Housecarl (26 page)

Towards the end of the evening,
when the toasts and thanks had been made, my uncle rose unsteadily
to his feet.  He had drunk more than I had ever seen him drink
and I take that as a compliment that with us, his family, he did
not need to be guarded. “I would like to thank my nephew Aelfraed
and his lovely wife Gytha. This,” he waved an unsteady arm around
the hall, ”feels like home.  And Aelfraed, if I have not told
you before I am as proud of you as any man could be.”

Osbert and Ridley gave a, “Hear!
Hear!” and banged the table with their hands.  Gytha looked on
proudly.

“I know that I will be seeing
you soon, both of you when you come to London.” Gytha looked at me
in surprise and I shook my head as much as to say ‘we will talk
later’. “When you do then I will show you my hospitality.” His
speech over he slumped into his seat.

Later after Ridley and I had put
him to bed and Gytha and I were alone she pouted and asked, “When
were you going to tell me that we were going to London?  Am I
not your wife?  Do you not consider my feelings?”

Osgar had warned me that women
were not as men.  They expected to be talked to.  It was
not that way with men and certainly not warriors. “My love it is
not certain. Aethelward said that the king is not well and if he
died then we should go to London to help the Earl be crowned. 
That is all.  The king still lives. My uncle was talking about
some time in the future.”

She immediately regretted her
words, I could see that in her crestfallen face.  “I am
sorry.  I thought he meant sooner rather than later.” She
began to cry and I held her in my arm.

“What is the matter? I am not
upset.”

“No, but I was cross with you,
and I should have trusted you.” She paused and dabbed her eyes.
“There is something I should say,” she took a deep breath, “ I am
with child.  You are to be a father.”

Suddenly her tears were
explained and I hugged her tightly. “That is wonderful news. 
When?”

“In the spring.”

“That is the perfect end to a
perfect day.”

And so my life changed
again.  Gone was the carefree Housecarl; now I was a
landowner, a husband and about to be a father. I wondered if I
would ever have those days of freedom again. I didn’t regret the
marriage but I now looked back on my time as a Housecarl and
thought it short. Now, as I look back on my life I can see that it
was those happy days which were short for  just after St
Andrews day I received a message from Aethelward. We were to go to
London. I had two frenetic and hectic days as I arranged
everything.  Ridley happily took over the management of my
estate and promised that his men at arms would protect mine in the
event of any Scots’ raids.  He now had a sizeable retinue for
the steward had husbanded my resources well and without Tostig’s
taxes we were all more profitable. Thomas and his wife were sad to
see Gytha go for she had brought a breath of fresh feminine air
into our masculine world.

I now had twelve men at arms and
eight archers.  Not a huge army but one of which I was proud.
The men at arms all had a shield with my red horse painted upon it.
Six of them had mail shirts while the rest had leather armour. All
had helmets with nasals, a spear and a sword. As soon as I could I
determined to get an axe for Osbert, my sergeant at arms for he was
a handy man with the weapon. Branton and his archers had leather
armour, a short sword and a buckler.  They also sported
leather helmets; I remembered when that was all that I had had and
how it had helped to protect me.  I now had a magnificent
helmet made by Ralph.  It was simply constructed with a steel
crown and a nasal but he had worked brass and copper around the rim
to give added strength and to make it look even finer. My men were
well trained and I was loath to lose them so I have given them the
best that I could.

Gytha was a good rider.  I
offered her a wagon but she laughed it away.”When I am bigger then
I will travel like an old lady.” She was more than competent on a
horse and it meant that we travelled quite quickly.  With our
own mounts and some I borrowed from Ridley we were able to ride
down the Roman road south. The inns and taverns were well protected
and we now had enough money to pay for us all to be comfortable. We
reached London within a week.  We could have travelled quicker
but I was aware that my wife was with child and I wanted to do
nought to jeopardise that.

