Army of the Wolf Read Free

crushed by a great crusader army.
    *****
    Lübeck had been thrown into a frenzy of delight when news reached the city of the Christian victory over the pagans at the Battle of St Matthew’s Day. The city fathers had authorised three days of celebrations and heralds had been despatched to the towns and cities of Germany to relay the news that the crusade in Livonia had been won. Pope Honorius III had declared that it was a sign from God that His crusaders would achieve victory in all countries and everyone considered it an auspicious omen for the great crusade that was being led in the Holy Land by King Andrew of Hungary. All of Christendom was certain that Jerusalem would soon be taken from the heathen Saracens.
    Bishop Albert had been treated like a returning conquering hero by the great cities of northern Germany and he had lost count of the number of banquets he had attended in his honour. But as the winter turned to spring and he prepared to return to Livonia a terrible realisation had dawned on him: everyone believed that the war in Livonia had been won and thus there was no need to go on crusade against the Baltic pagans.
    ‘I will have to stay in Germany for another year,’ declared Albert without any enthusiasm.
    He picked at the venison on the silver platter in front of him and then pushed it away, sighing with frustration. A young monk dressed in a white habit came forward to fill his goblet with wine. Albert waved him away. Lübeck’s bishop’s palace reflected Albert’s position as a ‘prince’ of the church, being a two-storey brick building filled with a court, reception rooms, bedrooms, dining hall, kitchens, library and private chapel.
    Theodoric looked around at the silver candleholders, silver platters and rich furnishings that covered the walls and chairs.
    ‘Perhaps the church could purchase more mercenaries to bolster our numbers in Livonia.’
    Theodoric had spent nearly three months in Novgorod as the guest of Prince Mstislav, during which time they had thrashed out a peace treaty of sorts that gave Novgorod access to the Gauja as a trade route. In the depths of winter the prince had given him an escort to make the journey back to Riga, from where he had taken ship as soon as the ice had left the Dvina. Formerly the Abbot of Dünamünde Monastery, a fortified oasis of calm west of Riga, he had been created Bishop of Estonia by Albert and was eager to take up his bishopric, half of which was still under pagan control.
    ‘You need knights on horseback to win wars,’ said Abbot Bernhard.
    ‘I fear it is so,’ remarked Albert, casting him further into despair.
    The silence was uncomfortable as both Theodoric and Bernhard decided it would be bad manners to continue eating while Bishop Albert sat glum faced, and so they indicated to the monks standing behind them to take their platters away.
    Albert toyed with the gold ring on the fourth finger of his right hand and then looked at Bernhard.
    ‘Abbot, as a man who was a veteran of many campaigns before God called you, what would be your advice on how to resolve the problem of recruiting sufficient numbers of holy warriors?’
    Bernhard had replaced Theodoric as Abbot of Dünamünde, having given up his position of Lord of Lippe to enter the church. A hard-bitten soldier, he had entered the Cistercian Order as a simple monk but his talents had been brought to the attention of Theodoric. He was now nearly seventy-eight years old and rather frail, but his mind was as sharp as a newly forged blade.
    ‘The Sword Brothers alone are not strong enough to conquer northern Estonia while at the same time holding the garrisons along the Dvina and Gauja,’ he said. ‘The new crusade in the Holy Land might make recruiting sufficient numbers of knights difficult as many of them will have joined that expedition. It will be a hard task to persuade men to go to Livonia if they believe that it is merely a case of mopping up the last pagan dregs.’
    ‘You do not