The Camp of Refuge: A Tale of the Conquest of the Isle of Ely

by Charles MacFarlane

  CHAPTER XII.

  THE MARRIAGE AND THE AMBUSCADE.

  It was agreed on all sides that too much happiness had been lostalready in their long separation, and that Alftrude and Hereward oughtnow to be married as quickly as possible; the great heiress whose landswere so coveted could be safe only under the protection of a warlikelord and devoted husband; and who was there in the land so brave andlikely to be so devoted as the Lord of Brunn, who had known and lovedher from his youth, and who had gotten her troth-plight? If the ladieremained single, and the fortune of war should prove for a seasonunfavourable, the Normans, by mixing fraud with force, might carry heroff, as they carried off and forcibly wedded other English heiresses;but if she were once united to Hereward, even the Normans mighthesitate ere they broke the sacred tie of the Church. Time was notneeded for wooing, for there had been good and long wooing long ago;and but for the Normans would not Hereward and Alftrude long since havebeen husband and wife?[143] Thus reasoned all the kinsmen and kinswomenof the Ladie Alftrude; and yielding to their good advice, the Saxonheiress consented that her good old household priest should prepare thelittle church on the hill by the linden-grove, and that the weddingshould take place on the morrow.

  Hereward was urged by a pleasant spirit of revenge to be thus urgent;for Ivo Taille-Bois was coming on the morrow with his men-at-arms andwith his brother Geoffroy, that unmannerly and unlucky wooer; and sothe Lord of Brunn would fain bid them to his marriage feast, if so itmight be. But Hereward kept this pleasant thought to himself, orexplained it to none but Elfric and Girolamo of Salerno. The morningafter that happy meeting in the linden-grove was a bright winter'smorning. The sun rarely shines so bright in the summer time in the fencountry. The little church was ready, the good old English priest wasrobed and at the altar; the path leading from the manor-house to thechurch, in lack of flowers, was strewed with rushes, and the serfs ofthe Ladie Alftrude were ranged on either side of the path; the ladyherself was attired[144] as became a bride (a Saxon bride in the goodold time before our fashions were corrupted); her fair young kinswomen,who were to stand by her side at the altar, were dressed and ready, andall other persons and things were ready about two hours before noon.There was music and there were fresh shouts of joy in the hall andoutside of the manor-house when Lord Hereward stepped forth with hisblushing bride on his arm and headed the gay procession. But thoughgay, the attendance was not so great as it might have been, for a greatmany of the armed men were not there, and even the sword-bearer and theSalernitan were both absent. Maid Mildred thought it very strange andvery wrong that Elfric should be away at such a happy juncture; but thetruth is that Elfric and Girolamo, and many of the fighting men, hadsomething else to do. The goodly procession soon reached the churchporch, and then all entered that could find room without over-crowdingtheir betters. But most of the armed men who had followed theprocession either remained in the porch or stationed themselves on thehill side outside the church. It was noticed afterwards that these boldmen often looked to their weapons, and that all the hinds and serfsthat had been standing by the pathway had bills and bows, or longfen-poles loaded and spiked with iron. The household priest hadscarcely said the Benedicite ere the alert Elfric came running up thehill and through the linden-grove and into the porch, and up to hislord's side in the body of the church; and when Elfric had whispered afew words Hereward said, "Alftrude, let thy heart rejoice! I havecaught as in a trap the villains that would have wronged thee! Saxons,all rejoice, and remain here, and move not until I return!" And sobowing to the priest, and praying his patience, the Lord of Brunnstrode out of the church, leaving the fair ladie of Ey looking allastonishment and somewhat pale. Behind the church Elfric helped thelord to his armour and arms. While putting on his mail, Hereward said,"Are they well in? Art thou sure that thou hast caught this Ivo and hisbrother?"

  "Well in!" said Elfric; "as many as we let come over the bridge are inup to their chins, and Ivo and his brother came on first!"

