1066

G.K. Holloway

Description

England is in crisis. King Edward has no heir and promises never to produce one. There are no obvious successors available to replace him, but quite a few claimants are eager to take the crown. While power struggles break out between the various factions at court, enemies abroad plot to make England their own.There are raids across the borders with Wales and Scotland. Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, is seen by many as the one man who can bring stability to the kingdom. He has powerful friends and two women who love him, but he has enemies will stop at nothing to gain power. As 1066 begins, England heads for an uncertain future. It seems even the heavens are against Harold. Intelligent and courageous, can Harold forge his own destiny -or does he have to bow to what fates impose?

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 08 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783069972
• Langue: English

Extrait

1066
What Fates Impose
by G.K. Holloway

Copyright © 2013 G.K. Holloway
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the
publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with
the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries
concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
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Contents

Cover


List of Main Characters


Rouen, Normandy 1087


The Beginning, Winchester, January 1045


Nuptials


The Earl Harold


A Viking problem


Whitsun at Waltham


Wedding Plans


West Wickham


Another Wedding


Two Years Later


Plans in the making


Mid-Lent council


The Count of Boulogne


The Gloucester Witan


Exile


Edward’s England


The Return of the Exiles


Crossing


A New Era


Divine Retribution


The New Earl


Business in the North


The Welsh Problem


Rome


The King’s Winter Court


Return of the Brother


Mercia: Earl Aelfgar’s Great Hall, Coventry


Gloucester, the King’s Christmas Court 1062


Waltham, April 1063


Normandy, early in 1064


Forty Days and Forty Nights


Back Home


1065 The Summer of Discontent


Farewell to the King


King Harold II


Normandy


St. Stephen’s Abbey, Caen


Storm Clouds Gather


Rome


In England


The Journey South


William Prepares


Normandy


Westminster, Easter 1066


May


Normandy, the summer of 1066


Norway, August


Normandy


September, England, the Nativity of St. Mary


Normandy


Wessex in September


Ponthieu


In the North


Stamford Bridge


Ponthieu


Sussex


London


Hastings


Waltham


Friday, 13 th October


14 th October, 1066


At the Watch Oak


Sunday Morning
List of Main Characters
Royalty
Edward King of England, son of Emma
Edith, Queen of England, daughter of Earl Godwin
Emma, Dowager Queen of England, King Edward’s mother and great aunt of Duke William of Normandy
Wessex
Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Gytha, Godwin’s wife
Sweyn, son of Godwin
Harold, son of Godwin
Tostig, son of Godwin
Edith, daughter of Godwin
Gyrth, son of Godwin
Leofwine, son of Godwin
Wulfnoth, son of Godwin
Beorn, Godwin’s nephew
Edyth Swanneck, handfast wife of Harold
Godwin, son of Harold
Magnus, Son of Harold Edmund, son of Harold Gytha, daughter of Harold
Ulf, son of Harold
Mercia
Leofric, Earl of Mercia
Godiva, Leofric’s wife
Aelfgar, Leofric’s son
Aldytha, Aelfgar’s daughter
Edwin, son of Aelfgar
Morcar, son of Aelfgar
Northumbria
Siward, Earl of Northumbria
Aelflaed, Siward’s wife
Osbern, son of Siward
Waltheof, son of Siward
Cospatric, Earl of Cumbria, grandson of King Ethelred
Gamel Ormson, great grandson of King Ethelred
Oswulf, grandson of Earl Uhtred, King Ethelred’s son-in-law
The Church
Edmund, a monk, Harold’s friend
Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1052
Eadmear, Archbishop of York
Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester
Normans
William, Duke of Normandy and great nephew of Emma, Queen of England
Matilda, Duchess of Normandy
Robert, Count of Mortain, brother of Duke William
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, brother of Duke William
Robert de Jumieges, Archbishop of Canterbury
William Malet, Norman knight and friend of Harold Godwinson
Eustace, Count of Boulogne, brother-in-law of King Edward, ally of Duke William
Guy, Count of Ponthieu, ally of Duke William
William Warenne, knight and close friend of Duke William
William FitzOsbern, knight and close friend of Duke William

