The Dutch (3 page)

Lord Derick found himself, surprisingly, troubled by the amount of recovered land. It was more new land than even he anticipated and he knew an orderly distribution of so much new farmland would be difficult considering the property rights the van Weir family had granted their farmers over the centuries. The Droger Land's farmers had already achieved a much higher status than the peasants in most European kingdoms, because their loyalty was so essential to the survival of the Duchy. Many farmers held title to the land they planted and, even on the lord's land, the tenant farmers held contracts for their right to till that land for a modestly higher percentage of the yield than free farmers. The free men and tenant farmers paid only a fair share of each crop to the van Weirs who consistently had the courage, over the centuries, to refuse the sometimes outrageous demands of the Catholic Church for a greater share of their farmer's labor. It was important for order and unity that the population perceive the new land, which they helped create with sweat and tears, as being fairly distributed. Lord Derick sought a formula for a fair distribution that his subjects would readily accept.

Meanwhile, Hans Kryk had measured the entire Droger Land and convinced both lords that a map maker be hired who could better portray on paper, a representative vision of the Droger Land. Two maps would be drawn. One map would contain his measurements of each individual parcel of land ownership as it existed before the reclamation effort. Another map would show the expanded realm and the new reclaimed plots to be divided among the farmers. The surveyor found a skilled map maker in Amsterdam who created both maps. After one look at the first map drawn, Jacobus and his father knew their concern about the annual agricultural yield was justified. Both the freemen's plots and the tenant farmer's allocations became, over countless generations, too small for many of the farms to ever be bountiful. The original farm allocations, made by the First Lords of the Droger Land, had been divided too many times, by the right of inheritance, to provide anything more than a subsistence existence for many farm families. The medieval custom of allowing a third of available farm land to lay fallow each year, made those farm plots even smaller than indicated on the map. Derick was looking for a solution to the distribution problem when he became a bit sidetracked by a new problem whose roots could be traced to a human rather than any natural frailty.

Baron Derick started to get reports on his beloved son's escapades with a number of common born maidens in the town. While the Baron had enjoyed similar adventures in his youth, he wanted to avoid the scandal of having some unknown number of bastard grandchildren walking the streets of his domain or give even a hint to his people that his family was returning to days gone-by when prior lords had the right to take any common born maiden they desired. He quickly arranged to travel with Jacobus to Flanders to visit his late wife's family, hoping they would help him find a proper partner for his son. He sent the Great Duke of Ghent, his late wife's family's patriarch, notice of his expected arrival. Before leaving, he assigned two bodyguards to Sir Wilhem Wind, fearing that someone might kill the barking little man, or cut out his tongue in the Baron's absence.

Because the streams and rivers were bloated by heavy spring rain, it took Derick and his son four days to reach Ghent. The difficulty of the trip was only compounded by leading the unruly but magnificent Frisian war horse they had brought as a special gift for his late wife's father. He had great affection for the Grand Duke, his son's grandfather, and willingly endured the pain and strain to his leg during the journey. The horse, a prime three year old, had been a yearling left behind by the retreating enemy after the Battle at Vroonen. Lord Derick knew the old Duke loved well bred war horse and felt strongly the gift of this stallion would please him. It had been five years since he visited his wife's relatives, though his son had spent a great deal of time with them when he attended school in Flanders. The Duke of Ghent, now semi-retired, spent much of his time with his youngest daughter at his summer estate outside the city, while his son and heir ruled in his place from the family's castle in the city. The Baron always admired his wife's family and felt those feelings were reciprocated, and knew they did not blame him for her early demise, particularly since the Baron had never remarried. As father and son rode through the gate house of the summer castle, they saw the old Duke with his daughter and an unidentified beautiful young girl waiting for them on the stairway of the living quarters.

