Authors: Griff Hosker
On my forays I saw that they had defended Jorvik with many crossbow men and the city had become Norman.
I saw, before the snows came, that they had started to build a huge motte close to the river a mile or so from the old warrior hall. Already it would be too big for us to assault. The road to the north was quiet and all that we discovered, using the road, were traders. Once they found that we were not bandits they became quite friendly towards us and they were the source of much of our intelligence as they travelled south to Lincoln and beyond. We knew that Hereward still held out and that Edwin had submitted, living at Warwick, probably as a prisoner. We discovered that the Scots had strengthened their border fortresses ready to repel any invasion from the Normans but of Edgar and Sweyn we heard nothing; it was as though they had disappeared from the land. I still visited Medelai and my steward still supplied me with my dues. No-one, as they had with Thomas, had told him that he had a new lord. He was a loyal man whose son had fallen with us at Osmotherly. These tributes I retained for a future time when things became desperate.
When we travelled close to Maiden Bower it saddened me as I saw the desolation that had been my home.
Each time we came down the road to travel to Coxold I found myself drawn to view the graves of those that I loved. We always ensured that the ground above the graves, which still bore just a rough stone, was undisturbed and that the carrion feeders were chased away. It is strange to think of it now but none of us ever spoke as we went about the manor that had been Maiden Bower. It was as though it was a holy place but when we left, I for one, felt an inner peace. Perhaps it was the spirits of those that I had loved watching me from beyond the grave. We learned that others shunned the place as they felt that it was haunted. We did not fear it and it may have been haunted but those ghosts would not harm us.
It was close to All Saints when we had our first action since we had fled Doncaster. We had been to the east of Jorvik and were approaching the road to the south when one of my scouts drew my attention to the small column heading north for the safety of Jorvik.
It was coming on to dusk as the days are short at that time of the year and they were hurrying. The light from the thin, setting sun silhouetted them and hid us in the darkened east. We could see that they were Normans by their mail and their helms. There was a knight, six men at arms and a small wagon. There were but eight of us and none of us wore mail but it was too good an opportunity to miss and a chance for me to see how ambushes would work. Four of my men were archers and the other three armed, as I was with shields and spears.
“Edward, you take the archers and ride ahead to that oak tree. When they come in sight aim for the knights. We will attack from the rear.” I was pleased to see the grins appear in the dark; they not afraid and looked forwards to the break from dull patrols. We trotted down the left of the road to come behind them.
“You two take out the two men behind the wagon. You take out the driver and I will attack the others. Come to my aid when you have disposed of your men.”
We still had the round shields we had always had.
I know that the kite shield was better for a horseman but the shield was familiar and we had retained them. The advantage we had was that you could use it offensively and that was how I would try to overcome the two or three men I might be facing depending upon how lucky my archers were. As soon as the wagon passed our place of concealment we charged down, silently in a single line. I did not see but I heard the cries as my men did their job. I was busy concentrating on the three riders who turned to come to the aid of their comrades. They too had spears which they held overhand as though to throw. That suited me. It would take a very lucky hit to hurt me. I ignored the one to my left, my shield would take care of him and I held Board Splitter ahead of me. The warrior grinned in anticipation as he raised his spear to strike me but Boar Splitter thrust up under his arm to mortally wound him. I felt the spear strike my shield as I withdrew Board Splitter. The next warrior thought he had an easy victory until the two arrows plucked him from the saddle and he fell dead. And then it was over. The man who had struck my shield was killed by the two men at arms behind me.
“Gather the weapons and armour, put them in the wagon.
Edward, collect the horses. We will head to the woods to the west.” I wanted the contents of the wagon but I did not want to leave the wagon tracks for them to follow. We could pack the horses with the booty and ride back to Coxold during the night. I realised that it would be closer to the putative camp at Helmsley but that was in the future.
While my men packed the horses I examined the wagon.
It contained boxes of crossbow bolts. They were useless to us. There was a small box with papers in and a smaller box with money. “Edward, throw these bolts into the river. They are no good to us but they will be missed by the garrison.” When we left the wagon it was as though the foxes and crows had picked it clean; there was nothing left to aid the Normans.
