Hoodsman: Forest Law

by Smith, Skye

  Wylie, who had experience the great fire of York, told them all to get a good sleep. "There is nothing we can do while the ground is still hot, and little more we can do for the folk around us other than to let them sleep."

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  The Hoodsman - Forest Law by Skye Smith

  Chapter 21 - Wylie advising the city fathers in London in August 1077

  Early the next morning, Wylie dressed in his best clothes, and looked every bit an innkeeper, and urged Raynar to dress in his best, which made him look every bit a ship's captain. Wylie wished to walk the walls and see for himself the damage to the city, and costly clothes would save them from being detained by the watch.

  Men were already making their way through the guard at the gate when they approached and walked through without being questioned. They climbed the very stairs they had come down the day before and then walked along the wall towards the river. At the river end of the wall there were already men standing and looking out. They were clerics and Norman nobles by their dress. When they were close enough to catch a few words of French they realized that this group of men were discussing what to do and how to best use their own men until help arrived.

  "Excuse me,” interrupted Raynar with a polite but shallow bow, "but my companion is a man of means from York and was there during the great fire. Perhaps he can give you some ideas of what should be done first. His French is poor but I will gladly translate."

  Two of the men blustered, too proud to listen, but an old and well dressed cleric came forward and with kind words asked for Wylie's best advice. Wylie began to speak in English with Raynar translating.

  "Monsignor, though these words will not please you, you must accept them as the most important things to be done before sunset of this day. The ground is hot and today will be another hot summer day. There are thousands of dead bodies that will quickly spoil and bloat and cause a pestilence in this city unless they are piled where they lie and burned immediately. Use the half charred wood being raked from the burned houses as fuel. It is important, very important that the men carrying the corpses wear a scarf across their mouth and nose. Inhaling the dried burned flesh will corrupt their lungs and poison them."

  One of the monsignor’s priests exclaimed in rude language that the dead must be identified by their families so that the families could arrange for funerals and burials with their churches. Wylie immediately interrupted. "The fires seem to have been contained by the walls. London's workers cannot afford to live within the walls so they make their homes in the villages and camps outside the walls. This is a godsend which will save this city and allow it to be rebuilt quickly. However, if you move the putrefying corpses through those villages, you will take the pestilence into the homes of the workers and they will sicken and will not be able to work."

  "The innkeeper speaks sense, Adolphus,” interrupted the bishop, "There is wooden wreckage enough to build the pyres and men enough to help pile the fuel and the corpses. In any case, there is nothing more for them to do until the ground cools. Make it so Adolphus. Pile and burn the bodies, now, immediately. Any silver or gold that they wear can be used to pay the churches for praying for their souls. Do not argue. Go, now, go and make it so. And make sure that all workers are told to protect their breathing."

  The other nobles were now gathering around Wylie to hear more. Wylie continued. "Market areas must be cleared and cleaned quickly, and London's carters must go out to the countryside and bring back food. Otherwise the folk here that do not succumb to their injuries will succumb to starvation, or to poisoning through the eating of spoiled food."

  There was a hurried discussion with a man who must have been responsible for the watch, for he soon had two of the watch running into the city to give instructions. Wylie continued. "The main streets must be cleared. There will be collapsed walls and rubble blocking them. They must be cleared so that carts can move quickly with food, and supplies, and building materials. Any wall that threatens to fall onto a main street must be pushed over into the house it was once a part of."

  No one left the group. They all wanted to hear what was next. "The men of the city will be quick to set up camp in their burned properties. They must be protected from looters and their women must be protected from rape. I do not mean that the watch must do this protecting, but the idea must be spread that neighbours must protect neighbours. As important is that there must be no lynching. Any unsavory men must be handed to the watch to be imprisoned until sense and reason returns to the streets."

  "Looters I understand, by why rapists?” asked a noble, looking a bit worried.

  "Rape is just theft by another name,” replied the bishop "and we do not want the cycles of vengeance beginning and making the lawlessness worse.” He turned to Wylie and asked if there was anything more.

  "Monasteries should be used as hospitals and churches should be used as sanctuaries for women and children. Any lost children should not be allowed to wander looking for their parents. They should be protected by the church wardens so that the parents will eventually find them. Women who are caring for lost children should be helped to do so.” Wylie motioned that this was enough for the first day.

  Raynar spoke on his own behalf. "I captain ships from the Wash. Most of our trade is with Flanders and with the north because the Thames estuary is forbidden us by the Norman patrol ships. The harvest is poor in most of this land because of the drought. The forests around London have already fallen to the axe. The Wash is surrounded by Fens and marsh and damp land that do not suffer in droughts like other places. Have the patrol ships welcome the ships from the Wash and we can bring you food and timbers."

  "No,” yelled out a noble who obviously had a vested interest in southern ships. "It was by my command that the patrols stop northern ships. We wish to encourage the ships of the south and of Normandy. The profitable London trade is theirs."