  "It pleaseth me well," quoth Hereward, as he ran down the hill followedby his sword-bearer; "it pleaseth me right well! I did not expect thetwo caitiffs quite so soon; but since they are come, I vow by everysaint that ever spoke the Saxon tongue, that they shall be witnesses tomy marriage, and after they shall be bidden to my wedding feast!"

  "I wish them a good appetite," said Elfric.

  A scant mile beyond the church hill and the linden-grove there ran anarrow but very deep stream, which was crossed by an old wooden bridge.All persons coming from Stamford must pass this river; and Hereward hadbeen properly advised of all Ivo's intentions and of all his movements.Girolamo had been hard at work over-night upon the bridge, and by hisgood science the timbers of the bridge were so cut into pieces and puttogether again, that he could allow any given number of persons tocross, and then by a simple operation disjoint the bridge and pull itto pieces so that no more should pass. To contain the water within itsbed some broad embankments of earth had been made in very old timesnear to the bridge; and under cover of these embankments nearly all thearmed Saxons had been mustered by Lord Hereward at a very early hour inthe morning, yet not until divers other traps and pitfalls had beenprepared for the Normans. As the Lord of Brunn and the Ladie Alftrudewere walking from the manor-house to the church, the good men lying inambush by the river side discovered a great troop pressing along thehalf-inundated road towards the bridge. These Normans had not been ableto get their horses across the fens, and therefore were they all comingon afoot, cursing the bogs and pools and making a loud outcry when theyought all to have been silent. Girolamo and Elfric, who were holdingsome coils of rope in their hands behind the embankment, presentlyheard Ivo Taille-Bois say to his brother, "Vive Notre Dame, the woodenbridge is standing! The fools have not had wit enough to see that itought to be cut down! Set me down this Hereward for an ass! Come onGeoffroy, this detestable footmarch is all but over. Behind that hilland grove stands thy manor-house, and therein thy bride."

  "We shall soon see that," said Elfric to himself, "and thou shalt soonsee whose bride the Ladie Alftrude is."

  This while Girolamo was peeping at the head of the Norman column; andhe kept peeping until Ivo Taille-Bois and his brother Geoffroy and somehalf-score men-at-arms came upon the bridge and fairly crossed it. Andthen, as the rest of the diabolical band were about to follow, Elfricgave a shrill whistle, and tugged at his rope, and other good Saxonspulled hard at other ropes, and in the twinkling of an eye the bridgefell to pieces, and Ivo and his brother and such as had followed themremained on this side of the bridge, and the rest of the Normansremained on the other side of the bridge. And then a score of hornssounded lustily along the ambuscaded line, and fourscore well-armedSaxons vaulted from their wet lair to the top of the embankments, andset up a shout, and sent such a flight of arrows across the river asput the Normans on the other side to a rapid flight along the causeway.Ivo and his brother and the rest that had crossed the bridge ran alongthe inner bank of the river followed by hearty laughter and a few sharparrows from the Saxons; but they had not gone far when what seemed hardand dry ground broke in under their feet, and let them all drop into aquagmire or pool, one not quite so foul as some of those by CrowlandAbbey, but still foul enough.[145] It was not until he saw them safelydeposited in this place that Elfric went in search of his master; andas he went off for the church he enjoined the Saxons, in LordHereward's name, to do the Normans no further hurt.

  Now, as the Lord of Brunn strode down from the hill towards the riverside, and as the Saxons on the embankment shouted, "Hereward forEngland!" Ivo Taille-Bois, all in his woeful plight, looked hard at theSaxon warrior, and as Hereward came nearer Ivo said, "Peste! brotherGeoffroy, but this Hereward is the very man that shivered my shieldwith his battle-axe and unhorsed me at Hastings. An I had thought hehad been so near I would not have come with thee on thy accursedwooing!"

  "Brother Ivo," said Geoffroy, "it is thou that hast brought me intothis evil with thy mad tal
k about Saxon heiresses. But let us confessour sins, for our last moment is at hand. My feet are sinking deeperand deeper in the mud: I can scarcely keep my mouth above the surfaceof this feculent pool!"

