Hoodsman: Revolt of the Earls

by Smith, Skye

  "Earl Ralph has left Norfolk with most of his Breton knights," he reported. "He has told the mercenaries that remain on the walls that he has gone to seek help. That story does not hold water, since he would have sailed on Canute's ships. I think it more likely that Ralph thinks Odo will get bored with the siege and return to the south if he is no longer in Norwich."

  "So who is holding Norwich castle?" asked Judith.

  "Emma, his bride, I suppose. But since she is barely seventeen, I doubt she actually gives orders to the men." Thorold signaled Raynar with a wink and a glimmer that he had more to tell but not within Judith's hearing.

  When Judith was gone to see to her children, Thorold came closer and spoke quietly. "You are sleeping with the enemy, then?"

  "Edgar is sleeping with the enemy," replied Raynar, a bit stung by the rebuke. "I am sleeping with a woman who in her heart wishes she were Beatrice. With my help, and with yours, perhaps she will become more like Beatrice. It would be a good outcome for the folk of our shires."

  Thorold shrugged his shoulders. "You have much to learn about women. So be it. I will help her to be like Beatrice, if she is willing to try."

  "She has been trying her hardest all this month, and doing well. She is a different woman now." Raynar held up his hand to stop the retort. "I know, a lot to learn."

  Thorold moved closer still. "I doubt Ralph will ever come back to Norfolk. He left for Flanders on the ships that Canute collected along the coast. An angry Odo worries Canute greatly, so he has taken his own ships south to worry the great harbours near Ipswich in hopes that will force Odo's army to move south away from Norwich."

  "And what do you think, old friend?"

  "I think it will panic London into sending for William to return from Normandy," Thorold was silent thinking for a moment. "That could be a good thing. This rebellion began because Odo and the rest of the regents and barons rule too harshly when the king is absent.

  Whatever William does now, the rebellion is finished. I agree with Canute. All that remains is to ensure there is no harrowing as a result of it. Canute says that Jarl Hakon has found slim pickings in his northern raids. The north has still to recover from the last harrowing. He doubts that William will offer another rich Danegeld in return for them going home to Denmark."

  * * * * *

  With ships, Raynar's ships, now trading directly from Huntingdon to Brugge and elsewhere, the Huntingdon market by the docks and bridge was bustling busier than at any time since the Ely rebellion. There was a migration of businesses and folk from Lynn, which had gone back to being a sleepy sister to Spalding, and those folk brought with them a positive energy and a willingness to trade.

  With a Danish fleet controlling the Humber, Spalding was busy being a replacement port for the continental trade from Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, while Huntingdon was thriving with trade from Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Huntingdonshire. Beatrice had returned from Brugge and Judith sought her company often in Spalding, not the least reason being that in Spalding she could actively bed Raynar.

  Raynar crossed to Brugge twice to help Hereward set up the Huntingdon trade from the Flanders side, but was happier sharing the company of the two Countesses in Spalding. All of the men who had answered the fyrd levy had been pardoned by the sheriffs for any outlawry, and that included Raynar. He was greatly relieved for now he could travel freely across the shires, though with advised caution. Caution meaning that he still carried on him the sheriff's writs that had taken him safely to the River Severn and back.

  The harvest was in, and the villages were preparing for winter by repairing roofs and hanging meat. Harvest festivals were beginning and life was good in the shires on the day that Judith received a summons to Winchester signed by her uncle William. "Look," she said showing the summons to Thorold, Beatrice, and Raynar. "William is back in England and he has brought my husband with him. I have no choice. I must go, but I fear to go."

  Raynar took the summons scroll from her hand. He had been helping Judith to improve her knowledge of letters and numbers, but it was slow going and he did not trust her to judge the contents of the summons without reading it for himself. She still struggled with words and often guessed at a word rather than sounding it out. "I will take you. You will arrive safely," he offered softly while he reread the flourishes looking for hidden meanings.

