Winter of Discontent

benches set at different heights, and now held warm water. Both stretched in pleasure as the hot water loosened sore back muscles, and in Alan’s case shoulders and legs. Alan had a jug of fine Bordeaux and a cup on the floor next to him. The sight of the water lapping at his wife’s breasts soon made him forget most of his aches and he took her into his arms.

As a result dinner was eaten somewhat late. Being a Saturday there were no dietary restrictions and Otha the cook had gone out of her way to create a series of dishes to tempt the palates of those who had eaten roughly-cooked meals for nigh on a month. A thick and creamy chicken and leek soup was followed by boiled beef with green garlic sauce, quails braised in white wine, grilled honeyed pork chops with ginger, three types of vegetables- carrot, peas and beans- carefully cooked and spiced, apple pie with thickened cream and the piquant cheeses that Alan favoured- Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Neufchatel, Parmigiano and Romano. All were accompanied by fresh bread and freshly-churned butter, and ale, wine, herb tea or fruit juice according to taste and inclination.

The returned soldiers and their families attended Mass the next day en masse, the service being held in the Old Hall due to occasional showers sweeping in from the sea and the size of the congregation being too large for the small wooden church. The Tithe Barn was often used in such instances but was currently unavailable due to the quantity of goods gathered for payment of taxes, rents and tithes. Brother Wacian gave thanks for those returning safely and said prayers for the souls of the three men who would not return.

Alan, Anne and the household attended Mass again on Tuesday, Midsummer Day and the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. On this occasion the congregation squeezed into the small church. Following the service, as the smoke from the cattle, swine and sheep roasting over open fires and the steam of boiling cauldrons containing joints of the same animals drifted past, Alan discussed with Brother Wacian and head-cheorl Toland whether a larger church should be considered, and the expense and difficulty of using stone. The matter was left unresolved for further discussion by the village moot.

Faran and Osmund were kept busy collecting and recording the rent and taxes, the latter then dispatched to Colchester under guard, partly in cash and partly in kind- mainly sacks of grain or salt.

Anne’s business manager Jacob the Jew arrived from London as previously instructed several days later. He and Anne were closeted together for two days as Anne checked through the books and ledgers, carefully calculating profit margins, examining alternative suppliers and trying to anticipate market trends based on the information that Jacob drew from his large network. Alan spent some time listening in and was interested to hear that trouble was expected from the Danes resuming raiding in the autumn, King Swein of Denmark having given his permission for this activity. This would impact the voyages of the ships Birgitta and Stormsvale between Ipswich, Norway, the Netherlands and London, the two ships effectively running a shuttle service back and forth to their respective trading ports every two weeks. Zeelandt’s very profitable but longer and less frequent voyages to Aquitaine wouldn’t be affected.

“And what do you intend to do about the northern voyages? Do you intend to halt them, based on this information?” asked Alan.

Anne sighed and replied, “It’s all a hypothetical risk at the moment. As far as I’m aware there’s been no increase in attacks on merchant ships- yet. Each voyage brings in more in profit than the ship itself is worth. I don’t see any reason to halt the trading based on rumour and speculation. We’ll consider the information and warn the crews to be more careful. If and when the risk eventuates we can review the policy. There are a number of ships trading on these routes, so it’s unlikely the first attacks will be on our ships.”

“We could put some trained soldiers and ballistae on the cogs so they can protect themselves, as we did with Zeeland,” suggested Alan.

“We’ll wait and see,” replied Anne with finality in her procrastination, before turning back to the Jew. “Anything else?”

“Yes, my lady. There is the issue of the outstanding loans,” said Jacob, pulling out a ledger from amongst a pile of others. “You made twenty-three loans to thegns, interest-free for a period of twelve months.” Here his face took on a slightly pained expression at such largess. “That was so that they could pay the Redemption Heriot charged by King William on all English landholders to retain their land. The money was due six months ago. Of the loans, nine have been paid in full. As instructed by you, I gave the others an additional six month grace period and warned them clearly that their land would be forfeit if they did not pay. Ten have made part payment, not less than one-third of the due amount. Four have paid nothing, despite being given another reminder a month ago. Under the terms of the agreements you could foreclose on all of the fourteen manors and seize their lands for your own.”

