[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (38 page)

Alan looked at his cup and thought
,
‘I must have been tired to go to sleep without drinking that’
,
before he corrected his omission. Putting the cup down, he shook his head tiredly. “I am sorry, my liege, but my men are played out. We rode over
ninety
miles in a day to reach Peterborough. Fifty miles to Lincoln and sixty something miles here. Nothing unusual in that, but when your men sleep at night we scout and protect them. No warm beds. No hot food. No servants to care for our needs. There is a limit that men can serve for twenty-four hours in a day and we have reached that. If you want constant scouting cover, you have to provide sufficient men for the night shift. The problem is we have to ride all day to keep up with your men
’
s advance and then have to work all night. My men will provide advance cover tonight and then at daybreak I’m withdrawing them for a day of rest.”

With a thoughtful expression the king nodded and
replied
,
“Very well, I look forward to seeing you in the field the day after tomorrow. Your men can rest here in Selby tomorrow and form part of the guard I’m leaving for the queen. As I understand it, her time has come, waters have broached and the next prince or princess of England will be born in this village
. T
hey
will follow later.”

In confusion Alan said
,
“I’m most surprised that the queen accompanied you at this time.”

William gave a snort of amusement. “So am I,” he replied. “
However,
Matilda is not a woman to whom it is easy to say ‘no’, irrespective of the circumstances. And
,
of course
,
I already have three sons, safe in Normandy. At least, from my own experiences, I hope they are safe!” After a pause he added
,
“Robert of Eu is looking after them, as he looked after me. I trust that none will need to lay down their lives to protect
them
, as was needed to protect me.”

Seeing that Alan was nodding off to slee
p again, he clicked his fingers to attract the attention of a servant.
“Food and drink for Sir Alan and,” with a glance at those standing by the door
,
“his men. Instantly
!
Now, Robert, about…”

The king had obviously sent his cooks ahead of the main body of the army,
as roast pheasant and venison were
provided
along
with roast vegetables, gravy and several sauces, followed by a sweet pie made with preserved berries. Alan and the Englishmen drank ale instead of the fine wine offered as they still had a night of duty to perform, before they returned replete to their camp. There the others had completed their meal of reheated
boiled
pork and vegetables,
stale
bread and chees
e, washed down with river water-
which was probably better fare than most in the army received that day. ‘Nobody said life was fair,’ mused Alan, his belly full of delicious food, as he detailed the first
men
to the
guard
positions.

Despite his tiredness and
his
poor ability to perform
at his best
when fatigued, Alan rose and checked the guards three times during the night. There are few things more certain to keep a guard’s attention that the expectation that any moment either his captain or his lord would appear without warning and hopefully not be welcomed with an arrow in the belly.

As dawn broke a little before six in the morning, the men that Alan had undertake the second shift of the night watch
returned
to the camp. Four
men
were
posted
as guards
and the grooms sent to the village to collect breakfast, as the army marched past heading towards York some twelve miles away. The grooms returned with news that the queen had overnight borne a son, her fourth, to be named Henry. Prince
Henry’s birth was toasted and
food
was
eaten before the exhausted troops wrapped themselves in their blankets for a well
deserved rest.

The following day Alan and his men rode the short distance north to York. The previous day the city had capitulated before the king’s army as cravenly as it had
surrendered
to the
Northumbrians
shortly
before
. As the army had approached the bridge over the River Ouse a delegation had ridden forth from the city offering its abject submission. The siege of the castle had been lifted and the city of 8,000 souls, the second largest in England, was at least nominally peaceful and in friendly hands. How peaceful a city can be with an occupying and mainly foreign army of 4,000 is somewhat questionable
, and the patrols in the city streets were kept busy detaining both rebels and marauding Normans
.

York having surrendered and submitted to the king, the following day Alan was requested to attend a meeting of the
Curia
at St Peter’s Cathedral at mid-day, the
recently-built
castle being judged too small and rough for such a prestigious event. After passing through Micklegate Bar, with the castle built just a few months before looming over the town on his right, he passed along the Shambles, Low Petergate and into Mi
nster Yard before entering the c
athedral precinct. The town was crowded with soldiers
. S
mall groups
of troops
throng
ed
the main streets, mainly taking in the sights and spending the few pennies they had on ale or food or buying trinkets from the costermongers and other stall-holders.

The king had arranged for Mass to be said for the assembled members of the
Curia
. A
fter a short and simplified service performed by one of the Canons, with no homily by the priest and a minimum of hymns sung by the choir, the members of the
Curia
were ushered into the Refectory. A simple meal of pottage
and
a tasteless boiled mutton stew w
ere
served
with stale bread. Then t
he king stood at his place at the
high-table
and the previous buzz of conversation ceased. Ealdred, Archbishop of York, sat at the king’s right hand. He was one of the few citizens of the city to emerge in William’s favour, having steadfastly refused to participate in the coronation of Edgar the Aetheling and having spent the last few weeks roundly condemning the revolt both privately and from the pulpit.

