Uhtred the Bold

by H A CULLEY

  I had visited the Ealdorman of Durham before but he preferred to live at Monkwearmouth on the coast where there was a monastery and a thriving port. Durham itself was a fortified town, called a burh, sitting on the top of a steep sided hill surrounded on three sides by a bend in the River Wear. I could immediately see why Aldhun would prefer to live there instead of staying at Chester le Street. After the Viking raids that the monks from Lindisfarne had suffered, both on the island and since they had left it, Durham offered security.

  However, it wasn’t there that we were headed. For some reason there was no church within the fortifications, so we headed along the west bank of the river, around the southern end of the bend and back up the east bank. The little whitewashed wattle and daub church, known as the White Church for obvious reasons, stood on its own surrounded by a small cemetery.

  The first task was for everyone to cut timber from a nearby wood and build temporary shelters in which we could live pro tem. That night it rained and we all took shelter in the only available building - the church.

  The next morning dawned bright and sunny. We ate a rudimentary breakfast of stale bread, cheese and berries before starting work again. As the wet undergrowth and pile of cut timber steamed under the growing heat of the sun, Aldhun, Ecgfrida, the prior and I rode north to where a ferry crossed to the north bank of the Wear. It was only small and it took two trips to take us and our four horses across. The operators of the ferry were a man well into middle age and his son. When they heard the bishop saying that we would need to build a bridge over the river the man got agitated and the brawny son became belligerent.

  At first I was tempted to draw my sword to cow the two, but I could tell that Ecgfrida sympathised with them. I overheard her whispering to her father that we must not take away their livelihood.

  ‘Perhaps the father could act as your toll collector and I’m sure we can employ the lad as a labourer. After all, there will be plenty of work once we start to construct the new church and the monastery,’ I suggested.

  Once they realised that they would still be employed the two ferrymen were much happier. However, the bishop wasn’t altogether pleased with the proposal.

  ‘I had hoped that the people of Durham would give their labour for nothing. I can’t afford to pay them as well as the skilled masons and other artisans we’ll need.’

  ‘They might give you one day a fortnight as an act of piety but I was thinking that we could employ the lad permanently. If that’s a problem I’ll pay him. We need the local population’s support and putting some of them out of work won’t help us.’

  ‘Thank you, my son. You’re already giving up your time, but I won’t say no to some financial help as well.’

