[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (25 page)

“Good idea,” replied fitzOsbern. “How long until you are finished here? The men will be resting for the day and tonight.”

“Another couple of hours. I’ll have something to eat then,” said Alan.

“Good. I’ve got a few flagons of fairly indifferent wine we found here in the Hall.
It’s p
robably Bleddyn’s. We’ll drink that over roast swine and boiled beef. The cooks are busy with some of the fresh meat from the village’s herds.”

“Isn’t it Friday?” asked Alan.

FitzOsbern frowned in concentration for a moment. “Possibly. I’m not sure just what day it is. But I don’t hold with that on campaign anyway. Just call it Thursday
!
”

*
*
 
*
 
*

Alan washed himself at the horse-trough outside the tavern after stripping off his sweaty and river-sodden armour and padded gambeson. Then, free of sweat, blood and grime, he donned a clean rough tunic and trews without armour. He was confident that there was no chance of
an
attack
by the Welsh
for the next few days.

FitzOsbern had taken over the tavern as his headquarters. None of the soldiers were unhappy about that as they knew that they
’
d cleaned out all of the ale barrels before the commanders took possession. FitzOsbern, Guy de Craon, Raoul Painel
,
Osmond Basset and Bernard de Neufmarche were s
eated
;
all
were
still
wearing
armour, although all appeared to have at least washed their heads and hands. Aubrey Maubanc was amongst the seriously injured in the Hall and Alan was doubtful as to his chances.

The expedition leaders chatted about the battle for several minutes before fitzOsbern called them to attention. “Right, mesires
!
Let’s get to business.
A h
ard-won victory this morning, but a win nevertheless. Bleddyn appears to have escaped, along with
about
400
men. We have supplies
from the village
. The wounded are being sent back by ship and we’ve been re-supplied
with both food and arrows
, so we won’t have to provide guards for the wagons. What do you suggest we do next?”

“Strike while the iron is hot! God is clearly on our side!” said de Neufmarche with fervour. Several others joined in with suggestions, some with expressions of caution regarding the reduced strength of their forces.

After a few minutes Alan said
,
“Lord William
, m
esires
!
We need to look at what our objectives are. The main objective was to bring Bleddyn and his warriors to battle. We’ve achieved that and achieved victory, although at a high cost
-
but that’s what happens in battle. We discussed the other day what our capabilities were. That’s not changed, except the number of men in our force has decreased. We can’t force a way across the River Conwy. We had enough trouble getting over the Clwyd. We can’t fight our way through the hills and go around the river. What we
can
do is sack Abergele, Be
tws and a few smaller villages.

“
Bleddyn will control the crossing of the river to Aberconwyn. He can bring in more
men. If he calls a full muster
he can raise enough men to swarm us under. He has two options. Sit back and do little other than resume ambushes and small raiding parties, or raise an army and come after us. The second option will take him a week or so. Our options are to fall back to Chester, content with what we
’
ve achieved, or plunder Rhufoniog and Rhos- for what that’s worth. If we return to England now Bleddyn will claim victory.” Here fitzOsbern snorted in disgusted agreement. “If we
a
re to avoid that, we have to strike west. It’ll take Bleddyn a couple of days to rally his men enough to defend
,
and a week to raise enough to face us again in battle. If we put every
man
on horse, we can sack Abergele, Betws, Llandrillo and Llanddulas in one day.
Also
Llanrwst if we want to push on to the Conwy. It’s
6
miles to Abergele
;
10
miles to Betws
;
22
miles to Llanrwst. We can send men there and back in a day on horseback. Using the ponies we now have, we can even put the infantry and archers o
n horse and move the whole lot 40
miles, fight a battle and get back before dark. Get in and out fast. We can make a point without giving Bleddyn a chance to catch us if we move fast. Then
we get
back over the border before Bleddyn g
athers
a new army together. Unless you intend to stay here and build a castle?”

“Maybe we’ll intend to stay another time,” said fitzOsbern thoughtfully. “I’m sure that de Craon, Painel, Basset and de Neufmarche here would all be interested in carving out manors, but it’d need to be planned in advance and we’d probably have to use ships to re-supply or move produce until we’ve pacified the countryside. You’ve made that point well.”

“Certainly the land in the Vales is good enough to make it worth the effort,” said de Neufmarche with interest. “But it’ll take a lot of men to win the land and then hold it.”

FitzOsbern continued
,
“As to tomorrow… yes. Good advice. Three columns
, with
40
cavalry,
80
mounted
infantry and
20
mounted
archers
in
each. Targets
- o
ne column to Llanrwst, one to Betws and the third can take Abergele, Llandrillo and Llanddulas, which are closer. Rally back here tomorrow night. Who wants which? Yes, de Craon, you can have Llanrwst. Basset, with the loss
es
you
’
ve had, you can share Betws with Painel
;
de Neufmarche, you can have the rest. What do you want, Thorrington?”

“I’m happy to stay with the force here, Lord William. We’ll guard the river crossing and then you can join one of the raiding parties if you wish. Have some fun!” said Alan.

