by Griff Hosker
I was sent with the Earl of Kildare and his knights. We were given the southerly route home. We were lucky. There were few places which were strong enough to defy the King. We destroyed four hill forts on the journey home. None of the hill forts were occupied. It took a month for us to complete the journey. The King and his uncle headed to the north. He intended to intimidate the Uí Néill clan. King Richard did not care that his victory had been paid for by the blood of many English knights and men at arms not to mention thousands of Irishmen, he was determined to exercise his authority.
I confided my fears to Sir Henry as we headed back to Kildare. “He has used Ireland to test his power. I fear that he will return to England and try the same.”
“But there are no rebels in England.”
“There are those who not only challenged him once but won. I think he will punish them. The Queen is dead and there is none, save John of Gaunt, to rein him in.”
We left the Earl in his castle and made our way back to Dublin and The Pale. We had taken great quantities of treasure. Most was in the form of swords, helmets and some mail but we had taken torcs, coins and jewels from dead chiefs. The money John of Gaunt had given to me to hire the men was now spent and I had to pay for my men. Costs were incurred as we had to pay for food while we awaited the King’s pleasure.
The Earl of Kent arrived next, a day or two later, and he informed us that the King had disbanded the army and we could make our own way home. Of course, he had neglected to send the funds for us to do so. Some of the weaponry was sold to fund our voyage home. We were still well in profit. We arrived back in Chester and headed back to Weedon. As we rode, I asked the new men if they had decided if they wished to stay with me. Some told me that they were happy to do so but a handful of them wished to seek their fortune elsewhere. It was not an acrimonious decision on their part. They were warriors for hire. The four were all sergeants. The archers were happy to stay on with me. Alan of the Wood had explained that they would not be paid the same rate but that did not worry them. I now had to find out if the three manors, Weedon, Stony Stratford and Whittlebury could fund the extra men. By the time we reached Weedon, six months had passed since we had first left. Harry and Alice had both grown and there were new people working the land. It had been a good harvest and all was well. We paid off the four men and I sold the metal to Martin the Smith. It would fund my men for another six months.
Life settled into an easy pattern for the next six months. My new men found life in Weedon suited them. Some of the new men married. My wife parcelled up the farm which had belonged to Old Harry and his wife. They had died without family and it was a big farm. Old Harry had allowed it to lie fallow for a couple of years before we arrived. My wife now saw an opportunity. Six of my married men were offered the tenancy of six small farms. None was big enough to support a family but, with the stipend I paid them, they were all better off. It was an astute move on my wife’s part.
When, some months later, we visited Northampton to buy more surcoats, we heard news which surprised me. The King had become betrothed to Isabella of Valois. She was seven years old and the youngest daughter of the King of France. It was part of a truce with France. As we rode home, I pondered the decision. It was a political marriage but what the King needed was an heir and he had none! A seven-year-old bride might be a political help but it would not bring him a son. He was in a difficult position. The marriage was planned for the next year. We also heard that the King had had the body of Robert de Vere brought back to England and he had built him a tomb. It was said he wept at the sight of his dead friend’s mummified body. That concerned me as much as anything.
While in Northampton I was told that Henry Bolingbroke had finally managed to go to Jerusalem. He went not as a crusader but as a pilgrim. The cynic in me saw the political side of the gesture. He was preparing himself for kingship.
It was the following year, not long after the marriage of the King to Isabella of Valois that I was summoned to Northampton to meet with the Earl of Northampton. I had not been invited to the wedding of the King. My wife had expected an invite but I had not. I knew that the King viewed me as a warrior. I was not a noble. I was there to be used in time of war and then dismissed. The Earl of Northampton had been invited and I was summoned to his castle when he returned from London.
He had with him his son, Henry of Monmouth. The young lord had spent more time away from his father than with him. When I arrived at the castle I was greeted like an old friend. That had not been the way we had parted on our return from the Baltic. Then I had almost been dismissed. I had with me John, Ralph and Tom. Whenever I was summoned to the side of Henry, I knew that some request would be made of me. However, he was my liege lord and I could not refuse him.
He smiled and that was always a bad sign. This is your eldest? Thomas isn’t it?”
“Tom, my lord.”
“Tom, just so. And this is my son, Henry. The last you saw of him, Sir William, he was but a babe and now he has grown.”
“That he has, my lord.”
“Henry, this is the man who trained the King to be a warrior and trained me. He guarded the King too. This is not a knight who fights at tourneys. This is a warrior.”
To be fair to the young lord he looked at me with respect. That was not always the case with lordlings. I bowed, “It is good to meet with you, my lord.”
The Earl of Northampton looked over at John. “And has John been dubbed yet, Sir William?”
I shook my head, “No, lord.”
“Is he not ready yet?”
“Oh yes, lord, he is ready but…”
The old Henry Bolingbroke smiled, “But you did not wish to offend me by doing so. Then that is easily remedied. I have a ceremony at the end of the month. Fetch him here and he shall be knighted. You are a banneret now. You should have a knight to follow your banner. What say you, John? Are you ready for spurs?”
