To Be A Knight

To Be a Knight

1.

Beowulf and his son Wulfric lived with Beowulf`s wife and their second son, Merek in the settlement known as Sarum. The town was situated on top of a cold and windy hill overlooking the flood plains of the five rivers which merged in the valley below. These were known as The Avon, The Nadder, The Wylye, The Ebble and The Bourne. The town was built on the outer earth rampart of a previous iron-age hill fort, constructed over many years by thousands of workmen, who created a large roughly circular mound separated from the surrounding countryside by a deep dry ditch. In the centre of the mound was yet a higher level on which stood the castle of Sarum owned and occupied occasionally by William Longespėe, the third earl of Salisbury. The year was 1215 and England`s ruler was King John, a vile man, despised by the majority of the population, who had much preferred his older brother and predecessor to the throne, King Richard the first.

Beowulf was by most standards, a fairly wealthy man as his trade was that of a stone mason, which earnt him the quite princely wage of a penny farthing a day. He had helped to build the grey stone cathedral that lay to the north-eastern corner of the lower rampart. The cathedral was the domain of Bishop Richard Poore who had only been appointed as bishop in the spring. He was continually at loggerheads with the military garrison that was housed within the castle on the higher rampart. The castle had the only well which meant that the townspeople and clergy alike had to queue for their daily supply of fresh water and this was often denied if the military were feeling particularly cruel and nasty. When the third earl was not in residence, the garrison was under the command of a man named Sadon, a man as unpopular and disliked as much as his master, William Longespėe. Longespėe was a disciple of the despised King John and was responsible for collecting taxes and other tithe’s set by the King. Because of the continual tension mainly between the clergy and the military, Bishop Poore had been recently active in suggesting that the cathedral should be re-built in the valley below leaving the castle and town at the mercy of the military garrison. This had made him even more unpopular and untrusted by the military garrison than ever before, but his popularity with the ordinary townspeople had increased enormously.

Wulfric, although he assisted his father when he was working with stone, he never really considered himself a mason in training. He had other ideas which he kept from his family, knowing that what he proposed to do, would be violently opposed by his father and the rest of his family. He was good with his hands and what had started as a means of passing time when he was younger, now offered him more, if only his father would agree and let him try his idea. He had started whittling sticks into makeshift arrows as a child, but as he grew older he found he had a real talent for making arrows that flew true and straight, for which he used the finest bird feathers that he could find for the flights. He had the ambition to become a fletcher in his own right and hopefully sell his wares to the military. This was the first step towards what he really wanted out of his life, which was to become a fighting knight with a proper warhorse that he could ride into battle. He knew that in all probability he would never actually achieve his dream, as knights tended to come from the upper echelons of society, and had been born into that way of life, however, he kept the dream alive if only to give him some sort of hope for the future. He could just about ride a pony as his father had no use for a horse and walked wherever he went which meant that Wulfric could only get a chance to ride on a visitors horse which happened very infrequently so had little practice or experience. As yet, he had no idea who he wanted to fight for or even how to become a knight in the first place, but saw his skills as a fletcher, maybe showing him an opening.

Late in 1215, Bishop Poore acted to set up a new cathedral in the valley. He had a team of surveyor’s check the area and they advised that the best place for the new building would be on the water meadows where two of the five rivers converged. He drew up plans and invited all the trade`s people in the town to assist in the project. Naturally, Beowulf was one of these and insisted that Wulfric join him and the growing army of masons and other trades-men that were now flocking to the valley to join the construction gangs. Wulfric didn`t have much choice but join his father, but vowed to keep his dream alive and planned to leave the site as soon as he could to build his own destiny and shape his future. The new town would become known as New Sarum, later to become known as Salisbury, and as well as the construction of the new cathedral there was the town to build as well and Beowulf proudly told his family that there was work for many years, longer than he expected to live. Bishop Poore decreed that his army of workmen would have their own place of worship in the new town, and consequently work began on a new church a short distance from the new cathedral site. This new church would be dedicated to St Thomas and would become known as St Thomas`s church. While the masons and other trades were building the new cathedral which was a lot larger than the existing one on the hill, work progressed at quite a rapid pace on constructing the new town, which would have a canal linked to the rivers running through its centre, and streets laid out on a grid pattern, a type of layout that Bishop Poore had copied from the Roman empire. On a slight rise a short distance from St Thomas church and the new cathedral site, houses were built to accommodate the most skilled workers which included the masons, and these were built of sun dried mud bricks and were a vast improvement on the houses at the hilltop town which were mainly wattle and daub walls with thatched roofs. This area became known as Penny Farthing street, relating directly to the amount of pay the mason`s received each day, making them the highest paid men on the sites, where many lesser trades and labourers earned only a penny or two per week.

Wulfric remained with his father, working on the new cathedral for several months, spending most of his time digging foundations and other various groundwork’s which left him shattered at the end of each long working day, but still spent his small amount of free time making his exquisite arrows which he kept hidden from his family. The whole family had moved down into one of the new houses, as had many other people from the hill site. There was an abundance of fresh-water in the valley, which meant no more squabbling with the military garrison. Sometime during the first year of construction the new town was visited by William Longespėe, in his capacity of Earl, along with several other knights and gentry. Longespėe wanted to impose his own taxes on the people of the new town but this was vigorously opposed by Bishop Poore. In the end, Longespėe left to return to his hilltop castle empty handed. This was not before Wulfric had by chance, met and spoken with a leading knight, one Simon de Montfort, who had a castle of his own in the distant county of Warwickshire at a place he called Kenilworth. De Montfort was a staunch supporter of the King but didn’t agree with a lot of what Longespėe did or said. De Montfort was of Norman origin, had his own lands in Normandy, and spoke Norman-English which had a heavy accent and his forebears had fought alongside William, Duke of Normandy at Battle, near Hastings in Sussex, one hundred and fifty years ago. De Montfort had been walking round a market which had sprung up in the centre of the new town, with another knight and they had enquired of one stall holder if he knew of any good arrow makers who might be residents of the new town, or maybe even a trader there. The man they spoke to told them that a lad called Wulfric was good at making arrows and told the knights where they might possibly find him. The two knights duly located Wulfric and asked him about his arrow making. Wulfric was pure Saxon and didn`t understand what was being said to him. Luckily for him a passing priest spoke the language and told Wulfric what they wanted. Wulfric went to a special place where he hid his arrows and bought some back for the knights to inspect. De Montfort was impressed with the quality of the workmanship and admired the bird`s feather flights on the end of each arrow. With the priest acting as interpreter, De Monfort told Wulfric that he was also the holder of the title of Earl of Leicester, lands presented to him by King John himself as a reward for his military service. He explained that he was experiencing border problems with his neighbours and wanted to crush any opposition to his rule in the area. He said he needed a supplier of good quality arrows to help him in this quest and wondered if Wulfric would be interested.

Wulfric was suitably impressed with de Montfort and agreed to travel with him in a few days when he returned north to his home castle. He had no idea what he would tell his father but the knight said that he would speak to Beowulf on his behalf. So saying, de Montfort and his companion went off in search of Beowulf who they eventually located at the bottom of a deep foundation pit on the site of the new cathedral. Beowulf could understand most of what de Montfort said as he had a smattering of Norman French, picked up through working with foreign masons over the years. He listened carefully to what de Montfort proposed and then said that if the knight wanted his son, he would have to be paid for losing a worker. De Montfort smiled as he had expected something like this, as most people would sell their offspring to a good bidder for the chance to improve their own lives with some extra money. He knew that Saxon family life was not a very close knit unit, unlike the French who placed great store on their family. For the Saxons, each child meant another mouth to feed and regardless of whether the child was useful or not made little difference when it came to the crunch. So, after haggling with Beowulf for some time a price was finally agreed on for Wulfric and some gold coinage changed hands. De Montfort and his companion returned to where Wulfric was working and told him that it was sorted with his father and that they would leave ahead of schedule in the morning. Wulfric was told to be outside the inn by the new market place at sunrise ready for the long journey north. De Montfort enquired if Wulfric had a horse and when he said he had only a small pony, de Montfort said that he would provide him with something more suitable for the journey which would take about a week and a half.

