The Bastard's Crown

by H A CULLEY

  Hugo turned to go.

  ‘Oh I have a message for you from the duke. He says to tell you that he hasn’t forgotten his promise of a manor for you.’ Hugo was relieved that William had remembered but he was less pleased that “several manors” seemed to have become one.

  Hugo spent the rest of the day sorting out armour, helmets, weapons and horses for the new knights and that evening he went down the line giving them a buffet with his gauntlet and strapping a sword on each one. Most of these had been recovered from the battlefield. He left Roland to last.

  ‘Now you won’t have to worry any more, eh Sir Roland.’ He grinned.

  Roland’s lips trembled but he was too overcome to speak.

  Finally he called forward the squires whose masters had been killed and turned back to his new knights.

  ‘You can spend a few minutes talking to these youths then I want you all to choose one as your squire.’ He exchanged a glance with Ralph who was looking at him intently. ‘All except for Ralph who will be my new squire.’ He smiled at the look of pleasure on the lad’s face.

  Back in his tent he went to check on Wulfric who had recovered consciousness and was being tended by Sweyn.

  ‘I am most grateful to you for saving my life, Sir Hugo. I don’t suppose you know what happened to my father and brothers?’

  ‘Call me Hugo. We’ve known each other too long to stand on ceremony. I’m afraid I don’t know except that Roland believes that he may have seen Oswin riding away from Caldbec Hill after the battle.’

  ‘Oswin? But he was sent to bring the fyrd from Dorsetshire.’

  ‘Then they must have arrived too late.’ He frowned, lost in thought for a moment. ‘I need to decide what to do with you. Officially you are an enemy in rebellion against your true king.’ He held his hand up to forestall Wulfric’s retort. ‘I know that’s not how you see it but the victor gets to make the rules.’

  ‘Once you are strong enough Roland and I will ride out with you and put you on the road north. Then you are on your own.’ The Saxon nodded his thanks.

  ~#~

  Oswin dismounted wearily outside his father’s hall house and then reflected that, in all probability, it was now his – at least for now. His mother and sister came to the door as a stable boy took his horse away.

  ‘Oswin’ his mother rushed to embrace him. ‘Why are you on your own; what’s happened. Where are your father and brothers?’

  ‘Did King Harold win?’ Rowena added. All they knew was that his father and elder brothers had been summoned to London to join the army marching on Hastings.

  ‘No, he didn’t win; the Normans did.’ Oswin told them dejectedly. ‘It was carnage. Harold should have waited. We got there too late. I don’t know what happened to father or my brothers; I just pray that they survived.’

  He allowed himself to be led inside the hall where all the important villagers that had been left behind came rushing to hear the news. There weren’t too many as the bailiff, the reeve, the smith, the housecarls and even the priest had gone to join the king’s muster.

  When he had finished his tale there was silence. Everyone was stunned.

  ‘What does this mean? Who will now be king? Will the Normans want us to pay them to go away, like danegeld?’ One old churl wanted to know, referring to the huge bribes that used to be paid to make Danish raiders go away.

  ‘I don’t know what Duke William will do now but he came here laying claim to the throne so I expect that’s what he wants.’

  ‘What will that mean for us?’ His mother asked.

  ‘We will just have to wait and see.’

  Five days later Wulfric returned to the relief of his family. The day before the Normans were due to break camp Hugo and Roland had escorted him north to Etchingham and from there it had taken him three days to reach Burneham.

  When he had finished his tale Wulfric was asked if he knew what had happened to the other members of the family after the battle but he just shook his head and wiped away a tear.

  ‘Where are the Normans headed now?’ Oswin wanted to know.

  ‘To Dover and then Canterbury, or so Hugo told me; I think that Duke William was disappointed that non-one had come in to offer him fealty during the days after the battle. So he aims to take the country by force.’

  ‘Did Hugo say anything about what might happen to us?’ Rowena wanted to know.

  ‘I gather that, once he is crowned, William plans to confiscate all land and he will then either let its previous English owners hold it from him as overlord or else retain it himself or grant it to one of his followers, or to the Church. That’s what Hugo had heard anyway. All he knew for certain was that he was to be granted a manor.’