Ridley was worried and chastised me when we arrived back so late. “You are becoming an old woman like Sarah, my friend.”
He did not smile at my attempt at humour, “Aelfraed you do not know how important you are. If you fell then there is no-one left to fight William. You are the symbol which holds us together.”
I could see that he was genuinely upset. “I am sorry Ridley and I will try to avoid getting killed.”
Osbert had been checking the goods we had acquired. “You had a good haul. How did you do it? Edward says they outnumbered you?”
“Aye they did but we attacked from the dark into the sunset and we attacked at the front and the rear.
It worked this time.”
“They are all dead my lord, it will work again.
The money is useful but I cannot read these documents, they are in French.”
I cursed.
That was our weakness. Anything in French was as good as code. “How about Oswald?”
Oswald was the priest from Topcliffe. He had robbed the estate before I arrived and I had had to be stern with him but once the manor became successful he became a loyal and faithful priest.
His church had benefited from the manor’s success and now, without a lord at Maiden Bower, he was the focus for the people and acted as an agent. More importantly he could read the documents. We will visit him on Christmas Eve for it will seem normal to attend church then.” I did not want people to know that Oswald still aided us and we would go as hooded men, anonymously.
I had not been in a church since my own wedding in Jorvik; I was not a religious man and too many good people had died badly for me to believe too strongly in a kindly, caring God.
If we had had such a God then I would not have had to kill Guy and Copsi and my child would live still. I stationed men at arms around the outside of the church and I went in with Ridley and Osbert. We kept the cowls over our heads; as much to protect our people as ourselves for, this way, they could deny all knowledge of us. I recognised some of the fyrd who came in with their families. We sat in the shadows at the back. The church was dimly lit in any case. Oswald chanted the Latin litany and the congregation responded. We rose, knelt and sat as the others did. Eventually, after what seemed an eternity, it finished and we sat as everyone left. There were some curious looks and I suspect that some of the fyrd recognised me but, thankfully, no one spoke.
Oswald returned and we threw back our hoods. “My lord! I wondered who the hooded men were at the back and, to be honest, I feared that you were Norman killers.”
I looked at him curiously, “Norman killers?”
“There have been rumours of Normans seeking out those who fought with you, men at arms and archers.
You have a price on your head as do your men.” That was news to me but then we avoided towns and congregated places.
“We need you to translate some French for us. Could you do that?”
“Of course my lord. Come to my home, there is a fire there and I am too old for this cold.”
He was right, his hearth was cosy.
He lit a candle and took out the first document. His eyes opened and then he shook his head. “Aye, well I know who the new lord is, William of Perci. He is coming in January to take over the manor.”
I shrugged.
We knew that it would be someone, at least this way we knew who it was. “Does it mention Coxold?”
”Yes, he is to have that one and Medelai.” He looked sadly at us.
It seems, my lord, that you are dispossessed.” Again that was no surprise and we had, in effect, prepared for it. “There are other manors close by. It seems that he rules all but Jorvik.”
He put the letter to one side. “If there is naught else in that letter then I would burn it.
Then there is no trace.”
He nodded, smiled and threw the document into the fire.
“As a man of God I would not have thought of that, my lord.” He took out the second document which appeared to run to several pages. “Ah now this is interesting. It informs a certain, Odo of Bayeux, that Earl Morcar is to be arrested and held in anticipation of King William coming north in March to begin the building of his castle and to rid the land of the last remnants of Saxon rebellion.” He put the paper down. “It seems my lord that he is coming for you.”
We decided to have the best Christmas that we could.
Ridley and his steward slaughtered all the animals which we had kept for the winter. There would be little need now. We left only the food for the steward and the household. We had deprived ourselves of rations for some time to eke out the reserves. If Coxold was going the way of Topcliffe then we would dine on geese and duck, mutton and chicken. Only the breeding pairs were left and every village and tenant of Ridley was invited. It was a truly jolly occasion. We did not know it then but this would be one of the last times that we would enjoy the pleasant company of women. The women and girls loved the fact that they had so many men to dance with and their husbands and fathers were proud that the last of the Saxon warriors were in their company.
