by Smith, Skye
Gregos smiled. "These things I have already figured out for myself. An Inn like this would serve my own Embassy well. Would it be for sale, or perhaps something like it nearby? Would you know the land prices?"
"No, master," said Risto. "It would never do. They allow no women."
"The Inn itself has nothing against women. This is leased land, and it is the lease does not allow women."
"So how did Wyl end up with it?" asked Risto.
"About twenty years ago, there was a great fire in London," Raynar replied. "The Normans decided to rebuild it in stone with lead roofs. My friend John had the big carts needed to supply the builders, but he had no place near London's gates to stage his carts. That was when we found out that this Temple land was in dispute, and in the trust of Repton Abbey. We did a lot of business with that abbey because of their lead mill."
"Why do you call it Temple land?"
"Oh, umm, the ancient Romans had a great Temple complex here. After the Romans left, London shrank and did not need the land. Under Knut, so many Danes moved to London that it became the greatest of the Danish cities. A monastic order gained title to the Temple land, and began to build a monastery, but Knut sent them packing. Only this building was completed, as quarters for the monks while the church was being built."
"But it doesn't look like monks quarters," argued Risto.
"No it doesn't. That is because it was rebuilt using the stone foundations of the original Roman building. The actual Temple was across the lane. It was faster and cheaper to rebuild this as quarters, so that is what the monks did. And then it sat empty for fifty years."
"So how did Wyl gain it ?"
"As I said, the Temple lands were in the trust of Repton Abbey, so first we leased enough land for John's carts, and we camped on that land. Our men liked London but were horrified at the cost and filth of the local rooms in London. This building was empty, but we knew nothing about running buildings.
At the time, Wyl was running the tavern at his family's Scarlet Man Inn in York. We brought him here to see what he thought of this building, and he came up with a good business plan for an Inn. Our friends at Repton Abbey leased the building to us, but as the land had always been used for religious purposes, they put a covenant on the lease so that it would remain chaste in usage."
"No women," Risto said. "Hard to turn it into a tavern or a brothel if you don't allow women."
"Exactly. And it is not just an Inn, but a member's Inn. To rent a room here, you must be vouched for by a member. To become a member yourself, you must be vouched for by three other members. I rent my room by the year. It is certainly cheaper and easier than running a household in London. Besides, I enjoy the company. Because of this Inn, I have friends and connections from here to Constantinople."
Gregos called over the orderly to side his plates. "So this land and building are leased. My Caliph would not agree to a lease. What about land or similar buildings around here?"
Raynar tilted his head and pursed his lips. "There is no other building like this around London. Not to my knowledge, not laid out like a Roman Domus. Buying land around here is not easy. Keep in mind that the Normans would rather lease you the land in return for services. Land is rarely sold, so my quoting any prices would be meaningless. Even worse, since all of the Temple land is church land, you may have to buy it once from the church and then again from the crown."
"At a high price, I suppose?"
"A price so high that the guildsmiths and moneylenders would get involved. Their cut would push the price even higher. Gold and silver coins are in short supply in this kingdom because King Rufus was always shipping them to Normandy and the Holy Land. I wish the new king luck in dealing with the guildsmiths and moneylenders. They take a cut of every tax coin raised and another cut when the crown spends the tax coin."
Gregos chuckled, "Raynar, in your time in Constantinople, did you never have dealings with their bankers. Banker is just another name for moneylender, but one who lends to kings and merchant princes. I suppose not. Well don't. Especially not Greek bankers. They make sure that you do all the work and they profit from your work. They are like land lords, but they are gold lords."
"Isn't it risky to loan money to a king?" asked Raynar. "He may not pay it back."
Gregos began to chuckle. "Occasionally bankers get too greedy with a king, and the king gives them short measure. A neck short." Now he laughed at his own jest, but he was the only one who laughed, but then he was the only one that knew bankers enough to despise them. "When I am finally granted an audience with Henry, I will explain to him an alternative to the guildsmith's gold and to moneylenders and bankers. Perhaps he will give me some land close-by as a reward."
Risto looked shocked. "There is no alternative to gold. Even silver is measured against gold. And what adorns a woman’s neck better than gold. Or are you jesting again?"
"Risto, you are right about a woman’s neck, but not about coins. Much of the wealth that changes hands in Constantinople is done not by coin, but by a banker's note. Such a note is a written promise that the coins are in safe keeping.
What then, if lords must pay their taxes to the crown without coin, without gold, without silver. Then the guildsmiths and the bankers cannot take a cut of the taxes." He looked at Risto's eyes glaze over "Oh forget I spoke. Where can we go today to show Risto some necks of pretty women."
"No, finish what you were saying. It interests me," urged Raynar.
"England’s financial mess is nothing new," stated Gregos, "Other kings, even ancient kings, have been cheated and controlled by the guildsmiths and the bankers. One of the best solutions was a simple thing called a tally stick. First the king announces that all future taxes must be paid by way of a tally stick. The treasury can then pay for whatever the crown needs with tally sticks. Tally sticks have a value because they are the only way of paying taxes."
"And what is a tally stick?" asked Risto "Do you dare compare the value of wood to gold?"
