Copyright © 2016 David Thomas
The right of David Thomas to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
This Ebook edition was first published by Headline Publishing Group in 2016
All characters – apart from the obvious historical ones – in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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eISBN: 978 1 4722 1924 4
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About David Churchill
About the Book
Praise for David Churchill
Also by
Family Trees
List of Characters
Prologue: The Carrion Field
Book One: The Prelate’s Legacy
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Book Two: The Women and Their Sons
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Book Three: Trial by Combat, Trial by Order
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Book Four: The Hungry and The Hunted
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Postscript: A Visitor From England
Author’s Note
Timeline
About David Churchill
David Churchill is the pseudonym of an award-winning journalist, who has conducted several hundred in-depth interviews with senior politicians, billionaire entrepreneurs, Olympic athletes, movie stars, supermodels and rock legends. He has investigated financial scandals on Wall Street, studio intrigues in Hollywood and corrupt sports stars in Britain, and lived in Moscow, Washington D.C., and Havana. He has edited four magazines, published seventeen books and been translated into some twenty languages. The Leopards of Normandy reflects his lifelong passion for history and his fascination for the extraordinary men and women of the past who shaped the world we live in today.
About the Book
Who writes history? Assassin or conqueror?
The Boy Duke
The future of Normandy, if he survives
The Cousin
Royal of blood, dangerous of ambition
The Assassin
Deadly poisoner, deadly secrets
The Queen
Dangerous in her grief
The Earl
Ruthless kingmaker, arch manipulator
Normandy, 1037.
Sparks fly from clashing swords as the game of thrones plays out in bloodshed. Of those named guardian to the boy Duke, all seek advantage and power. Most wish the boy dead. Some will go to any lengths to make it happen.
Across the sea, the struggle for the English crown has seen Queen Emma’s beloved son killed. She has two more sons waiting in the wings but Godwin, Earl of Wessex – kingmaker and arch manipulator – has other plans.
As the noble families of Europe murder each other in their lust for power and fortune, the boy stands apart.
Praise for Devil
‘An exciting mix of medieval betrayal, violence and sex’ Wilbur Smith
‘Cleverly adds layers of blood and flesh to our skeletal knowledge of the people whose invasion of England changed our island for ever’ Rory Clements
‘This is historical fiction as its very best. Highly recommended’ Historical Novel Society
‘These people are playing the game of thrones . . . one to watch’ Girl with her Head in a Book
‘Oh wow. This is an earthy, gritty, brutal piece of historical fiction – and I love it’ LilyPad
‘A compelling tale of power, sex and violence’ Neverlmitate
‘One of my most anticipated reads for the first half of the year’ A Fantastical Librarian
The Leopards of Normandy
Devil
As David Thomas
Girl
Blood Relative
Ostland
As Tom Cain
The Accident Man
The Survivor
Assassin
Dictator
Carver
Revenger
List of Characters
Historical Characters
The First Dukes of Normandy
Rollo ‘the Strider’ (846–931)
William I ‘Longsword’ (900–942)
Duke Richard I ‘the Fearless’ (933–996)
Duke Richard II ‘the Good’ (978–1026)
Duke Richard III (1026–1027): first husband of Adela of France (below)
Duke Robert I (1027–1035) known as both ‘the Devil’ and ‘the Magnificent’: William’s father
The House of Normandy
William II (1035–): ‘the Bastard’ later to be better known as ‘the Conqueror’
Emma of Normandy, Queen of England: widow of two Kings of England, Ethelred ‘the Unready’ and Canute ‘the Great’
Eleanor, sister of Richard and Robert: married to Count Baldwi
n IV of Flanders
Robert, Count of Evreux and Archbishop of Rouen: died immediately before this story begins
Richard and William: the archbishop’s legitimate sons and heirs
Ralph ‘Donkey-Head’ de Gacé:Archbishop Robert’s illegitimate1 son and William’s cousin
1 Sources differ as to Ralph’s legitimacy, or otherwise. For the purposes of this fictional account he has been assumed to be a bastard, in every respect.
