From this good sport Lord Hereward returned to the house about an hour before the sun reached the meridian, and then was served the abundant dinner in the hall; and the not stinted dinner in the kitchen for the churls and serfs followed the dinner in the hall. If the weather was fine, the lady as well as the lord went out in the afternoon to hawk, or to fish, or to see the pleasant and profitable sport of their expert fenners who snared the wild fowl, or took the animals of the chace by means of fovea or deep pitfalls which they cunningly dug in the ground in the likeliest places, and still more cunningly concealed by laying across them sticks, and twigs, and moss, and turf. As the sun set they returned again to the house and sang in concert with all the household the Ave Maria or they went into the little church and heard the full service of Vespers. Upon these duties of religion there followed a slight merenda or afternoon’s drinking, or refection between dinner and supper; and then Elfric or some other skilful wight made music in the hall by playing upon the harp and singing; or Alefricus, that learned clerk, brought down a book and read in it, or the freedmen and elders of the township gathered round the cheerful hearth with the lord and ladie, and related tales and legends of the old times, or took counsel with Hereward as to the future. If a Saxon gleeman came that way he was ever welcome; and these evening hours were often made to pass away the more pleasantly by the arrival of such a stranger, who, mayhap, could sing a new song, or tell an unheard tale, or give some little intelligence of what was passing in the upland country and in the world beyond the fens. No Saxon chief of fame ever stinted the bard; and whether he went south or north, east or west, the menestrel found every hall open to him, and had but to speak his wants and to raise his grateful voice, and all and more than he wanted was given unto him. When he entered a house they brought him water to wash his hands and warm water for his feet, or they prepared for him the warm bath, which was ever offered in good Saxon houses on the arrival of an honoured and welcome guest—and where was the guest that could be more welcome than the bard? So dearly did the Lord of Brunn love the sound of the harp that it was his occasional custom now, and his constant custom in after-life, to place a harper near his bedchamber to amuse and solace him upon occasion, and for the exhilaration of his spirits and as an excitement to devotion. And it was because Hereward so loved menestrels, and pious and learned men of the Saxon stock, that his friends and adherents were so numerous while he was living, and his deeds so faithfully recorded and lovingly preserved when he was dead. Thus music and talk brought on the hour for supper; and after supper the good mass-priest said prayers in the hall to gentle and simple; and then, when a good watch had been set, all of the household went to their beds and prayed to lead as happy a life on the morrow as that which they had led to day: for, whether serfs, or free-born men, or manumitted churls, all were happy at Ey, and most kindly entreated by lord and ladie twain; in such sort that what happened in other houses, as the running away of serfs, or the putting collars round their necks and gyves to their legs to prevent their running away, never happened here or at Brunn.
And if they lived thus happily and orderly for these few days at Ey, when danger was close at hand, and when they might be said to be living in the midst of perils and uncertainties, I wist their rule was not changed at a later time of their lives, when Hereward and Alftrude came to dwell in safety and tranquility at the noble old house at Brunn.
But during these few tranquil days at Ey the young bride’s mind was at times clouded by the thought that her husband must soon leave her to contend with the pitiless Normans, and to rush into all the hazards of war; and, Saxon-hearted as she was, this afflictive thought, being aided by the gentleness of her nature, which ever revolted at bloodshed, made her long for a peace upon almost any terms, not even excepting that of submission to the Norman dominion. “My Hereward!” said the Ladie Alftrude, “it is now more than four years since the banner of King Harold was laid low, and yet blood hath never ceased flowing in England! When will this cruel war come to an end? Oh, Hereward, why wilt thou leave me again, and so soon? What art thou fighting for?”
“Sweet Alftrude,” quoth the Lord of Brunn, “I am fighting for my country, for the Saxon church, and for mine own inheritance! A man can hardly have more to fight for!”
