The Gatehouse of Carisbrooke Castle
The French did not go far and next day landed on the
Isle of Wight. Tovar had, of course, been here before and knew the lie of the
land. He knew that the key to the island was Carisbrooke Castle, and sent a
fast-marching column of men to capture the place. The column of men was led by
a French knight, possibly the Sir Jean de Raix who had led the landing at Rye.
A second column went to Yarmouth and a third to Newtown, then the two biggest
towns on the island.
The column that reached Carisbrooke found the
gates of the castle firmly shut and the commander, Sir Hugh Tyrrel refusing
even to discuss terms. The other columns encountered less opposition. Rather
than spend time plundering and trying to find hidden treasures, Vienne offered
the terrified civilians - who unlike those at Rye had nowhere to run - a deal.
If they paid him 1,000 marks he would go away and leave both them and their
property intact. A mark was the equivalent of 160 pennies, so at a time when
the average workman was paid two pennies a day this was a huge sum of money.
Nevertheless the people of the Isle of Wight managed to find the ready cash and
handed it over.
Instead of leaving, however, Viennes merely
settled down to lay siege to Carisbrooke Castle. A siege could be a tedious
business, and Vienne had many demands on his time. Not least he had to use his
ships to keep control of the Solent to stop any English relief force crossing
over.
Carisbrooke
Castle on the Isle of Wight managed to hold out against the French raiders, but
the rest of the island was pillaged and the local authorities were persuaded at
swordpoint to pay the raiders a large sum of cash to go away without burning
every building to the ground.
On a day when Viennes was absent and another
French knight was in charge of the siege, Tyrell decided that the time had come
to teach the French a lesson. Keeping his preparations hidden from French view,
Tyrell mustered his men for a sally. First local knight Sir Peter de Heyno, who
lived at Stenbury, offered to shoot the French commander. He fetched what he
called his “silver bow” and stood at an arrowslit until the French knight came
within sight. Pulling his bow back to its maximum bend, Heyno let loose. His
arrow flew true, struck the French man in the chest and knocked him from his
horse.
That was the signal Tyrell had been waiting
for. The castle gates were thrown open and the English soldiers streamed out. A
short, but savage battle followed that saw the besieging French overwhelmed by
the sudden onslaught. Tyrell had brought lit torches and kindling with him, so
he was quickly able to set fire to the French siege engines and made sure that
they were well alight before pulling his men back into the castle.
When he heard of the sally, Viennes realised
that he was not going to gain much more from the Isle of Wight. Calling Tyrell
“a dangerous serpent”, he abandoned the siege and marched his men back on board
the ships. It was now 21 August.
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