Mauger, later Archbishop of Rouen; and William, Count of Arques and Talou (referred to as ‘Talou’ in this story): sons of Richard II by his second wife Papia, and William’s uncles
Gilbert of Brionne, grandson of Richard I: William’s cousin and guardian
Guy of Burgundy, grandson of Richard II: Gilbert’s ward and heir
Osbern Herfastsson: William’s distant cousin and guardian
William Fitzosbern (‘Fitz’): son of Osbern, later William’s friend and steward
Barnon of Glos: Osbern’s estate manager
Thorold: William’s tutor and guardian
Robert Champart: abbot of Jumièges
Odo the Fat: a killer in the employ of Ralph de Gacé
Goles: a court jester
The Houses of Fulbert and Conteville
Fulbert the tanner: William’s grandfather
Doda: his wife
Herleva: his daughter, William’s mother
Osbern and Walter: Fulbert’s sons, William’s uncles and guardians
Herluin of Conteville: husband of Herleva
Odo and Robert of Conteville: sons of Herluin and Herleva
The Kingdom of France
King Henry I (1031–): William’s liege-lord
Princess Adela of France: his sister
The House of Flanders
Baldwin V (1035–): Count of Flanders and second husband of Adela of France
Matilda: their daughter
Judith: Baldwin’s half-sister, his father’s daughter with his second wife, Eleanor of Normandy
The House of Brittany
Count Alan III (1008–): first cousin of Richard and Robert of Normandy and guardian of William
The House of Bellême
William ‘Talvas’: Count of Bellême
Hildeburg: Talvas’s first wife
Arnulf and Mabel: their son and daughter
Rohais: Talvas’s second wife
Ivo Bishop of Sées: Talvas’s brother
Norman Barons (in order of appearance)
Giroie of Échauffour: a Breton-born soldier, bent on creating a dynasty
Gisela: his wife
Arnold, William, Fulk, Robert, Ralph (known as ‘the Ill-Tonsured’ or ‘the Clerk’) and Hawise: their children
Roger de Tosny: another old soldier, recently returned to Normandy from Spain
Helbert and Heliband: his sons
Wakelin of Pont-Enchanfroi: a friend of Gilbert of Brionne
Roger de Beaumont and Hugh de Grandesmil: enemies of Roger de Tosny
Roger of Montgomery: a rebellious baron
Hugh, Roger, Robert, William and Gilbert: his sons
Thurstan Goz ‘the Dane’: a baron, trying his luck
Nigel ‘Falconhead’: Viscount of the Cotentin; Grimauld de Plessis; Ralph ‘the Badger’
Taisson, Lord of Thury; Rannulf, Count of the Bessin and ‘Longtooth’ Haimo de Crèvecoeur, Lord of Torigni, Évrecy and Cruelly: conspirators against William
Hubert de Ryes: a minor baron with land between Caen and the Channel coast
Hardret: a Norman knight who wants to make a name for himself
The Kingdoms of England and Denmark
Edward, son of King Ethelred of England and his second wife Emma of Normandy: living in exile in Normandy
Alfred, his brother: murdered shortly before the start of the story
Goda, sister of Edward and Alfred: married to Count Eustace of Boulogne
Harthacnut and Gunhilda: Emma of Normandy’s children by King Canute
Elgiva of Northampton: Canute’s first wife/concubine
King Harold I of England, known as ‘Harefoot’ (1035–): Canute and Elgiva’s son
Leofric: Earl of Mercia (c.1017–)
Lady Godiva: his wife
Aelfwine: Bishop of Winchester
Brihtric Mau: a Saxon landowner and ambassador to the court of Count Baldwin
Sven Estridsson: son of Ulf Jarl (brother of Gytha Thorkelsdóttir) and Estrith (sister of Canute): close ally of Harthacnut
King Magnus I of Norway (1035–)
Kalv Arneson and Einar ‘Strongbow’ Eindridesson: two Norwegian barons loyal to Magnus
Thrond: an executioner employed by Harthacnut
Tofi the Proud: King Canute’s former standard-bearer
Gytha: his bride
Osgood Clapa: Gytha’s father, an East Anglian landowner
The House of Wessex
Godwin, Earl of Wessex (1020–)
Gytha Thorkelsdóttir: his wife
Sweyn, Harold, Tostig, Gyrth, Leofwin, Wulnoth: Godwin and Gytha’s sons
Edith: their daughter
Named Fictional Characters
Judith: Herleva’s best friend and William’s nanny
Jarl the Viper: a professional poisoner, also known as Jamila
Agatha: a young Flemish girl in need of charity
Mahomet: Jarl’s servant, but Jamila’s husband
Eudo: a poacher’s son
Father Osmond: a monk seeking justice
Rörik Ingesson: captain of Harthacnut’s flagship
Conan: a soldier, turned monk
Turkill: William’s trainer in the art of swordsmanship
Tallifer: a maker of fine pies
John of Saltwich: one of Earl Godwin’s men
Brutus the Great: a strongman in a travelling show
Martin: one of three useful poachers
John: a blacksmith’s boy
Solomon ben Yehuda: a Jewish scholar in Narbonne
Mildred: a servant at the royal palace of Winchester
Father Louis and Father Rodulf: two rural priests
Bishop Bertrand: chaplain to the King of France
Peter of Tewkesbury: an English boy in Flanders
Prologue:
The Carrion Field
The countryside south of Caen, Normandy, early 1047
The spring rains had been heavy and the River Orne was running fast and full. By rights the mills at Borbeillon should have been turning at a good, steady rate, the air filled with the sounds of the grinding of the wheat between the rotating millstones, the splashing of the water against the paddles of the waterwheels and the groaning of wood and rope.
