[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (51 page)

“I currently have seven longships. Five were taken recently and may well be recognised by their former crew members. I can remove the modifications I made to my first two
ships
, so they look just like they did two years ago. I haven’t sorted the details out yet, but I’d need two crews each of at least twenty-five men. Every
man
must
be
able to speak fluent Danish or Norwegian, preferably actually
being
Norwegian. Each must be entirely trustworthy and disciplined. That requirement actually shouldn’t be too difficult. Probably one in ten men in East Anglia has a Danish parent or grandparent. I have two Norwegian captains. I’ll need probably thirty good men to be supplied. My idea is that instead of taking your sp
ies
to the king, we would go to your sp
ies
and then deliver any information discretely. I’d also suggest that the king may wish to buy into service the five ships I took this year and crew them to scout the east coast. How many ships are the Danes bringing?” asked Alan.

“I’ve been told about
300
ships and probably
3,000 men
- although I doubt they’ll bring that many ships,
” replied
Herfast
. Alan frowned. “Yes, I know that the numbers don’t match,” continued
Herfast
. “T
o have 300
ships should mean
at least 8,000
men
, hence my thoughts on the number of ships. 100 ships is a more likely number- still a very significant force.
That would
still
cause us considerable trouble
.
I’m sure that Swein won’t want to make a very large contribution to what he would see as a speculative venture. My information is that he’ll be sending two of his sons and not coming himself. Even if his loses two sons he probably wouldn’t notice. He’s a man of commendable vigor and he has enough sons to crew a longship! As to your offer, I’ll put it to the king. No chance of gifting them, I suppose?”

“I don’t need any dispensations for recent transgressions and I thought that if he pays at least a nominal amount for them he may take more care of them than the last lot I gifted him
, which he allowed the Danes to burn!
Longships may be made of wood, but they don’t grow on trees!”

*
*
*
*

King William was apparently prepared to allow events to unfold without taking pre-emptive action, which Alan found somewhat surprising given the king’s usually impatient nature. What didn’t surprise Alan was the skinflint king had declined to buy the ships even at a discounted rate of
£50 each, which was less than half their value. Instead
the king
h
ad
offered to waive the military and financial obligations for both Alan’s land and that of Anne,
and eventually a ten year period had been agreed. Alan knew that he was being cheated, as William was fully aware that Alan intended to maintain a strong military presence in both Hereford and Essex which, in case of real need, would be available to the king.

As
Herfast
had indicated
likely
, the Danes arrived towards the end of summer, landing on the Humber at Grimsby within easy striking range of York on the 20th August, just after the Feast of the Assumption of St Mary. They’d first harried the east coast and attacked the ports of Sandwich, Ipswich and Norwich,
destroying many English ships.

De
struction
and looting
of the English ships appeared to have been the principal reason for the earl
iest
attacks.
Swein Estrithson
had indeed stayed at home and sent his brother Osbjorn, his two sons Harold and Cnut, and Christian
,
the bishop of Aarhus. They
’
d been met by the Aetheling, Earls Cospatric
of Bernicia
and Waltheof
of Huntingdonshire
, thegns Maerle-Sveinn, Siward Barn, Arnkell, the four sons of Karli and a host of Northumbrians. Included in their numbers were many English from the south
. These
includ
ed
Brctsi of Foulton
from Tendring Hundred
,
and from further afield Aefwold the abbot of St Peter’s Holm and his men Eadric and Rungulf, Aethelsige the abbot of St Augustine’s at Canterbury, Skalpi who was a thegn with lands in several shires but mainly Essex, and many
men
.

King William, who had been hunting in the forest of Dean when he had received the news, had sent out warning messages to his lords but didn’t move immediately.
The two
castellans of York had replied that they could hold out for a year if needed. Again, Alan found the lack of prompt response unusual, but thought that the reason may well be that the Earls Edwin and Morcar had
still
not committed themselves either way and had not joined their forces with those of Cospatric or with the Danes. Alan mused tha
t perhaps the situation on the c
ontinent with the revolt in Maine was perhaps influencing King William’s actions in the north of England, as the loss of his southern buffer against Angevin aggression would make it imprudent for William to seek reinforcements from Normandy.

In Essex
the
gebur
s of the village were busy
in the late autumn
heat
with their post-harvest tasks. Grain was being threshed on the stone-flagged village threshing-floors, men wielding flails high overhead and striking hard. Periodically the women and older children would collect the resulting mixture of grain and chaff to winnow by tossing into the air to allow t
he wind to blow the dross away.

The autumn ploughing had been delayed to allow the villagers to harvest the salt that had now accumulated in the saltpans located on Alresford Creek, Barfleet Creek and on the estuary itself, this being one of the more urgent tasks as it was the principal cash-crop for the region and one long soaking rain would again turn the dried salt back into brine, with the loss of the entire year’s harvest. The gathered salt was then cleaned, bagged and taken to the salt-house owned by Alan for storage and later processing. The women of the village were also busy in the evenings drying and preserving fruit and making jams and pickled vegetables for use during the winter, while most of their menfolk spent their time after sundown at the village tavern.

