The Battle of the Hill of Pigs

from The Chronicle of the West Franks

King Mauralf surveyed the field before him through the heavy rain(evidently the British had brought their weather with them.) On the Hill of Pigs were arrayed the sheildwall of Breton levy. On either side of the hill were two woods, probably crawling with Breton archers and spearmen. In reserve were several squadrons of horse, and behind them a host of praying, singing schismatic Keltic monks....and amongst them was the poor Papal
legate that had been sent to tell them of the error of their ways. Mauralf fumed...he would teach this British rabble to defy the might of Mauralf and the word of God!

He arrayed his Gallo-Roman levy in a great shield wall, stretching for much of the field, and overlapping the British shield wall before them. On the left rode Orderic the Rash, leading his squadrons and some archers. On the
right rode Geisler with his squadrons. Mauralf himself sat amongst the mounted retinue of his estates, eleven squadrons strong! With a blasting of trumpets (and a heavier downfall of rain) the Franks began their advance, Geisler sweeping about the wood far to the right to encounter a small number of British light horse, while Orderic did the same on the left to outflank the British position on the hill.

But unseen by Geisler, some British archers lured in the wood, and they sprang out, wreaking havoc amongst Geisler's squadrons. Worse, Geisler was a poor commander, and lost control of his men, who plunged into the British light horse without order. Mauralf rode to the rescue of Geisler, spurring his men on to reinforce the right. A battle royal developed, as Frankish knights and British cavalry charged into each other. But the greater numbers of the Franks told, and the archers and cavalry of the heretics were cut down to a man. But Geisler's men had suffered heavily at the hands of a particularly valiant Briton, who slew three squadrons of Franks and nearly slew Mauralf himself!

But God was with the belevers of the True Faith! The heretics on the right were overrun and the bleating Pelagianist heretic monks were about to meet their maker! In a vain effort to stem the tide the British general charged forward his shieldwall - spear met shield in a giant infantry brawl in the centre, but the British levy were not of the same stuff as their Light Horse brothers, and they were quickly humbled by the Gallo-Roman spearmen.
With their shieldwall broken and their baggage about to be stormed the Bretons broke in craven flight.
 


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