The Camp of Refuge: A Tale of the Conquest of the Isle of Ely

by Charles MacFarlane

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  A FIRE AND A RESCUE.

  It was dark night before the Lord of Brunn and his party got near untothe river Welland and Spalding, and great had been their speed to getthither so soon.[249] As they halted near the river-bank, under coverof some willows, they saw boats filled with Normans passing andrepassing, and heard them hailing one another. In remarking upon thisto his lord, the sword-bearer said, "Our barks on these waters havebeen overpowered! The Normans have been trying to encompass us by wateras well as by land. No marvel were it to me to find them on every riverbetween this and Trent or Humber; but it is not they that will stopgood fenmen like us."

  "Yet we be come hither in good time, for they may be preparing to laysiege to my ladie in the moated manor house. I would wager my besttrained hawk against a kestrel that Ivo Taille-Bois is come hitherwardfrom Stamford to recover what he calls his own!" So said Lord Hereward.

  Quoth Elfric: "An Ivo be here, we will beat him and catch him again!And when we catch him, we will not let him go, as we did, my lord, onthe happy day of thy marriage."

  While they were thus discoursing with low voices among thewillow-trees, a great and bright light was suddenly seen in thedirection of Spalding, from which they were still distant some threeold English miles. A first they thought it was but a beacon-firelighted by the Normans, or perhaps by the Saxons; but the light grewand spread very fast, and showed itself as a portentous blaze, andsparks were seen flying upwards into the murky night-air, and then agreat body of smoke came rolling before the night-wind, which wasblowing freshly down the river. Hereward uttered the name of his wifethe Ladie Alftrude,[250] Elfric uttered the name of Mildred, and bothsaid a hurried prayer, for each believed that the Normans had set fireto the manor-house. In an instant the whole band was again in motion,rushing rapidly but silently along the willow-fringed bank of theWelland; but when they got nearer and came to a turn of the river, theymade out that the fire was not on this, but on the other side of theriver, and that, instead of the manor house, it must be either thesuccursal cell or the poor little township of Spalding that was in ablaze. And when they got nearer still, they saw that it was the littletown; but they also saw that the cell was beleagured, and that manyarmed men, carrying torches in their hands, were crossing the river andrunning towards the manor-house.

  "Unto the blessed saints be the praise," said Lord Hereward, "but we become just in time! My Saxons true, leave here among the willows thewine and stores, and let us forward to the rescue of the Ladie Alftrudeand mine infant son.[251] Be quiet till you reach the end of thecausey, on which they are gathering their force, and then shout andfall on!"

  Away went the Saxons among the willows and tall rushes, until they cameclose to the causey which led from the bank of the river to the moatedmanor-house, and which was hard and dry now, although in the winterseason it was for the most part under water. The Normans, who weremaking an exceeding great noise themselves, heard not the littleunavoidable noise made by Lord Hereward's people; and notwithstandingthe light thrown up by the burning town, the Frenchmen saw not more ofthe Saxons than they heard of them, until they set up their shouts of"Hereward for England! The Saxons to the rescue!" And scarcely had thefirst of these shouts ceased to be echoed ere Hereward and his true menwere upon the causey and hewing down the astounded enemy, of whom not afew were without their arms, for they had been bringing across theriver great beams and planks wherewith to cross the moat of themanor-house. The Normans that were still on the opposite side of theriver, beleaguering the succursal cell, came down to their boats andattempted to cross over to succour their countrymen on the causey; butLord Hereward posted fifty good archers among the willows at the veryedge of the water, and, taking good aim in the red fire-light, thesegood bowmen sent such fatal flights of arrows into the boats that theNormans put back in dismay: and the boats which had been going up anddown the river, full of armed men, took all to flight upon hearing theshouts of "Hereward for England," and never stopped until they got outof the Welland into the broad Wash, where the Conqueror, by the adviceof the false Danes, had collected a fleet of ships. At these good signssome of the town folk of Spalding, who had fled into the fens to escapethe Norman fury, returned towards their burning town and threatened therear of their foe; and some other of the town folk, who had thrownthemselves into the Cell to assist the true monks who had driven outthe false ones, now joined in shouting "Hereward for England;" andgetting to the house-top, assailed their beleaguerers with arrows andjavelins, and whatsoever else they could get to hurl at them. Thusstood the Norman host, part on one side of the river and part on theother, and no communication between them. Yet when those on the causeywere joined by a great band that had been up to the manor-house, theywere far more numerous than the Saxon party. With the band that camedown from the manor-house was Ivo Taille-Bois himself; and his peopleshouted as he came upon the ground where battle had been joined, "ATaille-Bois! a Taille-Bois!"

