[Norman Conquest 01] Wolves in Armour (41 page)

By the afternoon most of the villagers were suffering some degree of incapacity, with those still capable of movement enjoying the viands and refreshments provided by their lord, dancing and singing. For many it was one of the few times of the year that they had the chance to eat red meat.

On St. John’s Eve Alan and Anne had only briefly visited the festivities on the Green at Thorrington. On Midsummer Day, as this day they were the hosts, they circulated and talked with the villagers, which included many who had journeyed from their nearby manor of Great Bentley and others who had followed them from Wivenhoe. Those who lived in the New Hall today ate and danced with those who did not, Alan and Anne sitting at a long table and chatting with Toland the village head-cheorl, Erian his assistant and the other members of the village folkmoot.

Early the following day the line of wagons, escorted by Hugh and twenty mounted Wolves, departed to deliver the taxes to the sheriff at Colchester, partly in goods and partly in cash.

This was also the monthly Hundred Court Day and Brother Wacian had volunteered to act as a second scribe. The court was now held in the Old Hall and this allowed two sittings to take place at once, a much more efficient affair.

Leofstan as the thegn second senior to Alan heard the General List of callovers and minor matters at one end of the Hall, with Ketel of Frating and Alric of Michaelstow, with Brother Wacian acting as their scribe. Alan, sitting with Ednoth of Little Oakley and Leofson of Moze, both men of substantial estates, heard the trials at the other end of the Hall, with Osmund acting as scribe.

Most of the thegns sat at benches at one end of the Hall or the other, listening to cases that involved their geburs or which interested them. Most of the crowd listened to the trials at Alan’s end of the Hall. The case of Rowena the witch had been listed for trial a day early and all the claimants, witnesses and frithbogh oath-swearers had been notified, and Alan was determined to get that matter out of the way.

But first was the more urgent case of a charge of rape by a young man named Benwick from Elmstead, land held by Robert fitzWymarc. The woman was a maiden of sixteen years of age named Udela. Udela testified on oath that she was a freewoman and had been working in the barn of Oeric, the cheorl who employed her, when she had been approached early in the morning of Wednesday 6th June by Benwick, a man from the village known to her. After a few minutes of conversation he had thrown her onto a pile of hay, opened her bodice, lifted her dress and had his way with her. She claimed to have cried out and tried to push him away.

As usual in such matters there were no witnesses. Being a woman she was not a member of a frithbogh, but called as oath-swearers her father Ethelbert who gave oath that she was a good and virtuous maid, not given to dalliance with the boys of the village. She also called the village wise-woman Aethelu, who swore that she had inspected the girl who had been brought to her by Ethelbert and her mother immediately after the incident and on examination had found that the girl’s maidenhead had been breached a short time before and that semen was present.

Benwick gave oath that he had indeed had sexual relations with the woman, but claimed that it was consensual. The nine other members of his frithbogh gave oath that, although young at eighteen, he was a good and trustworthy man, not given to acts of violence even when drunk; they swore that although he was unmarried and had no girl with whom he was ‘walking out’, he always treated women with respect. His employer was called and gave oath that he was a good and reliable lad, although he could not explain why he was Oeric’s barn at that time on that day.

Leofson suggest that they break for lunch and consider their verdict. Alan called for food and drink to be brought from the tavern and asked Osmund to summarise the evidence.

“A young woman of good repute, who knows the man Benwick but has not previously spent any time talking to him and certainly has not been seeing him regularly. She made a prompt and correct complaint to her father, which he investigated as well as he could. There is no reason to think that she would suddenly be overcome by lust and either propose sex to
 
Benwick, or, while at her work-place, agree to it. Benwick again appears of good repute, although his frithbogh oath-swearers have a vested interest in him being found not guilty as otherwise they would have to help pay his fine. He admits having sex with the girl, but claims she consented. He has not been able to give a good reason why he was in Oeric’s barn when he is employed by a farmer two fields away. Both the man and the girl have a wergild of 200 shillings.”