  I gathered from that that I was expected to stay and help with the work. I could understand that seeing the son of the earl getting involved would encourage the others, but I wondered how open ended this commitment would prove to be. It could take some time to build a timber church and buildings for the monks and even longer to replace the buildings in stone. However, I was more than content to remain in the company of Ecgfrida and I was in no hurry to return to the unpleasant atmosphere at Bebbanburg.

  ~~~

  I stayed throughout the winter and in the following April I rose early to put on my best tunic, trousers and cloak. Cædmon, the man who had replaced Borg as my body servant, told me to stop fidgeting as he wrapped red ribbons around my blue trousers below the knee. I did as he asked with difficulty. It wasn’t every day that a man got married.

  Once I was fully dressed I walked across to the newly completed timber church to hear mass before coming back to the monk’s refectory to break my fast with bread, cheese and water. It was a wattle and daub building, like the rest of the new monastery. Gradually they would be replaced in timber or, in a few cases, in stone. The foundations of the new monastic church, which Aldhun insisted on calling a cathedral after the practice on the Continent, had already been dug, but it would be years before it replaced the present small timber structure.

  The monastery almost filled the plateau at the summit. The houses cascaded down the north side of the hill and, as that side within the timber palisade was now full, new dwellings were being built to the south and east. The slope to the west was too steep to build on. The only other building on the plateau was the thane’s hall. Originally a simple oblong building consisting of one room where the local thane, his family, household warriors and servants all lived together, now it had been extended to provide separate chambers for the thane’s family, for me, for Aldhun and for Ecgfrida.

  Although it was mid-April a chill wind swept across the plateau, making me glad that I had worn my thickest woollen cloak rather than the thinner richly embroidered one that would have been more appropriate for the occasion.

  I arrived early at the church as was the tradition. It wouldn’t have done for the bride to be kept waiting by the groom. Ulfric was my groomsman and the thane’s eldest girl attended Ecgfrida.

  It seemed an age but eventually my wife-to-be emerged from the hall dressed in a yellow cotton under-tunic and a surcoat of green wool. As was the practice for unmarried girls her glorious long auburn hair was worn unbound with a silver circlet to keep it from blowing across her face. She looked beautiful and I couldn’t help thinking that it was be a pity that, after today, she would have to appear in public with a wimple covering her hair.

  I had naturally sent my father and brother an invitation to attend but they had declined. I was stung by the insult but at least all the ealdormen from Bernicia and even the one from Berwick in Lothian had come with their wives.

  It would be inappropriate for Aldhun to officiate at his own daughter’s wedding and so the archbishop had travelled up from York to marry us.

  I remember little of the ceremony save how pretty my wife looked. Even the feast afterwards passed in a blur, despite my remaining sober. It wasn’t until we had been bedded amongst much hilarity and bawdy jests that I later recalled all too vividly what had then happened.

  Perhaps it was my fault; I was too eager, or Ecgfrida was not eager enough, but our first attempt at coupling was a disaster. Try as I may I didn’t seem able to get my new wife in the mood. I later discovered that the wretched wife of the thane had told her of her own experiences with her brute of a husband and consequently Ecgfrida came to my bed dreading what was about to happen.

  Our unsatisfactory love-making almost made me regret marrying her, but there were compensations. Not least of these were the three estates the bishop had bestowed on me as Ecgfrida’s dowry. Officially they were church lands, but they had been bequeathed by thanes without heirs and were Aldhun’s to do with as he wished.

  Two of the vills lay to the south of the River Tweed; one at Carham and one at Norham; and one to the north in the province of Lothian at Duns. I was told that both Carham and Norham had a simple hall but there was a larger fortified hall on the top of Duns Law, the site of an earlier hill fort. That’s where I decided we would live. In May, we witnessed the ceremonial removal of Saint Cuthbert’s casket from the White Church up to Aldhun’s partially built cathedral. Then Ecgfrida and I left Durham accompanied by her maid and my original escort of warriors.

  Out of duty we travelled to Bebbanburg first but I wished we hadn’t. Our welcome was scarcely warm. My father had grown even more irritable since I’d left, if that were possible, and his only welcome to my wife was a scowl. Eadwulf kept looking at me like a cat who has been given a bowl of cream and I wondered why my brother seemed so pleased with himself. That louse Feran stood near him grinning like an idiot. I soon found out.

  ‘I hear that Bishop Aldhun has given you land,’ my father barked at me as soon as I’d introduced Ecgfrida to him.

  ‘Yes, father. The vills of…’

  I got no further before he interrupted me.

  ‘Good. It makes what I’ve got to say a lot easier. I’ve decided to make Eadwulf my heir now that you have some income of your own to supp
ort you and your wife.’

  I was thunderstruck. At first I stared at him in disbelief but the smug look on my brother’s face told me that our father wasn’t having a jest at my expense.

  ‘You can’t,’ I exploded. ‘I’m the eldest and this worthless piece of dung could no more defend Bernicia from the Scots or the Vikings than he could keep his penis in his trousers.’

  ‘That’s enough!’

  My father got to his feet and for a moment I thought that he would strike me but he staggered and nearly fell until Eadwulf gave him his shoulder to lean on.

  ‘Get out of here before I have you put in chains for your impudence.’

  ‘And which of your men would like to try and do that,’ I challenged him, putting my hand on the hilt of my sword.

  It was Ecgfrida who calmed the situation.

