Winter of Discontent nc-2

by Iain Campbell

  After several minutes Stigand returned, dressed in different and more ornate vestments. He was joined by Archbishop Ealdred of York, Wulfstan the bishop of Worcester, William the bishop of London and Odo the bishop of Bayeux. King William and Matilda rose in dignity from their seats at the front of the Nave and proceeded, after making obeisance before the altar, to be seated facing the crowd. Matilda’s tiny body, barely four feet two inches tall, was dwarfed by that of her husband, who was a man of above average height and solid build. During this time the Benedictine monks had been singing various religious musical pieces in plainchant.

  As silence fell Archbishop Ealdred approached the Lectern and gave a speech lasting for some fifteen minutes extolling the importance of the position of queen, the vice-regality of the position, Matilda’s own virtues of integrity, honour, decency and dignity- together with the fact that she had already given the king several heirs. Archbishop Stigand led the congregation in a series of prayers for her continued health and the assistance and support she would bring to her husband the king. As she was not to be crowned monarch, the ceremony did not proceed as a coronation as such, but rather as a crowning. Matilda and William rose and then knelt side by side at the high altar. Matilda was anointed with chrism and blessed by Stigand, who then raised a small golden crown high in the air before placing in on Matilda’s head. After several more prayers William and Matilda rose to face the crowd and the shouts of ‘Vivre la Reine! Vivre le Roi!’ rent the air, repeated many times.

  With Matilda’s hand on William’s arm they proceeded at a sedate pace out of the side entrance in the North Transept, closest to the palace located just to the east of the abbey. After they had departed the assembled clergy rose and exited via another side door to the west and into the Cloisters, before the congregation began to disperse. Most departed out of the main doors to the south, but the members of the Curia and other notables had been invited to a feast to be held in the Hall of Westminster, part of the palace, and they also departed via the northern exit.

  It was a walk of just a few paces in the sun before they entered the expanse of the Great Hall. The massive open space with its high vaulted ceiling was already thronged with the rich and important of the kingdom. Anne was fatigued after standing for so long whilst pregnant and her back hurt, so Alan found her a chair against the wall with a small group of other ladies and went in search of Regenbald the Chancellor. He found him in conversation with Roger de Montgomerie and Robert of Eu, together with some lesser nobles, and eventually managed to whisper in his ear that he needed a word in private. After several minutes Regenbald took his leave from the others and directed Alan into a small room near the Exchequer.

  “And what can I do for you, young man?” asked the Chancellor.

  “The king may well be aware of this already, but I have heard word that there’s been a meeting between Earl Edwin of Mercia, Earl Morcar of Northumbria, Earl Gospatric and agents of Edgar the Aetheling, King Swein of Denmark and King Bleddyn of Wales,” advised Alan.

  “The king indeed has a good information network, which reports through me, and is aware of this,” replied Regenbald. “Indeed, these men have also been on contact with others including King Diarmid of Ireland, King Malcolm of Scotland and the illegitimate sons of Harold who fled to Ireland. However, I do thank you for your information and your concern,” he said, clapping Alan on the shoulder. “It’s nice to have some loyal men in the kingdom! The king is, of course a past master at politics and knows how to deal with disloyalty and outside invasion threats, based on his time as duke. Extra information, or confirmation of what we have heard elsewhere, is always welcome, so please pass on whatever information you receive.”

  Alan inclined his head in acknowledgement of Regenbald’s compliment. “What’s he going to do about it?” he asked.

  “Give them enough rope to hang themselves,” Regenbald answered with a wry smile. “The real problem would come if Philip of France invades Normandy, or Fulk invades Maine, while William is busy here in England. Fighting a war on two fronts would be difficult.”

  “I don’t understand why men who have retained their wealth, power and prestige would risk it all. Cospatric will have just paid a fortune to buy his earldom, which he risks throwing away. It’s not as if anybody except either Edgar the Aeltheling or Swein of Denmark would be crowned king. Edwin, Morcar and Cospatric would still remain earls.”

