[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (32 page)

The darkness was indeed just relieved by a tinge of grey as Alan stood outside the door of the cottage and nodded to Brand. The huge huscarle raised a booted foot and with one massive kick smashed in the rotte
n
wooden door. The assault party
stormed
in, all wielding the
seax
large fighti
ng-
knife in preference to a sword
- better
for use in the confined space. Inside was almost pitch black and the attackers found their targets by stumbling over them as the latter rose groggily and shocked from the vermin-
infested
straw pall
iasses on which they had slept.

A hastily-lit torch was carried in by the last of the assault team and provided the required illumination. The bandits had been taken completely by surprise and
had
little opportunity to resist. Four men and one woman lay dead. Alan had no quarrel with his men about the fate of the woman, as in the darkness any figure standing had been fair game. In a corner Linn was lying atop a woman, holding her down and talking
quietly
in her ear. The other four men and one woman were quickly bound and thrown outside, where they lay supine and in shock. Alan stepped over to Linn and gave him a hand to rise, before slapping him on the shoulder. Linn in turn helped the girl up. She was thirteen or fourteen and would have been reasonably comely if not covered in filth, wearing dirty rags, with her hair matted and tangled
.

“This is Eabæ, the lass I told you about,” said Linn, as the girl clung to him like a limpet.

Alan nodded. “The cooking place appears to be outside. Is there anything fit to eat here?” he asked prosaically.

“Not much. There’s a part-joint of swine-flesh over there, but not enough for your men,” replied Linn.

“No matter, we brought some rations. Come outside and have some cold smoked meat, bread and cheese. We have a few skins of ale. We’ll take this filth off to Thorrington for trial
and hanging. Which one is Eadwyn?” Linn pointed to a corpse lying in a pool of blood. “Pity,” said Alan. “He might have had some information we could use. Never mind! Perhaps the others know something.”

They
were back at Thorrington by mid
day. The captives, including the remaining woman, were placed m
anacled and under guard in the T
ithe
B
arn. Alan and thegn Edward wanted justice to be swift and messages were sent out for a trial the next day. The idea was to have a fair trial and the captives hanged as soon as possible. Linn and Eabæ were instructed to bathe and
were
provided with fresh clothes, food, drink and a place to rest.

At mid-morning the next day Leofstan, the thegn of Little and Great Holland and the largest land-holder in the Hundred after Alan, called to order the
court
sitting in the Old Hall at Thorrington. With him on the bench were
Brictmer
of
Great Bromley and Edwold of Alresford, the latter one of the several thegns who held lands in that village. Alan and Edward of Alresford were not on the bench as they were likely to be called as witnesses. Osmund was acting as clerk, providing a written record of the evidence.

The defendants were arraigned and their names and villages of origin ascertained. Leofstan adjudged them as not being oath-worthy, being caught in brigandage. Being from outside the Hundred they had no
frithboghs
or relatives to speak for them.

The allegations were first put to the four men and they were given the chance to speak, despite not being allowed to give sworn evidence.
N
one admitted the charges,
but
nor did they have a convincing reason as to why they had been staying at an abandoned cottage in the middle of a forest many leagues from their own villages.

Linn was called, adjudged oath-worthy despite
his young age and
not having any local relatives, sworn in and gave evidence as to what he knew of the men and their depredations elsewhere, and their theft of livestock locally.
Eabæ, although again not a local
lass
, was again adjudged oath-worthy and gave evidence as to her abduction and subsequent abuse. The men were allowed the opportunity of rebuttal, again wit
hout any convincing statements.

One of the
wom
e
n, Aedilhild, was called and adjudge
d
oath-worthy. She said that she had joined with one of the men several months before and had not participated either in any brigandage nor abuse of Eabæ. Leofstan, although usually a very conscientious judge, was just going through the motions of providing justice as this was an ‘open and shut’ case. As lunchtime neared he called an end to proceedings. He wanted to eat a fine meal at the New Hall and be home by dark.

Leofstan,
Brictmer
and Edwold, together with the clerk Osmund retired to the Judge’s Chamber at the end of the
Hall
. They were accompanied, in a breach of proper legal procedure, by Alan and Edward.

In the Judge’s Chamber was a table set with pints of ale, two jugs of good French wine, cups and a large platter of nuts,
fresh
fruit, candied orange, dried dates and cheeses. Each helped themselves as was their
inclination
.

“Well, it seems straightforward enough,” commented Leofstan. “I move that the four men are guilty of kidnapping, rape, theft and brigandage. All in favour? Well that was easy. Alan, can you arrange the tree, rope and boxes? Now as to the woman
Aedilhild
, that’s m
ore difficult. She’s probably not, strictly speaking, guilty of any offence as she has the defence of being under the control of her man, although they were not married. However, I don’t think she should go unpunished. What do you think,
Brictmer
and Edwold?”

Brictmer
replied
,
“I agree. She did participate of her own free will, even if she has a legal defence to the more serious charges. I suggest that she be convicted of assault of the woman
Eabæ and be
ordered to pay
bot
of twenty shillings and in absence of ability to pay have one ear cut off, with her to abjure the shire. With that she’ll be getting off lightly as she was a willing participant to all that was done.”