Jacobus, who suspected the real reason for the trip to Flanders, drew his mount next to Derick's and after giving his father a wide grin said, “Father, let's just throw this beautiful maid on the back of my horse and take her home!” The Baron chuckled and told his son, “You might have to do what some of our unruly Viking ancestors would have done, for I have no knowledge of this girl, she is no relative that I remember.” The girl was temporarily forgotten as they exchanged greetings with the Duke and his daughter and saw the old dukes eyes brighten with joy at their arrival. Those eyes sparkled even more when the Baron handed him the reigns of the silver Frisian Stallion. As they were ushered into the castle for lunch, the girl was introduced as the Lady Hester of Goeden, the Duke's ward. The young woman proved to be as well spoken as she was pretty and it was obvious that Jacobus' interest in the young lady was rapidly growing. After lunch, the young lord took his aunt and the girl to search through saddlebags for special cheeses, preserves, and herbs they had brought from for the household. Their exit gave the Duke and Baron an opportunity for a private conversation.

The Grand Duke's tone became quite serious when he told Derick that he was summoned to Regent's castle in Brussels immediately after the murder of Albert's mistress. The Regent, who was gathering forces for his revenge, wanted to know whether the van Weir family had a role in her slaying. His father-in-law told Derick of the immediate offense he took at the suggestion, as he bluntly told the Regent that had any Lord of the Droger Land, from any time in history been involved, he, not his beloved woman, would now be dead. Count Albert immediately agreed, but wanted to know where Lord Derick's sympathy would lie in the upcoming struggle. Count Albert was assured by the old Duke, though the plotters be distant kinsmen, Lord Derick would never support such brutal fools against his legitimate sovereignty. He stressed that for Derick it would be a matter of honor to remain loyal to his regent and king. The Regent accepted his words and wisely did not aggravate the situation by demanding military support from the Droger Land. Albert already had more than enough military strength to punish the guilty nobles and take his revenge.

The topic of conversation lightened and turned to Jacobus and the philandering ways of all young noblemen. Both grandfather and father agreed that an exceptionally brilliant and brave young knight such as Jacobus needed an extraordinary lady to keep his interest. The old Duke thought Lady Hester, his ward, might be that special kind of woman. The girl's family came from what might best be described as minor nobility or landed gentry, one of the hundreds of such noble families that resided throughout Flanders. Her father had been a dreamer of a sort, who before his death had invested the family wealth and all he could obtain from money lenders into a land reclamation project at his estate. Great amounts of new land were reclaimed from a nearby river. Yet her father's negligence allowed many of his selfish farmers to bring catastrophic results for his family. He allowed his farmers to not work the new land wisely. The yields never justified the expenditures. As the girl's appointed guardian, the Duke of Ghent and the Regent were in the process of selling both her late family's estate and title to a wealthy merchant, who hungered enough to become a member of the noble class to pay an exorbitant price. After debts were paid, Hester would receive a modest amount from the proceeds. Her share could be used for a reasonable dowry. They both knew that other marriages would bring greater gains in wealth and property to the family, but the girl's grace and beauty were beginning to have more influence on their decision. During her stay in his household; the old Duke became quite taken with the girl. She could read, write, and paint wonderful pictures of the Flemish landscape. Most important to both lords was the very aura of excellence that surrounded her. The Duke told his son-in-law, that were he younger, he would wage war on the devil to possess this woman. After a few days of watching the favorable interaction between the two young people, the Lords jointly requested, as was the custom of the time, the Regent's permission for Lady Hester and Lord Jacobus to wed. It took Count Albert but a few days to give his blessing to the marriage. Since rumors regarding the wedding were running rampant among the castle's servants, both Lady Hester and Lord Jacobus were well aware that the older Lords were talking about their marriage, but the young people were excluded from the discussions. The paternal egos of the Duke and Baron had risen immensely as the time approached to jointly announce their decision to the young couple that they were to marry. Jacobus' reaction was visibly obedient but joyful, but Lady Hester showed she was a future force to be reckoned with within the van Weir household when she lightheartedly told the Duke of Ghent she would accept Jacobus as, “Probably the best choice available for her guardian.”