2.

The following morning at dawn, Wulfric was waiting eagerly outside the inn with all his possessions in a medium sized bundle which he carried over his shoulder on a pole. De Montfort and his companion from the previous day exited the inn after about a quarter of an hour and they led Wulfric round the back of the inn to the stables. Once there, de Montfort pointed out a medium sized dappled grey mare and told Wulfric its name was Sorrowsweet and that it was now his horse. Wulfric went into the stall and made a fuss of his new acquisition and was handed a saddle and tack by a young groom. He quickly saddled the horse and after tying his bundle behind the saddle, led his new mount out of the stall. The two knights were already mounted on two fine looking destriers, both with gleaming black coats. They wore quilted gambesons with De Montfort`s crest emblazoned on them, swords swung from their hips and helms were draped over the pommel of their saddles. The priest that had translated for Wulfric the day before was also travelling north with the two knights but was not an official member of their party. He told Wulfric that he was headed for the priory at Bradenstoke, towards the north of Wiltshire, and would travel with the knights as far as Didcot castle in the county of Berkshire, before leaving them to head west towards Bradenstoke. He said that Didcot was about two days ride and in that time he would try and teach Wulfric some Norman- French so that he could converse more easily with de Montfort and his companion. As they left the boundary of the new town, a troop of mounted knights appeared from a barn beside the road where they had been waiting and joined the four travellers. Wulfric found he had a knack for learning a new language and by the time the priest left them two and a half days later, he was confident enough to carry on a conversation with de Montfort and the rest of his troop.

One of the troop, a sergeant at arms named Tybalt was only a few years older than Wulfric and took him under his wing and taught him things including basic fighting skills as the troop journeyed northwards. Wulfric soon mastered the basics of hand to hand fighting, no real surprise as he had been involved in his fair share of childhood scraps, sometimes with boys far larger than him. Tybalt was surprised and pleased that Wulfric was as capable as he was in the art of combat. In a practice bout Wulfric easily beat several of the troop members, Tybalt included. The sergeant picked himself up off the ground with a huge grin on his face after Wulfric had knocked him down for the fourth time. He congratulated Wulfric and said that the next step would be for him to learn how to handle a sword to which Wulfric said he couldn`t wait. De Montfort had been watching as Wulfric repeatedly floored his sergeant and the several other members of the troop who had tried to take him on and he now walked over to where the troop was practising. He drew his sword from its scabbard and handed it hilt first to Wulfric. The sword was a heavy broadsword, nearly four feet long with a gilded grip round the hilt. The blade was finely engraved and Wulfric knew it was a high class weapon. De Montfort said he was impressed with Wulfric`s skill and wanted to see what he could do with the sword. Tybalt explained that he was going to teach him sword skills next but de Montfort silenced him with a wave of his hand. He beckoned a young trooper over from where he had been standing and told him to put Wulfric through his paces, stressing that he wasn`t to hurt him as he was only a beginner. The young man smiled at Wulfric and promised that he would go easy with him. Wulfric had only handled a sword once and that had belonged to a soldier in the garrison at Sarum who had let him have a feel of the weapon. Wulfric turned the broadsword round in his hands to get a feel for the weight and balance and after a minute or so, nodded at the young trooper who promptly withdrew his own sword from its scabbard. The trooper lunged towards Wulfric who easily deflected the lunge, parrying it with one of his own. The trooper built up the pace and each time Wulfric deflected the blow and returned as good as he was given. After about five minutes, their sword blades came together in a shower of sparks and Wulfric very nimbly slipped in close to his tutor and in a flash of movement, struck the sword from his opponents hand and rapidly bought the edge of his blade to rest against the trooper`s cheek. De Montfort began clapping from the side-lines, and this was quickly taken up by all the people present, much to Wulfric`s embarrassment, but nether-the-less, he felt quite proud of his achievement against a seasoned fighter. Wulfric`s skill with his weapons increased rapidly and before long he was ready to progress to mounted combat. During the previous weeks the hard work of learning combat skills as well as living in the open air had made Wulfric put on more muscle and girth and had actually grown a few inches. He felt fitter than he had ever felt before in his life and knew that if he could sustain the growth he would soon be big enough to handle a larger mount. His horse, Sorrowsweet, was more than capable of being his mount while he learnt the basics, and de Montfort promised him that if his training went well, he would replace Sorrowsweet with a proper destrier, of which there were several in the horse pool, not allocated or given to other knights. His first step was on the tilt yard where he was to learn the very basics of the joust, which would include riding at a quintain, a small target on a post used in all mounted warfare training. True to form, it didn`t take long for Wulfric to master the new skills he was being taught. Despite all his intensive training and cleaning equipment for de Montfort and the others of the troop, he still found time to continue making his arrows.

3.

Some three months after arriving at Kenilworth, Wulfric had several thousand arrows made and stored in a cellar of the castle. All were to his usual high standard and all were trimmed with bird`s feathers for the flights. He used some arrows to down birds so that he could take what feathers he wanted and de Montfort noted with quiet pleasure that he was a good shot with a longbow as well. Wulfric also made bolts for the crossbows that several of the castle`s hearth knights used and these were equally as good as his normal arrows. He soon mastered the crossbow as well as the longbow he used for getting his birds, and on several occasions when food stocks were running low in the castle, he used the crossbow to good effect by downing several deer and a princely five prong stag. The war that de Montfort had anticipated with his neighbours had not materialised and they had now stopped their border incursions into de Montfort land. Wulfric settled into a routine at the castle which didn`t alter much on a daily basis, and he found himself becoming bored with his life style. Consequently, he approached de Montfort and expressed his feelings. De Montfort was sympathetic and said that Wulfric was under no obligation to him if he wanted to pursue something else. He said that if Wulfric wanted to leave Kenilworth, he was free to go, and that he, de Montfort would gladly purchase all the arrows and bolts that were stored in the castle cellars, He said that Wulfric was to keep both Sorrowsweet and the destrier named Fallenhoof, a striking jet black stallion. Wulfric had chosen the horse himself from those in the pool that de Montfort had shown him. De Montfort`s head groom had told Wulfric that Fallenhoof was a temperamental beast that most of the castle`s hearth knights and other troopers had difficulty with, but Wulfric and the horse seemed to form an affinity straight away and now the horse would do anything that Wulfric asked of it. He had been told to get all the gear he needed for Fallenhoof from the castle`s stores which included all the horse decorations and blankets which would make the animal stand out and also would identify Wulfric as its rider. He was also given a complete harness of armour, which to start with he had great difficulty getting into. His helm was a flat top type used extensively in the foreign crusades. He proudly wore the de Montfort crest on this and also on the horse armour.

Seven months after arriving at Kenilworth, Wulfric saddled Sorrowsweet and left de Montfort, and headed south towards his old home in Salisbury. He had Fallenhoof on a long trailing rein tied firmly to his saddle cantle, and all his worldly possessions were in stuffed saddle bags on another mare which he had actually bought from de Montfort especially for this purpose. He had his own sword, fairly won in a skirmish with one of de Montfort`s still rebellious neighbours over a land dispute that he had become involved in shortly after arriving at Kenilworth, even though the rest of the neighbouring barons had dispersed without any trouble. This was a broadsword very similar to the one de Montfort had loaned him when he first learnt to handle a sword. This hung in a polished leather scabbard along with a matching stabbing dagger. He had a tapered frangible lance which was designed for the tip to break off on contact, and the user then just replaced the tip rather than the whole lance, was in a special scabbard near his right hand at the front of the saddle. Tied behind the cantle was a fine polished longbow almost five feet in length and a quiver of his own arrows hung from the left side of the saddle. His armour was packed in one of the bundles that the pack pony was carrying. He wore a quilted gambeson over heavy woollen trousers. He had no real idea of what he was going to do with his life now or for that matter even where he was heading, but heading southwards towards his old home seemed like a good idea to start off with. He had quite a large amount of money as de Montfort had paid him handsomely for his arrows and bolts. He had a selection of groats, nobles and ryals in a leather purse and this was more money than he had owned in his entire life. Despite all the trappings and accoutrements, he knew that he was still little more than a trained cavalry soldier, at present without a position in which to exercise this skill. He knew that he could make a living making arrows and crossbow bolts but still hankered after becoming a knight in his own right. His plan was to head back towards Salisbury and see what panned out, maybe accepting casual arrow making contracts along the way.

