Disguising appearances and activities are essential aspects of covert operations and espionage. Here, is a story about one early summer covert operation of 1205.
In May 1205 Savari de Mauléon, described by at least one chronicler as a ‘dear friend’ of King John, was campaigning in France on behalf of the English king in an attempt to recover some of the lands lost by the king the previous year. One of the successes of the campaign was the re-capture of the castle of Niort, on the River Sèvre in what is now western France. The chronicler known as the Anonymous of Béthune, writing some twenty years after these events, records how Savari knew one of the customs of the town well: the fetching of the ‘May’. Likely, as suggested by Paul Webster in the historical notes to the 2021 edition, what in England from the late medieval period became known as the celebration of fetching, raising and dressing a Maypole, or to those of a Scandinavian leaning, like myself, as the celebration of the Midsummer pole. Either way, this can be described as a custom celebrating the longer days of spring and summer and the return of leaves and blooms.
Savari knew that the citizens would go out to the local woods to fetch the ‘May’ on the first day of that month and so stationed himself and his men in such a way that they could not be seen, before joining in with the locals: ‘He was all covered in May blossoms and so were all the men with him, so that the men at the gates were deceived, thinking that these were their own townfolk coming back from the woods, and they let them in.’ Once inside Savari and his men quickly secured the castle inside the town and then rounded up the citizens still in the woods, forcing them to provide hostages to have peace (History of the Dukes of Normandy, tr. J. Shirley, London, 2021, p. 113).
The chronicler effectively depicts Savari as achieving this victory without spilling a single drop of blood. The surveillance of the town and the act of disguising himself and his men in blooms is described by the Anonymous of Béthune as a ‘very clever trick’ – a characteristic of the noble knight found in medieval literature such as chansons de geste, romances and epics. Many medieval writers, however, complain that such tactics were underhand and treacherous, carried out by those with a questionable reputation for criminal activities or those from a non-elite background. This hints clearly at a wish to distinguish between on the one hand diplomacy and warfare – legitimate business carried out by a ruler’s loyal elite followers whether as envoys/ambassadors or as military leaders – and on the other espionage – ‘grey-zone’ warfare which should be done by those of a non-elite or criminal background because it could not be clearly justified within a legal and moral context. In practice, of course, the gulf between legitimate and illegitimate business in war and peace was (and is) not very wide.
That the depiction of Savari as the loyal, chivalrous military leader had murkier beginnings is evident. Just three years earlier he had been one of those supporting the claim to the vast Angevin lands of Arthur – John’s nephew by his deceased older brother Geoffrey. In 1202 these supporters had attempted to capture the castle of Mirabeau, with the mother of John and grandmother of Arthur, Eleanor of Aquitaine, still inside. The move was thwarted by a swift-acting John, who achieved a stunning military victory and the capture of many of his enemies, including Arthur and Savari. John’s nephew famously disappeared in mysterious circumstances, while Savari was transported to England and imprisoned in Corfe castle. Documentary records indicate that he was freed at some point in 1204 and appointed seneschal of Poitou. The Anonymous of Béthune, however, tells a sordid tale of Savari getting his guards drunk and then killing them with an axe while they were sleeping. When John arrived at the castle to deal with this debacle, he was persuaded to be merciful, and Savari swore loyalty to the English king and handed over his wife and mother as sureties (History of the Dukes of Normandy, tr. J. Shirley, London, 2021, pp. 112-13).
Here, then is that familiar trope that those engaging in espionage or covert military operations were prone to other acts of violence or criminal activity, including disloyalty and treason. Sorting those who were treacherous criminals from those who were noble, loyal and ingenious in their trickery was clearly in the eye of the beholder writing. The depiction in this chronicle of Savari and his men disguising themselves in blossoms hints also at other tales of disguises, such as cross-dressing, that reveal that disguise, trickery and treachery had a gendered aspect. Very often such tales have the same starting point as this one: captivity. A status, which left individuals in unenviable positions but tells us quite a lot about the unscrupulous recruitment tactics of rulers with regards to espionage activities. The extent to which Savari needed much persuasion is perhaps moot – he was richly rewarded for changing his allegiance to King John.
War, Peace and Diplomacy in the Middle Ages 
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