each of which was sworn and signed by the deponent and two distinguished witnesses. Alan had other things on his mind that evening, although he had adopted a blase attitude to the whole marriage process and allowed Anne free rein with the arrangements.
Alan had a reasonably restful night of sleep- the only nights he could recall not being able to sleep was the nights before the battles at Hastings and Wivenhoe- and the wedding had been arranged for the morning so that the participants and guests wouldn’t have to sit around all day waiting. The appointed time was in the late morning, an hour before Sext. The appointed place was the steps of the church at Wivenhoe. Alan had asked Edward, the young thegn who lived at Alresford and who had a second manor at St Osyth, to stand as his ‘best man’ and witness. To pass time Alan spent several hours looking at the depositions that Osmund had collected, although with little information sinking into his consciousness.
At about Terce Alan called for the youth Leof and instructed his party to be ready to depart. As he started to put on his best tunic and hose, a simple russet affair made of fine linen, Leof interrupted him saying, “Excuse me, my lord. Lady Anne insisted that you wear this.” and handed Alan a package which when opened revealed a tunic in silk of a yellow so deep in colour as almost to be golden, embroidered in black, and a pair of black silken hose.
“Well, I certainly can’t wear those while I’m riding,” commented Alan as he re-donned the tunic he had initially been wearing. “I’ll have to change at Wivenhoe.”
Although Alan had arranged a feast for the people of Thorrington for later in the day, and the smoke and smell of cooking meat and baking bread was drifting across the village, many of the villagers had decided to make the short journey to Wivenhoe and had departed on foot an hour or so earlier.
Alan’s quite large party was swollen by the addition of the three thegns who lived at Alresford as they proceeded through that village. Meeting other invited guests along the way, the company was very substantial when it arrived at Wivenhoe at mid-morning. Alan was gratified to see that the villagers had taken considerable trouble to decorate their houses and the area around the village green with colourful cloths, bunches of flowers and wreathes of ivy.
All of the Hundred thegns had been invited, including those who held church lands at Wrabness, The Naze, St Osyth and Clacton- except the minions of Robert fitzWymarc and Earl Ralph. A number of thegns from Lexden Hundred attended, although their numbers had been depleted by the recent Danish raid.
The village green was thronged with those men and women of local importance and the villagers of Wivenhoe, Thorrington, Alresford, Elmstead, Frating and Great Bentley, all wearing their best clothes. Clouds of pleasant-smelling smoke rose from the cooking pits where numbers of pigs and sheep and oxen were being roasted whole on spits. Tables had been set up to receive the food, and in three places around the Green barrels of ale stood behind serving tables ready to be served when the festivities commenced. From the crowd and festival atmosphere it was almost as if a fair were being held.
After chatting for some time with the invited guests, now joined by his future in-laws Raedwald, Lidmann, Garrett and Betlic, Alan changed his clothing in Father Ator’s house and emerged to whistles and calls of appreciation at the finery he had donned. He was a man who didn’t like standing around waiting and doing nothing, but he was now encountering the dual problems of his situation. Firstly, there was no accurate method of keeping track of time. In large towns or cities time was dictated by the ringing of the bells of the local monastery every three hours. In a village the time was whatever most of the residents agreed. The second was that the tendency of the bridal party to be late is long established. Fortunately it was a warm day, with a few high clouds in the sky to prevent it becoming hot. As required by law the ceremony was taking place outside in the open, on the steps of the wooden church.
Eventually there was a stir in the crowd, starting near the Hall, and the crowd began to coalesce as the bridal party moved towards the church. Anne’s young nieces and nephews ran ahead of the bridal party casting showers of flower petals on the path.
Anne, arm in arm with Orvin, walked in a stately manner towards the groom’s party, now standing on the steps of the church with Father Ator. Her dress, full length and not quite brushing the ground, matched Alan’s tunic, golden silk embroidered in black. It was tight at the bodice and waist before flowing wide at the hips and cut low at the front, but not immodestly so, and had sleeves that hung loose from below the elbow.
The bridesmaids, her sister Mae and sister-in-law Ellette, both wore tight-fitting dresses of burgundy- coloured silk. Fortunately they both had the figures to carry-off the desired effect. All three wore their hair loose and long, unusual as covered hair was the norm for women except at weddings. Anne wore a wreath of woven ivy, herbs, and flowers with gold-coloured ribbons attached and hanging loosely over the back of her head, and carried a large bouquet of flowers- the gloriosa lily, with the appearance of crushed red velvet, ivy, red rose, amaryllis, birch twigs and holly branches, parrot tulips and wheat- the last a sign of fertility.
Behind them came a train comprising the mother-of-the-bride, a group of well-dressed thegn’s wives and Anne’s maids, all four presented with new clothes for this occasion. As the bridal party appeared and moved closer, the invited guests and villagers had moved to the church steps, leaving a central pathway for the bridal party.
As they arrived, Alan winked at Orvin, who was still arm in arm with his daughter and who had hardly noticed until now. Of much the same height as Anne he was wearing a tunic of burgundy-coloured silk and black silk tights. With a smile Orvin gave Anne’s hand to Alan and took a step backwards. Anne placed a necklace made of beads of white jasper around Alan’s neck, signifying Gentleness. Alan noticed that she wore two necklaces, one of red jasper indicating Love and the other of green jasper indicating Virtue and Faith.
They turned to face Father Ator and the service began. Alan found he wasn’t able to pay much attention to the preliminary part of the service and the homily delivered by the priest. Father Ator asked if any present knew a reason why the couple should not be married and then asked Anne and Alan so that they may confess any reason prohibiting their marriage. After receiving no response from the congregation and a negative response from Anne and Alan, he proceeded.
“Alan, wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife? Wilt thou love her and honour her, keep her and guard her, in health and in sickness, as a husband should a wife, and forsaking all others on account of her, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
Alan replied, “I will”.
“Anne, wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband? Wilt thou love him, obey him and honour him, keep him and guard him, in health and in sickness, as a wife should a husband, and forsaking all others on account of him, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”
“I will,” replied Anne.
“Who gives this woman to this man?” asked Father Ator.
“I do,” replied Orvin.
Father Ator nodded and said, “Let the bride and groom now exchange vows.”
“I, Alan, take thee, Anne to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, till death do us part, if the holy church will ordain it. And thereto I plight thee my troth,” said Alan.
“I, Anne, take thee, Alan to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, till death do us part, if the holy church will ordain it. And thereto I plight thee my troth.”
The wedding rings were presented to the priest who then blessed them, and the rings were exchanged. Alan and Anne then entered the church and approached the altar where Father Ator gave a prayer and a blessing, ending the ceremony.
When Alan and Anne walked back out through the church door there was a universal cheer and they were showered with grains of wheat. Arm in arm they walked to the centre of the village green and Alan, now lord of Wivenhoe, pronounced that the celebrations were to commence. There was another cheer and the invited guests began to drift towards the Hall where food and entertainment had been arranged for the more noble of the guests. First Alan and Anne spent about half an hour circulating amongst the crowd of cheorls, sokemen, cottars and slaves, greeting those they knew, which were nearly all from their own villages, chatting and making jokes, before they entered the Hall.
At first glance the Hall appeared in pandemonium. There were perhaps 100 people milling around in the small area between the tables that had been set up and occupied most of the Hall. After a moment or two Alan realised that in fact servants were circulating with trays bearing mugs of ale and cups of mead and wine. Others carried trays of ‘finger food’ as the hour was now well past when most ate their mid-day meal.