4.

Once he reached Salisbury he planned to visit all the important people and barons in the area to offer his services, quietly confident that someone somewhere would engage him. His route south took him towards Newbury and at a tavern in that town he sat drinking ale with an older man who said that he was a groom on the Hampstead Marshall estate, the family home of the Marshall family, the head of which, William, was Earl of Pembroke. The old groom told Wulfric that the Earl was always on the lookout for reliable soldiers and with his skill as a fletcher, he could probably do himself some good by calling at the manor and introducing himself. Wulfric thanked the groom for the information and after obtaining directions for the manor, headed out of town on the Bath road to Hampstead Marshall. Arriving at the imposing fortified manor, he made his way round the back to the servant`s entrance where he knocked loudly on the solid wooden door. This was opened by a young serving girl who seemed flustered to see Wulfric standing there. He explained what he wanted and the girl politely asked him to wait a few minutes, before closing the door. Some minutes passed before the door re-opened to reveal a large well-dressed man. He looked Wulfric up and down before introducing himself as William, Earl of Pembroke. Wulfric bowed and stammered that he was looking for work and that the groom had sent him. He was completely thrown as he had not expected to meet the Earl himself, expecting instead to deal with one of his staff. William invited Wulfric inside and led him through the kitchen to a smaller room which he presumably used as an office or small meeting room.

William enquired about Wulfric`s background and smiled when Wulfric told him he came originally from Salisbury but had lately been in the employ of Simon de Montfort at Kenilworth in Warwickshire. The earl said that he knew both de Montfort and the Earl of Salisbury who he said he had fought alongside at various places during the recent baronial wars. He then invited Wulfric to come with him outside to show him what he could do with a sword. As they walked round the front of the manor, having exited through the main door, the earl saw Wulfric`s animals tied to a tree and enquired who they belonged to. When Wulfric informed him proudly that they were his, the earl appeared surprised and impressed by the information. He walked over and made a fuss of the three horses and told Wulfric that they were in fine condition. He particularly admired Fallenhoof who unusually allowed someone other than his master to pet and fondle his ears. Wulfric explained that the saddle bags contained his armour and the rest of his possessions and then reaching inside one, he withdrew a bunch of his arrows which he proudly presented to the earl. William looked keenly at the presented arrows and looked along the shaft of one to test its straightness. He thanked Wulfric and said that the workmanship was outstanding. Some large birds were flying lazily in circles overhead and without being asked, Wulfric quickly unfastened his longbow, drew an arrow from the quiver on the saddle and notching the arrow he quickly fired into the air. His aim was accurate as usual, with the arrow piercing one of the largest birds and dropping it to the ground not far from where he and the earl stood. William clapped his hands and told Wulfric that he was an outstanding shot.

After more demonstrations of his skill and talk between him and William, the earl invited him back inside the manor. This time they went into the great hall where knights and other people were talking or resting. The earl called to one of his knights who came over and said his name was Terrowin, the captain of the earl`s guard. William introduced Wulfric and asked the captain if he could use an extra cavalryman in his guard. He told Terrowin that he had seen Wulfric`s skills and that he felt he should be given a chance. Wulfric was surprised by this as he had not been expecting such an offer to be made by the earl after so short a time. He thanked the earl profusely and bowed to Terrowin, who laughed and told him that he didn`t need to bow as he was just an ordinary soldier like Wulfric, not a knight as Wulfric had assumed. Terrowin showed Wulfric to a corner of the great hall and told him that was his personal space, where he would sleep and keep his belongings. He said all the soldiers and knights lived like this and apologised for the lack of privacy, but Wulfric said he didn`t mind and was used to sleeping in such a place. He said that privacy had been unheard of back home as then the whole family had slept in one room, and he had often lain awake at night listening to the sounds of his parents making love. Once his bed space was allocated, Terrowin led Wulfric back outside and to the stables. He was shown a spare stall, large enough for two horses, which meant that the pack pony would have to live outside in the paddock along with the remainder of the working horses. The stall obviously hadn`t been used for some while as there was piles of dirty soiled straw in one corner and the feed manger had what looked like rotten oats inside. Terrowin apologised again for the state of the stall but said that he would give Wulfric a hand to clean it out and make it habitable for Fallenhoof and Sorrowsweet.

5.

Wulfric quickly settled into life in the Marshall household and soon proved his worth to Terrowin and the rest of the earl`s staff, soldiers and knights alike. He had been at Hampstead Marshall for several weeks when Terrowin came and said to him that he had been selected to form a part of the earl`s escort when he left the following day to visit his other castle at Ludgershall, not that many miles from his old home in Salisbury. Wulfric was excited at the chance to go out with the earl and a select troop and actually earn his keep for a while. Terrowin also told him that the earl was also probably going to London after visiting Ludgershall as he had important business to attend to at the royal court. This news was greeted with a real buzz of excitement and some trepidation as Wulfric had never been to London and had only heard tales about the place. The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the trip, with kit cleaning and honing of weapons taking up a good portion of Wulfric`s time. Finally, before retiring to bed, he had to tend to Fallenhoof who was the only horse of his going on the trip. Sorrowsweet and the pack pony were staying behind as he would not be requiring them. All baggage would travel in a wain along with the cooks and the earl`s clerics.

Early the next morning the troop with William at its head, moved out on the way to Ludgershall which was scheduled to take about half a day. The loaded wain bought up the rear, with two spare destriers tied behind on long leading reins. Wulfric rode at the front with Tybalt just behind the earl, and Tybalt said he must be in favour with the earl as usually only more experienced riders got the point position. The troop arrived at Ludgershall in the late afternoon after an uneventful trip. One of the villages that they rode through reported seeing strangers in the area a few days previously but there was no sign of any disturbances or trouble so the troop continued on its way. The report was none-the-less, recorded by the clerics in case of any future trouble in the area. Ludgershall was a proper castle unlike Hampstead Marshall but it was small in relation to Kenilworth. The troop tended to their mounts and then after a meal,rested or cleaned their kit in the castle bailey while the earl was inside the keep, having his own meal prepared by the resident cooks. They stayed at Ludgershall for a week before moving on again, this time to London, for the earl`s appointments at the court. Tybalt said that the journey to London would take them three days and it was halfway through this trip that the lead scout who rode ahead of the main troop, came galloping back to the troop with another rider. They went straight to the earl who listened carefully to the messenger`s report, before turning and addressing the stationery troop. He said that they would have to make all haste to London as the king was on his death bed and he didn`t know if they would reach London in time, despite leaving the wain with a small escort and taking the rest of the troop on a at a faster pace. Tybalt quickly detailed six men to remain with the wain and to get to London as soon as they could then, with the earl once again at their head the remainder set off at a fast clip towards the capital.

The troop arrived in the capital early the next morning with both men and horses dead beat after a hard ride through the night with only a couple of short stops to rest their mounts. As they rode into London they could tell at once that they were too late as the people were all out in the streets, laughing and cheering that the evil John was finally dead. The troop headed for the official residence at the Tower of London, even though William told his men that the king was not there, nor had been for a while as he had been on campaign up north and had actually died at Worcester Castle. His body would probably be bought back to London in due course but there was no guarantee of this, and he said his main priority now was to look after John`s young son, Henry, who was now King Henry 3rd, despite being only nine years old. At the tower, the government officials had already gathered and were mightily pleased to see the earl, as he was the most senior statesman among them.

