[Norman Conquest 01] Wolves in Armour (53 page)

Alan was smiling broadly at the laconic and understated delivery and promised himself the opportunity to talk in more detail in the future.

“And what would have been your most interesting journey?” asked Osmund with interest.

“Ah! That would have been when I was a lad, about eighteen, young and foolish. I joined Knut Sweinsson. Three longboats. Finland. To the Niva. Lake Ladoga. The Volkhov River. Novogrod. The Volga. Astrakan. The Caspian. Constantinople. The Levant. Greece. Iberia. Back home. The voyage took three years. We brought back a shit-load of treasure- the boat was nearly sinking from the weight of the gold and silver. Porting the boats overland was shit,” replied Bjorn.

Alan gave a laugh that such an epic voyage could be dismissed in so few words and spent the rest of the evening wheedling the details out of Bjorn’s capacious memory. He suggested that Osmund and Bjorn spend a few days together to record what was clearly an outstanding achievement.

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King William sighed and sat back in his chair, tapping on the table a roll of parchment which was tied with a red ribbon. A pile of other parchment rolls occupied part of the table. Chancellor Regenbald and a French scribe sat at the ends of the table with Alan sitting facing the king. “You seem to have managed to have infuriated just about everybody you have come across, except Regenbald here who speaks in your favour.”

Alan frowned and said, “That’s a little unfair. I’ve come across a lot people since last I saw you eleven months ago, and most of them haven’t complained!” It was Monday the 10th of December and they were at the palace at Westminster. William had returned to England four days previously and Alan and Anne had been at their newly refurbished house at Holebourn Bridge outside London when he arrived.

“Accusing royal officers of corruption, including the earl of your own shire. Spreading dissent by seeking out those with grievances, not only in your own shire but also in Suffolk. Abusing your position of Chief Judge of the Hundred court. Illegally fining a Norman landholder for the actions of his servant. Threatening another that you would cut off the stream that feeds his fishery. And castrating and putting out the eyes of the Norman servant of a Norman lord. You almost seem to be at war with your own people. Oh, and creating a miraculous victory against a raiding Danish army, calling on God to destroy them with fire and raising your own private army! I believe that they call you ‘the king of Tendring Hundred’. Let me assure you that Tendring and the rest of England only has one king,” said William ominously.

Alan laughed long and loud, slapping the table in his mirth, with William raising an eyebrow as if he did not see the allegations as being grounds for humour.

“I see Bishop William and Earl Ralph, and possibly fitzWymarc and Engelric, have been in your ear already, although I think Engelric too clever to overstate his case,” he said. “The fact is that all four men have been raping your kingdom while you’ve been gone- along with many others. Obtaining money for the royal treasury under your instructions is one thing. Unlawfully enriching themselves at the expense of the people, and you, is another. These depositions show just some of their actions, from men and women strong enough to stand and say nay and appeal to you. I’m sure that they have all been resolved as administrative mistakes by now, Chancellor Regenbald?” asked Alan.

Regenbald nodded and said, “Apart from a few cases of junior officers either exceeding their authority or acting for their own benefit.”

Alan gave a sarcastic laugh. “The extent to which you wish to review the decision regarding the Redemption Relief by the various officers in your shires is up to you, Sire, but they have been receiving nearly as much money as you have.” Deciding to take the bull by the horns Alan continued, “William fitzOsbern has done a good job, while much beset by problems with the Welsh. Your other half-brother Odo has been having problems in Kent largely as a result of his own thievery and the theft of property, including church property. In the circumstances, who did you expect me or anybody else in the kingdom to complain to?

“What next? The decisions of the Hundred court? The transcripts were forwarded to Regenbald and I am happy to abide by whatever you decide after reading them. Confessions in court by those accused. The fact that the servant died after being blinded and castrated wasn’t my fault. I had him returned to his lord to be cared for. Is it my fault that he was then thrown out on the street and bled to death? All proper procedures were followed and the sentences were according to law. The fact that Bishop William and his men and their servants believe themselves above the law is not my fault.