  When the Lord of Brunn came up to the edge of the pool with Elfric andGirolamo, and all his merry men who had been standing on theembankments, and who could no longer see the Normans who had fled fromthe opposite side of the river,[146] the Norman men-at-arms that werefloundering in the pool with their leader set up a cry aboutmisericorde and ransom; and even the great Taille-Bois himself calledout lustily for quarter; while his brother, who was a shorter man,cried out that he would rather be killed by the sword than by drowning,and piteously implored the Saxons to drag out of that foul pool no lessa knight than Geoffroy Taille-Bois.

  "Verily," said Elfric, who understood his French, "verily, MasterGeoffroy, thou art in a pretty pickle to come a-wooing to the fairestand noblest maiden in all England."

  "That is he!" said the Lord of Brunn, who at first took more notice ofGeoffroy, nay, much more notice than he took of Ivo; "and I believethat if he were in better case, and a Saxon, and no Norman, he wouldnot be a very dangerous rival."

  "Hereward of Brunn," said Ivo, whose teeth were chattering with cold,if not with fear; "Hereward the Saxon, an[147] thou be he, bid thychurls draw us from this pool, and I will settle with thee the terms ofransom. Thou canst not wish that we should be smothered here; and ifthou art a soldier, thou wilt not put to the sword two knights of name,who have been most unfairly entrapped by a set of boors."

  "Ivo Taille-Bois the Norman, an[147] thou be he," said Hereward, "I wishneither to drown nor to slay thee by the sword; at least not at thispresent; but I would fain humble thy pride and arrogance, and give theesome reason to remember thy foul attempt to seize and force the will ofa noble maiden whom thou believedst to be defenceless!"

  "As for being entrapped by boors," said Girolamo of Salerno, "thou artmistaken, oh Taille-Bois! in that, for I, thine equal, laid the trapinto which thou art fallen."

  "And foul designs deserve foul traps," said Elfric.

  "I know not what design thou layest to my charge," said Ivo. "I am trueliege man to King William, the lawful heir of King Edward, of happymemory: the heiress of these lands is in the king's peace, and underthe protection of the primate Lanfranc; and I, the Vicomte of Spalding,hearing that there were troubles in these parts, was coming only toplace the lady in security."

  "Aye, such security as the wolf giveth to the lamb," said Hereward."But Ivo, add not more guilt and dishonour to thy soul by lying! Theintent of thy coming, and the object for which thou hast brought thybrother with thee, are as well known to me as to thyself. Ye Normans beall too talkative to keep a secret, and if King Harold had Saxontraitors that betrayed him, so have ye men in your camps and in yourstations that think it no sin to betray you Normans. Have a heed to it,Ivo! and bethink thyself in time that all Saxons be not so dull-wittedas thou imaginest."

  Geoffroy Taille-Bois, greatly encouraged by the Lord of Brunn'sassurance that death was not intended either by drowning or by thesword, spoke out as boldly and as clearly as the chattering of histeeth would allow, and said, "Saxon, methinks that thou talkest at anunfair vantage, and that we might settle the matter of ransom thesooner if we were on dry land."

  "'Tis well thought," replied Hereward, "for I have small time to losein parley. This is my wedding day, Sir Geoffroy. My bride, the LadieAlftrude, is in the church, and the priest is waiting for me with openbook at the altar. My humour is that thou and thy brother shall bewitnesses to our marriage ceremony. Come, my good Saxons, drag me thispond, and pull out those big Norman fish!"

  A score of Saxons instantly threw strong fishing-nets and coils of ropeacross the pool. The men-at-arms, seeing that quarter was to be given,gladly caught hold of the ropes, and so were landed; but the mention ofthe marriage, and of Hereward's humour to have them both present at itas witnesses, had so filled the minds of Ivo and his brother withtrouble and shame, that they caught neither at the ropes nor at thenets, seeming to prefer tarrying where they were to going up to thechurch. The Lord of Brunn waxed impatient; and making a sign to Elfric,that nimble sportsman threw a noose over the surface of the pool, andthrew it with so good an aim that he caught Geoffroy round the neck;and then giving his coil a good tug, which brought the head of theunlucky rival of his master under water, Elfric shouted, "Come out,thou false Norman, come out, and to the wedding, or be drowned orhanged--I care not which."