After many hours of discussions during which time the troop was stood down and were able to relax for a while, after being given a decent meal at the Tower kitchens, the earl emerged from the tower looking tired and stressed. He gathered the troop round him and informed them that he had been appointed as Regent and Protector of England, until the young king was old enough to take control, which meant that in all but name, he was king. He said that he would be staying in London for the foreseeable future to handle the complexities of government and also arranging the funeral of the late king. John had never been popular but despite this, William said that he deserved a royal funeral, where ever that took place. He then instructed the troop to return to Hampstead Marshall, but when they met up with the baggage wain and it`s escort, they were to tell the escort commander to continue to the Tower of London as he would need many of the items in the wain. When the troop returned to Hampstead Marshall they were to close the manor down and transfer everything including staff to the castle at Caversham near Reading. His reason for this was that Caversham was more easily defended as William anticipated some people trying to cause trouble now that John was dead and he was in charge, also Caversham was a bit more accessible from London, either by the slightly better road or even by water direct on the River Thames. He drew Wulfric to one side and apologised for not being able to offer him a full time post at the time and that if Wulfric wanted to leave and go somewhere else he would gladly provide him with documentation to assist him in finding a suitable post. Wulfric said that he understood and told the earl that his main ambition was to become a knight in his own right, not just a cavalry soldier, to which the earl suggested that he join the tourney circuit which was in full swing at the time. He told Wulfric how to go about getting a place on the circuit and told him that he had been a tourney knight himself for several seasons in his younger days. He explained that it was hard work as the tourneys moved around a lot, much like a travelling circus, and that the people played hard so it wasn`t the place for a weak person but said that Wulfric would have no problems on that score and that the rewards were great for the right person. Wulfric said that he thought he had to be a knight before he could join the tourney`s but William said not nesacasarily, as long as he had the skills which he obviously did. He said once he got onto the circuit, someone was sure to offer him sponsorship which would give him his banner and coat of arms to carry, albeit those of the sponsor. Wulfric thanked the earl for his kindness and the short employment he had been given. William paid him with a substantial amount of money and told Wulfric where to go to join the tourney circuit, and wished him every success for the future.

6.

Wulfric told Tybalt what the earl had said and Tybalt said that as the tourney circuit was currently in Somerset, that Wulfric could remain with the troop until they got back to Hampstead Marshall, where he could then head west to join the circuit in Frome. Two days later when they arrived back at Hampstead Marshall, they found the place a hive of activity as William had sent a fast messenger ahead of the troop with instructions for the domestic staff and remaining soldiers regarding his decision to close the manor and relocate to Caversham Castle. The messenger had arrived the previous day and by the time the troop arrived preparations were well in hand for the move. Wulfric then took his leave of the troop and after being given a quantity of food for his journey left Hampstead Marshall and headed west towards Bath and Frome.

After three days on the road, Wulfric rode into the tourney camp just outside the town of Frome, and found someone who appeared to be in charge and introduced himself and stated that he wanted to join the tourney and that he was recommended by the Earl Marshall. The tourney master, a knight called Sir John Fenwick of Wallington, welcomed him to the circuit and had a long talk with him about his previous experience. He said that usually new-comers were paired with a more experienced knight as his second, and that he thought that the ideal partner for Wulfric would be Walter de Bulbeck as he was of a similar age to Wulfric and was currently without a second. It transpired that Walter had only recently been knighted and had spent eighteen months on the tourney circuit as a second to another knight who had now retired from the circuit. Wulfric was told that if he performed well as Walter`s second, he could expect to receive his own knighthood within a year. Sir John explained that the tourney was all about making money, quite a lot for the right people. He explained the rules to Wulfric and said that the more opponents he captured and ransomed, the more money he would make. The going ransom for a knight was somewhere in the region of thirty guineas, which increased with the man`s importance. If for instance he managed to capture and ransom a person such as William Marshall, as an example, he could expect to receive well in excess of a thousand guineas.

Wulfric`s first time on the circuit took place the next day in front of several hundred people who had come out from Frome to watch the joust. Walter was unseated and captured within the first hour by a Cornish knight and Wulfric swore to avenge his new partner. So saying, he directly challenged the Cornishman to a bout, much to Sir John`s surprise as newcomers didn`t usually possess this kind of courage and nerve, to issue such a challenge in their first competition. He watched with bated breath as Wulfric and Sir Favian of Camelford faced each other at the tilt. Sir Favian was well known on the circuit as a man who gave no quarter and fought a hard fight, and had won practically all of his bouts over the past five years since joining the circuit. Sir John prayed that Wulfric knew what he was taking on. The two destriers charged at each other along the tilt and their lances clashed together with both horses at a full gallop. Sir Favian`s lance hit Wulfric`s shield and the momentum pushed Wulfric nearly out of the saddle., but not far enough to actually unseat him from the horse. At the end of the run both turned and prepared for the second charge. This time Wulfric settled his lance more closely into his body and dropped the aim a little. Once again the horses charged and this time Wulfric`s lance went under Sir Favian`s shield, sending him tumbling to the ground, amid a mighty cheer from the watching people. Favian`s lance caught Wulfric`s breast plate and likewise knocked him from the saddle. As he hit the ground, Wulfric rolled with the fall as he had been shown by Tybalt and was on his feet with his sword drawn before Favian recovered. Wulfric was winded from the lance blow but ignoring the discomfort, strode quickly to where Favian was just getting to his feet and laid his blade along the other knight`s cheek, with the instruction to yield. Favian grinned broadly and drawing his short stabbing dagger from his belt made a swipe at Wulfric`s legs. Wulfric anticipated the move and side stepping rapidly he slashed back with his sword sending the dagger flying from Favian`s hand. He quickly followed this with another slash across the knight`s lower leg, using his sword flat to prevent causing serious injury. The blow connected with enough force to make Favian lose his footing and collapse back on the ground nursing a badly bruised shin. Wulfric took full advantage of the situation by placing his booted foot on Favian`s chest and resting the sword point first against his throat under the rim of his helm. Favian ceded with good grace and Wulfric allowed him to stand and then be led to the rest area where the ransom would be arranged. Wulfric received a hundred guineas for Favian and was well pleased with his first conquest. Favian was impressed with Wulfric`s skill and despite being beaten for only the third time in his time on the circuit was gracious in defeat. At the end of the day`s tournament, Favian came and found Wulfric where he was cleaning his equipment and sat down for a chat. He said that he was a knight of the castle at Tintagel and had been given the title of Camelford when he was knighted. He told Wulfric that his liege master, Gregory, Duke of Cornwall was always looking for experienced knights as he had on-going battles with his neighbours in Devonshire and also had at times to repel invaders from Wales and Ireland who travelled across the sea to try and claim Cornwall as their own, as the county was rich in tin and other precious metals. He said that Wulfric should go there and speak to his master. Wulfric responded by asking why Favian was on the tourney circuit and not fighting in Cornwall alongside his master and was told that he needed money for various commitments and that the circuit was the best way of getting it quickly. He said that Gregory had given his blessing as he felt that a knight should be able to support himself financially if times demanded it. Favian said this was his last season on the circuit and that when the season ended in three-months- time he was going back to Cornwall as recently there had been more potential invaders to his native county, this time from France as well as Wales and Ireland. He said that if Wulfric was interested he could accompany him back to Cornwall and enlist with Gregory. Wulfric was quite taken with the idea and agreed to go to Cornwall. With this agreed, both men made their way to Sir John`s tent and explained what they had decided. Sir John was surprised that Favian had made such an offer and that he was planning on leaving the circuit but understood that Wulfric wanted his knighthood above most everything else, and agreed to let both men go at season`s end.

7.

