In York the King and his army feasted and rested. They buried the dead and tended to the wounded. There was good cheer among the men and the townsfolk who were grateful for their saviors. King Harold rested, weary at the death of his brother, but glad in the defense of his kingdom. He was also thankful that it was too late in the season for William to make any move toward his crown and so he sat with his housecarls as they feasted.
Soon it was all over. A messenger from the south appeared and had a grave message for his King. William had landed at Pevensey and made camp at Hastings. Lanius, his most senior housecarl, advised an immediate march toward Hastings and to battle while they had an army to fight with.
The fyrd in the south had been dismissed after spending the summer waiting for William throughout summer. They had fulfilled their two months service to the crown plus six weeks and those that had not returned for the march north would now be hurriedly tending to the tasks at their homes that were left undone while they watched the empty sea for invaders. Trying to call them back would be troublesome, at least. Who knows how many would show up.
"Sire, we should gather as many men as we can here and march south immediately." Lanius advised.
"I understand your thirst for battle Lanius," King Harold began, "but I do not believe William plans on attacking London. I believe he waits in Hastings for a fight. We shall let the men have tonight to keep their spirits up and break tomorrow for London. We shall march double time, however. Let the men know to get their rest tonight for we have many miles to cover and little time in which to do it. As for me, I shall retire now for the night. I leave you to deliver my orders to the men before you retire yourself. And Lanius, prepare your Patriots for the worst. Who knows what force William has brought to English soil in seeking my crown. This messenger had little information on the numbers William has with him."
"Yes, your Highness, it shall be done." Lanius bowed slightly and turned toward duty.
`
Lanius found his Patriots at sport. They were all full of good cheer as well as beer and graf. Some were in the midst of games, others practicing swordsmanship.
"Patriots!" Lanius yelled above the crowd. "Assemble here with me. We have a duty to the Crown." Lanius sat at the head of a long table and his men followed immediately. The other people seated there took their beer and graf and vacated quickly so that these men could hold their meeting in private.
"What duty do we owe the Crown now after serving it so recently?" asked Cinnin.
"A messenger has come from London with dire news. What we believed we were safe from for the winter has arrived at our doorstep. William has landed with unknown numbers and seeks the Crown of England. He camps at Hastings for the moment but we cannot be certain of his plans."
Cinnin slammed the table with his fist. "We ride tonight, with haste, and meet him before he can reach London." he bellowed.
"Easy Cinnin. I thirst for battle as you do. I have advised the King that we should break south immediately but he believes William waits for our army and a fight. He wants to leave at first light and march double time to the south, to London."
"Yes, I agree." said Lucas. "William will expect a fight. If he has made camp he will have to make defenses for it and that takes time. If he intended on marching on London he would not have made camp at all."
At this they all started talking at once, Cinnin insisting on marching immediately and Balor and Lucas calling him a tactless brute.
"Enough!" Lanius commanded over their chatter. "Our King has given orders and, agree or not, we obey. We are to inform the men to get rest tonight for we break camp here at first light and march double time for London. No Patriot will disobey a royal order, nor will he encourage the army to do so. When you speak to the men you tell them only what has to be told. The order has come down from Our King and they shall obey, that is all. I leave you to deliver these orders to the men and will retire myself. I suggest you do your duty quickly and rest yourselves. We have much ground to cover and little time in which to do it. The next few days will be filled with exhausting work, travel, and a battle at the end of it all. Good night good Patriots."
They each immediately turned toward duty and to the men to pass down the royal orders. Diana retired with Lanius.
In bed together for the first time after days of difficult travel they made love. As they lay entwined in the sheets Diana asked if Lanius believed in the new King.
"The good King Edward chose him and the witan confirmed Edward's choice. Harold is very capable of being King. He did much of the work in absentium for Edward for many years." Lanius replied. "I do not see the steel in his eyes that was in Edward's but it is not our choice. We serve the Crown."
"Very well, my love." Diana replied caressing his cheek. "Let us now rest for we have much work ahead of us and a battle at the end. Isn't that how you put it?"
They laughed and pulled closer to each other to sleep. They barely moved in the night but Lanius was up before first light.