  “But they would have more influence and be given more lands, here in the south. After all Godwin was ‘just’ an earl, but he ran the kingdom because King Edward was so weak. I think that these crows expect to be able to exert similar influence over Edgar. The men of the north hate King William and the Normans, but it’s not personal. They would hate any English king from the south also, except possible the Aetheling. Harold they accepted because he went north with a small force and negotiated with them- but they still revolted against him, even his own brother Tostig. That’s been the curse of the English for so long, the inability of its noble families to see beyond their own interests and to loyally support the monarch. There are many more who have accepted the situation and come to an accommodation. These are mainly men of lesser station, but also apparently Earl Waltheof, and your friends Thorkel of Arden and Eadnoth the Staller who both have enough lands to qualify as barons even though they do not formally hold that station. Now if you’ll excuse me, the king and his new queen will shortly be making their entrance into the Hall and I’m expected to be there to act as Master of Ceremonies.”

  A thoughtful Alan returned back to the Hall, where he saw Anne sitting with a number of her new-found friends and sipping a cup of fresh apple juice. By now the Hall held probably 500 people, mainly standing and chatting while they awaited the arrival of the royal couple. A group of musicians, flautists, players of the lute, dulcimer, tambour, drums, cithara, pan pipes and the long straight trumpet began to play near the middle of the Hall. A choir also began to set up, awaiting their turn to perform.

  With no prior announcement the king and queen walked in through a side door that came from their private chambers in the palace, accompanied by several flunkeys. They were still wearing the rich robes used for the Coronation and wore their crowns. Conversation ceased as all quietly bowed or curtsied to the royal couple, who walked arm in arm to the high-table which had been placed on a raised dais. William waved to the musicians to continue and slowly conversation resumed around the Hall. The great Norman lords and their ladies, Roger de Montomerie, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Hugh Grandmesnil, Robert of Eu, Hugh de Montford, William Warrene, William Malet, and of course his half-brothers Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain and his cousin William fitzOsbern, attended on the royal couple. The men and their wives were tied by close bonds of kinship and marriage and it was like a family reunion. The young English earls Morcar, Edwin and Waltheof eventually were brought forward to make their obeisance to both the king and the newly-crowned queen. Here gathered on one dais were the men who held nigh on three quarters of the land in England that was not in Church hands.

  Anne espied Queen Edith, the widow of King Edward, talking near the dais with Countess Judith, the king’s niece, Hawise Sourdeval the wife of Stephen Count of Brittany and Alice de Tosny the wife of Roger Bigod and a good friend of Anne. Presuming on her acquaintance with them Anne took Alan by the arm and led him to the group. Alan was introduced to those he did not know, and kissed them all on the hand with impeccable manners. The ladies were much taken by the young, tall, handsome man with flowing red hair and fine but understated clothing of black silk tunic and hose embroidered in silver thread and wearing sensible black half-boots, instead of the foppish and garish clothing and footwear adopted by some of the younger courtiers. At twenty years of age Alan and his wife- two years younger, auburn haired, shorter than her husband by a head, her slim figure temporarily spoiled by being five months pregnant, and dressed in a specially made dress of Hunter Green velvet that artfully sought to disguise her condition- made a striking couple
.

  Just then William and Matilda left the dais and started to circulate, immediately gravitating to the Englishwoman whose support after Hastings had been instrumental in having William accepted and crowned as king. William, while a hard man, recognised his obligations and he genuinely liked the 39 year old daughter of Earl Godwin who had been King Harold’s sister. Edith dipped into a curtsy, as the others in the group either curtsied or bowed according to gender. William reached out and took Edith by the hand before she had hardly started her obeisance, raised her up and introduced her to his wife.

  Matilda still retained her beauty, despite her 37 years. At 4’ 2” she was as tiny as a doll, dwarfed by her husband, who at 5’ 11’’ was taller than average and solidly built. Her elfin face showed intelligence, grace and determination. She was polite and well-spoken. She was also three months pregnant with her tenth child by William- not her least contribution to the monarchy. This would be her fifth child in six years and Alan wasn’t sure how she and William had managed to have enough time together to achieve this over the last few hectic years.