  "Not that kind of fear. I fear to once more see and speak to my husband. He may order me to stay with him. I fear William's wrath. He cannot be happy to be in England when there are events of importance that need his attention in Normandy and France."

  "I will take you," Raynar repeated.

  "And we will watch your shires for you," said Beatrice softly.

  "And only these shires. You see," Judith pointed to the summons. "The summons no longer includes Countess of Northumbria in my titles. They must have taken that Earldom away from Walt."

  "I have heard nothing of this. No mention in Lincoln," said Thorold. "If true then it means that the Bishop of Durham, William Walcher, is no longer just a bishop. He is now a Bishop Prince."

  "Oh," said Beatrice as she hugged Judith, "I am so sorry."

  "Pahh," replied Judith. "I care nothing for the north, and have never been there, but Waltheof lived there for most of his life and fought and politicked hard for many years to regain it for his family. He was joyous when he was made the earl, and given Bamburgh. He must have been crushed by this news."

  "I thought you loathed the man?" said Thorold, and his wife punched him in the arm for saying so.

  "My feelings for him went from hatred, to despair, to loathing, to most recently, relief at not being with him. He is still my husband, and I experienced much with him, including sharing three children. Just because I never want to live with him again does not mean I do not feel kinship with him."

  "I will take you safely to Winchester." repeated Raynar.

  * * * * *

  * * * * *

  The Hoodsman - Revolt of the Earls by Skye Smith

  Chapter 23 - A summons to Winchester in the spring of 1076

  The journey from Huntingdon to Winchester was almost two hundred miles by way of Oxford. The first day they were lucky to make twenty miles due to the cart they had brought for the comfort of the children. The next day the carter was sent off home, and the hoodsmen of the wolfpack escort took turns carrying the children, and thus they covered over thirty miles.

  The hoodsmen had all been outfitted in colourful livery for when they approached Winchester, but for now they were riding with their familiar forest look. Even Judith was wearing men’s britches as protection from the saddle and the coarse hair of the horse. Young Raynar waved his writs at any Norman that questioned their presence in a town. They stayed not at inns, but at baileys and manors, some of which were quite large, and some now half rebuilt in stone, or with stone replacements rising high alongside the original low Daneglish structures.

  Before they reached Winchester they had heard that William and recalled Odo from Norfolk. Odo thus had to quit his siege of Norwich Castle. Apparently it had been Ralph's new wife, the teenager Emma, who had been holding Odo at bay. She was offered the peace of a month to quit England, or at least the warriors were given a month, whereas the families were given forty days.

  In more important news for Judith, they were told that Earl Waltheof was no longer part of William's party, but had been placed under guard with Earl Roger pending their trials. The trials had been delayed while the court waited for a reply to the summons they had sent to Bretagne for Earl Ralph to return to England and defend his actions in court.

  While it waited, the court was dealing with the lesser lords who were accused of treason based upon their boastful words at the bride-ale at Exning. The early results of these trial were not good news. Some had been hung, some crippled, but most had been returned to Norwich to accompany Emma into exile. No matter what other punishment was being meted out, the land and other honors were being stripped
from the lords.

  They crossed the Thames at Wallingford and Raynar left the group to look for old friends amongst the boatmen that plied the river, but found none. He even asked at the alehouses frequented by the boatmen, but his queries received blank stares. He did not bother seeking out the sheriff, who had been friendly towards him in the past, as the new stone castle had a very forbidding look to it.

  The men of the wolfpack were forever stopping along the way in the forested areas to talk with folk that hailed them from the bushes. The stories that these southern outlaws told to them were all similar. They had been outlawed for refusing serfdom. Not directly, but in effect, for once they were hungry enough they had committed property crimes, and once on the run from those consequences, they had committed crimes of violence.

  They met a young friar who was wandering the forests to take the words of the desert god into the damp cold of the English forests, and especially to the women living there. He traveled with the wolfpack for a day and invited himself to the hospitality offered them at the next manor. He ate much, drank much, and talked much. It was from him that Raynar learned that the times of battling armies were finished. Also finished were the organized and widespread rebellions. Times had changed but though rebellions were no longer organized, at an individual level they were constant and many.