“And the penalties?” asked Leofson.

Osmund went to consult the law books he had left with Brother Wacian. When he returned he said “Six shillings for lying with a cheorl’s maid. For rape, castration and bot for the cheorl’s maid of 100 shillings.

“I say I can’t be satisfied whether he raped her or not,” said Ednoth. “Let him make bot of six shillings, paid to the girl.” The others agreed, the parties were recalled and judgment was given by Alan.

Next was the case of Rowena the witch. The complainants, now only two in number and both women, gave oath that Rowena had cursed their farms, causing illness to their animals, their cows’ milk to curdle and their children to become sick, although now recovered. They called several men to give oath as to their trustworthiness.

Alric, one of the thegns of Alresford, spoke for Rowena as Alan had requested. He pointed out her extreme age, that he had spoken with her a number of times about the case but had been unable to get any sense or anything other than vague mumbles from her. He also said that since the accusation had been made he had arranged for the woman to live with a reputable widow in his own village. The widow, named Mildreth, gave oath that Rowena seemed lacking of wits and spent her time either sitting by the fire or on a chair outside, constantly mumbling to herself. She suffered a speech impediment and one side of her body appeared not to work properly. In the months that she had lived with Mildreth awaiting the trial Rowena had shown no signs of undertaking witchcraft and there had been no untoward events either to her own animals or those of her village.

The three thegns retired long enough to the Solar to quaff a pint of ale each, and returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. On returning to the Hall Alan announced the verdict and said, “I told you months ago that I viewed the case as a waste of time, as even if you had proven the woman a witch the only penalty at law would be to order her to desist and leave the Hundred. The poor woman has simply lost her wits and this action has been brought out of malice. I order you each to pay bot of five shillings, to be paid to Mildreth and be used by her to care for the woman Rowena. Case closed.”

Shortly afterwards Osmund departed by horse in his journey around Essex, accompanied by four mounted Wolves for protection.

*
 
 
*
 
 
*
 
 
*

Orvin and his family, including Uncle Lidmann, arrived at Thorrington late on Wednesday afternoon having taken a leisurely two days to travel from Ipswich, the men riding and the women and children travelling in a light horse-drawn cart. Orvin had borrowed six men-at-arms from friends who were thegns near Ipswich.

Anne instructed Otha the cook to prepare a suitable welcoming meal, rather than the usual more simple evening meal. The guests were given a conducted tour of first the village, seeing the water-mill at work and the salt house where the salt from the nearby salt-pans, which Alan had increased in size that spring, was cleaned and ground, and then the fort and Hall where they marvelled at the unusual amenities and the numerous servants and soldiers.

At the evening meal they sat at both sides of the head table, an unusual seating arrangement for the times, so Alan and Anne could converse more easily with their guests, and in particular Orvin and Lidmann who were sitting opposite them.

Otha tended to be more set in her presentation of food than most cooks, with the food being served as a number of removes, starting this night with saffron soup made of egg yolks, verjuice, veal stock, saffron and cinnamon seasoned with nutmeg and grains of paradise, eaten with fresh bread. Over the soup Orvin announced, “The ship from Haarlem has arrived back at Ipswich, an almost new large Dutch-built trading cog with a load of dyes, lace and other goods. The ship’s name is ‘Zeelandt’. I’ve sold the cargo at Ipswich. The sale in Haarlem of those luxury goods taken from the Danes also resulted in a substantial surplus of gold and silver being shipped back. After allowing for the purchase of a return cargo of cloth and wool there is £827 10/ and 4d. Where do you want the ship to go and to collect what cargo?” Alan blinked in amasement at such a huge sum of money.

Anne interjected, “I thought St Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire, collecting ingots of tin in Devon on the way, and returning with a cargo of fine wine- with most discharged at London or Winchester. Perhaps with one sixth of the load at Colchester, one sixth at Ipswich, and then back again on a regular basis.”

