At a signal from Alan Brand blew a single loud note on a signal-horn and the hubbub in the Hall lessened over several seconds as the warriors turned and looked at Alan. “Hlaford!” he said. “Thank you for responding to the call to arms so quickly and in such strength. Thanks to you and the efforts of your men together, and with God’s good grace, we won a battle that does honour both to you and your men and shows the benefit of the hard work and money spent in equipping and training your men.
“Today we faced an enemy of fierce, well-equipped and well-trained warriors, who outnumbered us two to one. But, thanks be to God, we prevailed as our men showed their mettle, their skills and their bravery. The example and leadership of each and every one of you was instrumental in the outcome, as was the speed with which you responded to the threat. Events such as today are the reason why we are who we are, and why we do what we do. It is our privilege and responsibility, before God and before the people, to protect this land and everybody in it, down to the last humble slave. That is why we have the privilege of holding the land as we do and why we must all work as hard as we can to be ready at a moment’s notice to defend what we have and hold. Yes, God fought with us this day, but we all know God helps those who help themselves. Our victory, hard won as it was, comes from the hard work we have all done over many years and in particular in the last two years since the Danes last visited.
“Brother Wacian will say a morning Mass of thanksgiving at Terce tomorrow. You and all your men are welcome to attend and are also welcome to what hospitality the village can offer. Hopefully we will be able to find a dry place for each man to sleep this night! As to booty, it appears that there is little enough to share as the Danes had just arrived on these shores. Apart from fertiliser (here Alan had to pause for several moments to allow the laughter to die away), we have about 400 sets of weapons taken from their dead and wounded, which will be shared amongst those who ask and should be available after Mass tomorrow. The thegns can send wagons, but any freeman can claim a set of arms and armour- we should have enough to give to any who ask! There are five longships, which I intend to offer to the sheriff together with my share of the weapons, if he agrees to man them and keep them available at Colchester to support the shire against future attacks. I trust that this meets with your approval. Now, I’ll have a quick bite and sup and away to the Old Hall to visit the wounded. Once again, my thanks and God bless you all!”
There were several cheers of acclamation as Alan stood down and a dozen or more men came forward to clasp his arm and thump him on the shoulders, expressing their appreciation of his leadership and in particular the skill and tactics shown that day to defeat a more numerous and skilled enemy. Amidst the interruptions Alan ate a hurried meal of mutton stew with vegetables, roast pork with pickled vegetables, fresh bread and cheese. He then went upstairs to change into an old brown tunic and walked over towards the Old Hall, still munching on an apple.
Darkness had fallen and in the torch-lit Old Hall the dim and flickering light showed lines of injured men laid out on the rush-covered earthen floor. Some were moaning in pain and two or three were screaming. Brother Wacian and the wise-women of several villages were doing what they could to assist. Father Ator the priest from Wivenhoe moved amongst the men, praying with them, shriving them and occasionally administering Last Rites. Aedre, the elderly wise-woman from Thorrington, had taken charge. The woman, her young assistant, the other wise-women and some of the village women were doing what they could to ease the pain and tend the injured. Wise-women had some basic knowledge of herbs and treatment of injuries, some could even set broken bones, but most of the injured in the Old Hall were beyond their abilities.
Alan quickly took charge and divided the wounded into four categories. Those who would die irrespective of any treatment they received, usually severe head injuries or stomach wounds. Of these there were well over a dozen, both English and Danes. The second group comprised those with major trauma needing immediate treatment to survive. Again, slightly more than a dozen. The third was those with serious injuries needing treatment as soon as practical, usually sword or spear cuts to the limbs or torso- some twenty men. The final group was those with deep cuts that required cleansing and stitching, or broken bones that required setting. This group numbered about thirty. Alan instructed a messenger to ride at first light to Colchester Priory to seek the assistance of the infirmarer and several of his assistants.
Much later, on returning to the New Hall, Alan was met by Anne, who had been dozing in a chair until he arrived. He was conducted by her to the bath-house outside where water had been warmed and the huge hot-tub was ready for use. They both stripped and slipped into the water, luxuriating in its warmth, and Alan scrubbed off both the sweat and dirt of the day and the blood on his arms that he had missed when washing in cold water and poor light at the Old Hall. Near dropping with fatigue he accepted Anne’s arm to assist him from the tub and stumbled upstairs to the bedroom, falling face-first onto the bed into instant insensibility.
Next morning he was roused by the noise from the Hall below at about eight, an hour before the special Mass was due to be said by Brother Wacian. He and Anne broke their fast on ham, eggs and fresh bread upstairs, leaving the servants to deal with the guests in the Hall below, before dressing in clean but relatively plain clothing to attend Mass. Many of the guests would effectively be attending in their underwear after they had removed the armour they had worn on their arrival, few having had the time or inclination to think about bringing spare clothing to a battle.
The service was conducted in Anglo-Saxon English by Brother Wacian, both as a celebration of victory and a eulogy to the dead and wounded. It was held on the village green, the church being too small to house those gathered and the Old Hall being occupied by the wounded. Alan could sympathise with Brother Wacian’s exhausted appearance, as after Alan had departed to rest the priest had clearly spent much of the remainder of the night still assisting the injured and writing his homily for the morning Mass. Fortunately the weather had cleared and the congregation stood under a clear sky in the warmth of a summer’s morning.
After the parting Benediction, Alan quickly circulated amongst the thegns, again expressing his thanks.
A week later Alan was sitting in the office of Robert fitzWymarc, the sheriff of Essex, at the castle at Colchester. FitzWymarc’s deputy Roger and also his clerk were sitting in the room, as was Alan’s clerk Osmund.
“So you saw fit to call out the fyrd again,” commented fitzWymarc sourly. “You know you don’t have that authority.”
“I didn’t formally call out the fyrd, and you know that Sir Robert,” replied Alan. “The Danes had landed. The sheriff was nowhere to be seen, as is the case with such raids. Nobody can know in advance where they will land. They land and we have just a few minutes, never more than a few hours, to respond. We aren’t talking about an invasion by 5,000 men and the need to raise a large army. Small raids must be dealt with whatever is available at short-notice. The Danes were on the doorstep. I asked my fellow thegns for assistance which they kindly sent- even your own man. Villages burning in the distance give men some motivation to act!”
FitzWymarc scowled and said, “I don’t know that a landing of nearly 1,000 men is ‘a small raid’, and I received no request for assistance.”
“No message was sent. No assistance was needed- and we couldn’t afford to wait for assistance even if it had been dispatched,” said Alan baldly. “There was no time for you to respond. Unless Swein’s whole army arrives we are unlikely to need any assistance. Tendring Hundred has a good group of thegns and geburs who take their defence seriously and fight like lions when they have to. As to the size of the raid, we collected over 350 swords from the dead.”