  "They are fools and hot heads mostly," told the friar. "A single rebel is no match for a land lord and his armed men. Most come to a bad end at the wrong end of a whip or a noose. For sure there are many unfairnesses that grate on a normal man, but why throw your life away when there is no hope of change."

  "Unfairnesses," asked Raynar's second, "what unfairnesses?"

  "Children who go hungry even though the harvest was bounteous. Married women who are mounted by any kin of the land lord, and without penalty or payment. Young girls sold to whoremongers to cancel a rent. You know, the usual things."

  "These are far from usual where we come from," sneered one of the hoodsmen.

  "I misspoke," recanted the friar, "they are usual in Normandy, where I come from."

  "If someone treated my sister so, I would not just rebel. I would shoot to kill." said another hoodsman down the table.

  "And then you would be hung, and your kin, all your kin, would be turned out, and they would become yet more waifs hiding in the forest." said the friar suddenly aware that perhaps these were the wrong men to be telling such tales to.

  "Let me tell you what we did in Bedfordshire," said another bowman, "when we found such, such, what did you call it?"

  "Unfairnesses" offered the friar.

  "Enough" yelled Raynar down the table. "This is the south. When William came they had no chance to organize rebellions. They were disarmed and disabled quickly and had no leadership. Their leaders all died on Hastings road in '66. " He was afraid that these men would anger their hosts by boasting of the manor lords that they had killed in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire during the Ely rebellion. The creed of the Hood demanded secrecy for such events, for obvious reasons.

  * * * * *

  When the men assembled the next day, Raynar was surprised to see so many tired men, since they had stopped quite early the day before. He did not think much of it until late that afternoon when they took refuge at a manor more than thirty miles further south. There he was forced to stifle his anger with his own men, when he heard the gossip that swirled amongst the other guests in the great hall. Apparently there had been tragic fires the night before, that had consumed a manor and a land lord and all of his sons.

  This time his men chose secrecy, even at his prompting. Worse, he now regretted stopping early again this day, for now he found himself missing four men, and the sun was not yet set. When the men finally put in an appearance well after sunset, they also were very quiet. Raynar decided that he did not want to know what they had been up to.

  The gossip the next morning over breakfast was about the tragic riding accidents of two neighbouring land lords. He kept his anger to himself and was thankful that they would reach Winchester soon.

  It was obvious what was upsetting his hoodsmen. Here they were, riding through the wealthiest shires in the kingdom, and yet the folk seemed ragged and skinny, while each village had a grand new stone manor, and each town had a new stone castle to replace the wooden bailey, and a new stone church.

  Raynar was careful to keep his men close to him on that last day, for there were many knights on the road whose stares revealed how unusual it was for them to see northern bowmen. Their French chatter to each other revealed how much they disapproved of peasants riding horses, and riding freely in an organized group on this highway.

  Just before Winchester, they all, including Judith and her maids, changed into their new town garb, so as to ride into Winchester in a style that befitted a countess. For all their efforts, they were almost completely ignored by a populace who was now well bored with the fineries of the folk that came and went to the king's court.

  Judith's official summons meant that she could stay at the palace, however Raynar and the men had much trouble finding beds. The city was completely filled with other escorts for other lords. It seemed that many lords had petitions for the king who had just returned from his long sojourn away in Normandy.

  Judith remained with them until they found a farmer outside of Winchester who was willing to exchange sudden wealth for letting his house for the use of the women and children, and his barn for the men. The farmer was Saxon and warmed to them when he learned that the lady was Earl Waltheof's wife.

  "Y'no," the farmer said gazing thoughtfully towards the towers that marked Winchester, "my wife's family owns a stable in Winchester that they don't have the coin or the people to work anymore. It has a small house, and is not far from the east gate. Perhaps the lady could stay there instead of here, and be closer to her husband."

