by Griff Hosker
The first five arrows all found flesh and three bodies plummeted from the top of the keep. It allowed us the opportunity to close with the gate. My men began to hack into it. The wood was new and I do not think they had seasoned it. After a short time we saw the interior. A spear was thrust through the hole we had made. Raymond of Le Mans pulled hard and we heard a crack as the spearman's head hit the door. Two strikes later and the door gave way. We burst in. It was dark and men raced down the stairs to fight us. They chose the wrong men to fight. My men at arms were the best. They cleared the ground floor in a dozen strokes. They were about to ascend the ladder when I said, "No! We waste no more men." I went to the bottom of the ladder and shouted. "We will light a fire and burn you alive unless you surrender."
"You will give quarter?"
"You have my word."
"Then we yield."
The ten men descended and handed over their weapons.
"Where is your lord?" These were just men at arms.
He pointed to the priory. "He sought refuge with the Prior!"
"Secure these men and then burn this castle down. Gilles, Richard, come with me."
Gilles said, "First lord let me bind your arm." He tore a piece of surcoat from a dead man at arms and made a bandage around my arm. "It will stop the bleeding lord."
"Thank you Gilles." He was right . I needed to have my wits about me when I spoke with the Prior.
I was angry as I strode to the Priory. The gate was barred. I banged on it. "Open up in the name of the Warlord!"
The Prior himself appeared at the door. "You cannot come in."
I had had enough of priests, "Prior I do not fear any punishment for entering a church. If I wish to come in I will."
He was not afraid of me and he smiled, "I do not doubt that. You did not fear excommunication but what of your men? Would they dare desecrate a priory?"
He was right; they would not. "William De Brus is within I would have him."
"He has claimed sanctuary and may not be removed."
"He is a coward who deserted his men."
"He will speak with you but you touch him at the peril of your eternal soul."
I felt Gilles and Richard move backwards. They would face any enemy with me but not risk the wrath of God.
The young knight appeared but I saw that he stayed behind the Prior. "Your men have yielded. Honour demands that you do too."
"I will not yield. I have claimed sanctuary."
I nodded, "Then I will have my archers watch this door and the moment you step forth they will slay you. No matter how long you hide here they will wait."
His face filled with anger. "My uncle told me that you were unyielding! The world is changing Earl! My uncle, the De Brus is dead as is his son. The family is now allied with King David! King David is an ally of the Empress. Where will you turn now? Who will support you? The hour glass is running swiftly and marks your demise. You have lost your castles and soon you will lose your valley."
I so wanted to reach in and pull the puling rat from behind the priest but I would not. Instead I said, "Prior your priests and canons can come and go but this man either surrenders or dies. That is my will."
He nodded, "God be with you!" With that he closed the door.
We had won the battle but had we lost the war? My world was suddenly much smaller.
Epilogue
Life returned to normal in my valley save that we were even more vigilant. William the Mason worked hard improving our castles and his sons help to rebuild Yarm. The vast sums we made from ransom we used to pay for more men. The hope we had was that my land prospered. The sacrifices and deaths had kept it safe and after a hard winter was even stronger than ever. The bad news was that William De Brus had escaped my archers. He had escaped in the disguise of a nun. My archers were annoyed with themselves for falling for such a ruse but I knew that it could not be helped. We would meet again.
I sought out Tom Lame Leg. He had reached my valley. He lived between Norton and Stockton. He had a small farm and had three pigs. It was little enough but he was happy. He offered to return the horse and sword but I told him to keep them. My manor was richer for his presence. I gave John my steward the task of finding others like Tom who had served me and been wounded. I would do the same for them. I could do nothing for the dead but I could for the living.
My valley returned to some sort of normality. We had less land but more people. Refugees still flocked to this island of mine. All of my people worked hard to ensure that we were prepared to face any foe who dared to threaten that for which we fought. I had two wards to care for and that gave me a replacement for the grandchildren whom I might never see. The two of them would need all of my care and attention.