“But, Hereward, is not all the country, save this most fenny part of it, quietly submitting to the Conqueror! Doth not Lanfranc the archbishop give assurance that no lasting usurpation of the goods of the church is contemplated, and that it is his wish and intention only to improve the Saxon church and the great and rich Saxon houses of religion by bringing over from foreign parts some more learned priests, and more learned and more active monks? And are not these broad lands enough for thee and me? Nay, frown not! and might not thine own lands at Brunn be secured if thou wouldst submit and take the peace of the Norman ruler? Forgive me if I err, as the error all proceeds from the love I bear thee and the dread I have of losing thee. England, we are told, was happy under the dominion of Canute the Dane, and what was King Canute in England but a conqueror? And if Englishmen were happy under one foreign conqueror, might they not be happy under another?”
“Not so, sweet Alftrude. Canute was contented to govern according to the old Saxon laws. When he gave some new laws, they were the freest and best that were ever given until those of Edward the Confessor, and they were given with counsel of his Witan, a free and honoured assemblage of Saxon lords and Saxon bishops, Saxon abbats and priests, and Saxon eldermen.[[152]] And in those dooms or laws King Canute, speaking with and for the Saxon Witan, said that just laws should be established, and every unjust law carefully suppressed, and that every injustice should be weeded out and rooted up from this country; and that God’s justice should be exalted; and that thenceforth every man, whether poor or rich, should be esteemed worthy of his folk-right, and have just dooms[[153]] doomed to him. And likewise did Canute, in these dooms, which were conceived in the mild Saxon spirit, raise his voice and set his face against death punishments and all barbarous penalties. ‘And we instruct and command,’ said he, ‘that though a man sin and sin deeply, his correction shall be so regulated as to be becoming before God and tolerable before men; and let him who hath power of judgment very earnestly bear in mind what he himself desires when he thus prays—Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. And we command that Christian men be not, on any account, for altogether too little, condemned to death, but rather let gentle punishments be decreed, for the benefit of the people; and let not be destroyed, for little God’s handiwork, and his own purchase which he dearly bought.’ Thus said King Canute in his dooms, and in his days men in power were made to act according to those mild laws. But how is it now, under the Normans? My gentle-hearted bride, I would not wring thy heart and bring tears into thine eyes, but is it not true that for any wrong done or offence given—nay, for the allowable deed of defending their own, and standing up for their country, Saxons of all degrees are butchered like sheep in the shambles, or are put to slow and horrible deaths, or are mutilated in the limbs, or have their eyes put out, as if it were no sin to spoil and destroy God’s noblest handiwork? Nay, is not the life of a Saxon held as a thing of less price than the life of a small deer? By our old laws, if the greatest thane in the land slew but the poorest serf or lowliest churl, he made bot for it; but now, and even in those parts of England where the war hath ceased, if the meanest Norman soldier kill twenty Saxon serfs or slay a Saxon lord, no heed is taken of it. The Saxons have no redress except that which they may find in their own swords. Even in London city, there is one law for the Saxons and another law for the Normans. If a Saxon be accused of murder or robbery he is bound to justify himself according to our ancient custom, by compurgation, and by the ordeal of red-hot iron or boiling water; but if a Frenchman be accused of the like crime by a Saxon, he vindicates himself by duello or single combat, or simply by his oath, according to the law of Normandie. King Canute said, ‘Let the free people of England manage their own townships and shires, and learn to govern themselves; let no man apply to the king unless he cannot get justice within his own hundred; let there be thrice a-year a burgh-gemot, and twice a-year a shire-gemot, unless there be need oftener; and let there be present the bishop of the shire and the elderman, and there let both expound as well the law of God as the law of man.’ But William the Norman alloweth not of these free things; William the Norman consulteth not the Witan of the nation, but governeth the country through a Norman council. When he was coming back from his pilgrimage to Rome, King Canute sent a long letter to Egelnoth the metropolitan,[[154]] to Archbishop Alfric, to all bishops and chiefs, and to all the nation of the English, both nobles and commoners, greeting them all, and telling them all that he had dedicated his life to God, to govern his kingdoms with justice, and to observe the right in all things. ‘And therefore,’ said he, ‘I beg and command those unto whom I have entrusted the government, as they wish to preserve my good will, and save their own souls, to do no injustice either to rich or to poor: and let those who are noble, and those who are not, equally obtain their rights according to their laws, from which no departure shall be allowed either from fear of me, or through favour to the powerful, or to the end of supplying my treasury, for I want no money raised by injustice.’ But what saith this Norman William? He saith, ‘Get me all the money ye can, and heed not the means!’ And hath he not extorted money by right and by unright? And have not his greedy followers done worse than he in the land? And are they not building castles everywhere to make robbers’ dens of them? And have they not made beggars of the rich, and miserably swinked[[155]] the poor—aye, even where resistance was none after Hastings, and where the Saxons prostrated themselves and trusted to the promises and oaths pledged by William at Westminster and Berkhampstead, that he would govern the land according to our old laws? For the church, my sweet Alftrude, I see not that it is to be improved by thrusting out peaceful monks and priests of English birth, and by thrusting in turbulent fighting priests, who speak not and comprehend not the tongue of the English people. Better men may come hereafter; but, certes, it is but an ungodly crew which, as yet hath followed Duke William, and Lanfranc, the whilom Abbat of Caen, into England! Touching my poor house and lands at Brunn, it is not by a mean submission to Duke William that I should ever keep them from Raoul the Norman plunderer that had seized upon them. They must be kept at the sword’s point, and at the sword’s point must these thine own good house and lands be maintained. The protection of Lanfranc, given to the noble maiden and heiress of Ey, will not be extended to the wife of Hereward of Brunn, whom Normans call a rebel and an outlaw. Oh Alftrude, the wife of a soldier like me, and in a war like this, hath need of a soldier’s heart within her own bosom!”
“And I will find it or make it there, mine own Hereward! I knew the danger, and all the risk, and thou thyself toldest me of it all before I became thine. As I live and love thee, and by all the saints to whom I pray for better times, I was thinking less of myself than of thee when I spoke that which I have spoken. Thou knowest the state of these great matters better than a poor woman can know them, albeit I can understand the difference between Canute the Dane and William the Norman. If submission will not avail, or if submission be dishonouring”....
“It were in the lowest degree base and dishonourable; for although I came over into England at thy summons, it was to fight, and not to submit; and I have since so pledged my faith to the Abbat of Ely and to all the good lords in the Camp of Refuge, that I would rather perish in these the first days of my happiness than forego or wax cold in the good cause.”
“Then fight on, mine own brave Hereward! And come what may, I will never murmur so that I be near to thee; and whether we live in plenty at Ey or at Brunn, or wander through the wild fens poorer and more unprovided than is the poorest churl that now dwelleth within these gates, thou shalt hear no complaint from me. Let not the wide seas, and evil tongues, and false tales divide us evermore, and I shall be happy.”
“And with such a bride, and such a wife, I shall be invincible. Cheer up, my own Alftrude! If submission will bring down utter ruin as well as utter shame, a bold and persevering resistance, and an unflinching hand-to-hand fight with the enemy, may bring her old laws and liberties back to England, and bring to us glory and happiness, and a peaceful and honoured life in after-times. I would be a peaceful man, even now, if so I might, and if I had less to fight for; for, albeit, I love the art and stratagems of war, and the rapture that is given by the well-contested combat, I love not much blood, and never could get myself to hate any man or parties of men, for any length of time. Were their rule less cruel and tyrannical to the English people, and were my good friends and allies secured in their lives, honours, and properties, I could sit down quietly and in good fellowship with these same Norman knights; nay, I would not refuse a seat on my hearth to Ivo Taille-Bois, or even to his brother Geoffroy.”