To Murder a King

by Griff Hosker

  “But…”

  I held up my hand, “I will listen to your words and make a decision but know you that the archers who now serve me were all outlaws. I know why men choose to be an outlaw. My judgement will depend upon the crime.”

  He nodded. I poured some more ale and, giving me a wry smile, he drank. “I killed a man.”

  He deserved it?”

  “I believe so. Let me start at the beginning and then you can judge. You seem like an honest man. That has not always been my experience of lords. I come from a village in Powys. We still use its Welsh name and you will not have heard of it. That is no matter. The lord of the manor is Sir Bohemund Ratcliffe. He is an evil man. He serves the Earl of Oxford and men who complain about Sir Bohemund do not receive justice from the Earl. I confess that he did not bother us overmuch. As I say it is a small village. I earned enough to get by. We were lucky for the plague passed us by. It was when I married Edith that trouble came my way. Edith is English. She lived close to Nantwich and the manor of Sir Hugo Vernon.”

  My eyes opened wide.

  “You know him, sir?”

  Henry answered for me, “Aye Edgar we do. He made accusations against me and the Captain fought a combat to first blood.”

  “It was you maimed him! Thank you, Captain!” He drank some more ale. “As I say Edith did not come from my village but her uncle did. He had a farm. Last October she came to stay with her uncle for Sir Hugo wished her for his woman. Not his wife, you understand but his woman, his plaything. Her uncle hid her. I went to shoe his horse and when I saw her…” he shook his head and suddenly looked like a boy again. “I had always been shy around women. I was an only child and had neither sisters nor aunts. My mother died when I was but ten and my father four years later. Edith’s uncle saw the joy in us and we were married at the end of November. It was quiet and only the priest knew of the marriage.”

  I filled up the beaker, “So far I can see only joy in your life.”

  “Sir Bohemund had been away and he arrived back at Christmas. The priest was invited to the feast and he mentioned the beautiful young woman who had come to live in the village and married the blacksmith. I suppose we were lucky in that we had thick snow until the end of January. He sent his men for Edith. There were three men. Her uncle came to warn me that we were being sought. He came to my forge and gave me a bag of coins. He implored me to leave and save her from Sir Hugo. Even as we packed a bag they arrived. We begged them to let us alone but one, he was the leader, laughed. He said when his lord wanted something he took it and blacksmiths could go hang. I pushed him from my door. He came at me with his sword. I hit him with the only weapon I had, my hammer. One of them tried to stab me but Edith’s uncle pulled a dagger and slit his throat. For his pains the last one slew him. I smashed his hand with my hammer and he fled. Edith’s uncle was dead. We took the coins and our clothes. I set alight the forge and hoped that when they found the three bodies they would think two were ours.”

  “And you fled.”

  “We did. We could not go north for there lay danger and so we went south and east. I had heard that the King was touring the land. I thought to appeal to him. We kept from the main roads and travelled the little known byeways. We used the coin to pay for food and a bed but people realised we were in trouble and charged us more. Two week’s since we spent the last of the money. I bought some ham and bread. We lived on that and water.” He sat back and stared into the fire. “That is my story.”

  His story smelled strongly of the truth and I knew Sir Hugo. God had sent him to us. “And you are no outlaw. Had there been justice where you lived and made a living then Sir Hugo would have been brought to account. I have need of a smith and there is both a forge and a house. The house needs work but it is yours and welcome.”

  “And if Sir Hugo seeks me here?”

  I smiled, “Sir Hugo wants me far more than either you or your wife. He may well come here but if he does it will be to hurt me. So you see my offer is not as generous as you might think. I cannot promise you safety, just a roof, a job and the protection of my men.”

  “And I will take both, Captain.” He clasped my arm and I had a blacksmith.

