Wolves in Armour nc-1

by Iain Campbell

  “I’ll pay them twice that and provide each of them with accommodation when on shore,” said Alan.

  “And I’ll need an honest warehouse overseer and a scrivener to keep the accounts,” added Anne.

  Sunday was family day at the house and Garrett and Mae arrived at mid-afternoon with their three children aged from two to six, two girls and a boy. Betlic came back from playing at a friend’s house nearby. The whole group gathered in the small hall, the children playing in one corner, the women continued their talk about wedding preparations and the men sat by the window facing the street and talked politics. After a couple of cups of wine Garrett switched to ale and Alan followed suit. After a little while Anne came and sat quietly with them.

  Today he was feeling less like an exhibit in a freak show and realised his prospective family were entitled to know more about their future in-law. He briefly discussed the problems of being the third son of a relatively impoverished Norman knight with little chance of advancement other than through the church, his joining the abbey at Rouen where the abbot owed his father a favour from the past and was prepared to take him without the usual payment, his studies in languages and medicine while at the abbey, subsequent expulsion and his training as a warrior, including the time at Angelo’s salle d’armes at Paris and eventual landing at Pevensey.

  “Anne tells us that you are friends with King William,” commented Orvin quietly.

  Alan laughed. “Hardly friends! We are acquainted and I have met him less than a dozen occasions. I saved his life at Hastings and loaned him my horse, which is the same one in your stable, so I suppose Odin is a hero of Normandy. Since then William has asked me my opinion on several issues, which he advice he’s nearly always chosen to ignore. But at least it’s good for him to hear different opinions from those of his barons. He did make me a member of the Curia Regis, his Council, but we’ve only met once since the coronation.”

  “But you are a tenant-in-chief and hold directly from him, that’s quite an honour,” said Garrett.

  “That’s true. It gives me considerable autonomy in that I have to answer only to one man- and to God. I can do what I feel appropriate unless the king orders me otherwise.”

  “As your tenants and the thegns of the Hundred are nearly all English, and unlike most of your country-men you speak our language, you probably have a better understanding of England and the English than nearly anybody,” commented Orvin.

  “Other than perhaps those Normans who have been here from the times of Edward the Confessor,” agreed Alan easily, taking another sip of beer.

  “Perhaps William doesn’t understand how much some of what he is doing is antagonising the English,” continued Orvin, moving the conversation forward slowly. “The geld, what used to be called the Danegeld, was re-instituted this year for the first time since Edward abolished it in ’51. Even King Harold didn’t reintroduce it last year. And, although English lords and thegns have been permitted to keep their land, they’ve had to pay dearly for the privilege.”

  “I agree with you. I advised him not to reintroduce the geld, or at least not at the former rate and particularly not in the same year that many English were being charged to pay the Heriot to redeem their land. In effect most English landholders have had to pay double and this has been beyond the capacity of many who as a result have had to take out loans. If they default on those loans then their land may be assumed by the men who loaned the money. That’s unless the lenders are Jews, of course, in which case they sell it.

  “The point I tried to make in private with William is that he wasn’t king until Christmas Day and that there were legal and logical problems with claiming that any Englishman who didn’t support him from the death of the Confessor last January until the Coronation was a traitor and had to pay to redeem his lands. That also includes the Normans who came to England and were given lands in the Confessor’s reign.”

  “What did he say to that?” asked Anne.

  “Not much. He’s totally convinced of his right to rule coming from Edward the Confessor, not the act of conquering the country- or perhaps I should say his recognition by Pope Alexander and his anointment as God’s chosen at the Coronation. He just told me I was wrong and that he was going to do it. How much the situation may have been different had Harald Hardrada become king instead is a moot point. At least there have been no massacres, nor have the remaining members of the West Saxon royal house been pursued to exile or death, as happened after the victory of Cnut’s Danes fifty years ago. Harold Hardrada of Norway wasn’t known as ‘Hard Ruler’ for nothing- he didn’t just fine his opponents or deprive them of their land. He maimed and massacred them! If he did that to his own people, what would he have done to the English? His own people feared and hated him. The Danes thought he was the Devil incarnate!