"It is like a promise of gold that never need be turned into gold," explained Gregos. "A wooden stick carved with a registered number, and an amount such as say, a pound of gold. The stick is split in half from end to end. The treasury keeps one half of the stick and hands the other half out in payment for say, building a new bridge.
The bridge builder with the stick now trades it for coin or favours to a lord who needs it to pay taxes. The lord then takes it to the treasury to pay his taxes, where it is fitted to it's other half to make sure it is not a forgery. The circle is complete, and the tally stick may be used again by the treasury.
Don't you see, if there is a law that large tax payments can only be paid with the treasury's tally sticks, then there will always be a demand for the sticks, and the crown can pay for whatever it needs by using sticks rather than gold. The guildsmiths and bankers are not needed and they get no cut of the wealth used to run the kingdom."
Gregos could see that Raynar understood the words but was still trying to understand the meaning. "It cuts the bankers out of the crown's business. The treasury becomes it's own bank. Perhaps the most important thing that a treasury must ever be, is it's own bank.
Let me think , oh yes. I know what you will understand. If a thief robs a tax collector of a coin, the coin is lost to the king whereas the thief can happily buy ale. If a thief robs the collector of a tally stick, the collector reports the robbery and the other half of the stick is marked as being stolen. If someone tries to use a stolen stick to pay taxes, someone loses their head."
Gregos started to laugh by himself again "Bankers are the cleverest of thieves because they steal only a small portion of each coin at a time. If they get away with this for long enough, then they end up with all of the coins. If you want to ruin a banker's day, just mention tally sticks." He was now breathless with laughter, and all other men in the garden were staring at him.
* * * * *
It had been a busy two days. The messages to the hoodsmen were spreading out acros
s the country and raising the brotherhood's hopes for the promises made by Henry's Coronation Charter. Within a fortnight even the hoodsmen along the Scottish border will have heard the message to be peaceful and patient.
Risto and Gregos had spent the days exploring London with one of Wyl's young orderlies as a guide. Gregos used the walks to pass the time while he waited for his audience with the king. Risto always walked close behind him with one hand on his sword hilt.
Raynar had even taken them in his poor punt for drifts along the Thames. Slow drifts in slow boats tended to calm men down, and put things in perspective. Evenings were filled with stories, not only Raynar's stories but the stories of all the interesting men who were sharing the Domus with them.
Finally the day of the king's audience arrived and the two Andalusians were gone for most of the day. That evening the garden seats were filled with men listening to, and telling stories of Flanders, Holland, Wales, Scotland, the Italies, and the Byzantine. Whenever someone started a story about a far away place, Raynar would rush to his room and return with an appropriate map. Nothing triggered or kept memories like tracing routes on a good map.
When Gregos returned from his audience with King Henry, Raynar was dozing through a lusty story about the brothels of Paris. The two Greeks from Cordoba chose not to wake him until after they had bathed. It was hot and sticky and smelly in the streets and they could not wait to be clean again. Cleanliness was by common habit in Cordoba, and the health of the folk there was all the better for it.
Once clean and in fresh clothes, Gregos joined Raynar in the garden and helped himself to some of the ale. He grimaced. How long until he could drink fresh clean water again. Wyl had warned him, not until it falls from the sky. How much longer? Where is this rain that England is so famous for? How could even rainwater be clean when the London sky it must fall through was so filthy with greasy smoke?
He caught Raynar watching him. He liked him, and trusted him completely, but his eyes unnerved him. Like Risto, friend Raynar was a man who had seen too much blood of both his friends and his enemies. In his stories Raynar had admitted to killing King Harald of Norway, and making several attempts on the life of King William the First. It had made him wonder how many other royal deaths the man was responsible for. Lately the thought had flitted through his mind that perhaps this man had killed King William the Second, the brother of the man he had just had an audience with.
Raynar said nothing, asked nothing. Gregos was acting like a gossipy old woman sworn to a new secret. He waited patiently for Gregos to speak.
"I must postpone my trip with you to the north," Gregos said in Greek. "Something has come up that is more important than buying breeding stock."
"I was expecting that," Raynar replied, also in Greek. He nodded to Gregos to confirm that no one else in the garden spoke Greek, except, of course, for Risto.
"I have been asked by King Henry to work with his Treasury to set up a new method of tax collection based on tally sticks," continued Gregos. "It means a complete overhaul of the Treasury and the accounts."
"He liked the idea then?"
"He has a keen intellect. As I explained the benefits of tally sticks to him, his mind was racing ahead of me. While we were still speaking, he sent his aides running to find any Greek or Italian books that mentioned anything about Tally Sticks."
Gregos chuckled, "My ambassador was most upset. Once I started talking, he was shown to an adjoining chamber to wait. I sent him home after the first hour. Henry and I talked for two more hours, and then the Chancellor joined us and we spoke for another hour," he chuckled again, "We could hear the ambassador from France complaining loudly when he was told that his audience was cancelled, and that after he had waited all afternoon."
"Do you trust him?" asked Raynar.
