History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 119

But Henry, too, was a great employer of mercenaries; he used Flemings against the
Welsh in 1165, and there were Brabanters in his force for the defence of Rouen in
1173. The value he placed upon them can be gauged from the terms of his Assize of
Arms of 1181, which tries to assimilate the armament of wealthier men liable to
service in the fyrd to that of the Brabanter pikemen.
Henry usually kept his mercenaries for service in France. The only time that they
appeared in force in England was during the feudal rebellion of 1173-4, and then they
met a great body of Flemish routiers serving on the other side. Count Philip of
Flanders had sent over a column of 400 picked men to Earl Bigod. They were
unsuccessful in an attack on Dunwich, but captured Norwich, and at the end of the
rebellion the Earl obtained permission to send off his auxiliaries in peace.
The 3,000 Flemings who served with the Earl of Leicester were not so fortunate, for
while marching from Suffolk to Leicester they were intercepted and beaten. They had
roused the country-side by their ravages, and the peasantry gave them no quarter, so
that only a few survived. One of their marching songs has come down to us: “Hop,
hop, Willeken, hop!” and “England is mine and thine.”
Succeeding kings continued to employ mercenaries. Richard I had the assistance of
Flemings ag