“I am, my lord.” I saw, on his face, the worry. How would he afford a courser, the plate? Whence would he get his squire? I gave him a nod. We would have to work that out later. My wife would have to change the accommodation. He would no longer be able to share a room with Ralph. He would need his own quarters. He would require a coat of arms and his own surcoat. All of this was rushing through his mind. I knew it because when I had been knighted the same thoughts had terrified me.
“Good. And now that you need a squire I would have you train my son, Henry of Monmouth. He can be a sort of squire to you. You need not to worry about making him a knight. I have better-qualified men to do that but you are the best to teach him how to survive on a battlefield. Your home is close enough for his mother and me to visit although his mother spends more time in Monmouth. I give him to you for a year.”
The act seemed well thought out and planned and I wondered if this was the reason I had been given Weedon. Henry Bolingbroke was a complicated and deep man. I would not put it past him to have planned this all those years ago. I smiled, “I am happy but you should know, my lord, that my home is simple. We do not have fine dining.”
Henry of Monmouth grinned, “Do not worry about that, lord. I do not need fine food. And I shall be Henry, my lord, for I need to learn from you. You are the master and I shall be your apprentice. It will be good to see how those who serve England live.”
I liked the young lord. He was not like his father. He appeared to have no guile about him, “Then all is well.”
The Earl handed me a bag of coins. “He has his own horses and James, his servant, can see to his needs. He will need armour for training and a training sword. When he is full-grown, we shall buy him plate.”
I nodded, “And when shall I come for him?”
“You take him now. I hope to see an improvement in his skills by the time John is knighted.”
Eleanor would not be happy. She liked to prepare. It could not be helped.
“Henry, take the lord’s entourage to help you pack. You can get to know them. I would have words with
Sir William.”
When we were alone, he poured us some wine, “You were with the King in Ireland?”
“I was, my lord.”
“My father said he acquitted himself well.”
“He led our men in battle, lord, and the Irish were defeated.”
“There is a hint of criticism in your voice, Will.”
I smiled, “No, lord, as you know, I am a warrior. The fighting I understand but I am less confident with the strategies which are used by the great and the good.”
He seemed mollified. “And now he takes a seven-year-old as a bride.” He lowered his voice and gestured towards the door through which his son had just passed. “You know that you may be training a future King of England. I may never attain the throne but if my cousin has no children then Henry of Monmouth will be the next King of England. You have a great responsibility upon your shoulders, Will Strongstaff.”
I shook my head, “Then give it to another, lord.”
“The Black Prince was the best judge of warriors and he chose you to train both my cousin and me. You are perfect because you have neither affiliations nor obligations to any. Your blood is not touched by your betters and that makes you the ideal choice. You are not related to the families of England who wield the power. Keep your eyes and ears open, Will. There are plots and there are conspiracies. Know that I have no intention of harming my cousin. I do not wish my cousin Mortimer and his cronies to attain the crown and I will do all in my power to keep the King safe. When I heard that you were with the King and my father in Ireland, I knew that they would both be safe. I know that my son, a future King of England, will be as safe with you as in the Tower of London!”
James, Henry’s servant, was an older man. He was almost my age and I recognised him as having formerly been one of the Earl’s men at arms. As such we got on well. Riding the short journey back to Weedon I was largely silent. I had much to ponder. Despite my own choices, I was now back in the centre of the struggle to keep and hold the crown and the throne. Henry Bolingbroke was right. The King had ruled for a long time and had no heir. His bride would not be able to conceive for six or seven more years. Anything might happen in that time. Young Henry of Monmouth might well be the King.
John nudged his horse next to me. Ralph and Tom were chattering like magpies with Henry. “Lord, the Earl does me great honour but I know how much it costs to be a knight. I have saved coin from the wars but it will not be enough. How can I find a squire? What about a war horse?”
I nodded. This was a healthy distraction from my fears about my own future. “The squire is easy if you will have him. Ralph is willing and he is good with horses. I am certain that his father would have a courser for you. You do not need it yet. You have time to garner the coin. If you wish to go to war to earn coin then I will not stop you. I am your lord but I have known you too long to be an awkward one. Plate? Speak with Martin and see what he can do. Your mother and father will be proud of your achievement. Your father is now an important man. As reeve of Stony Stratford, he has more coin. Ask your mother to make your surcoats. When I was first knighted, that is what I did. This knighthood is something to be embraced and not feared.”
“What of you, lord? Who will be your squire? You were training Ralph.”
“And I will train Tom. He is willing and he will like the elevation. There is little likelihood of war in the near future. He has time to learn.”
When we reached my hall, I knew I should have sent Ralph ahead to warn my wife. When she was introduced to the young lord, her face, when she caught my eye, was as black as thunder, although she smiled at the young lord. Henry was perfectly polite and I think his smile and charm disarmed her. While Henry and his servant were shown their new quarters, I told my wife all. She was pleased that John was to be knighted for she liked both him and his parents. I did not tell her about the possibility of Henry becoming King. That would have been too much for her.