“What do you think, Alan?” asked Anne.

“It’s your money. You made the loans and it’s your decision,” replied Alan. “As they’re not paying interest, there’s little reason for them to reduce what they owe. They risk losing the land, but maybe they’re gambling you won’t foreclose. Maybe they simply can’t pay, in which case they should never have made the arrangement.” He paused and then asked Jacob, “What interest rate would the Jews have charged had they made the loans?”

“Secured against land, just five percent. A month,” answered Jacob.

Alan winced. “And we hold the landboc deeds of title as security?” he asked.

Jacob looked affronted. “Of course!”

“As I said, it’s your decision, my love. I would say that I’d probably treat those who have part-paid differently from those who have paid nothing. How much money is involved?” said Alan.

Without needing to check his ledgers Jacob replied, “A total of just over?38 from the four non-payers. A further?27 and some pennies from those who have part-paid.”

“That’s a lot of money, then” said Alan. “As I see it the options would be to give them more time, to foreclose or to start to charge interest- which would at least give them a big incentive to pay the principal. We are, of course, forbidden to loan money at interest, so any such arrangement would need to look as if the loan has been refinanced through the Jews.”

“Where are the four manors of those who haven’t paid anything?” asked Anne.

“Two in central Essex, one in Suffolk and one in Hertfordshire, my lady” answered Jacob.

“Seize those estates immediately. There’s no excuse for them not having made the effort to pay something after eighteen months. Give the other ten written formal notice that they have one month to repay in full, and verbally advise them that you can provide finance- which we will fund, although obviously you won’t advise the defaulters of that fact. Go through the books of the seized estates and advise me whether the steward or somebody else in the household is capable of administering the estate or whether we need to appoint another steward,” instructed Anne brusquely. After a moments pause she added, “We’ll also need to see if their taxes are paid up to date. Get the part-paid ones to provide proof they have no debt to the Crown, and that the money we provided was used to pay the Heriot. The last thing we need would be for the king to seize the estates for arrears of tax.”

Alan nodded and then after a reflective pause, during which he characteristically rubbed his bearded chin, he said, “With this news of the Danes I’ll order that the manor house at Ramsey improve its fortifications. Harvest isn’t for another four or five weeks and with the labour from at least my four villages in the area that work will take less than a week. You may wish to do the same at Wivenhoe. I’ll also move some of the horses at stud from Ramsey to the new stud at Great Bentley, where they’ll be safer.” After another pause he asked Jacob, “As a matter of interest, how much wealth do we have at the moment?”

Jacob frowned. “I’m not entirely sure. It varies day to day depending on sale and purchase of cargoes. It would take some time to work out the value of the land you own, the land that my lady will own once I foreclose, the value of her businesses, the value of merchandise- and whether its value is taken at cost or at sale price. The values of the mining and fulling businesses, well those would depend on what somebody would pay. Those would be at least?1,000 by themselves. I can tell you that you have?3,715 cash on deposit at call. At a rough guess I would say about?6,000 in all, almost certainly quite a bit more.”

Alan snorted in disbelief and said, “And two years ago I was a landless knight with less than a shilling in my purse. Now I, and my wife, have more money than most of the earls, and all from the proceeds we gained by defeating the Danes in battle last year- and Anne’s good management of that seed-money.”

Anne smiled happily. “I told you, I’m a merchant’s daughter and learned how to turn one penny into two at my mother’s breast. Each voyage of the ships gives a profit of at least 50 percent. From Aquitaine the profit margin is closer to 200 percent. Our Factor buys wine direct from the vineyard and in London we sell direct to the larger houses, if they buy by the tun, and to the retailers. He also buys spices and luxury items in bulk. We really could