The Dutch (4 page)

The following morning, after seeing the Regent and his party off, the Lord of the Droger Land, with only a few horsemen began the return journey home. In a few weeks, his son and daughter-in-law, accompanied by a much stronger escort, would follow at a slower pace, burdened by three wagons of the bride's personal possessions and the couple's wedding gifts. Something within his ancestral genes, told him that he must return to his beloved land as soon as possible. It was as if the ancient gods were demanding his return. Pausing, only to rest the horses, Derick made the return journey home in two days.

The dry month of July was the most desperate time of the year for commoners. The ordinary people spent the month hungrily waiting for food stores to be replenished from the first forthcoming harvest. It was a time when the problems with food production became most visible as farmers and townsmen roamed the Duchy foraging for anything that might supplement their diet. Things like edible roots, berries, nuts and wild birds or small animals were collected or trapped to enhance the family's potage and temporarily alleviate a family's constant pain from hunger. It was the only time of the year that the gamekeepers were ordered to look away if a citizen said he found a dead deer in the Lord's Forest, as long as the meat was shared with those of even greater need. It was accepted by all that during the driest month of the year that God had willed a few bucks and does to an unfortunate “self-inflicted” end.

That July, the people of the Droger Land were made even more restless by the normal shortage of food because of the anxiety being compounded by the new land lying fallow and undistributed. His subjects seemed listless as they greeted the Lord on the way to the castle and were notably less cordial than in the past. It was obvious that the last year of tedious hard labor, moving mountains of dirt for dykes and dams, had worn the people down physically and made them unhappy and discontent. One of his men-at-arms informed Lord Derick of an ugly rumor that was spreading throughout the domain: The Great Lord of the Droger Land planned to give his son Jacobus and his bride all of the new land as a wedding gift. Worse still, he found Sir Wind and Kryk in deep despair upon his return. The fresh water level around the reclaimed land was lowering at a slower rate than usual that summer, despite the heat of this particularly dry July. Somehow the reclamation effort had changed the balance of nature in the swamp, and the land was absorbing water at a lesser rate than in the past. Both men feared any prolonged period of drenching rain could easily flood the entire area, erasing the work of the past year and returning the newly gained land in the south to the swamp. The three men scanned the map of the Duchy for a solution. With prompting from the Lord, the sheer genius of Sir Wind emerged as he began to formulate a solution. Using the surveyor's measurements on elevation, Willie devised a plan that was brilliant. It called for the construction of a canal near the western tip of the Droger Land connecting the southern swamps to the northern marshlands. Since the elevation in the south was slightly higher, the fresh water would flow by gravity to what had only been salty marshland. There it could be funneled through spillways into the remaining marsh letting the tide take the excess fresh water to the sea. Some of the same fresh water could also be re-diverted to flood sections of the new northern pasture land helping to desalinate the existing soil. The unlimited supply of fresh water from the south would now be available for farming and the needs of livestock in the north. While digging the canal, the removed soil would be retained and banked to one side. Once the canal was constructed, barges could move this soil along the completed waterway, providing the northern pasture land with a cap of salt free topsoil.