“My l
ords! Your efforts of the last week or so have been quite notable. Gathering so large a force and moving it so far
and
so quickly is creditable. We moved as many men in less time than the English did in their much-vaunted march to Stamford Bridge, which lies just seven miles from here.

“York has submitted to peace, although when we entered the city yesterday we found some hundreds of enemy soldiers who had not had the chance to flee, and whom we put to the sword. I thank Archbishop Ealdred for his intervention in the name of peace. However, I must say that personally I would have preferred a decent battle to take the city, so that I could burn it to the ground to make the point that rebellion against my rule is totally unacceptable. The Archbishop has successfully pleaded for mercy for the city, likening it to a woman of easy virtue who just can’t say no to any nobleman who presents himself. While the city may not have been burned, its burgesses will pay a very heavy financial price and will provide hostages to ensure future good behaviour.

“A second castle will be raised immediately, close to the site of the existing castle but on the other side of the River Ouse. Gilbert de Ghent will be the castellan. York is the second-largest city in the kingdom and is positioned to prevent the descent of the
Scottish and Northumbrian
barbarians into the rich Midlands of England. We have recovered York, which was our main objective. What do we do next? Unfortunately, we fight a be
ast which is somewhat formless.

“
Other than the Aetheling, who has yet again fled back to Scotland and is in any event a cat’s-paw for other ambitious men, there is nobod
y other than the family of Bamb
u
r
gh and the people of Northumbria that we target. Cospatric and the others have fled in their ships from the River Humber and where they have gone we know not. Whatever army they had
ha
s dispersed. One could say that we have achieved what we needed to do
- b
ut I refuse to accept that we will need to do this every year. North of here the only significant settlem
ents are Durham and Monkchester.
There is nothing to suggest that the Cumbrians have been involved in this revolt
, and
anyway
that land is largely under the sway of the Scots and the
Manx Norwegians
. Durham is
65
miles away. Monkchester is
90
miles away
on the mouth of the river Tyne
. Both are so small they are hardly worth the effort of burning, but some
such
gesture is needed. Gilbert de Ghent, I
direct
you to take a force of the Flemish mercenaries to Durham. Every manor belonging to Cospatric, Cnut Karlison, Sumarlithr Karlison, Gamall Karlison, Thorbrand Karlison and Arnkell is to be burnt and every animal slaughtered, whether in Yorkshire or Northumbria. Send men specifically to seek out and destroy those manors. Every village in Northumbria along the road to Durham is to be burnt and again the livestock carried away or slaughtered. Obviously
,
you’ll do that on your way back.

“In a week’s time I return to Winchester. Gilbert, I expect to hear from you that Durham is destroyed before I leave.

“Any comments or suggestions? No? Then I will ask Archbis
hop Ealdred to give us all his b
lessing and we can get to work.”

*
  *
 
*
  *

After a rest of two days Gilbert de Ghent led
1,000
men, mainly Flemish mercenaries, north towards Durham. They intended to take two days to cover the
65
miles, traveling more cautiously than King William’s much larger army on its march north several days before. Alan and his men were allocated scouting duty in the countryside around York, being given rest on alternate days. As was his wont, Alan spent most of his free days in the library at York Minster, finding several new books
which
he arranged for the monks to copy
in return for works from Co
l
chester
Priory
.

Every peasant nearby and
all
the townsfolk, including the well-to-do and the women, were recruited as forced
labour to raise the artificial hill that would comprise the motte of the new castle, dig its defensive ditch and to cut and drag in the timber required for construction of the palisade and buildings. By Tuesday 10
th
March the castle was nearly completed and that day King William, the queen, the new-born prince
departed
south to Winchester
together with 1,000 men
, leaving William fitzOsbern to conduct the ‘mopping up’ operations and supervise the completion of the second castle.

Two days after the king and his entourage had departed, Gilbert de Ghent returned. The expedition against Durham had not proceeded well. After a relatively
slow and difficult
march of two days the Flemings had approached the town, only to find the area wreathed in fog so dense that a man could barely see his hand
before
of his face. The fog, and the Flemings, had
both
persisted for three days before, short of supplies, Gilbert had withdrawn his men. Apparently the English were attributing the fog to the intervention of St. Cuthbert, the patron saint of Durham.

FitzOsbern retained
1,000
men at York, mainly mercenaries, dismissed the feudal levies and paid off the remaining mercenaries, before departing for Winchester on 4
th
April, t
he day before Palm Sunday.

Alan and his men formed part of the host returning south.

Alan rode tiredly into the bailey at Thorrington in the middle of the afternoon of Tuesday 7
th
April at the head of his armed contingent. Whil
st
there had been no pressing urgency
,
they had ridden from York to Lincoln and then to Huntingdon in two days
-
primarily as there were no towns
at
which to stay between York and Peterborough other than the city of Lincoln itself. At Huntingdon they had
left Ermine Street, the old Roman r
oad between London and the n
orth, and headed south-east at a more leisurely pace along the more closely populated
lands
, taking nearly two days to cover what they had
ridden i
n one
day
when they had ridden north.