Winter of Discontent nc-2

by Iain Campbell

  CHAPTER FIVE

  London May 1068

  Alan had arranged for his seneschal Robert to come to London from Herefordshire to report progress at Staunton and Alan’s other manors on the Welsh border. They met at the house at Holebourn Bridge, where Robert would be staying together with the four men who had ridden with him. He arrived in the late evening two days after the coronation, tired and dirty from the road.

  After bathing and changing his clothes Robert met Alan and Anne in the Hall. The day was warm and the central fire wasn’t lit. Light streamed in through the rare and expensive glass windows. Sitting at the table Robert drained a quart of ale to settle the dust in his throat before switching to wine, a red of reasonable quality from the Loire. Alan had arranged for food to be placed on the table and Robert helped himself to first an apple and then fresh bread, butter and aged cheese. The evening meal would not be for another hour or so, but Robert was fatigued and hungry after his travel from Oxford that day, a distance of 60 miles, and the previous day of travel from Staunton to Oxford.

  “So, how progress matters?” asked Alan.

  “Reasonably well,” replied Robert. “The winter hasn’t been too severe on the border, not like I hear you had in Essex. That was fortunate, given the there was hardly any food and most of the houses were damaged. We’ve got the new Hall and stables completed. The men are sleeping in the Hall until the barracks is built. The trench for the fortifications has been started. Obviously the villagers have had to spend most of the last month ploughing and sowing.

  “Because of the food situation Father Siward gave a dispensation from Lenten eating restrictions. People needed every morsel of food they could get from anywhere to avoid starving. The people have been taking fish from the river, as you allowed, and also the garrison has been hunting wild cattle, boar and deer in the forests for their own use and to provide to the villagers- so they didn’t have to poach. It’s no use forbidding what is going to happen anyway, as a man will do anything rather than see his family go hungry, but if we kill the game at least the villagers don’t get into the habit. That and the wagons of grain and flour that you provided from Gloucester kept the wolf of starvation from the door. The Welsh have been behaving themselves, at least in our area. I understand they’re still active up in the north. That’s given us the respite to survive and rebuild.”

  “The bad news, I’m afraid,” announced Alan, “is that William fitzOsbern advised me that we’re required to do our knight’s service at Chester and support his expedition against the North Welsh in Rhufoniog and Rhos, in Gwynedd. I tried to get him to agree that our raid into Brycheiniog counted as our military service this year, but he wouldn’t have it. We’re required in Chester on 1st June.”

  “That’s not fair!” exclaimed Anne.

  Robert chuckled. “Nobody’s every accused fitzOsbern of being fair! He’s a mean and arrogant son-of-a-bitch, although extremely capable.” He then looked at Alan and asked, “Are you taking everybody? And what is the objective?”

  “Objective? Who knows? Certainly not Earl William, I think! Just march around and make a nuisance of ourselves as repayment to Bleddyn for the invasion last year, I expect. The idea this year seems to be to stay on the flat lands near to the north coast and steer clear of the mountains- fitzOsbern has at least learned that lesson. I’m required to provide six men. I’ll take ten, but send some of the remainder at Staunton where they’ll be close by if I decide I want them and where they can be some use if Bleddyn decides to take the opportunity to try to attack fitzOsbern’s southern flank while the earl is busy in the north. If the earl did have a specific objective in mind I’d probably take more men. Make sure you get that defensive ditch, rampart and palisade up in the next few weeks. The local geburs there should be able to get that done quickly now they have ploughed and sown the fields.”

  “I’m really not happy about you going off on campaign. You must be careful,” said Anne with concern.

  Alan gave her a kiss and quipped, “I’ll be careful. Hey, this is what I do and I’m good at it! ‘Yeah though I walk through the Welsh Valleys I shall fear no Evil, for I am the meanest and most suspicious bastard in the Valley’. Jesus, Mary and Joseph will protect me, I’m sure.

  “Robert, you’ve still got those Welsh mountain ponies? Good! Make sure they’re shod and ready to move if we need them. The men from Essex will be at Staunton in about ten days. I’ll go direct to Chester after I pick up my men at Thorrington. You’ll need to increase the number of supply wagons from Gloucester to feed the extra men. There’s still no food in western Herefordshire,” he added.