One good bit of news emerged; as the water dissolved in the north, a modest deposit of salt had been found that exceeded the people's needs. Salt was a valuable commodity in Holland which sent fleets of ships to Portugal each year to being home this needed commodity used to preserve fish. Any excess could be shipped to towns and cities along the coast and provide a new source of income. A smaller dyke built perpendicularly to the first, would easily protect this asset, allowing the uncovered deposit to be easily mined. The biggest problem Lord Derick faced would be to convince a weary population to labor for at least another two years with little immediate gratification in sight. The Lord would have to publicly answer the questions about re-distribution to his trodden but independent people if he wanted to revive spirits and again receive their enthusiastic support. He immediately ordered whatever surplus food stores were available at the castle to be distributed to the people to lessen the annual July shortages of food. He hoped this gift would rebuild the people's physical strength and bolster their morale. He dispatched men to the coast to purchase Baltic grain and other food supplies to feed the people at a second wedding feast to be held locally in celebration of his son's marriage. At the event he would talk with his people about the challenges they faced together. He also knew the population would want to know how and to whom the new land would be awarded. The agricultural system in the Droger Land was far different from the usual system of lords and serfs throughout medieval Europe. His farmers were free men and needed to be treated with respect. Most owned individual parcels of lands originally laid out in the Roman fashion of almost square shaped self contained plots. Each farm commonly consisted of a home, a stable, a vegetable garden and three easily identified fields, and over the centuries these proud farm families had built make-shift fences around the perimeter of their holdings defining ownership. A farm family would sow a wheat crop in one field in the winter. In springtime a second field would be sowed with another cereal crop, but recently this second crop too often failed in the heavy rains brought about by the unusual number of late summer storms. The third field would always lie crop-free for a year, allowing the soil to gather strength for the next planting as was the custom in the Middle Ages.

Farming itself was not as demanding as it is today and the yield from those parcels had been enough to provide for a smaller population. Because of inheritance, many of the farmer's plots became smaller and families larger. The entire population of the Droger Land had grown during Europe's warming period. The Black Plagues had only temporarily slowed that growth. On the Baron's land, the physical layout of farms was similar but each was worked by a tenant farmer and his family. He was also a free man, who paid the Lord for the use of the land with a slightly higher percentage of its crops. Over time, these farms too became smaller as the size of the tenant families grew and the plots were divided among members who had gallantly served the van Weir family. These farmers were less independent than those who owned their own land. Prior to the formation of Jacobus' cavalry unit, most of the realm's archers and men-at-arms were the later born sons of these tenant farmers, whose families were rewarded for their services. The great lord knew his tenant farmers also must be included fairly in any distribution.

While Derick pondered the best way to re-energize his people, the most disheveled monk he had ever seen, appeared at his doorstep. The Regent's gift had finally arrived after walking all the way from Brussels. His robe and skullcap were covered with every bit of dust he had encountered on his journey. The Monk also carried an open leather bag filled with samples of plants he collected along the way. The scruffy man tried to introduce himself as Monk Jarvis, the lord's new gardener, but an agitated Lord Derick silenced him. “I don't need a gardener; I need the mad monk I've heard about, the one who can teach my farmers to grow more food.” He quickly ordered one of his soldiers to see that the monk got a bath; some clean clothes and see to it personally that he arrived promptly for the mid-day meal.

Beer, the tea of those times was consumed at every meal and was much safer than water which sometimes came from tainted streams and wells and sometimes caused a host of illnesses. The brew of the Droger Land was notoriously bad because of the area's lack of quality hops grown locally. The Monk's first sip of beer at the Baron's table, told him he could benefit his new lord by growing a better grade of hops for the brewing process. Almost audaciously, Jarvis told the Baron that he had just tasted the worst beer in the Low Countries but more important to Lord Derick, he was able to explain how the flavor of local brew could be improved. Monk Jarvis thought the best beer in the entire world was brewed in Amsterdam because the best hops on earth grew just outside the city. According to Jarvis, God had blessed that dark soil with the rich nutrients needed to sustain the hops through their growing cycles and fortified them with taste. He felt the warm sea breeze from the Zuider Zee, a shallow lake which now ran to the North Sea, nurtured each plant as the buds grew into maturity. He said it also helped that the city's brewers kept their containers clean and used only water from the deepest wells to mix with high quality rye grain. The monk said he had heard of Polish mariners who decided to settle permanently in Amsterdam, knowing if they left; they would never again taste such a wondrous brew because of the impossibility of transporting beer the great distance to their homeland. Jarvis also told Derick that Hospitaller knights imported great quantities of the same brew from Amsterdam because they thought it added muscle rather than weight to their body frames, something Lucas had mentioned previously about his experiences at the warrior monks school. The Baron smiled knowing that the local beer was not as foul tasting as the Monk describe but was aware that it lacked the flavor of the delicious beer he had also tasted in Amsterdam. Derick would forever remain skeptical that any brew could add size to anything but a man's stomach. Yet this conversation about beer opened the way for a day long dialogue that centered on the agrarian problems of the realm.