But the millstones were still, the wheels were not turning and the only noise that came from them was the repetitive banging of wood against metal. Again and again the same staccato clatter as jammed paddles beat back and forth against the objects that were obstructing them: the helmets, shields and chain-mail coats of dead men, hundreds of them, whose bodies had been carried downstream by the river in which they had drowned.
The day was drawing to a close, but in the oyster-grey expanse of the sunless sky a multitude of birds – crows, rooks, ravens, buzzards, even seagulls drawn inshore by the promise of a feast – wheeled and screeched and cawed as they surveyed the devastation beneath them. Across a great swathe of flat, featureless countryside the corpses of mighty aristocrats, their attendant barons, vavasours and men-at-arms lay alongside their slaughtered mounts, contorted and disjointed as if picked up and thrown back down against the ground by the hand of God himself. Here they had fought, retreated and then fled pe
ll-mell towards the banks of the river, which had claimed the lives of any who survived long enough to be driven into its chilly waters.
The battle that had taken place that day would not inspire troubadours to compose songs praising the bravery and chivalry of its combatants. No playwright would take it as the subject of his work, writing speeches filled with virtue and courage to place in his characters’ mouths. It was, in many respects, just another bleak day in an age of violence and disorder, a battle between two cousins, both barely out of their teens. Like their fathers and forefathers before them, the pair were typical examples of Norman nobility: ambitious, greedy, impatient men, whose blood was as much Viking as French, ready to seize by force whatever was not theirs by right. Each one of them knew that his allies one day might be his enemies in the morning, and vice versa too, for loyalties only lasted as long as there was profit in them. There was not a man present who had not fought in other, very similar engagements, and many of those who survived would one day fight and even die in others just like it. And birds would flock to pick at their bodies, too.
Yet for all that it appeared unexceptional, this was a conflict that changed the course of history. Two cousins met on a featureless plain, and when their battle was done, one of them slipped into a millennium of obscurity, unknown to any but the most devoted scholars.
And the other?
Well that is another story entirely . . .
Book One:
The Prelate’s Legacy
Spring 1037–Autumn 1039
1
Rouen, Normandy
The Duke of Normandy’s nanny placed a hand on his shoulder, shook it a little and said, ‘Time to get up, Your Grace.’
William the Bastard gave a dismissive shrug, rolled over in bed so that his back was towards her and muttered, ‘Don’t want to.’
William was nine years old, and Judith had known him since he was just a seed in his mother Herleva’s womb, tended to him from the day he was born and stayed with him when cruel political calculations had forced Herleva out of the ducal household, leaving William behind. The two women had grown up together in a cluster of cottages on the outskirts of Falaise: one the daughter of a skinner who stripped the hides off dead animals, the other of the tanner who turned those hides into leather. Their homes and their fathers’ workplaces had been set aside from the rest of the town because the gruesomeness, filth and stench of their chosen trades was so repellent to decent folk. Now Herleva was the wife of a viscount, the mistress of a great estate and the mother of a duke, while Judith was still just a servant, when all was said and done. Yet she felt no sense of injustice, for though she had once been able to make the town lads come running, she was never going to win a great lord’s heart. It was thanks to Herleva that Judith had spent nigh on a dozen years living and working in the ducal household, where she was far better off than she would ever have been in Falaise. So she had no cause to complain, except, of course, for those moments when William decided to defy her requests.
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