  "Half your ships have burned with the docks,” said the bishop, "and London's need is greater than your remaining ships can supply. Lift the restriction for say, six months, and after that time make your case again."

  "But the northern ships carry raiders and pirates."

  "Then they will be limited to the docks near the king's garrison at London bailey."

  On hearing this Raynar was impatient to quit the company of these nobles. He gave a signal to Wylie and they walked back the way they came and out the gate and back to the temple. "We must get word to Klaes in Spalding and to Hereward in Oudenburg. Our ships have been having a bad year, but London's misfortune could make them rich. Every ship we have should be turned to feeding London's needs."

  When they told the news to Much, he had similar thoughts about the hoodsmen who were now carters. Much himself offered to ride to Spalding and then to Scafeld, but Raynar cautioned him. "Your home is near to Bourne and you have been away from it for over a year. Any horse you ride will be taken from you before you are ten miles from London either for transport for some nob, or for food. Choose one of your men to go with you, and go by foot to Spalding. Have Klaes send his own men by horse to Scafeld."

  And so it was that Much left Wylie temporarily in charge of the temple stable, and left for the North before noon. Wylie, left in charge, immediately went to talk to the good monks. Though there were only four anchorites, their kitchen was large enough to feed a monastery, which it had done in generations past. The anchorites were beyond knowing how to cook and feed people, but Wylie was an innkeeper by trade and when he cooked food, he measured in terms of scores of hungry men. With the permission of the monks, and with the help of the carters, he first cleaned and then set the great kitchen about doing that which is was designed for. Feeding the hungry.

  It was a shame that women were not allowed on the grounds, for the task would have been easier with the help of some of the women who were camped in the temple stable grounds. Despite this setback, before the sun was low that day, the giant soup pots were bubbling with a thin but nourishing sal
ty soup to counter the thirst of the folk still huddled and frightened outside the walls of London.

  Wylie also fed the watch that stopped by. "No harm in being friendly to the watch. They may someday return the favour. There will be dangerous days ahead and I would have them recognize our carters as the men who fed them on this night."

  By the next morning the ground inside that walls of London had cooled enough to allow men to do work other than the piling and burning of corpses. The watch captain came and asked that the carters bring horses and carts, and under the protection of the watch, help to clear London bridge and the roads leading to it of rubble. Wylie was left to run the great kitchen by himself, but he did not complain. Before the carts were even hitched up, he was leading a dozen stout lads towards the kitchen, on loan from their mothers to do his bidding.

  It took the carts over an hour to reach the square in front of the bridge where this horrific fire had begun. At each building there were stones and charred beams that blocked the way, and the men about, presumably the owners of the buildings, were ordered to throw any charred debris from the road into the ruins and to throw any stones into the carts. As the way was cleared for the carts to pass, the carts were becoming heavy.

  London bridge had survived the fire most likely because the fire had moved away from it, and because there were no thatch roofs on the bridge itself. The carts dumped the debris they were carrying to build up the mud banks beside the bridge. The square stank of burned flesh and hair, but all that was left of the funeral pyres were the piles of charred bones where the pyres had been. Now cooled, the bones were loaded into the carts to be taken to church grounds to the north of the city for burial.

  Four of the five carts were loaded, and Raynar's was last when an argument began between two nobles and the captain of the watch. "This tax collector and this lawyer,” the captain called to the carters, "are claiming your horses for royal business. They and their two guards must ride immediately for Canterbury in Kent to consult with the regent Earl Odo."

  "Tell them to fuck off,” called out one of the carters. "That tax collector is the mother fucker what set the fires in the first place."

  Raynar could see that the lawyer was English, so he reasoned with him in English. "You taking four horses would put our company out of business, and would slow the clearing of the dead. I have no load yet. This is a swift cart with a sprung seat. I will take you to Canterbury in my cart while the others continue to work for the captain here."

  Since the watch captain had heard this reasoning, the lawyer knew that the argument for four horses was defeated, and he explained this in French to the tax collector, and then turned to Raynar and said. "All right. It will have to do, but we must leave immediately."

  Raynar quickly swept out the cart and then invited his passengers aboard. "How far is it to Canterbury?” he asked, and was told, so he turned to the other carters and called out, "Tell Wylie I will be gone for three days.” With the English lawyer, the Norman tax collector and two Norman guards aboard, he clucked his cart mare Ducky to a trot and they rode smartly across London bridge. They did not even slow to pay the toll as the toll collectors knew the taxman well and waved him on The taxman and the lawyer rode on the sprung seat with Raynar, while the two guards bumped about in the back. Raynar decided it would be better if he claimed ignorance of French to encourage Regent Odo's men to speak freely in front of him. He was not surprised when the cunning lawyer, who knew both languages, set tests and traps for him to estimate his knowledge of French. The cart even overshot a fork in the road because the lawyer gave the instructions in French.