*
In 1066, England had a population of about two million people. Adults stood as tall as the English do today. By 1166 the population had halved and the average adult was three inches shorter. There had been neither famine nor plague. What happened was that half the Saxon population died at the hands of the Normans, and those who survived worked longer, paid more taxes and ate less. The English, under an apartheid-like regime, were denied access to positions of power and ownership of substantial amounts of land. William had conquered; Norman civilisation had arrived.
.
Rouen, Normandy 1087
In his bed the King, who can never be killed, lies dying. The old hag was right after all. He would not die on the battlefield. So, here he is, inside the church at St. Gervase, sixty years old, white haired and corpulent, waiting for fate to find him, while his courage deserts him and terror creeps through his being.
Six weeks previously, at the height of battle, the Conqueror’s horse bucked and threw him high into the air. He dropped back onto the pommel of his saddle, splitting his pelvis and puncturing his bowel. The infected wound turned his insides putrid.
As he lies in his sweat-soaked sick bed, his fevered mind flits back and forth to deeds both past and present. The old king feels his life slowly slipping away. He urgently needs to make his peace with God. Only the Almighty can help him now.
Around his bed a few dignitaries are gathered, including the Conqueror’s sons, Robert, William and Henri; their fates too, will be sealed this day. Henri, the youngest, sits at a fine oak table. He knows he will inherit nothing from his father and so he counts out, one at a time, the five thousand marks bequeathed him by his late mother.
Outside in the pale blue sky, a raven circles; inside Robert stares vacantly at the bedroom wall. William Rufus, his fingers stretched out before him, inspects his nails. He appears quite satisfied with his manicure and so busies himself with running his hand through his fine long red hair.
Their father turns towards them, no expression in his bloodshot eyes, his face an explosive red. Blotches like bruises have formed all over him. A few silver hairs grow like onion roots from the end of his bulbous nose. His once powerful body is drained of its strength and virility.
Long forgotten memories buried deep in his mind, revived by guilt and foreboding, form familiar characters; wretches who parade mockingly through his semi-conscious. In his delirium he watches a parade of aberrations. They jeer at him waving handless arms, some hobbling about on the stubs of their legs, their feet hacked off long since. With perverse delight the miserable creatures beckon him towards them, greeting him with rotten-toothed smiles. Something about their diabolical welcome is irresistible to him. He cannot help but stare. Tears flow down his face. This is his first display of emotion since his coronation twenty-one years before, when he sat newly crowned on the throne at Westminster, trembling before the eyes of God.
Now though, he must face the enormity over which even he, a king, has no control. He must pay the price.
As he gazes down the bed, he is surprised to discover it is not a warrior’s sword he holds but a beautiful, leather bound, gold-inlaid, jewel-encrusted Bible - there to comfort him, to reassure him of the existence of God and the hereafter. It offers no reassurance; it is simply a reminder that he will soon be called to account, a quick and violent hero’s death denied him as he has always known it would be. After a sigh of resignation he turns in the direction of his priest, Bishop Gilbert de Lisieux.
‘Father, hear my confession.’
With difficulty Gilbert forces his gaze away from the jewel-clad tome. The bishop nods sagely to the Conqueror, who then begins the last of his confessions.
‘I have persecuted the natives of England beyond all reason,’ gasps William. ‘Whether gentle or simple, I have cruelly oppressed them. Many I unjustly disinherited. Innumerable multitudes perished through me by famine or the sword.’
After a short struggle for breath he continues, ‘I fell on the English of the northern shires like a ravening lion. I ordered that their houses and corn, with all their implements and chattels, be burnt without distinction and great herds of cattle and beasts of burden were butchered wherever they were found.’
He stops for a moment to pause for breath and to reflect on his actions. He lowers his eyes; he sees only the Bible.
‘In this way,’ he continues, ‘I subjected a fine race of people to the calamity of cruel famine and so became the barbarous murderer of many thousands of men and women.’ He pauses and breaks down, tears mixed with perspiration running down his face. The onlookers remain motionless, voyeurs at a grim display. No one steps forward to help the old man. Contrition is something they had not expected to see.
Slowly William regains control, reaching inside for his last remnants of strength while William Rufus tries hard to suppress a yawn. To his credit he succeeds.
The King continues, ‘Having gained the throne of that kingdom by so many crimes I dare not leave it to anyone but God.’
Rufus and Robert exchange startled glances. At his desk Henri smirks.
The King then utters the following words to the room: ‘I appoint no one as my heir to the Crown of England, but leave it to the disposal of the Eternal Creator, whose I am and who orders all things. For I did not attain that high honour by hereditary right, but wrested it from th