It soon became clear to Derick that the Monk believed that an industrious farmer and an appropriate use of the land were the key elements to agricultural success. As the conversation progress, Derick became convinced this monk was much more wise than crazy. That night, Derick, Kryk and the monk studied both maps of the domain. In the morning, escorted by two sheriffs, the monk began a week long journey that would take him to both sites of reclaimed land and to every existing farm. At each farm location he spoke with farmers and took scrupulous notes. Upon his return he spent days behind closed doors going over maps and measurements with the surveyor. He used his observations, the surveyor's measurements and tax records to rate the productivity of every farm family. After studying the Monk's findings, the Baron agreed that the chance to cultivate the new land must be given to the most productive farmers. It would prove to be a wise decision. Lord Jacobus' arrival with his attractive new bride caused a pleasant stir among the people who were feeling more content since the Baron had supplemented their rations. Despite the couple's fatigue from the journey, they were dispatched each day to visit different parts of the realm to introduce Lady Hester and mix with the population. Lord Jacobus used these daily trips as an opportunity to visit the men who rode with him at Vroonen. The couple was instructed to tell people that the Great Lord had finalized a plan for the new land and he would share it with them on the final day of their wedding celebration.

Lord Derick spared no expense to make those local festivities last forever in the memories of not only the couple, but in the hearts of the entire population. He not only provided a more than adequate amount of food for the people, but taking the Monk's rant at face value, he ordered a barge load of beer from Amsterdam. For three days, his subjects appreciated the tasty beer from Amsterdam and the score of minstrels and jugglers Theodore also hired to entertain them. On the last day, in the crowded main room of the castle, he met with the patriarchs of every farm family and other prominent persons such as the magistrate and members of the town estate. The festive occasion was about to turn very serious as the Baron began speaking.

The Baron Derick van Weir, Great Lord of the Droger Land, moved toward the center of his castle's grand hall so all could hear and he said to the assembled multitude “I am your Lord, not a storyteller or a speechmaker.” He continued, “At the dawn of civilization, the very first Great Lord of this Land, my ancestor, took this land with his sword. At the time he made a pact with the original gods to become a good steward of the earth and those ancient gods promised our family, if we remained yeoman stewards, we would hold this place for eternity. At the same time a few handfuls of his brave Roman and Germanic soldiers and a few local women pledged fidelity to him as Lord and promised to share the task of stewardship so they too could reap the benefits of the soil. Every one of you in this room is a direct descendent of those brave men and women who settled here. Their children's children, your forefathers and my bloodline have protected our sacred soil for nearly fifteen hundred years, always keeping our covenant with those ancient gods. Even after the first five hundred years, when Christianity came to this land, the lord and the people rejuvenated the same pledge to our Lord Jesus Christ, that we would continue to be master stewards of this land and the true God, Jesus Christ, allowed us to prosper for the another thousand years with prompting from our former deities.”

At this point, the Baron paused, smiled and said, “I don't know if the early gods or even Jesus, the son of the living God, recognized how much you and your ancestors loved to make children.” Those assembled laughed and applauded and shouts of “Aye My Lord!” could be heard throughout the room. It was at this point that Derick pulled back a curtain to reveal the map of the Droger Land with each family's plot of land clearly inscribed. The farmers were mesmerized, for many had never seen a map and certainly not a representation of their land holdings on paper. In twos and threes they filed to the front of the room for a closer look. Those who could make sense of the map helped others to distinguish their farms. Sometimes the surveyor, Hans Kryk, pointed out specific farms when an entire group had trouble recognizing their property. The Baron waited patiently for all to see their land depicted on the map and began again.