During the following three months, Wulfric continued to win most of his bouts in tourneys all over the south of England and despite not being paired with Favian they became a force to be reckoned with, and most opponents got to know that if one of them didn`t beat the challenge, surely the other one would. Wulfric was still officially second to Walter and again rescued many bouts in which Walter had found himself in trouble. Two months later, the circuit took them to Caversham and Wulfric once again met up with his old friends there, including Tybalt and surprisingly, William Marshall himself. The earl was impressed with Wulfric`s record and knew he had made the right decision in releasing Wulfric when they moved to Caversham from Hampstead Marshall. The earl was too old to take part in the joust anymore as he was nearing seventy years of age, but watched keenly as Wulfric went through his routine against several challengers. William spoke to Sir John who he knew from past campaigns and learnt that Wulfric had only lost one bout since joining the circuit and that was at the hands of a visiting German Ritter. Sir John told William that Wulfric had earnt himself over a thousand guineas since joining the circuit and William remarked that it was a similar figure to what he himself had earnt in his own tourney days. When Sir John told him about his and Favian`s decision to leave at the end of the season and return to Cornwall, William wasn`t unduly surprised, remarking that Gregory would have a worthwhile member of his staff in Wulfric. The last tourney before season`s end took place in Salisbury, Wulfric`s old home. He met up with his family who all turned out to watch and also met up with Longespėe, The Earl of Salisbury. The earl remembered Wulfric from the days when he had worked with his father as a mason`s mate and threw down a challenge to Wulfric saying that if he could beat him in a competition, he would pay him the sum of five hundred guineas and give his eldest daughter Ida in marriage. Attractive as the offer was, Wulfric declined the challenge saying it wouldn`t be right for him to beat an earl and that he didn`t wish to marry anyone yet! Longespėe laughed and said that was fine and he admired Wulfric`s chivalry. The work on the new cathedral was coming along nicely now and Beowulf took Wulfric and Favian for a tour round the new building. Favian was impressed with the work in progress and said that he didn`t realise that Wulfric had spent time working there before taking up arms. Beowulf explained that Wulfric was quite handy with stone as well as weapons and in fact used to carve some good quality work, and so saying handed Wulfric a small block of stone and a bag of tools. Wulfric grinned and sat down on a stool with the stone. He expertly chiselled out an image and within the hour had a very passable rough outline of Favian`s face. The Cornishman was delighted when Wulfric presented it to him adding that it needed a lot more fine work to make it complete. The tourney was in Salisbury for three days and Wulfric said that would give him ample time to complete the work. When they left Salisbury three days later, Favian had an extra item in his saddlebags, a wonderful carved face of himself in the granite used in the construction of the new cathedral. He said he would always cherish the carving and was most grateful to Wulfric for creating it for him.

A month after season`s end, Favian and Wulfric drew rein on their horses at the foot of the cliff on which stood Tintagel castle. The castle had been built in stages since roman times and the current structure clung to the steep cliff, making it very hard for any attackers to gain entry as the only way in was up a very steep path cut into the cliff face, which was only large enough for one sure footed horse at a time. Wulfric still had Fallenhoof and Sorrowsweet as well as his pack pony and Favian also had five mounts so it was going to take some time to get all the animals up the path and inside the castle. When they stopped at the lower gatehouse, Favian made themselves known to the sentry and introduced Wulfric as his companion and fellow tourney circuit member and enquired if the duke was in residence. He was told that Gregory was in residence and would be pleased to receive them in due course in the great hall. Favian asked if anybody was available to assist with the horses to which the sentry detailed some of his guard to assist them. An hour later all the horses were up the path and inside the castle and Favian led Wulfric to the great hall of Gregory, Duke of Cornwall. When they entered the hall, Gregory was sitting behind a long table with a scribe going through the castle`s accounts. When Favian and Wulfric entered, he rose and came across the floor to greet them. The floor was covered in sweet smelling rushes and candles burnt in wall sconces. The walls were draped with flags and embroidered hangings and looked really welcoming. Gregory embraced Favian and shook Wulfric by the hand before summoning some serving staff to provide food and refreshment for the two men. The food was served quickly and also some red wine was provided as well as ale if they preferred. There was a selection of cold meats, loaves of fresh bread and a variety of sweets. Both men were ravenous after so long on the road and the food provided by Gregory was very welcome and tasted wonderful to Favian and Wulfric after nearly a month on the road, eating anything that they had managed to catch on their journey as well as fresh rations where they had been able to buy them. The journey had taken so long as they had taken their time spending time in several places along the way, which included nearly a week at Bridport with a relative of Favian, and then having to take a lengthy detour in Devonshire to avoid some marauding bands of people who were in the way of the direct approach into Cornwall, in the Exeter region of that county. Despite being capable of handling any trouble, Favian and Wulfric had chosen to avoid confrontation and possible bloodshed and had kept a low profile. To this end, their route from Bridport had taken them north across parts of Somerset and Exmoor to the Devonshire border where they had turned south again to skirt Dartmoor before heading north-west again to Camelford and finally Tintagel. While staying with Favian`s relations, Wulfric had developed a friendship with the daughter of the household, a pretty buxom girl of sixteen called Arabella. Favian was now continually teasing Wulfric saying that he had been right to decline William Longespėe offer of his daughter in marriage, hinting that Arabella would happily marry him if he asked her. Wulfric admitted to himself that he liked the girl a lot and wondered if she did indeed feel anything for him. For now though, all such thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind while he grew accustomed to his new life at Tintagel and what it might bring.

Gregory gladly accepted Wulfric into his household and re-iterated what Wulfric already knew regarding the border incursions which were happening even more frequently now. When he heard about the marauding bands Favian and Wulfric had encountered, he probably quite correctly assumed that they were somehow involved in the trouble he was having. He gave Favian his old job back as captain of the castle guard and after some persuasion from Favian, appointed Wulfric as his immediate deputy, which Wulfric was well pleased with. During their first night at the castle, some people managed to scale the castle walls, despite the cliff top location, and managed to fire one of the out buildings within the castle. Luckily this was a disused store room and apart from burning the structure to the ground, there was not a lot of other damage apart from some smoke damage to an adjoining shed. The raiders managed to get away without being caught, but Gregory nonetheless detailed a small party of his men to pursue them and bring them back to the castle, dead or alive. The next morning Gregory called a meeting of all his senior staff to explain what had taken place and of what action, if any, would follow. Wulfric was amazed when Favian detailed him to lead the hunt party. Favian said he had every confidence in Wulfric`s ability to track and hopefully catch the raiders and to bring them back to face punishment. Wulfric would be accompanied by a seasoned sergeant at arms named Joseph Rowntree, who had been in the service of Gregory and his father before him for nearly thirty years, and was a veteran of many campaigns. He was grey haired with a neatly trimmed beard and was very tall. He had a twinkle in eye but the lines of his face told most people that he was a force to be reckoned with when in a fight. He came over and introduced himself to Wulfric, and said that he would be pleased to accept instruction from him, adding that he would do his best to look after Wulfric as despite his reputation on the tourney circuit, he guessed that this might well be his first time on an actual operation of this kind. He then called over eight more men, all garbed in partial armour with the duke`s crest on their gambesons. Two were actual hearth knights in the duke`s household while the remainder were all seasoned fighting soldiers like Joseph. One of these was a small wiry Welshman who apparently was an expert tracker. Joseph said that if anyone could track and find the raiders it would be Barda. Joseph told Wulfric that they would be ready to leave within the hour, which surprised Wulfric at the speed that the men could get ready.

8.

Just under an hour later the troop moved out of the castle gate and started down the steep track to sea level and the village of Tintagel, where Barda quickly picked up the raiders tracks, leading inland away from the village. The troop was travelling light with just the one destrier each. Any equipment that they might need was packed in saddle bags secured to the saddle cantles of each horse. Everyone, Wulfric included wore gambesons with Gregory`s crest, They had only their helms as armour and these were slung from the saddle pommels. They followed the tracks quite easily and even Wulfric could see the sign as they moved along. The trail led them out into open country and then turned directly south. Barda suggested that the raiders might be heading for the south coast where he thought they might have plans to board a ship of some sort and head for France where they probably thought the troop wouldn`t follow. Joseph asked Wulfric if they should pursue the raiders if they did in fact board a boat for France and Wulfric gave him a resounding yes as his answer. He said he was aware that they would be entering France without permission but then again, so were the raiders. He asked Barda if there was any chance that they could catch the raiders before they reached the south coast and maybe tried to get a boat but Barda said probably not as they had a good few hours start, but said if the troop pushed on at a good clip, they would certainly narrow the distance between them and their prey.

