London August 1069
Alan sat in the office at Westminster Palace of Herfast, the newly-appointed Chancellor. The prelate had risen and given Alan an effusive greeting, brushing from his tunic and hose some crumbs from a hastily snatched meal as he did so. Although an ordained priest it was some years since he had served God, choosing instead to serve as King William’s secretary. Alan counted the wise old man a friend and would have been much more comfortable to receive a grunt of acknowledgement and a wave towards the wine jug. Clearly Herfast wanted something, presumably on behalf of their master King William.
“My dear boy, I’m delighted to see you again. I hear that you’ve been busy with the Danes again! Eventually they’ll learn to give you a wide berth! And how progresses Anne’s current pregnancy? Excellent? Thanks be to God!”
As Alan sipped his cup of mead Herfast said, “You’ve no doubt heard that the Manceaux, not content with revolting and expelling the Normans from Maine, have now proclaimed Hugh as Count of Maine? The king is absolutely furious and wants to collect every man he can and burn Le Mans to the ground!”
“He’s having a difficult year,” said Alan with a thoughtful nod. “Maine secured William’s southern border after he seized control five or six years ago. Hugh is unlikely to attack Normandy, but now the Angevins’ civil war is over Fulk of Anjou is likely to try and see if he can annex Maine, which would really be a threat to the southern border of the duchy. Dealing with the Northumbrians and Danes in the north, the Welsh in the west and scattered revolts in the south here in England have had William running in circles like a headless chicken. What’s he going to do about Maine? Return to Normandy?”
“I understand he’s intending to send William fitzOsbern back to Rouen to hold things together until he finishes with the Mercians and has them back under control,” replied Herfast.
After another five minutes or so of chat the Chancellor put his cards on the table. “To business,” he said brusquely. “The king thanks you for your information about the Danes, which you obtained through your trading connections- and may I say how happy I am that those connections flourish under Anne’s hand even though others stand as the front-men. As I have previously mentioned, the king has his own sources of information, which I am privileged to co-ordinate. King William learned early in life the value of good and timely information. The death of several of your guardians defending you and your own near-murder does tend to do that!” After a brief pause he continued, “You indicated that the Danes will move this year. My information is more specific. They’ll move to York later this month. I have spies well placed on the Danish camp and others in the camp of the Aetheling. I currently have the means to receive that information. When the Danes move, I will not have that information. I will retain the spies, but my lines of communication will be sundered.”
Alan sat quietly and his only response was to raise one eyebrow interrogatively, offering nothing.
Herfast continued, “I have sitting before me somebody who can provide the answer to that problem. A man who has genuine Danish snekke longships that can slip back and forth amongst the enemy without being noticed and provide me with communication with my spies.”
Alan frowned in concentration and raised a finger to still further comment before taking a large sip of the excellent wine and returning to his ruminations. He though deeply for over five minutes, eyes closed, before he replied, “I’ll think about it tonight. Are you free for breakfast? At your house? Good. Until tomorrow!”
Alan sat at table in Herfast’s large and lavishly appointed house near St Paul’s Cathedral, having need to take only a short stroll from Holebourn Bridge through Newgate. The city was already bustling and the streets were crowded despite the early hour. Alan was a little disappointed at the fare provided, as it appeared that Herfast was one of those whose religious observations required two days a week fasting and Alan was breaking his fast on porridge sweetened with honey accompanied by day-old bread with a sop of mead.
“As I understand your request, you want to use a Danish-built snekke longship to transport your spies backwards and forwards,” he said. Herfast nodded his agreement and Alan continued. “Not a bad idea, but I think we can improve on it. King William is going to have no way of keeping track of the Danish force. I understand the coastal land in North Lincolnshire and Yorkshire’s East Riding is very flat and marshy. It would be almost impossible to scout properly. The Danes will move about by ship, probably moving often. King William has no ships to move his men to follow the Danes and bring them to battle. If the Danes stay on the coast, trying to get an army across the marshes to engage them would need a miracle, and even if it could be achieved they’d just get in their ships and slip away to the next town much faster than an army can march. The other problem would be that, while they may lack some of William’s skills, neither the earls nor Swein Estrithson are stupid. They’ll have their own spies in our camp and I’m sure that they will notice repeated visits by a longship rowing up the river and delivering mysterious Danes, who then disappear again. I’d expect that your spies will come to a quick and brutal end in very short shrift.
