Invasion subject of new book
Sean McGlynn with new book
ONE of the great stories from the dramatic reign of King John is the loss of his baggage train in The Wash during the very last days of his rule.
What is less well known is that at the time he was fighting against another King of England – “King” Louis I – whose French forces had invaded and occupied one-third of the country.
The road that led to John’s final days in and around Lynn began in the summer of 1215 and the turmoil surrounding King John’s rejection of Magna Carta (which, contrary to popular belief, he never actually signed).
The rebel barons went to war with a king they hated, feared and distrusted. These barons asked Prince Louis, heir to the kingdom of France, to come over and replace John as their king. This he did in May 1216, at the head of a large army that actually had its headquarters in London.
John’s war against Louis took him to Lynn in October 1216. Lynn was one of the four most important ports in the country at this time. In May of 1216 it had provided ships for John’s fleet which was intended to intercept the French in the English Channel.
But a fierce storm dispersed the English fleet and the French landed on the Isle of Thanet.
This might have been a second Battle of Hastings, but John bottled the fight and fled, much to his army’s dismay. And Lynn’s.
In July the French attacked the town causing serious damage. Many of its inhabitants were led off in chains, remaining prisoners until a ransom was paid for them.
John was at Lynn on October 9, 1216, having energetically and unrelentingly ravaged the land “by sword and fire” through Grimsby, Louth, Boston and Spalding; not even Croyland Abbey was spared.
At Lynn, John paused to regroup his forces. He organised the logistics of supplies and provisions for his planned imminent northern campaign. Here he indulged excessively at a feast held in his honour – not an option the residents could avoid when the king called.
John fell seriously ill at Lynn, struck down by what appears to have been a major attack of dysentery. The chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall believed insatiable gluttony was the cause of his illness.
Despite this, John set out on the morning of October 11 heading north, having left behind a loyal captain to fortify and defend the town. There is no absolute certainty over what happened next, but we can nevertheless reconstruct a plausible chain of events from chronicle sources, government records and local knowledge.
It is likely that John’s convoy crossed the nearly five-mile wide estuary of the Wellstream (now Nene) in The Wash between Long Sutton and Walpole Cross Keys on October 11 around low-tide (11.15am). John was using a well-known short-cut while at the same time avoiding the roads in the rebel-dominated Fenlands. John made the crossing in haste. Roger of Wendover, a contemporary chronicler, recorded what happened when the King’s baggage train made the crossing: “The land opened up in the middle of the waves and caused whirlpools which sucked in everything, men as well as horses, so that no-one escaped.” The King lost “all his carts, wagons, baggage horses, his money, precious vessels and everything he treasured.” It may have been the case that John had not waited until the waters had fully receded, making navigation across the natural causeway extremely hazardous. Explorations have revealed a thick layer of wet quicksand from medieval times which may have caused the calamity. But just how bad was the disaster in The Wash? Does it live up to its legend? Or is it more myth?
Wendover believes it was so disastrous that it brought on John’s final illness, caused by the “anguish of mind over his possessions swallowed up by the water”, resulting in his being “seized with a violent fever”. But Wendover, like John, was on uncertain ground for this dramatic episode. Local historian Paul Richards has suggested that the most valuable treasure went by land to Wisbech.
That there was a serious event is clear; John’s baggage train really was caught in The Wash. Ralph of Coggeshall also records that John was badly affected by the loss, and tells of the loss of life, pack-horses and the Royal Chapel with its relics, this last being real treasure. But no victim was of sufficient rank to be named, and Coggeshall’s losses were far less severe than Wendover’s. As is so often the case, when lost treasure is involved, a mystery can soon arise. Is there an alternative explanation?
Deteriorating sharply, John was carried in agony on a makeshift litter to Newark Castle. Around midnight of October 18/19 in the middle of a great gale, he died. And here we find a possible alternative version to the legend of the loss of John’s treasure in The Wash.
On the morning following John’s death, a monk by the name of John de Savigny came to the town of Newark. On entering he encountered members of John’s personal entourage scurrying out of the castle laden down with all manner of goods and booty. The dead monarch was suffering the final indignity of having all his moveable goods stolen. There was not even sufficient cloth left to afford his corpse a decent covering. Was the disaster in The Wash greatly exaggerated by the opportunists leaving Newark to the sound of clunking noises under their cloaks? This suggestion is highly probable.
Was John really such an awful king? He is often known as “Bad” King John and is always portrayed as such, as any viewing of films such as Robin Hood, Ironclad and Ivanhoe will confirm.
Occasionally, some historians still attempt to show John in a better light, the victim of a hostile press in the shape of medieval chroniclers.
This is a hopeful interpretation to say the least. As I tell my university students taking my King John course, he was not only “Very Bad” King John, but also “Pretty Hopeless” King John, too. His death was a greater loss to the French than to the English.
n King John’s death is dealt with more fully in my book on the French invasion: Blood Cries Afar: The Forgotten Invasion of England 1216, by Sean McGlynn, The History Press, January 2012, available from Waterstone’s, Amazon and booksellers. ISBN 978-0-7524-5462-7
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Weather for King's Lynn
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