`
King Harold retired that night with a heavy heart. He had kept part of the message from Lanius. It seems that, in absence of any defense on his part, the Papal court had decreed that William's invasion was just, and Harold himself had been excommunicated.
Excommunicated from his church, he sat at his table there in York with a sense of disbelief, his face visibly gaunt and pale.
How could such a thing be done to him? Had God himself dismissed Harold as King anointing instead the Duke who awaited him in Hastings? Was it God's will that William be King and not him?
He decided that he would face William in a final battle and let God decide which of them would wear the Crown. He went to bed with an uneasy feeling and a longing for his church. Soon, God will judge the winner of the Crown. I will not let this news reach the men for they may desert if they believe God be against them.
`
Lanius stirred Diana from sleep with a soft caress on her cheek and lovingly chiding her name. She awoke with a smile and stretched. "What hour is it, my Lord?"
"It is before first light. We must rouse the men and break camp to march for London. I leave it to you to awaken the other Patriots and them to rouse the army. I must attend to the King."
Lanius entered the King's chambers and found him in prayer. He patiently waited for some time while his King prayed to his God. Lanius assumed he was asking God to bless him and his army in the upcoming battle.
The King turned suddenly, realizing that Lanius had entered without him knowing.
"You have seen me in prayer. Do you wish to know what I ask of God?" he asked Lanius.
"I believe that that is between you and God, Sire. I have come to humbly serve you, it is not my place to inquire about your pious conversations."
"I have been excommunicated, Lanius. The Pope has blessed William's conquest of us and has damned me. I ask God to forgive me of the sins which I do not know that I committed to deserve his wrath.
He is silent on the matter. And so, I believe His will shall be decided in a final battle between William and myself. That is the only way this can be settled now. Let God's will be done, whomever stands last at Hastings shall be King."
Lanius stood stoic. He was not a religious man, knowing what he did in his thousands of years of life. Finally he spoke.
"If you believe God can forgive you your sins and see fit that you reign over England after the fight we will soon be marching toward, I will serve you as I served Edward, Sire." He cleared his throat. He did not believe what he was about to say but he wanted his King to regain his shaken confidence.
"It was God that chose you as King through Edward's dying breath, why would he immediately defer that decision to another foreign invader? Certainly God will forgive you your sins as you ask and support you as His chosen King of England."
Harold looked at Lanius gravely.
"I can only hope you are correct, Lanius. The hours are passing. We must depart."
"The men are being roused as we speak, Sire. We shall break camp and march south double time, as you ordered. Again, Lanius did not believe what he was about to say but felt it might help the situation.
"Sire, I believe God will ultimately choose you to win this battle just as he chose you through Edward. This army will be victorious and push the Duke back into the Channel in retreat to Normandy from whence he came."
"I can only hope that my prayers be answered and you are correct, Lanius. Let not the news of the Pope's decision reach the men as they will surely desert if they believe God be against them."
"They will not hear it from my lips, Sire." Lanius replied and picked up the King's helmet and followed him out of the chambers he was allowed here in York, and towards a fight.
`
What the King and Lanius did not know is that the messenger who had brought the news of the King's excommunication had already been speaking of it to some of the men and it was getting around quickly. Many of the men dismissed the messenger saying that it was Norman propaganda. He had been fooled. How could the Pope judge against a King such a thing without that King presenting himself for defense. Since the King had not travelled to Rome, there is no way such a judgement could have been made. Yet the rumor flourished among the men and many secretly believed it; shaking their confidences.
`
The army marched south. The King, his housecarls and other mounted men in front and the foot soldiers behind. The mounted men moved so fast that soon the foot soldiers were not in sight of them. As they struggled to keep up, the news of the King's excommunication spread among them. Most outwardly dismissed it while some preached that they were on the wrong side of God. Those who said otherwise, had some doubt. Surely if the Pope had blessed their enemy they could not win. They lost sight of the riders but trudged through the marshy lands as close to double time as they could manage. Even with doubts in their minds they felt an oath of fealty to the Crown and they would certainly not be accused of failing that oath. Harold may have come to the Crown with doubts but he was an English King and these men would fight to their death before they would submit to be ruled by a foreign one.
