Early on Easter Thursday Anne, Juliana, Osmund, two maids and five guards headed east through the crowded Cornhill, along Leadenhall Street to Aldgate. The ladies were riding in a cart and they were destined for Thorrington, intending to take a leisurely two days for the journey. After a brief kiss and a wave to his wife, Alan rose west towards Gloucester and the Welsh border.
He arrived at Staunton-on-Wye late on the second day, Saturday 18th April. He looked approvingly at the state of the fortified bailey as he rode in and was greeted by Leofwin the second in command. “Robert is over at Bobury with his steward David, talking to the miller. He should be back soon!” said Leofwin, ushering Alan and his men into the Hall and ordering ale be brought to wash away the dust of the road from the travelers’ throats.
Leofwin was correct. Robert and David arrived after about an hour, Robert hurrying in as the guards outside had advised him of Alan’s arrival. “My lord”, he said, with a courtly bow. Alan snorted with amusement, rose and grasped his friend by the forearm, before clapping him on the shoulder and resuming his seat. A servant brought more quarts of ale.
“How fares the ‘overlord’ of my western realm?” asked Alan.
“Well enough,” replied Robert with a smile at the description. “As you can see, we’ve completed the fortifications here and the Hall is complete. It has quite basic facilities, but more than usual for a frontier manor. The repairs to the villages are complete. You’d hardly know the Welsh came through with sword and fire a little more than a year ago. Last year there was a reasonable harvest, although sown late. While the granaries aren’t full, there’s more than adequate food in the four villages- which is more than can be said for most of the shire after the Welsh invasion. This year’s crop is in the ground and appears to be growing well. With God’s Grace and a year of peace all should be well.”
“Ah! A year of peace. That may be a problem,” said Alan in response. “What men and arms do you have?”
“Well, of course I have the 10 mounted men-at-arms and ten huscarles you provided. Another 10 local infantry, properly trained and equipped, 10 longbowmen full-time. Another 20 fully trained longbowmen part-time, and 67 fyrdmen armed with spears, partially trained. The full-time men are all mounted, including the foot-soldiers. I have enough ponies that you took on your raid to mount all the full-time men and most of the part-timers. Those numbers exclude Baldwin, Warren and Leofric” said Robert, the last a reference to the Norman man-at-arms, Norman archer and English huscarle respectively, who acted as Robert’s officers. “As to horses, we have 14 rounceys and 70 Welsh mountain-ponies. The cavalry are equipped as you provided. A few with hauberks and the rest with byrnies, sword, shield, helmet and lance. The huscarles have their own armour, of course, mainly byrnies, but a few hauberk-style. The full-time infantry have byrnies, helmets, shields and swords. The archers have the longbows you acquired from Wales- no mail armour, although all have padded armour. They all also have their seax fighting-knife, of course. The fyrdmen have spears and shields that they made themselves and their seax. Most have swords that you have provided. A few have axes, mainly the type for wood-chopping.”
Alan nodded his understanding of the array of force and its equipment, and that he was not displeased. “How many arrows for the longbows?”
Robert paused before replying, “I’m not really sure. I think about 500.”
Alan replied, “Thirty bowmen, three sheaves each, is over 1,000. Get the fletchers busy and make a war-stock of 1,500, plus any needed for day to day use.” Alan thought for a moment and continued, “Arrange short-swords for the bowmen and swords and helmets for the spearmen. I’ll provide the funds and you can buy whatever you need at Colchester- with its iron and steel industry that would be the best place to buy. Step up training. How often do you run patrols and how often do you train?”
“You speak as if you expect an imminent invasion,” commented Robert. “We haven’t seen a Welshman on our lands in over a year. You made your point very clearly last year to their local cantref lord. While some raiders have come over the border as usual, they avoid our lands like we have the plague! Yes, we run patrols. Mounted patrols, both day and night, on an irregular basis but at least one patrol a day as far as the border. Foot patrols within our lands, again at irregular times and again at least daily. Subject to weather, all the full-time men practice their individual skills daily and we have unit training at least once a week, usually twice. The part-time bowmen practice for an hour at day at the butts. The spearmen practice twice a week for half a day.”
