Knight of the Empress (24 page)

At this time a penny was a valuable coin and often payment would be taken by ‘nicking’ pieces off it. Totally round copper and silver coins were not the norm in 12
th
Century Europe. Each local ruler would make his own small coins.  The whole country was run like a pyramid with the King at the top.  He took from those below him in the form of taxes and service and it cascaded down. There was a great deal of corruption as well as anarchy. The idea of a central army did not exist. King Henry had his household knights and would call upon his nobles to supply knights and men at arms when he needed to go to war.  The expense for that army would be borne by the noble.

The border between England and Scotland has always been a prickly one from the time of the Romans onward.  Before that time the border was along the line of Glasgow to Edinburgh.  The creation of an artificial frontier, Hadrian’s Wall, created an area of dispute for the people living on either side of it. William the Conqueror had the novel idea of slaughtering everyone who lived between the Tees and the Tyne/Tweed in an attempt to resolve the problem. It did not work and lords on both sides of the borders, as well as the monarchs used the dispute to switch sides as it suited them.

The manors I write about were around at the time the book is set. For a brief time a De Brus was lord of Normanby it changed hands a number of times until it came under the control of the Percy family. This is a work of fiction but I have based events on the ones which occurred in the twelfth century.

In my first book I referred to Henry's bastard son as Richard of Gloucester.  He was, of course, Robert of Gloucester. That was a research error.  I have checked in a number of other books now and he was in fact, Robert and not Richard.  My apologies.  I have remedied that in my earlier book. It just shows that you should never take your first source as gospel- always check a second and a third.

I can find no evidence for a castle in Norton although it was second in importance only to Durham and I assume that there must have been a defensive structure of some kind there. I suspect it was a wooden structure built to the north of the present church. The church in Norton is Norman but it is not my church.  Stockton Castle was pulled down in the Civil War of the 17
th
Century. It was put up in the early fourteenth century.  My castle is obviously earlier. As Stockton became a manor in the 11
th
century and the river crossing was important I am guessing that there would have been a castle there. There may have been an earlier castle on the site of Stockton Castle but until they pull down the hotel and shopping centre built on the site it is difficult to know for sure. The simple tower with a curtain wall was typical of late Norman castles. The river crossing was so important that I have to believe that there would have been some defensive structure there before the 1300s. The manor of Stockton was created in 1138. To avoid confusion in the later civil war I have moved it forward by a few years.

Vikings continued to raid the rivers and isolated villages of England for centuries. There are recoded raid as late as the sixteenth century along the coast south of the Fylde. These were to 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 nave 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 had 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 fourteenth century onwards.  In the sixteenth century they 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

Griff Hosker April 2015

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