  * ***

  Alan decided to take the opportunity of a quiet day to take the family to the races. Each Saturday on Smithfield, less than a quarter of a mile from the house at Holebourn, was held the horse fair where horses were offered for sale. Large draught animals, chargers, rounceys, hackamores, palfreys and ponies were standing tethered or being led by grooms. Unbroken horses shied skittishly, pulling at the reins which held them and rolling their eyes. The horses were periodically being led to display their gait and moved with shining coat, rippling muscles and quivering ears.

  Every half-hour or so an impromptu race was put on by the owners and handlers of the higher-quality horses for sale. These were led to the line with smaller grooms mounted on their backs, and they would race several times around a clearly-defined circuit, each seeking to prove to the buyers that they had the fleetest horse. This was what most of the people had come to see, as they had neither the need nor wherewithal to buy a horse, and bets were exchanged on the outcomes- with the horses being encouraged with shouts and oaths by those onlookers with financial interests. The jockeys encouraged their horses to greater efforts with spurs, switch and voice. The horses clearly enjoyed the proceedings, stretching out to attempt to beat their rivals.

  Alan was accompanied by Anne and Leof, with two discretely armed huscarles as a precaution against anything untoward occurring, as any crowd in the city was likely to contain cut-purses and other rogues. They wandered about looking at the animals and the antics of the crowd, enjoying the occasion.

  The same area was used on other days of the week as the livestock market, being close to Newgate and providing easy access to the slaughter-yards at the Shambles. Despite farmers regularly bringing wagons to clear the manure from the ground for them to use as fertiliser, the party had worn stout shoes which were soon mired.

  Alan saw a large bay charger that he liked the look of and watched its race. It proved not to be the swiftest of the animals, but had a smooth action and ample stamina. After its race it recovered its breath quickly and fidgeted only moderately as it received its post-race rub-down from its groom. Alan had the saddle replaced, adjusted the stirrup straps and inserted the bit before taking the horse through its paces. Its smooth action made the ride pleasant and on dismounting Alan struck a deal with the owner. He handed over his earnest-money deposit, arranging to have the animal delivered to his stable on Monday when the balance of the money would be paid.

  The next morning Robert rode for the Welsh border. Several days later Alan and Anne, with their escort and the newly acquired horse, traveled through the Great Forest to overnight at Norton near Chelmsford after a journey of 42 miles, and then the further 36 miles to Thorrington the following day.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Thorrington and Wales Early June 1068

  At Thorrington the bucolic pursuits of agriculture were in full swing. The crops had been sown months before, had germinated and were growing. Fields had turned bright green with the new growth. Now the men were ploughing the fallow land. Small groups of three or four men walked behind the heavy wooden mouldboard ploughs pulled by four straining and bellowing oxen, shouting encouragement or goading the beasts with whips or sharp sticks as required. The light soil in Tendring Hundred allowed the use of half-teams of four oxen, compared to the heavier soils elsewhere which required eight beasts.

  Cows had calved, shee
p lambed and pigs farrowed, the young trotting at the heels of their mothers or gamboling nearby.

  Ditches were being cleared and sheep shearing commenced, which would continue for several months. The woman were gathering fruit and making preserves for use during the winter- pickling, drying, making jams and chutneys. Most of this activity would continue through the warmer months as different fruits ripened, but the first apples were already ripening and suitable for placing in barrels for storage in cool places. Later would come the other varieties of apple, and pears, quinces, plums, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. Generally the villagers didn’t preserve food in honey, which was usually sold as one of their few ‘cash crops’, but with her access to imports that were relatively inexpensive to her Anne would also, in addition to the local traditional methods of drying or making jams, arrange preservation of fruit with olive oil or candying with sugar.

