[Norman Conquest 01] Wolves in Armour (42 page)

All of the Hundred thegns had been invited, including those who held church lands at Wrabness, The Naze, St Osyth and Clacton- except the minions of Robert fitzWymarc and Earl Ralph. A number of thegns from Lexden Hundred attended, although their numbers had been depleted by the recent Danish raid.

The village green was thronged with those men and women of local importance and the villagers of Wivenhoe, Thorrington, Alresford, Elmstead, Frating and Great Bentley, all wearing their best clothes. Clouds of pleasant-smelling smoke rose from the cooking pits where numbers of pigs and sheep and oxen were being roasted whole on spits. Tables had been set up to receive the food, and in three places around the Green barrels of ale stood behind serving tables ready to be served when the festivities commenced. From the crowd and festival atmosphere it was almost as if a fair were being held.

After chatting for some time with the invited guests, now joined by his future in-laws Raedwald, Lidmann, Garrett and Betlic, Alan changed his clothing in Father Ator’s house and emerged to whistles and calls of appreciation at the finery he had donned. He was a man who didn’t like standing around waiting and doing nothing, but he was now encountering the dual problems of his situation. Firstly, there was no accurate method of keeping track of time. In large towns or cities time was dictated by the ringing of the bells of the local monastery every three hours. In a village the time was whatever most of the residents agreed. The second was that the tendency of the bridal party to be late is long established. Fortunately it was a warm day, with a few high clouds in the sky to prevent it becoming hot. As required by law the ceremony was taking place outside in the open, on the steps of the wooden church.

Eventually there was a stir in the crowd, starting near the Hall, and the crowd began to coalesce as the bridal party moved towards the church. Anne’s young nieces and nephews ran ahead of the bridal party casting showers of flower petals on the path.

Anne, arm in arm with Orvin, walked in a stately manner towards the groom’s party, now standing on the steps of the church with Father Ator. Her dress, full length and not quite brushing the ground, matched Alan’s tunic, golden silk embroidered in black. It was tight at the bodice and waist before flowing wide at the hips and cut low at the front, but not immodestly so, and had sleeves that hung loose from below the elbow.

The bridesmaids, her sister Mae and sister-in-law Ellette, both wore tight-fitting dresses of burgundy-coloured silk. Fortunately they both had the figures to carry-off the desired effect. All three wore their hair loose and long, unusual as covered hair was the norm for women except at weddings. Anne wore a wreath of woven ivy, herbs, and flowers with gold-coloured ribbons attached and hanging loosely over the back of her head, and carried a large bouquet of flowers- the gloriosa lily, with the appearance of crushed red velvet, ivy, red rose, amaryllis, birch twigs and holly branches, parrot tulips and wheat- the last a sign of fertility.

Behind them came a train comprising the mother-of-the-bride, a group of well-dressed thegn’s wives and Anne’s maids, all four presented with new clothes for this occasion. As the bridal party appeared and moved closer, the invited guests and villagers had moved to the church steps, leaving a central pathway for the bridal party.

As they arrived, Alan winked at Orvin, who was still arm in arm with his daughter and who had hardly noticed until now. Of much the same height as Anne he was wearing a tunic of burgundy-coloured silk and black silk tights. With a smile Orvin gave Anne’s hand to Alan and took a step backwards. Anne placed a necklace made of beads of white jasper around Alan’s neck, signifying Gentleness. Alan noticed that she wore two necklaces, one of red jasper indicating Love and the other of green jasper indicating Virtue and Faith.

They turned to face Father Ator and the service began. Alan found he wasn’t able to pay much attention to the preliminary part of the service and the homily delivered by the priest. Father Ator asked if any present knew a reason why the couple should not be married and then asked Anne and Alan so that they may confess any reason prohibiting their marriage. After receiving no response from the congregation and a negative response from Anne and Alan, he proceeded.

“Alan, wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife? Wilt thou love her and honour her, keep her and guard her, in health and in sickness, as a husband should a wife, and forsaking all others on account of her, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”

Alan replied, “I will”.

“Anne, wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband? Wilt thou love him, obey him and honour him, keep him and guard him, in health and in sickness, as a wife should a husband, and forsaking all others on account of him, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”

“I will,” replied Anne.

“Who gives this woman to this man?” asked Father Ator.

“I do,” replied Orvin.

Father Ator nodded and said, “Let the bride and groom now exchange vows.”

“I, Alan, take thee, Anne to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, till death do us part, if the holy church will ordain it. And thereto I plight thee my troth,” said Alan.

“I, Anne, take thee, Alan to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, till death do us part, if the holy church will ordain it. And thereto I plight thee my troth.”

The wedding rings were presented to the priest who then blessed them, and the rings were exchanged. Alan and Anne then entered the church and approached the altar where Father Ator gave a prayer and a blessing, ending the ceremony.

When Alan and Anne walked back out through the church door there was a universal cheer and they were showered with grains of wheat. Arm in arm they walked to the centre of the village green and Alan, now lord of Wivenhoe, pronounced that the celebrations were to commence. There was another cheer and the invited guests began to drift towards the Hall where food and entertainment had been arranged for the more noble of the guests. First Alan and Anne spent about half an hour circulating amongst the crowd of cheorls, sokemen, cottars and slaves, greeting those they knew, which were nearly all from their own villages, chatting and making jokes, before they entered the Hall.

At first glance the Hall appeared in pandemonium. There were perhaps 100 people milling around in the small area between the tables that had been set up and occupied most of the Hall. After a moment or two Alan realised that in fact servants were circulating with trays bearing mugs of ale and cups of mead and wine. Others carried trays of ‘finger food’ as the hour was now well past when most ate their mid-day meal.