“I currently have seven longships. Five were taken recently and may well be recognised by their former crew members. I can remove the modifications I made to my first two ships, so they look just like they did two years ago. I haven’t sorted the details out yet, but I’d need two crews each of at least twenty-five men. Every man must be able to speak fluent Danish or Norwegian, preferably actually being Norwegian. Each must be entirely trustworthy and disciplined. That requirement actually shouldn’t be too difficult. Probably one in ten men in East Anglia has a Danish parent or grandparent. I have two Norwegian captains. I’ll need probably thirty good men to be supplied. My idea is that instead of taking your spies to the king, we would go to your spies and then deliver any information discretely. I’d also suggest that the king may wish to buy into service the five ships I took this year and crew them to scout the east coast. How many ships are the Danes bringing?” asked Alan.
“I’ve been told about 300 ships and probably 3,000 men- although I doubt they’ll bring that many ships,” replied Herfast. Alan frowned. “Yes, I know that the numbers don’t match,” continued Herfast. “To have 300 ships should mean at least 8,000 men, hence my thoughts on the number of ships. 100 ships is a more likely number- still a very significant force. That would still cause us considerable trouble. I’m sure that Swein won’t want to make a very large contribution to what he would see as a speculative venture. My information is that he’ll be sending two of his sons and not coming himself. Even if his loses two sons he probably wouldn’t notice. He’s a man of commendable vigor and he has enough sons to crew a longship! As to your offer, I’ll put it to the king. No chance of gifting them, I suppose?”
“I don’t need any dispensations for recent transgressions and I thought that if he pays at least a nominal amount for them he may take more care of them than the last lot I gifted him, which he allowed the Danes to burn! Longships may be made of wood, but they don’t grow on trees!”
King William was apparently prepared to allow events to unfold without taking pre-emptive action, which Alan found somewhat surprising given the king’s usually impatient nature. What didn’t surprise Alan was the skinflint king had declined to buy the ships even at a discounted rate of?50 each, which was less than half their value. Instead the king had offered to waive the military and financial obligations for both Alan’s land and that of Anne, and eventually a ten year period had been agreed. Alan knew that he was being cheated, as William was fully aware that Alan intended to maintain a strong military presence in both Hereford and Essex which, in case of real need, would be available to the king.
As Herfast had indicated likely, the Danes arrived towards the end of summer, landing on the Humber at Grimsby within easy striking range of York on the 20th August, just after the Feast of the Assumption of St Mary. They’d first harried the east coast and attacked the ports of Sandwich, Ipswich and Norwich, destroying many English ships.
Destruction and looting of the English ships appeared to have been the principal reason for the earliest attacks. Swein Estrithson had indeed stayed at home and sent his brother Osbjorn, his two sons Harold and Cnut, and Christian, the bishop of Aarhus. They’d been met by the Aetheling, Earls Cospatric of Bernicia and Waltheof of Huntingdonshire, thegns Maerle-Sveinn, Siward Barn, Arnkell, the four sons of Karli and a host of Northumbrians. Included in their numbers were many English from the south. These included Brctsi of Foulton from Tendring Hundred, and from further afield Aefwold the abbot of St Peter’s Holm and his men Eadric and Rungulf, Aethelsige the abbot of St Augustine’s at Canterbury, Skalpi who was a thegn with lands in several shires but mainly Essex, and many men.
King William, who had been hunting in the forest of Dean when he had received the news, had sent out warning messages to his lords but didn’t move immediately. The two castellans of York had replied that they could hold out for a year if needed. Again, Alan found the lack of prompt response unusual, but thought that the reason may well be that the Earls Edwin and Morcar had still not committed themselves either way and had not joined their forces with those of Cospatric or with the Danes. Alan mused that perhaps the situation on the continent with the revolt in Maine was perhaps influencing King William’s actions in the north of England, as the loss of his southern buffer against Angevin aggression would make it imprudent for William to seek reinforcements from Normandy.