  Alan’s trusted lieutenants the Normans Hugh and Roger had been given the manors of Great Oakley and Bradfield respectively to administer- not enfeoffed but appointed as seneschals. At Staunton were the other Normans, Robert as seneschal and Warren training the local men as archers and spearmen, with the Englishman Leofwine leading the ten huscarles and Ledmer commanding the ten Wolves mounted men-at-arms permanently stationed on the Welsh border.

  At Thorrington in Tendring Hundred the Welshman Owain of Cardiff was responsible for training some of the fyrdmen of Alan’s manors to use the longbow, and the Englishmen Brand commanded ten huscarles. Edric, Ainuf and Acwel each commanded a troop of ten Wolves, one troop of which was stationed at each of Thorrington, Great Oakley and Bradfield. Barclay, Aethelbald and Oswy commanded squads of part-time archers who had undergone a period of training with Owain in the use of the longbow, but whose members were scattered amongst the manors under Alan’s control. There were five squads of English foot-soldiers spread amongst Alan’s eight manors, not as highly trained or well equipped as the huscarles, but each with helmet, sword or spear, shield and a waist-length byrnie vest of chain-mail, and who had each undergone a period of basic training and continued to train regularly at least twice a week.

  On arrival at Thorrington Alan called a meeting of his officers to be held the next day at noon. Messengers spurred their horses as they departed, to try to reach their destinations and deliver their message before dark. Alan ate an early meal, hurriedly prepared by Otha the cook from whatever was on hand. Given they were hungry from their journey there was no complaint at the simple fare.

  Alan spent most of the evening in discussion with the Welshman. “Owain, I don’t want to insult you, but some of us will be marching to fight on the Welsh border in a few days. I don’t want to put you in a position where you have any personal conflict between your duties and your loyalties, and I propose to have you here in Thorrington continuing to train bowmen, although many of those in my employ will be in the west. I trust that this is acceptable to you?”

  Owain looked uncomfortable and fidgeted a little on his seat at the small table in Alan’s office just off the Hall. “I understand you’ll be going to Chester and fighting against Bleddyn in Gwynedd? I’m from Cardiff in the south, a hundred miles from where you’ll be campaigning. Indeed the men of the north are as foreign to my people as those of Herefordshire, or more so. Bleddyn is from Gwynedd and means little to me. I’d have no difficulty in going with you to Rhos in the north and being your man.

  “To give a brief history of Wales, our land is divided into parcels of a hundred households, or a tref. Several of these together form commotes and in turn two or three of these form a cantref. There are four traditional kingdoms- Gwynned, Powys, Deheubarth and the south-east, the latter now the princedoms of Morgannwg, Brycheiniog and Gwent. Position is determined by what a lord actually holds, not his birth or position. What he holds depends on his military and political strength. The lords of the cantrefi have no obligation to support any man as ‘king’ or ‘prince’. Occasionally a man arises who’s able to control enough cantrefi himself and have enough lords support him that he becomes High King. This happens perhaps for a few years once every generation, possibly less. Bleddyn is such a man. He is ‘King’ of Wales, but if he turns his back for a moment, somebody will put a knife in it and Wales will return to its usual situation of independent states, the leader of each doing what they want.

  “In times of a strong king there is less raiding along the border- but when the king decides to cross the border the warriors number in the thousands, not dozens. Welshmen are nearly all warriors, although not with the formal training that you give your men. They move fast in attack and are deadly in ambush. Because of their disposition and lack of training as a unit they don’t fare well in battles where the opponents are face to face. They know that, and avoid such confrontations.

  “FitzOsbern will go into Wales wanting to force a battle. That won’t happen. There’ll be ambushes and night raids, and a man with a bow behind every bush. Villages will be abandoned ahead of his troops, with no people present and the livestock that constitutes wealth in Wales driven away and hidden. FitzOsbern will burn the villages, but a wattle and daub thatched cottage takes only days to rebuild.

