Hoodsman: Popes and Emperors Read online

  THE HOODSMAN

  Popes and Emperors

  (Book 11 of the Series)

  By Skye Smith

  Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Skye Smith

  All rights reserved including all rights of authorship.

  Cover Illustration is based upon a map

  by Wikimedia User “MapMaster”

  distributed under his Creative Commons license (2007)

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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  Revision 2 . . . . . ISBN: 978-1-927699-10-2

  Cover Flap

  By 1081 the Conqueror rarely visits England. Norman knights are no longer interested in that cold kingdom because there are better prospects on the continent. Robert of Guiscard, the Norman duke of the southern half of Italy, is invading Byzantine Illyria (now Albania). Normans are flocking to him eager for a share in the rich spoils expected from sacking wealthy and civilized Byzantine cities.

  An unexpected consequence of this invasion was the last great battle of Anglo-Danish lords against the Normans. This battle was fought not in England, but in Dyrrhachium near what is now Durres, Albania. It was a huge battle and pivotal not just to the history of Britain, but to the history of Venice, Europe, and the Middle East.

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  By 1104, while King Henry is creating a stable and peaceful economy in England, Normandy is being shredded by the vicious Norman barons who have been exiled by Henry. Raynar converts a Norse style longship into a Venetian style galley to help Henry cross to Normandy.

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  The Hoodsman - Popes and Emperors by Skye Smith Copyright 2010-13

  About The Author

  Skye Smith is my pen name. My ancestors were miners and shepherds near Castleton in the Peaks District of Derbyshire. I have been told by some readers that this series reminds them of Bernard Cornwell’s historical novels, and have always been delighted by the comparison.

  This is the eleventh of my Hoodsman series of books, and you should read the first “Killing Kings” before you read this book. All of the books contain two timelines linked by characters and places. The “current” story is set in the era of King Henry I in the 1100’s, while the longer “flashback” story is set in the era of King William I after 1066.

  I have self-published twelve "The Hoodsman ..." books and they are:

  # - SubTitle

  . . . . . . . . . . . . William I Timeline

  . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry I Timeline

  1. Killing Kings

  . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066 killing King Harald of Norway (Battle of Stamford Bridge)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 killing King William II of England. Henry claims the throne.

  2. Hunting Kings

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066 hunting the Conqueror (Battle of Hastings Road)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 hunting Henry I (Coronation Charter)

  3. Frisians of the Fens

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067/68 rebellions. Edgar Aetheling flees north with Margaret.

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 amnesty and peace. Henry recruits English bowmen.

  4. Saving Princesses

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068/69 rebellions. Margaret weds Scotland (Battle of Durham)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100/01 Edith of Scotland weds Henry (Battle of Alton)

  5. Blackstone Edge

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069/70 rebellions (The Harrowing of the North)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 peace while the economy is saved from the bankers

  6. Ely Wakes

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070/71 Frisian rebellion (Battles of Ely and Cassel)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 Henry collects allies. Mary of Scotland weds Boulogne.

  7. Courtesans and Exiles

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072/74 English lords flee abroad (Battle of Montreuil, Edgar surrenders)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 Henry collects allies (the Honor of Boulogne)

  8. The Revolt of the Earls

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075/76 Earls revolt (Battles of Worchester and Fagaduna)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 Earls revolt (Battles of Arundel, Bridgnorth, Shropshire)

  9. Forest Law

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076/79 fighting Normans in France (London Burned, Battle of Gerberoi)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103 fighting Normans in Cornwall (Battle of Tamara Sound)

  10. Queens and Widows

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079/81 rebellions (Gateshead, Judith of Lens)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103 Edith made Regent (Force 5 Hurricane)

  11. Popes and Emperors

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081 Normans slaughter English exiles (Battle of Dyrrhachium)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104 Henry visits Normandy (Duchy run by warlords)

  12. The Second Invasion

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082/85 power vacuum, peaceful anarchy (Regent Odo arrested enroute to Rome)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085/87 Re-invasion and Harrowing of all England (Battle of Mantes, Conqueror dies)

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104/05 Henry invades Normandy twice (Battle of Tinchebray).

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  The Hoodsman - Popes and Emperors by Skye Smith Copyright 2010-13

  Prologue

  Writing historical novels about the twenty year conquest of England by a culture of vicious slave masters, requires describing England as it was before the era of the Anglo-Normans. It is difficult to separate reality from all of the popular misconceptions about the era. For example, think of all of the connotations and misconceptions attached to just one phrase: Anglo-Saxon.

  Pre-Norman England was very much an Anglo-Danish kingdom. Not only were most of the nobles and lords Anglo-Danes, but half of the villages were Anglo-Danish. York was the second largest Danish city in the world, after London, and was a wealthy place because of the wealth of the Anglo-Dane farms of the Danelaw. Before the Normans, the Danelaw was more Danish than Denmark, and larger, and wealthier, and more populated.