“Winning a victory against the Danish raiders? I would have thought that a matter for congratulation rather than condemnation. They’d ravaged part of Lexden Hundred and I suppose I was supposed to let them do the same with Tendring Hundred while the sheriff sat safe and snug in his city walls and did nothing? Yes, I called out the fyrd. No, I had no authority to do so. I was the man on the ground, having to make the hard decisions. You’ve been there and done that yourself. Sometimes a decision must be made within minutes. That’s what you and I have been trained to do. I made a decision that really was not mine to make. The men came as called and we took the Danes by surprise and ‘kicked arse’. Having God ‘rain fires from the sky’! How many bishops did you have at Hastings? If they, and the pope, can’t get that to happen, what chance do I? Absolute rubbish! I did have some onagers to throw some rocks on their heads,” said Alan with less than honesty, bending the truth almost beyond recognition.

“Onagers?” asked William.

“Yes, I have four now, and a few ballistae,” replied Alan.

“I’ll have to make sure you are at my next siege!” commented William.

“It’s all nothing new. It’s all in the books the Romans wrote 500 years or so ago. No real changes since then, except that the cataphracts are now called knights and don’t have bows. You’ve learned your history and that tells you what to do now. I just apply what other people learned in the past. If you don’t have copies already, I can send you copies of the works of Vegetius’
Epitoma rei militaris
.”

William inclined his head. “I do have a copy, thank you for the offer. Perhaps I need to read it again! What of being ‘the king of Tendring Hundred’?” he asked with a smile.

“That’s not a big kingdom!” replied Alan. “As you said, Tendring, like England, only has one king- which is not me! Certainly I have some influence there, your gift of manors and jurisdiction in the Hundred court made sure of that. The Danish raiders provided both an incentive and an opportunity. The Hundred learned that the sheriff would not act to protect them, and when they protected themselves they won booty, mainly in weapons, that was distributed amongst those who fought. Myself and my Norman retainers have spent some time teaching the fyrd how to fight, and they’ll give a good account for themselves next time they’re in the battlefield. My men are your men, and the fyrd when next called out will do well.”

“When next called out by whom?” asked William, tilting his head to one side in query.

Alan smiled. “To be honest, probably by me. FitzWymarc had the opportunity in the spring to protect the shire from the Danes. He sat at Colchester and did nothing. The shire residents remember that and also remember who did take up the challenge. I have my obligations to you and also to my people. As regards fitzWymarc, there are seventeen Hundreds in Essex. If you make a full call for the fyrd, I expect my men, from one Hundred, would account for a quarter of the total who respond- and who will all be trained and properly equipped, not arriving at the battlefield with pitch-forks and scythes and no idea what to do. The fyrd fitzWymarc raises cannot protect the shire. The fyrd I raise from my Hundred can and has.”

William sighed and said, “I’m told to beware of your political ambitions.”

Alan laughed. “I have no political ambitions. I made my oath of homage to you. I hold eight manors. I seek no more. I don’t want to be an earl. That’s too much work and too much responsibility. I’ve been quietly sitting in my little corner of England causing as little trouble as possible, while looking after my people, Norman and English, and doing my duties as best I can. Some Normans seem to think that the law and accepted practice don’t apply to them. Even in Essex we have been hearing of Hugh fitzGrip’s pillaging of Dorset, apparently in your name as he is the sheriff, and fitzScrob in Hereford.”

William snorted and said, “And your ‘army’ in Essex?”

“I’m not sure that you can call 26 huscarles and 20 mounted men-at-arms an army,” replied Alan. “Most armies have more than 50 men. These are more than I can afford from the revenues of my estates, but my wife and her family are wealthy merchants and at the moment are prepared to support the military men I have raised to support the defence of the Hundred- from their money, not mine. My obligation is six men, which I can afford,” said Alan, blithely ignoring the truth. “I had to take possession of three of the manors you gave as part of my honour from the family of the previous landholder, and my men had to kill two of those who felt they had a better claim. One was killed by my Englishmen as he attacked me with sword drawn. Most of my ‘army’, led by two of my Normans, is garrisoning those three manors to keep the locals in line.”

