“Taking a mistress to assuage your lust was sinful, as was any other casual carnal relations you may have had. A joining with a woman on a permanent basis is not sinful, even though in the absence of the marriage rites it may be slightly premature. Do you know the Anglo-Saxon civil law regarding unlawful sexual activity?” Alan nodded in reply. “Then you know that the plaint must be brought by the man who claims to ‘own’ the woman and who claims to have suffered loss by her unavailability. The penalty is payment of bot or compensation to that man. Not even a fine.
“Even fornication with a nun brings a penalty of payment of bot to the bishop and diocese who have lost her service when she is driven out for breach of her vows! I would not condemn your priest who has taken a woman as a mistress, if he intends to have that as a permanent relationship and does not do so merely out of lust. When he was ordained he is unlikely to have taken a vow of chastity. Where I see the fault is in him treating this in a surreptitious manner and not giving her the respect that she deserves as his spouse. Brother Godwine may well have wished to marry the woman and formalise her position, but to do that he would require the permission of his bishop. You are from south of here? Then his bishop will be William, Bishop of London, who is a Norman appointed by Edward and who holds to the belief that clergy must be unmarried and celibate. If he sought approval for marriage it would certainly be refused. In those circumstances Brother Godwine may have deemed it better not to ask!
“But as you have sinned we must determine your penance. As I have said I do not view your sinning as great. I would give you as penance the requirement to provide something of spiritual value to your parish. I will leave what that is to you, as you will know its needs better than I. Now, let us away to the priory!”
They walked quickly up Brook Street and when they reached Carr Street Alan asked Father Aella to wait for a moment as he hurried to Orvin’s house to get a rolled parchment from his room before returning quickly to the waiting Father Aella.
They entered the priory refectory just as the monks were starting to clear the meal away, and each obtained a plate of tough roasted meat, gravy and vegetables, fresh rye bread and cheese, which they ate at a bare scrubbed wooden table, before Father Aella took Alan to the infirmary. To some extent it was like a home-coming to Alan, reminding him of his time in Rouen.
They asked the Infirmarer for permission to speak to Brother Wacian and went outside to sit on a bench in the courtyard to talk. It transpired that, while Brother Wacian was happy in his relatively minor position at the infirmary, the prospect of working to serve the spiritual needs of a parish fired him with enthusiasm. He seemed amased at the size of the benefice he would receive and the priest’s share of the village land. In their half-hour conversation Alan questioned him closely and was satisfied that the Englishman would make a suitable rector for the parish. Father Aella and Alan then met with the prior to make the necessary arrangements, before Alan asked Father Aella to take him to the library and introduce him to Brother Eadward the librarian. After performing that duty Father Aella departed.
Alan discussed with Brother Eadward the arrangement he had with Brother Leanian, the librarian at St Botolph’s Priory at Colchester, and showed him the parchment that comprised the inventory of the library at Colchester, which Brother Eadward promised to have copied and returned to him next day. Although the priory held no copies of Hippocrates’ Corpus, it did hold several books on Brother Leanian’s wanted list and Brother Eadward undertook to correspond with Colchester to arrange a suitable exchange.
Part of the priory’s income came from copying books and one of its main stock items was a series of Bibles of varying degrees of workmanship. Alan arranged to purchase an illuminated and well-written English copy of the Bible to take with him at the end of the week in return for a payment of thirty shillings, and which he intended to give to the parish at Thorrington as his penance.
The priory bells were ringing the mid-afternoon service of Nones as Alan, feeling happy with the various outcomes of the day, arrived back at Carr Street.
Wednesday was the day of the monthly Horse Market at Ipswich, held on the Common to the south-west of the city. Alan had to insist to Anne that she join him, as she was still quite annoyed with him at his choosing the new parish priest without involving her in the discussions. She wasn’t concerned about the qualities of Brother Wacian, nor did she disagree with Alan that no priest could be much worse that Brother Godwine, but it was a matter of principal and she was not pleased with her betrothed.
They arrived quite early as the priory bells were ringing for Prime, the official starting time for the market. A small tent had been set up for the official who collected fees from the sellers and a larger marquee where a local brewer was setting up a refreshment stall with tables and chairs. There were only a few hawkers about as the Horse Market tended to be a business event, not one that attracted crowds for amusement.
“Now the first thing you must learn at a horse market is to look down when you are walking,” said Alan, only half in jest as the Common was already receiving fertiliser from the horses. Being an English market there were no destriers for sale, and few enough horses big and swift enough to qualify for the name ‘chargers’. Most were rounceys, the multi-purpose horse, or draught horses.
Alan examined the horses closely, there being perhaps 100 on offer that day, and pointed out to Anne the various traits that made a good riding horse or a pack horse. He paid particular attention in teaching her what made a good war-horse, most of the traits of which were completely at odds with what made a good comfortable riding horse. “Strength and good form with good body shape. Able to carry a man and forty pounds of armour and march all day, and charge repeatedly after that. Spirit and intelligence. It has to be taught to ignore the noise and distraction of battle. Some nastiness of temperament is good too- just look at Odin- but enough tractability that a good rider can control it.”
“Stallion, mare or gelding?” asked Anne, interested despite herself, and knowing that someday she may need to buy warhorses on behalf of the manor.
“Generally it doesn’t matter too much. I’d probably prefer to use stallions or geldings on campaign, as mares tend to cause distraction in the early springtime when they’re on heat. Mares can be just as evil-tempered as stallions,” concluded Alan with a sideward look at Anne, who gave him in return a brief look of part amusement and part annoyance to show that she had understood the insinuation.
In the end they chose eleven horses, Alan insisting with several that Anne make the choice, although he steered her with his body language and a few comments. Each horse was carefully examined from teeth to hooves. Only horses fully adult, at least three years old, were of interest. After inspection each was first led by the vendor while Alan and Anne watched, and then ridden by Alan along the track by the river that had been left vacant for that purpose. All the animals selected were large, strong, quick, intelligent and moved easily- although most were barely large enough to qualify for the name ‘charger’. Six were mares that Alan intended to add to the breeding program at the stud at Ramsey.
Buying eleven horses takes time and it was after Nones by the time they had finished. After paying the earnest-money deposit for each horse they arrived back at Carr Street tired and smelly, for despite Alan’s warning they hadn’t always watched where they were putting their feet. Orvin arrived soon afterwards, while they were still dressing after bathing, and took them out to visit another Jewish usurer named Aaron. Like Solomon Aaron also had business in Colchester and they made financial arrangements with him for when further money became available. Both Orvin and Aaron provided the names of several trustworthy usurers in London and Aaron wrote out a letter of introduction in Hebrew.