Our training began the next day. I gave John a week off so that he could tell his parents and I allowed Ralph to return to Middleham. His father would be pleased and he could begin to look for a courser for John. I used my men at arms to help me train Henry. His enthusiasm and attitude endeared him to my men. He was no soft lord. He relished the hard work and the rough banter. He reminded me of me when I had been with the Blue Company. Throughout his life, he had this ability to get on with ordinary folk. I had it because I was ordinary but he was the son of one of the most powerful and richest men in England. He was heir to both the English and French thrones. Yet he never used that to his advantage. When Harold Four Fingers put him on his back while showing him how to wrestle, he laughed and asked for my sergeant at arms to show him how to do it. He was battered and he was bruised at the end of each day yet he never complained. He admired my archers more than any. He tried to pull a bow but he could not. If he was going to be an archer, he would have begun training many years earlier. It did not stop him from trying and he spent hours each day at the butts. Alan of the Woods and my archers also took to him. I realised this would not be as hard as it had been with King Richard. Of course, then I had had Robert de Vere to upset the applecart. I had Henry all to myself and I moulded him to be a warrior. It was a measure of the youth that when the men began calling him Hal, he did not object and actually relished the name for it marked him as different from his father. While he was at Weedon he was Hal. When he returned to his father, he became Henry of Monmouth once more.
At the end of the month, we headed back to Northampton. My wife insisted on hiring a carriage to take her and John’s parents to Northampton for the dubbing. “We can stay in the town. We might not be allowed to see the ceremony but it is right that his mother and father see him with his spurs!” There was no arguing with my wife when she was in that sort of mood. Martin had made the spurs for John. They were my gift to him as well as a fine scabbard for his sword. His livery was to be a simple red and blue one. It was mine without the staff. As he told me, he had not done anything to merit anything more. He was what he was because of me.
There were others to be knighted and, after the ceremony, while John left with Tom and Ralph to meet my wife and John’s parents, the Earl took us to the inner bailey. He waved over a servant who had two wooden practice swords. This was unfair for young Henry had had no warning that he was to be tested. To be fair to the youth he grinned and took the sword. His father took the other. Henry Bolingbroke had been trained by me but that had been some years ago. The Earl tried a flurry of quick blows. Henry of Monmouth deflected them all and, using his feet, moved out of the way of the last one. He was barely breathing while his father was almost out of breath. His father raised his sword to bring it down on his son’s head. Had it connected then the young lord would have had his skull split open. Roger of Chester had spent hours with the youth and it paid off. Henry of Monmouth blocked the blow and then spun around to land a blow on his father’s buttocks. The Earl looked shocked and I feared he would be angry. Instead, he shook his head and began to laugh. He threw the sword to the ground and put his arm around his son’s shoulders.
“That will do, Will Strongstaff. That will do. Another eleven months will see him ready to ride to war!” His servant came over and the Earl took a purse from him and threw it to me. “A reward for the good work.” He shook his head, “Bested by my own son who has yet to shave.” He wagged a playful finger at me, “Will Strongstaff! You have not lost your touch!”
My wife, John and his parents stayed in Northampton in an inn and celebrated. I rode home with Tom, Ralph and Hal. It was a big day for both Tom and Ralph. They were now squires. Ralph had seen that John had begun from a similar position to himself. The possibility of knighthood was there. Tom was different. Weedon was a hereditary manor. When I died the title would pass to him. The Earl had told me that was as a result of being a banneret. His father, the Duke, had insisted upon confirming the title for my work in Ireland. Of course, it meant I had to provide more men when we went to war. I wa
s glad that so many of my men had chosen to stay with me.
Over the next months, Hal grew both in size, for he ate hearty meals prepared by my wife, and also from within as a warrior. He became better with a bow. He would never become as good as even Ralph but the bow gave him a broader back and stronger arms. He joked that I was adding to the expense of his plate and mail. I had joked back that his father could afford it. Ralph was good with a sword but soon Hal could defeat him. Tom also took part and he improved as well.
My life as lord of the manor meant I had duties there too. It was late November when we heard that there were bandits in the woods to the north of Northampton. Travellers had been robbed when they were on their way north, to Lincoln. Women had been abused. The King’s highways had to be kept open. The Earl was not in the castle, he was visiting his wife in Monmouth, and so we were asked to help the Earl’s men to hunt them down. It was the nearest we had come to war. We wore no mail and we carried no shields but we took our swords and my archers. With Harold the gamekeeper’s dogs we set off at dawn. If women had not been involved then my archers might have been reluctant to hunt them for they had lived beyond the law for a time. Women had been abused and their merchant husbands beaten. That had broken the code of the bandit and, for that, they would be punished.
We left the road close to the path which the victims had told us the bandits had taken. They had told us that there were twelve of them. It was a risk to take Henry of Monmouth but his father wanted him prepared. This would do it. We had hunted game but that was never the same.
Stephen the Tracker liked the young lord and he took him with him to show him the tracks they had found. “See, Hal, the indentation there at the heel. It has a mark in it. I saw it by the road. That means it is the same man who came this way. The prints we follow could have been a couple of bands. This tells us that it is one. They are following in each other’s tracks and that shows they are careful.”