When 'Adela' docked in March she brought supplies, more wealth and, most importantly, news. The Empress was safe and the Earl of Gloucester had Stephen besieged in Wilton Castle. In the east, around Ely, Geoffrey of Mandeville had risen in revolt. Perhaps it was not as black as it had been but my heart was still heavy with regret. My world had changed. We could never go back but what did the future hold? Would Henry ever become King of England? I could not as yet see how but if it was at all within my power then that would happen. I swore a silent oath to myself. I would make it so.
The End
Glossary
Al-Andalus- Spain
Aldeneby - Alston (Cumbria)
Angevin- the people of Anjou, mainly the ruling family
Arthuret -Longtown in Cumbria (This is the Brythionic name)
Battle- a formation in war (a modern battalion)
Booth Castle – Bewcastle north of Hadrian’s Wall
Butts- targets for archers
Cadge- the frame upon which hunting birds are carried (by a codger- hence the phrase old codger being the old man who carries the frame)
Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd- Son of Gruffudd ap Cynan
Captain- a leader of archers
Chausses - mail leggings. (They were separate- imagine lady's stockings!)
Conroi- A group of knights fighting together. The smallest unit of the period
Demesne- estate
Destrier- war horse
Doxy- prostitute
Fess- a horizontal line in heraldry
Fissebourne- Fishburn County Durham
Galloglass- Irish mercenaries
Gambeson- a padded tunic worn underneath mail. When worn by an archer they came to the waist. It was more of a quilted jacket but I have used the term freely
Gonfanon- A standard used in Medieval times (Also known as a Gonfalon in Italy)
Gruffudd ap Cynan- King of Gwynedd until 1137
Hartness- the manor which became Hartlepool
Hautwesel- Haltwhistle
Liedeberge- Ledbury
Lusitania- Portugal
Mansio- staging houses along Roman Roads
Maredudd ap Bleddyn- King of Powys
Martinmas- 11th November
Mêlée- a medieval fight between knights
Moravians- the men of Moray
Mormaer- A Scottish lord and leader
Mummer- an actor from a medieval tableau
Musselmen- Muslims
Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)
Nomismata- a gold coin equivalent to an aureus
Outremer- the kingdoms of the Holy Land
Owain ap Gruffudd- Son of Gruffudd ap Cynan and King of Gwynedd from 1137
Palfrey- a riding horse
Poitevin- the language of Aquitaine
Pyx- a box containing a holy relic (Shakespeare’s Pax from Henry V)
Refuge- a safe area for squires and captives (tournaments)
Sauve qui peut – Every man for himself (French)
Sergeant-a leader of a company of men at arms
Serengford- Shellingford Oxfordshire
Surcoat- a tunic worn over mail or armour
Sumpter- pack horse
Ventail – a piece of mail which covered the neck and the lower face
.
Wulfestun- Wolviston (Durham)
Maps and Illustrations
Map courtesy of Wikipedia
Stockton Castle c 1144
Oxford Castle
Historical note
This is a work of fiction. I have used real events as the backdrop for a story about a fictional character. I have tried to be as accurate as I can but I have made minor changes to dates and amalgamated the actions of some characters into one. I make no apologies for this. I am a storyteller.
The book is set during one of the most turbulent and complicated times in British history. Henry I of England and Normandy’s eldest son William died. The king named his daughter, the Empress Matilda as his heir. When her husband, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, died she remarried. Her new husband was Geoffrey of Anjou and she had children by him. (The future Henry II of England and Normandy- The Lion in Winter!)