  Queen Edith introduced the others in the group who were not known to Queen Matilda. Matilda smiled at Anne and patted her arm in a sisterly fashion and took a step back to peer up at Alan. “You, Sir, I have heard of from my husband. He describes you as his most…interesting…vassal, and something of an enigma. I thank you for saving the life of my husband, but this seems to be but one of a number of interesting feats- not least marrying against the ban imposed on such matters!”

  Alan smiled easily. “Given the example of yourself and my liege, I was sure that this would cause no problem. Like yourself and the king in your time it was something we wished to do, and at least we didn’t have to face papal disfavour!” William gave a bark of laughter and Matilda grinned. “And I paid a penance of six longboats,” concluded Alan.

  Matilda nodded, still smiling. “Cheaper than our having to endow two abbeys! But yours was a generous gift to the king, and an example of one of those things I was referring to before. Overcoming an invasion by the Danes all by yourself!”

  Alan laughed. “My queen, I didn’t have the resources to man the ships, and they do no good sitting rotting on the beach. It is better to have the king think he owes me a favour! We all need those favours at some time, and it did distract him from the question of our marriage!” Here he put his hand on Anne’s arm and continued in a somber tone. “As to the Danes, I wasn’t standing in front of them all by myself. The sheriff of Essex was sitting safe behind the walls of Colchester while Lexden and Winstree Hundreds were devastated. Villages were burnt; women were raped. Men, women and children killed. Thegns were impaled and tortured to death. None of the ‘civilised’ rules of warfare apply in such cases. Every man in the south of the Hundred came, and most of those from the north and east, even the slaves came with what they had- except the men from fitzWymarc’s villages. They wielded sword, bow, spear, hay-forks and sharpened sticks. They fought for their very lives and those of their families, and they fought well. We planned, set an ambush and defeated a larger force of professional warriors- at considerable cost. We took the longships and rescued hundreds of English captives being carried into slavery,” he concluded.

  “That’s the dichotomy I was talking about,” replied Matilda. “Just about every man I know would be crowing about his victory. You are concerned more about those lost. And fitzOsbern tells me you had a recent successful action in Wales, which has his admiration as all he manages to do is lose men in ambushes. How did you manage that?”

  “Well, I must say that I am rather more proud of that raid than of the defensive battle at Wivenhoe,” said Alan modestly. “I run a really good ambush myself. As for the success in Wales? I obtained good information about their land and where their men were. I made sure they didn’t know where we were or what men we had available- we arrived secretly and struck immediately. My men are well trained. We cut up a large Welsh raiding force a couple of nights before, which substantially reduced the men they had to oppose us. We went over the border like an Act of God- fast and hard, with a clear plan and clear objectives. I had a firm talk to Idwallon, the Cantref lord, and he understands the need to leave my lands alone.”

  “Didn’t your intercepting the Welsh raiding party alert them to the presence of your men?” asked Edith.

  “None returned to tell, my lady,” replied Alan dryly. “That was part of Idwallon’s lesson. One of his sons fell in the raiding party.”

  “And William tells me that you think we need a navy?” asked Matilda.

  Alan nodded. “The Irish raid our west coast. The Norwegians raid Northumbria and the Danes raid East Anglia. All do so several times each sailing season. They come over when they get bored at home and going raiding is the national pastime for all of them. Fifty longships, spread between Chester and Bristol in the west and York, Ipswich and Colchester in the east, can stop those raids by making it too costly for them. Fifty ships would also allow us to harry any invasion fleet if the Danes come. Otherwise we just sit on the land and try to guess where they are going to land next, always arriving too late.”

  “That would be too damned expensive,” said William. “50 ships at 30 or 40 men each is 2,000 men.”

  “And the cost of the ships. Merchant ships are useless and we need longships, and the cost of swords and cross-bows,” agreed Alan. “Still, you’re receiving a lot in port taxes and the geld this year will bring in what…?50,000? More? The merchants can be levied to contribute to the cost.”

