strong for the roving bands – but the mailed knights took what they wanted in food and comfort from the surrounding countryside, burning and destroying what they could not carry if faced with resistance.
‘This is different. Who do you think holds the fortress of Troia?’
He waited for a response but none came; he found himself looking at bowed heads, doubting if indeed they knew the answer. These were people who lived inignorance of what occurred in the neighbouring valley, never mind a fortress ten leagues distant.
‘They are Normans, the very same kind of men you are damning now, and they protect the people thereabouts.’
‘The Normans are brigands.’
‘Not those I command,’ Arduin replied softly. ‘They are soldiers in the pay of the catapan, as am I, as are the Normans of Troia.’
Quite a few of the faces were diverted then: Italians did not like Lombards any more than Normans. Arduin did not miss it, he merely ignored the reaction: he was not without the arrogance typical of his race and he had lived among these people too long to be bothered. Besides, they rarely had much affection for each other, never mind those they saw as interlopers.
‘Observe what they do now,’ he said.
Arduin pointed to William’s band, dismounted by the gurgling stream that ran off the high peak of Monte Vulture and through the huddle of buildings that made up the town. They had unsaddled their mounts and were busy grooming them with combs and brushes, this while the horses munched at piles of hay.
‘Do they torch your homes, do they break your watermill? No. They have not even touched your wine.’ That led to some shuffling of feet, which made Arduin feel he was getting somewhere.
‘For I must tell you, if you do not admit them they will not leave, and I will have to send to the catapan to tell him of your intransigence, which is nothing short of a revolt against his authority.’
Such an accusation set up a howl of protest: if these people were wary of Normans, they knew enough to fear an angry Byzantium even more.
‘And can I tell you what he will do? He will come and he will fire your houses and smash that watermill. He will also burn every man amongst you to a cinder, those he does not hang from the castle walls, once you have been disembowelled and seen your own entrails slither from your belly.’
That made them pale, but Arduin was not finished.
‘Then he will let those Normans, and his Greeks, loose on your women and you will hear their screams as you die. Your children will be sent east to slavery, perhaps to the brothels of Constantinople, which cater for every vice. And then he will send word around the country to say that valuable land, well irrigated and fertile, is empty and there for the taking, so other hands will work this soil and prosper, using your women as slaves and your crushed bones to help nourish their crops.’
‘We hold the castle.’
‘Can you hold it against an army? Are you fighting men?’ He waved to the Normans once more. ‘Look, they are fighting men. Can you face them even with walls to protect you?’
If they were wavering they were yet to be convinced, so Arduin changed tack.
‘Let me send to the catapan and say that the good folk of Melfi are loyal, that they are people who deserve relief from too heavy a taxation, if not monies provided to help develop what they already have. What one of you could not use some Byzantine largesse to increase your yields, to stock your pigsties and sheep pens, to increase your oxen? Would it not be wondrous to say in years to come that this was made a golden part of Apulia where men work for reward, a place where women sow and reap in plenty, that children grow up strong and to a good age so that those who bore them have ease in their later years?’
Arduin had a silver tongue, one which had served him well with his reluctant soldiers in Sicily and it was having the same effect here, for what he was holding out was a tempting
‘This is different. Who do you think holds the fortress of Troia?’
He waited for a response but none came; he found himself looking at bowed heads, doubting if indeed they knew the answer. These were people who lived inignorance of what occurred in the neighbouring valley, never mind a fortress ten leagues distant.
‘They are Normans, the very same kind of men you are damning now, and they protect the people thereabouts.’
‘The Normans are brigands.’
‘Not those I command,’ Arduin replied softly. ‘They are soldiers in the pay of the catapan, as am I, as are the Normans of Troia.’
Quite a few of the faces were diverted then: Italians did not like Lombards any more than Normans. Arduin did not miss it, he merely ignored the reaction: he was not without the arrogance typical of his race and he had lived among these people too long to be bothered. Besides, they rarely had much affection for each other, never mind those they saw as interlopers.
‘Observe what they do now,’ he said.
Arduin pointed to William’s band, dismounted by the gurgling stream that ran off the high peak of Monte Vulture and through the huddle of buildings that made up the town. They had unsaddled their mounts and were busy grooming them with combs and brushes, this while the horses munched at piles of hay.
‘Do they torch your homes, do they break your watermill? No. They have not even touched your wine.’ That led to some shuffling of feet, which made Arduin feel he was getting somewhere.
‘For I must tell you, if you do not admit them they will not leave, and I will have to send to the catapan to tell him of your intransigence, which is nothing short of a revolt against his authority.’
Such an accusation set up a howl of protest: if these people were wary of Normans, they knew enough to fear an angry Byzantium even more.
‘And can I tell you what he will do? He will come and he will fire your houses and smash that watermill. He will also burn every man amongst you to a cinder, those he does not hang from the castle walls, once you have been disembowelled and seen your own entrails slither from your belly.’
That made them pale, but Arduin was not finished.
‘Then he will let those Normans, and his Greeks, loose on your women and you will hear their screams as you die. Your children will be sent east to slavery, perhaps to the brothels of Constantinople, which cater for every vice. And then he will send word around the country to say that valuable land, well irrigated and fertile, is empty and there for the taking, so other hands will work this soil and prosper, using your women as slaves and your crushed bones to help nourish their crops.’
‘We hold the castle.’
‘Can you hold it against an army? Are you fighting men?’ He waved to the Normans once more. ‘Look, they are fighting men. Can you face them even with walls to protect you?’
If they were wavering they were yet to be convinced, so Arduin changed tack.
‘Let me send to the catapan and say that the good folk of Melfi are loyal, that they are people who deserve relief from too heavy a taxation, if not monies provided to help develop what they already have. What one of you could not use some Byzantine largesse to increase your yields, to stock your pigsties and sheep pens, to increase your oxen? Would it not be wondrous to say in years to come that this was made a golden part of Apulia where men work for reward, a place where women sow and reap in plenty, that children grow up strong and to a good age so that those who bore them have ease in their later years?’
Arduin had a silver tongue, one which had served him well with his reluctant soldiers in Sicily and it was having the same effect here, for what he was holding out was a tempting
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