  Chapter 17

  My wife would not allow Edith to leave our hall until she was much stronger. The blacksmith’s wife had been open about the events which led to their flight and Eleanor was angry. She took her anger out on me, “It is not right that lords are able to abuse such precious and fey young things. Why does the King not protect them? I would that you were a lord for you would be a good one. I hope that Henry will be a good lord too but…”

  I put my hand on my wife’s. “He will. Henry is as angry about this as any but I must warn you my love, this Sir Hugo is an evil man and he already holds a grudge against me. We may be attacked.”

  At first she showed shock and a little fear then she squeezed my hand, “You are first and foremost a warrior and a fighter. I may fear the plague or some horrible illness blighting our children but if you have a sword in your hand and good men behind you then we will be safe.”

  Edgar would go to the damaged smithy in the village and he would rebuild his home there. The hunt proved a happy accident. My hall was full but it was full of joy and love. My men, when they heard the story, were more than happy to repair the former blacksmith’s house. There were few tools in the forge. The dead blacksmith’s anvil remained, probably because it was too big to be stolen. The most important item, the fire and the chimney remained. We all shared in the work.

  That first day after toiling all morning we ate and rested. “This is a good place, Captain. There is water close by and that is always handy. The fire and chimney remain. The anvil embedded in the tree trunk is all I need to shape iron and I have my hammer!”

  “What of the tools you will need? The wood with the holes to draw through the metal. The formers to shape the metal? The tongs to use in the fire? The snips to cut the steel?”

  He had smiled happily at the problems I presented to him. “I can make them. Some will be harder than others to fashion for I will need metal but it is a start and it will be safer than where we were.”

  Stephen the Tracker said, “Captain, there is a chest of old metal in the barn. We fetched it from Galicia. Much of it is rusted but it could be used.”

  Edgar seemed happy. “That will do for the tools but the better-quality ironware will need iron ore.” His face darkened. “Close to the land of Sir Hugo they mine it.”

  “Forget that land. It is gone, Edgar! Besides, there are iron workings to the south of us. When the weather improves we will go and buy some.”

  “But Captain I am already in your debt! Will I become your serf and be in servitude?”

  I said firmly, “Never! We have no serfs here nor do we keep slaves. We pay our people that which is right and proper. They are not fettered and may leave at any time. We will come to some arrangement, Edgar the Smith. You are good at your trade?”

  He grinned, “Aye Captain, the best!”

  “Then you will earn your keep and your surplus can be sold. Now let us get back to work. My wife has a venison stew enriched with ale on the fire. We owe it to the dead deer to have a good appetite when we devour it!”

  We had news from Stratford that Lady Anne was unwell and Peter and Henry returned home for a few days. She recovered and they returned. While they were away we had a spring storm which brought down trees and made roads impassable. When they did come back, it was with the news that the bad weather had slowed the progress of the King on his gyration. My men, led by Roger of Chester, would be frustrated. I knew they would rather be with me and my archers. Henry also brought fifty pounds with him. “My grandfather said that this is a bounty due to you for what you have done for the villagers in Stony Stratford.”

  “I needed no such bounty. You did not tell him about Edgar and Edith, did you?”

  Henry looked disappointed, “Am I so shallow a creature that I would do that, Captain? I had thought y
ou would have thought better of me.”

  “I am sorry but that couple need time to recover and the last thing I want is Sir Hugo or Sir Bohemund arriving here.”

  “I doubt that they will Captain. We had visitors who were passing through from Wales. The snow storm caught them unawares and they spent the storm with us. They knew of Sir Thomas, Sir Hugo and Robert de Vere. Those lords are in Chester where they are building an army.”

  “An army?”

  “Sir Jasper, the lord who stayed with us, told us that the Earl of Oxford says it is an army to save England.”

  “England and not the King. I fear that Henry Bolingbroke is right. This de Vere plays for high stakes. He is gambling for a kingdom.”

  “He cannot usurp the King!”