Ealdgyth insisted that we stay
with them in their magnificent home and my men at arms were
accommodated with Harold’s Housecarls in the warrior hall. After
the quiet of Maiden Bower London seemed to be filled with noise and
bustle; more importantly it was filled with intrigue and politics.
I could see why the Earl was in London and not in his homeland of
Winchester. The dying king was surrounded by Norman churchmen all
trying to get him to nominate Duke William as his heir. His last
announcement before he slipped into an uneasy sleep was that Earl
Harold was to be the next king. For many that would have been
enough but the Archbishop of Canterbury had not given up on
persuading Edward to change his mind.  Earl Harold always kept
one of his trusted men close to the King’s chamber so that when he
woke and needed to take sustenance they could ensure that the
Normans did not influence the sick man. There was something macabre
about those of us who waited outside the door for, when I was
assigned that duty, I felt like a carrion bird ready to pick over
the corpse.

I was grateful for the sanctuary
which was Earl Harold’s home. Ealdgyth was with child and she and
Gytha were like two broody hens, not that I would have dreamt of
saying that to either of them. Marriage had taught me that silence
from a man was always preferable to the witty comment his fellows
would enjoy. Fortunately I was able to spend a good deal of my time
with the Housecarls and I trained with them.  My men at arms
were used as a rank behind the rear rank.  As Sweyn said, now
much greyer since his time as a prisoner, “We need men who can
stand and fight whether they be Housecarls or warriors for the
working day.” Osbert loved his time with my comrades.  He
confided in me that he had always aspired to be a Housecarl but
events had got in his way. I wondered if I would ever have enough
money to be able to afford Housecarls of my own.

It was when we were training
that news came in of Tostig and my brothers. Malcolm Canmore had
declined to support an invasion of Northumbria. He was as they say
up there, ‘ a canny Scot’. He had enough spies in the English and
Norman courts to know that those two behemoths would fight to the
death for the rich land of England and at the end of that fight he
might just be able to walk in and take it painlessly.  Why
risk his men in an attack against the two Earls, Edwin and Morcar,
both of whom were worthy opponents?  More worrying was that
Tostig and his Thegns had taken ship for Norway where, it was said,
they were trying to persuade Harald Hadrada to claim the English
throne for himself.

As we rested and ate bread and
cheese my uncle told us of Hadrada. “I fought under him in
Constantinople. He was a good warrior and very brave.  He is
no longer young but he was a strategos and understood how to win at
war.” He looked at each of us in turn.  “If you face him do
not underestimate him.  He is like a good chess player, or
even a magician, he has you looking one way and then strikes where
you least expect it.  The only saving grace is that he would
be fighting alongside Tostig.”

Osbert was new to this level of
discussion. “Why is that an advantage my lord. I thought he was
Earl Harold’s brother?”

Ulf grunted, “Half
brother.  The half they normally throw away!”

“We have fought with him and he
is not reliable.  He is always looking for the easy victory
and the gold at the end of the rainbow.  We could have saved
many men’s lives in Wales had he pursued Gryffydd more
closely.”

“When he sent my brother Edward
to fight us I knew then that he was not a good leader. Do you
remember Osbert?”

“Aye, he was not a good leader
but how does that reflect upon the Earl.”

“The Earl knew that neither
Edward nor his brothers could be relied upon.  They showed
that when we met them in Jorvik and yet he still appointed him and
gave him men. Aedgart, you fought under him that day what is your
opinion of him?”

“Who Edward or the Earl?”

I liked Aedgart for he was a
plain speaker and always spoke the truth no matter how unpleasant
to the listener. “Both.”

“The Earl talked a good talk but
he was always behind the front rank.  Edward just copied
him.  A real leader would have got off his horse and led us in
a wedge, or at least fought alongside us.”

Osbert smiled, he enjoyed banter
with his friend.  “But you would still have lost.”

Aedgart smiled and
shrugged.  This point had been debated and argued amongst our
men often but the feeling was that the right side won because of
leadership. “So Osbert, it is not Tostig we fear but Hadrada.”

“Well he is getting old, perhaps
he will stay in his hall and at least we know he will not try the
icy Norwegian waters before late spring.”

