by Lesley Lodge
Wayland finally began to feel some hope for the future – and hope was something that had been in very short supply for a very long time. His mind was brought back to the present day then by the sound of the door closing as Jonathan took Rees out to show him the horse. ‘Husband,’ he heard Rosie May say to Alun, ‘about the lad, Rees. He has no family, with your sister having passed and by all accounts his father is nowhere to be found –’ she spoke without pause – ‘and, well, he’s been useful this past week while you were away and I was stuck with the baking…’
Alun interrupted her. ‘Don’t fuss, wife. I think I know what you’re leading up to,’ he said, putting an arm around her, ‘and yes, he can stay. So long as he knows he has to work. You know my lungs were always weak and the… well, the hard times in the siege have left me needing to recover my strength.’
Wayland knew that while Alun and Rosie May had a good marriage by many measures, it had always been a source of unhappiness to them that children had not followed. He wasn’t surprised then when Rosie May flung her arms around Alun, thanking him again and again.
‘Away with you, woman.’ said Alun. He looked over at Wayland. Wayland knew it was time now to leave them. So he and Alice made their farewells with promises to meet up again soon and they set off with Jonathan. At first they rode in silence, as was their custom. Then Jonathan pointed to the horse he was riding. ‘Father,’ he asked, ‘can we… is there any way we can…’
‘Yes,’ said Wayland, ‘I reckon we can keep him. We’ll fatten up this third one. Villagers should be happy with that one. If they can even remember the difference.’
‘Yes!’ Jonathan actually shouted. He turned to his father. ‘We can’t keep calling him Runaway Tom. Not after Fairfax and all that happened in Colchester. So, you see, I’ve been thinking what to call him…’ he began – and he kept up his chatter all the way back to the smithy.
Author’s Note
Some of the characters in this book actually existed and many of the events really did happen. Historians now agree that Matthew Hopkins, England’s self–styled Witch–finder General, believed to have been responsible for the deaths of up to three hundred women between the years 1644 and 1646, died of consumption in Manningtree, Essex.
The bitter siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the English Civil War was reignited in several areas of Britain. It lasted eleven weeks and the besieged townspeople suffered horribly. To this day you can visit the spot where Lucas and Lisle were executed: the Lucas and Lisle Monument in Colchester Castle. Wayland and his story are however fiction and some of the words and deeds of actual historical figures have been fictionalised – but are not, I hope, out of character.
Bibliography/Further Reading
A true relation of that honourable, tho’ unfortunate expedition of Kent, Essex, ad Colchester, in 1648. (A contemporary account by diarist Matthew Carter). Active 1660. 1750. Gale ECCO Print Editions.
The Notebooks of Nehemiah Wallington 1618 – 1654 A Selection. Edited by David Booy. Ashgate Publishing Limited. 2007.
The English Civil War Maurice Ashley 1990 Guild Publishing.
Understanding Popular Violence in the English Revolution: The Colchester Plunderers. John Walter. Cambridge University Press 2005.
Witchfinders: A Seventeenth–Century English Tragedy. Malcolm Gaskill. John Murray (Publishers). 2005.
The English Civil War 2000 Ed Peter Gaunt. Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Blackwell Essential Readings in History.
The Siege of Colchester, Phil Jones, 1648, 2003, Tempus Publishing Ltd.
The Siege of Colchester: Or An Event Of The Civil War, AD 1648 (1874), by the Rev. George Fyler Townsend, MA, Kessinger Publishing Legacy Reprint.
The Discovery of Witches: In Answer to severall QUERIES, LATELY Delivered to the Judges of Assize for the County of NORFOLK, by Matthew Hopkins, 1647.
Malleus Maleficarum: The Hammer of Witchcraft by Jacobus Sprenger and HeinrichKramer. The Folio Society. 1968.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to:
Professor Malcolm Gaskill because the detailed and vivid accounts in his book Witchfinders: A Seventeenth–Century English Tragedy first set me thinking about what was to become Wayland’s story.
Matador for their expertise and patience in the publishing process for Wayland’s Revenge.
Chris, Gerard, Michael and Catherine Hughes for some inspiration and assistance with digital technology.
Michael Hughes and Anne Coates for help checking drafts.
About the Author
Lesley Lodge took her MA in Colchester. She worked as a journalist and then on regeneration projects and housing finance. She now lives on a smallholding in Bedfordshire, writing the next novel.
Her other publications include the Luton Literary Prize winning short story Blues to Orange, and Joined Up Now, another short story. She has also written a non-fiction book: Lights! Camera! Gallop! The Story of the Horse in Film.
You can find Lesley Lodge online at:
www.lesleylodge.co.uk
Twitter: @LesleyLodge
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LesleyLodgeAuthorPage