King Henry's Champion (25 page)

She shook her head and laughed, “What am I thinking.  Of course you have been busy. He is the most gentle of babies and he looks just like his father.” She squeezed my hand as she said that.

“I would not hurt Count Geoffrey.  I have come to like him.  In many ways he feels like another son to me.”

“And does that make me his mother? We are the same age, Alfraed!”

“No, Empress.  Do not confuse a war horse like myself.  You know I have no skill with words.”

“No, for you are both honest and true.  Perhaps you are the last true knight.  After all how many other knights are chosen to champion an Empress and then a King.” She squeezed my hand again. “But take care, Alfraed. Both the King and I will need you again.”

Before I could speak the door opened and Margaret slipped inside, “Your husband, Empress.”

As I began to rise she grabbed my face and kissed me on the lips.

“Take care.”

I stood and tried to regain my composure. Margaret went to straighten the covers and I opened the door.  The Count was half way down the corridor. He spied me. “Excellent.  I was going to suggest that you said goodbye to my wife but your ship is loaded and the captain is keen to depart.”

He came down to the quay on the Maine. “I will let you know how things go here across the Channel.” He clasped my hand. “And promise me that when he is old enough you will train my son Henry to become as great a knight as you.”

“I swear that I will do that, my lord.”

“Then God speed.”

We boarded the cog and headed west down the twisting Maine to join the Loire and then the sea.  It would be a long journey home but I had much to occupy my mind.

The wind helped us to fly home.  We had been away so long we had missed almost half a year.  Summer was all around.  John son of Leofric had mountains of letters and messages; many were from the Bishop of Durham whilst others were from the Archbishop and the Earl of Gloucester.  My absence had, it seemed, been noted. Father Henry took the news of the death of the assassin with rather more joy than I would have expected from a man of God and my men at arms mourned Roger of Lincoln’s death by drinking the town dry.  Roger would have appreciated the gesture. My squires were busy with their war horses and I had time to sit and reflect. 

I went to my eastern tower and took a glass of wine. I had a murderess still trying to kill me. I had offended two kings and made more enemies in a short time than most men do in a lifetime. I had a son I could never acknowledge. And I was alone. I made a decision. I would never take another woman.  I made that promise to myself and I would keep it.  Secondly I would dedicate my life to two purposes, I would protect England from all her enemies and I would fight for the Empress and her son with every fibre of my being.

The news reached us in early August that the Empress had given birth in June to Geoffrey, her second son.  She had nearly died.  They had sent for priests and given her the last rites. God had saved her.  I wondered if God had made that decision when I swore to abjure women and fight for England and the Empress. I believed it was.  God had made a pact with me.  He had saved the Empress and I would uphold my side. England, the Empress and Henry Plantagenet would be safe so long as I lived.

Allaghia- a subdivision of a Bandon-about 400 hundred men (Byzantium)

Akolouthos - The commander of the Varangian Guard (Byzantium)

Al-Andalus- Spain

Angevin- the people of Anjou, mainly the ruling family

Bandon- Byzantine regiment of cavalry -normally 1500 men (Byzantium)

Battle- a formation in war (a modern battalion)

Booth Castle – Bewcastle north of Hadrian’s Wall

Cadge- the frame upon which hunting birds are carried (by a codger- hence the phrase old codger being the old man who carries the frame)

Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd- Son of Gruffudd ap Cynan

Conroi- A group of knights fighting together

Demesne- estate

Destrier- war horse

Doxy- prostitute

Fess- a horizontal line in heraldry

Gambeson- a padded tunic worn underneath mail.  When worn by an archer they came to the waist. It was more of a quilted jacket but I have used the term freely

Gonfanon- A standard used in Medieval times (Also known as a Gonfalon in Italy)

Gruffudd ap Cynan- King of Gwynedd until 1137

Hartness- the manor which became Hartlepool

Hautwesel- Haltwhistle

Kataphractos (pl. oi)- Armoured Byzantine horseman (Byzantium)

Kometes/Komes- General (Count) (Byzantium)

Kentarchos- Second in command of an Allaghia (Byzantium)

Kontos (pl. oi) - Lance (Byzantium)

Lusitania- Portugal

Mansio- staging houses along Roman Roads

Maredudd ap Bleddyn- King of Powys

Mêlée- a medieval fight between knights

Musselmen- Muslims

Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)

Nomismata- a gold coin equivalent to an aureus

Outremer- the kingdoms of the Holy Land

Owain ap Gruffudd- Son of Gruffudd ap Cynan and King of Gwynedd from 1137

Palfrey- a riding horse

Poitevin- the language of Aquitaine

Pyx- a box containing a holy relic (Shakespeare’s Pax from Henry V)

Refuge- a safe area for squires and captives (tournaments)

Sauve qui peut – Every man for himself (French)

Serdica- Sofia (Byzantium)

Surcoat- a tunic worn over mail or armour

Sumpter- pack horse

Tagmata- Byzantine cavalry (Byzantium)

Turmachai -Commander of a Bandon of cavalry (Byzantium)

Ventail – a piece of mail which covered the neck and the lower face.