“My Norman lords tell me that you ‘have gone native’ and become more English than the English.”

“Hardly! I have four Normans in charge of my troops. As you yourself know, finding Normans in the army who will act reasonably and honestly and cause their lord no difficulties is like finding gold on the beach. By definition, the Normans and Frenchmen who have come here are ambitious men seeking money and position. I don’t have a problem with that, but many men are going outside of what is acceptable behaviour even for invaders. I count myself lucky to have the four I have. As for the junior officers and spear-fodder, the English do well enough for that. I speak their language, which I need to do if I want to understand them and be able to give even simple instructions to a spearman. Even with a quite liberal policy to my geburs and thegns I find I still need the mailed fist inside the velvet glove.

“I have preferred, in the Hundred court, claims by English against the men of Bishop William. Ordering an English servant to severely beat the steward of a neighbouring thegn who is relaying a complaint, or a Norman servant who blatantly rapes an English maid of good repute in a neighbouring village, is not acceptable to me as Justice of the Hundred court. If you expect a different approach, I’m happy enough to resign and you can appoint who you wish. Even on campaign you regularly hang those of your soldiers caught in rape- without the benefit of a trial. You forbade me to hang Normans or French, so I used the penalty you specified- blinding and castration. It wasn’t my fault that the man died after his own lord turned him out after we returned the felon to him after punishment.”

“And you’ve taken an English wife, I hear.”

Alan nodded and said, “I’m not alone in that, both before and after the conquest. Until the Norman lords returned with you this week, England wouldn’t have had a handful of eligible ladies from Normandy, Maine, France, or wherever. England has a surfeit of young eligible women of quality, at least 1,000 of them widows of the thegns killed at Stamford Bridge and Hastings. Most currently have a dislike for us ‘Frenchmen’, but the bartering of brides, particularly those with land, has already begun and I’m sure will gain pace now that the great lords who accompanied you to Normandy have returned.

“I understand that there is a rush for places in nunneries by those seeking to avoid the marriages arranged for them. Arranged marriages are usual of course, but not usually in return for cold hard cash! My lady Anne was in the process of being sold off by fitzWymarc to an elderly Norman knight who has a reputation for beating his wives to death. She was reluctant to acquiesce and saw me as a viable alternative. There is some question regarding her estate of Wivenhoe, which I would ask that you resolve. Her former husband Aelfric held the manor for over ten years. He died at Stamford Bridge. He paid no laen, no rent, to anybody, but the land ownership book cannot be found and I expect that Earl Ralph the Staller will shortly be seeking an audience with you, if he hasn’t already, claiming that land is his to dispose of as he wishes. It would cause me some difficulty, and a potential conflict of my interests to you as your man, if I had to swear fealty to Ralph for Wivenhoe.”

“You would have taken Anne to wife whether she had Wivenhoe or not?” demanded William, apparently living up to his reputation as a man who gave nothing for nothing. Alan frowned and nodded. Before he could say anything further the king continued, “Well, let’s remove that potential conflict and give the land to another needy Norman knight.” William looked closely at Alan for his reaction.

Alan thought for a moment and then said, “That would be… ungenerous, particularly given I have already paid a Redemption Relief on the land of four times its value.”

“I’m not known for my generosity,” rejoined William.

As Alan paused for reflection he made a non-committal gesture with his hand. He couldn’t tell if William was being serious, testing him or enjoying himself by making an underling uncomfortable. “I had intended to raise with you a separate matter after our other business was concluded, but it may be best to raise it at this time.” Alan paused again, leaning forward with his elbows on the table and rubbing his chin reflectively with his right hand. “When we defeated the Danish raid earlier in the year we took a certain amount of booty, which in the main I distributed to the men who fought, and fought well, to earn us that victory. I’m sure that most gambled, whored or drank it away in days, but that’s the way of soldiers.