The evening meal, a simple pottage and a meat stew with rye bread, was served as Alan explained the current political events. “We have a situation where I expect within the next three months things will explode. Last year we had the rebellion at Exeter, the raids by Harold’s bastard sons with the support of the Irish and the invasion by the Welsh. This year it looks like a full-blown revolt in the north and the involvement of the Danes on the east coast at least with raids and possibly the landing of men to support any rebellion in the north. If the Aetheling and his advisors have any sense they’ll also arrange Eadric Cild and the Welsh to invade Herefordshire, Hereward to cause problems in Lincolnshire and the Irish to raid either the south-west or the west or both. Maybe also the Scots to raid from Cumbria. And if they have sense, this time they’ll do them all at the same time instead of one after the other like they did last year. Morcar and Edgar are almost certain to join the rebellion this summer, which will make the whole of the north in rebellion. If the Aetheling is really smart he’d arrange for Fulk to attack Maine at the same time, so William can’t bring reinforcements from Normandy. One thing I’m reasonably sure of is that before winter the Welsh will be across the border in force. Whether in the north near Chester, here in the south near Hereford, or both, I don’t know.”
The next day Alan spent touring the four villages and meeting with their headmen Siric, Aella, Bearn and Defan. He noted that a number of his soldiers now had women and learned that several of the wives from Essex had made the journey with their children to be with their husbands. Most of the wives were those women who had lost their men in the Welsh invasion the year before and who had been looking for men to support them and their children. Nearly half of the garrison slept in cottages in the village.
The following day Alan observed the warriors at their training. He sent a message to Bernard de Neufmarche, who held nearby lands, that he would like to arrange a mock-attack on one or more of his villages to test the readiness of both of their forces.
That night he rode out with a mounted patrol on a loop along the river valley nearly to the border and then back via Witney, Winferton and Ailey.
The next night he rode with most of the men to stage a mock-attack on Yarsop, easily overwhelming the defenders, before being back at Staunton before dawn. Later that day he watched Bernard’s men stage a pre-arranged attack on Staunton- Alan had not advised Robert or his men of the pending attack. The attacking force was sighted by the watchmen in good time, the alarm given and the men mustered. The villagers drove the livestock into the nearby forest and hid themselves. Alan provided food and drink for the mid-day meal for Bernard’s men, who left well satisfied.
Also was also well-satisfied that matters on his lands on the Welsh border were well in hand, and departed with his men the next day, riding east and arriving at Thorrington on Saturday 25th April, the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Thorrington June 1069
It was late afternoon on Monday 29th June. Alan was sitting in the Hundred Court with Leofstan of Great and Little Holland and Edwold of Alresford at the Old Hall at Thorrington, dealing with a number of cases that had not been able to be heard at the usual Assize day two weeks before. The case currently before the court dealt with the disputed ownership of a cow. As it involved a villager from Thorrington, Leofstan was acting as Chief Judge.
West-Saxon law operated in a quite cumbersome manner, although usually effective.
The free male population was divided into frithboghs each of ten men. The law acted by way of monetary compensation in which each man of the frithbogh was required to contribute his share of any compensation or fine if a member of the frithbogh was found guilty of a crime. They were also responsible for the accuracy of any sworn evidence given to the court by one of the frithbogh’s members. The guilty paid their bot, either as a fine or as compensation, depending on the offence. If they did not, for more serious offences they suffered mutilation or hanging and for less serious offences may be banished from the community. A man could literally get away with murder if he could pay his wergild, or that of his victim (whichever was the higher), in bot. For a gebur freeman or freewoman that was 200 shillings. For a thegn it was 1,200. No wergild was payable for slaves, but their owners received compensation equal to their value if they were killed or injured. These were massive amounts of money for men who usually measured their weekly income in pennies. All men were required to be in a tithing, usually of the same members as the frithbogh, which actively policed its members due to their collective responsibility for any breach of the law.
