Wolves in Armour

Walking to the high table Alan signalled for a blast on a horn to call attention, and in a loud voice asked the guests to find a seat as the celebratory meal was about to begin. With their innate knowledge of their position in the local hierarchy the guests found positions at the tables that suited their social circumstances.

After toasts to the happy couple the food began to arrive. The First Remove was zanzarella soup; chicken broth with eggs and cheese thickened with breadcrumbs and spiced with pepper; veal and egg pies spiced with ginger, pepper and mace; flampoyntes; pork pies with cottage cheese, anise and pine nuts; spinach and egg tarte with parsley and cheese with mustard greens and cress with milk of almonds. The Second Remove was seafood, with shrimps sauteed in garlic; scallops in white wine; baked cod; pan-fried flounder with garlic sauce with almonds and melted cheese sauce, with perre and makke as the vegetables. The Third Remove was meats, some from the roasting pits outside. Other offerings were stuffed suckling pig; roasted swan with bacon; chicken almond fricatellae; roast beef; stewed mutton with herbs; veal in bokenade with spices, all with fried broad beans with onions, roasted parsnip, boiled salad and peas royale with almond milk, mint, parsley and sugar. Being summer, the desserts were a variety of seasonal fruit in pies- blueberry, blackberry and strawberry- hulwa made with honey, custard tarts and six varieties of cheese ranging from plain to very piquant.

With the consumption of alcohol the gathering grew ever more noisy, only quieting when the jugglers and singers hired by Anne performed, and particularly when Owain and Alwin sang a series of duets in Welsh. Anne and Mae sang a set of English love songs, accompanied by Owain on the lute and Alwin on the pan pipes.

Halfway through the proceedings came the time that Alan had been dreading- the dances. Having practiced over the past several days Anne knew that Alan danced with all the elegance of an ox. Fortunately the dances were quite simple and there were no complicated steps to memorise. They danced a simple duet, before being joined by some of the other guests in a carole, a circular dance.

The space in the Hall had allowed only a limited area to be provided for entertainment so only a few could take the floor at any time. This was followed by a number of other community dances such as a chain-dance, a brandsle and a pavane. At ‘Hole in the Wall’ Alan found the footwork too difficult and handed Anne to Edward and retired to the high table to sit with Orvin, who was sipping wine. Most of the male guests were like Alan, men with better footwork with a sword than on the dance floor, and the number of dancers participating fell to those dances involving two to four couples at a time. The six musicians played lutes, flutes, a psaltery and a small hand- drum.

At about the time of Vespers in the late evening, between dances and music, Alan rose and called for silence, stilling the dull roar of the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen! Friends all! I thank you for coming to share our nuptials this day. The event has been made all the more solemn by your attendance and more enjoyable by your participation in the festivities this afternoon. Please stay and enjoy the fellowship and hospitality as long as you wish, but the bride and groom must now depart so we can be at our destination of Thorrington before nightfall. We both thank you again for your attendance this day, and look forward to our future meetings. May God bless you all!”

The response was a cheer and a number of ribald comments, although not as many as usual, given that all present knew that Alan and Anne had already been living together for some weeks. Alan and Anne proceeded to the bedchamber where they changed into riding clothes. Accompanied by ten sober Wolves in full armour, a slightly tipsy Osmund, Leof and two giggling maids they rode off with the lowering sun at their backs.

They arrived at Thorrington a little before dark and visited the festivities still continuing at the village green, greeting each person by name, before they proceeded to the Hall. After greeting all in the Hall they proceeded to the bedchamber and their first privacy of the day.

Next morning they luxuriated by lying abed and basking in the afterglow of several mutually satisfactory couplings. Eventually, driven by a full bladder, Alan suggested that they rise and he would present the Morning Gifts before Anne’s family arrived from Wivenhoe. After they dressed, in much more mundane clothes than they had worn the previous day, Alan led to the way across the Hall grounds to the armoury. Once inside the large building, and her eyes had accustomed themselves to the gloom, Anne saw fifty sets each of a chain-mail byrnie, helmet, sword and spear lying on a shield. “Not perhaps the most romantic of gifts, but practical,” said Alan.