`
In the lead the King marched on his mount as fast as he dared as to not exhaust the animal. Lanius beside him among his other companions and the Patriots close behind. Just behind the Patriots rode the other mounted soldiers.
The King was full of doubt and it was written all over his face. He rode in silent prayer, asking forgiveness from God for what sin he may have committed all the while recalling Edward's deathbed premonition of great turbulence and dismay for the country after he was gone.
Was this invasion what Edward had foreseen? Was he, Harold, destined to be judged here and now as an unfit King who broke promises in gaining the Crown?
As they marched Lanius saw the doubt on the King's face and felt that the King's pious ways were shaken by the news of his excommunication and thought the man believed he marched toward a final judgement and death by William's hand. With the confidence of the King shaken so, would he be able to rally this army when the time came?
On they marched, as fast as they dared, for London and the safety of its walls still knowing a fight was at the end of this journey. Lanius' confidence in his Patriots was as solid as ever but if the men thought that their enemy had the blessing of God would they fight? Would they see a shaken King and desert? Many questions would be answered soon, and in battle only would those answers come.
`
The riders crossed London Bridge into the safety of the city with the foot soldiers nowhere in sight. Upon arrival the King immediately called on the witan to advise him. Messages would need to be crafted and sent to William's camp. They must be composed carefully. Lanius and his Patriots were dismissed to care for their own affairs for the moment. The King was safe within the walls of his throne room. They gave orders to their own attendants to feed and water the horses but to also have fresh horses available on a moment's notice should they need to ride to battle.
Under the cover of the night they stalked the poorest areas of London. They needed to feed. It had been days since they were able to feed on the Norsemen and they were parched. Eating human food to fit in gave them very little nutrition. The need to feed was upon them all and each took toward the prospects they had in London for, no matter how deep their thirst, their oath to feed on the worst of humans was still on their minds. They each always had a few prospects in the cities they spent time on the business of the Crown, not least of all here in London.
Lanius and Diana always hunted together, sometimes with Lucas in tow. He was trusted most by them and had a kinship with them which was slightly greater than with the other Patriots. He protected them in battle, Lanius and Diana both. He was like a brother. He had been with them the longest.
Tonight it was just Lanius and Diana. They now tracked a man known to be a thief and a liar. He stalked the night and stole what he could find of value near, or in, homes that he could sneak into. He was crafty, watching the habits of his neighbors to know what was available and when. They found him tonight creeping upon one of his neighbors' back yard.
He had settled on a way to sneak in during the night but did not know that tonight he wouldn't make his usual rounds.
As he approached the house Diana appeared before him.
"What business have you here, intruder?" she said as if it were her home, "Why do you tread here in this yard that is not yours?"
"I apologize for the intrusion, my lady." he stuttered "I have merely lost my way and seek a shortcut back to the road. If you'll be so kind as to point me in the right direction, I'll take my leave of this place and head upon my own business."
Diana smiled broadly revealing her fangs now and in the darkness she snarled.
"Oh you shall have your leave, thief. Turn and run if you dare."
In shock and horror he stumbled backwards and turned to flee running directly into Lanius and falling from the body check Lanius administered upon him.
"Now you pay for your dastardly ways, human scum." Lanius said picking him up. He and Diana each sunk their teeth into a side of his neck and they drained him dry in just a few seconds. His blood gave them life and strength and the world had one less thief and liar.
`
Cinnin stalked a man almost as large as him. He had watched the man and saw that, as a merchant, he was a cheat. He would intentionally calibrate the weight on his scales so his customers would get less for their hard earned money. He also cheated on his own wife with his neighbor's wife. He was mean to his children, often getting drunk and beating them and their mother, blaming them for his own miserable life. And he drank often, frequenting a pub that Cinnin knew well as a den of thieves and liars as he spent much time there himself gambling among them.
Cinnin watched him stumble from the pub, mumbling to himself, something Cinnin couldn't quite hear. Cinnin approached from the rear and made his way by rooftop around the man's path to an alley ahead of him. When the man approached the alley Cinnin saw an opportunity and smiled. The oaf had decided it was a good place to have himself a piss. Cinnin approached casually.