  The Lord of Brunn, who had made a good free space with his own singlebattle-axe, now cried out in his loudest and cheeriest voice, "Welcome,oh Ivo Taille-Bois! I as good as told thee on my wedding-day at Ey thatwe should meet again! Ivo, all that I ask of thee now is that thou wiltnot turn from me! Ivo Taille-Bois, this is a fair field! Here is goodhard ground, and no fen-pool; so, Sir Ivo, stand forward, and let theeand me prove which is the better man and the better knight!"

  But Ivo, remembering still the battle of Hastings and the weight ofLord Hereward's battle-axe--albeit it was but a stripling's arm thenwielded it--would not stand forward; and he only cried from among hismen-at-arms and the knights that were with him, "This is no fair field,and I have no horse, and a knight should engage in single combat onlyon horseback; and thou art no true knight, but only a priest-madeknight, and a rebel and traitor!"

  "For the last thou liest in thy throat," quoth the Lord of Brunn. "I ama free and true Saxon fighting for his country against invaders androbbers! Thou art but a beast to make thy valour depend upon afour-legged creature! But since thou wilt not stand forth and try thystrength and skill with me here in this good space between our twohosts, I will come and seek thee in the midst of thy people. So, Ivo,look to thyself!"

  And having thus spoken, the Lord of Brunn waved his battle-axe over hishead and sprang forward, and Elfric went close by his side, and theboldest of his Saxons followed him, shouting again "Hereward forEngland! Saxons to the rescue of the Ladie Alftrude!" And so loud werethese shouts that they were heard afar off on either side of the river,and were given back not only by the true men in the succursal cell andby the returning townsfolk of Spalding, but also by the stanch littlegarrison which had been left with the Ladie Alftrude in the moatedmanor-house. The torches which the Normans had been carrying were allextinguished and thrown away, and moon or star was none, but the ruddyflames from the burning town still gave light enough for the goodaiming of sword, pike, and battle-axe. For a time the Normans stoodtheir ground on the causey, and did manfully enough; but when IvoTaille-Bois saw the carnage the Lord of Brunn was making, and saw thathis battle-axe was opening a path through his dense phalanx to the spotwhere he stood, he bade his trumpet sound a retreat. Ivo could not havedone a worse thing, for so soon as his men began to retreat they gotinto a panic; and while some ran along the causey, others quitted thatroad and ran into the fens. Nay, Ivo himself was swept from the road,and compelled to run for it across a broad marsh where there was atthis season little water, but much mud. Lord Hereward, who saw him go,said to his sword-bearer, "That big bully of Angevin is not worth myfollowing: go, Elfric, and bring him hither; you will find himsomewhere there among the bulrushes. He will surrender; so slay himnot, but bring him here alive, and we will keep him and teach him tolead a fen life."

  And while Elfric went in pursuit of Sir Ivo, other Saxons followed theNormans that were running along the causey and throwing away their armsto run the lighter, until they saw them a good way beyond themanor-house; a
nd other Saxons going into the fens slew many of theunskilled Normans who had fled thitherward and stuck in the mud. On theopposite side of the river the Norman force which had been assaultingthe cell was now in full flight for Stamford: in all its parts the armyof the vicomte was discomfited and shamefully routed. Deep in the mudand among the bulrushes, and helpless as he was when with his brotherGeoffroy he lay floundering in the fen pool near Ey, Elfric and thescore of merry men he took with him found the great Ivo Taille-Boiswith two Norman knights as helpless as himself: and upon being summonedby the sword-bearer and threatened by the Saxon soldiers, Ivo and thetwo knights crawled out of the mud upon their hands and knees, and gavethemselves up as prisoners to Hereward the _Knight_ and Lord of Brunn,for Ivo could call him knight now, aye, knight and lord!

  When the great vicomte and so-called nephew of the Conqueror wasbrought into the presence of Hereward, that merry Saxon lord could notbut laugh at the woeful figure he made: and he said, smiling all thewhile, "Oh, Sir Ivo, this is the second time we meet, and each timethou comest before me in very dirty plight! But, Ivo, the mud and slimeof our fens are not so foul as the work thou hast each time had inhand! At Ey thou thoughtest to have surprised a defenceless maiden, andhere hast thou been coming against a young matron, my right noble wife,and a poor defenceless little township and a handful of monks. Ivo,thou art a big man and hast a big voice, yet art thou but a braggartand coward! 'Tis well thou hast not had time to do mischief at themanor-house, for hadst thou done any, I would have hacked thee topieces! As it stands thou art my prisoner, nor will I ever hear ofransom."

  The Taille-Bois hung down his head, and said no word, except that hehoped the Lord of Brunn would yet remember that by marriage they wereas good as cousins.

  The townfolk of Spalding and the true and now relieved monks cameacross the river in the boats which the Normans had left behind them,and saluted and did honour to Hereward; nor did they forget Elfric, whohad lived so long among them; and as they as yet knew nought of whathad befallen the Saxons that morning in the Camp of Refuge, these poormen were all jubilant beyond measure.

