Uhtred the Bold

by H A CULLEY

  As the Scots howled their war cries once more and charged forward the gates in the palisade behind Malcolm and his horsemen opened and the garrison came running out. There were only about fifty of them, all in chain mail with helmets, but behind them came about two or three hundred of the ordinary inhabitants of Durham.

  They consisted of men and boys, even a few women, armed with butchers’ cleavers, knives, pitchforks and wood axes. The Scottish king’s bodyguard wheeled around to intercept them but they were stationary and didn’t stand a chance. I saw one brave boy, who couldn’t have been more than ten, dart under the belly of one of the ponies and stab upwards. The pony disappeared and his rider was quickly killed. Others were pulled from their mounts and dispatched in seconds.

  Within a minute or so the people of Durham had destroyed the king’s bodyguard and had started to dish out the same treatment to the chieftains and nobles. I even saw Malcolm’s Royal Standard fall into the maelstrom of killing.

  My attention then reverted to the main battle. The wedge hadn’t headed for the centre of our line, but off to the right where there were only two lines of warriors, mainly Danes. They did their best to hold back the wedge, and many of the Scots at the front of the wedge fell, but the line buckled and then it split.

  Our warriors fought hard against the Scots at the side of the wedge as it forced its way ever deeper into the fyrd behind the shield wall, but eventually a significant number of the enemy managed to force their way through.

  I rode over and ordered the fyrd behind our centre and left wing to charge into their flank. The main fight had descended into a disorganised melee and when the fyrd joined in the fray the Scots were pushed towards the river. Seeing many of their comrades forced into the water, where they were swept away by the current, quite a few of the Scots renewed their efforts to fight their way clear and, having done so, fled north along the bank of the river. We had won but I was desperate to make sure that as few as possible survived to reach Scotland again.

  I sent my horsemen to chase them down and they pursued them all the way to the bridge at Chester-le-Street, where the routed Scots found it held against them by Osric. In flight most had thrown away their weapons and so, being trapped, a massacre followed. Some inevitably managed to get away but the border was well over a hundred miles away and comparatively few made it back safely. I heard later that only around eight hundred returned, and precious few of those were their nobles. Northumbria was safe from the Scots for a generation.

  Unfortunately Malcolm wasn’t amongst the dead, nor was Owain. The former had apparently fled upstream along the Wear until he reached a ford. I heard much later that it took two months for Malcolm to reach Stirling where he faced a furious reception and a challenge for his throne. It was rumoured that he had put down the revolt ruthlessly, killing every one of his male relatives so that there was no-one left to threaten his rule.

  Chapter Fourteen - Thurbrand

  Autumn 1006

  I walked into the bishop’s hall in Durham uncertain as to my reception. My exertions in the concluding stages of the battle had re-opened my wound and I had to suffer Uuen’s admonishments as he replaced the broken stiches and re-bandaged my neck. Consequently I hadn’t seen Aldhun in the immediate aftermath of our victory. The next day he sent a monk to my camp to ask that I come and see him to discuss matters of mutual interest, as he put it.

  ‘Thank you for coming, Uhtred. I thought it would be better to meet here in the privacy of my hall rather than in the middle of your camp.’

  ‘I understand. I’m sorry that I didn’t have a chance to talk to you yesterday, after the battle, but my wound needed attention.’

  It sounded like a feeble excuse but it was the truth.

  ‘Yes, I hope it heals well,’ he said insincerely. ‘Look, I understand why you have put aside my daughter in favour of a Danish girl. At least I assume you did it to win the fickle Danes over?’

  I nodded, not feeling inclined to explain myself further.

  ‘You can’t expect me to be happy about it though. She is my only child and I worry about the future of her and her son.’

  ‘Aldred is now of an age to start his education and Archbishop Wulfstan has arranged for him to be taught with the novices at York until he is old enough to start his training as a warrior. Don’t worry that I will favour any sons I might have with Sige; I assure you that Aldred will be remain my heir.’

  ‘I would expect no less of you, but I’m relieved to hear you confirm it. But what of my daughter? I know that she doesn’t particularly desire to become a nun so sending her to a monastery isn’t an option.’

  ‘One of my thanes, Kilvert of Thirsk, has offered to take her as his wife in return for a sizeable dowry,’ I told him. ‘Naturally I will provide the dowry.’

  I had expended a great deal of my wealth recently and, although my share of the loot from the dead Scots would fill my coffers again to some extent, I had promised Kilvert to give Ecgfrida the vill adjoining Thirsk, which had been owned by the previous Earl of York, rather than gold and silver. In practice he would add it to his lands, of course.

  ‘Very well, I will say no more, except to thank you for delivering us from the hands of Malcolm and his Scots.’

  ‘I hope that we can part, at least if not as friends, as colleagues in the governance and spiritual welfare of Northumbria?’

  ‘Of course; you and the archbishop will always have my support,’ he said a trifle stiffly.

