the momentum from the defected blow to spin. He then made a lightning-fast change of grip on the practice-sword to hold the middle of the blade in his gloved hand and struck upwards with the pommel which was pointing towards Brand’s head. Although Alan pulled the strength from the blow, Brand’s head was still rocked back. As the huscarle staggered Alan, still holding the sword by its blade, used the cross-piece of the handle to catch the top of Brand’s shield and drag it down, leaving the Saxon open to a stab to the throat delivered by the blade still held in a short- grip, which Alan stopped inches from Brand’s neck.
Brand was panting heavily and both he and his men were stunned at the speed and versatility of Alan’s swordsmanship.
“Now Hugh and I will show you how it’s done properly. The hard way, without shields.”
Alan and Hugh both discarded their shields and moved to en garde, and proceeded to put on a demonstration of swordplay and footwork for five minutes that left the English astonished. The footwork each used made the contest resemble a complex dance- although dancing rarely involved stunning kicks and the throwing of dirt in the face of the partner, as the two Normans ignored all rules of chivalry. The swords flashed as they swept back and forth, both men using both the blade and the pommel to strike at their opponent. Alan finally managed a low sweep of his reversed sword, using the cross-guard to pull one of Hugh’s feet from under him, delivered a strong kick to the ribs and placed the blade at Hugh’s throat.
Breathing slightly heavily, Alan turned to the Englishmen. “As you can see, it’s not all ‘crash and bash’. If you have technique, timing and footwork you are more likely to stay alive in a swordfight, be it on the battlefield or elsewhere.”
Just then ten of Alan’s personal horsemen called ‘The Wolves’ filed out of the gate on foot.
“That’s all very well, but I’d take you with an axe!” said Brand, smarting at his loss.
“You think so? There’s a practice two-handed axe there. Pick it up!” ordered Alan. Brand tossed down his wooden sword, picked up the huge axe with its five foot haft and ten-inch, although blunt, blade. He slipped his shield around so that it hung out of the way on his back and raised the axe in the traditional left-handed stance, ready to attack the side of the opponent not protected by a shield- although with a hit from such an axe, particularly from a man as big and strong as Brand, a shield was of virtually no protection.
Alan raised his sword in the air and an instant later an arrow a yard long, but with a blunt and padded tip, crashed into Brand’s chest, knocking the wind out of him and driving him to his knees. Some 200 paces away, near the trees, Owain lowered his bow. “Lesson number one for axe-fights,” said Alan to Brand and the other huscarles as Brand struggled to suck air into his lungs and stand upright. “If you’re fighting an enemy that has archers or cross-bowmen you are likely to be dead before you get your first swing in, because you can’t use a shield when you have two hands on the haft.”
He gave Brand a couple of minutes to recover from being hit by the practice arrow. “Now if that doesn’t happen, let’s see what the swordsman can do.” This time as Brand jumped forward with the axe raised Alan took two quick steps inside the swing of the axe, hit Brand hard under the chin with the top edge of his shield and slammed the pommel of his reversed sword into Brand’s stomach. “Of course in a battle you would have run him through the guts! And again!” he said as Brand struggled back to his feet using the axe to help him up.
This time as Brand rushed forward, Alan stepped back, keeping just out of range of the swipes of the axe blade that, even if Brand turned the handle so that the flat of the blade hit Alan, would probably break several ribs- which Alan didn’t want a few days before his wedding day. After three massive swings, when Brand started an upwards swing from near his right ankle, Alan turned the shield partly sideways, dipped at the knees and used the side of the shield, now at the bottom, to catch the haft of the axe before it had hardly started its movement and when it still had no momentum. At the same time he performed a simple lunge from a crouched position, right foot sliding forwards, torso bent slightly forward to put some weight into the blade, which at the last moment Alan diverted to graze off the side of Brand’s chain mail armour.
“Dead another three times with the axe! Brand, you’re an above-average swordsman and axe-man, but I need to teach you to think with your head and not with your right arm.” Alan paused and removed his helmet, wiping the sweat away with a band of cloth attached to his wrist.