  It was not an hour since Hereward first fell upon the Normans on thecausey, and everything that he could do for this night was alreadydone. He bade Elfric count the prisoners and the number of the slain.Without counting those who had perished in the fens, more than twoscore Normans lay stark dead on the causey. More were wounded, but nothalf a score of Saxons were slain. The exceeding great light which hadcome from the burning town was now dying away, for the flames hadconsumed everything that was consumable in Spalding. But many torcheswere soon lighted, and by their light the Lord of Brunn and hisfaithful sword-bearer marched hastily towards the manor-house, overwhich their hearts had long been hovering; and they were followedthitherward by Ivo Taille-Bois and the rest of the prisoners, and by apart of the Saxon force, the rest of those three hundred true men beingleft to guard the river and the succursal cell.

  At the sound of his horn the drawbridge was lowered and the gates ofthe manor-house were thrown open to the Lord of Brunn; and then wasthere happy meeting in the hall with the Ladie Alftrude and the maidMildred--so happy that Hereward and Elfric forgot for the time theshame and woe of that bloody morning, and the young dame and the maidenforgot their own late agony and danger: nor was it when the ladybrought her first-born son, rosy from his sleep, and put him in thearms of his glad sire, and when maid Mildred hung upon the arm of thesword-bearer and called him her deliverer, and said that she wouldnever more leave him, but go whithersoever he might go, that these sadthings could be brought back to the mind, or that either Hereward orElfric could recollect that henceforward they and those who weredearest unto them must lead a wandering life in the wilds and the fens.Nay, when a cheerful fire was lit in the great hall, and the tableswere well spread, and the drinking-horns well filled, every good Saxonpresent seemed to think that this joy must last.

  Yet if, in the morning after this happy meeting, there came sadthoughts and many and much sadder recollections, there was no cravenpanic, nor so much as any visible perturbation or confusion. _Virserenissimus_, a most serene and imperturbable man, was the Lord ofBrunn: and to this high quality of his nature was mainly owing all thathe had done and all that he lived to do afterwards. The Ladie Alftrudewas worthy to mate with such a lord; and their serenity made serene andconfident all those that were about them. And therefore was it thatwhen the foul treason at Ely was made known to all of them, and whenmuch more bad news was brought in, as that the Normans had stormed andtaken the lady's manor-house at Ey and the lord's manor-house at Brunn,and had been admitted again into Crowland Abbey, these good Saxons lostnot heart and abated not of hope, but vowed that they would fight tothe last for Lord Hereward, and be true to him in every extremity.

  All things were got ready for a retreat into the farthest parts ofLincolnshire, or into the impenetrable country upon the Wash, asexpediency might dictate; for it was thought that the Normans, being sonear, would not delay in bringing a great army against Spaldingmanor-house, and in making the most desperate efforts to seize the lastgreat Saxon lord that was now in arms against them. But the autumnseason was now at hand, and it was so ordained that the heavy rains setin earlier than usual, and fell more heavily and lasted longer thancommon, in such sort that the fens were laid under water and the roadsmade impassable. And although many boats of all sorts and sizes werecollected, they could not be used, for a fresh gathering on theScottish border[252] constrained Duke William to turn his attentionthitherward and to dispatch to the river Tyne and to the river Tweedmany of the warriors and shipmen that had been collected to completethe subjugation of the fen country. When these Normans were gone, LordHereward drove their monks once more from Crowland Abbey, and gotpossession of his house at Brunn and of the stores which had been theredeposited; and after making many good forays into the upland country,he brought his brave fenners back to Spalding, together with a goodnumber of Norman prisoners, of whom some were of high degree. The poorunhoused townfolk of Spalding found shelter for the winter in the largemanor-house and in the succursal cell, or in Crowland Abbey, keepingthemselves ready to move in the spring with the Lord of Brunn and hiswarlike band. There was abundance of wine and corn, and meat and fish,and all good things in this new Camp of Refuge; and the winter passedmerrily away, with all due observation made of saints' days and of allthe feast days the Saxon church had appointed. But one feast there waswhich was more joyous than all the rest; and that was given by the Lordof Brunn, ever free of hand and large of soul, a short time before thequinzaine of the Nativity, when Elfric and Mildred were made man andwife. Their hands were joined by the same Alefricus Diaconus who hadbeen Lord Hereward's mass-priest at Brunn, and who had performed themarriage-rites for his lord and the Ladie Alftrude at Ey. But thetrue-hearted monks of Spalding, and the monks that had fled from Ely,took part in the ceremony in the chapel, as afterwards in the feast inthe hall; for notwithstanding all the mischief that the monks of Elyhad done him, Hereward was still _homo monachorum_, or a lover ofmonks--provided only they were true Saxon monks, and had no dealingswith the Normans. But all true Saxons and bold fenners for many milesround feasted at Spalding on Elfric's wedding day; the freed-men beingentertained according to their degree, and the churls and serfsaccording to their degrees. Alefric, the deacon, put these things intoa book, but the pages[253] are now missing.