I have used the modern spelling of many words in the book. That is because they are well known and I do not wish more confusion than my editor claims I cause normally! Stockton, for example was Stocc tun while Hartburn was Herrteburne. I apologise to purists. I have used the word Saxon many times both for the language and the people. The invasion of the Normans had only taken place some fifty or sixty years before this book was set. Both the language and the people would change and evolve. The Normans tried to impose their language upon the Saxons who already lived there. It did not work and Anglo-Saxon or English as it became known prevailed. Part of this was due to the fact that the Norman ladies used Saxon/English nannies to look after their babies and children. As they spoke to them in their native tongue the young Normans grew up speaking English. Of course many Norman words became part of English- honour, chivalry, ham, lake but it took another century, until after the time of Richard 1st, for one language to be used throughout the land. In my next book I will change the word Saxon for English. By the time of Henry 1st's death the ordinary folk thought of themselves as English.
A cog was a small trading ship which developed from the Viking knarr. It had high sides and a flat bottom. There was one sail and steering oar on the starboard (steer board) side. By this time some had had small wooden castles built at the bow and stern and these were used to house archers. These ships would be built bigger as the centuries wore on. They had no deck save at the stern where the ship was conned. The holds were covered with canvas when they had goods to transport.
I have introduced Eleanor of Aquitaine in my books and she is an important figure. She was about 8 in 1129 and her father was Duke William. As she eventually marries Matilda's son I thought I would keep her in my books. The Empress Matilda did leave her husband in 1130. It was not a happy marriage.
The Emperor John Komnenos fought against the Hungarians under King later Saint Stephen. He lost and had to sue for peace. The incident with our hero is purely fictional.
There was never an Earl of Cleveland although the area known as Cleveland did exist and was south of the river. At this time the only northern earls were those of Northumberland. The incumbent was Gospatric who rebelled against England when King Henry died.
The Scots were taking advantage of a power vacuum on their borders. They did, according to chroniclers of the time behave particularly badly.
"an execrable army, more atrocious than the pagans, neither fearing God nor regarding man, spread desolation over the whole province and slaughtered everywhere people of either sex, of every age and rank, destroying, pillaging and burning towns, churches and houses"
"Then (horrible to relate) they carried off, like so much booty, the noble matrons and chaste virgins, together with other women. These naked, fettered, herded together; by whips and thongs they drove before them, goading them with their spears and other weapons. This took place in other wars, but in this to a far greater extent."
"For the sick on their couches, women pregnant and in childbed, infants in the womb, innocents at the breast, or on the mother's knee, with the mothers themselves, decrepit old men and worn-out old women, and persons debilitated from whatever cause, wherever they met with them, they put to the edge of the sword, and transfixed with their spears; and by how much more horrible a death they could dispatch them, so much the more did they rejoice."
Robert of Hexham
Following the birth of the second of Matilda and Geoffrey's two children relations between Matilda and her father became strained. Many Normans disliked the idea of handing power to Anjou. There were many minor incursions and rebellions, many of them supported by the French. It was following Stephen of Blois' sudden coronation that kingdom and dukedom were divided. Stephen controlled England and Matilda fought to claim Normandy. Matilda’s half brother, Robert of Gloucester (one of Henry’s bastards) declared for Matilda and a civil war ensued. The war went on until Stephen died and was called the anarchy because everyone was looking out for themselves. There were no sides as such. Allies could become enemies overnight. Murder, ambush and assassination became the order of the day. The only warriors who could be relied upon were the household knights of a lord- his oathsworn. The feudal system, which had been an ordered pyramid, was thrown into confusion by the civil war. Lords created their own conroi, or groups of knights and men at arms. Successful lords would ensure that they had a mixture of knights, archers and foot soldiers. The idea of knights at this time always fighting on horseback is not necessarily true. There were many examples of knights dismounting to fight on foot and, frequently, this proved to be successful.
The word Fitz shows that the owner of the name is an illegitimate son of a knight or is used, with the lower case, to show the mother as in Henry fitz Empress. As such they would not necessarily inherit when their father died. There were many such knights. William himself was illegitimate. Robert of Gloucester was also known as Robert of Caen and Robert Fitzroy.