“Now for the final demonstration about why we need to practice to fight as a group. Ten of you new men take up a position over there- not you Brand, you’ve done enough for one day, let some of the others suffer a little. Five months ago these ten Wolves of mine had never handled a sword. Since then we’ve only been able to train for about two months, and only a small part of that has been on foot. We’ve mainly been spending the time teaching them to fight on horseback. Now begin.”
The ten new huscarles moved forward towards the evenly spaced line of their opponents. As usual for the English, they fought as ten individuals, each arriving at the line at a different time and concentrating on just one opponent. Alan’s Wolves moved as a team, an efficient killing machine, providing mutual support. Several ‘killed’ the opponent of the man next to him, and all displayed discipline, footwork and technique.
After about three minutes six of the huscarles and one Wolf were ‘dead’ and Alan called it off. “With a nine to four advantage it would have taken only another minute to have finished the fight. That is why we fight in groups of ten. And that’s why I don’t have room in my formations for axe-men, unless they use the one-handed short axe. Double-handed axe-men by definition fight alone, even if they are in an army of 7,000.
“Discipline and teamwork won at Hastings, and at Wivenhoe, and will win virtually every time. I hope that you have all learned some valuable lessons today. I will see you here at seven tomorrow morning. One more thing- get those shields painted dark green today, so they’ll be dry tomorrow. Hugh will provide a pot of paint and green uniform cloaks.” Alan and Hugh walked off back through the fort gates, following the ten Wolves who had just helped with the demonstration. Nineteen very thoughtful huscarles followed them a few moments later.
The Quarter Day of Mid-Summer’s Day, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, passed without undue incident. Mid-Summers Day this year fell on Sunday, so the usual holiday was superfluous. The peasants at Thorrington and Alan’s other manors, and those of Anne at Wivenhoe, enjoyed feasting at the expense of their lord. The villagers had begun their traditional ceremony, celebrating the pagan feast of the summer solstice the evening before with roaring bonfires to ward off evil spirits, feasting and merry-making.
Unattached maidens, wearing crowns of woven summer flowers, had sought to find husbands, often using very direct tactics. On Midsummer’s Day itself, after Mass celebrating the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Alan and Anne first rode to Wivenhoe to mingle and talk with the villagers as the pigs and oxen roasted on the cooking-spits, and then returned to Thorrington in the middle of the afternoon to do the same.
By the afternoon most of the villagers were suffering some degree of incapacity, with those still capable of movement enjoying the viands and refreshments provided by their lord, dancing and singing. For many it was one of the few times of the year that they had the chance to eat red meat.
On St. John’s Eve Alan and Anne had only briefly visited the festivities on the Green at Thorrington. On Midsummer Day, as this day they were the hosts, they circulated and talked with the villagers, which included many who had journeyed from their nearby manor of Great Bentley and others who had followed them from Wivenhoe. Those who lived in the New Hall today ate and danced with those who did not, Alan and Anne sitting at a long table and chatting with Toland the village head-cheorl, Erian his assistant and the other members of the village folkmoot.
Early the following day the line of wagons, escorted by Hugh and twenty mounted Wolves, departed to deliver the taxes to the sheriff at Colchester, partly in goods and partly in cash.
This was also the monthly Hundred Court Day and Brother Wacian had volunteered to act as a second scribe. The court was now held in the Old Hall and this allowed two sittings to take place at once, a much more efficient affair.
Leofstan as the thegn second senior to Alan heard the General List of callovers and minor matters at one end of the Hall, with Ketel of Frating and Alric of Michaelstow, with Brother Wacian acting as their scribe. Alan, sitting with Ednoth of Little Oakley and Leofson of Moze, both men of substantial estates, heard the trials at the other end of the Hall, with Osmund acting as scribe.
Most of the thegns sat at benches at one end of the Hall or the other, listening to cases that involved their geburs or which interested them. Most of the crowd listened to the trials at Alan’s end of the Hall. The case of Rowena the witch had been listed for trial a day early and all the claimants, witnesses and frithbogh oath-swearers had been notified, and Alan was determined to get that matter out of the way.
But first was the more urgent case of a charge of rape by a young man named Benwick from Elmstead, land