  “The Welsh made a different choice to the English, after the Saxons pushed us out of the lush lands of what is now Herefordshire. We chose to inhabit the bare and windswept hills, raising cattle and sheep, rather than living on the lowlands and tilling the land. The south and north coasts have arable land and there are a number of river valleys that would support more agriculture, but our rulers have chosen to live in the uplands. The valleys and coastal lands are inhabited and used by those who are seen as inferior. The swamps in the main remain undrained and the vegetation uncleared. Most of the arable land is still oak forest or swamp, or covered in briar and gorse. Moving over the hills and the mountains is difficult, but no more so than moving through the tangled undergrowth in the valleys. There are only two significant towns, Cardiff and Caernafon, both with about 2,000 souls. In the main, my people live in the hills in small villages, hamlets and isolated farms.

  “This makes it difficult to subjugate the land, or more particularly the people. It also ensures its perpetual poverty. The English took from us what is now Hereford and Cheshire, lands of rolling hills suitable for agriculture. They didn’t want to take the hill-lands, not seeing the benefit as being worth the cost. So now the English borderlands bleed month after month to Welsh raids- usually not much blood, but a constant drain.

  “The English made many deep expeditions into our lands. Their armies were met with ambush by warriors who disappeared into the trees, and raids on their camps. Many more English were killed than Welsh, again a constant day by day bleeding with ten or twenty bodies a day being sent back to England for burial. The fighting has always been savage, even when it was against the English. The English fear and hate the Welsh because they’re afraid of us. Afraid of the death-dealing arrows that come from ambush. Afraid of our raiding parties. What a man fears, so he also hates. There has been atrocity after atrocity, on both sides of the border. Men, women and children massacred, often horribly. Houses burnt and crops despoiled. It’s gone on for so long and both sides are equally at fault.

  “Your expedition against Brycheiniog was perfect. Fast and with clear objectives achieved on the first day. Your men were well-disciplined and caused no physical harm to the villagers- which is unusual in any punitive expedition. Anybody can understand the… clout… given by many swords and spears. The swords speak very loudly. Frankly, if the Normans and English campaign in Gwynedd, even if they take Caernafon, I wouldn’t give a shit. My people hate the people of Gwynedd more than they hate the people of Herefordshire, as the English raid us less often!”

  After this lecture on Welsh politics Alan was thoughtful and retired to consider the information he had received.

  That evening Alan gave orders that two troops of horse, two squads of infantry and one of archers would march on the 29th May.
One troop of horse would accompany him to Chester and the remainder of the men would go to Staunton. Anne would take over responsibility for his manors in Tendring Hundred, although she wouldn’t have to sit on the Hundred Court. Osmund and Brand would assist her at Thorrington, Hugh at Great Oakley and Roger at Bradfield. Twenty mounted men-at-arms, ten huscarles, thirty infantry and forty militia archers would remain to protect his estates, where no immediate danger was envisaged. Two wagons and seven oxen were to be bought at Colchester for what was expected to be a one-way journey to Staunton carrying the armour of the cavalry and infantry, tents and other equipment. There they could either be sold at a profit or used for transport between Staunton and Gloucester.

  They rode out of the village to waves and shouts of encouragement. Alan, with the lad Leof as his personal servant, Owain, Edric and nine other green-clad Wolves rode to Chester via Northampton, Tamworth and Stoke, a journey taking four days through weather that had turned overcast with occasional showers. The men’s wolf-skin capes helped to keep them dry. The rolled-up armour, wrapped in oilskin cloth to keep it from rusting, tents, pots and other baggage were carried on pack horses.

  They approached Chester from the east in the late afternoon. They had not pressed hard- the ride could have been accomplished in three days but there was no need to unnecessarily fatigue either man or beast with there being no immediate hurry. Chester was surprisingly quiet and after riding through the East Gate and presenting themselves at the castle they discovered fitzOsbern and his men, including forces belonging to Hugh de Grandmesnil and Roger de Montgomerie, both of whom held lands within a day’s ride, had marched into Flintshire two days previously. When Alan asked where they were bound he was told abruptly, “West. Just follow the smoke.” Alan insisted on having a note of hand to confirm the attendance of himself and his men, and also insisted on the provision of quarters in the castle for the night. The steward was reluctant to provide quarters, but finally agreed when Alan pointed out that space must be available as the castle was near empty. Alan saw no need to pay for bed and board for his men unnecessarily when they were on the service of the king.