himself was wounded in the left arm during the battle and was taken from the field by his bodyguards. The castle's garrison stood valiantly against an unrelenting force and the defence only faltered at sunset when a portion of the wall was flooded with levy forces from Ballaeter. This foothold was used as a stepping stone for the rest of the attack and the levies soon cleared the walls, forcing the defenders back to the castle courtyard and keep where Sir Gerald Smythe was killed in a fight with several Larkingen knights while rallying his militia which were slowly beginning to waver. The final pockets of resistance were put down at dusk as Lord Brice threatened to torch the city if the small remainder of the garrison did not yield. They surrendered and were spared yet kept in captivity.
Aftermath
The Duke of Gestoria and his escaped citizens and garrison forces reached Prince Haakon's army mere hours after the end of the battle as they had been marching down to relieve the city. The Duke immediately burst into tears and later wrote that he was "Overcome with a sudden overwhelming sadness and self-loathing" as he knew that had he stayed with his portion of the garrison it was very possible that they would have held the castle long enough for Prince Haakon's army to relieve them and save the city. Prince Haakon had him confined to his quarters as he feared the Duke would try to take his own life out of pity.
The battle is seen as a Vionnan Alliance victory as Count Brice achieved his main objective: to take the town, along with several secondary objectives, including seizing the castle's stores intact and preventing damage to the settlement. He did fail to achieve several of his objectives, however, as he planned to subjugate the population of Gestoria and to capture or kill Duke Picroft. Both of these failed as Picroft led most of the populace to safety.
Following the capture of the city, Brice quickly moved the remains of his army into the city along with his undamaged siege equipment. He also ordered the cutting back of all the woods surrounding the city but these efforts were soon stopped by the arrival of Prince Haakon and his army. Prince Haakon's force of around 31,000 men put the city under siege the next day and the city was eventually retaken.