The following morning found the troop on a lonely beach on the south Cornwall coast, and there were clear tracks in the sand above the high water mark that signified that the raiders had indeed taken to a boat, shown clearly by the marks on the damp sand. The troop rapidly dispersed to find a boat that they could either buy, steal or commandeer to take them across the channel. A while later, one of the troop returned with a local man who apparently had a boat large enough to carry the troop and their mounts which he said he would be pleased to lend them. Wulfric, being practical, asked the man if he had a crew for the vessel as he said they were mounted cavalry not sailors. The man replied that he had a son and two nephews who could sail the boat for the right price, and a price was rapidly agreed and some gold changed hands. The man then led the troop to his village about two miles away and showed them the boat nestled against the harbour wall. It was a sailing barge with open decks and just a small storm shelter at the stern. It had a small hold which he suggested the horses travelled in but Wulfric declined this, saying they would be better off in the open, on deck. They quickly coaxed the horses on board and anyone could see that that none of the mounts were impressed with this new form of transport as they rolled their eyes and stamped their hooves while their riders coaxed them aboard. A while later, everything was ready, and the crew cast off. They used long oars to move the boat away from the harbour and out towards the open sea where they unfurled the sails. There was a slight swell running on the sea and the horses stamped nervously with the continual rock and pitch of the boat.

It took about eighteen hours to reach the French mainland during which time all the troop except Joseph and Wulfric were violently sick. Joseph admitted to feeling slightly queasy but managed to hold the contents of his stomach down. Wulfric, however, thoroughly enjoyed the voyage, spending a lot of the time in the bows of the boat, letting his body roll with the motion and enjoying the damp salty wind in his hair. The crew beached the boat on a deserted beach in the early hours of the morning, and the horses couldn`t get ashore quickly enough and once there, proceeded to roll around on the sandy beach. Barda was one of the first to recover from the sea-sickness and soon managed to find some tracks leading inland which he said seemed to match those of their quarry. Wulfric was surprised by this and asked how it could be that they just happened to have landed on the same beach as their quarry. Barda explained about the currents and wind and said that any boat leaving from that point in Cornwall would likely beach here, so Wulfric was reassured. The troop rested for a few hours until dawn broke and then after a cold breakfast set off following the tracks. Wulfric had decided that they shouldn`t light a fire as he didn`t want anything to advertise their presence in France. When they awoke, the boat had gone and they were on their own. They followed the tracks for a day and a half until Barda halted the troop and said he thought that their quarry was probably less than a mile ahead of them. Wulfric ordered the men to dismount and hobble their horses in a small spinney and then to proceed with all caution on foot. They moved silently and quite quickly ahead making use of what cover was available in the surrounding woods. After a short while they heard voices and smelt the smoke of a camp fire. The voices were speaking quite loud in English and they were pretty sure it was the raiders who were just ahead. Wulfric and Joseph crept forward until they came to a small clearing where three men sat round a fire. They were talking about the raid on Tintagel castle and congratulating themselves on having got clean away. Joseph nudged Wulfric and drew his hand across his neck. Wulfric nodded and both men quietly drew their swords, then with a loud yell burst into the clearing and took the raiders completely by surprise. None of the raiders had a weapon to hand and they ceded without a fight. Wulfric and Joseph quickly tied them securely with a rope that Joseph had bought coiled round his torso, so that their hands were secured behind their backs, their ankles were also tied to the arm ropes allowing them to shuffle forward slowly without falling and they were also tied to each other. For good measure Wulfric also removed their boots to an approving glance from Joseph.

9.

A week later they arrived back at Tintagel castle after commandeering yet another boat. They had kept their prisoners alive on bare survival rations and by now the raiders could barely walk as their feet were badly blistered and hurt badly with every step. They had only one arm each untied so that they could feed themselves, alternated every day to keep the use in the limbs. Despite the state of their prisoner`s feet, Wulfric made them hobble up the steep pathway to the castle with no assistance from his men. Inside the bailey, an armed guard led by Favian awaited their approach. As Wulfric strode through the gate, Favian stepped forward and shook his hand firmly. He congratulated Wulfric on a fine capture and informed him that Gregory was waiting in the great hall for them. Wulfric asked what the three men could expect from Gregory and Favian just smiled and said that Gregory was a firm believer in summary justice. Wulfric nodded acknowledgement and led the small party to the door of the great hall where he rapped loudly on the heavy wooden door. He received a shouted command to enter and proceeded to open the door and push his prisoners none to gently into the interior of the hall. Gregory was sitting on a raised dais at the far end of the hall, with one of his senior knights. Wulfric pushed his prisoners down the length of the hall and when one man stumbled and fell, nearly dragging his companions with him, the unfortunate man received a sharp kick from Favian. He tried to get up and gave a loud groan of pain, which was ignored by all the party. Another of Gregory`s knights stepped forward and hauled the man to his feet by his hair causing him to scream in pain. He was then promptly pushed hard so that he and his companions ended up in a heap on the floor at the base of the dais. Two other senior knights roughly hauled the men to their feet in front of Gregory who looked with disdain at the snivelling examples of humanity at his feet. He spoke with a quiet yet hard voice saying that the men had committed arson against his castle and for that they had been pursued and bought back to face justice. He summarily passed a death sentence on the three men and stipulated that their bodies should be displayed at the base of the castle for all to see as an example. He then instructed Favian and Wulfric to take the men out into the bailey and hang them. The three men broke down, crying out for mercy to Gregory or God or anyone who would listen but to no avail. They were dragged outside by the household knights and within twenty minutes it was all over and their bodies were handed over to a troop of foot soldiers to take down to the outer gate where they would be tied to poles sunk in the ground, in open view of the village.

The unpleasant task over, Favian told Wulfric that he had a visitor, who was waiting in the castle`s bower with her mother. Wulfric raised an eyebrow at Favian and received a one word response, Arabella. Wulfric quickly made his way to the wash area near his bed-space in the hall and washed the dirt out of his face and hair, and shaved with a bare blade removing most of the stains of spending days on the road and sea with no proper sanitation. He rummaged in his clothing coffer and found some reasonably clean clothes which he donned before making his way to the bower. He climbed the stairs to the bower and knocked lightly on the closed door. Moments later the door was opened by Arabella herself who threw herself into Wulfric`s arms. Wulfric presented himself to Arabella`s mother, Favian`s cousin and asked leave to walk out with her daughter, which was readily granted. So saying the young couple went outside into the bailey and then down the path to the village where they could spend some time alone. Arabella turned her face away at the sight of the three corpses already tied to their poles at the outer gate. Wulfric and Arabella spent the rest of the day in each other`s company, in the village to start with then later as darkness began to fall, in the great hall. Godfrey summoned Wulfric to his table in the late evening and informed him that he would be leaving again in the morning, this time on a reconnaissance mission to Wales to find out if any rebellion and incursions were planned. He was to take the same group of men that had accompanied him on the recent mission to France. He told Wulfric that he could expect to be away for a month, and then when he returned to Tintagel he would be given another task with more responsibility. Wulfric and Arabella said their goodbyes with tears from Arabella and a promise from Wulfric to return safely and as soon as he could.

10.