  I kissed his bishop’s ring and left. I must confess to being a little relieved. The meeting had gone as well as it could have done. However, Aldhun appeared to shun my company after that and I saw little of him in the following decade.

  ~~~

  It took a little time to bury the dead and distribute the spoils. Our men were buried in individual graves in a newly concentrated cemetery a little away from the town, whilst the Scots were put in a series of common graves on the battlefield. Once the grass grew over them no one would know that the pits full of corpses were there.

  I delayed my return to York until my neck wound had fully healed. As I gradually got better I started to exercise with sword and shield and to ride further and further afield. It was therefore the middle of August before I got to grips with the administration of my new earldom.

  By then Sige had given me the glad tidings that she was pregnant and said that the midwife expected the baby to be born in March the following year. I was elated, of course, and quickly calculated when it must have been conceived. I had been away for nearly three months and I had a natural suspicion that the baby might not be mine. I was therefore relieved when I worked out that it was most likely to date from our wedding night.

  I felt my suspicions had been unworthy when Sige showed me how much she had missed me on the night of my return, and every night after that, until I felt that we should refrain until after the birth. Even then she found ways to give me pleasure. The same couldn’t be said for her family.

  Styr had finally tired of his wife. Perhaps my putting aside Ecgfrida had motivated him, but he sent her to a monastery to become a nun, which left him free to marry another. I wasn’t surprised to hear that the woman he’d chosen had been his secret mistress for a year or more. All this wouldn’t have been a problem in itself but Thurbrand took his mother’s side and accused his father of adultery. Furthermore he lodged a claim on her behalf for half his father’s lands.

  Although a sin condemned by the Church, in practice little was done to punish the adultery of a husband. On the other hand, wives who committed such a sin were harshly treated. Thurbrand’s claims would not therefore have mattered very much had it not been for his mother’s assets. She owned property and, as a divorced woman, she was entitled to a share of Styr’s land as well, just as I had given a vill to Ecgfrida on our divorce.

  As she was to become a nun, any property she owned would become the Church’s, so Thurbrand wasn’t acting to protect his mother’s rights so much as to spite his father.
As Styr was an ealdorman the case would have to be heard by me as his earl.

  I was puzzled as to the boy’s motives. As his father’s only son he would be his heir and all his property would be his in due course. He was not only trying to reduce his inheritance, it seemed to me, but also risking being cut out of his father’s will entirely. Either the lad was an idiot or had very strong principles. From the little I’d seen of him, I didn’t think it was the latter.

  I decided to consult Wulfstan and see if he could shed any further light on the situation.

  ‘Styr has never got on with his son, from what I’ve managed to glean. There are rumours that the boy isn’t his but I have no idea whether that’s true or not. They certainly don’t look alike; he favours his mother in that regard,’ the archbishop began.

  ‘I don’t have to tell you that the matter is sensitive. Styr is very influential amongst the Danes of Deira. If you find against him, as you should do strictly speaking, you will lose some of the support you gained by beating Malcolm at Durham. Of course, I should really encourage you to find against him because then, as a nun, his wife’s property will come to the Church.’

  ‘I’m not sure that you have been much help to me, archbishop.’ I said with a grim smile.

  ‘Perhaps not, but if I were you I would act justly and find against Styr but then fine him a paltry sum.’

  ‘Thank you; that is much more helpful. Of course such fines are divided between the king and myself as earl but I suppose you would appreciate a small donation as well, as you could have expected at lot more?’

  ‘You assume correctly, lord Uhtred.’

  I remained talking to Wulfstan over a tankard of mead for some time and then returned to my hall in a much better frame of mind.

  My hall was packed for the hearing. Styr arrived first with a number of Danish supporters and then his former wife came in with Thurbrand. They both scowled at Styr and went and sat on the bench set aside for them.

  ‘It is customary for those attending my court with a petition to acknowledge me properly before taking their seats,’ I pointed out with a frown.

  Thurbrand got up and made the most perfunctory of bows towards me and sat down again, scowling at me.

  ‘I suppose that will have to do, but you don’t do yourself any favours, boy.’

  Secretly I was pleased. His lack of respect to me in my own hall would make it easier for me to award his mother a paltry sum in compensation.

  ‘Who brings the complaint against Ealdorman Styr?’

  ‘I do,’ Thurbrand said getting to his feet.

  ‘I understand that you are fifteen and therefore legally a man?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘I suggest that you show me a little more deference, boy, or I will dismiss this petition forthwith,’ I barked at him.

  Nothing would have given me greater pleasure but I didn’t want to be seen as an unfair judge in front of the people who had packed the hall.

  ‘I apologise Earl Uhtred,’ he said glowering at me.

  ‘However, if I have understood your written petition correctly, it is your mother who is the wronged party, not you, or so it is claimed?’

  ‘That is correct; I speak on her behalf.’

  ‘A woman has as much right to justice, as laid down in the law, as a man. I don’t see why you need to represent her.’

  ‘She has asked me to.’

  ‘Very well, outline your mother’s case.’

