Meanwhile, the townspeople and garrison would also be getting ready for the big attack, preparing engines of their own and strengthening any weak or damaged points in the fortifications. During the siege of Paris in 885-86, the Vikings managed to destroy a main tower key to the city’s defense; by the following morning, however, the townsmen had replaced it with a new structure of wood, half again as tall as the old one.77 If the besiegers’ stone-throwers threatened a section of wall, it could be reinforced from behind, or a second wall could be built up some distance behind it. If siege towers were seen under construction, the defenders might build up the height of their own wall or towers opposite them with masonry or heavy beamwork. There would also be constant watches to stand, lest the besiegers gain the opportunity to seize the town with a surprise attack. The Catalan mercenary captain Ramon Mun-taner describes his own preparations to defend the castle of Gallipoli, which had been left badly undermanned:
I made all the women who were there put on armour—for of armour there was plenty—and ordered them to the walls, and over each division of the wall I ordered a merchant of those Catalan merchants who were there, to be the commander of the women. And I ordered half-casks and bowls of wine, mixed with a good amount of water, and much bread in every street, for those who liked to eat and drink, for I knew well that the forces outside were so great, they would not let us eat indoors. And I ordered that everyone should have good cuirasses on, for I knew that the Genoese were well provided with sharp arrows and would shoot off many. They have a fashion of shooting ceaselessly and they shoot more quarrels in one battle than Catalans would shoot in ten. And so I made every man put on armour and had the posterns of the barbican left open (for all the barbicans were stockaded) in order that I might hasten to where it was most necessary. And I also ordered physicians to be ready to assist when any man was wounded, so that he could return to the battle at once. And when I had ordained all this, where every one should be and what he should do, I went here and there with twenty men, where I saw it was most needed.78
The best defensive preparations, however, involved elements of attack. Stone-throwers, particularly small ones, were typically set up on tower tops or wherever on the ramparts there was sufficient room. Firing with this great advantage in height, they could outrange the enemy’s equivalent machines by a good distance, without having much to fear in return, except from bigger engines. The besiegers would usually set their camp out of range, but if not, they could expect to be harassed by constant fire. Special targets would be the enemy stone-throwers (which often could not be kept out of the defenders’ range since that would also be out of their own range) and any sappers advancing their siegeworks too far forward. No other tool available to the defender, however, was as powerful as the sally.
It may seem counterintuitive that men who had taken refuge behind the shelter of walls, and who were normally heavily outnumbered by their enemies, would abandon the advantages of their fortifications and come out to fight in the open. But a garrison’s attack on a besieging army enjoyed the classic advantages of the initiative, while the nature of a complete siege (one in which the besiegers encircled the town, to cut it off from reinforcement or supply) shared the inherent weaknesses of a “perimeter defense.” The outline of most towns was split into two, three, or four segments by the river or rivers passing through or around the walls, reducing the ability of a besieging army’s constituent elements to support one another. It was moreover impractical for an army to stay under arms at all times, especially in the heat of summer, when most sieges took place. The soldiers inside the town could therefore prepare and strike by surprise against just one segment of the enemy forces and, effectively, only the fraction of that segment that was then standing guard. Even if the besiegers had set up substantial defenses for their camps, or a full line of circumvallation, a sally had a good chance of doing some damage, perhaps seizing some supplies (if nothing else, the enemies’ horses killed in the fighting),79 and then escaping back through the town gates under cover of fire from the battlements, before the besiegers’ greater strength could be brought to bear. Like participation in the assault, this could be an outstanding opportunity to display boldness and prowess, as the leaders of the defense would be likely to participate themselves or at least would watch from the walls—perhaps in company with the ladies of the town. A sally force would often be specifically directed to the destruction of troublesome stone-throwers or worrisome siege towers or to collapse mine entrances, and not infrequently it would succeed in these missions. If the disproportion between the overall strength of the defenders and the besiegers was not too great, a sally could even be scaled up to an all-out attempt to inflict a piecemeal defeat on the latter and break the siege entirely.
World History