  ‘But that’s stealing.’ Rowena was indignant. ‘This is our land. He can’t just take it away when we have done nothing wrong.’

  ‘But we fought against him.’ Oswin told her gently. ‘That makes us traitors in his eyes, I fear,’

  ‘Perhaps Hugo can persuade him to let us keep Burneham.’ She said optimistically.

  ‘He doesn’t have that sort of influence. He is just a knight, not one of the duke’s council.’

  ~#~

  As Oswin’s family sat discussing the future Hugo was sitting outside Dover. It had surrendered without a fight; no doubt trying to avoid the fate of Romsey which the Normans had sacked and burnt the day before when it resisted. But it still didn’t save Dover from being pillaged. Hugo wanted no part in it and so had volunteered to stay on guard in the Norman camp; a decision that was not popular with his men until he distributed the gold which he had received as his share of the plunder from Rye. Many of the wounded had been left to garrison the wooden castle at Hastings. Hugo estimated that, of the seven and a half thousand who had fought at Senlac Hill, only about five thousand had marched on Romsey and Dover. The English had suffered much more. The duke estimated that, of the two thousand housecarls and six thousand in the fyrd who had fought nearly all the housecarls and two thousand of the fyrd, mainly those on the right wing, had been killed.

  William needed reinforcements and these started to arrive at Dover, dispatched by Roger de Montgomery from Dives. Most were knights and soldiers seeking to profit from the victory won so dearly by others but there were monks scenting grants of land so that they could establish new abbeys in England and clerks needed by William to administer the country.

  From Dover the army marched on Canterbury, arriving on the 29th October. The city surrendered immediately and this time the duke managed to keep his troops in check.

  ‘I hear that the duke is ill.’ Hugo remarked to Guillaume as they sat playing shatranj one evening in a house that had been commandeered from a merchant in Canterbury.

  ‘Mmm. He has dysentery again, I gather. He’s had it before so hopefully he will recover quickly, like he did last time.’

  ‘So we are stuck here until he’s fit to carry on to London, I presume?’ Hugo moved one of his pieces to threaten Guillaume’s shah.

  ‘I suppose so.’ Guillaume agreed. ‘He’s sent off William de Warenne with his battalion to Winchester though. It’s held by Harold’s wife and it’s where he kept the royal treasury. Doubtless the duke wants to secure both as soon as possible.’ He took Hugo’s piece with a grin. ‘I think I have the upper hand now.’

  Hugo was about to reveal his ploy and take his opponent’s fers, the second most important piece on the board, when Guillaume’s squire coughed politely. He had entered unnoticed by the two men intent on their game.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘There is someone here to see you, my lord.’ Guillaume had been made a baron after the battle. To qualify he would need to hold manors direct from the king as a tenant-in-chief so William had granted him several manors in Wessex that were already under Norman control.

  To Hugo’s amazement Gilbert walked in followed by another clerk carrying a bundle of documents. The last time he had seen Gilbert he had been dressed plainly but now he was wearing finer clothes
more appropriate to a man of importance. On his left breast he displayed the badge of Normandy: two golden leopards on a field of red.

  ‘Gilbert, what are you doing here?’ Hugo got up and clasped his old friend’s hand. ‘You are looking remarkably prosperous. Is Lord Peverel paying you so well?’

  Gilbert laughed. ‘Hugo, I’m so glad you survived the battle.’ He turned and bowed to Guillaume. ‘I beg pardon, Lord Peverel, where are my manners? I should have congratulated you on your good fortune first.’

  ‘No matter, Gilbert. But I too would like to know why you have left my father’s service and what brings you here.’

  ‘The duke wanted more clerks to help him to administer his new kingdom and someone was kind enough to mention my name. I gather that the viscount was only too pleased to accede to the request that I join the duke’s staff.’ There was a twinkle in Gilbert’s eye when he said this.

  ‘I bet he was after they fell out so notably.’

