life. Having the only one life, that is something I on which I place a high value,” he continued with some jocularity. “And you loaned me your horse. You were right, he is a fine beast and he did only have the one more charge in him. He’s down in the stables being pampered, one of only two horses I rode yesterday that survived.”
He picked up a leather purse from the table next to him and tossed it to Alan. “Twenty gold marks as a token of my thanks. When I’m in a position to reward you properly with lands, come and see me again. That’ll depend on how matters go over the next month or so. We crushed the army that Harold raised here in the south and killed the best three English generals- Harold and his two brothers. The remaining earls- Waltheof, Edwin and Morcar- can still raise another army of perhaps 10,000 thegns and fyrdmen, so nothing is settled yet. That depends on my getting reinforcements, which are probably going to be mercenary infantry as I cleaned out most of the mounted men-at-arms before we landed. And I need more horses.”
“How many men did we lose?” asked Alan.
“The best guess at the moment is 1,500 dead and 750 badly wounded,” replied William. “Another 1,000 with lesser wounds, who will return to service in the next few weeks.”
Alan winced. More than a third of William’s army was dead or injured. They may have killed perhaps 3,000 or more Englishmen, but with the survivors of Hastings and the men of the North and West Counties the English could probably gather another 10,000 men- if they could find a general. A second English army would be virtually impossible for William to defeat with the men available.
Following the meeting with Duke William, during the time the army remained at Hastings Alan was busy working the ‘black market’. With the town awash with looted jewellery he decided that his best option was to visit a money-changer in the town. Each gold mark was worth?12, or 240 shillings, a known and certain value. That was a value that with the duke present in the town the money-changer would not dare cheat. Allowing for a small commission he received 235 shillings for each of the two marks he changed.
With probably 3,000 illegally obtained suits of chain mail in the town, their new owners knowing that they would be marching soon and not wanting to carry forty pounds of metal on the march- and most of the looters having at least three or four such suits of mail which would be impossible to carry or hide once the army was on the move- the price of chain mail and other armour and weapons had dropped remarkably in what had become a buyer’s market.
With an eye to the future Alan bought twenty good quality (‘only a little repair needed, Sir Knight’) ex-Norman hauberks at five shillings each, and thirty ex-English byrnies at two shillings each. Another thirty good swords at one shilling to go with the twenty he had collected on the battlefield and fifty helmets (all ex-English, most with no nasal-piece) at ten pence apiece. A total of 231 shillings. With whatever land he might hope to receive for his services, Alan would be in a position to meet his future military obligations at the cost of a pittance paid now. Alan made arrangements with a local merchant for storage, paying three months fee in advance.
William rested his army for five days and then departed, leaving a small garrison at Hastings. Alan remained at Hastings as he had been stricken with a stomach ailment.
William went not to London, but east to Dover on an old Roman road via Benenden, Tenterden and Ashford. He destroyed Romney on the way as punishment for the people of that town massacring the crew and passengers of two ships that had been separated from the invasion fleet and had landed there. Dover, although fortified, surrendered at once. Despite this the Norman troops still burnt the town, much to Duke William’s displeasure as he had given orders to the contrary, and he paid compensation to the burgesses.
At Dover the army was struck down with the gastro-enteritis that had earlier afflicted Alan. After a delay of a week the army marched to Canterbury, when William himself then fell ill and the army paused for a month. During all that time the English were strangely quiescent. The Witengemot had met and elected Edgar the Aetheling as king, the last of the family of Edward the Confessor, despite his being only thirteen years of age- but no actual coronation had taken place.
Of the remaining earls, Edwin was eighteen, Morcar was seventeen and Waltheof of Huntingdon was a little over twenty. Nobody was prepared to take control of the English forces and oppose William.
The Bishops, all but four of whom were English, preached repentance and submission. This was perhaps out of respect of the pope’s support of William, or possibly to protect their own positions.
After he recovered William still didn’t proceed directly to London, although he sent 500 horsemen to test its defences and the attitude of its people. With the people of London opposing them at Southwark William decided to bide his time and, rather than to force a passage over London Bridge, he instructed his forces to take a round-about route using fords upriver, and to create fear in the hearts of the Londoners while restricting supplies of food reaching the city by harrying the land to the north.
While the main force of the Norman army waited at Nutfield, William proceeded to Winchester where he received the first important submission- that of Queen Edith, widow of Edward the Confessor and sister of Harold. With reinforcements landed at Portsmouth, and with Edith’s agreement, William took control of Portsmouth without opposition. From there he proceeded to Oxford where he received the submission of the first of Edgar the Aetheling’s party, Stigand the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Next William moved on to Hertford, twenty miles due north of London. During this time his army left a trail of devastation and destruction twenty miles wide, frightening the English and showing his ruthlessness. Finally the English made up their minds and a deputation was received by William near Hertford, when the uncrowned king Edgar, Earl Waltheof, Ealdred Archbishop of York, most of the other bishops, many of the land’s few remaining nobles and the principal residents of London came to swear oath and give hostages to William.
During this peregrination of nearly six weeks Alan remained at Hastings recovering from his own illness. By then most of the injured men had been discharged, either recovered sufficiently well to return to their homes on the continent or, in many cases, dead. To Alan’s delight and surprise, the surgery on Hugh de Berniers had been successful and he had retained his leg, although he would never ride a horse to battle again and had returned to Normandy.
CHAPTER FIVE
LONDON DECEMBER 1066
On the afternoon of Christmas Day 1066 Alan was standing with Robert de Aumale near the rear wall of Westminster Abbey watching the coronation service of King William I of England. The church was packed with every pew taken and every inch of space crammed with people, almost all men. It was freezing cold and the stone walls seemed to suck out what little heat the packed bodies could generate. The breath of each person caused a momentary cloud before their faces. The unwashed packed humanity gave off a sour smell that not even the clouds of incense arising from the altar could cover. With an overcast and chill day outside, the light was dim in the abbey despite the hundreds of candles lit near the altar.
Alan pulled his cloak closer about him and rubbed his gloved hands together. After months of hard travel his cloak and even his ‘best’ clothes were showing signs of wear.
William was dressed magnificently in red velvet. Attended by Archbishop Ealdred of York he swore to uphold the laws of England and rule the people justly. As William had taken the Crown by conquest, the congregation which included the great nobles of Normandy and England and the lesser nobles, King’s Thegns and Officers of England were asked firstly by Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances in French and then by Archbishop Ealdred in English whether they accepted William as king.
The first roar of approval was loud. With the second, in their enthusiasm to show their loyalty, the English shout was nearly enough to bring down the walls. A few minutes later, as the Archbishop proceeded with the ceremony, walking to a table to take up the small bottle of chrism, there was shouting outside and the smell of smoke drifted into the abbey.
Alan looked at Robert and raised his eyebrows before giving a shrug and leading the way towards the door, just as a dozen or so armed Norman infantry ran in.
Once outside they could see soldiers on one side of the forecourt holding burning torches and apparently