Ridley, the father of my hero, was in three earlier books. There were two regiments of Varangians: one was English in character and one Scandinavian. As the bodyguards of the Emperor they were able to reap rich rewards for their service.
The Normans were formidable fighters. The conquest of England happened after a single battle. They conquered southern Italy and Sicily with a handful of knights. Strongbow, a Norman mercenary, took a small mercenary force and dominated Ireland so much that as soon as a force of Normans, led by the king land, all defence on the island crumbled. In one of Strongbow's battles a force of 100 knights defeated 4000 Irish warriors!
The combination of heavy horse and archers working together became uniquely English. The 12th century saw its genesis and it culminated in the army of Henry V which defeated a much larger army. To work properly the two arms had to work together. When the Scottish light horse managed to get at the English archers at Bannockburn the English lost the battle. Even Henry V's brother the Duke of Clarence made mistakes. When he left the safety of his archers he and his knights were easily defeated. The archers relied upon the huge number of arrows they could release. Even when fighting at Agincourt where the plate armour could deflect most of the arrows the sheer number they used still managed to find cracks in the armour. They often used a flat trajectory to try to penetrate the tiny gaps in the helmet through which the men at arms peered. Most importantly the English archer was unique in that he was a master light infantryman. He could use a sword and a buckler and he knew how to kill.
Ranulf Flambard was the controversial Bishop of Durham who was imprisoned in the tower by Henry for supporting his brother. Although reinstated the Bishop was viewed with suspicion by the king and did not enjoy as much power as either his predecessors or his successors. He had been something of a womaniser in his younger days and he tried to make up for that by giving to the poor when he was older. He was responsible for much of the defensive works of Durham Castle and was truly a Bishop Prince. He died around 1128. The incident with the Bishop being held captive is pure fiction. However he died in 1128 and there was a great deal of unrest while King Henry was away in Normandy. The Go
spatric family did show their true colours when the Scottish king tried to take advantage of the internal strife between Stephen and Matilda and invade England. A leopard does not change his spots. The land between the Tees and the Scottish lowlands was always fiercely contested by Scotland, England and those who lived there.
Geoffrey Rufus became Bishop of Durham and he had a clerk called William Cumin (Comyn). Comyn became Bishop of Durham. Geoffrey Rufus fell out of favour when he failed to support his castles. Norham was left isolated and fell to the Scots giving them control over that corner of the Anglo-Scottish border.
Hartness (Hartlepool) was given to the De Brus family by Henry and the family played a power game siding with Henry and David depending upon what they had to gain. They were also given land around Guisborough in North Yorkshire.
Squires were not always the sons of nobles. Often they were lowly born and would never aspire to knighthood. It was not only the king who could make knights. Lords had that power too. Normally a man would become a knight at the age of 21. Young landless knights would often leave home to find a master to serve in the hope of treasure or loot. The idea of chivalry was some way away. The Norman knight wanted land, riches and power. Knights would have a palfrey or ordinary riding horse and a destrier or war horse. Squires would ride either a palfrey, if they had a thoughtful knight or a rouncy (pack horse). The squires carried all of the knight’s war gear on the pack horses. Sometimes a knight would have a number of squires serving him. One of the squire’s tasks was to have a spare horse in case the knight’s destrier fell in battle. Another way for a knight to make money was to capture an enemy and ransom him. This even happened to Richard 1st of England who was captured in Austria and held to ransom.
At this time a penny was a valuable coin and often payment would be taken by ‘nicking’ pieces off it. Totally round copper and silver coins were not the norm in 12th Century Europe. Each local ruler would make his own small coins. The whole country was run like a pyramid with the king at the top. He took from those below him in the form of taxes and service and it cascaded down. There was a great deal of corruption as well as anarchy. The idea of a central army did not exist. King Henry had his household knights and would call upon his nobles to supply knights and men at arms when he needed to go to war. The expense for that army would be borne by the noble.