Baron of the North (27 page)
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Authors: Griff Hosker
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Historical, #Military, #War, #Historical Fiction
Vikings continued to raid the rivers and isolated villages of England for centuries. There are recoded raids as late as the sixteenth century along the coast south of the Fylde. These were not the huge raids of the ninth and tenth centuries but were pirates keen for slaves and treasure. The Barbary Pirates also raided the southern coast. Alfred’s navy had been a temporary measure to deal with the Danish threat. A Royal Navy would have to wait until Henry VIII.
The Welsh did take advantage of the death of the master of Chester and rampaged through Cheshire. King Henry and his knights defeated them although King Henry was wounded by an arrow. The king’s punishment was the surrender of 10,000 cattle. The Welsh did not attack England again until King Henry was dead!
Matilda was married to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry, in 1116 when she was 14. They had no children and the marriage was not a happy one. When William Adelin died in the White Ship disaster then Henry had no choice but to name his daughter as his heir however, by that time she had been married to Geoffrey Count of Anjou, Fulk's son and King Henry was suspicious of his former enemy's heir. His vacillation caused the civil war which was known as the Anarchy. However those events are several books away. Stephen and Matilda are just cousins: soon they will become enemies.
An early Great Helm. Basically it was a conical helmet with metal instead of an aventail and a fixed mask. Later on they became more elaborate.
In the high middle ages there was a hierarchy of hawks. At this time there was not. A baron was supposed to have a bustard which is not even a hawk. Some think it was a corruption of buzzard or was a generic name for a hawk of indeterminate type. Aiden finds hawks' eggs and raises them. The cadge was the square frame on which the hawks were carried and it was normally carried by a man called a codger. Hence the English slang for old codger; a retainer who was too old for anything else. It might also be the derivation of cadge (ask for) a lift- more English slang.
Gospatric was a real character. His father had been Earl of Northumberland but was replaced by William the Conqueror. He was granted lands in Scotland, around Dunbar. Once the Conqueror was dead he managed to gain lands in England around the borders. He was killed at the Battle of the Standard fighting for the Scots. I have used this as the basis for his treachery. He was succeeded by his son, Gospatric, but the family confirmed their Scottish loyalties. His other sons are, as far as I know my own invention although I daresay if he was anything like the other lords and knights he would have been spreading his largess around to all and sundry!
The incident with Bishop Flambard being held captive is pure fiction. However he died in 1128 and there was a great deal of unrest while King Henry was away in Normandy. The Gospatric family did show their true colours when the Scottish king tried to take advantage of the internal strife between Stephen and Matilda and invade England. A leopard does not change his spots. The land between the Tees and the Scottish lowlands was always fiercely contested by Scotland, England and those who lived there.
Hartburn is a small village just outside Stockton. My American readers may be interested to know that the Washington family of your first President lived there and were lords of the manor from the thirteenth century onwards. It was called Herrteburne in those days. In the sixteenth century the family had it taken from them and it was replaced by the manor of Wessington, which became Washington. Had they not moved then your president might live in Hartburn DC!
Books used in the research
:
The Varangian Guard- 988-1453 Raffael D’Amato
Saxon Viking and Norman- Terence Wise
The Walls of Constantinople AD 324-1453-Stephen Turnbull
Byzantine Armies- 886-1118- Ian Heath
The Age of Charlemagne-David Nicolle
The Normans- David Nicolle
Norman Knight AD 950-1204- Christopher Gravett
The Norman Conquest of the North- William A Kappelle
The Knight in History- Francis Gies
The Norman Achievement- Richard F Cassady
Knights- Constance Brittain Bouchard
Griff Hosker July 2015
by
Griff Hosker
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