  Gilbert just bowed to indicate that he couldn’t comment. ‘Anyway, I am now a king’s commissioner, one of those who are responsible for the administration of English manors; in particular the deeds of grant.’

  He turned towards the clerk standing behind him with an armful of scrolls. ‘These are the deeds to manors in Wessex which have been made to you, my lord, which I need to go through with you. There are many others in the counties that make up Mercia that will be made to you later, once the duke is crowned king and the land has been pacified.’

  He turned back to Hugo. ‘If you will excuse us for now, Sir Hugo? I’ll come and find you later.’ Although the words were formal the tone and the smile with which he said them were warm and friendly. Nevertheless they were words of dismissal, however kindly said. As he left the room Hugo thought what a long way Gilbert had come in the last nine years.

  That evening the two friends went into Canterbury and found a tavern. When they sat down with a tankard of ale Gilbert pushed a scroll across the table to him.

  ‘What’s this?’ Hugo asked curiously. He opened it up and started to read it, then looked up in amazement. ‘This is the deed of grant from Duke William for the manor of Burneham.’

  Gilbert nodded. ‘It was one of the manors granted to Lord Guillaume but he thought that you would rather have it. I’ll need to amend the records and get official approval to the transfer but I don’t think it will be a problem. The one proviso is that you are to build a motte and bailey castle there and garrison it so as to control the area. The surrounding manors are all granted to Lord Guillaume so he is saving himself the trouble of building a castle; therefore his gesture is not completely altruistic.’

  ‘Do you know anything about the grant of manors promised to me by the duke on the battlefield?’

  Gilbert nodded again. ‘The details are yet to be settled and won’t be for a while but you are to receive several manors in Derbyshire. One other piece of news: Lord Guillaume is to be the shire reeve of both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. It is the English equivalent of the post of viscount in Normandy but the king, as we must get used to calling him now, has decided to retain the English title, as well as that of earl rather than count.’ He took a long drink of ale.

  ‘The other piece of news is that Roger de Montgomery is due to cross back to England shortly. I heard about the failed attempt to assassinate you and did some investigating using my contacts. The word is that the ambushers were some of his men at arms but they were paid by Sir Guy Melville on instructions from Mabel de Belleme. I don’t believe that de Montgomery had anything to do with the matter. As Sir Guy was killed at Senlac Hill I think that you are in the clear for the moment. But neither Lady de Belleme nor her delightful son are likely to forget you; they are a vindictive pair and will seek to do you harm if they can.’

  ‘All because I beat their knights in a fair tourney? It doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Unfortunately her cousin, Sir Aylmer, bragged about his men beating hers when he was drunk. Not a wise move. He is no longer constable of Domfront and has even lost the manors he held in the honour of Belleme. I think he has retired to a small manor his wife owns well away from Mabel’s notice. But he wasn’t the leader of the conroi who shamed her, as she sees it. You were.’

  Hugo sighed. ‘Ah well. At least the channel separates us. Now tell me about what you have been up to.’

  A month later the army moved out of Canterbury to advance on London. Approaching from the south the only bridge over the Thames was defended and Guillaume’s battalion was sent to seize it. Hugo’s conroi formed the rear-guard so he didn’t have a clear view of the confrontation at the southern end of the bridge but, like the rest of the column, he was attacked by youths on the rooftops on the houses that lined the narrow lanes leading to the bridge. They threw down stones and fired arrows at the knights. It was no place for horsemen to operate so Guillaume gave orders to fire the thatched roofs so that the smoke covered their retreat. Hugo looked back once they were clear and saw that the whole of the borough of Southwark was ablaze.

  After that William decided to continue along the south bank of the Thames and crossed at Wallingford. He then circled London so as to approach from the north, suppressing any dissent as he went. When he reached Berkhamsted Edgar the Atheling, who had been elected king by the Witan in succession to Harold but not yet crowned, came in with the leading citizens of London to submit. Two weeks later, on Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned king in Westminster Abbey.

  Hugo sought permission to visit his manor of Burneham and on St. Stephen’s Day he set out with Roland, Ralph, Sweyn, Roland’s squire and three Mainard sergeants he had recruited to protect the manor. As they reached the village there was a lot of screaming and shouting as the villagers ran out of their dwellings and sought to escape. Hugo yelled at them in English that they had nothing to fear and that he was a friend of Oswin and Wulfric.