  Judith was about to correct him and tell that she would be staying at the palace, but Raynar interrupted and bumped his hip against her as a warning to keep her words to herself. He asked, "Can you show us the stable? We have men enough with skills enough to make it livable whatever its state."

  While the farmer sent one of his boys to fetch his father-in-law, Raynar discussed the stable with Much, a miller's son and two lanky Frisian lads who had lived around stables all their lives. Another man came forward and told him that he had apprenticed as a carpenter, and an older man laughed and told them all that he had been a master carpenter and a thatcher. Suddenly every bowman was in discussions about what skills they had made a living from in the times before the Great Harrowing.

  So it was that a procession of Raynar and Judith, the farmer and his in-laws, and five hoodsmen rode to Winchester and inspected the stable. It had obviously not been worked for a few years and there was a yellowing bailiff’s notice about back taxes nailed to the door of the one room house with the sagging roof.

  "Greedy fuckin' Normans. Look at the taxes I owe on a stable that is not earning," said the in-law. "It's just a ploy to steal it from me 'cause I'm Saxon."

  "The lady here is Norman," whispered Raynar.

  The in-law reddened and looked down at his toes, "No disrespect to you m'lady."

  "None taken," smiled Judith and touched him on the arm to encourage him to look up again.

  "That was not my meaning," said Raynar, "I meant that as a Norman, the lady could put her name on this property and that would keep it safe from the bailiffs."

  "Frankly, m'am, I'd rather be shed of it. My family is overly busy with the farming, what with food prices through the roof to feed these rich Norman pigs," he looked down again, "ugh, beg your pardon."

  By the end of the day Judith owned a dilapidated stable in Winchester on the road to the east gate and across the road from the river. To the Frisian lads' delight, the land parcel included the grassy bank of the river on the other side of the road. As they pointed out, it made sense that the stable would hold the river bank as well, for it simplified the watering of animals.
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  The bailiffs were paid their blood money, and the family was paid a fair price. Before the ink was dry on the parchments, Much and the carpenters had the bowmen sweeping, thatching, fixing the gate and bringing a cartload of straw and hay from the farm to the stable.

  Despite the energy of the men, the stable was still far from ready for use by nightfall, so most of the party slept at the farm with Judith's children that first night. All save Judith. Raynar alone, had escorted Judith to the palace to answer her summons.

  He waited on a bench with other servants and guards while Judith identified herself and was escorted inside. He had never been to Winchester before and was eager to explore it, however there was no knowing how long Judith would be, so he waited. And he waited. It was well passed dark before she emerged. "I have not yet seen the king, so I may not leave the palace" she whispered to him after she sat beside him on the bench. "but I have seen Waltheof. He has lost weight and lost his color for he is not allowed the outside air."

  "How are things with him?" he asked.

  "He will be the last to be tried. Odo's lawyers are waiting for the testaments of all the other traitors to finish so that they can use their words against my husband. Walt's lawyer says that I must say nothing to anyone save that my husband speaks for me."

  "That is the law. A woman's testament must be sworn true by a man. She cannot be forced to speak against her husband, but if you do give testament then any man can swear to it."

  "Odo has a letter from me naming the traitors at the bride-ale at Exning. I sent it to him to be passed to the king. In it I name Walt," she said glumly.

  "You little fool," he said, but when she broke into tears he held her and soothed her. "Did anyone see you write or sign the letter?"

  "No, no one," she said. "I felt so brave when writing it, but not so brave as to be seen."

  "Then that explains the instructions from the lawyers. If you claim your right to refuse to speak, then you cannot be asked if the letter is yours or if the signature is yours. It becomes just a letter of interest, but not oathed evidence, and not damning by itself." She was shivering in his arms but no longer weeping. "You must go to your bed and say nothing to anyone. I will return to this bench in the morning. Perhaps you can gain me a visit with Waltheof."