  “It’s only in recent years that England has thrown off the yoke of Danish kings and Danish earls. There are no unpredictable Vikings going and attacking the next village just because they are bored. Siward remains Archbishop, as does Aethelnoth of Canterbury, and the other Saxon clerics retain their positions. Queen Edith retains her lands, as do the earls Morcar of Northumbria, Edwin of Mercia and Waltheof- and Edgar the Aetheling. William has offered each of them his friendship.

  “As to Harold’s need for money last year when he became king, I had a discussion with King Edward’s former steward, Eadnoth. The king’s income without the geld was about?5,000. Harold’s personal income as earl was?4,400. The House of Godwin’s income, excluding Harold’s as king and earl, was?4,700. The one family held nearly all the earldoms. That gave Harold an annual income of over?14,000. How much money do you need for a small fleet and 1,000 or so huscarles? ”

  “Since the coronation there has been widespread replacement of English lords with those from Normandy,” interjected Garrett.

  Alan pursed his lips in thought and replied, “That’s true. Harold and his brothers Leofwine and Gyrth were killed at Hastings, along with thousands of thegns and huscarles. Probably another 1,000 thegns died at Fulford and Stamford Bridge. In all, probably 200 King’s Thegns and 2,000 ordinary thegns died. Probably also 2,500 cheorls who held their own land and several bishops and abbots- which I find interesting as had I thought only the Norman clergy were martially militant!

  “In the south, and here in the east, men now hold their land from Norman lords who have been appointed as tenants-in-chief, or a few from the king himself. There have been hundreds, perhaps over 1,000, Norman knights and men-at-arms appointed to vacant manors formerly held by Englishmen. But relatively few, I won’t say none, Englishmen have so far been unlawfully deprived of their land if they are still alive.

  “The land of those who died has been declared forfeit and is being seized and redistributed. The English nobles who I mentioned before and many, many others still hold their lands. It looks like a massive change, but that is only because of the massive holdings of the House of Godwin have been confiscated and reallocated. The changes have nearly all been south of here- but since Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk were held by Gyrth there have been, and will be, many changes in land ownership. But those are mainly at the top rather than the middle and bottom of the landholding chain. I know that it looks different to me as a Norman than it does to you as Englishmen, but just think about how much land was in the hands of Harold, Leofwine and Gyrth and how many thegns died in such a short period.”

  “You mentioned the propensity of the Vikings to fight when they become bored,” commented Orvin. “I understand that fairly early in his reign as duke, William had to introduce ‘The Truce of God’ so that the Norman villeins could at least work their fields two days a week!”

  “He formalized it,” replied Alan. “The ‘Truce’ did exist before then. Normandy was a much more dangerous place before William and his barons got the lesser men fully under control. Families and nobles were always fighting amongst each other, and even now still retain the right to conduct private wars. It’s not as if armed partie
s of knights are roaming the land looking for somebody to kill.”

  “To return to the main topic at hand, in the current absence of the king many petty nobles are abusing their position, even in Essex and Suffolk,” continued Garrett.

  “Absolutely! I agree that here in East Anglia that the way that the behaviour of Earl Ralph the Staller, William the Bishop of London and Engelric the former Royal Priest, all of whom are supposed to be overseeing the process of land redemption payments, is an absolute outrage. That is something I’ll report to the king when he returns from Normandy. There is clear extortion and abuse of the system taking place which the king’s regents fitzOsbern and Odo should be stamping out. That won’t be happening just here, but everywhere, and must be stopped. Odo himself has seized Langton in Lancashire from Ramsey Abbey. Widows are being forced to marry against their will. Many English noble women are taking refuge in nunneries, not because of religious fervour but because of fear of the Normans. The same thing happened in Cnut’s day when hundreds of widows were forced to marry those Danes favoured by the king. And not every Norman or Frenchman is satisfied. Eustace of Boulogne quarrelled with William and returned to Boulogne when he was refused the position of castellan of Dover.”