The others agreed and they walked back out into the Old Hall, where Leofstan announced the judgment, to the delight of the assembled onlookers
, who were looking forward to the entertainment of
the
hanging
.

The official party removed themselves to the New Hall, where they wined and dined in style, and at mid-afternoon the four bandits were hung from the gallows-tree. Hemp ropes were placed about their necks. Each stood on a large box. As a matter of courtesy to the condemned Alan had arranged for each to have their own box on which to stand, so all could be kicked away at the same time and the condemned men swing and twitch together. The villagers had granted themselves a half-holiday to watch the spectacle and were disappointed with Alan’s decision. They preferred to watch the gallows-bait hanging and kicking one by one as they gasped out their lives, and to have the executions carried out in succession rather than together. Having simultaneous hangings made it difficult to keep track of the bets as to how long the victims would each take to die. The
villagers
sat on the
v
illage
g
reen, chatting and eating the food and drink that they had brought, laughing and exclaiming as the convicted men twitched and writhed at the end of their ropes.

As the last body was cut down from the tree and bundled with the others to be thrown into a common grave outside the consecrated land of the church graveyard, Alan was unmoved. These men had already wreaked far worse fates on others and would have again done so in the future in the land under his jurisdiction.

Back at the New Hall
as they sat at table and ate and supped
Alan chatted with the thegns who had attended at the trial
.
He and Anne then met with Linn and
Eabæ in the o
ffice
-room
situated off the
Hall
. Both
youths
were now clean and dressed
in second-hand clothing which Faran had located
. Alan noticed with a smile the way that Eabæ sat close to Linn and that he put his arm around her shoulders. Eabæ was offered a
safe
return to her own village, which she declined, and both were offered places as servants at the Hall, which they accepted happily.

Satisfied with the results of the last few days Alan and Anne retired to their bedchamber for some well-deserved rest.

*
  *
  *
*

Alan was sitting in his office at New Hall Thorrington, looking through the figures for the current Quarter income, taxes and estate estimates provided by his clerk Osmund. It was late afternoon and his headache arose from trying to make sense of the information he had been considering and not from straining his eyes, as the room was well-lit with
a
large glass window near where he was sitting.

He looked up as his steward knocked on the door and entered.

Faran said
,
“Excuse me, my l
ord, but there is a messenger from Jacob the Jew who has ridden from London today. He’s very fatigued and I’ve sat him at the table in the Hall and provided him with food and drink before he falls over.

Alan nodded and instructed
,
“Fetch Lady Anne and we’ll see what the messenger says.”

Ten minutes later, with a jug of good Bordeaux wine and a platter of fresh bread, dried fruits and nuts and cheese on the table and his wife at his side Alan watched the messenger hurried
to the table
. He waved a hand at the provender on the table and the messenger was quick to place some
food
on a wooden plate and start to eat. Alan poured himself and his wife each a cup of wine.

“In your own time and when you are ready,” said Alan impatiently.

The messenger took the hint and
stopped stuffing himself. “My l
ord and
l
ady
!
Jacob the Jew
sends
news
. He regretfully advises that he has been informed that your house in London has
been foully attacked and your b
utler Aiken has been slain. He urges you to attend to resolve matters.”

A brief questioning ascertained that the London town-house had been robbed the day before and Aiken, who was in charge of that property, killed during the robbery.
Aidith his daughter had contacted Anne’s business manager Jacob for assistance.

Alan looked at Anne as he gave instructions to Faran. “Arrange horses and the cart for dawn the day after tomorrow, with food and drink. Two maids for Anne. Ten mounted men-at-arms. I’ll
take
Osmund and Leof as usual.” Anne nodded her agreement. Alan was unhappy to be leaving at this time, with the Quarter Day of Michaelmas, when taxes and rents were to be received and paid, a little over a week away, but could see no other alternative.

They
departed
at first light on Tuesday the 23rd September 1068, with Alan wishing to make the
71
mile journey in one day. With
13
hours of daylight he expected to be able to achieve this despite the women, child and servants being in a light horse-drawn carriage
, as the road was dry
. Firstly they proceeded northwest to Colchester, via Alresford and Wivenhoe, crossed the wooden bridge over the Colne at th
e
city, pausing to pay the pontage fee
to the toll-collector
as they did so, then turned south-west on the London Road, passing through Stanway and Kelvendon
.

E
ach
village had
their wooden bridge over a river where again a fee had to be paid
.
They passed
through several other small villages
until they reached
Chelmsford on the Rivers Can and Chelmer. They
’
d pushed hard and covered the thirty odd miles in time to eat an early midday meal at a tavern in Chelmsford
, forgoing a visit to their nearby manor of Norton
. From Chelmsford to London the condition of the road made travel slower, although the lack of recent rain meant that the roadway was firm. Until Chelmsford the road had passed through land that was moderately intensively used, with villages every few miles, each with their area of cultivated land and with an intervening section of waste before the land belonging to the next village. It was a warm and dry late autumn day and throughout the shire the harvest had been gathered. In the fields outside the villages along the way teams of oxen could be seen drawing mould-board ploughs through the soil to perform the autumn ploughing and the fruit trees were being pruned. Outside the granaries in each village men, women and children could be seen threshing and winnowing the harvested grain, with the stooks brought in from the fields standing in piles awaiting attention.