Wulfestun- Wolviston (Durham)

Map courtesy of Wikipedia

Courtesy of Wikipedia –Public Domain

The book is set during one of the most turbulent and complicated times in British history. Henry I of England and Normandy’s eldest son William died. The king named his daughter, the Empress Matilda as his heir.  However her husband, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire died and she remarried.  Her new husband was Geoffrey of Anjou and she had children by him. (The future Henry II of England and Normandy- The Lion in Winter!)

I have used the word Saxon many times both for the language and the people.  The invasion of the Normans had only taken place some fifty or sixty years before this book was set.  Both the language and the people would change and evolve.  The Normans tried to impose their language upon the Saxons who already lived there.  It did not work and Anglo-Saxon or English as it became known prevailed. Part of this was due to the fact that the Norman ladies used Saxon/English nannies to look after their babies and children.  As they spoke to them in their native tongue the young Normans grew up speaking English.  Of course many Norman words became part of English- honour, chivalry, ham, lake but it took another century, until after the time of Richard 1st, for one language to be used throughout the land. In my next book I will change the word Saxon for English.  By the time of Henry 1st's death the ordinary folk thought of themselves as English.

A cog was a small trading ship which developed from the Viking knarr.  It had high sides and a flat bottom.  There was one sail and steering oar on the starboard (steer board) side. By this time some had had small wooden castles built at the bow and stern and these were used to house archers.  These ships would be built bigger as the centuries wore on.  They had no deck save at the stern where the ship was conned. The holds were covered with canvas when they had goods to transport.

I have introduced Eleanor of Aquitaine here.  She was about 8 in 1129 and her father was Duke William.  As she eventually marries Matilda's son I thought I would introduce her. The Empress Matilda did leave her husband in 1130.  It was not a happy marriage.

The Emperor John Komnenos fought against the Hungarians under King later Saint Stephen.  He lost and had to sue for peace.  The incident with our hero is purely fictional.

There was never an Earl of Cleveland although the area known as Cleveland did exist and was south of the river.  At this time the only northern earls were those of Northumberland.  The incumbent was Gospatric who rebelled against England when King Henry died.

The Scots were taking advantage of a power vacuum on their borders.  They did, according to chroniclers of the time behave particularly badly.

"
an execrable army, more atrocious than the pagans, neither fearing God nor regarding man, spread desolation over the whole province and slaughtered everywhere people of either sex, of every age and rank, destroying, pillaging and burning towns, churches and houses
"

"
Then (horrible to relate) they carried off, like so much booty, the noble matrons and chaste virgins, together with other women. These naked, fettered, herded together; by whips and thongs they drove before them, goading them with their spears and other weapons. This took place in other wars, but in this to a far greater extent.
"

"For the sick on their couches, women pregnant and in childbed, infants in the womb, innocents at the breast, or on the mother's knee, with the mothers themselves, decrepit old men and worn-out old women, and persons debilitated from whatever cause, wherever they met with them, they put to the edge of the sword, and transfixed with their spears; and by how much more horrible a death they could dispatch them, so much the more did they rejoice."

Robert of Hexham

Meanwhile Matilda’s half brother, Robert of Gloucester (one of Henry’s bastards) declared for Matilda and a civil war ensued. The war went on until Stephen died and was called the anarchy because everyone was looking out for themselves.  There were no sides as such. Allies could become enemies overnight.  Murder, ambush and assassination became the order of the day. The only warriors who could be relied upon were the household knights of a lord- his oathsworn. The feudal system, which had been an ordered pyramid, was thrown into confusion by the civil war. Lords created their own conroi, or groups of knights and men at arms. Successful lords would ensure that they had a mixture of knights, archers and foot soldiers. The idea of knights at this time always fighting on horseback is not necessarily true.  There were many examples of knights dismounting to fight on foot and, frequently, this proved to be successful.