Within a few weeks the
Autumn
Killing would commence, when the livestock which the village had not sold but would not be able to feed over the harsh winter would be slaughtered and the meat smoked, dried or pickled. All knew that Michaelmas, the 29
th
of September and the next Quarter Day when taxes and rents would be paid, was fast approaching, causing some concern as those with financial obligations rather than the simple provision of labour days sought to accumulate the goods and funds required to pay their obligations

Those in the New Hall at Thorrington were also busy, but on matters of war
and
not agriculture.

Herfast
had sent the men requested by Alan. As required
,
they were stout, reliable men and all fluent in Danish or Norwegian. Alan had eighteen suitable men of his own who were prepared to leave home indefinitely and pursue the fight against the Danes. M
any
of these men had been refugees from the slaughter of the Danish raid in Lexden and Winstree Hundreds two years before and were anxious to do what they could to achieve some retribution.

* 
*
*
*

It was Wednesday 23
rd
September
, two days after their departure on the Feast of St Matthew the Evangelist,
when
Sven Knutson carefully guid
ed
the snekke
Havørn
towards the docks of York, with
Alekrage
with captain
Lars Erikson at the helm
following close behind
. The oarsmen were singing a Danish rowing chant as they hauled at the oars. Speaking in English had been banned on the ship
s
, with the crew
s
being required to converse in Norse. Any breach was met by the penalty of a fine of a week’s pay.

A pall of dirty gray smoke hung over the city. As they got closer they could see that most of the city had been razed to the ground. St Peter’s Minister was a charred ruin, as were both castles. “What in God’s name has happened?” said Alan to Sven in English, earning a sharp look from the helmsman as they rowed past the still smoking remains of the two castles, one on each side of the river. “Surely t
he Danes didn’t burn the city?”

T
he taciturn Viking gave a shrug in reply and steered the ship towards the wooden wharf on the north bank of the Ouse River, just south of the still intact Ouse River Bridge. The wharf itself hadn’t burnt, although the warehouses located nearby hadn’t been as fortunate. There were no ships tied up at the wharf, nor sitting at anchor further out in the dock. With no ships or warehouses the usually bustling docklands were virtually deserted.
Havørn
carefully approached the wharf, the oarsmen backing water to allow a crewman to jump from the bow onto the wharf and then receive and secure the heavy
mooring
ropes thrown to him.
Alekrage
dropped anchor further out. With a brief word of instruction in Danish to Alan and the others to stay with the boat and keep their mouths shut, Sven and one other man jumped onto the wharf and disappeared off down Coppergate.

He returned a little over two hours later and hailed Lars to come over from
Alekrage
so that he wouldn’t need to repeat what he had to say. About half of the crew of
Havørn
were on the wharf, ostensibly stretching their legs and relaxing but in fact on guard with weapons handy
and
making sure that nobody approached the ship. Alan noticed a su
spiciously strong smell of ale i
n the air when Sven leaned close.

“Goddam stupid Normans,” he said in English, after a glance about to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard. “On the 19th the Normans heard that the Danes were coming, so to prevent them from using the houses close to the two castles for material to fill in the ditches, they set fire to the houses to make a clear space. The fire near the old castle got away and burnt down most of the town on that side of the river.” Alan though it a little strange that the locals referred to the castle built to the north of the river as the ‘old castle’ and that built on the opposite southern bank the ‘new castle’, given they had been raised only a few months apart and even the northern castle was barely a year old. “Even St Peter’s Minister was burnt down. Two days ago the English and Danish armies arrived, stormed the castles and slaughtered nigh on everybody.”

“So much for William Malet’s boast they could hold out for a year,” said Alan in a derisive tone. “I suppose he’s dead?”

“No. He and his family and Gilbert de Ghent were taken captive. Nearly all the rest were killed either in the fighting or afterwards. One of the informants I was pouring beer into kept carrying on about Waltheof and how he slew so many foreigners. It seems the damn man has hired a
skald
, Thorkell Skallason, to write an epic poem!”

“Did the people of York join in the fight? And if so, on which side?”

“Well, they’d just had their city burnt down by the Normans so I assume they weren’t very friendly
to the king
. But from what I hear those who hadn’t
already
left to live with relatives after their houses were burnt down just stood back and watched. When you have
5,000
men pour over the walls and swarm down two castles in a matter of hours, keeping quiet and out of the way is the best thing you can do!”

“I suppose so. What of Ealdred, the Archbishop? How did he feel about the cathedral being burnt down? He’s been a staunch supporter of King William these last few years.”

Sven gave a snort of amusement and replied
,
“You’d have to ask St Peter himself the answer to that one. Or Lucifer, depending in which direction he went
!
He died a week before the city was attacked, just a few days after the Danes landed on the coast.”

“What’s the situation in York? Are there many rebels about?”

“No. They took what little booty the fire had left and marched away. After all, who’d want to stay and defend a burnt-out ruin? I’m sure they thought that King William is welcome to what little is left!”

“Were you able to find where they marched?”

“
Of course
!
They went where
you’d think. The earls and their men went north-east
,
p
robably to Durham again.
As to the
Danes, well I’ve had conflicting stories about where their ships are, and you never find Danes or any other Norseman far from his ship. I’ve heard
they’re south-east at Skegness
or
north-east at Hartlepool or Scarborough. North-east would make more sense as that keeps them close to the Aetheling’s men and we didn’t see any sign of them as we sailed north past Skegness. We were keeping a low profile and not looking for trouble on the way up here, but I’m sure we’d have seen some sign of the Danish fleet as we passed if they were at Skegness.”