  “And the men of the north will be hard to convince to accept rule from the South, as they always have- even when that rule was English,” warned Orvin. “You know that Copsi was appointed earl of Northumbria north of the Tyne, a Yorkshireman instead of a member of the House of Bamburgh- who have ruled that land for centuries. Copsi even followed Tostig into exile and they say that he fought at Stamford Bridge- with the Norwegians. The Northerners would not accept rule by a man from York. Oswulf, of the House of Bamburgh, had Copsi murdered just a few weeks ago at Newburn by attacking the house in which he was feasting, and when Copsi fled Oswulf burnt down the church in which he had taken sanctuary. Those madmen up there don’t care if the rule is Saxon or Norman, they’ll oppose either. You mark my words, King William will have trouble with them, and soon.”

  “He’ll only have trouble with them once,” said Alan ominously. “William has tried to reconcile English and Norman interests to date. If they, or any English, revolt he’ll visit fire and destruction on a scale that has never been seen in this land before, and what goodwill he has tried to bear the English will be gone forever.”

  Anne commented, “So you are saying that, like a rape, we English should just like back, let it happen and enjoy it?” she asked with asperity.

  “No,” replied Alan. “These days I probably think more like an Englishman than a Norman and have more empathy for the English that I do with the conquerors. Orvin, you commented about the insularity of the men in the Danelaw, the Mercians and the Northumbrians.

  “I say that in the past first the Vikings and then Cnut took away the will for rebellion by simple fear. William is trying an approach of largess and reconciliation with the surviving nobility who could lead a revolt. He took most of the English nobles with him when he went back to Normandy in March, effectively as hostages. If that doesn’t work I’m sure he’ll try the fear approach. What the English have done over the years is to absorb the invaders into your society- usually just in time for the next round of invasions. You call yourselves the English, an amalgamation of the peoples who have come to these lands over the past several thousand years. The Welsh and Scots, and many of the Normans, still refer to you as the Saxons, because they do not see or acknowledge the people that you have become.

  “I said that had Harold Hardrada successfully invaded, the changes you see now would mainly still have occurred, but with Norwegians instead of Normans. The King’s royal court would still be talking in a foreign tongue. Over the last fifty years the House of Godwin, which collaborated and cooperated with Cnut and were rewarded for that, had turned England virtually into their own demesne. When they fell, great changes had to occur. Who benefits? At the moment mainly the Normans. In the medium-term, probably many English after the Normans have all received what they see as their just reward for services rendered. What may have occurred had Harold Godwinson won at Hastings, or Harold Hardrada at Stamford Bridge, is irrelevant. The English must deal with the lost battle, Harold Godwinson’s death and the death of his two most capable brothers- three if you include Tostig who died fighting alongside the Norwegians against his own brothers- and the fact that England is occupied by invaders. There are three options. The first is to accept it and make the most of a bad situation, as you have done in the past. The Norman invasion is not as bad for your people as was that of the Vikings. That is, as Anne put it, the ‘enjoy the rape’ approach.

  “Secondly, you can find an English leader who can raise the whole country, including the north, behind him. That would have to be man who is a great general to beat William, who is himself a great general. That man who would have to fight with an army largely made up of peasants, as so many of the thegns were killed last year, against an army that uses effectively the combined arms of infantry, archers and heavy cavalry. It would be an English army that would have to win and win decisively in its first battle.

  “You would need a man of stature from one of the four noble families. Somebody with the capabilities of Harold Godwinson. Who do you have? Edgar the Aetheling? Edwin of Mercia? Morcar of Northumbria? Earl Waltheof? None of them have what it takes to be successful, and with the possible exception of Edgar the Aetheling, the last of the line of Edward the Confessor, who would stand a chance of getting the unconditional support of the other earls? You need a giant like a new Edmund Ironside. Instead you have midgets. A general revolt would see England laid waste with most of its men of military-age dead, with resulting famine and starvation as there would be nobody left to sow or gather the harvests, and the total replacement of all Englishmen in positions of authority.