  Geoffroy, thus hardly entreated, waded and struggled to the brink asbest he could, and was there pulled out all covered with mud, or withthe green mantle of the pool. Ivo, apprehending a rope round his ownneck, caught hold of one of the nets that the shouting and laughingSaxons kept throwing at him, and he too was dragged out of the water,all bemired or green, and almost breathless.

  Such of the men-at-arms as had kept their weapons had laid them at thefeet of Lord Hereward, in token of unconditional surrender. Geoffroy,the unlucky wooer, had no weapon to give up, having left his sword inthe pool; but his brother Ivo had his broad blade at his side, and whencalled upon to surrender it, he made a wry face and said that a knightought to surrender only to a knight, meaning hereby to taunt the Lordof Brunn with his not having been admitted into the high militaryconfraternity.

  "Ivo," said Hereward, "I told Raoul, that dispossessed usurper androbber, and I now tell thee, that I shall soon be a knight, meaningthat I shall be one according to usage and rites and ceremonies. Trueknighthood is in the heart and soul of man, and not in the ceremonies.Were I not already a truer knight than thou, I would hang thee and thybrother to these willow-trees, and butcher thy men here, even as toomany of ye Normans have butchered defenceless Saxon prisoners aftersurrender. Give up thy sword, man, or it may not be in my power to savethee from the fury of my people! Give up thy sword, I say!"

  Ivo began a long protest, which so incensed Elfric and Girolamo thatthey drew their own blades; but the Lord of Brunn bade them put uptheir weapons, and then said to the proud Norman knight, "Traitor andspoiler as thou art, talk no more of dark stratagem and treachery! Apeople, struggling for their own against numerous and organised armies,must avail themselves of the natural advantages which their soil andcountry, their rivers and meres, or mountains, may afford them. Nostratagem is foul: the foulness is all in the invaders and robbers.Armies are not to be bound by the rules of thy chivalry. Until myforces be both increased and improved, I will risk no open battle, oradventure any number of my men in an encounter with the trained troopsfrom Normandie, and from nearly all Europe besides, that have beenmaking a constant occupation and trade of war for so long a season.This I frankly tell thee; but at the same time I tell thee to thyteeth, that if I and thou ever meet on a fair and open field, I will dothee battle hand to hand for that sword which thou must now surrender.Norman! I would fight thee for it now, but that the field is not fairhere--but that these rough fen-men would hardly allow fair play betweenus--but that this is my wedding-day, and the priest and my bride arewaiting. Man, I will brook no more delay--give me thy sword or die!"

  Ivo Taille-Bois stretched out his unwilling arm, and holding the pointof his sword in his own hand, he put the hilt of it into the hand ofthe English champion, who threw it among the heap of Norman swords thatlay at his back. At this new mark of contempt, Ivo muttered, "Was everknight treated in so unknightly a manner! Must I really be dragged tothe church by these dirty clowns?"

  To this my Lord Hereward replied, "Did ever knight engage in suchunknightly deed! Yea, Ivo, and thou, Geoffroy, likewise, I tell ye yemust to the church; and if ye will not go but upon compulsion, thesehonest men and clean shall drag ye both thither."

  "Then," said Geoffroy, speaking mildly, "permit us at least to wipethis mud from our hose, and this green slime from our coats."

  "It needs not," said the Lord of Brunn, with a laugh; "thine hose arenot so dirty as the motive which brought thee hither, and thine head isas green as thy coat. So close up, my men, and
let us march."