  “Henry, I was there when the young de Vere first came into the life of King Richard. I know not how but he has a power over the young King. Only the goodness of Anne of Bohemia prevents the Earl from ruling through the King. If I am honest I believe that de Vere has something to do with the barrenness of the Queen. She is healthy in all other respects and yet she cannot bear a child. Still, you bring good news. If Sir Hugo is in the north west then he cannot come knocking at our door and we have the opportunity to prepare for him.”

  By the time it was April the smithy was working and the house repaired to the satisfaction of my wife. Edith was now showing the child she was carrying. The weather had improved and the news that Sir Hugo was raising an army meant we had delayed long enough on the improvements to my hall. I dare say if I had asked him then the King might have given me permission to build a castle but that would take time and alert my enemies to what I was about. Stony Stratford was a backwater. I would have it kept that way. We had an extra fifty pounds to spend and so I sent Peter and Henry to buy cartloads of stone. While they were away my archers and my men began to dig the foundations for my new wall and defences. Edgar was worth three or four men when it came to the digging of the ground.

  I could not build a castle but I could build a wall around my hall and the homes of my tenants. We planned on one twelve feet high with a fighting platform and but one gate. We dug the foundations and a ditch around it. The ditch would improve the drainage of the ground and the spoil was piled against the walls to make them stronger. John son of Jack knew the land around us better than I did. He took me to the stream which lay just forty paces from the ditch. “Captain, if we divert this stream we will have a moat. It will dry in summer but the ditch will still be an obstacle. It will also help to increase the power of the stream in the village. One day you could hire a miller and grind once more.”

  He was right. My wife was unhappy with having to grind by hand. While we waited for the stone we began to dig the channel for the water. We did not break through. We needed the wall completing first. When it arrived we sorted it. Henry and Peter had managed to buy a great deal of good stone. There was some which was not so good. In addition, we had stones we had discovered when digging the ditch and the channel for the moat. We had no mason but it was just a wall we were building. We embedded tree trunks in the bottom of the foundations and then laid the largest stones there. We left a gap between the two rows of stones. With almost twenty men working we soon had the lower courses of the wall laid. I realised that we did not have enough stone to make it as high as we might have wished and so we hewed logs. We would need a palisade for the top six feet. We toiled until May. We might have finished the wall sooner but my farmers had animals to tend and crops to weed.

  All the time we toiled we heard news of the King and his progress. He was in the north of the country, in the land of the Percy’s. They were loyal but so far away and busy defending against the Scots that they would not be able to give him material support. And all the while the Lords Appellant ran London and the Earl of Oxford built up his army. It spurred us on.

  By June we had the wall and palisade finished. We had a fighting platform and we had two small towers over the gatehouse. Stephen the Tracker designed and made them. They would accommodate two archers each and, with a roof above, would enable the archers to clear any enemies away from the walls. We built a bridge. We made it so that we could draw it up by means of ropes and add an extra layer of defence to the gate. That done we piled the spoil around the base of the walls both within and without. The walls were solid. We then put the clay we had dug into the bottom of what would be the ditch. We were almost done. The last task on this part of the improvements was to break through to the stream. I feared that we had miscalculated as the water gushed and rushed towards the newly dug moat. The water came alarmingly high and then, after the first rush, settled. We had defences. Sir Hugo could come and we could hold him off.

  We had not ignored the training of my men. Until Roger of Chester and his men returned I would have no men at arms but we had tenant farmers who trained as archers. John, Peter and Henry helped me to train the mighty Edgar to use a sword and shield. There would be five of us who would fight thus and thirty who would fight with bows. Each Sunday we rested from the walls and we toiled at the butts. We bought iron and Edgar began to make a mail hauberk for himself and for John. John was so keen to have one made that he worked the bellows and helped to drawn the hot iron wire through holes until it was the right thickness. Edgar showed him how to wrap the wire around a piece of wood and then cut it. The hardest part was to teach him to make holes in the links so that Edgar could rivet them.