The man swung around at the sound of Cinnin's chuckling and pissed all over himself. "See what you've made me do ya tosser. I've wet meself."
And then he was ready to fight as he always was. He saw the size of Cinnin and a trickle of doubt filled his face. This man was used to being the bigger man. Here he stood in front of a giant of a man. And he had no idea the superhuman strength that Cinnin possessed.
"If you have a quarrel then let's have at it, brute." the man slurred "I'm not afeared of you."
Cinnin grinned, revealing his fangs in a devious smile and snarled "Ye should be."
In an instant Cinnin was upon him drinking him dry. The man beat about Cinnin's head and shoulders with all of his might, without a flinch from Cinnin, but he quickly weakened and died in Cinnin's arms as his lifeblood was drained from him and filling Cinnin. Feeling fresh new life and strength rush through his body Cinnin gave a great howl into the night which certainly frightened children and women nearby, shutting their windows against the unknown.
`
King Harold sat, exhausted from his journey, lost in thought, with the witan around him arguing.
Where was the army? They asked. How would they respond to a foreign invader on their soil? They must craft a message to William at once. It must be carefully worded, but firm. They must tell him to take leave of their soil and return from whence he came, and at once.
We must gather all of the nation's force and show William he cannot conquer us, they advised. All the while, only his excommunication was on his mind. He was distraught. How could the church, to which he had given so much, betray him? In his sullen mind he began to craft a message to William.
Duke William,
You have arrived on English soil uninvited and with hostility. We can only assume that your intention is to invade and attempt to seize the Crown. We will not submit to a foreign power. Any promises made to you by King Edward of your succession to the Crown were made moot by his naming Harold on his deathbed. That promise made you is not binding and will not be honoured. King Edward named Harold as his successor and the witan has approved his deathbed wishes. We shall have an English King.
We bid that you take your army and leave our shores without delay. If you do so, we will not attempt any hostility toward you nor seek hostility against Normandy.
With Highest Regard
King Harold of England
The message was sent immediately by emissary to the Duke. All that they could do now is await his response. As they composed this message the foot soldiers arrived in London and crossed London Bridge. They awaited orders to march on the enemy.
Scouts were dispatched to spy on William's position and to estimate his numbers. Other scouts were sent to survey the area between London and the invaders for a point of defense. Their findings suggested the best place for a headquarters for facing the enemy was at the crossroads of the old Roman road and the road into the suburban villages surrounding London that had not been sacked by the invading army already. More members of the fyrd poured in from those villages ready to fight the invaders. They had enjoyed decades of peace under King Edward and were satisfied with the government in which they took part.
`
William received the message from Harold. He thought upon it for some time before crafting a response. His army was looting the surrounding villages of booty, livestock and food to restore the depleted stocks from their journey across the channel and he wanted that to continue. It was a show of strength against the English that they could not protect their own soil.
William met with his advisors to craft a reply to King Harold.
Harold,
The promise of the Crown to me by Edward is binding. You, yourself, traveled to Normandy and swore an oath upon the religious relics that the promise would be fulfilled. My claim to the Crown is sound and supersedes the deathbed ravings of a man who had lost his faculties. If you do not honor that promise I will order my army to take the Crown by force and have it laid upon my head. I will not vacate English soil without the Crown. You need not send spies. I will tell you that I have a force with me of ten thousand under my command. We have the blessing of the Pope as you can see from the Papal banner I display. My right to the Crown is legitimate. Surrender and there need not be bloodshed. I prefer to rule a peaceful people to a hostile one.
With High Regards
Duke William of Normandy
After several more messages were passed back and forth, it seemed ever more evident that a battle it would be. King Harold moved to the headquarters erected at the only road out of Hastings. He assembled his army in front of him facing a narrow road with steep sides which would not allow for thousands to attack in line. It seemed strange to Lanius that the King stayed in the headquarters rather than in front of his troops. He had less and less confidence in the King to rally his army in their defense of their homeland. He, the Patriots, and every other Earl's housecarls formed in front of the foot soldiers to make a shield wall against the invading archers arrows.