  William scowled at being told how to spend his money and looked away. “Come, my dear. The servants are bringing out the food and setting up the tables and we’ve some others to talk to.”

  Matilda smiled at Alan and Anne. “I look forward to having further discussions. And I’ve heard how wonderful your music soirees are, my dear,” patting Anne’s arm. She chatted with the other English ladies in Anglo-Saxon for several minutes, being of English descent she could speak the language fluently although with a Flemish accent, before allowing herself to be led away.

  “How much would it cost?” asked Queen Edith with interest, also in Anglo-Saxon English.

  “Probably?10,000 to buy the ships and weapons. That’s a once off expense that could probably be halved by having the ports contribute a certain number of ships each, together with those lords who have their demesne close to the sea. Many of the Norman lords donated substantial numbers of transport ships a couple of years ago. The ongoing cost would be less- 2,000 men at a shilling a week, say just over?5,000 a year.”

  Edith reached out and patted Alan’s arm. “It’ll never happen, my dear man. The idea is good and the cost is modest- but William is a soldier not a sailor and he’s not used to living on an island. He has a continental frame of mind and doesn’t think in terms of protecting coastline or shipping. He’ll increase the town garrisons, even though that won’t work and will be just as expensive. It’s a good idea, though not likely to be adopted. Now shall we go and sit at table?”

  The meal was a typical Norman feast, with fairly simple food and lots of it- heavy on boiled and roast meats and vegetables, beef, pork and chicken. Here at the table of one of the ‘high and mighty’ they had additional delicacies such as peafowl, duck, swan and venison, roasted or braised in broth. The food was relatively simply prepared and presented with a range of spiced or herbed sauces and gravies. At this table at least there were fine French wines from the Loire and Bordeaux, red and white, and the ever popular honeymede and ale. The men and women at Edith’s table were mainly English middle-level thegns, sheriffs, household officials and their wives, all known for their loyalty to King William. Apart from Alan there were also several other Normans including Roger Bigod and his wife Alice, William Peverel and his newly married wife Adelina of Lancaster, Bernard de Neufmarche and Aubrey de Vere.

  “My lady, last time we spoke you mentioned you were considering leaving public life,” said Alice.

  “That’s true,�
�� replied Edith. “I’ve had enough of public life. I married Edward in ’45 and, apart from the year he forced me into a nunnery when he exiled my father, I had to deal with the tribulations of a husband who was a weak king and interested in little other than religion. Twenty years of a loveless marriage to a celibate man who hated me because of my father and what he did to Edward’s brother. I was willing enough, for the sake of the kingdom, but he would have none of it. A man with little interest in the kingdom he ruled, or its people. I did what I could to ensure proper rule. On Edward’s death my brother Harold was crowned, and within nine months he and three of my other brothers were dead. Last month my mother Gytha Thorkelsdottir, Godwin’s widow, encouraged the people to revolt, including my own town of Exeter.

  “I’ve had enough and done enough! Godgifu is a friend of mine and is abbess at Wilton. I’ll take the veil and retire into a quiet and contemplative life in comfortable surroundings. I’ll bestow some of my lands on favoured servants, such as Azur here, and some on the abbey, while retaining a few to provide life’s comforts until I bequest them in my will- after all, I have no children. England needs only one queen, and that’s now Matilda,” she concluded.

  “Perhaps if you left that decision for a little while, my lady,” suggested Alan. “Your intercession in the conflict at Exeter last month was important both for its people and the kingdom. Both the king and the people respect you. Difficult times lie ahead.”

  At that Edith’s head jerked around and she looked Alan in the eyes. She nodded at the truth of what he said as she had her own sources of information as well. With a reluctant sigh she said, “You’re right. Perhaps a few more months, in addition to the past 22 years, should be easy enough compared to what I’ve endured in the past. Now, enough of these matters! Let’s listen to the music and talk of inconsequential things!” she commanded.