When the nights lengthened, even though it was frosty and the ground was hard, we bade farewell to Coxold.
Ridley was tearful for he had become fond of the place and its people. Had the Normans not come then he would have made a good lord and his benevolent rule would have benefited the people. As it turned out, no one in Northumbria enjoyed that but then few in Northumbria would survive the onslaught of the next few years. We loaded the horses with everything that we would possibly need and said goodbye.
Ralph Ralphson had grown considerably and bore a huge grudge against the Normans.
He was desperate to join us and fight but we persuaded him to stay, if only to continue to manufacture those weapons and armour we would need. In the end he agreed only if he was allowed to bring the weapons and armour himself. I reluctantly agreed for I needed the goods he would bring but I was not happy about letting someone from outside our tightly knit band of brothers have access to our hideaways. I trusted the boy but he was a weakness and I prayed that it would not come to haunt us.
We rode east, mainly because the other refuge we had was a little close to Medelai.
We knew that there would be a hue and cry to find us; we could use the western camp when they had searched the area. Sixty men left Coxold, men at arms, archers and six camp guards. It was not a huge army but it was one of only two who were fighting the Normans.
By the time the nights had lengthened and our waists grown thinner we had two well made and well hidden camps.
It had been hard building them in the winter but, as Osbert had pointed out, it meant that when the plants began to grow our shelters blended in and looked natural. We tried, whenever possible, to build our shelters out of living trees and bushes; bending and shaping branches and weaving in other materials. In the depths of winter we had to augment these with cloaks and clothes to keep us dry. The forest, however, contained much game and we used this whenever our supply of salted meat grew short. We still visited Coxold and Medelai until they were occupied and the two stewards kept us supplied but in early March, Branton, who had been sent to Medelai, galloped in with bad news. “Perci is at Medelai and he has begun to build a castle at Topcliffe. He has put every man woman and child to work.”
“But it is spring! What about the crops?
The lambs?” Ridley was incensed; they were not his people but he knew what would come next.
“They do not care Ridley.
This is what happens when you lose a war. But at least it means we can move to our western camp and see if we can annoy the Normans a little.” There were just our three crippled warriors at the camp and they were pretending to be itinerant charcoal burners. It was an acceptable enough story and their injuries should provide an excuse for them not to be expected to build the castle walls. “We will move out tonight. Branton, you take the archers and make sure our way is clear.”
The ride was not short but we were lucky and had a fine moon to guide us.
The night was frosty but not icy and the horses made good progress. The hardest part was the slope leading down to the Vale of Jorvik. We had not seen any Norman occupation of Thirsk, which was a small place anyway but we avoided it as we did Masham. We rode through the night like ghosts for everyone was inside their homes, including the Normans. As the coldest part of the night came and went I wondered how we could use that to our advantage. We could move freely along roads during the night and be ready to strike as dawn broke and tired sentries saw what they expected to see.
We found Branton waiting for us close to the old Roman town of Catherick.
He spoke quietly. “There is a Norman conroi ahead. They are in Catherick itself.”
“We will go around but tomorrow you and I will find out who this conroi belongs to.”
Edward, Branton and I rode to Catherick the next day. It was but a handful of miles from our camp and there was plenty of cover for our horses. We spied the Normans at work on the motte and bailey they were building. I say Normans, but they were on their horses supervising the thralls and villeins who toiled away. There would be much hunger this summer if the lambs were not cared for and the crops not sown. We counted five knights or, at least, horsemen who were dressed as knights and fifteen men at arms. We could see no crossbowmen. This looked like our first opportunity to strike at the invader who was spreading across the land like a disease.
The men rested all day and we rose in the middle of the night at moonset.
