Next Alan met with the parish priest, Brother Godwine. Brother Godwine attended in his own good time, coming late- perhaps in the hope of an invitation to the mid-day meal. In this he was disappointed as Alan was less than impressed with the man whose parish took in the villages of Thorrington, Brightlingsea, Frating, Frowick Hall and another of Alan’s manors at Great Bentley, which was laenland leased by a thegn called Swein.
Brother Godwine was fat, which Alan could accept. However, he couldn’t accept the priest’s unctuous and falsely servile manner, and his lack of personal hygiene with his cassock dirty from accumulated food-stains and odiferous from both the garment and its owner being unwashed. The lack of learning of the priest and his simple stupidity were also not acceptable to Alan. He had also gathered from comments made by Kendrick that the priest kept a mistress at Frating. The priest was also lazy, in that with Tendring as a central location, Brightlingsea at three and a half miles was the greatest distance he had to travel and the other villages were only two miles away- yet Brother Godwine performed Sunday Mass in only one village each week.
Alan informed him in no uncertain terms that this was not acceptable and that Mass would be said in Thorrington each Sunday morning at Terce at midmorning, Great Bentley at Sext at noon and in one other village at None at mid-afternoon. The remaining village would have Mass said on one other day of the week, or in summer on Sunday at Vespers in the evening.
Alan also instructed Brother Godwine that he would attend each of the villages for one day a week to visit the ill and infirm, give them the sacraments individually, hear confessions and tend to the poor and wealthy alike. Brother Godwine was horrified to hear that he was apparently expected to work for the benefice that was within Alan’s power to maintain or withdraw, together with the income the priest received from both the tithes that all in the area paid into his tithe-barn and the produce from the strips in the village fields allocated to him but worked on his behalf by the villagers. He had an easy life with virtually all the work required to maintain him in comfort being performed by others.
Brother Godwine bleated about the time taken to travel from place to place and the very onerous nature of his duties. Alan’s reply was unsympathetic and cold. “You are not owed a living, and a rich living, by this parish. You earn it, just as every other man in the parish earns what he receives. As regards travel, buy a hackney or a mule. That’ll get you from one village to the next in less than half an hour. God knows that you can afford it just from the tithes you receive just from my estate. If you prefer, I can give you one as my next month’s tithe payment. Your onerous duties? Try spending more time tending to your flock and less time tending to your mistress in Frating- more time in church hearing confessions and performing Mass and less time in bed fornicating and sinning. You can either modify your ways or find another position. This is my first and final warning to you.”
The folkmoot was held on the village green, as not just the freemen of the village wanted to attend, but also their womenfolk and children of all ages. Even the few slaves were there, and Alan allowed them to remain rather than chasing them off to work. Fortunately the weather remained clear, but cold.
Alan stood on a couple of wooden boxes which had been put together under the Old Oak tree, now bare for the winter, in the middle of the green. “Welcome to the free-folk of Thorrington, men and women both! Cheorls, geburs, sokemen and cottars! Thank you for spending your time to come to listen to the important information that I have to give you.
“Firstly I’ll say the obvious. Last year the Normans, and others, came to this land in war. Earlier in the year there were battles in the north. Then the Normans fought against Harold Godwinson and his army at Hastings, where they prevailed. Some see this as being as a result of Pope Alexander’s blessing of William of Normandy’s claim and the fact that William’s army fought under the papal banner at Hastings. For whatever reason, the Normans won a victory.
“Harold and his brothers lie dead and buried. William has been anointed king of England by Ealdred, the same Archbishop of York who crowned Harold, with the acclamation of all there present, including many English nobles.” There was a dead and clearly unhappy silence when Alan paused. “England has been invaded many times over the years by several nations, and each has appointed its own king and had its own nobility take control of the country. That is the same this time. I’ve been appointed by King William as owner of this village, and much of Tendring Hundred. At least I do speak some English! Had the Norwegians prevailed your Norse lord may not have done so. My men Hugh, Baldwin, Warren and Roger are learning the language, so please bear with their ignorance as they learn.
“Your status has not changed. Those nobles who were thegns before remain thegns. Those who were cheorls remain cheorls, and so on. Your freedom and your rights have not altered. All but the slaves remain geburs, freemen. The laws of Edward and his predecessors still apply to you. The frithbogh system of pledges for each other’s good behaviour remains, as do the fines and wergild of Edward. Indeed, King William is reinforcing the frithbogh tithing by having lords and royal officials ensure that all men belong to a frithbogh.” There was a growing murmur of discussion and general relief at this point. “Let me make it clear that the Normans are not subject to English laws. They are subject to Norman laws, which in many cases are much more harsh. If an Englishman kills unlawfully, he and his frithbogh pay wergild of 200 shillings. If a Norman is convicted of killing unlawfully, including killing an Englishman, the penalty is hanging- with no option of wergild or bot.
“Now to the bad news. You’ll have to deal with the fact that Normans control this land, under God and the Law. Most Normans are arrogant, ruthless and care little or nothing for those of a lesser social level. I hope that that’s not true of me and my men, but is a general fact that you will have to deal with. And for the worst news of all. The geld tax has been reintroduced, the first instalment is due on Lady Day on 25th March. The assessment for this village is 3 shillings. One third of that will be paid by me, as I own one third of the land. The rest will be payable by the freemen of the village.
“I will be making changes to the way that my demesne land is farmed, to increase productivity so that I can pay my share of the taxes without suffering undue hardship. I’ll also be building more saltpans for my demesne and taking to plough some of the waste-land outside the village land, land that is some distance away and is of marginal fertility. I understand that Tolland and the village elders will be addressing you after I finish and I’ll then leave you to your deliberations.
“However, before that are two other issues. Firstly, Brother Godwine will be presenting Mass every Sunday at the church here at Terce, and will spend each Tuesday ministering to the ill and those in need in this village. Secondly, I’m looking for warriors. Twenty men who will fight on horseback in the Norman fashion, equipped and trained by me, to be employed full- time. That includes me providing horse, armour and weapons, food and accommodation and half a shilling a week. I also require twenty archers, who will spend an initial short period of training and then train for half a day twice a week and be available to my call- otherwise they’ll be free to pursue their normal occupation. If any men feels a call to do something other than walk behind a plough, see Kendrick. We’ll also arrange regular training for the fyrd members on Sundays. Now I’ll leave you to Tolland and the elders to discuss together the issues I’ve raised.” Alan raised a hand in farewell, stepped off the boxes and with a nod to Tolland he and the other Normans walked off to the manor house.