The mission to Wales passed without any major incidents, there were a few skirmishes with the local Welsh population, more intense in the northern part of the country, around Harlech and Llanberis. The troop stayed in a makeshift camp near Llanberis where they came under attack from a small group of Welshmen who wrongly assumed that Wulfric and his men had come to steal the tin which was abundant in the area and was worked from several mines. After one ringleader was cut down by Wulfric when he woke to find the man going through his saddlebags, having evaded the posted sentries, and another was apprehended trying to steal their horses the locals backed off and left the troop alone. They learnt in a local ale house that a group of local men were planning to raid Cornwall in a months-time, this time it seemed they intended to avoid Tintagel and land further along the coast at Polzeath where it was rumoured that they wanted to raid the gold mine a few miles inland, and possibly take some female hostages as well. Wulfric detailed two of his men to infiltrate the group, posing as fishermen who supposedly had lost their boat off the Angelsea coast. They were to report back and await instructions. The two men gained the gang`s trust quite rapidly due in no small part to a keg of whiskey, which they said they had managed to salvage when their boat sunk, which in truth had come from the cellars at Tintagel, bought along by Wulfric to handle just such a situation. The scouts reported back after a few days with detailed plans of what was planned for the forthcoming raid on Cornwall. They told Wulfric that there were six in the raiding party and provided him with times of travel and the likely routes to be taken. Wulfric detailed a young member of his troop to act as a fast messenger and despatched him on a fast ride back to Tintagel to alert Gregory of the impending trouble. Wulfric estimated it would take the lad about a week to get back to the castle which would still give Gregory sufficient time to organise a welcome committee as the raiders were not expected to leave for another two and a half weeks. Meanwhile, Wulfric decided to go on the offensive and instructed the scouts to lead him and the troop to the raider`s camp. They reached the encampment a day later and it was confirmed that there were indeed six men in the party. Wulfric decided to try and capture the men and then take them back to Cornwall as prisoners rather than raiders. They waited until nightfall and the raiders were so confident in their scheme that they didn`t even post a sentry. The skirmish was over in minutes without any blood being shed. The prisoners were hog-tied and the now familiar removal of their footwear took place. The leader of the raiders, recognised the two members of the troop who had infiltrated his gang and swore profoundly at them. When he called the parentage of one man into doubt he received a sharp slap across his face with a leather gauntlet which left his nose, cheek and mouth bleeding profusely. The troop member made it quite plain that is he persisted in this type of behaviour, it would be a sword that dealt the next blow. The raider was quiet from then on.

The following morning, they set off on the journey back to Tintagel, all the troop mounted and the prisoners either stumbling behind on bare feet or if they couldn`t keep up, then, they were dragged. At the end of the first day`s travel, all six men were exhausted and bleeding from their feet and legs were they had fallen and been dragged. They were given bare survival rations of a weak gruel and dry bread and when one raider complained about the food saying that that if they weren`t fed properly, they would never make the journey. Wulfric was not sympathetic and said that if they died, no one would miss them and it would save him the trouble of feeding them anything. Two of the raiders protested and each got slapped down in the dirt by the troopers, then kicked and made to stand up again and keep moving. This routine was followed for several days, with the troop keeping up the pace and pressure and the prisoners gradually getting weaker. On the seventh day of the forced march, one prisoner died. The remainder were by now very apprehensive and afraid of Wulfric and the death of one of their own didn`t help their morale one bit. Two of the survivors actually broke down and cried like babies for some sort of respite, including death, from their ordeal. Surprisingly, Wulfric took mercy on them and gave them decent rations for the first time since leaving North Wales. The following day he adjusted their pace a bit to enable the survivors to more easily keep up. They were still sore and bleeding from their feet in particular, but despite their pain and discomfort managed at least to remain on their feet so didn`t get dragged at all that day. This continued for the remaining eleven days it took to get back to Tintagel and no more prisoners died.

The fast messenger had arrived at Tintagel several days before Wulfric and his troop rode in with their prisoners. Gregory summoned Wulfric to attend him in the great hall and congratulated him on another job well done. He listened to Wulfric`s report and said that he would leave the prisoners to stew in the castle dungeons for a few days and see what if any other information he could get out of them regarding how the situation stood in North Wales. He then gave Wulfric some astounding news. It transpired that Arabella and her mother were still in residence in the bower and that the following day he, Gregory would bestow knighthood on Wulfric, in preparation for the next stage in his life. Wulfric thanked Gregory very sincerely, saying that the knighthood was what he had wanted all his life. He asked to be excused and asked permission to visit Arabella, which Gregory gladly granted, saying as Wulfric prepared to take his leave, that he would see him back in the great hall one hour after sunrise the following morning in his best clothes and to bring Arabella and her mother with him.

11.

The next morning Wulfric with Arabella and her mother were in the great hall just after sunrise, waiting expectantly for Gregory to make his appearance. Wulfric was dressed in a dark brown tunic with green braies and calf boots. His best sword hung on his left hip in a polished scabbard with a matching stabbing knife on his right hip. Arabella was wearing a plain but elegant looking dress of midnight blue with just a single piece of jewellery on her left breast. The rest of Gregory`s household and knights arrived not long after, led into the great hall by Favian, resplendent in a dark red cape over a grey tunic and braies. He also wore his sword, partly concealed by his cape. Gregory arrived shortly, to a fanfare of trumpets from the minstrel’s gallery. The knight making ceremony lasted for about an hour with dispositions being read from Favian, several other knights and much to Wulfric`s surprise and pleasure, one from William Marshall. The ceremony concluded with Wulfric being asked to kneel before Gregory where he was touched on each shoulder by Gregory`s sword and bade rise as Sir Wulfric, something he had always dreamed of and never really believed it would actually happen. He was presented with a new gambeson with Gregory`s crest and beneath this an image depicting an arrow in flight, with colourful flights which Gregory explained symbolised Wulfric`s skill as a fletcher in his own right, also a new hauberk made from the finest chainmail. This arrow making skill was still active and Wulfric still made his exquisite arrows and cross bow bolts when not doing other duties in the castle or out on the road, and the castle cellars had several thousand stored there. The next piece of news left Wulfric speechless and brimming with pride. Gregory explained that Wulfric`s time at Tintagel had come to an end and that he was being offered the post of constable at the castle of Corfe in the Purbeck Forest Royal hunting ground, a little further east in the county of Dorset. This was an important position and in effect meant that Wulfric now had his own castle, not as owner but certainly the most powerful person in the area, responsible for setting and collecting local taxes as well as managing the castle and it`s twelve thousand acres of estate, and raising a garrison of troops who would do liege service to Gregory once a year or more often if the situation demanded it. The castle at Corfe had been in Gregory`s family for almost fifty years and it was due to the recent death of the previous constable that Wulfric was now taking over. Once Wulfric had recovered he thanked Gregory and then asked Arabella`s mother for her daughter`s hand in marriage, to which her mother gave her blessing. The ceremony was arranged for a week`s time to be held in the great hall, before Wulfric and his new wife left for Corfe.

The day of the wedding ceremony arrived quickly and luckily all the preparations were completed in time. Gregory had donated the use of the best bed chamber in the castle to Wulfric as a wedding gift and after a ceremony lasting many hours, including feasting and more drinks than Wulfric had ever laid eyes on, it was time for the time honoured bedding ceremony. Wulfric was taken to a chamber by Favian and several other knights who ceremoniously stripped him naked and washed his entire body, then dressed him in a plain white robe which had no fastenings so had to be held together to preserve his modesty. Arabella was similarly treated by the castle womenfolk and she was also dressed in the same type of garment as Wulfric now wore. Both were then led by their escorts and followers to the bed chamber. Wulfric and Arabella were stood side by side beside the enormous bed and then the robes were removed by their attendants leaving them both naked. They then had to inspect and approve of each other in front of the witnesses before being ceremoniously put to bed. The bed had a fresh sheet on it which the witnesses would inspect in the morning to make sure the marriage had been consummated. Once the couple were in the bed, Favian ushered everyone out of the chamber to loud vulgar comments and suggestions to leave the newly-weds in peace. As soon as they had left, and the chamber door closed, Wulfric wasted no time in barring the door with a heavy wooden bar to prevent any of the revellers coming back later. Custom had it that brides should be virgins when they married and it was for this reason that the bed sheet would be inspected for signs of virginal blood on the sheet. Failure to show blood could lead to the marriage being annulled and would make Wulfric subject to extreme ridicule. Truth was however, Wulfric and Arabella had already made love several times so to get round this Wulfric made a small cut on his upper arm, which in the morning would be hidden by his clothes, and smeared some of the blood all over the clean sheet. That dealt with, they settled down to their first night as man and wife. The following morning just after sunrise, Wulfric and Arabella were woken by a loud hammering on the door. They hastily donned some clothes to preserve their modesty and Wulfric then un-barred and opened the door to admit Favian. Favian strode to the bed and ripped the stained sheet away and then returning downstairs to the bailey he held the sheet aloft to loud cheers from the gathered people. Wulfric and Arabella exchanged a knowing smile and joined hands to go down to their wedding breakfast. Once the breakfast was completed a few hours later, Wulfric, Arabella and a company of troops moved out of Tintagel en-route to Corfe.