Walking to the high table Alan signalled for a blast on a horn to call attention, and in a loud voice asked the guests to find a seat as the celebratory meal was about to begin. With their innate knowledge of their position in the local hierarchy the guests found positions at the tables that suited their social circumstances.

After toasts to the happy couple the food began to arrive. The First Remove was zanzarella soup; chicken broth with eggs and cheese thickened with breadcrumbs and spiced with pepper; veal and egg pies spiced with ginger, pepper and mace; flampoyntes; pork pies with cottage cheese, anise and pine nuts; spinach and egg tarte with parsley and cheese with mustard greens and cress with milk of almonds. The Second Remove was seafood, with shrimps sautéed in garlic; scallops in white wine; baked cod; pan-fried flounder with garlic sauce with almonds and melted cheese sauce, with perre and makke as the vegetables. The Third Remove was meats, some from the roasting pits outside. Other offerings were stuffed suckling pig; roasted swan with bacon; chicken almond fricatellae; roast beef; stewed mutton with herbs; veal in bokenade with spices, all with fried broad beans with onions, roasted parsnip, boiled salad and peas royale with almond milk, mint, parsley and sugar. Being summer, the desserts were a variety of seasonal fruit in pies- blueberry, blackberry and strawberry- hulwa made with honey, custard tarts and six varieties of cheese ranging from plain to very piquant.

With the consumption of alcohol the gathering grew ever more noisy, only quieting when the jugglers and singers hired by Anne performed, and particularly when Owain and Alwin sang a series of duets in Welsh. Anne and Mae sang a set of English love songs, accompanied by Owain on the lute and Alwin on the pan pipes.

Halfway through the proceedings came the time that Alan had been dreading- the dances. Having practiced over the past several days Anne knew that Alan danced with all the elegance of an ox. Fortunately the dances were quite simple and there were no complicated steps to memorise. They danced a simple duet, before being joined by some of the other guests in a carole, a circular dance.

The space in the Hall had allowed only a limited area to be provided for entertainment so only a few could take the floor at any time. This was followed by a number of other community dances such as a chain-dance, a brandsle and a pavane. At ‘Hole in the Wall’ Alan found the footwork too difficult and handed Anne to Edward and retired to the high table to sit with Orvin, who was sipping wine. Most of the male guests were like Alan, men with better footwork with a sword than on the dance floor, and the number of dancers participating fell to those dances involving two to four couples at a time. The six musicians played lutes, flutes, a psaltery and a small hand-drum.

At about the time of Vespers in the late evening, between dances and music, Alan rose and called for silence, stilling the dull roar of the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen! Friends all! I thank you for coming to share our nuptials this day. The event has been made all the more solemn by your attendance and more enjoyable by your participation in the festivities this afternoon. Please stay and enjoy the fellowship and hospitality as long as you wish, but the bride and groom must now depart so we can be at our destination of Thorrington before nightfall. We both thank you again for your attendance this day, and look forward to our future meetings. May God bless you all!”

The response was a cheer and a number of ribald comments, although not as many as usual, given that all present knew that Alan and Anne had already been living together for some weeks. Alan and Anne proceeded to the bedchamber where they changed into riding clothes. Accompanied by ten sober Wolves in full armour, a slightly tipsy Osmund, Leof and two giggling maids they rode off with the lowering sun at their backs.

They arrived at Thorrington a little before dark and visited the festivities still continuing at the village green, greeting each person by name, before they proceeded to the Hall. After greeting all in the Hall they proceeded to the bedchamber and their first privacy of the day.

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Next morning they luxuriated by lying abed and basking in the afterglow of several mutually satisfactory couplings. Eventually, driven by a full bladder, Alan suggested that they rise and he would present the Morning Gifts before Anne’s family arrived from Wivenhoe. After they dressed, in much more mundane clothes than they had worn the previous day, Alan led to the way across the Hall grounds to the armoury. Once inside the large building, and her eyes had accustomed themselves to the gloom, Anne saw fifty sets each of a chain-mail byrnie, helmet, sword and spear lying on a shield. “Not perhaps the most romantic of gifts, but practical,” said Alan.

“I’ll put them to good use at Wivenhoe. The fyrdmen will be properly equipped for the first time and I know it’s your intention to teach them how to use them,” said Anne solemnly, remembering the time barely six weeks ago when the men of her village were fighting for their very lives and those of their kin. This gift may not be romantic, but was both practical and necessary.

“I’d suggest that we also build a bailey next to the Wivenhoe village as a place of refuge in case next time we are not lucky enough to get adequate warning. I don’t think it needs a motte as raiders aren’t going to sit down for days for an extended siege. Something akin to a small
burgh
, which is more of less what I’ve built here. Colchester is always going to draw Dane and Norwegians like bees to a honey-pot on a regular basis, and the village is on their route both to and from the city. The village also needs a small garrison and a suitable commander,” commented Alan as they walked back to the Hall.

“It is now yours to do as you will, my lord,” said Anne with a slight note of both irony and regret in her voice.

“I don’t think so,” replied Alan brightly. “I’ve plenty of other manors to take my time and attention and Wivenhoe will always be yours. You just have to pay the Heriot out of your own share of money!” the last with a big smile to show that the comment was meant in jest.

Inside the Hall he led the way to his office. Once there he pulled out several packages sewn into covers of hessian and covered with oiled linen. He first placed two large packages of similar dimensions on his desk, each about eighteen inches wide by two feet high and five inches thick. He handed Anne a small sharp knife which she used to cut away the covering of the first package, revealing a large book bound in a simple red leather cover, with a plain gold cross and the Roman number “II” on the cover. Alan gave a snort of amusement and commented, “A choice of two and I had to give you the wrong one first!”