“I’ll put them to good use at Wivenhoe. The fyrdmen will be properly equipped for the first time and I know it’s your intention to teach them how to use them,” said Anne solemnly, remembering the time barely six weeks ago when the men of her village were fighting for their very lives and those of their kin. This gift may not be romantic, but was both practical and necessary.

“I’d suggest that we also build a bailey next to the Wivenhoe village as a place of refuge in case next time we are not lucky enough to get adequate warning. I don’t think it needs a motte as raiders aren’t going to sit down for days for an extended siege. Something akin to a small burgh, which is more of less what I’ve built here. Colchester is always going to draw Dane and Norwegians like bees to a honey-pot on a regular basis, and the village is on their route both to and from the city. The village also needs a small garrison and a suitable commander,” commented Alan as they walked back to the Hall.

“It is now yours to do as you will, my lord,” said Anne with a slight note of both irony and regret in her voice.

“I don’t think so,” replied Alan brightly. “I’ve plenty of other manors to take my time and attention and Wivenhoe will always be yours. You just have to pay the Heriot out of your own share of money!” the last with a big smile to show that the comment was meant in jest.

Inside the Hall he led the way to his office. Once there he pulled out several packages sewn into covers of hessian and covered with oiled linen. He first placed two large packages of similar dimensions on his desk, each about eighteen inches wide by two feet high and five inches thick. He handed Anne a small sharp knife which she used to cut away the covering of the first package, revealing a large book bound in a simple red leather cover, with a plain gold cross and the Roman number “II” on the cover. Alan gave a snort of amusement and commented, “A choice of two and I had to give you the wrong one first!”

Anne stroked the leather cover gently and then carefully opened the book. It was the New Testament part of the Bible that Alan had bought at Ipswich, written in English. She carefully turned the pages, examining the beautiful illumination work. “It’s beautiful! I suppose the other is the Old Testament?”

Alan nodded and said, “I thought that the church at Thorrington needs a Bible and that you could endow it either with this one, or my own plain copy, depending on which you wish to keep.”

Anne signed and replied, “That will be a hard decision to make. This is so beautiful, but your Bible was created with your own hands. That’s something about which I’ll need to think. Now that you have raised the topic, I probably should provide Father Ator and the Wivenhoe church with a Bible as well, but nothing as magnificent as this.”

Anne cut open the second package and sighed again with appreciation of the quality of the work and materials. Alan placed another smaller parcel on the table, which again Anne cut open with careful eagerness. This time the book had a green leather cover and was much smaller. Its name was written in gold lettering on the front cover and spine. “The Dream of the Rood,” said Anne. “By Cynewulf- one of the earliest English religious poems. A brand-new copy!” Alan put the next parcel on the table, a very large one. “Andreas, the story of Saint Andrew and his journey to rescue St. Matthew. Also new,” she breathed after she had cut it open.

Alan placed another two parcels on the table. “Used copies from the library of Ely Abbey. I was able to arrange an exchange of copies of two volumes of Hippocrates’ Corpus between them and Colchester- On Unfruitful Women and On the Sight, and these were my payment- as well as Brother Leanian providing me with copies of the Corpus when they are copied. These are the two volumes of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria that you don’t have, so that gives you the full set.”

“We’ll soon have a library to rival that of Colchester Priory!” said Anne as she reached up to give Alan a long lingering kiss. There was the sound of horses arriving outside, shouting and a general commotion. “It sounds like my family is arriving. Come quickly upstairs into the Solar, where I have my presents hidden.” A quick dash up the stairs to avoid the guests, and Anne was presenting presents to Alan, which was not part of the usual ‘Morning Gift’ ritual.

“These are rather more prosaic than your gifts,” said Anne as she handed over six large parcels. Five contained elegant tunics and hose, three in black with silver or gold embroidery. One was in silk and two in fine