  All the while my wife and Edith grew. The end of summer would be the time when the babies would be born. Most children were born at this time. The long nights of December were a time when folk did not venture forth. We had also been lucky in the winter. Not only had we not lost any animals, the ones which had born young all delivered healthy ones. There were twins and triplets for the sheep. We had the biggest herds but my tenants also had good fortune.

  One Sunday, at the butts, I spoke with Richard Stone Heart. We were watching John’s father, Jack, as he herded his flock of sheep towards the new pasture. Richard was looking wistfully at the flock. “If you wish to have a farm again Dick, then ask. There are empty ones.”

  He shook his head, “No Captain, I am content with my life. I am looking enviously for had God not taken my wife and child from me then that would be my life and I would be content. You can never go back. You gave me a new life and I am resigned to my new one.”

  “But you sit alone too much.”

  He nodded, “That is my nature. I was ever that way. My wife was the one who brought out the smiling side of me. She was the better part of me. I am not unhappy, at least I am no unhappier than I was before I met my wife but, being solitary, I can think of her.” He lowered his voice. “I talk to her Captain and, sometimes, I swear that I hear her in my head. Does that make me simple?”

  “No, Dick, for I met my mother just a few years ago and that was the last time I saw her but when I am drifting off to sleep I often hear her voice and, in my dreams, she comforts me as though I was a bairn.”

  His face creased into a smile. “That is exactly how it is with me. Do not fret about me Captain. I can loose a bow as well as any of the others and I will not run when things go badly. You are a good man and a good Captain. I will not let you down.”

  There were other changes as June came and went. Some of my archers had succumbed to the lure of the servants my wife kept in our house. Three were married on midsummer’s day. It was always seen as a propitious day to be wed. It meant we had to build three houses for them. That also helped for both the newly built warrior hall and my home had more space. For a time we had seemed to almost be bursting the house at the seams.

  Tom was more active now and he was growing. He had helped us to make the walls and dig the ditches. He had carried stones to infill and he had happily stomped down on the clay. He was desperate to be a warrior and so I taught him how to use a sling. It would develop good skills and I had used one when I was his age. Standing before the men at arms it had given me my first taste of war. I still r
emembered my first victory, hitting the Spanish man at arms on the helmet and felling him. I did not kill him but I had helped the company to win and that was important. Once I had shown him how to collect the smoothest of stones and how to swing the sling he was happy to spend hours each day practising. He came back one day in July exultantly. He had killed a pigeon. From that day onwards not a day went by when he did not go hunting and return with a rabbit or crow or magpie. He had learned not to harm the doves who used our dovecot. Their eggs in winter were a valuable source of food.

  Stephen the Tracker liked Tom. I did not think the leader of my archers would ever marry. Tom was like an adopted son. Stephen was more than happy to show him how to make a scabbard for his dagger or a new sling. It was he who used the hide from one of the deer we had killed to make Tom his first brigandine. It had no metal upon it but it was tough and when we went hunting it would protect him from the brambles through which we hunted. The summer was a glorious one. I believe it was the happiest I could remember. There was no war for us. The King was at Chester as was the Earl of Oxford. I suspected he would tarry there longer. That was disturbing but no more for as long as the Earl was in Chester there was no civil war.

  The Duke of Gloucester, the Earl of Arundel and Thomas de Mowbray ruled London. Henry Bolingbroke was in Northampton although I did not doubt that he was in touch with his uncle. So far the Earl had kept his word. He had not bothered me and for that I was grateful. I knew that I had been promised a knighthood but once that happened I would be his man. I would no longer have the freedom I enjoyed.

  Edith’s child, Edward, was born first. It was the third week of August and as hot a day as I could remember. My wife and the mothers from the village attended and we waited with Edgar. He was philosophical about the weather. “This is good, Captain. If he is a smith he will need to get used to the heat. My father told me that being a blacksmith was the one trade which prepared a man for Hades. I hope not to go there but if my sins send me hence I shall be ready!”