Since there was no reason for delay, the wedding date was set for two weeks hence in the Duke's palace in Ghent, with a modest wedding ceremony held in the summer garden. A week later a message arrived from the Regent that changed those plans. He would be visiting the French King but planned to detour his journey to Paris through Ghent and honor the couple with his presence at their wedding. Very quickly the wedding plans were revised to make the affair more elaborate and worthy of a kingly visit. The site of the wedding ceremony would now be the Castle's Grand Hall. Accommodations were hastily arranged for the Regent and his large entourage and the local guest list was expanded. Great amounts of food and wine were collected and minstrels, jugglers and other entertainers were hired for the occasion. Even the bride's choice of a simple wedding dress was replaced with a more elegant blue wedding gown reserved for nobility. On their wedding day, as custom demanded, the wedding party made its way through the narrow streets of Ghent while the population showered them with grain seeds to insure fertility. Upon reaching the castle, as tradition demanded, Lady Hester bathed nude in its fountain before donning her wedding dress while the female members of the wedding party attempted to shield her naked body from onlookers. As was also the custom among the ruling nobility, the groom was allowed a single unobstructed look at his future bride from a perch upon the castle's highest wall. Jacobus' look lasted until long after Lady Linda had left the pool. Because of the couple's noble status, it was the Bishop of Ghent who officiated when the rings and precious gemstones were exchanged at the wedding ceremony.

Count Albert had many reasons for attending the wedding. Foremost was to officially complete the sale of the girl's estate and title which would enable Albert to receive his share of the proceeds. Another was Albert's pure enjoyment of such events. He had recently ended his mourning for his murdered lover, and while the Regent was nearly as old as the Duke of Ghent, he had entered into a new relationship with another beautiful young burger woman not much older than the bride. Finally, he wanted to mend his relationship with the van Weir family. In that light, he made sure that the noble lords and ladies in his entourage brought many gemstones as wedding gifts for the newlyweds. The wedding was a joyous three-day event that ended with the couple consummating the marriage in the castle's highest tower. The single young noblemen in attendance serenaded the newlyweds from the courtyard as again tradition prevailed. The following three days, even after the guests had left, Hester and Jacobus still secluded themselves in each other's arms in the tower. Such a long seclusion was highly unusual and marked an excellent beginning to their marriage.

The night after the wedding, the Regent summoned Lord Derick to his bed chamber for a private conversation and spoke to him as a father would his favorite child. He wanted to know how the reclamation project in the Droger Land was progressing, and why he had not married his son off to a wealthy widow with property, rather than take on the grueling task of developing new farm land within his own domain. The Regent knew other, less honorable noblemen with the baron's military assets would have found some excuse to acquire needed farmland from neighbors by force of arms. The Regent also found it quite astonishing that Lord Derick placed his son's contentment in marriage above the more normal desire of nobles to use the opportunity of a marriage to obtain greater wealth and power. It was also significant to him that all of the previous lords of the Droger Land kept their ambitions within their own border. Count Albert thought the less threatening posture of the family over the ages was the reason they survived the rule of the Romans, Frisians, Saxons, Franks, Norsemen, Germans, French and his own Regency, when salacious lies attempted to link Lord Derick to the plotters. The regent knew it was prudent to have good relations with the honorable and prestigious van Weir family.

Rather than punish the liars, he had already decided to make amends for any strain in their relationship with the gift of a very special man. The Regent had rescued a monk from the clutches of the inquisitor's court. He was a priest who had no inclination for prayer and had caused a disturbance at one of the great agricultural monasteries with his belief that nature, not God, controlled the destiny of crops. The good brother had refused to let any field in his care lay fallow and had gathered or even stolen seeds from the countryside to grow things on vacant fields that were suppose to lay fallow. He grew plants that no one recognized and was finally charged with witchcraft and sorcery, facing excommunication and death. The regent learned of the monk from a bishop who personally believed the man's greatest sin was having too much talent for the times. The Bishop told the Regent the monk had the ability to grow crops even in the most inclement weather. Once his services were obtained for a price, the monk had rejuvenated the Regent's gardens and helped many of his own tenant farmers become more productive. Albert thought the man and his ideas might be useful to Derick's efforts in the Droger Land. As the hours grew late, the Regent suddenly showed his age by giving Lord Derick his leave, but as the Baron turned to walk out of the door the Regent yelled, “It was amazing what you did at the Battle of Vroonen with your shopkeepers and farm boys, just amazing. I hope my peculiar monk can do similar things with your farmland.”