  By 1081, Bishop Odo, the Regent of England, (the Conqueror’s half brother) was ignoring the North. Denmark had a new king, Canute the Holy, who had sworn he would recapture the Danelaw, and Odo did not have the will, or the men to stop him. Instead the Normans withdrew from the North except for some formidable garrison castles.

  Odo did not have the men because Normans were flocking to Italy to join Duke Robert Guiscard’s invasion of the Byzantine. Robert, the ruler of southern Italy, was assembling a fleet to invade Illyria, a Byzantine kingdom now called Albania. To do this they had to cross the Straits of Otranto, the fifty mile wide throat of the Adriatic Sea. The invading Norman army was larger than the one that had invaded England in 1066.

  The shipping and trading city-republic of Venice was watching in horror because most of their trade passed through the Straits. Gregory the Pope-Bishop-King of Rome, Henry the Holy Roman Emperor, and Alexius the Byzantine Emperor, were watching in horror. The Normans were vicious and completely out of control.

  After the Normans made a beachhead, they marched on the wealthy trading city of Dyrrhachium. This port was at one end of a main highway to Constantinople. There they suffered a setback. The Venetians fleet set
sail in force and captured the Norman fleet. The Norman army was now stranded in Illyria.

  As a reward for that stunning victory, Venice was given free trade privileges throughout the Byzantine Empire. This one act quickly turned Venice into the trading superpower of the Mediterranean, a position she held until Portuguese and Dutch ships began sailing around Africa four centuries later.

  Now that the Normans were stranded in Illyria, Emperor Alexius marched the Byzantine army along the main highway to drive the Normans into the sea. Leading the march were the elite and famous Varangian Guards. The Varangians were an army corps made up of Baltic and North Sea warriors, but trained in modern Byzantine warcraft.

  This Varangian army was filled with exiled English lords and warriors who had been pushed out of England by the Normans. They not only wanted revenge, but they wanted to keep these Normans far away from England so that Canute could invade and throw the Conqueror off the English throne.

  * * * * *

  By 1104, England was beginning to emerge from the horrific era of the two king Williams. The economy had been stabilized by ridding the kingdom of the corrupt practices of minters and bankers. The most foul of the Norman barons had been defeated and exiled. The rule of law had replaced the rule of warlords. English law once more ruled the courts. The Norman version of feudalism and serfdom was being dismantled.

  King Henry was replacing incompetent nobles who had inherited official positions, with competent administrators, even if they were not of the nobility. No one was above the law, not even nobles. If the English did not yet trust the Norman Henry, they certainly trusted his English queen, Edith.

  Normandy, however, was being ripped to pieces by the very barons who Henry had exiled from England. Henry’s brother Duke Robert was afraid of them, and could not control them. It was only a matter of time before Robert must ask Henry for his help.

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  The Hoodsman - Popes and Emperors by Skye Smith Copyright 2010-13

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Cover Flap

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 - Claiming a longship in London in January 1104

  Chapter 2 - With Robert the Frisian in Brugge in March 1081

  Chapter 3 - At the abbey outside of Brugge in March 1081

  Chapter 4 - The armoury at Oudenburg, near Brugge in March 1081

  Chapter 5 - The Tauern Pass south of Salzburg in April 1081

  Chapter 6 - Southwards to Villach in April 1081

  Chapter 7 - Arriving in Venice in April 1081

  Chapter 8 - With Maria in Venice in April 1081

  Chapter 9 - With Maria at Venice arsenal in April 1081

  Chapter 10 - An English galley in London in January 1104

  Chapter 11 - Romancing Maria in Venice in May 1081

  Chapter 12 - Maria's brother returns to Venice in May 1081

  Chapter 13 - The call to arms in Venice in July 1081

  Chapter 14 - Stranding the Normans at Dyrrhachium in July 1081

  Chapter 15 - The summer long festival in Venice in 1081

  Chapter 16 - Waiting for Alexius in Patok, Illyria in October 1081

  Chapter 17 - Meeting an Emperor near Dyrrhachium in October 1081

  Chapter 18 - The Battle of Dyrrhachium in October 1081

  Chapter 19 - The retreat from Dyrrhachium in October 1081

  Chapter 20 - The woolsorter's curse in Illyria in October 1081

  Chapter 21 - Launching an English galley in London in February 1104

  Chapter 22 - A pilgrim again in Rome in November 1081

  Chapter 23 - The bishop's palace in Rome in November 1081

  Chapter 24 - Ambushed in the Camargue in November 1081

  Chapter 25 - The children of Jesus in the Camargue in December 1081

  Chapter 26 - To Caen in a galley in March 1104

  Chapter 27 - Traveling through Languedoc in December 1081

  Chapter 28 - The blind seer of Le Puy in December 1081

  Chapter 29 - The journey to Le Puy in December 1081

  Chapter 30 - Gregos of Cordoba in Le Puy in December 1081

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  The Hoodsman - Popes and Emperors by Skye Smith Copyright 2010-13

  Chapter 1 - Claiming a longship in London in January 1104

  "I didn't say no," Edith soothed her favourite old man. "I just said that I will need confirmation."

