We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2022
In 1122, William VI, count of Auvergne, seized the town of Clermont, along with its cathedral. The contemporary French chronicler Suger of St. Denis offers this cryptic statement on how it was accomplished: ‘[Aimeri, bishop of Clermont], appealing to the lord king, laid before him a tearful complaint on behalf of the Church, that the count of Auvergne had occupied the city and had fortified the Church of the Blessed Mary through the deception of his dean, together with many tyrannical acts’. No other information is provided. Who was this dean? Why did he help William? What was the nature of the fraus he committed and how did it help William fortify the cathedral? It is not always possible to tell how and why a stronghold fell, especially when chroniclers use vague terms such as ‘fraud’ or ‘treachery’. Some cases, however, are more explicit and commanders are depicted actively soliciting traitors in the enemy garrison. This was a sound strategy, as it allowed the attackers to take a stronghold quickly, without risking a full-frontal assault. Frontinus dedicated a section of his Strategemata to various examples of how to entice members of a garrison to commit treachery (‘De eliciendis ad proditionem’):
Marcus Marcellus, when he had solicited a certain Sosistratus of Syracuse to commit treachery, learned from him that the guards would be more slack on a feast day, when Epicydes was going to provide much wine and food. So, lying in wait for the merry-making (and what followed it), he scaled the walls and, when the sentries had been cut down, he opened the city, famous for noble victories, to the Roman army.
When discussing siege warfare, medieval chroniclers would sometimes present bribery as the logical alternative to violent assault. This is a variation of the common topos of presenting force and trickery as two potential methods of achieving victory (see Chapter 8). For example, Roger of Wendover described Louis VIII of France's advance to La Rochelle (ruled at that time by Henry III of England) in 1224 as follows: ‘In that same year Louis, king of the French, led a grand army to La Rochelle, to conquer the town either by arms or by money’.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