FitzOsbern laughed and said
,
“Fine! De Craon, I’ll join you and bring an extra
50
men. That’ll leave you just under
300
, Thorrington, mainly infantry. That should be plenty to defend here and have you look after our backs. Make your arrangements. We ride at first light
!
”

The rest of the day was spent clearing
t
he battlefield
of weapons and armour
and selecting the infantry and archers who could ride to accompany the raiding parties the next day. The men were kept firmly in hand with their sergeants and officers ensuring that the villagers who were still present were not harmed. In any event, the villagers had earned the gratitude of the Anglo-Normans for their care of the wounded.

The following day the raiding parties mounted up and moved off
at first light
. Alan had
100
men equipped and ready to fight at any time,
25
on
each side of the bridge and
50
ready to give immediate assistance. The other two thirds
of the men
either relaxed on the village green or got some extra sleep. Soldiers know t
o
always sleep when
they
had
the opportunity and the men knew that one third of them would be on guard duty that night when the raiders returned.

Alan was visited
at
noon by the village headman Cadwy and the priest Father Madoc
.
The priest knew some Latin and it transpired that both could speak
Anglo-Saxon
English reasonably well. “What is your intention regarding the village, my lord?” asked Cadwy after the usual pleasantries had been exchanged.

“That would be up to Earl William fitzOsbern,” replied Alan. Both Welshmen frowned at hearing the name. Earl William had already built a reputation
on the border
as
being
a hard man. “I’ll do what I can, but the purpose of this expedition is to punish your people for the invasion of England last year, so I expect he’ll order the village burnt.”

“But our people didn’t take part in the raids!” came the expected reply.

“Perhaps not from here
-
perhaps from further south, or east or further west, but the raids were by your people.” Alan shrugged. “As I said, I’ll do what I can. Certainly there’ll be some sympathy for the assistance given to our wounded. There’ll be no killing of innocents or ravishing and I’m reasonably sure that no captives will be carried away
as slaves
.” Alan paused and continued
,
“You might like to conduct a dawn Mass in the morning and invite us raiders. It’ll be Sunday. Even somebody as hard-hearted as Earl William might find it hard to burn down the houses of people
with whom
he’s just said Mass.” After another pause Alan pointedly said
,
“Prior Gryffyd at St Asaph refused to say Mass. You probably saw the smoke from here.”

Cadwy gave Father Madoc a sharp look and the priest took the hint
,
“Of course, we often celebrate Mass at dawn on a Sunday,” lied the priest. “Your people are Christian, as are we, and it behooves us to pray together for peace and understanding, and the safe and early return of your people to their homes. Would English or Latin be preferable?”

Alan managed to keep a straight face at the way that Father Madoc had managed to place absolutely no emphasis on the word ‘early’. “Probably Latin,” he replied. “Most of the men are Normans. They’re still unlikely to understand the service, but at least it’ll be more
familiar to them. Do you have somebody who can translate into Norman French the readings and prayers and your homily? I’m sure that you will choose these very carefully. No? Well, if you wish, Edric can do that, from English to Norman French, if you keep
things
short and use simple words. If not you’ll lose your audience anyway. The Norman men-at-arms and knights are simple men with simple ideas. In that case you may prefer to do those parts in English
,
as you’re more comfortable with that language. Excellent! I look forward to seeing you and all your villagers at dawn!”

All three raiding forces returned together. Basset and Painel had paused at Betws to support fitzOsbern and de Craon
as
they rode back. De Neufmarche had done the same, returning to Abergele after destroying the coastal fishing villages. There had been no fighting
-
at least with the Welsh
,
although some arguments had occurred amongst the Normans over booty. Alan had ensured that food was ready. Cooked meat, vegetables and fresh bread and butter were on tables set on the green. The villagers had attended to the cooking and had also produced items such as cheese and nuts, and had gathered fruit. It appeared that Cadwy had been having discussions with his people.

Those in the raiding parties were fatigued after a hard day’s riding and looting and retired early with replete bellies.

Next morning the church bell rang just before first light and the villagers streamed towards the small wooden building. Father Madoc had in fact set up for an outdoors service, and the Normans and English also answered the familiar call of the bell. The bell kept tolling until there were few who were not present, other than the sentries and the guard party on the bridge. The smoke and aroma of additional food being cooked behind the tavern and fresh bread from the bakery wafted about.

Father Madoc appeared to have been burning candles during the night preparing for the service. The Gospels and homily repeated the themes of love for fellow man, helping your neighbor, the Good Samaritan- and God’s vengeance and damnation against those who sin.

After taking the Host fitzOsbern stood next to Alan at the back of the gathering. “I suppose you had nothing to do with this?”
he said

With an expression of total innocence Alan replied
,
“With what? The villagers have been accommodating, despite having their valuables removed the first day we were here. The priest
has been
equally
accommodating
. They prepared dinner last night and breakfast today, which it looks like it should be ready soon.”

FitzOsbern gave him a flat look. “I have a reputation to maintain
! Burn the mill and the salt-
house. Despoil the salt. Slaughter enough animals to feed us for the day. Leave the rest of the grain, flour and animals. Except the horses
- b
ring them
with us.
Everything else can stay.
They’ve earned that much charity.
I want my reputation to be hard, but fair!
Let’s eat and get under way!”