  The Lord Hereward, however, did not prevent Ivo from rubbing himselfdown with the skirt of a coat appurtenant to one of his men-at-arms. Asfor Geoffroy, Elfric would not permit a Norman to approach him; andwhen he would have stopped by the hill-side to rub himself against atree, as our fen swine use when they would clean themselves from themud of the marshes, Elfric or some other zealous Saxon got between himand the tree and pushed him forward.

  In this wise--the Normans groaning and distilling, and the Saxonslaughing and shouting--the whole mixed party ascended the hill and cameto the church. The Lord Hereward's absence from the church had been butshort--it had not lasted an hour in all--yet were the priest and thegoodly company assembled growing very impatient, and the Ladie Alftrudevery much alarmed, albeit she was a maiden of high courage, as befittedone who lived in troublous times, and she had been opportunely advisedthat the Lord Hereward had only gone to an easy triumph. But bright,though bashfully, beamed her blue eye when Hereward appeared in theporch. But who were these two forlorn Norman knights walking closebehind him with their heads bent on their breasts and their eyes on theground? Ha, ha! sweet Ladie Alftrude, thine own eye became morebashful, and thy blush a deeper red, when thou didst see and understandwho those two knights were, and why they had been brought into thechurch! The dames and damsels of the company all stared in amaze; andthe Saxon priest, still standing with open book, started and crossedhimself as he looked at Ivo Taille-Bois and his brother Geoffroy.

  "They be but two witnesses the more," said bold Hereward. "We will tellthee at the feast how proper it is that they should be here; but now,good priest, go on with that which their arrival interrupted. Elfric,make space here near the altar for our two unbidden guests. Dames, comenot too near them, for they be very cold strangers!"

  The marriage ceremony then went on to its happy completion, IvoTaille-Bois and his brother Geoffroy grinding their teeth and groaninginwardly all the while: and even thus was it made to come to pass thatthose who would have carried off the Ladie Alftrude were forced to bewitnesses to her union with her old and true love. It was a tale for amenestrel; and a pretty tale Elfric made of it, at a later date, tosing to his four-stringed Saxon lyre.

  "And now," shouted the bountiful Lord of Brunn, as they all quitted thechurch, "now for the wassail-bowl and the feast in hall! IvoTaille-Bois, and thou, Geoffroy, much as thou wouldst have wronged us,we bid thee to the feast--the Ladie Alftrude and I bid thee to ourmarriage feast!"

  "Throw me rather into thy dungeon," said Geoffroy.

  "Enough of this farcing," said Ivo. "Hereward the Saxon, name the termsof the ransom, and let us be gone from thy presence. Ladie Alftrude,remember that I am thy cousin by marriage."

  "Methinks," replied Alftrude, "that thou oughtest to have rememberedthat same fact before coming with thy men-at-arms against me."

  But, after saying these words, the gentle and kind-hearted Saxon bride,stepping aside from the throng, spoke for a while in Lord Hereward'sear; and after that the Lord of Brunn, who was radiant with joy as everwas knight that sat with King Arthur at the Round Table, turned to Ivoand Geoffroy, and said, "Unwilling guests mar a feast. Since ye willnot come willingly, ye need not come at all. A Saxon manor-house hathno dungeon in it or near it, and at present I have no wish to keep yein duresse. Saxon chiefs were ever generous on their happy days, andwhen shall I find a day so happy as this? I will ask no ransom, forthou, Sir Geoffroy, art but a pauper; and thou, oh Ivo, albeit thoucallest thyself Vicomte of Spalding, thou wilt soon find thyself asmoneyless and as landless as thy brother! I will ask for no vows orpromises, for well I ween ye would break them all. I will only ask ofthee, oh Ivo, that if we twain meet on some field of battle, thou wiltnot turn from me! Thy half score men-at-arms we will send to the Campof Refuge, that they may be exchanged for a like number of Saxonprisoners; but for thyself, and for thy brother, I say get ye gone, andtell your Normans in Stamford town, aye, and in London city, all thatyou have seen and heard this day, and all that they may expect if theycome to make war in the fen country."