We took all the men we had for we wanted no surprises. We left the horses in the stand of trees with two men and then we split up. Ridley and Osbert took half the men to wait close to the construction site in case we failed in our mission whilst Branton and I took the others to hide close to the river and the village. The Normans had obviously occupied the old warrior hall for there were armed sentries outside. The huts of the villagers were further from the river. We spread out in a thin armoured line. The two sentries at the main door appeared to be the only guards which meant that there should have been eighteen men inside. Branton had six archers and they each aimed at one of the sentries. As I nodded six arrows found their targets and the two men fell silently into oblivion. One of the horses neighed but there was no other sound. Branton and the archers went to the horses while I took the fifteen men at arms with me. I was counting on surprise. Once we entered the hall then we knew that all inside were Normans and therefore enemies. Branton waved at me to show that he had secured the horses. With his archers mounted they could catch any who escaped our trap. The door opened with a slight creak; I hoped that the sentries coming and going during the night had made the noise before and it was familiar enough to ignore. All of us wore our shields at our backs and carried swords, axes and maces.
I stepped into a world lit at one end by a glowing fire which had slowly died down during the night.
The Normans were spread along the sides but I assumed that the knights would have taken the prime positions by the hearth. I made my way through the sleeping bodies. If they woke it would be unfortunate but the closer I got to the leaders the better it would be. One of the men three back from me slipped slightly and stepped on a man. He woke with a roar and took in the armed spirits who had appeared, he began to scream a warning before he was despatched by one of my warriors but by then they were all awake. There was no time for honour and I slashed at the warrior next to me who had crouched, prior to rising. The next man was splashed by his blood and struck by his head as I decapitated him. We now outnumbered them by two. I ran towards the Norman knight I could see drawing his sword. He still had his tunic on but that was all. He advanced towards me with the sword held level with his shoulder. I slipped my dagger in my left hand and hacked at his sword with my own; there was a clash of sparks and I stabbed up at him with my dagger. It sliced through his tunic and into his side but the knight just gritted his teeth and swung his sword at me again. It was a two handed sword and longer than mine. It meant that he could keep me at bay. I feinted with my dagger and he reacted by turning with his blade. I took the opportunity to stab forwards with my sword and struck his thigh. I knew it was a deep wound as I struck a bone and deep red blood gushed from it. It had hurt him and he staggered back. I smashed down with the sword and again he struggled to stay on his feet, this time he failed and stumbled into the fire. Without meaning to he rolled away from the fire into the point of my dagger which entered his throat and ended his life. I turned quickly to see one of my men fall to a second knight’s sword. Unfortunately for the knight his side was facing me and my blade entered one side of his body and exited the other. The remaining warriors were quickly slaughtered for each faced three or four of my men.
It was like a charnel house. “Take our dead and wounded and then gather any weapons, armour or documents. We need to be away before dawn.”
There were not enough horses for us all and so I had the wounded and dead placed on the horses along with the arms and the weapons, The ten warriors with me then backed out of the village, keeping our eyes peeled for any warrior we had missed.
“Put your hoods up, disguise your faces.” As we left I saw the tiny glow from doorways as the villagers fearfully peeped out. I hoped they did not recognise us. I wanted our identity to be a mystery. We made our way to our horses and met up with Osbert and Ridley. We quickly and silently headed east towards Topcliffe. The ground was hard now but the hoof prints would be clearly visible when the Normans came to look for their lost patrol. We rode to the road and then headed south for a while. When we came to the small river over which the road passed, we headed west, into the river and thence home.
“Too many men died there, my lord.”
“I know. “ We had lost three dead in the attack and then another had succumbed to his wounds. “It was a major blow to the Normans but you are right Osbert, they have more men to lose. The knights are fine warriors, even without armour. We will limit ourselves to ambushes along the road for a while. You never know, we may get more men who wish to join us.”
Osbert was not convinced. “Anyone who joins us would be a potential spy. We have to be careful.”
I could see what he meant for, with a price on my head there would be many men willing to risk all to make their fortune. As it transpired there were no volunteers and we spent the next month watching for travellers. We devised a method by which two archers would wait as close to the Jorvik road south of Topcliffe as they could manage. If they saw a likely convoy then one rode up to the place we waited to fetch us whilst the other trailed them. I was there with Osbert and twenty men, a mixture of archers and men at arms when Edward galloped in. “My lord, a column of men at arms and knight. “
“How many? “
“ Twenty men at arms and four crossbowmen but only the knight is mounted.”
I turned to Osbert. “They can’t be making for Catherick, they wouldn’t be able to get there before dark.