  ‘Uhtred, it’s not worth it. Let’s leave this miserable place and go to our new home.’

  I nodded and turned to leave.

  ‘Wait, boy!’ Waltheof commanded me. ‘As one of my thanes you will kneel and swear allegiance to me and to Eadwulf as my heir.’

  I slowly turned around and walked back to confront him. He shrank back in his chair and Eadwulf, coward that he was, scuttled behind him. Feran looked as if he was about to mess his trousers.

  ‘Never!’ I spat at him before turning back to look at those of my father’s warriors who had crowded into the hall to watch the drama play out.

  ‘What, are you going to bar my exit? Come, which of you wishes to face me in fair fight?’

  Leland, the captain of the household warriors, shook his head.

  ‘None of us want any trouble, Uhtred. We are sworn to serve the earl but what he has done in disowning you is not only despicable; it is stupid. We all know that Eadwulf is no warrior. I hope that, when the Scots or the Vikings next invade you will return to lead us.’

  My father was apoplectic at this and screamed at Leland that he released him from his oath.

  ‘Get out of my sight! You are no longer my captain.’

  ‘Would you serve me, Leland?’ I asked with a smile.

  ‘Yes, in a heartbeat.’

  ‘Release me from my oath too, Earl Waltheof,’ Ulfric asked, as did two score of men in the hall.

  My father paled but he’d backed himself into a corner.

  ‘Very well, but there is no way that Uhtred can pay all of you on the income he’ll get from three paltry vills. I hope you all rot in hell.’

  So it was that I rode into Bebbanburg with six men and rode out again with thirty. Some of those who had initially supported me had been frightened at the prospect of serving a man who might not be able to pay them and had decided to stay, especially those with families.

  I stopped on top of the ridge before dropping down into the valley on the far side and took a last look at the stronghold sitting proudly on top of its rock above the grey waters of the North Sea and angrily blinked away a tear from my eye. It had been my home, the place where I grew up. Now it belonged to my enemy. I used the word advisedly because I had no illusions about the seriousness of the rift between me and my father and brother. Eadwulf, in particular, wouldn’t rest easy until I was dead.

  Chapter Five – Thane of Duns

  Winter 996 to Autumn 997

  When Ecgfrida told me I was elated. Although sex between us was joyless, we continued to make love from time to time as I wanted an heir. Now it seemed that my prayers had been answered.

  ‘How far gone are you?’

  ‘The wise woman says the baby will be born in the summer.’

  That night I got uproariously drunk with my household warriors in my new hall at Duns Law.

  When we left Bebbanburg we had ridden to Norham first. The village lay on the south side of a ford over the River Tweed some six miles inland from Berwick, the seat of the Ealdorman of Berwickshire at the mouth of the river. The vill consisted of the village of Norham itself and two large farmsteads to the south. They grew some crops and vegetables but the main occupation was looking after livestock: cattle and sheep.

  There was a small timber church at Norham with an elderly priest and a hall where the rather portly bailiff lived. He was alarmed when so many armed men rode into the village but was reassured by the presence of my wife and her maid and a few other women in the carts, some of whom were servants and more than a few were attached to my men as wives or whores.

  One of Ecgfrida’s accomplishments was the ability not only to write, but to keep accounts. We stayed for three days at Norham and in that time she discovered that the prosperous looking bailiff had been defrauding the bishop ever since Aldhun had acquired the vill. I could have sent the wretched man to Durham for trial, but instead I contented myself with expelling him and his wife from the vill with no more than the clothes on their backs.

  I appointed Ulfric as my representative at Norham and left six men with him to defend the vill and ensure that the taxes due were paid. I also held court there before I left and gave judgement in a number of petty cases.

  Far from resenting the stricter rule which had been imposed on them, the freemen seemed pleased. No doubt this was because the bailiff had been open to bribes whereas I had been scrupulously fair.

  Carham was a rather different matter. The bailiff was a young cleric who also acted as the village priest. It was smaller than Norham but had been yielding greater revenues, which reflected well on the honesty of the bailiff. I rewarded Kenric’s service to me by leaving him in charge with another five of my warriors. Of course, both he and Ulfric would have to pay their men from their share of the income from the two vills, thus relieving me of the need to do so.

  Duns was very different to the other two. Not only did it have a stronghold on top of the hill to the north of the town, but the town was quite large. There were some three hundred residents and there were a dozen hamlets and farmsteads dotted around it. In all the population came to well over five hundred. Of course, most of these were slaves, bondsmen, women or children, but there were some seventy freemen who held land from me and more than a score of artisans.

  I soon discovered that the training of the fryd had been neglected and my remaining nineteen companions and household warriors were kept busy training everyone between the ages of twelve and thirty five to fight.

  I also decided that, as the vill bred horses for sale, the ablest of the boys between twelve and fourteen would be given training to fight on horseback. There were twenty one of them initially and, when they were ready, it would give me a mounted force of fifty men; a formidable number.

  All of this kept me busy and I realised that I was happier than I had been since my mother had died, despite the problems that Ecgfrida and I had in bed. Her pregnancy gave me the excuse to leave her alone for the next six months and I took to sleeping with my men on the floor of the hall. If anyone thought this strange they were too sensible to say so.

  Our son, Aldred, was born in the summer of 997 and I felt that my life was complete. I was happier than I had ever been. I should have known that it couldn’t last, and it didn’t.