The English bowmen had inferior bows as archery was considered an art of the aristocracy and any poor man with a bow was considered a poacher of the King's deer. They could muster only one quarter the range of the longbowmen at the front of the Norman lines. The only protection the English had from the Norman missiles was the shield wall and the Normans could advance and retreat to a safe distance out of range of the English arrows. The English were all within range of the Norman bows.
The Norman knights were trained for mounted battle, as were their larger horses. The English horses were much smaller and not trained for fighting but simply for transportation. The housecarls that were riders dismounted and joined the lines of foot soldiers on the English lines.
The Norman knights attacked the left flank. Sword met shield, metal met metal, lances pierced bodies and blood ran the ground red. After a short skirmish the Normans retreated out of range of the English bows. The English on that flank saw it as an opportunity and gave chase. They were cut down by the knights in the marshy low valley.
It seemed that Harold would not, or could not, keep control of his army or give it orders. Each Englishman protected the man next to him and fought whatever enemy appeared before him.
When the wind was right the English could hear the Normans taunts and chants. "English blood fertilizes Norman soil today!" They would cry over and over.
William was upon a mount and had established three divisions of men and had a clear chain of command. He could give orders to any group of his men and have those orders followed by being delivered down through that chain of command.
The English were all one unit with no discernible chain of command. King Harold, on foot, could not give orders to his men. Each was left to defend his homeland as best as he and those around him thought.
The Normans then attacked the right flank. Again sword met flesh and lance pierced skin. Glistening metal became stained with the blood of the dead and wounded. Again the mounted knights of the Normans attacked and quickly retreated out of range of the English arrows. Again, the English thought their retreat to be an opportunity to chase them down. Only to be slaughtered by the more experienced Norman soldiers.
As Harold's army's numbers dwindled, it tightened in the center. Rather than the men in the back stepping forward to take the place of a fallen mate, they crammed together 6 or 8 deep to protect the center of their position. Those in the back tried to shoulder their way through friend to attack foe but were feckless.
William led his army from the front while Harold hid behind his. William was mounted while Harold was not. William charged into the fray, slicing his way through English foot soldiers. He was not wounded but twice his horse was killed. Each time he took the mount of a lesser ranked soldier and continued in battle. He sought a great fight between himself and Harold.
At some point a Norman arrow pierced the eye of Harold at his position in the rear of the army. Three mounted Norman knights attacked the blinded King. One disemboweled him, another chopped off his head and a third took his leg above the knee, riding away with his prize. William only watched as his enemy was taken apart by others. He felt great disappointment that there would be no great one on one battle between himself and his enemy.
The call went out among the English.
"The King is dead."
As it passed from mouth to ear many men fled into the forests in the surrounding area. Many retreated to London. Those that stayed and fought were slaughtered by the advancing and confident Norman soldiers.
Upon hearing that the King was dead, Lanius and his Patriots retreated to London to give the news to the witan. They were still gathered in the throne chambers where they had helped Harold compose the messages to William.
Lanius entered the chamber covered in blood from battle and drinking when he could do so without anyone seeing.
"King Harold is dead. Our army is defeated." he stated flatly. "We are conquered."
At this the witan was astonished. This must be the terrible curse that Edward had foreseen in his final days.
"What are we to do?" Lanius asked of them. They were the learned men of England. They, and they alone, had the power to crown a King. Now, their King was dead. Torn to pieces by a foreign invader. They looked at each other blankly. They began to discuss English successors to the throne and how to build up another army. Two of Harold's brothers had perished in the battle, one, Gyrthe, by William's own hand after throwing a javelin and killing William's horse.
None of them wished to submit to a foreign ruler and the room was buzzing with voices.
Lanius, exasperated with the whole situation, left them to discuss the next steps and went to attend to his Patriots.
Meanwhile, the Normans had retreated to Hastings. It is not known their casualties but they must have been large. The battle had lasted most of the day and perhaps five thousand remained able to fight with a couple thousand wounded. William took a contingent and moved.
He had to keep moving to find food in the coming winter. He marched his army into the surrounding villages. Even one that was fortified surrendered without a fight. The Normans burned it anyway.
William was puzzled by the silence from London. There had been no message from London. No surrender or threat. No indication of any life there at all. It puzzled William for weeks as his army laid siege to the suburbs of London.
