[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (14 page)

Those who were not present was of as much interest as who were. Edgar the Aetheling,
the
last of the line of King Alfred, had fled north to Scotland with a number of nobles, including Maerle-Sveinn who had been
sheriff
of Lincolnshire under Harold and who had previously been confirmed in
that
position by William.

Apart from Matilda, two women were in attendance on the front row of seats. Queen Edith, widow of Edward the Confessor
,
and King William’s niece Countess Judith.
Behind them sat the lesser lords, including
Roger Bigod, Hugh fitzGrip, Ivo Taillebois and many other Norman lords, together with the many Norman and English bishops and middle-level thegns such as Tovi,
sheriff
of
Somerset
, Thork
e
l of Arden and Eadric of Wiltshire. Alan sat amongst this august group. Behind again sat a rabble of assorted persons whose position at such proceedings was at best questionable.

Proceedings started with a rambling discussion of disputes between several bishoprics as to land, offices and pr
ivileges. King William and the d
uchess sat and listened to the sometimes heated arguments for an hour or so, before
rising to leave
at a suitable break. All present stood as the
couple
walked into a side-room arm
-
in
-
arm,
the diminutive duchess appearing very small alongside her husband. T
here was a general break for a few minutes while some of the others, particularly in the front ranks of the nobility, also chose to re
tire. A few of the more conscientious
left scribes to take notes of important po
ints for their later attention.

At about eleven in the morning, as the second of the
ecclesiastical
disputes was about half-heard, Alan gently lifted the head of a quietly snoring Roger Bigod from his shoulder
and leaned him back in his chair before rising to squeeze down the row of
Curia
members and out into the corridor outside. A flunkey directed him to first the garderobe where he relieved himself, and then the refreshment rooms. As a member of the Inner Council Alan was entitled to join the ‘rich and famous’ in the room set aside for the
ir use,
and entered to help himself to food and drink, both of fine quality
. He
not
ed
several of the
mighty lords either standing or sitting together and chatting, or in some cases leaning back asleep on chairs. Out of interest he called into the room set aside for the lesser lords, largely still unoccupied despite their relatively greater numbers. The flunkey advised there was no room set up for the hoi polloi
-
if they required refreshment they could leave the premises and apparently nobody would care whether they returned to cast whatever vote they may have.

The second case was winding up as Alan returned
to the Hall
. He didn’t bother waking Roger to ask him his opinion and voted based on what he had heard so far, the case seeming quite simple.

There appeared little logic in the way that matters were presented to the Council, or whether the king was in
attendance
in the c
hamber or not. His
comings
and goings didn’t appear to be determined by the seriousness of the matters at hand. Knowing the administrative abilities of both William and Regenbald, Alan could only assume that the muddled presentation was deliberate.

After a break for a
leisurely
luncheon, the king was in the chamber when the issue of rulership of Northern Northumbria was discussed. This land had long been ruled by the Bamburgh family, with a line of earls going back to the time of Alfred the Great and beyond. Whilst there would hardly have been a person in the Chamber who was unaware of recent events, Chancellor Regenbald ran through the details to be entered into the written record being taken by several scribes. The appointment
by King Edward
of Earl Tostig, Harold’s brother, his rejection by the northerners due to his
alleged
depredations, his subsequent revolt and dispossession which led to the Norwegian invasion the month before th
e other invasion led by
William, Tostig’s death fighting
beside
the Norwegians at Stamford Bridge against his brothers, the appointment the year before by William of the Engl
ishman Copsi from Yorkshire as e
arl and his prompt murder just five weeks later, almost as soon as he set foot north of the Tyne, by Osulf of the Bamburgh family
-
this taking place at Ne
wburn.

Copsi’s murder was particularly reprehensible in that when the house where he was staying had been attacked he had fled to a nearby church for sa
nc
tuary and his attackers had burnt the church down- Osulf himself decapitating Copsi as he sought to escape the building, raising the bloody head in triumph on the steps of the burning church. Osulf had in turn died in the autumn
, apparently killed by
a band of
robbers.

Regenbald announced that it was the king’s decision to appoint Gospatric, son of Maldred
and of the Bamburgh family, as e
arl of Bamburgh. Alan wondered privately how much the purchase of this position had cost Gospatric. Nobody saw Copsi’s murder as an expression of anti-Norman feeling. His crime had been to be a Yorkshireman in Northumbria
-
and the men of the north hated the southerners at least as much as they hated the Normans.

Regenbald also announced the king’s decision regarding changes in the clergy. Wulfwig, the bishop of Dorchester-on-Thames, had died and now Regmigius, a French clergyman from F
é
camp, was appointed. Godric,
the a
bbot of Winchester, was deposed for ‘salacious activity’. His replacement was another Englishman
,
Aethelwig
the
abbot of Evesham. Abbot Beorhtric from Malmesbury was moved to Burton and replaced with a Frenchman named Turold, who was also from F
é
camp Abbey.

