The burning of Poole in 1405. First draft.

It is my intention to give this history as a talk and a participation wargame.

The background of Harry Payes exploits is one of the most pivotal in English history, yet is not taught in schools and rarely mentioned in history books.  It is comparable to the time of the Armada with Harry doing the job of a medieval Drake.   By 1405 He had built up a fearsome reputation.  Perhaps he saw action when in 1403, in the wake of the Hundred Years War, a truce between the countries broke and English privateers attacked French merchant ships in the Channel. 

On the home front  Owain Glendower, in May 1404, started to negotiate a treaty with the French  that resulted in a formal promise of French aid to Owain and the Welsh.  He negotiated in February 1405 with Marcher Lord Edmund Mortimer and Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland to divide England and Wales between the three of them. 

Wales would extend as far as the rivers Severn and Mersey, including Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire.  Mortimer and the Lords of March would take all of southern and western England.  Percy would take northern England. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O8QaZUrLl8

There was talk that Harry Paye had stopped a French invasion.  I think this refers to the joint Welsh and Franco-Breton forces siege to Kidwelly castle in November 1403.  The French were said to be hampered by the loss of baggage and supplies.  If you're sending aid to a friendly force, you rely on them for the more mundane logistics but your armour, horses and other specialist kit either goes ahead or comes with you.  I can see Harry successfully attacking and capturing the slow moving transports, leaving the heavily armed troop ships well alone.

The burning of Poole.

The central figure is Don Pero Niño Count of Buelna, who led the raid on Poole, was a nobleman from Castille encouraged by the French to help in the struggle against England. He was apparently brought up by King Charles VI (born 1368) and must have been roughly the same age as him (37 at the time of the raid) In 1386 (18)  he was named knight of honour of this king with a pension.  He was sent as a spy to England in 1400.  But a series of reckless acts ended with him and others attacking and being beaten by a large party of schoolboys,  then saw him out of royal favour.

He went to Marseille with 2  two galleys provided by the Count of Provence where he seized a Saracen vessel.  These were probably the ships that invaded Poole.

Then, France declared war on England in the summer of 1405 he joined the Castilian captain Pero Niño to ravage the English coasts during the summers of 1405 and 1406.

Harrys reputation at this time was bolstered by his attack on Castille, blockading Flanders and burning Gijon and Finistere, prompting the revenge element of the attack.

The combined fleet found Poole (remember that spying expedition?) unwalled and unguarded. The French Messire Charles was worried about shoals and reefs and refused at first to land or get close to the shore, seemingly also in fear of the locals reputation.

Poole town being “some distance from the sea”  the Castillans put men ashore in boats with instructions not to loot but to burn.  Perhaps their previous raiding had them well stocked. The towns people rallied and put up a strong defence causing a retreat back to the shore.  Fighting in and around buildings against a determined enemy that knows every vantage point and back alley is no fun-.  Even a blunt arrow shot by a youngster hitting you at the back of the knee, ankle, neck or coccyx hurts and - gives you pause.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avz1O27Dz50&t=84s

The Castilians called for reinforcements and advanced once again on the town.  The centre of this attack was “a fair and great dwelling” that we can surmise was the (now) Town Cellar still attached (then) to the King Charles pub.  Possibly the missing section had the “fair tower with a roof shaped like a cup”.  They pushed the locals back and out, finding “all manner of arms, bolts (arrows? Cloth?), rigging, sails and all the furnishings of ships of war”.  Despite the no looting order they grabbed what they could, ran off back to the boats and burnt the building down.

Now with the force retiring, armed and organised local reinforcements arrived.  These were probably local household troops from local manors.   Given the distances and the dawn start I’m guessing this was early afternoon.

There is note of this force using doors as pavices to protect themselves from arbalests.  An arbalest is a heavy crossbow relying on a winch to load and with a maximum range of about 300 metres.  Some may have been with the ground forces but I would have kept most on the galleys.  A large ship with large sails is a very easy and tempting target for archers, particularly when you have provided a good source for igniting fire arrows.  Any such on the beach would have been priority targets for the archers.

A quick aside - the arabalest can shoot about 2 bolts a minute at up to 300 metres.  An arrow cut in half can provide 2 poor quality bolts.

A longbowman can shoot 8 arrows a minute up to an effective range of about 80 yards, but able to indirectly shoot about 240 yards.

So any archer shooting at the ships is going to make sure he hits the crossbowman.  Presumably there were such marksmen amongst the newly arrived retinue troops. I can see a battle of attrition born out by the account, the English tempting the crossbows from behind their pavices until they ran out of bolts while  being frugal in their response. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3QqdEX_ka8

Every "working class" man and boy was, by law, required to practice archery every Sunday, so every home had at least one bow and a supply of arrows.  The bad news is that these were wooden headed target arrows and (probably) lesser poundage bows than those deployed by the war ready retinue archers.  Think rifle used for rabbiting vs Lee Enfield.  This accounts for the huge number of arrows shot, yet the standard bearer was protected by his armour that was bent.  Such as he would have been in the centre of a hail storm as archers sought his knees, ankles, fingers and every gap in his armour.  This (from personal experience me vs 16) hurts and all you can do is “clam up tight”. “Many who had leather jerkins or surcoats were all stuck with arrows”.  Those with open faced helmets would suffer nasty wounds to the face.  This is the period where Henry Hotspur died when he opened his visor to breathe and Henry V did and got the same, the arrow sliding along his skull by the side of his eye.  When in the town arrows must have come from every direction.

The English held the higher ground and the Castilian the lower beach area.  Yet more came ashore under the Captain - this must be a final reserve, possibly looking to grab arrows and bolts for the crossbows to keep the ships safe? How did they get ashore without being shot up? I take this as more evidence of the crossbows being aboard ship and giving covering shooting

The Captain ordered his standard bearer to charge the English, who had advanced now the crossbows had depleted - which gives me reason to assume that these were on the ships as any land based ones had ammo to burn.  They charged and pushed the locals back.

Now the French appeared, all armoured prettily, off to one side - close, but not in any danger. Although one died, a Castilian.  A liaison?  Messenger?  Trying to join his countrymen and actually fight?

With this force threatening the locals' flank, the invaders were able to withdraw.  Harry’s brother was probably one of the townsfolk leaders and is the only named English casualty.

There is a curious aside that they noted the English king had taken many from this area to fight Owen Glendower.  I wonder if their raiding was designed to divert troops from the Welsh campaign or simply taking advantage of the reduction.  Did they intend joining the fight after the raid?

Any raid must have limited and achievable objective(s).  Theirs was to burn Poole down. Note the town, no mention of any lost shipping.  Were there no vessels?  Why didn’t the locals take fishing boats etc. and attack the ships?   They can claim this as a victory, but their looting allowed them to get caught and forced the retreat.