[Norman Conquest 01] Wolves in Armour (54 page)

“Amongst the booty I have eight Danish longships. I would like to keep two myself, for local transportation, but I had intended today to make a gift to you of the other six. Since 1051, when King Edward disbanded the small fleet he had, England has had nothing more than what trading ships can be requisitioned at short notice. These longboats are warships of twenty oars, ten aside, and are able to carry sixty men. If armed with cross-bows they would be a formidable force. If I did have political pretensions, I’d retain these until I became the earl of East Anglia!

“With these, you could protect the shipping moving between Dover and Calais, which would allow the ladies of the royal court to move backwards and forwards without risk, other than from storms- and if you can’t get a ship captain who can tell a storm is only two hours away he shouldn’t be in charge of the transport. If the weather is good they could sail up to London, which would be quicker and more comfortable than riding from Dover. You’d need to crew the ships of course. I don’t have the men, which is why they are laid up at Thorrington, so don’t ask me to contribute. But a levy of one man from each manor in Kent, Middlesex and Sussex, and the hiring of six professional captains, perhaps Norwegians, should take care of that. Normandy and England have no professional fighting fleet. The English are paying a massive amount of money in Danegeld for protection- it’s not just a tax. They’re not getting anything in return.

“I sold a couple of boats in Norway after I captured them. What I have been doing in Essex, on your behalf and that of the people of my Hundred, does not come cheaply and really is a royal, or at least an earl’s, responsibility. I received £57 for each ship sold- which would be £342 for six. As proof of my loyalty, you can have the six ships for nothing. When and not if the Danes come, you’ll need them- and twenty or thirty more besides.”

William looked at Regenbald who commented, “Having warships to escort the transport and passenger ships and the trading ships will give much heart to the nobles and their wives who are travelling in dangerous conditions. Wind, tide, storms and pirates are all something they have difficulty in dealing with. Small groups of a dozen or so people would be able to travel on the warships themselves. A naval force at Dover would also encourage the merchants to be more active as they would have better protection.”

William gave Regenbald a flat look. “What the merchants want is not high on my list of priorities, but making travel safe between Flanders and England would be useful.”

William was transferring his gaze to Alan when the latter interrupted and said, “You discount the benefits of the merchants too much, my liege. A successful trading voyage sees the crew spending perhaps £50 in wages and share of profits in their home town. The merchant will spend several hundred pounds buying cloth, or wool or whatever is to be exported, a substantial part of which finds its way into your coffers as taxes or other fees that you charge. Some finds it
s
way into the coffers of your knights and is used to support their services to you.

“Most particularly, a laden merchant ship coming into one of your ports will pay port taxes, excises, import taxes and so on of perhaps £50. Each week there will be perhaps 25 or 30 vessels arriving, from which as I said you probably receive on average £50 each. That’s over £1,000
a week
to the royal treasury. That amount is four times as much as you receive from your royal estates. It’s not an amount to be discarded just because you dislike the merchant class. Money is money and it matters not where it comes from.” Here Alan was talking William’s language.

“Regenbald, every time I talk to this man he talks sense, even if I don’t agree with him,” said the king. “I know that he’s on the Curia Regis. Put him on my Inner Council. As for Wivenhoe, forget it- the Charter will be in your hands tomorrow. I intended to reward you for your loyal actions with the grant of manors in Herefordshire along the Welsh border, with a view to keep you too busy to cause any more problems. I’ll get Regenbald to give you the details of those fiefs. Perhaps your novel ideas are worth the problems they cause and you’re better left in London. How would you treat the problems with the Welsh and with this Eadric ‘The Wild’?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been too busy with affairs in the east. I can look at it and make some suggestions in two to three months,” replied Alan.

“Two to three months. I thought you were going to say two to three days,” said William with some asperity.

“The English have been fighting the Welsh for 500 years and you want an answer in a week?” rejoined Alan cheekily.

William pulled a wry face and replied, “Yes, perhaps it’s not an easy answer.” After a pause he continued. “On a different vein, I’m having a Hunt in two days time. A big affair with lots of beaters- deer, boar and so on. You’re invited. Also, William de Warenne’s wife, Gundred of Flanders, is holding a soiree tomorrow night. I’ve given instructions to ensure that you and …Anne, isn’t it?… are invited. It appears we need to have you brought back to the fold of us Normans.”

“I’m not sure which will require more nerve, dancing or going out where I’m likely to get an arrow in the back,” said Alan sardonically. William raised an eyebrow in question. “Hunts are notorious places for ‘accidents’. And I hate dancing,” explained Alan. William smiled sympathetically.

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Later that day, despite Alan’s objections, Owain took Alan to an armourer on Coleman Street and arranged a padded vest to be made, with metal plate inserts, to be ready the following morning. Owain was as aware as Alan of the risks of Hunts and the opportunities to dispose of opponents, and with Anne’s agreement he brooked no refusal. Alan agreed, as long as he could also wear the armoured vest to the dance. Anne refused, as she thought that the ladies were unlikely to put a knife in his ribs during the dancing. His dancing wasn’t that bad.

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The soiree was held at the Great Hall in Westminster. Just as most of the Norman nobles had accompanied him to Normandy during the summer months, now they had returned with him, many with their wives. William’s wife Matilda had not yet journeyed to England as her husband was not prepared for her to risk the winter storms even for a journey of twenty or so miles.

Again conservatively dressed, Alan and Anne joined the short line for an introduction to William de Warenne and his wife Gundred. Gundred took Anne aside for a brief chat and then arranged for Alan and Anne to be introduced to the Normans in the party by Roger Bigod, the sheriff of Suffolk and who Alan had already met, and his wife Alice, of the de Tosny family.

Alice was about 22 years old, took Anne in hand and disappeared with her into the crowd.

