[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (57 page)

The following evening
Alekrage
rowed up the River Witham and into Lincoln
,
to the considerable dismay of local shipping which scattered and fled at her approach. It was cold and windy, with a misty rain falling. A force of about fifty men-at-arms was present on the dock at The Pool, commanded by a pimply-faced youth. Clambering up over the low
saxboard
and onto the dock Alan called down to Lars in
Anglo-Saxon
English
,
“Keep your men on the ship for the time being, until I send word. Then you can dismiss them for a night on the town. Make sure they understand that they say nothing about who we are or where we’re from, if they value their lives. Even here loose lips can see us dead. I’ll arrange accommodation for us all at the castle. The men can have tomorrow off, that’s Sunday, and then we’ll
head north early the next day.”

Turning to the guard commander he instructed in Norman French
,
“You, set a guard to keep the gawpers away, at least ten men and make sure nobody but my men
approaches
that ship, then take me up to the castle. Who’s in charge at the moment? Robert of Mortain, you say? Where the hell is the king? No don’t bother, Count Robert will tell me what I need to know. Leof and Brand, you come with me. Lead on, you young fool!”

The nonplussed and confused young commander did as instructed and with a group of ten men escorted Alan up Steep Hill to the castle. The castle was abuzz with the news of a Danish ship in the Pool and they were ushered almost immediately into the
Hall
where Robert of Mortain, one of the king’s half-brothers and
his
l
ife
-
long
supporter, was sitting at a table near a roaring fire dictating letters to two clerks.

“Ah! I should have guessed it would be you! Good evening Sir Alan! Take a seat.” The Count snapped his fingers and a flagon of wine, jug of water and two silver goblets appeared on the table. “How fare things to the north? Do you have informatio
n?” asked the large and heavily-
built man, who was grey-haired and in his late forties. “Any news of Gilbert de Ghent and William Malet since the fall of their castles at York?”

“Information, yes. But little understanding,” commented Alan. “De Ghent and Malet are captives of the Danes and I understand
are
being reasonably treated, as are Malet’s wife and two children who were captured with him. The rest of the two castle garrisons were slaughtered, almost to a man. May I enquire why York is still in the hands of the Aetheling’s men and there is no royal army here?”

“Because things have turned to shit everywhere,” replied Robert pithily. “Most of my land is in Sussex, Cornwall, Devon and Dorset. I must have done a damn poor job of keeping an eye on things, because the men from Cornwall and Devon have attacked Exeter and my castle at Montacute is under siege from the men of Somerset and Dorset. I understand that Geoffrey de Mowbray, the bishop of Coutances, is leading a relieving force from London, Winchester and Salisbury. The townsfolk of Exeter helped the garrison drive off their attackers and th
os
e rebels were then caught by fitzOsbern and Brian of Brittany. That was a couple of weeks ago. Now fitzOsbern and the king have had to march to the Welsh border as
Eadric
T
he Wild
and the Welsh
,
led by Bleddyn of Gwynedd
,
burnt Shrewsbury to the ground. They couldn’t take the castle and
have moved on towards Stafford.

“
The king and his men were here a couple of weeks ago and helped beat back an advance by the Aetheling’s men, although I think that was really just a
large
foraging party. I’ve got enough men to hold Lincoln and control the surrounding area. By holding Lincoln in some force we prevent the Northumbrians and the Danes from marchin
g down the Roman road into the M
idlands, as we threaten their flank. When the fires have been put out behind us and the king and fitzOsbern have pushed the Welsh back over the border and taken the Mercians out of the picture
, then we can take care of the n
orth. At the moment York has to wait. I heard it was burnt by the Danes, so there’d be no shelter for an army anyway. We can take it back and get rid of the Danes later. Maybe before Christmas, maybe in the spring,” concluded Robert tiredly.

“I see your point. It’s all a matter of priorities and the first priority would be keeping the bird in the hand before the bush burns down,” replied Alan. Robert gave a brief nod and Alan continued
,
“How
fares
your wife Matilda, your children and her family
?
Are they at Montecute?”

Count Robert looked grim. “Yes, Matilda and my three daughters Agnes, Denise and Emma are at Montecute. This all arose so quickly there was no chance to pack them off to Normandy. My son William is a squire in Normandy, so he’s safe enough- or at least as safe as any youth training for war can be
!
Matilda’s father Roger de Montgomerie and her mother Mabel were safe in the castle at Shrewsbury along with Roger, Phillip and Arnulf. The two older boys are in France. How are Anne and your daughter?”

“Fine last I saw them, although Anne is due to drop our next child shortly and given the medical problems last time I’d like to be there.” He paused for a sip of wine, which he was drinking unwatered out of respect for its quality. “So are the efforts my men are making worthwhile?”

Robert shrugged and replied
,
“Information is always
of value
. What information you have at the moment will be of questionable value in two months time, but we need to keep contact open with the agents. Who knows, they may come up with some information that requires immediate action, such as a sea-borne assault by the Danes on London. That would be the last thing we need when most of the
city
garrison is marching on Montacute
!
At the moment we have men running all over the place trying to keep a lid on what’s going on. I’d say at the moment you’d best be served by going home and leaving your men and ships doing what they are doing. We’re unlikely to need to your own services until Christmas, maybe longer depending on how severe the winter is and whether William can campaign in the winter.”

Taking the Count at his word Alan met with Lars and Brand the following morning, provided them with instructions to continue with the contact with the spies and provided Brand with a purse of money obtained from the Count’s Steward to be used to purchase supplies- he’d conveniently overlooked telling Count Robert that his men were being paid wages by the Danes. Following all of
this activity
he carefully chose two horses to purchase and rode south in
the rain with Leof for company.