In small tight-knit communities, where few traveled further than the next village and a visit to the nearest town was a major undertaking, the system generally worked well. Everybody knew the litigants and the penalty for perjury was such that in a deeply religious society few would contemplate giving false oath. The prospect of being forever denied being shriven of their sins by a priest and on their death being buried in unconsecrated ground, resulting in eternal damnation to the lower reaches of hell, meant that evidence sworn before the court was usually very reliable regarding facts- although personal bias still needed to be considered.
Unfortunately, in civil cases such as current case the system was largely useless- not least because it failed to make provision for the status of women. A free woman had the same rights as a free man, but was not a member of a frithbogh as that was deemed unnecessary as women were rarely the instigators of the violence that West-Saxon law was designed to curb.
The differing status of Englishmen and the French or Normans also caused problems as each was subject to the different laws and penalties of their respective countries. Although he lived in England, owned land in England and had made that country his home, Alan himself was subject to Norman law. Generally the laws were similar, except for the compensation and frithbogh systems. Indeed, in the absence of a compensation system, the penalties under the Norman law were generally more severe in the rare instances that they were actually applied. A dispute involving men of both countries became full of very complex issues, not least being whether the Hundred Court would have jurisdiction or whether the matter required referral to the Shire Court, where the judges were a representative of the bishop and the sheriff.
The current case involved a man from Brightlingsea, who as a resident of a village belonging to the king would not normally be subject to the Hundred Court. His name was Bearn and he had brought an action against a woman of Thorrington called Ora, a middle-aged widow. Bearn claimed that a cow, one of three kept by her for milking as her sole source of income, belonged to him. One thing that has not changed over the millennia is that ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law’ and the onus was on Bearn to prove his case. Frankly, his case was not going well. Neither side had a lawyer, something for which that Alan was intensely grateful as he found their obfuscation and verbiage both tiresome and unhelpful. Bearn, as complainant, had opened the giving of evidence as was usual, with members of his frithbogh giving oath as to his honesty and integrity. He and several witnesses gave oath that he possessed half a dozen cows, that one had recently disappeared, that it was black with white markings and that after being told by another man about this cow at Thorrington he had traveled to the village and recognised it.
He gave the formal oath in the required terms. “By the Lord, I accuse not Ora either for hatred or for envy, or for unlawful lust of gain; nor know I anything soother; but as my informant to me said, and I myself in sooth believe, that she was the thief of my property.”
His case, seemingly initially quite strong, had started to fall apart as soon as Ora presented her case. She started with the formal oath denying the allegation “By the Lord, I am guiltless, both in deed and counsel, and of the charge of which Bearn accuses me.” Not being a member of a frithbogh she called the village headman Toland and his deputy Erian to give oath as to her trustworthiness and honesty. Half a dozen witnesses were called to say that since the time of her husband’s death two years previously that Ora had always had three cows, one of which was the cow in dispute. They recognised the cow, having often stood and spoken to Ora while she was milking the animal. Two swore that they had milked the beast themselves when Ora had fallen ill. Most telling, a man from Great Bentley gave evidence that he had sold such an animal to Ora’s husband not long before his death, although he could not swear that he recognised the beast. There was, of course, no documentary proof of the sale as neither vendor nor purchaser were able to write.
Ora concluded, reciting the required oath, “By the Lord, I was not at rede nor at deed, neither counsellor nor doer, where were unlawfully led away Bearn's cattle. But as I cattle have, so did I lawfully obtain it. And as I cattle have, so did it come to my own property and so it by folk-right my own possession is.”
Osmund, Alan’s clerk, had been carefully recording the proceedings verbatim. The three judges retired to the back room with Osmund, to consider the evidence and check several facts and the exact words used by some of the witnesses from Osmund’s rough draft of the transcript. As usual they partook of refreshments, including two quarts of ale apiece, as they considered their verdict.
“There’s no doubt but that Bearn believes his accusation true,” commented Edwold, “But I doubt not the evidence of Ora and her witnesses, even though most are women. She is a widow and a woman of good repute. She would neither steal a cow nor knowingly act as receiver of a stolen animal. More, she has shown that she has had the beast for two years. The cow is hers.”
