“Definitely! The outcome was in doubt right until Harold fell. Until that moment the English could have won,” replied Alan. “Even then, had Leofwine or Gyrth still been alive to command the army, they could have either won or forced a draw and continued the fight- which with more English warriors arriving was all that the English had to do. William had to win, and win that day, or the invasion was lost. Even after Harold fell the Royal Huscarles, the thegns and their huscarles fought on… and on… and on. They had to be killed to the last man. The killing was still going on when it was fully dark. We Normans could not believe their braveness or stubbornness,” replied Alan.
“Better to be dead than run and disgraced. They also fought to the last at Maldon. And Harold had told them to stand and fight,” said Regenbald.
“Their braveness, stubbornness… and their stupidity,” replied Edith. “That is precisely my point and the point I sought to make in tonight’s saga. It’s because of that pride 2,000 manor halls have lost their thegns, men who could have lived and continue to lead the English, who will now be ruled by Normans. Any chance of effective English resistance died with them. By their pride they failed their villages and their country. Had those professional warriors survived along with just one of our generals we could have continued to resist. Instead England chose suicide that evening,” said Queen Edith harshly.
“Now, if you ladies and gentlemen will excuse me, I think that it’s time to retire,” she continued. “There will be an escort of guards to accompany you to Ludgate and I have arranged with the captain of the guard to have the gate opened to admit those of you who are residing in the city. Unless you wish to spend the night here, I suggest you make ready to leave shortly.” With a regal nod Queen Edith strode from the chamber.
The following morning Alan and Anne examined the list of properties that Malachi had as promised sent around to them, a dozen in all. Being a Sunday, the 22nd of July, there was little else to do after attending Mass at the nearby St Peter’s Church and they wandered around the city looking at each house from the street.
Feeling much safer with Bishop William and Engelric now knowing that the depositions had been delivered to the Chancellor, Alan was content to walk abroad with just two bodyguards as security against the usual cut-throats that inhabited every city.
Despite having a population of some 10,000 crammed within the city walls, with the closure of the shops and markets for Sunday the city was surprisingly lacking in hustle and bustle and the people who still thronged the streets moved more slowly and with less urgency. As they knew Jews work on Sundays, that afternoon they sent Leof to Malachi with a list of the eight houses they wished to inspect, suggesting Tuesday as being suitable. That evening Malachi sent a note in reply confirming that one of his retainers who was familiar with the properties would arrive at eight in the morning on that day to conduct them to the various properties.
The next morning, Monday, Anne and Alan visited the two glassmakers in the city, both workshops being near each other on Ropery Street near the river.
The use of glass was rare and it was explained to them that there were only three glassmakers in England, two in London and one in York. Alan explained their needs. Four large windows each about six feet high by four feet wide for one side of the Hall, eight smaller windows about four feet square, four for the opposite side of the Hall above the height of the guest rooms and four for the private rooms at the end of the Hall. Finally they needed eleven small windows about two feet by one foot for the ten guest rooms and the bathing room.
The transparency of the glass was not of particular concern as the purchase was for the purpose of allowing in light, not beautiful creations like the stained glass windows that both workshops had under manufacture. They settled on a price with a master-glassmaker from Paris named Renier, an elderly man who had migrated to England ten years before and whose broad-sheet glass was of higher quality than that of the other workshop, which Renier described as being operated by a former employee.
They watched intrigued as Renier by way of demonstration heated a mass of glass in the first furnace and blew it into an elongated shape with a blow-pipe. He then reheated it several times in the second furnace and then, while the glass was still hot, cut off both ends before cutting the resulting cylinder with shears and flattened the sheet onto a heated iron plate and then allowed the glass to slowly anneal in the third and coolest furnace to avoid it cracking.
Renier explained that the resulting piece of glass would be about one foot square after being trimmed, and that the windows would need to be made of a number of panes fitted into a wooden frame, which could then be opened or closed depending on the wish of the owner to admit or exclude outside air. On discussion with Renier Alan and Anne decided that the slightly greenish soda-glass would be acceptable, being the cheaper alternative both because of the materials and the greater ease of handling at lower temperatures.
Renier accepted Alan’s measurements and the piece of knotted cord on which they had been made, but specified that he would send an apprentice to take final measurements before the project began. The apprentice would accompany them on the journey home, and departure was arranged for Friday the 27th July. Delivery and installation was promised within six weeks and Alan paid a fifty percent deposit to seal the bargain.
They also arranged for a sheet-metal worker from Walbrook Street to travel to Thorrington and finally fix the problem of the leaking chimney.
****
Promptly at eight in the morning on Tuesday a young man in his early twenties, whose clothing and very appearance were those of the arch-typical Jew, presented himself at the ‘Fox and Goose’, advised that his name was Joshua and took them to the houses that were of interest, methodically from west to east, beginning at The Strand approximately a mile west of the city walls at Ludgate, Holebourn Bridge outside Newgate, then into the City to Coleman Street, Broad Street (where they had a meal at an inn, carefully avoiding ordering pork), then on to Bishopsgate Street and Harp Lane before swinging back to the west and visiting Friday Street and Carter Lane and so back to the ‘Fox and Goose’ at about six in the evening. There Joshua left them with encouragement to visit Malachi the following day and an assurance his master would be available all day.
Footsore from walking, Alan and Anne sat in the inn Commons to eat and drink, sharing a trencher and ordering meat pottage, pork and egg pie, spinach tart, spiced chicken stew and an apple pie with cream.
They discussed the relative merits of living inside and outside the city. Convenience, closeness to markets, the nearness to the palace at Westminster of the properties outside the city walls, their mutual dislike of the crowdedness and filth of the city and the effect that the shortness of the winter days would have on the opening and closing times of the city gates. In winter the gates would be open for less than eight hours a day.
Eventually they decided that they were most likely to be out of the city when the gates closed and that the house at Holebourn Bridge, just outside Newgate, offered the best compromise of location, size, features and cost. It was, like almost all of the houses in the city, of wooden construction and relatively elderly, requiring some repair. It had six bedrooms, a large Hall, Solar, servants’ quarters in the attic, stabling for a dozen horses and a large out- house capable of conversion into guards’ quarters. Anne made the comment that all the houses they had inspected had been vacant of their owners, but with most necessary staff present- as if Malachi had already foreclosed on the properties.
Next morning Anne insisted that they not hurry down to Malachi’s chambers, but keep him waiting so as not to seem to anxious to seal a bargain. She decided instead to go shopping and requested Alan’s presence and that of six guards.
It was that morning that Alan found something he detested about Anne. He hated going shopping with her. His idea of shopping was to know what you wanted, find it, bargain an agreed price and leave.
In London Anne was in a shopper’s heaven. Entire streets were devoted to the selling of single types of product. This morning she was, for some reason, seeking ironmongery, and the additional guards were there to be used as pack-animals. She started at one end of the row of shops and carefully examined iron and copper cooking pots and pans, cooking utensils and a whole range of items that Alan had no idea as to what they were. From time to time she would ask his opinion, which she invariably ignored.
After an hour, being driven insane by her shopping methods, as she returned to shops previously visited and like a true merchant’s daughter began to bargain down to the farthing, Alan discovered the secret to going shopping with a woman. Stand there, nod occasionally, detach the brain and think of something else.
Eventually, now down to two guards as the other four had been dispatched back to the ‘Fox and Goose’ weighed down with purchases, she decided that it was time to have a meal and then visit Malachi in his chambers.
It was early afternoon, about an hour before Nones, when they arrived at Malachi’s office and were ushered in virtually immediately. Their host poured them an excellent wine into wonderful ruby-coloured glasses. The