  A mile beyond the bridge he was asked in English to stop at a stable and load some straw to make the journey more comfortable for the two guards. At the stable they were told that the street to Canterbury had become more dangerous since the fire because there were dangerous men setting traps for the wealthy Normans who were leaving London and moving to their other estates in Kent. At this news, the taxman became more cautious and whenever the cart approached a wood, he had the two guards walk one in front and one behind the cart with their swords in hand.

  It was during one of these times that the lawyer began discussing with the taxman the scrolls they were carrying to Odo. "I do not like approaching the Regent with this plan. It is not ours to present."

  "Bah,” said the taxman, "If that partner of yours even survived the fire, he will be busy in London for months because of the fire."

  "But this is his thinking, and these are his scrolls, his plans."

  "He will think them burned. He has more important, or at least, more immediate thinking to do now. Besides, his plan is all accounts and projections. I would not present it in that form to Odo or to the King. They don't want to know the theory, they will want a schedule of actions and results."

  "I don't understand,” said the lawyer.

  "The king has many problems because of his losses in Bretagne and the ongoing cost of keeping these bloody English pacified, no offense to you personally,” said the taxman. "His barons are angry with him, and his warlords disappointed. They have lost treasure, and sons, and knights, and other men, and have nothing to show for it. William's latest campaigns have drained his allies and fattened his enemies. That is why I was in London squeezing taxes. London was the kings last source of ready coin. Not any more. Not after such a fire."

  "Yes and these scrolls show how he can increase his own earnings to his personal treasury, and have more estates to give as honors to his faithful, and to those who were injured in battle,” said the lawyer.

  "Am I talking in Greek. Have I not just said that neither Odo nor William want to hear about earnings and projections. They want an action plan."

  "So give me an example of what you men,” said the lawyer.

  "Instructions to carry out the plan, step by step. For instance for step one, William makes his barons aware of his great concern that the English forest areas are being cleared of trees and venison at an unsustainable rate, and that he soon will have no choice but to enforce limits and rules on those responsible."

  "But those responsible are the English that have been forced into the forests to escape serfdom or punishment for resisting the barons,” said the lawyer. "Under English custom, those in need are allowed to draw on the wealth of the in-common forest lands."

  "It is not that they are drawing, but the rate that they are drawing,” said the taxman. "The barons will agree with the king and encourage him to blame their English victims rather than themselves.

  Step two must wait a few months for the new rules to be enforced. Then the king will use the English custom of enclosure to claim land. The custom will be slightly modified, of course, so that he can claim large tracts of forest land for his own purposes. We will need a legal sounding term for it such as, hmm, well you are the lawyer."

  The lawyer shuffled in the scrolls and came up with the one he was looking for. "Here is the wording to enact it. Umm it uses both the words enforest and afforest. The barons will not agree to this. They have long been using timber from the in-common forests to build their baileys, rather than use up the timber from their own estates."

  "Odo, as chief Justicar, will see that there is no opposition to it through the courts,” said the taxman, "Besides, once this plan is in progress they will no longer lack the labour to harvest their own timber. English axemen are dangerous sods, who would as soon cut off a Norman's head as to be his serf. Currently the barons must buy the timber they need from the forest axemen.

  The next step, umm, we should be writing these down, go on, write. Step three will ease the shortage of labour and serfs. The king will use his army to drive the peasants and outlaws from his forests, one wood lot at a time. Those peasants will have no choice but to turn to the barons for work and food. The barons will then have their own axemen to work their own estates."

  "I see, I see,” said the lawyer. "You wish the plan to be presented like a battle plan rather than an accounting. What can
I expect in payment for explaining this to Odo?"

  "I have always found Odo to be very generous with the coin of others. Your partner's idea of a Forest Law to fatten the king's purse will fatten Odo's purse as well.” At this the taxman laughed cynically. "Now, step four. Ahh, step four will be when William regains the loyalty of his knights by granting them honors to the very forest land that the rebellious axemen had cleared for themselves. That will sooth a lot of the wounds taken in Bretagne."

  "So let me read my notes." said the lawyer. "First the king blames the peasants for over burdening the in-common forests, second the king rescues the overburdened forest by taking control of them himself, third he drives the peasants out of the forests to make them accept serfdom to his barons, and fourth he gives his knights estates in the forest who will continue to over burden the forests.” The lawyer gave an evil cackle. "I suppose Odo will enjoy the irony of this plan."

  "Odo will notice that the earnings that now feed the forest rebels, will become payment for the knights who will crush those same rebels. William will notice that his own purse will swell with the direct earnings from almost a third of the land in the kingdom. The knights will notice that they will have land and serfs to support their need for expensive armour and horses. The barons will notice that they will lose fewer serfs who now run to the safety of the forest."

  "In other words,” said the lawyer, "everyone wins except for the English peasant."

  "The English peasant is fucked no matter what happens,” replied the taxman, "but that is God's way. There must be slaves so that God's chosen ones can live in luxury.” The taxman grabbed the lawyer's shirt. "The only reason you are part of this is because Odo will want a lawyer to argue it convincingly before the high court. The courts cannot condone theft, and this is theft on a massive scale."