It is said that the men, and William himself, took ill for some time. Most accredited it to the food they were eating and the water that they were drinking. And still, there was silence from London. He wondered if there was a great army building up behind those walls poised to attack and repel him. He had his ships at the ready to make a retreat across the Channel, should it come to that.
`
In London, the witan had decided that they must choose Alfred, a boy of only thirteen, as their new King. He was the last surviving Englishman with a claim to the throne. Although they had agreed he would be the successor, they did not hold a formal coronation for him. There was still chatter among them of calling out the fyrd from the north and advancing on William again, even as he ravaged the countryside outside London's walls unimpeded.
Lanius decided he must speak up. He stepped into the center of the semi circle the witan made around the throne and addressed them.
"We cannot coronate a new King while a foreign invader ravages our land. The fyrd in the north mostly perished in the battle at Stamford Bridge and the remainder marched south where they served here at Hastings and were killed, wounded, or fled. We have no options. We must admit that we are a conquered people and begin negotiations with William."
The witan were silent for a long moment in contemplation. And then, one spoke up.
"Do you mean ... negotiate a surrender?"
"Yes." Said Lanius stoically. "As you do not, I do not, wish to be ruled by a foreign King but we have been conquered. Our army is gone, we have no force with which to fight off this enemy. The only chance we have is to offer him the Crown, but with provisions that favor us. We must insist of him that he be a good and just King. That he does not exact revenge upon the Englishmen he means to rule for their defense against him." The room fell silent.
`
William's army prowled around London, wary of the silence there, an animal expecting a trap. Laying waste to the villages that they encountered. Each with a day in between to forage for food and display power.
They approached the Broken Tower near Seven Oaks. While William waited there he sent a troop of five hundred horsemen to test the defense of London. The horsemen entered Southwark at the southern edge of London Bridge. The people there put up a fight but were viciously cut down. They burned the town but did not try to cross London Bridge.
William's army converged on Wallingford, just fifty miles from London. The troops ravaged the town for food and booty and William waited there for word from London. There was still silence. William marched along the old roads northeast, keeping his distance from London.
It was here, in December, that word finally came from London. It was a message of submission and a proposal for peace. William gave gifts and promises of peace. The messenger returned to London with news that William offered peace and safety and complied with all of their demands.
`
With this news the witan declared that the will of God, shown by the carrying of the Papal banner by William, was that William shall be granted the Crown. An emissary was sent to offer William the Crown of England.
They asked only that he be a just and peaceful King and not take revenge on the English who had defended their homeland with such bravery from his invasion.
William accepted this message with a wary eye. He surmised that the English meant to lure him into a trap. He told the messenger that he would have to consider the offer for some time and sent him back to London. William spoke with advisors and did not reply for two weeks. When he did, his response was that he would accept the Crown and be a good and just King of England.
He entered London within a fort and surrounded by guards who all stood at the ready as the coronation ceremony began. The ceremony was much pomp and circumstance and had to be carried out in both English and French.
Finally, William was adorned with the purple robes, the Crown and the scepter to hold as the rightful King of England.
Shortly after the feast following the ceremony, William took his place on the throne of England. Lanius approached and spoke with William in French.
"King William, my Lord, I am Lanius Dunn. My Patriots and I have served as personal housecarls to King Harold and Edward before him. We have served the Crown for our entire lives. We serve the Crown. Now that it adorns your head, we shall swear an oath of fealty to you and offer our services as your personal housecarls."
Lanius bent on one knee and awaited a reply from William with a downcast glance.
"I have heard much of your Patriots and have seen you in battle. I am most impressed with your abilities and familiarity with the French language shows wit in addition to strength, bravery, and fortitude. I thank you for addressing me so. You are most certainly worthy of being the protectors of a King. I shall consider your offer and get word to you soon.
In the meantime, I would like you to introduce yourself and your Patriots to my bodyguards who stand watch now and offer your help to them. Should you prove yourselves servants to the Crown, I shall make use of you in peace and in war."
"As you wish, Sire." Said Lanius and he stood and left the chambers.
The future is anything but certain with this new King but if we shall remain personal housecarls to this King, we can surely gain his trust and become advisors to him as we have with the English Kings.