Ulf threw an indigestible crust
into the river which flowed nearby. “Which just leaves us with Duke
William.  Lord Sweyn, you were at the Norman court and saw
their army.  What do you say?”

Sweyn had had a hard time in
Normandy and had not enjoyed the experience. He and the Earl had
fought for William and earned his praise but Sweyn was still bitter
for he had been the butt of many unpleasant comments.  “Well
he won’t come until late spring but when he does then watch
out.  If he can get his horses across the channel then we will
be in trouble and he has crossbowmen.  The bolts can go
through mail.”

None of us liked that
thought.  Most arrows rained down from the sky and you could
use your shield but the bolt had a flatter trajectory and was
harder to see.  “We just use our shields then.”

“Aye Ulf but he has archers as
well.  It means that you need two shields.  When the
enemy horse come at you they have a bloody great spear, tipped with
metal.   If you are lucky your axe can break it but if you
don’t then it will pierce your mail like a ripe plum.”

There was an uncomfortable
silence as we digested that information.  When Aethelward
spoke his voice seemed unnaturally loud. “There are two answers to
that problem.  One is mounted archers who can ride at the
flanks of the charge and pick off the horses and the second is to
have ditches and pits with spikes.”

“That sounds too defensive. You
mean you don’t attack?”

Aethelward smiled at me. 
“When you defeated your brother did you attack?”

“Why, no.”

“You outnumbered him and yet you
just stood, why?”

“His men were better armed and
better quality than my farmers.”

“Precisely.  Your men at
arms absorbed the attack and allowed you to win. I do not think
that we will be using the wedge against the Norman horse. 
Perhaps if the Earl of Mercia brings his mounted men then we might
be able to attack.”

Ulf asked, “Why is he not here,
along with his brother?”

“Tostig.  If he attacks
Jorvik then the earls must be there to defend it. Do not worry we
have more than enough men on the south coast to repel an
attack.  He has to get his horses off his ships and that is
when he is vulnerable.  I have advised the Earl to keep us as
close to the south coast as we can and as soon as the fleet is
sighted then send the army there to fight them on the beaches and
drive them into the sea.”

Aethelward’s comforting words
reassured us and gave us hope through the long winter ahead.

King Edward died in the dead of
winter.  He slipped into a sleep and did not awake. We wasted
no time in having the
Witenagemot
confirm the Earl as king.  The
only voices which might have dissented were the Norman clergy but
the Housecarls who stood behind the council persuaded them to be
silent. Harold was crowned King and it was the proudest moment in
my life for I had helped an Earl become a king. I was in no doubt
that it would make me more important for, after the Earls I, along
with Ulf and Aethelward was seen as the next order of commanders.
When we fought I would lead not only my men at arms but those of
other lords who would flock to the banner of the White Horse. 
There was also a good omen in that Ealdgyth gave birth to twins
Harold and Ulf. His namesake was inordinately proud of the fact
that the Queen had chosen his name. It also helped me for I felt
less guilty about leaving Gytha alone.  She was now waiting on
the Queen and the two were inseparable. It meant that I was able to
train with the men at arms ready for the war to come.

We saw little of my uncle and
the Earl for they were busy looking at maps and listening to the
reports of the ships which brought news from foreign ports. One
spring morning we were busily working with the Housecarls when the
Earl and my uncle rode up. Their faces were serious and they
summoned me to a conference with Sweyn.

“Bad news Aelfraed, my brother
has persuaded Harald Hadrada to invade Northumbria.”

“When your majesty?”

“Soon I fear.  I want you
to return to Jorvik with your men and apprise the Earl of the
danger.  We need to raise the fyrd.”

“And what of the Normans?”

Aethelward became a little
impatient. “You are not the only warrior we have nephew.  We
might just be able to defeat them without you, it will be hard
but…”

The King put his hand on my
uncle’s arm, “Aelfraed is thinking of not only us two but his wife
are you not?”

I nodded. I could not take Gytha
into a war zone and yet, if I left her in London she might be in a
battle and I would not be there to protect her. I knew that
Aethelward was worried about me and had not meant what he had said.
“Will Gytha be safe here?”