Alan and Roger both took a cup of wine from a passing servant. Both drained them at a gulp. Alan sighed. Roger commented, “You appear to still be standing in the sun with the king.”

Clapping an open hand on Roger’s shoulder Alan replied, “We are two honest men together. A rarity in England today! Yes, I’ve spoken to the king. I’ve been promoted to his Inner Council, where we’ll discuss a load of shite that has nothing to do with the proper working of the kingdom. Thanks for forwarding the depositions of complaint I gave to you.”

“My job,” replied Roger briefly.

“But not that easy! The king is aware of your actions and honesty,” said Alan.

“You got in before I could be corrupted, and having an alternative option was beneficial. If Earl Ralph had put pressure on me before you did, who knows what I may have done? If nothing else, I can demand a higher bribe next time! By the way these two young gentlemen with me are Gilbert d’Aufay and Raoul Boutin. Raoul is a man of Richard fitzGilbert of Clare and Gilbert came with Count Robert of Mortain.” Both the men introduced were in their mid-twenties.

“Then my visit to you was a timely intervention on my part!” replied Alan, sipping at another cup of wine that had been delivered, before clasping the arm of each of the two men he had been introduced to. “How are you two getting along? You both have fiefs?”

Raoul nodded and replied, “I hold Haughley in Stow Hundred in Suffolk from Richard fitzGilbert, and Gilbert has a manor in Herefordshire. We were just discussing the problem of ruling a manor, and indeed a country, where every man hates you.”

“I’m sure that the ‘king of Tendring’ can give you some hints,” said Roger with a twinkle in his eye.

Alan pulled a wry face. “Remember two simple things. Firstly that, apart from a few slaves, all the men and women on your manors are freemen and freewomen with rights before the law- they are not villeins or serfs. Also, most of the slaves only have that status for a short period until they have paid off the debt or fine that gave rise to their bondage. Secondly, pay respect to the traditions and laws of the villagers and the English in general. Now Gilbert, where is your manor? I’ve just been lumbered by the king with four manors on the Welsh border, so it seems we’ll be neighbours of a sort.

“My manor is at Burton, in the Golden Valley,” replied Gilbert. Both he and Raoul were agog that somebody of apparently modest mean, not mixing with the great lords, could see the gift of four manors from the king’s own hand as being a nuisance rather than the ultimate accolade that a knight could receive.

“Your manors are to the west of Hereford, so there’s probably not much left after Bleddyn of Gwynedd and Eadric
cild
have been burning most of the shire during the summer and autumn. That’ll keep you busy,” said Roger with a grimace.

“That’s the king’s idea, I think,” said Alan with a scowl.

Roger continued, “Gilbert here was just saying that with any luck most of the English thegns won’t be able to afford their Relief and there’ll be more land parcelled out to good Normans. Perhaps earls Edwin and Morcar will fall out of favour and their lands will also be redistributed.” Here Roger pointed a finger to a small group of Englishmen who Alan hadn’t noticed so far.

“Indeed,” replied Gilbert eagerly, as Roger and Alan gave them a nod and began to move away through the crowd.

As they moved away Alan commented “What a fucking mess! We have people like you and me who do our job and try to preserve the kingdom. And we have the robber-barons who extort every penny they can for their own benefit, including a half-brother of the king. One senior baron, who led one wing of the attack at Hastings, decides in a huff to attack the king’s own castle at Dover, because he thinks he should have been appointed castellan, and then tries to blame the Kentishmen! Osulf of Northumbria, of the Bamburgh family, murders Copsi the king’s appointed earl, and then a month or two ago gets himself killed by bandits. And the Normans are lining up like vultures to take every manor they can. Let’s get some benefit from this evening. Can you conduct me around the room and introduce me to the various counts and nobles? I’ve seen most of them at a distance and it may be helpful to meet them socially- outside of business, as it were.”

Those at the party were in their way more notable than those at the soiree held by Queen Edith months previously. Although some of the lords had brought their wives with them when they had returned with William, or those who had stayed over the summer had sent for them, the great majority of those present were male. The wives of some of the greater nobles were present, along with those of the middling and lesser lords.

The younger men were almost exclusively bachelors. They had been poor landless second and third sons in Normandy before the invasion, and since arriving in England their chances of marrying a wife of Norman, French, Flemish or other continental origin, let alone marrying well, had been virtually nil as there had simply been no suitable women available. A few, like Alan, had married Englishwomen, but even fewer had brought them to the soiree.

Of the men, they were divided into three distinct age groups. The first was those more elderly than William, who had helped protect him and secure him in his position as Duke of Normandy. These included Count Robert of Eu and Hugh de Montford.

The second group was comprised of William’s contemporaries- mostly his friends, but a few such as Hugh de Grandmesnil with whom William had fallen out with over the years and more latterly reconciled. They were in the main between 45 and 50 years old and included Roger de Montgomerie, Richard fitzGilbert, Geoffrey de Mandeville and the somewhat younger William de Warenne, who with his Flemish wife Gundred was hosting this party. Judging by the sour expression on his face and the amount of wine he was consuming, the party clearly was something that wasn’t William de Warenne’s idea. This tight-knit group were closely related by marriage or birth. Bishop Odo of Bayeux and Count Robert of Mortain were half-brothers to the king. William fitzOsbern and most of the others were cousins and similar relations.

A few younger long-time supporters such as Stephen, the Count of Treguier, Brittany and Lamballe, fitted in between William’s cronies, along with the sons of the older group, such as William of Eu and the new men achieving position as a result of the invasion- including Alan himself, Roger Bigod, Hugh fitzGrip, Ivo Taillebois and many others.

Noticeable amongst the absentees were most of the clergy, including Odo of Bayeux and the Englishmen Aealdred of York and Stigand of Canterbury.