[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (6 page)

Alan, Anne and their household
generally
stayed sn
ug near the fire in their newly-built, luxuriously-
appointed and centrally-heated New Manor Hall at Thorrington.
This
was a masterpiece of engineering and planning
,
constructed of
a stone-built
lower storey, half-timber upper storey
with a wood-shingle roof. T
he floor and walls
were
heated by a hypocaust furnace
located
in an adjoining building with the warm air conducted underground and then up the walls through flues, in a manner used in the past by the Romans. The
Hall
fire, largely only for appearances give
n the effective heating of the H
all, had a metal canopy which channeled the smoke away up a metal chimney.
Light came though eight glazed windows, four on each side of the
Hall
. Alan had reached into the past for inspiration and had spared no expense in construction. The Hall even had a bathing house located next to the kitchen
,
where the water in a large tub made from a tun barrel cut in half and big enough to accommodate several people, was heated by the kitchen fires. Probably the biggest innovation was the self-flushing latrines, where water piped from a nearby spring was used to wash away the waste
-
a common feature of Roman buildings
, although now an unheard of luxury,
and
one
which Alan had copied.

Alan conducted regular sword and spear training drills for his men in the covered
salle d’arms
next to the armoury. Owain the Welsh archer conducted training for men with the longbow on any day when the weather permitted.

As Alan had been away in December when the Hundred
Court
had been in session, Leofstan, the thegn from Great and Little Holland and the second largest landholder after Alan, had taken th
at
duty. However he had bound over the more serious cases to be heard when Alan and Osmund were present, as Osmund’s understanding of the law and his ability to find the correct sections in the
court
text-books was the best in the Hundred. This meant that the list for the January sittings starting on Monday 21
st
,
, the Saint Day of St Agnes,
was very long. Indeed, it appeared that the late autumn and early winter had been a period of considerable petty
lawlessness in the Hundred, particularly in the manors held of the Bishop of London at Clacton and St Osyth by his men
Normans Roger de Montivilliers, Geoffrey of Rouen and Fleming Albyn of Bruges
,
and
the
young French Angevin
Gerard de Cholet
who
was tenant of
Sheriff Robert fitzWymarc’s
village of Elmstead.

Sitting jointly in the Old Hall with Leofstan and thegn Godwin of Weeley, Alan heard the usual litany of minor crimes. Assaults, petty theft, two counts of illegal possession of animals and illegal intercourse (with women, not animals). There were also serious crimes of theft, rapes and two cases of unlawful killing.
C
ivil cases
were also
listed for hearing, one of selling a sick cow and two cases of encroachment on the land of another.

West Saxon law required that the person laying the complaint give oath in support of his claim. Each freeman was required to be a member of a
frithbogh
of ten men, who gave oath as to his truthfulness. They were also
the
tithing of ten men who would
,
if he was found guilty
,
share in the payment of the required
bot
, the fine or compensation. A freeman could
compound his penalty for serious crime by paying an amount equal to his
wergild
, which was
200
shillings for a cheorl, cottar or sokeman. A thegn’s
wergild
was
1,200
. Such amounts were usually totally beyond the ability to pay of the individual man, and often also of the tithing- although the prospect of being hung from the gallows-tree did tend to make men undertake their best efforts to find the required funds
when needed
.
Many of the
theows
or slaves in England had become enthralled due to inability to pay the
bot
or compensation required for breaches of the law.

Cases were not brought lightly. A person making accusation found to be false was heavily fined
if
the court found that the actions had been brought with malice
;
those convicted of perjury faced eternal damnation by being forbidden to be shriven or buried in consecrated ground. These were simple country people who believed in the truth and for whom the penalty for perjury was treated with the utmost seriousness and fear. Cases of mis-identification were rare as they lived in small tight-knit communities where all knew each other well, and those from neighboring villages at least by sight.
Few of the cases were disputed.

The minor cases usually took little time as the defendants mostly pleaded guilty and paid the small fines of a few shillings for injury to their victims. Injuries such as bruising, loss of teeth, broken bones etc each had a set
compensation
bot
specified in the Dooms which formed the English written law.

They the
n
moved on to the more serious cases. As usual in rape cases they turned on the question of consent. One man was acquitted through lack of certainty on the part of the
judges
regarding his understanding as to whether the wench was consenting or merely submitting. He was, nevertheless, ordered to pay
bot
to the girl of twelve shillings. The other man was convicted. Neither he nor his
frithbogh
could pay his
wer
, and so he was hung from the gallows-tree to the delight and entertainment of the villagers. One of the unlawful killing cases was found to be justified by self-defence. In the other the
case
man was convicted and sent to be held at the gaol in Colchester until the
wer
of
200
shillings was paid, the
frithbogh
saying it would take time to sell cattle
and swine
to enable payment.