They must be going either to Topcliffe or Medelai.”
“Then we have to take them.” We rode along the road for four miles and then turned off into the scrub land adjacent.
Edward held his hand up. “I think that they should be just down the road around the stand of trees.”
“You and the archers secrete yourselves next to the road.
We will attract their attention. Take out the knight if you can or his horse and your next target will be the crossbows.”
We had discovered that the deadly bolts were the Normans’ best weapons and although we did not fear them, we respected them. “Right Osbert, I will ride down the road with four men and see if he will attack us or at least draw close to us. You and the others hide in the bushes and close with them.”
“With respect my lord, you cannot carry on like this.”
I saw the others smile, “Like what?”
“Always putting yourself at the fore, as you did in Catherick. Always the first one in. I know you are our leader but we can’t afford to lose you. Let me have a go this time.” He grinned to take any insolence out of his words. “See if I can manage it eh sir?”
He was right.
He was as good a warrior as I was and perhaps I was hunting glory too much. “Very well, but don’t get yourself killed, I don’t want Branton pissed at me as well!”
We found some bushes and hid the horses.
My horse, Sweyn, neighed; he always did that when he heard strange horses. They were approaching. Osbert and his men were in the distance riding down the road and I spied the Norman column. The knight had spotted Osbert and he showed his caution by forming his men into a defensive circle with him in the middle. Osbert halted and we had a stalemate. Edward and his archers had no target yet, at least not a target they could hit effectively. Osbert must have read my mind for he spread his men out into a line and began to trot down the road. I heard an order in French and then four crossbowmen stepped forwards to aim their weapons at Osbert. Although Edward’s men could not see the knight well enough to hit, the lightly protected crossbowmen were an easy target and they fell to the ground dead.
The men at arms turned to their left to protect against the new enemy and I shouted, “Now!” We sprang from concealment and struck the rear of their line with our spears. “Withdraw!”
The knight was a brave man and he charged at the archers. They knew better than to stay and face a mailed leviathan; they quickly mounted and sped away. Osbert galloped up and his men at arms exchanged spears with the men at arms, leaving another couple dead. When the knight reorganised his lines it was stalemate again and we withdrew. I felt disappointed but it had been a good ambush. We had killed or wounded at least eight and not lost a man. Osbert was cheerfulness personified as we rode back to camp. “Now that is how we should do it. Annoy them. Slow them down. Make them look behind every bush for us.”
By the end of the month the convoys had increased in size to protect them against our incursions.
Each one had mounted men and crossbowmen to escort it. But we did notice that they cracked their whips even harder and the castles rose inexorably to dominate the skyline. I could see a pattern. They were controlling the roads. It was the chess game again; the castles controlled the board to enable their knights to attack. Luckily we received some intelligence from an unexpected source when Ralph arrived with more arrow heads.
He appeared to have grown by at least four fingers! “They have almost finished the castle at Maiden Bower and Aux Gemons…”
“Who is Aux Gemons when he is at home?”
“That is William of Perci or as he is now called Baron Topcliffe.
His nickname is Aux Gemons because of his moustaches. He is now at York building that castle and William has raised the taxes. They have been doubled. He has tax collectors all over the land.”
“You have done well Ralph.
Have they been to Coxold yet?”
“Aye they came there first.”
“You be careful when you return to Coxold and we will call in to the manor to speak with the steward.”
When he left I drew Osbert, his brother and Ridley to one side. “We will move camp.”
“What was that about visiting Coxold?”
“We will, Ridley, but it will be from our other camp.” He looked at me with a puzzled look although I could see that Osbert had worked out my meaning. “If Ralph is captured he will send any Norman west.”
“Ralph will not talk.”
“We cannot take that chance, besides they are alert to us here. It is time to collect some taxes of our own.”
To the east there were many more small villages and settlements nestled in and around the foothills. There were few forts and castles although I suspected that William would change all that soon, The road to Scarborough wound through a fertile gap in the hills and, with my military eye I could seed that a castle built at Helmsley would prevent any progress that way. It was one reason why I had selected the camp as our hideaway for it enabled to strike quickly and yet still remain hidden.