was a clamour of voices declaring: ‘I will, my lord, gladly, I will.’ In fact, perhaps not very surprisingly, it seemed that the entire mass of prisoners was prepared to accept the offer of a life in faithful service to Robin.
As the prisoners were cut loose by the archers, each kneeling in turn to make the pledge of loyalty to Robin, placing their hands between his, I was struck by how clever my master had been. He had, at a stroke, recruited a score of trained menat-arms, which he badly needed, who would now find it difficult, if not impossible, to return to Murdac’s banner because they had publicly acknowledged that Hugh was Robin’s son. He had weeded out, and swiftly dispatched, the one man who would never serve him, and had displayed a ruthless strength, and a generous clemency which, it was to be hoped, would bind these soldiers to him more strongly. But would these men, Sir Ralph Murdac’s men, really remain loyal when the threat of imminent death had passed? I marked their faces and vowed that in future I would keep a wary eye on each and every one of them.
Chapter Four
During the next few weeks, Kirkton Castle enjoyed a period of peace and tranquillity that was a balm to the soul after our long wanderings. The early autumn weather was sunny and warm, and it seemed that my master Robin was pleased to be home once again with his wife Marie-Anne. Little Hugh toddled around the bailey, a cheerful, chubby little boy, who looked more and more like Sir Ralph Murdac with every passing day, although nobody was foolish enough to comment on it, and yet Robin seemed to have settled, at least in his mind, that the child was his, and he showed the infant a reserved fatherly kindness whenever their paths crossed.
In truth my master was a fully occupied man in these weeks following his return. After two and a half years of absence there was a great deal of administration of his estates to reconcile. Taxes and rents to collect, fences, sheep hurdles and bridges to mend, disputes to settle, and far-flung manors tovisit, sometimes for the first time. I too had duties at my home and took leave of my master to return, briefly, to Westbury.
Robin had found a steward to run the manor for me, an elderly man, twig-thin, with steel-grey hair and a dry wit, called Baldwin – and I liked him from the first. I found when I visited that he had the place well in hand, running the manor fairly but firmly in my absence, ensuring that, after the tithes were paid to the Church, and taxes to the Crown, I had a small profit in silver and a surplus in grain. After checking his accounts, I found I had nothing to do there but ride about the lands trying to look lordly, spend the money he had gathered for me, and occasionally sit in judgement over the villagers in the manor court. Baldwin treated me with politeness and a small but satisfactory amount of deference, though he was of Norman stock, and he must have known that I was not born into the noble class. I was pleased to have such an amenable, competent man to run my lands.
There were a few empty, run-down cottages in the village of Westbury, and I gave them out to a handful of Robin’s veterans who, through injury or advancing age or just a desire to settle down and be married, wished to give up the dangerous life of a man-at-arms and till my fields and put down roots somewhere. It might be advantageous, at some point in the future, I reasoned, to have half a dozen seasoned soldiers at hand, in the event of an emergency, a fire or an attack by enemies.
I could not remain long in Westbury, however, for Robin soon had me travelling the country delivering messages to his friends and allies, testing the mood of the land. So I spent most of my days in the autumn and early winter of that year – whichTuck told me was eleven hundred and ninety-two years after Our Lord’s birth – in the saddle, and my nights at castles or religious houses up and down the length of the country. It was
As the prisoners were cut loose by the archers, each kneeling in turn to make the pledge of loyalty to Robin, placing their hands between his, I was struck by how clever my master had been. He had, at a stroke, recruited a score of trained menat-arms, which he badly needed, who would now find it difficult, if not impossible, to return to Murdac’s banner because they had publicly acknowledged that Hugh was Robin’s son. He had weeded out, and swiftly dispatched, the one man who would never serve him, and had displayed a ruthless strength, and a generous clemency which, it was to be hoped, would bind these soldiers to him more strongly. But would these men, Sir Ralph Murdac’s men, really remain loyal when the threat of imminent death had passed? I marked their faces and vowed that in future I would keep a wary eye on each and every one of them.
Chapter Four
During the next few weeks, Kirkton Castle enjoyed a period of peace and tranquillity that was a balm to the soul after our long wanderings. The early autumn weather was sunny and warm, and it seemed that my master Robin was pleased to be home once again with his wife Marie-Anne. Little Hugh toddled around the bailey, a cheerful, chubby little boy, who looked more and more like Sir Ralph Murdac with every passing day, although nobody was foolish enough to comment on it, and yet Robin seemed to have settled, at least in his mind, that the child was his, and he showed the infant a reserved fatherly kindness whenever their paths crossed.
In truth my master was a fully occupied man in these weeks following his return. After two and a half years of absence there was a great deal of administration of his estates to reconcile. Taxes and rents to collect, fences, sheep hurdles and bridges to mend, disputes to settle, and far-flung manors tovisit, sometimes for the first time. I too had duties at my home and took leave of my master to return, briefly, to Westbury.
Robin had found a steward to run the manor for me, an elderly man, twig-thin, with steel-grey hair and a dry wit, called Baldwin – and I liked him from the first. I found when I visited that he had the place well in hand, running the manor fairly but firmly in my absence, ensuring that, after the tithes were paid to the Church, and taxes to the Crown, I had a small profit in silver and a surplus in grain. After checking his accounts, I found I had nothing to do there but ride about the lands trying to look lordly, spend the money he had gathered for me, and occasionally sit in judgement over the villagers in the manor court. Baldwin treated me with politeness and a small but satisfactory amount of deference, though he was of Norman stock, and he must have known that I was not born into the noble class. I was pleased to have such an amenable, competent man to run my lands.
There were a few empty, run-down cottages in the village of Westbury, and I gave them out to a handful of Robin’s veterans who, through injury or advancing age or just a desire to settle down and be married, wished to give up the dangerous life of a man-at-arms and till my fields and put down roots somewhere. It might be advantageous, at some point in the future, I reasoned, to have half a dozen seasoned soldiers at hand, in the event of an emergency, a fire or an attack by enemies.
I could not remain long in Westbury, however, for Robin soon had me travelling the country delivering messages to his friends and allies, testing the mood of the land. So I spent most of my days in the autumn and early winter of that year – whichTuck told me was eleven hundred and ninety-two years after Our Lord’s birth – in the saddle, and my nights at castles or religious houses up and down the length of the country. It was
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