  "How can we get gone? The bridge is broken, and we cannot cross thatcursed river," said Ivo.

  "Thy Saxon boors will murder us on the road," said Geoffroy.

  "Not on our lands; not within the bounds of Ladie Alftrude's domains.Elfric, Girolamo, conduct these Norman knights across the river, andsend a few good men to escort them to the edge of the fen country. Letnot a drop of blood be spilt, nor so much as a hair of their head beinjured. It were of ill omen that blood should be shed on this day.There will be a time for that hereafter. Come, make good speed, for thefeast will be but dull until Elfric returns."

  "But wilt thou not give us back our swords, that we may defendourselves with them in case of attack?" said Ivo.

  "No, no," quoth the Lord of Brunn; "we must keep the swords to showthat ye have been here-about--that ye have been our surrenderedprisoners. As for self-defence, ye had better not think of that untilye get back to Stamford town. Ye must trust to my escort, and to therespect and obedience paid to me by all this fen country. If ourfenners were to fall upon ye, it is not your brace of swords that wouldbe of any use."

  "Then I say again we shall be murthered on the road," said Geoffroy.

  "And I again say nay," quoth the Lord of Brunn. "I tell ye again, thatye shall have safe escort to the edge of the fens, and that not a hairof your head shall be injured--provided only ye do not insult homelyhonest folk by calling them foul names, or by otherwise treating themdiscourteously, for if ye offend in that way the Saxon blood may boilup and cause my orders to be forgotten. So now go!--and if I cannot sayFare ye well for aye, I say May ye fare well as far as Stamford, anduntil we meet on a fair field, where thou and I, Sir Ivo, may provewhich is the better man or the better knight."

  As the two Normans walked off the ground, they looked so crestfallenand woe-begone that the Ladie Alftrude quite pitied them, and chidedher maid Mildred for so loudly laughing at them and pointing the fingerof scorn at them. But others wanted this chiding as much as Mildred,seeing that every Saxon maid and every Saxon matron present werelaughing and tittering at Geoffroy Taille-Bois' unlucky wooing, and hisdamp and dismal case.

  The marriage feast in the hall was sumptuous and most joyous. It wasenlivened and lengthened by tricks of jugglery and legerdemain, by therecitation of tales, legends, and romances, and by lays sung to musicalinstruments, for although the notice given had been so short, manyjugglers and menestrels had hurried to Ey from different parts of thefen country. In nearly all the rest of broad England the art of theSaxon menestrel was now held in scorn; and the menestrel himself wasoppressed and persecuted, for his tales and songs all went to remindthe Saxon people of their past history, of their heroes and nativesaints, and of their past independence. But this persecution had drivenmany towards the eastern coasts, and thus it was that the fen countryand the Camp of Refuge as much abounded with Saxon menestrels as withdispossessed Saxon monks. Of those that flocked in troops to themanor-house at Ey, to sing at the marriage feast, it may be judgedwhether they did not exert their best skill on so solemn an occasion!Loudly and nobly did they sing Athelstane's Song of Victory,[148] whichrelated how Athelstane the King, the Lord of Earls, the rewarder ofheroes, and his brother Edmund of the ancient race, triumphed over thefoe at Brunanburg,[149] cleaving their shields and hewing theirbanners; how these royal brothers[150] were ever ready to take thefield to defend the land and their homes and hearths against everyinvader and robber; how they had made the Northmen sail back in theirnailed ships, on the roaring sea, over the deep water, after strewingthe English shore with their dead, that were left behind to be devouredby the sallow kite, the swarth raven, the hoary vulture, the swifteagle, the greedy goshawk, and that grey beast the wolf of the weald.And as the menestrel sang, the drinking-horn, capacious as became thehospitality of that old Saxon house, was handed quickly round by pageand waiting-man, who carried great vessels in their hands, and filledthe dark horn right up to its silver rim wi
th mead, or wine, orpigment, every time that they presented the horn to gentle or simple.