The Bastard's Son

by H A CULLEY

  Sir Clovis hadn’t accompanied them. He had stayed behind in Edale as he was now Hugo’s steward for the Derbyshire manor and so Peter had naturally stayed with him. It was unfortunate for Peter, but Justin was pleased to have Oskar all to himself for a change. He secretly hero-worshiped the older boy and was glad of the opportunity to get him alone for a week or so, not that he didn’t like Peter; he did. It was just that the two older boys tended to treat him like a younger brother when they were all together or else ignored him. One instance that particularly rankled was when they had started to chase the local girls but told him that he was too young for that sort of thing.

  Nottingham was packed and they’d have had trouble finding a room in even the cheapest tavern had they been left to their own devices. However, Lord Peverel had invited Hugo to stay with him in the castle, despite the fact that it was packed out with nobles, bishops and their entourages. Hugo was shown to a comfortable room in the keep by a small page who seemed to be just as full of self-importance as Justin used to be. That was until Justin stuck his tongue out at him and the child giggled.

  The next day Hugo found out why he’d been invited to attend. He was surprised to see Roger de Muschamp, Robert d’Umfraville and Ivo de Vesci present along with several other tenants-in-chief from Northumberland. He surmised that his invitation had more to do with his northern holdings than those in Derbyshire. He also noted that Archbishop Anselm was present, having returned from exile now that a more religious king was on the throne.

  Hugo studied the king when he entered. Henry was now thirty five and looked younger. Unlike his gaudy brother, Henry favoured more sober colours and today wore a long robe of dark blue wool with a simple circlet of gold on his head. His move to seize the crown immediately after William’s murder had been successful and none except his elder brother Robert had challenged his right to be king. Robert had invaded England in 1101 but had been easily defeated. After that the two brothers signed a treaty which recognised Robert as Duke of Normandy and Henry as King of England.

  Hugo had been surprised, but somewhat relieved, when there had been no enquiry into William’s death. Walter Tyrell had fled to his lands in Normandy and pledged allegiance to Duke Robert. It was generally known that it was his arrow which had killed the late king and initially he was regarded as an assassin. However, Henry made it known that he regarded the death as an unfortunate accident and gradually this fiction became widely accepted. Hugo knew better but he wisely kept his knowledge to himself, not even telling Guillaume Peverel the truth.

  The Great Council dragged on dealing with the appointment of sheriffs, the collection of taxes and minor changes in legislation. Hugo was drifting off to sleep when the subject of Northumberland was raised and the Chancellor invited the king to speak.

  ‘My lords, as you know Northumberland has had a tumultuous and often tragic history. Several Earls of Northumbria have revolted against the Crown at various times, but without their direction our defence against the Scots has become disorganised and haphazard. I have no intention of creating another Earl of Northumbria but I have decided to re-structure the county under the leadership of its sheriff.’

  At this statement Ivo de Vesci looked smug as he was the current sheriff but the smile was soon wiped off his face.

  ‘I’m grateful to Sir Ivo for his past service as sheriff but he has his own lands to look after. I am therefore appointing Ligulf of York to be sheriff with immediate effect. He will be based at my castle in Newcastle upon Tyne.’

  The announcement was greeted with incredulity. Few outside the North cared who was in charge of Northumberland but sheriffs were by tradition barons or at least from a noble family. Ligulf was a landless Danish knight in the king’s mesnie. This departure from tradition was deeply resented by most of those present. Hugo saw it as a clever move, however. Ligulf was the king’s man and could be relied upon not to betray him.

  ‘Quiet,’ the Chancellor banged his gloved fist on the table in front of him until order had been restored. ‘Pray silence for the king.’

  ‘That is not the only change. At present the myriad of manors in the county are held by various knights and some prelates direct from me. They are therefore tenants-in-chief but not barons. They are not entitled to be addressed as ‘my lord’ by their inferiors, nor do they have the right to sit in this Great Council unless invited. I intend to change that. I am creating twenty new baronies which will cover all the land in the county. Some changes to who holds what manor will inevitably be necessary so that each baron holds a block of manors all adjacent to one another for ease of defence. My commissioners will see all of you later to inform you what changes to your holdings are necessary and to draw up a charter confirming your new status. After that I will receive all of you at a ceremony to be held in three days’ time at which you will swear fealty to me.’

  The Great Council continued but Hugo paid no attention to the proceedings. His mind was in a whirl. He was naturally concerned about any changes to the manors he had fought so hard for, but his main preoccupation was the oath of loyalty he would have to swear to Henry as one of his nobles. He just couldn’t bring himself to pledge his allegiance to a man he knew to be a murderer, not only that but a regicide.

  He was relieved to find out that his new barony of the Cheviot and Redesdale would include all of his present manors but he was still concerned about the oath he would have to swear in two days’ time. He couldn’t see a way around it until Justin said something which indicated a solution.

  ‘Will you be travelling north more now, my lord? Or will you leave the barony in the charge of Sir Tristan?’

  ‘No, Justin. I’m nearly sixty now and my joints are beginning to ache. I’m sorry if you were looking forward to a more exciting life but my son will be the baron in all but name.’

  That got him thinking. He’d always intended to leave the Derbyshire lands to Robert and those in Northumberland to Tristan. Why not make him baron now instead of him? Tristan didn’t know of the king’s perfidy and he could take the oath of fealty with a clear conscience.