  ~~~

  One of my passions was hunting. Not only did I enjoy the sport it offered, but it provided our larder with game birds, boar meat and venison. Much of this was smoked or preserved in salt for the winter, which were harsh in this part of the country. About three months after Aldred was born I set out with Leland, Borg, three more of my warriors, and three huntsmen to look for boar in the woods in the wooded hills to the north west of Duns.

  We were still looking for boar trails when Borg rode up to me and said that he thought that there were men following us.

  ‘I can’t be certain, lord, but I’m sure I caught a glimpse of the sun shining off a helmet or weapons once or twice.’

  I trusted Borg. He wasn’t of a fanciful disposition and I couldn’t think of anything else that would cause the flash of light amongst the trees that he’d seen. It wasn’t a particularly sunny day; clouds hid it for much of the time bu
t the sun had appeared for brief periods. I chewed my lower lip, trying to think what to do.

  Before I’d reached a decision armed men flooded onto the track in front of us. They wore byrnies and helmets and carried shields and spears. We were dressed in tunics and, although we wore swords and daggers at our sides, we were armed for hunting with boar spears and hunting bows. Besides, there were a dozen of them and evidently there were more coming up behind us to cut off our retreat.

  I had to think quickly or we were dead men. I didn’t think for one moment that these warriors had come to capture me. I suspected that they had been sent by Eadwulf. Even though my father had chosen him as his successor, my dear brother was frightened of me and no doubt feared that somehow I would cheat him of his promised inheritance.

  It was Leland who spotted the animal track off to our right. It was only wide enough for men on horseback in single file and we would have to beware of overhanging branches, but it was better than trying to fight our way through the shield wall that our adversaries had now formed.

  We suddenly turned off along the narrow trail following Leland. The ambushers rushed forward with a roar of rage when they saw what we were up to. I felt guilty about leaving my men to bring up the rear but Borg insisted that I was the next to take the escape route after Leland. Borg, the three household warriors and then the huntsmen followed on. Unlike us, the latter were on foot; necessarily so as they had the dogs on leashes. The four powerful boar hounds had sensed the tension in the air and were barking and straining at the leash to attack our pursuers. The handlers let the dogs go and then darted down the narrow path after us. Unsurprisingly the four hounds were no match for so many armed warriors, but they bought us enough time for everyone to disappear into the trees. In the distance behind us we could hear the enemy pounding down the trail on foot. No doubt they had horses somewhere but they had no time to reach them and remount.