L
ate in the evening two days later, on Thursday the 29
th
October
,
Alan and Leof rode through the village
of Thorrington
. The heavy rain and cold wind was keeping most folk indoors, but the few men and women they saw shouted a warm welcome
. T
he blacksmith paused in his labour at the anvil near the open door of the smithy to gave an abrupt wave of welcome and sent one of his young sons, a lad of about seven,
scurrying
down the muddy track to the New Hall to announce their home-coming. The rounceys walked with a plodding gait, heads down and exhaustedly lifting each foot from the sticky soil. They’d ridden
81
miles from Lincoln to Huntingdon the day before, spending the night in a flea-ridden tavern before riding a similar
distance from Huntingdon
that
day.

The exhausted pace of the horses meant that the lad had plenty of time to reach the New Hall ahead of them. Although absent a motte, the fortified structure of the New Hall dominated the east side of the village, with a ten-foot high curtain-wall embankment topped by a further ten foot
high
wooden
palisade
.
Six
wooden towers rose a further ten feet, each with a
large piece of
oiled canvas
covering
the shape of a ballista. There were four men on guard, one in each of the corner towers of the square fortifications. The nearest two each raised a hand in greeting, while the other two ostentatiously kept their backs to Alan, ensuring he could see that they were scanning their area of responsibility. The high-pitched roofs of the three double-storey buildings in the complex, the Hall and two barracks blocks, could just be seen peeping over the curtain-wall. Alan was happy to see
wood smoke
rising both from the chimney of the Hall and from the location of the not yet visible kitchen building, ensuring a genuinely warm welcome.

T
hey rode
across
the drawbridge over the ten-foot deep ditch and through the gateway
and
the rest of the complex came into view
;
large stables, the armou
ry building with its attached covered weapons-
practice area, the granary, the barn where the hay was stored and the storehouses and workshops, including the shed where Alan whiled away hours in constructing eve
r more efficient
siege
weapons.

The servants hurried out of the Hall to welcome their lord home, although Alan was glad to see that Anne had not come outside. Alan waved a hand gloved in soggy leather and shouted
,
“Thank you all! Please get inside out of the rain, except for a couple of grooms to take the horses.
The p
oor bastards are just about all in.” After stiffly dismounting and handing the
rein
s to a
stable boy
, Alan turned in time to catch Leof as he collapsed with leg-cramps. “You’ve got to get used to riding a horse, boy! It’s a damn sight better than walking. Go and sit by the fire and I’ll get Otha to get you some dry clothes. When I’ve finished with the hot
-
tub, have a long soak and get one of the younger girls to massage your legs. I’ve noticed Inga has been making eyes at you, so I’m sure she’ll help out if you offer to share the tub. Which reminds me, we need to get you a room of your own in the barracks. You
’re old enough that you
can’t keep on sleeping in the Hall,
with
no damn
ed
privacy. I’ll mention it to
S
teward Faran.”

After giving Leof a hand to the door and then letting somebody else take him over- Alan gave a chuckle when he saw it was Inga- he shed his water-logged cloak and gloves and approached the fire gratefully. “Some mulled wine, for the love of God!” shouted Alan to Otha. “And dry clothes for Leof. And get the hot
-
tub ready. And I want some damned food!” Just then he saw the diminutive shape of his wife sitting in a high-backed armchair near the fire and could see why she hadn’t hurried outside. As she struggled to her feet, using the arms on the chair for leverage, Alan notice that not only had she a grossly swollen belly, but that the baby had dropped. “Sweet Jesu! It’s good to see you again!” he said after he helped her to rise and caught her in a hug, her head barely coming up to his chest. “It appears you’re
carrying a giant and that he’s due any
moment
! How do you get up the stairs to the
bedchamber
?”

“With difficulty
,
my lord
- s
lowly and with assistance. Using a chamber pot is an inconvenience, but better than a journey downstairs to the privy when I’m being kicked in the bladder! And I pray to God that it is a boy.
Dear
God, Alan! It’s good to see you again! Have you finished your work up
n
orth? Why ride in and not bring the ships home?”

Alan put a finger on her lips. “We’ll talk about that
later
,” he said. “For now, let me get warm, some dry clothes, have some hot food and drink and we can take a soak in the hot
-
tub. Me for my sore legs and you no doubt for a sore back.”

After a meal of herbed mutton stew and fresh bread which the hungry
traveler
s
wolfed down ravenously, Alan and Anne retired to th
e hot-
tub to soak. The tub was an unusual creation and was comprised
part
of a tun barrel about three feet high and five feet across, sawn
horizontally
, with two small wooden benches of differing heights bolted to the inside to accommodate people of different sizes. The barrel was set slightly above the ground to allow periodic drainage and cleaning. There was a set of steps on the outside and a
short
ladder of four steps on the inside to assist people entering or leaving. The water, slightly less than the hundred gallon capacity of the part-barrel as it wasn’t filled to the brim, flowed through the water supply system Alan had created which drew water from a spring on a nearby low hill along pipes and into the New Hall complex
. This
also suppl
ied
the kitchen, stables, fill
ed
a cistern that would be able to be used in times of
siege
and also flush
ed
out the latrines that Alan had built in the Roman style from plans he’d seen on an ancient scroll. The
bath
water was heated by passing through
lead
pipes above and behind the fire in the adjoining kitchen and furnace rooms and then flowed into one side of the tub in a steady but small stream. Excess water was extracted by a pipe on the other side of the barrel and flowed out as waste water, at about one gallon a minute.