One man, a Norman of low class from the
village of Elmstead
and in the employ of
Gerard de Cholet,
was convicted of theft. Without the option of payment of
wer
, as Norman law applied to him, his right hand was struck off and he was forced to abjure the Hundred. As there was a blizzard blowing at the time, and weakened by blood loss, it was unlikely that he would have made it as far as Colchester. Most probably a hungry wolf in the forest near Alresford ate well that day.

The cases were
now
hear
d in the Old Hall at Thorrington
v
illage, instead of the previous use of the tithe-barn
. Given the warmth inside and the appalling weather outside
,
the Hall was packed with people with nothing better to do.
Godwin and Leofwine were in no hurry to finish,
both
being provided with snug quarters at the
fortified
New Hall, and they decided to deal fully with all pending matters, spending five days to achieve this. They were assisted on several days by thegns
Edwald of Alresford, Bondi of Ardleigh, and by special invitation for the first time the
Englishman named Leax, formerly of Hertfordshire. He was Engelric’s newly-appointed
steward
to the lands he held of St Paul’s of London at Birch Hall. With the additional judges two courts were
able to be
held, one at each end of the
Hall
, with the second using the services of Brother Wacian as scribe.

Lent had begun exceptionally early, Ash Wednesday being on the 6
th
February. As usual, Alan and Anne attended Mass on such a festival, together with nearly everybody in the village. As they walked
across
the small wooden bridge over the Alresford Creek Alan noted that
the water
of the
stream
was frozen solid.

Despite the packed humanity
it was bitterly cold
in the small wooden church. The palm crosses from the previous Palm Sunday were
burnt and the ashes mixed with C
atechumens
oil. E
ach
person
present had a cross traced on their forehead, Brother Wacian saying to each
. “
Remember, O man, that y
e
are dust, and to dust y
e
shall return.
”
The beautiful
penitential
Psalm 51 was read by the priest, not because he could not remember the words but so that he had the pleasure of
handling
the beautifully copied and leather-bound English
-language
b
ible that Alan had, as an act of contrition for his previous sins, presented the church the previous year. As with all services in the country that were held outside
cathedrals
or abbeys, the service was
conducted
in the Anglo-Saxon language
and t
he simple village folk
recited
from memory the familiar required responses.

Accepted practice for Lent in this part of England was that two smaller than normal meals were permitted each day, but that red meat, fowl, eggs and dairy produce were not permitted except on Sundays- each Sunday being deemed a ‘mini-Easter’ Feast Day. Usually this would not have caused a problem, but Alan was concerned about the severity of the winter. He held Anne back after the service ended and asked Brother Wacian if they could talk. Brother Wacian led them into the rectory, where a warm fire was burning, and invited them to sit.

“Brother, I have
concerns
about the Lenten requirements this year. Lent is a time of prayer, penitence and self-denial, preparing us for Holy Week and Easter. This year, as Easter Day is very early, so is the commencement of Lent. In fact we celebrated Candlemas only three days ago
!
One day we are celebrating Christ’s presentation in the temple and nearly the next we are preparing f
or his death!

“This year is a very severe and hard winter. Our people are well-fed and usually well-provisioned. My concern
this year
is that when we are not having blizzards we are having strong winds. These are communities that rely on fresh fish, which are always
abundant
in the sea nearby, and we have little store of dried or salted fish. Our fishermen have hardly been able to get their boats in the water for two weeks. If this continues until Easter, our people are likely to be so weakened that they may have difficulty in performing the ploughing and manure-spreading
the following m
onth. Those who are pregnant such as Anne, or who are ill, would also weaken. May I ask that you grant a dispensation
on each Sunday
for the following week on those occasions the weather has prevented fishing for the preceding three days, permitting fowl to be eaten that week, in moderation and perhaps only once in the day?”

Brother Wacian frowned. He was quite strict in his religious observations and his requirements of others to do the same. This idea was distasteful and offensive to him, but he did recognise that his congregation had both spiritual
and
physical needs. He also recognised that the person making the request had the ability to dismiss him at any time, although he allowed that to have little bearing on his
decision
, and
also
that Alan himself had obligations to his people. After a few moments reflection he replied
,
“Let us see how things progress over the next week or so. A week without meat will not hurt anybody
-
they can fill their bellies on vegetable pottage and bread, and those who planned in advance
also
with dried or pickled fruit or vegetables. If the weather stays inclement, I may agree to your request and grant a partial dispensation on a week
-
to
-
week basis, for the good welfare of the people. Obviously I would not myself
so partake
.”

“Thank you, Brother Wacian. Hopefully, it will not be necessary and the Good Lord will grant us fair weather
-
but if he does not it
behooves
us to care for our people as best we can.