Both Orvin and Lidmann nodded agreement. Lidmann said, “We don’t have any factors in Devon or St Nazaire, but I can ask around and get the names of some trustworthy men we can use. That would be a good high-value route to use, but longer and with some greater risk than our usual shorter voyages across the North Sea. The Bay of Biscay is notorious for its bad weather and there are some pirates around
Finistere
and the Channel Islands.”

“I’ve got an idea for that,” said Alan. “I thought maybe a dozen soldiers on each ship, each armed with a cross-bow or bow and sword or seax would discourage the pirates- particularly if we use fire-arrows. I have a good formula for Wildfire that would give the pirates something to think about other than boarding our ships.”

Lidmann looked at Orvin. “That should work. We can see how it goes.”

“What do you want to do with the surplus funds?” asked Orvin.

“We’ll need some to buy tin on the voyage down, after that we can barter wine for tin. Other than that, I’ll put it with a couple of Jews in London. You and Aaron have given us two names to follow up, Malachi and Gideon,” replied Anne, acting as business manager.

“Yes, they both have a good reputation and are men of substance. Your letter of introduction from Aaron should open the required doors there,” replied Orvin.

“Now for the other news, I have a further fifteen depositions alleging corruption in Suffolk- mainly by Engelric, but also three about Earl Ralph and one against Bishop William. Earl Ralph seems to have kept his activities mainly to Norfolk. I’ve taken the liberty of forwarding them to Roger Bigod, along with a letter on which Cynefrid forged your signature. How are things progressing in that regard down here?”

“Osmund is off collecting depositions from around the shire at the moment. We’ll see what the outcome is over the next few days,” said Alan. “Just as a matter of interest, you must tell me at some stage what was contained in the letter I didn’t send!”

*
 
 
*
 
 
*
 
 
*

Anne slept at Wivenhoe on Friday night, the same night that Osmund returned with 26 depositions he had collected in his quick journey around the shire. Each was written in both English and Latin with two copies, and each of which was sworn and signed by the deponent and two distinguished witnesses. Alan had other things on his mind that evening, although he had adopted a blasé attitude to the whole marriage process and allowed Anne free rein with the arrangements.

Alan had a reasonably restful night of sleep- the only nights he could recall not being able to sleep was the nights before the battles at Hastings and Wivenhoe- and the wedding had been arranged for the morning so that the participants and guests wouldn’t have to sit around all day waiting. The appointed time was in the late morning, an hour before Sext. The appointed place was the steps of the church at Wivenhoe. Alan had asked Edward, the young thegn who lived at Alresford and who had a second manor at St Osyth, to stand as his ‘best man’ and witness. To pass time Alan spent several hours looking at the depositions that Osmund had collected, although with little information sinking into his consciousness.

At about Terce Alan called for the youth Leof and instructed his party to be ready to depart. As he started to put on his best tunic and hose, a simple russet affair made of fine linen, Leof interrupted him saying, “Excuse me, my lord. Lady Anne insisted that you wear this.” and handed Alan a package which when opened revealed a tunic in silk of a yellow so deep in colour as almost to be golden, embroidered in black, and a pair of black silken hose.

“Well, I certainly can’t wear those while I’m riding,” commented Alan as he re-donned the tunic he had initially been wearing. “I’ll have to change at Wivenhoe.”

Although Alan had arranged a feast for the people of Thorrington for later in the day, and the smoke and smell of cooking meat and baking bread was drifting across the village, many of the villagers had decided to make the short journey to Wivenhoe and had departed on foot an hour or so earlier.

Alan’s quite large party was swollen by the addition of the three thegns who lived at Alresford as they proceeded through that village. Meeting other invited guests along the way, the company was very substantial when it arrived at Wivenhoe at mid-morning. Alan was gratified to see that the villagers had taken considerable trouble to decorate their houses and the area around the village green with colourful cloths, bunches of flowers and wreathes of ivy.