Second Siege of Gestoria (1406)
| Second Siege of Gestoria | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Vionnan Anarchy (1398 - 1411) | |||||||||
 Fighting during the Vionnan raid | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Kingdom of Frankenlisch |
 County of Briceport | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Duke Harald Picroft | Sir Isaac Strong † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 31,000 Men |
6,500 Men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 2,000 Killed and Wounded |
20,600 Causalties
1,500 Killed | ||||||||
The Second Siege of Gestoria was the second major battle in the Frankenlischian intervention during the Vionnan Anarchy, it was the second of four Sieges of Gestoria throughout the city's long history. Frankenlischian forces commanded by Prince Haakon of the Fallen Isles, besieged the captured city of Gestoria for 130 days with a force of 31,000 men against a combined army of the Vionnan Alliance, commanded by Count William Brice, which numbered just over 20,000 men.
Background
The City of Gestoria, the centre of Duke Harald Picroft's lands, was taken following an eighteen-day siege on the 9th of June 1406. During the fighting, much of the garrison was killed while Duke Picroft led the city's civilians and some of the garrison to safety. The son of King Osmund II of Frankenlisch, Prince Haakon, was already leading the Royal Army of 30,000 men down to relieve the city and he was met by Picroft while on the march. Gestoria was put under a state of siege on the 10th of June 1406 by Prince Haakon's Royal Army.
Early Plans
Prince Haakon and his war council, astounded by the speed of Count Brice's siege, expected the same luck and began building scaling ladders and other pieces of siege equipment ready for an early assault. Prince Haakon's force outnumbered the defenders by ten thousand men and their weapons and armour were better so fighting was expected to end in a quick victory. Duke Picroft, before being confined to his tent under guard to avoid the possibility of his suicide, had provided great details on the city and castle's defences along with information on the enemy host which was made up of troops from Larkinge, Ballaeter, Briceport and mercenaries from Prodava.
Prince Haakon's hopes that he might approach the city through the woods by the Western Gate were dashed when he discovered the Vionnan defenders had already cut back these woods and his plan to use abandoned Vionnan siege equipment was too foiled as the reserve Vionnan forces had already moved the spare equipment inside by the time the siege had begun. As a result, Haakon had to rely on his engineers and troops to build their own siege equipment and his skirmishers were prevented from harassing the defenders on the walls and gates.
Siege Efforts
Haakon's engineers proved very proficient and constructed a small group of trebuchets to bombard the enemy positions with. They launched stone projectiles at the castle and gates and the Vionnan tents within the walls were attacked with an early form of incendiary projectile similar to Napalm later called Polykrete. His forces also dug trenches to defend the siege camp and a redoubt was constructed to hide Haakon's tent and that of his Housecarls to mask the true strength of his force.
Theoderus, who was in the siege camp as a member of Prince Haakon's entourage, noted that by July the fourteenth the Frankenlischian siege camp was so vast and complex that the engineers and nobles were having trouble keeping track of where everything was and the only man sure of their plans was Prince Haakon himself. Theoderus tallied up the siege equipment and the records are still kept in the Central Library of Gestoria, he records that by July 14th the Frankenlischian host had four trebuchets, five mangonels, fifty individual scaling ladders, eight siege towers and three rams. This is in addition to the vast reserves of stones and polykrete that was being used as projectiles.
Floods
In mid-July, either the sixteenth or the seventeenth, the River Ecrin burst its banks and the Frankenlischian camp was soon flooded following heavy rainstorms. Much of the siege equipment, including all five Mangonels, was lost and a hundred men were killed or went missing. Prince Haakon narrowly avoided being drowned in his tent as the redoubt acted as a crucible for the water to build up in and the Prince nearly drowned while asleep. The camp on the west side of Gestoria was devastated and had to be moved away from the floodwaters. The closer water and loss of organisation and unit cohesion on the side of the Frankenlischians allowed Brice's forces to partially restock their fresh water supplies.
The floodwaters receeded in early August and the Frankenlischians reformed their camp in its former location and continued siege efforts.
Vionnan Attack
On the eighteenth of October, there was a major raid against the Frankenlischian siege camp by a force of 3,000 men of Brice's host. Brice was still nursing a particularly brutal wound to his left arm that he had sustained in the First Siege and he took a very little if any, part in the attack. It is even possible that the attack was an act of mutiny as many thought Brice wasn't doing enough to fight the Frankenlischians. What is known is that the attack was led by one of Brice's leading knights Sir Isaac Strong who was killed during the battle.
Around midday, Theodorus writes, the Vionnans bearing banners of Larkinge, Briceport, Ballaeter and several sigils of smaller noble houses and knights, sallied out of the Western Gate against the Frankenlischian siege camp where they were met by an undisciplined swarm of Fyrd levies brandishing spears and round wooden shields. The fighting was particularly one-sided to begin with as the Larkingen knights were among the first of the Vionnan forces to sally out, in their heavy armour atop well-fed and rested armoured thoroughbreds they were nigh invincible until their own infantry joined the fight and their mobility was hindered so that they could be pulled down from their horses and killed. Even then, the Fyrd levies suffered terribly in the close quarters fighting until the battle began to take a more organised shape. The first Vionnan attack was repulsed with heavy losses for both sides and in this short break in the fighting around two hundred Vionnan troops managed to slip away into the forest, the only Vionnan troops to escape the siege. The Frankenlsichian levies reformed into lines while the Vionnans were reinforced by further light cavalry from Ballaeter along with mercenaries from Prodava.
It was at this point that Prince Haakon arrived, leading with him a force of mounted Housecarls and archers who bolstered the Frankenlischian ranks. The archers began to loose arrows on the Vionnan ranks prompting many to charge or seek safety within the walls of Gestoria. During this charge, Prince Haakon gave the signal for his mounted Housecarls to strike from the flanks and they caught much of the Vionnan host mid-charge, cutting many down and leaving the rest to be mopped up by the levies who charged in after the Housecarls.
The raid was a major defeat for the Vionnans who lost 2,500 men in the space of three hours. Prince Haakon retired to his tent later and was not seen for the rest of the day. His war council decided to leave him and convene without the Prince. Haakon returned the next day when Count Brice offered to surrender.
Aftermath
On October 19th, following the disastrous raid against the Frankenlischian siege camp, Brice offered to surrender the city to Prince Haakon and his army. Despite the protracted siege Prince Haakon still allowed the defenders the honours of war, allowing them to march into captivity. Soon after, Count Brice gave up his support for the Vionnan Alliance and, two years later, declared his support for King Osmund of Frankenlisch when Henry Forrest declared himself Petty King of Larkinge.
The book Krigen, meaning 'The War', by Theodorus, contains this siege in great detail and is still sold today by publisher Griffon Books as a part of their Classics range.