  ‘The Ealdorman Styr committed adultery with a servant girl and then put aside my mother, his wife, so that he could marry the strumpet. We, that is my mother, claims her dowry and half of his lands in recompense, as laid down by law. He must also be punished for the sin of adultery.’

  ‘I gather that your mother has now taken her vows as a nun, is that correct?’

  I could see that it was so because she sat on the bench next to her son wearing the habit and head covering of a nun.

  ‘Yes, that is true, but she wishes to give the lands and property to which she is entitled to me.’

  ‘But as a nun she had taken vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. Monks and nuns do not own property of any kind. They have to surrender all that they own to the Church. You must be aware of this?’

  ‘Yes, but she would have given me her property before she took her vows had my father not refused to give my mother what was hers.’

  ‘Then she should have held off taking her vows until this matter came before me for judgement. As it is, any property she previously owned now belongs to the Church,’ I explained. ‘Is Archbishop Wulfstan here?’

  ‘I am, lord earl,’ he said, getting to his feet.

  ‘Have the Church lodged a petition against Ealdorman Styr for half his lands and this nun’s dowry?’

  ‘No, lord Uhtred. Nor do we intend to do so. We waive our right to it.’

  ‘Thank you, archbishop.’

  ‘So it seems that the only matter remaining is the matter of adultery. Styr, do you admit the charge?’

  ‘I do, lord.’

  ‘In that case I fine you the sum of ten silver pence. Steward, what is the next petition?’

  Thurbrand got to his feet, his hands clenched in fury.

  ‘You have not heard the last of this, Uhtred, I will have my revenge for this travesty of justice,’ he railed against me.

  His hand went to where he normally wore his dagger but he, like everyone attending, had to surrender all weapons before entering the court. I had thought it a formality but it now seemed a sensible precaution.

  ‘I fine you ten silver pence for disturbing the peace. Now get out before I have you arrested.’

  Thurbrand never did pay his fine. A little later his father told me that he had left Northumbria but he didn’t know where he’d gone. It wasn’t until three years later that I heard that he was now in Denmark and was one of the companions of the fourteen year old son of the Danish King, a boy called Cnut.

  Chapter Fifteen – Eadwulf Cudel

  1009

  My second son, Eadulf, was born in March 1007 and fifteen months later Sige gave birth to a daughter, but she arrived early and only lived for a few days. I was sad, naturally, but Sige was heartbroken and nothing I said seemed to help. She seemed to lose interest in everything, including our son. When I told her to pull herself together and look after the one child we did have we had a blazing row. I was probably tactless and I suppose I could have been more sympathetic, but it wasn’t in my nature to mope and I couldn’t stand it when others did.

  In the spring of 1009 I set off on my annual tour of the earldom, holding court and delivering judgements, making sure that the fyrd were being trained and collecting the taxes due to me. I had hoped that Sige would come with me but she refused and so I took Aldred, who was now coming up to twelve, with me. It was, of course, my intention that he would succeed me as earl when the time came, so this would be a valuable learning experience for him.

  Unfortunately Sige didn’t see it that way. She was secretly hoping that I would cast Aldred aside in favour of Eadulf as my heir. Of course, I was still only in my late thirties and could expect to live for another couple of decades if I died of natural causes. Unfortunately there was always the possibility of dying in battle or of being killed in some other manner. Besides, it wasn’t just my choice. The fact that Aldred was my eldest son would make him my natural successor, but it was ultimately a matter for the king.

  I had watched Aldred grow up, of course, but I realised quite quickly after we set out that I didn’t know my son as a person. I therefore took the opportunity to answer all his questions, and he had a lot – he was an inquisitive boy, and to find out what his ambitions and interests were. I was also interested in discovering his strengths and weaknesses.

  I was pleased to find out that he was as unlike my brother as it was possible to be. He appeared to have high moral standards and, although he seemed to respect me, he couldn’t hide the fact that he blamed me for casting aside his mothe
r.

  ‘Do you expect to succeed me, Aldred?’ I asked him on the third day as we approached Bebbanburg.

  ‘Isn’t that up to the king to decide, father?’

  ‘Theoretically, yes, but I’d be very surprised if he appointed someone outside the family. I like to think that I have the loyalty of most of my nobles and freemen and I don’t suppose that they would take kindly to a stranger being made their earl.’

  ‘Yes, I can see that, but you aren’t at death’s door yet and so Eadulf may well be a man before you are. Then there is Uncle Eadwulf, of course.’

  ‘Eadwulf? He’s lazy, incompetent and a fornicator. The ealdormen and the thanes don’t respect him and the Church disapproves of his morals.’

  ‘Nevertheless I’ve heard rumours that he’s trying to gather men to his side.’

  ‘Rumours? What rumours?’

  ‘Well, the talk amongst the monks at York monastery is that he has a base in the Cheviot Hills and he is recruiting men.’

  ‘Hmm, monks do love to gossip like old women so I suppose there may be some truth in that, but where is he getting the money to pay them?’

  I hadn’t really given much thought to Eadwulf since I had kicked him out of Bebbanburg. Perhaps I should have taken more interest in what he was up to, but I had more important things on my mind at the time.

  ‘The theory is that he is raiding the Britons who have settled in the land to the west of Lothian.’

  It seemed plausible. Although the Scots and the Strathclyde Britons had lost too many men to raise another large army until their young boys grew to manhood, raids on them were likely to result in retaliation, especially the theft of cattle and the burning of outlying farmsteads. I needed to put a stop to this before it got serious.