"Do I trust Henry. Of course not. He is a Royal. One cannot possibly pretend to be a god and stay trustworthy. Oh, you mean do I trust him to keep the promises of his Coronation Charter? Perhaps some of them, at least until there is no question that he is the king, and not his brother Robert.
As for the folk of this kingdom, the question they should be asking is whether their own lords will pass on the benefits of this charter. Henry's charter contains promises to his barons, not to the folk. The Barons must pass them on to the lords, and the lords on to the folk. I would advise the folk not to claim the amnesty for murder or taxes too quickly. Have them wait until their lords offer it."
"That message is already sweeping across the kingdom," replied Raynar.
"I think that whether he keeps the promises or not, is related to why he would spend long hours with me, a simple merchant from Cordoba, while canceling audiences with princes and barons."
"He has money troubles?" guessed Raynar, and he snickered at Gregos describing himself as a simple merchant. In Cordoba, few men were as well placed as this gentle and brainy man.
"His brother Rufus was a warrior not a ruler and the men he chose to help him to rule, well, they robbed him blind."
"But that was Henry. Henry helped Rufus to rule." Raynar replied.
Gregos lowered his voice. "Henry did not ride from his brother's corpse to Winchester just to claim William's treasury. It was nearly empty. He rode to take his own to London where it would be safe. I predict that by next year, Winchester will be just another shire seat and no longer the capital.
Henry is determined to solve the financial sickness of this kingdom, and thereby solve the sickness of its people. He has already stopped the movement of coin to Normandy, and now with the tally sticks, he will break the grasp that the moneylenders, and minters, and bankers have on everything that the crown does. He hopes he can turn the kingdom's finances to the positive within three years."
"And can he? The cut of the bankers is double, for they take it from the coin flowing both to and from the treasury." asked Raynar.
"I think it will happen within six months, if he can get the tally sticks in place before the harvest tax season. I will help him to do that by concentrating on the largest tax payers. That is why he needs me. Not just because I once set up tally sticks for my Caliph, but because I am new to the palace and have not yet been corrupted by the largest tax payers and the moneylenders.
If he can turn the finances positive, and break the grip of the bankers, then he can keep his promises of lower taxes. Lower taxes will eventually mean more food in the mouths of children."
Raynar was skeptical, no, cynical. "It is a long reach from the table of the king to the table of a serf, and there are many greedy lords and knights in between. Wealth tends to float up to the top, and when it occasionally does trickle back down, it tends to trickle down as left over waste, and it rarely makes it so far as to those with a true need."
"The knights were greedy because they were endlessly at war. War is doubly expensive. They are expensive to run, and they destroy things that are expensive to replace. He is stopping the coins from leaving for Normandy so this means that he is refusing to pay for more wars. That cannot be a bad thing. As you constantly remind me, the consistent losers in war are the women and children. In peace then, will not the consistent winners be those same women and children?"
Raynar gave him a sour look.
"I jest, but it is interesting logic that befits a Lord of Misrule." apologized Gregos. He looked around looking for listening ears. There were none. "Tomorrow at first light, all around London, twenty minters are to be arrested on charges of shorting silver in the coin of the realm. They will likely be hanged or garroted as an example to the others. All other minters will be ordered to use full silver immediately. For the next month they must offer to replace any of their short coins with coins of full measure."
"But the minters will not be able to. They don't have enough silver. They will have the choice of ruin or a stretched neck." said Raynar.
"Henry is more of a fox than you give him credit for. The crown's own bailiffs will be guarding the mints. Only honest men with honest coin will dare to a
sk for the swap. The cheats and grafters with their ill gotten, un-taxed troves will not dare to expose themselves in front of Henry's bailiffs. Such cheats will lose half their own worth in a month as their old coins will be worth that much less than the new coins."
"Was that Henry's idea or yours?" asked Raynar.
"I may have suggested it to him and explained it's effect, but his mind was quick enough to realize the importance and the implications, and to set the plan in motion, and quickly. Very quickly." Gregos sipped some more ale and did not hide his look of grimace at the taste.
Raynar nodded to a passing orderly and asked for some wine. "And you?"
"I must move to the palace. Henry insists. He fears for my life and wants me guarded. The guildsmiths and moneylenders will soon know that it is I that am costing them so much of their wealth. I could not tell him that this Inn was safer than the palace. He would have been insulted."
"And me?"
"Find something else to keep you busy, and be patient. Give Henry two years to try to make things better. If by then he has failed to keep his promises, then forcefully complain to remind him. In the meantime I truly think that you and your brotherhood should step forward and defend him from the powerful enemies he is about to make. He is cleaning up a mess made across thirty years of misrule. It will take time, but he is working towards a good end."
"What enemies?"
"If your hoodsmen stand to gain from the Charter, then who stands to loose. Your hoodsmen's enemies of course. I would lay a wager that the king and the hoodsmen will have the very same enemies for the next two years."
"Well, I must say that you seem very impressed with our new king," said Raynar. "I, on the other hand, have been dealing with the destruction caused by his family for thirty five years. They were responsible for the death of a culture and a way of life that was far better than their own, and they destroyed those by destroying the men, the women, and the children."