  A few stopped and then more did so, watching him with suspicion then, when the Normans just waited instead of chasing them, more and more began to retrace their steps. Oswin and Wulfric came out of the hall house at that moment.

  ‘Hugo, is that you?’ Wulfric was the first to recognise him.

  ‘Who else? I hope you have plenty of ale in store.’

  Hugo couldn’t wait to see Rowena again but there was no sign of her. Oswin and Wulfric were joined by their elder brother’s widow and young son and by their mother then they all went back into the hall whilst a servant came to take care of the squires and the sergeants. Sweyn followed Hugo inside, partly out of curiosity and partly in case his master needed him.

  The hall smelt of smoke and fresh rushes, just as Hugo remembered it, but there were fewer people now. It had been home to a dozen housecarls as well as the servants before. Hugo couldn’t contain himself any longer.

  ‘Where is Rowena? Is she married now?’

  There was an uncomfortable silence before Oswin spoke. ‘No, Siward, her betrothed, is still only eleven. They were due to be married when he is fourteen but nothing will happen until we know what is happening; about our two manors I mean.’ Hugo waited for a moment to summon up the courage before breaking the news but Oswin spoke again before he could open his mouth.

  ‘You must know how attracted Rowena was to you when you were here before and she continued to hold a candle for you long after you left but she slowly became reconciled to wedding Siward, however distasteful she found that.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Then came the news of the great battle near Hastings and the probable death of our father and two elder brothers. We don’t know, of course, but they would have been home two months ago if they were still alive. Rowena took it very hard and hates all Normans with a passion. She’s been told that you saved her twin’s life of course, but she doesn’t want to know. It seems as if her way of coping is to feed her hatred of all things Norman.’

  Hugo’s heart sank. He felt as if he had been laid low with a hammer. All he could think about after the battle was returning to Burneham and being reunited
with the only girl he had ever loved. He got up and half stumbled out of the hall. He lost all knowledge of time or space, immersed in despondency. When he came to himself again he was in the middle of a wood at dusk. He looked around him but he had no idea where he was and felt a little concerned. Then he heard a twig crack behind him; he whirled pulling his sword from its scabbard to be confronted by an alarmed looking Sweyn.

  ‘I justtt cammme to make surre you were alrighttt.’ The boy stuttered. Hugo then did something that surprised both of them. He dropped his sword, knelt down and hugged the Saxon boy to his breast.

  ‘Thank you Sweyn.’ He got up feeling embarrassed and foolish. Sweyn picked up the sword and returned it to his master, then threw his arms around him muttering thank you several times.

  ‘Sweyn, let me go.’ Hugo said gently.

  ‘I’m sorry, master.’ Both of them stood there in embarrassment. Men didn’t show affection for one another. In Hugo’s case his reaction was engendered by his unstable emotional state and was immediately regretted but Sweyn had obviously developed a deep affection for the man he served.

  Hugo followed the boy back to the village after both had promised to forget all about their momentary unmanly display. That said Hugo looked at Sweyn in a new light from then on - perhaps a feeling of responsibility best described it - and realised that he would have to do something for the boy when he was a little older.

  Back at the hall Hugo apologised for his abrupt departure and joined the others as they had just started their evening meal. He was pleased but, at the same time, uncomfortable that Rowena had joined them. However he was a little piqued that she sat as far away from Hugo and Roland as possible.

  Part way through the meal Oswin raised the topic that was at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

  ‘Hugo, do you know what will happen to the land now that William is crowned king?’

  ‘Yes. I was seeking the right moment to raise it.’ He heard Rowena gasp and had to force himself to continue without looking at her. ‘All the land is now in the hands of King William and all old grants are declared null and void.’ He tried to ignore the cries of dismay that greeted this. ‘The manors hereabouts, Farneham, Caldecote, Stoke Poges and Taplow, are granted to Lord Guillaume Peverel.’ He paused.