  ‘Justin, you’re a genius.’

  With that he rushed off to see the commissioners leaving behind a bemused but gratified boy.

  At first the commissioners weren’t sympathetic to his request. They pointed out that many nobles never visited their estates, especially if they were far flung, leaving matters to their stewards. However, they eventually agreed to consult the king when Hugo said that he would refuse the barony.

  Henry scarcely gave the matter any thought. He could see that giving a virile man in his early thirties the barony instead of to an old man would mean a more effective defence against the Scots, who he didn’t trust despite King Etgair’s apparent friendliness. He merely commented that Tristan would have to come to London, or wherever the court was, to swear his oath as soon as possible.

  Hugo’s only concern now was to placate Robert. He didn’t want his other son to carry the burden of knowing that his monarch was a killer so he used the same excuse that he had given the commissioners and, at the same time, wrote his will naming Robert as his heir. His son knew that Hugo wasn’t telling him the whole truth but he decided that, if his father didn’t want him to know something, then he would have a good reason.

  Hugo devoted himself to breeding and training horses for the rest of his life. In due course both Oskar and Justin were knighted and he found them places in the mesnie of William Peverel, Guillaume’s son. He had no use for a squire now that he was well into his sixties and growing feebler each year; he would never put on armour again. He therefore recruited an orphan from the village to act as his body servant.

  He also disbanded what remained of his mesnie, keeping a few serjeants to defend Edale and help train the warhorses he bred. As Clovis was now his steward the two men often played Shatranj together over a flagon of good imported wine in the evening. It was the game that he and Guillaume had often played in the past but his friend was too frail to stir from
Nottingham these days.

  He grew morose after Guillaume died in 1115. They had known each other since Hugo had become his squire when he was thirteen and there was no one he was closer to, not even his sons.

  He had watched Robert’s sons, Richard and Edward, grow into lively boys and was sad when, one after the other, they reached the age of nine and left to become pages. His affection was then devoted to his granddaughter, Margaret, who had been born in 1101.

  His one regret was that he didn’t see more of Tristan and his family. He and Hièrru had a second son, who they had christened John, in 1100 but then Hièrru died giving birth to a stillborn baby four years later. Tristan had never remarried. Hugo occasionally saw him and the two boys when he came south to attend each Great Council but, after the boys left to become pages to other barons in Northumberland, he didn’t see them again.

  He became bedridden in the summer of 1119 but he took some time to die. Tristan came down to Edale as soon as he heard and was at his bedside with Robert, his wife and Margaret when Hugo de Cuille took his last breath. He was buried in the churchyard at Edale under the shadow of Kinder Scout. Typically the weather, which had been sunny and warm up until then, changed on the night before the funeral to heavy rain and a blustery wind.

  Oskar had been killed at the battle of Tinchebray in 1106 when Henry had finally defeated and captured Robert Curthose, imprisoning his sole surviving brother for the rest of his life. As for Justin, he may have guessed at the truth about Rufus’ death from what he knew, but he wasn’t in possession of the facts as Hugo and Oskar had been. In any case, he had gone to the Holy Land to seek his fortune in 1114 and Hugo had never heard from him again. Presumably he too was dead.

  The truth about William Rufus’ death therefore died with Hugo.

  THE END

  Other Novels by H A Culley

  The Normans Series

  The Bastard’s Crown

  England in Anarchy

  Caging the Lyon

  Seeking Jerusalem

  Babylon Series

  Babylon – The Concubine’s Son

  Babylon – Dawn of Empire

  Individual Novels

  Magna Carta

  The Sins of the Fathers

  Robert the Bruce Trilogy

  The Path to the Throne

  The Winter King

  After Bannockburn

  Constantine Trilogy

  Constantine – The Battle for Rome

  Crispus Ascending

  Death of the Innocent

  Macedon Trilogy

  The Strategos

  The Sacred War

  Alexander

  AVAILABLE LATER IN 2016

  DUE OUT AUTUMN 2016

  WHITEBLADE

  H A Culley’s new historical novel about Oswald of Northumbria – King, Warrior and Saint.

  Set in seventh century Anglo-Saxon England it tells the story of the prince who began Northumbria’s golden age.

  DUE OUT IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS 2016

  WENCESLAUS

  The true story of the saint immortalised in the Christmas carol who came to the throne of Bohemia in AD 921, when he was only fourteen, up to his assassination by his brother in AD 935.

  About the Author

  H A Culley was born in Wiltshire in 1944 and entered RMA Sandhurst after leaving school. He was an Army officer for twenty four years during which time he had a variety of unusual jobs. He spent his twenty first birthday in the jungles of Borneo, commanded an Arab unit in the Gulf for three years, and was the military attaché in Beirut during the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War.

  After leaving the Army he became the bursar of a large independent school for seventeen years before moving into marketing and fundraising in the education sector. He has served on the board of two commercial companies and several national and local charities. He has also been involved in two major historical projects. He recently retired as the finance director and company secretary of IDPE and remains on its board of trustees.

  He has three adult children and one granddaughter and lives with his wife and two Bernese Mountain Dogs between Holy Island and Berwick upon Tweed in Northumberland.