Next
followed several cases regarding disputed ownership of land. Beorhtsige of Foulton and Brune of Tolleshunt, both from Essex, lost their land as they could not produce the
landbo
c
s
and their predecessors had died at Hastings. Westminster Abbey lost Kelvedon Hatch, as its donor Aethelric had fought against King William before his coronation. The
abbot of St Benet’s Holme in Norfolk, Aefwold, was exiled for organising the defence of the east coast at the request of Harold, and his men Eadric and Ringulf lost their lands and were exiled with him.
The meeting petered out late in the evening, largely as everybody of any influence had already departed to their quarters.

The next morning the
Curia
resumed
with the
announcement that
Bishop of Wells
Giso had been restored the manor of Banwell in Somerset, which had been taken from him by Harold.
Next
Regenbald dealt with the revolt of Exeter in the west, which had been resolved only a few weeks
previously
. Again, all those present knew the details, as both Norman knights and English thegns paid close attention to politics.

After the announcement of the
geld
tax
that
year, Exeter had revolted and ejected the
sheriff
and his men from the city. In reply to the king’s formal demand for submission, the citizens of the town had been ill-advised enough to seek to bargain with the king. This was probably due to the presence in the town of
Gytha, the widow of Earl Godwin
and mother of Harold, who had considerable
influence.

William’s response had been swift and firm. Despite
the season
being mid-winter
,
Exeter had been
besieged
and surrendered after eighteen days. Other than encouraging the citizens to surrender by blinding one
of the hostages
the town had given and mutilating another by removing his nose, King William had shown remarkable clemency
-
perhaps because it was clear that the revolt had little support amongst the English in the south-west. Many of the
local
thegns
had
responded to the call to arms to fight on the side of the
new
king. Also Queen Edith, widow of King Edward and a firm supporter of King William, had interceded on behalf of the town, which formed part of her
dowry
. Gytha and her party had fled the town before its surrender, most of the noblemen taking ship to Ireland to the court of King Diarmid of Leinster.

Whilst there was nothing of news in this recitation, the political outcome soon became clear. Rougemont Castle had been constructed in Exeter and was entrusted to Baldwin de Muelles, brother of Richard fitzGilbert, and he was appointed
sheriff
. Brian of Brittany was given command of a force of soldiers to be based at Wells. Robert of Mortain received the manor of Bishopsgate and
given
permission to erect a castle. The Bishop of Coutances, Geoffrey de Mowbray, was made Port-Reeve of Bristol.

It had been i
mmediately after the Exeter revolt that
Edgar the Aetheling and his party had fled north to Scotland, presumably because they expected to be implicated.

After a protracted midday meal, t
he
Curia
resumed its hearings during the afternoon. Alan thought the process something like trying to find small jewels in a bucketful of sand, with lots of dross and the occasional gem that made it all worthwhile.

At mid-morning o
n Thursday, after the hearing of a further land dispute, Regenbald announced that judicial powers in Mercia, except in Cheshire
(
which was firmly in Earl Edwin’s grasp
)
would be given to Aethelwig
,
the
a
bbot of Evesham. Evesham was an abbe
y much favoured by the Mercian e
arls, so this of itself shouldn’t be of much concern to the
earls
, mused Alan, but
it
certainly showed the king’s lack of favour
to the earl of Mercia
. The next announcement came as something of a surprise. Roger de Montgomerie was to be appointed
e
arl of Shrewsbury and given leave to build a castle, the land to be carved out of Earl Edwin’s holding. The making of earldoms out of the larger
scirs
of the major e
arls was not without precedent, but the scowl of Edwin’s face and that of his brother Morcar showed their feelings about this announcement.

That evening Alan had arranged for several of the middle-level thegns and knights to attend at
Holebourn
Bridge for dinner. The Normans were his good friend Roger Bigod,
Ivo Taillebois, Robert le Blond, Bernard de Neufmarche
,
who held land near Alan’s
demesne
in Hereford, Roger of Arundel and William de Courseulles. Roger of Arundel and William had recently profited by the grant of manors following the Exeter revolt. The English thegns
attending
were Thorkel of Arden
who was the sheriff of Warwickshire
, Aetheldred of Yalding in Kent, Godric the Steward who had charge of royal manors in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk
and
Sigar of Thriplow in Cambridgeshire. There was also an older man of
slightly
higher rank, Eadnoth the Staller,
sheriff
and the King
’
s Master of Horse in Somerset.

They were a relatively young group, most of the Normans in their twenties or thirties, with the English
on average
slightly older.
They spoke Norman French, which most Englishmen of quality could speak fluently as most were well-travelled and had
journeyed
overseas to the continent, usually several times. The men were a little
reticent
at first, the English and Normans not being known to each other.

“
An i
nteresting day at Council,” commented Roger Bigod as a conversation-starter, taking a sip from his cup of wine and setting it back down on the large table around which they all were seated. He paused and nodded to Alan, saying “Nice wine
!
From Bordeaux? I thought so. Very nice
!
” The others had at their elbows, according their preference, wine, ale
, cider
or mead. Anne sat at the head of the table with a jug of fruit juice
. Beside her
Osmund
held
a pint
jack
of ale.