Leofstan agreed and recommended that, while judgement should be given in favour of Ora, that no bot should be payable by Bearn for making false accusation. Alan, who had carefully avoided making any comment himself so far, as the woman was from his own village, agreed and they returned to the Hall where Leofstan announced the judgement, to the delight of one of the litigants and the chagrin of the other.
It was by then late afternoon, that case having been the third heard that day. Alan’s offer of hospitality to Leofstan and Edwold was accepted, with the three of them strolling to the Alan’s New Hall, Osmund trailing behind clutching a pile of books and rolled parchments, with a bag hanging from his shoulder carrying his pot of ink, quill and unused parchment.
On entering the Hall Alan ushered his guests to the head-table, located close to the unlit fire with its metal canopy and flue. The rushes on the floor had been recently changed and the summer sunlight streamed in through the glass-framed windows which were open to let in the cooling sea breeze. Huscarle Brand was already seated at the table, with a face like thunder and after a few moments Anne hurried in from the private rooms upstairs to welcome the guests. After a brief word of instruction a serving-wench hurried in with five quarts of ale and a pint of fruit-juice, the latter for Anne.
Brand had accompanied to Colchester the wagon loads of money and goods that paid the Hundred taxes due on Mid-Summer Day- 24th June, the Feast of the Nativity of St John. He and the other guards had then taken several days leave in the city, mainly spent drinking in taverns and whoring with ladies of negotiable virtue in houses of excellent repute. He waited until Osmund had taken his place before announcing, “I have ill news, my lord. Earl Waltheof has ridden north with 500 men. Many thegns from the midlands are also riding north. Harold’s bastard sons have raided from Ireland again, this time in Devon. They attacked Stanborough Hundred at the mouth of the River Tavy and were driven off by Count Brian and William Gualdi
with the help of the local levies- as with the last raid they received no support from the locals.
“The Danes have raided Dover, taken or burnt most of the ships in the harbour, including the longships you gave to King William, and raided the countryside all about. The town walls kept them out. Then they went on to Sandwich and Canterbury. Merchant ships keep on disappearing off the south-east coast- five from Colchester and six from Ipswich in the last month. The crews of the cogs refuse to sail and goods brought from inland into the ports are piling up on the wharves. The merchants are whining and wringing their hands and claiming they are ruined. Longships were seen off Maldon two days ago.”
Alan exclaimed, “Holy Mary, Mother of God! Things move apace. The four children grow bold.” This was a reference to the fact that Earls Waltheof, Edgar and Morcar were all teenagers, as was Edgar the Aetheling- now crowned king by the Northumbrians in competition with William. “Leofstan and Edwold, we need to meet with the local thegns to discuss matters with them and prevent them from joining the rebels. Waltheof’s agents will soon be swarming to subvert the local men.”
Leofstan gave a small cough before saying, “You presume that myself and Edwold do not favour the English earls. Also, the agents were here last week, have had their say and gone.”
Alan frowned and replied, “Come on Leofstan! There’s no way on God’s Earth that four teenagers can arrange a successful rebellion, put an army in the field and lead it to victory against King William and his barons. The king, fitzOsbern, de Montfort, de Mandeville and the others have been leading armies and fighting and winning battles longer than the Aetheling and the other Earls have been alive. The earls lack the political savvy and the military knowledge to win. William will eat them for breakfast before spitting out their bones and taking an even tighter grasp of the reins!”
“Perhaps so,” said Edwold quietly. “But they have the sympathy of very many men. Not many are powerful men and not many have large retinues or experience of war- but the comprise many, many men. You’re right about lack of leadership. It is, for the English, a pity that all its capable earls except the Godwinsons were contemporaries, that Godwin, Siward, Leofric and Swein all died before Edward, and that Harold and his brothers perished in ’66. You are correct that there is no Englishman able to lead the battle. But some feel that a man must do what his conscience and loyalties dictate, irrespective of the probable outcome. And even if an Englishman can’t lead the battle, perhaps a Dane can. Swein Estrithson, the Danish king, has committed not only his ships but also his men to fight.”
Winter of Discontent nc-2 Page 25
