leaders.
All preparations ceased when the
King and his retinue arrived. We had been told to present ourselves
fully armed for his arrival and I could not wait. My armour
and helmet gleamed. My shield shone and with my spear and my
axe I felt like Beowulf himself. We were line up in two ranks
before the cathedral with Earl Harold and Sweyn at our head.
Aethelward was not there and I wondered at his omission. The King
was disappointing. He wore neither armour nor crown. He
looked more like Brother Aidan than Gruffyd. I was, however,
impressed by his retinue for they were ten Norman knights.
Each one had mail covering their whole body, including their
legs. They each had a kite shield and a pointed helmet with a
nasal. The effect was chilling as no human features could be
discerned. There was no flesh to be seen; it was as though they had
been made by some blacksmith. Lastly their lances seemed much
longer than the spears we had and I wondered how one would fight
them. When Ap Iago had chased us they had neither spear nor
lance and were easily despatched. These warriors would need a
different approach. I determined to ask Aethelward what his
thoughts were but at that moment I stood proudly with my peers
hoping that we were making the same impression on the Normans as
they had made on me.
The King totally ignored all of
us and walked, with his knights into the cathedral. I don’t know
about the others but I felt that we had been snubbed. I
looked at Ridley and Wolf and they appeared to be unaware of any
problem. As I looked at the reddening ears of the Earl I knew that
I had been offended because my leader had been snubbed and everyone
in the kingdom knew that the only thing keeping Edward on the
throne was Earl Harold Godwinson.
We stood there for most of the
morning and then, when the king and his party did emerge, they went
directly to the King’s hall. The Earl spoke to Sweyn and then
followed them. Sweyn turned to us and I think I could detect a
subdued anger about his face. I had come to know the man and
recognise his idiosyncrasies. He was like me, unhappy that
our Earl had been treated thus. “You may stand down. The Earl
is proud of you and the display you made.”
As we went back to the hall I
felt empty. I was fighting for a man I could not
respect. Even worse I would be fighting a man I did respect,
Gruffyd. And then, like a dream like vision it struck me. I
was not Edward’s man I was Harold’s man and that made all the
difference for my leader was a man of honour and a man worth
following. Edward was merely a symbol of England but Harold was
England.
Chapter 5
Winchester 1062
The Normans spoiled my
Christmas. They arrogantly prowled around the crowded streets,
always armoured and often mounted. We recruits could not understand
their words but some of the older men told us that they spoke
disparagingly about our ancient weapons, armour and tactics. We
considered it the height of bad manners to behave so martially in
the peaceful town of Winchester, especially at Christmas. There
would have been trouble had not Sweyn and Ulf passed on Harold’s
admonition to bite our tongues. I knew that he did not wish to
jeopardise his attempt to persuade Edward to go to war with the
Welsh and offending the Normans would do just that. There was
one young Norman, a knight not much older than me who seemed to
enjoy intimidating the ordinary folk of the city. He was Guy of
Evreux and was even more arrogant than his fellows. Matters
came to a head on St. Stephen’s day when I had emerged from the
small church we used. I had gone to pray for my mother and
Nanna. As I came out I saw the Norman knight riding through
the street. That was not unusual but he was not riding slowly as
one would expect in a busy town. Instead he was riding as though
across an open field, galloping. I saw an old woman and her son
crossing ahead of me towards the cathedral and I could see that Guy
of
All preparations ceased when the
King and his retinue arrived. We had been told to present ourselves
fully armed for his arrival and I could not wait. My armour
and helmet gleamed. My shield shone and with my spear and my
axe I felt like Beowulf himself. We were line up in two ranks
before the cathedral with Earl Harold and Sweyn at our head.
Aethelward was not there and I wondered at his omission. The King
was disappointing. He wore neither armour nor crown. He
looked more like Brother Aidan than Gruffyd. I was, however,
impressed by his retinue for they were ten Norman knights.
Each one had mail covering their whole body, including their
legs. They each had a kite shield and a pointed helmet with a
nasal. The effect was chilling as no human features could be
discerned. There was no flesh to be seen; it was as though they had
been made by some blacksmith. Lastly their lances seemed much
longer than the spears we had and I wondered how one would fight
them. When Ap Iago had chased us they had neither spear nor
lance and were easily despatched. These warriors would need a
different approach. I determined to ask Aethelward what his
thoughts were but at that moment I stood proudly with my peers
hoping that we were making the same impression on the Normans as
they had made on me.
The King totally ignored all of
us and walked, with his knights into the cathedral. I don’t know
about the others but I felt that we had been snubbed. I
looked at Ridley and Wolf and they appeared to be unaware of any
problem. As I looked at the reddening ears of the Earl I knew that
I had been offended because my leader had been snubbed and everyone
in the kingdom knew that the only thing keeping Edward on the
throne was Earl Harold Godwinson.
We stood there for most of the
morning and then, when the king and his party did emerge, they went
directly to the King’s hall. The Earl spoke to Sweyn and then
followed them. Sweyn turned to us and I think I could detect a
subdued anger about his face. I had come to know the man and
recognise his idiosyncrasies. He was like me, unhappy that
our Earl had been treated thus. “You may stand down. The Earl
is proud of you and the display you made.”
As we went back to the hall I
felt empty. I was fighting for a man I could not
respect. Even worse I would be fighting a man I did respect,
Gruffyd. And then, like a dream like vision it struck me. I
was not Edward’s man I was Harold’s man and that made all the
difference for my leader was a man of honour and a man worth
following. Edward was merely a symbol of England but Harold was
England.
Chapter 5
Winchester 1062
The Normans spoiled my
Christmas. They arrogantly prowled around the crowded streets,
always armoured and often mounted. We recruits could not understand
their words but some of the older men told us that they spoke
disparagingly about our ancient weapons, armour and tactics. We
considered it the height of bad manners to behave so martially in
the peaceful town of Winchester, especially at Christmas. There
would have been trouble had not Sweyn and Ulf passed on Harold’s
admonition to bite our tongues. I knew that he did not wish to
jeopardise his attempt to persuade Edward to go to war with the
Welsh and offending the Normans would do just that. There was
one young Norman, a knight not much older than me who seemed to
enjoy intimidating the ordinary folk of the city. He was Guy of
Evreux and was even more arrogant than his fellows. Matters
came to a head on St. Stephen’s day when I had emerged from the
small church we used. I had gone to pray for my mother and
Nanna. As I came out I saw the Norman knight riding through
the street. That was not unusual but he was not riding slowly as
one would expect in a busy town. Instead he was riding as though
across an open field, galloping. I saw an old woman and her son
crossing ahead of me towards the cathedral and I could see that Guy
of
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