  "Confirmation of what?" replied Raynar, calming himself. After all, it is not seemly to yell at your queen, even if she is a close relative. "It was my ship that captured Mortain's big cog in Cornwall. The cog is therefore mine, but Henry gave it to his brother Duke Robert to use to go back to Normandy. In it's place I claim the ship that Robert came to Southampton on. All I need is something in writing from you to hand to the captain to prove that I am not insane to ask for it."

  Edith calmed his irritation by stroking his cheek. "Henry is a successful ruler," she said softly, "because each of his projects has three main parts.” She counted on her fingers. "The plan, the doing, and the confirmation.” A smile lit her face. "And the plan and the confirmation are the things you set up first."

  Raynar nodded. She was right of course. Before he or his partners in Flanders join any venture they always demanded a detailed plan, and a way of judging how well the plan was working at any point in the doing. What Edith called confirmation, the French would call audit. The first audit is whether you need the plan at all. The next is whether it is a good plan. The next is when to begin the doing.

  Of course, it was always more expensive to audit as you go, but in a costly venture, the extra cost was outweighed by the risk of not auditing. He had seen ventures go wrong and beggar the partners before they even knew that there was a problem. For that matter, he had seen battles go wrong and be lost before the general knew that there was a problem. He looked at Edith. She was writing something down. That was hopeful.

  Edith at twenty four was a very educated and knowledgeable woman. She had read entire books. Probably more than a dozen of them. Not many noblemen, never mind noblewomen, could read and write, and do it in English, French, and Latin. Her skills were no surprise considering that her mother, Margaret of Scotland and her aunt Cristina had both been well educated, and also considering that Edith had spent half of her life in a convent run by Cristina.

  Edith passed him the letter she had just written. It was in French. It made her smile to see him read it. Raynar was a very educated and knowledgeable man. He had read entire books. Probably more than a dozen of them. Not many noblemen, never mind peasant men, could read and write, and do it in English, French, Greek, and Welsh. His skills always amazed her. He put most of the palace's clerics to shame. Well, that is, except for his penmanship. His letters were always a mess of ink blots and scrawl.

  Raynar almost crumpled her letter up in anger after reading it, but calmed himself. It was indeed a letter to the captain of Duke Robert's ship the Mora in Southampton, but it was just an invitation for him to attend her in court at Westminster, at his earliest convenience.

  "You cannot complain, dear," she said putting a hand on top of his. "This invitation will be in his hands in two days, and he will be here at court within five. Then we will see." In court vernacular 'his earliest convenience' was the polite form of 'get your ass here now'.

  "Fine. But add one more line," he said with a smile. "Tell him to bring his famous ship with him. It needs work and I would rather have that done here in London, so that I can stay with you at the palace while Henry is away. Besides, your shipyard in Wapping needs the work."

  "And do I have a shipyard in Wapping?" she asked. She had never been to Wapping. That was the rough end of London, downstream from the tower.

  "Aye, lass. It is in the same Demesne as Queenhithe. The earnings of the main docks of London are yours, as are those of the main shipyard."

  Good
Queen Edith of the English added another line to the letter and then signed it and sealed it with her personal signet ring, and then picked up the small bell from the edge of her desk and made it tinkle. A clerk came into the room immediately, so fast that he surely must have had his ear to the keyhole. As he picked up the letter, and read it to make sure he understood who it was for, Edith told him to send it immediately. As an afterthought she asked him to send in her children. Business was over for this day.

  Sending in her children, of course, did not mean just her own two babies. At court now there were six of Henry's children, four from other women, and another almost due from the resident Welsh princess Nest. Raynar liked them all, even the eldest boy Robert, who was about twelve. The first to come through the door were the eldest girls, Juliana and Matilda, both twelve or thirteen going on twenty and already promised for future marriages.

  Juliana had just been betrothed to Eustace de Pacy, Lord of Bréteuil and Pacy, who was about twenty years older than her. Matilda had just been betrothed to Rotrou, the Count of Perche, who was about a dozen years older than her. Though already betrothed, Edith refused to have them join their husbands until they were of age.

  Edith was a thoroughly modern noblewoman. She herself had not been wed until the age of twenty. Henry, however, needed some allies in Normandy, and betrothing these two daughters was a political move. He had cursed that they weren't two years older so the marriage bed could seal the contract.

  Raynar was an old fashioned northerner from a peasant hamlet. Noble marriages had never made much sense to him. It would be better if all marriages intermixed poor and rich, so that the wealth would be distributed more evenly. These Norman marriages kept the riches locked in a close circle. Of course, he didn't believe in land ownership either. In his way of thinking all land should be held in-common by an entire community, and leased from that community when there was a reasonable need.

  When all was said and done, no matter how many similarities and differences there were between the Normans and the English, the ultimate shield crasher was that Norman culture thrived by standing on the heads of the poor, whereas English culture thrived because so much property was held in-common.