  “The third and last option would be to invite Swein Estrithson, king of Denmark, to be your king, to invade with his full army and for all the English to support him. Based on kinship to the blood-royal, Swein has a good legal claim to the throne. Not as good as the Aetheling, but as good as that of William, whose legal claim before being crowned frankly was not strong.

  “Do you want a Dane on the throne of England? How would you in East Anglia feel about having Danish overlords after the way that they have been raiding your shores and killing your people for years? That assumes that Swein is both interested in putting his full might behind an invasion, which would leave his homeland open to attack and invasion by the Norwegians, Swedes, Germans and Flemings. Swein is neither a good king nor a good general. He has enough trouble keeping his own people in order in his own country and would stand no chance of controlling them in England. The excellent administration system built up by Edward’s predecessors would fall apart in months. And Swein, like the remaining English earls, has never fought and won a major battle. William is the best general in Europe. He beat the second-best general at Hastings.

  “And don’t forget the religious aspect. Pope Alexander has decreed that William is the true king of England. The pope’s personal banner flown at Hastings was worth at least 1,000 extra men for the encouragement it gave the Norman forces and the discouragement it gave the English. William has been anointed with Holy Oil and crowned king by the Archbishop of York. How many fyrdmen and thegns would hold back from a future revolt due to religious convictions?

  “No, I’m sorry to say from the English point of view your best option is to be raped and take the long-term view.”

  “So we should just shut up and be thankful for small mercies?” asked Anne with some asperity. “Next you’ll be saying that having Norman lords is better for us English than having our own nobles!”

  “Not at all! Obviously it would have been better for both the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Danes if nobody had invaded last year and you had simply been left in peace. Probably having Norwegians as overlords would have been better for the locals, as they’d be assimilated into your society more quickly and wouldn’t try to make cha
nges. All I’m saying is that what is done, is done. The English either need to live with the result or be unexpectedly successful in a revolt.”

  “And any war is bad for business,” commented Orvin sourly, not having enjoyed hearing the long but logical presentation of the argument he had just heard. “It’s a pity that the yoke we are under feels like a noose and so much abuse is happening in the king’s absence.”

  “Now that is something that I may be able to do something about, if I am now as wealthy as you say. I’ve met both fitzOsbern and Odo of Bayeux. Both are capable enough and at least fitzOsbern is reasonably honest. FitzOsbern is being kept busy by the fighting in Herefordshire with the Welsh invading and attacking and laying waste to the shire, and the raiding by the Irish being led by Harold’s bastard sons. Odo, who I have already said has his own snout in the trough, has his troubles with disturbances in Kent- not an uprising but a lot of friction, including use of arms, between the English and the Normans. That conflict is mainly the Normans’ fault for overstepping what’s reasonable, particularly Richard fitzScrob.

  “Both fitzOsbern and Odo are too powerful to be susceptible to anything I can do or say, but a gentle reminder from me that the king will be returning later in the year may help. I probably can’t do much about Earl Ralph the Staller either, but I can try as he and I probably have equal influence with King William. After all, Ralph is a hang-over from Edward’s regime, being half Breton and half English. I may be able to influence William the Bishop of London, who is a Norman invited over to England by Edward the Confessor, and Engelric.

  “The main problem at the moment is the abuses in the Heriot land redemption payments being made by the English. I’ll discuss the problem with the sheriffs of Essex and Suffolk, although they are probably in on the caper as well. What I am going to need are written depositions from Essex and Suffolk listing every abuse of power since the Heriot started until whenever the king returns, which will probably be November. At least, as a result of the Danish raid, the thegns in my own Hundred have the coin to pay both the Heriot and the geld this year. Orvin, do you have the contacts to arrange this documentation in Suffolk and Norfolk?”