Because of having many slow and heavily laden wains in their party, progress was slow, and Wulfric told Arabella that the trip would take them just over a week. Arabella had her mother and several serving maids and dressers travelling in one of the wains so would not be short of female company on the journey. Wulfric, aware that their route to Corfe might take them through hostile areas, posted sentries at every stop and overnight and during the day when they were travelling he made sure that the wain`s were surrounded by heavily armed knights and cavalry soldiers. He also insisted that all his men were armed and wearing protective armour or some sort, not a full suit as this would have been to heavy and cumbersome but they did wear hauberks, leggings, gauntlets and neck protectors. They had their helms hung on the saddle pommels within easy reach and all their weapons were also ready and in plain view, this to act as a deterrent as much as anything else. Gregory had said that an outright attack on Wulfric was unlikely but had advised him to be ready just in case. He said that any trouble would likely come as lightning raids carried out by a few chance skirmishers, rather than by an army. Wulfric had a bit of a reputation by now in dealing with these troublesome skirmishers and so for that reason, despite wearing armour, all the knights and foot soldiers were still highly mobile and fast to react to any given situation.

12.

The route that Wulfric and Gregory had planned took them across Cornwall and Devonshire then along the coast to eventually reach Wareham and from there it was only a short distance along the spit of land to Corfe. The castle sat high above the village of the same name, in a natural cleft between two hills, effectively blocking the way through the lower pass making it a formidable fortress, and it was for this reason that it was the site of the royal mint of England. As they passed Exeter, heading east, during the heat of the day, most people were feeling sleepy and everyone was relaxed. The women were out of their wain, walking alongside chatting in the sunshine when suddenly an arrow thunked into the side of the baggage wain. Next second a group of five mounted raiders swept out of the woods and bore down on the party with swords drawn. Luckily, the soldiers were still awake and alert. The women`s escort quickly got them back inside their wain and formed a protective wall round the wain. The rest of the troop followed Wulfric`s example and drawing their lances, charged straight at the incoming raiders. As Wulfric had expected, the raiders broke and fled in all directions in the face of the organised charge. If they were expecting to get away they were sadly mistaken as Wulfric`s men rode them down after first using arrows to shoot the horses from under them. All five raiders perished either by being run down by the mounted troop with their lances or in two cases by sword blows to the neck as they stumbled through the undergrowth in their haste to get away. After ensuring that the women folk were all right, Wulfric ordered that the bodies should be collected. They were stripped naked and thrown roughly into the back of an open wain which had been carrying straw for the horses to bed down on if there was no open ground available for the purpose. Wulfric then placed another knight in charge and told him to continue towards their destination, while he himself took half of the troop and the wain containing the raider`s bodies and headed back towards Exeter.

On arriving in the centre of the town of Exeter, they located the main square and drove the wain with its grisly cargo into the square, where a market was being held. On the outskirts of the town Wulfric had ordered the troop to don their helms and to have their lances drawn ready for any trouble. He despatched one soldier to find the mayor and to bring him to the square, by force if nessacary. The said man arrived protesting loudly after some twenty minutes, being prodded forward with the tip of the knight`s sword. He swore loudly at Wulfric, whose face was hidden behind his helm, and was surprised when Wulfric told him to be silent or die. A large crowd had gathered by now, many of them traders from the market and local townspeople along with some country folk who were no doubt in town for the market. They were noisy and abusive to the troop until one knight strode into the crowd and pulled a man out of the crowd by his long dank hair. The man screamed and the knight threw him roughly to the ground in front of Wulfric`s horse, still Fallenhoof after all this time. Wulfric drew his sword and leaning out of the saddle bought the blade into contact with the man`s face. He once again demanded silence and this time the crowd complied with the order. Once he received silence, Wulfric addressed the assembled people, telling them that he knew the raiders came from their town as he had experienced trouble in the area before, necessitating a lengthy detour for him and Favian some months previously. He informed the townspeople that he was the new constable at the castle of Corfe over the border in Dorset, but it was still close enough to keep a watch on the town of Exeter. He said that the town was between his castle at Corfe and Gregory`s at Tintagel so any further trouble would be quickly dealt with, with if required, the placing of a military garrison in the town to control it and keep order. He also said that if the townspeople persisted in making trouble in the area forcing the placing of a garrison, the incoming troops would not be adverse to hurting and even killing if their rule was opposed, also with the risk of burning the city to enforce the martial law. He paraded the mayor in front of the people and said that as mayor it was his job to make the town behave itself, and if he failed, he would be the first person that Wulfric would come looking for. His final words, informed the people that the show was over and that they should go home or about their legitimate business. When no one moved after a few minutes, the troop lowered their lances into the attack position and the foot archers quickly notched arrows to their long bows and drew the strings back. Other foot soldiers drew swords and held them ready to attack if Wulfric gave the order. The crowd got the message and quickly dispersed. Wulfric told the mayor that he hoped he wouldn`t have to come looking for him again and to make sure he kept the town in order before giving the order to leave. The troop turned back towards the east and Dorset and left in a dignified column without a backward glance which showed extreme confidence in their own abilities to handle any further trouble the townspeople might decide to throw at them. There were no incidents, not even shouted abuse as the troop rode or marched out of town.

The troop arrived at Wareham two days later where they stopped for a day to refresh themselves and their horses, to get cleaned up and to dress in more formal clothes ready for the short ride to Corfe. The castle staff had known that Wulfric was coming to take over the castle as constable and the building was decked out with flags and bunting ready for his arrival. The castle was an imposing sight, sitting high above the village between the two hills. Apart from the drawbridge over a dry ditch which was accessed from a steep path from the village high street, all the remaining walls seemed almost to cling to the steep hillsides. This made the castle easily defended and practically impregnable. The castle was visible from several miles away and Ararbella thought it looked grim and forbidding, probably due in part to its grey stone construction, which cast a long dark shadow over the surrounding land. Sheep grazed on the steep slopes outside the walls, along with some goats, all of which seemed quite at home and happy on the near vertical slopes. As Wulfric and the troop approached the drawbridge, a trumpet rang out from the battlements in welcome. Once inside the bailey, they were met by an elderly man dressed in servant’s garb who introduced himself as the head caretaker of the castle. He dropped to one knee and swore his allegiance to Wulfric as his new lord. Wulfric was not accustomed to being classed as a lord and with a red face, bade the servant to rise and to show him and Arabella to their quarters and then to take him on a tour of his new home. The caretaker called a younger man over, who turned out to be his eldest son and instructed him to show the knights and soldiers where they would have their living quarters and also to show them the stables where their horses would be attended to. He led Wulfric and Arabella up a steep flight of stairs into the main keep and then crossing the great hall up a further two flights of steep spiral stairs to a large airy room near the top of the keep with splendid views from its windows, looking over the rolling pastures below the walls, across the village and finally to the sea some three miles away at the little harbour of Swanage. Arabella revised her opinion of the castle once she saw the room, and was already making mental notes of how she would decorate the room. There was a massive four poster bed in one corner with an ornate canopy and rich red hanging drapes, several coffers, all painted in bright colours. There was a washstand with a large ewer of water and towels. There was a curtained off area for hanging garments, a sturdy iron bound chest for valuables and a further curtained recess which was their own private garderobe. The servant informed that his wife who was also the castle`s cook had prepared a welcome meal which would be served in the great hall an hour hence.

13.

Wulfric quickly established himself as master of the castle and its estates, he rode out into the country every day with a small band of fellow knights, stopping at every farm and settlement that lay within the castle`s estate, introducing himself to all the people he met and within a month had met every tenant on the land, many local villagers and fishermen from nearby Swanage. He became a popular leader who had the respect of all who met him. One trip took him twenty miles west to the ancient roman town of Dorchester where he was met by Roger de Mowbray, the local laird, who was also constable of the town. Dorchester was not aligned to any particular castle but was strangely in the religious diocese of Salisbury, which meant that its owner was the church, in this case Bishop Poore of Salisbury who Wulfric had met several times during his time working on the new Salisbury cathedral with his father when he was younger. As fate would have it, Bishop Poore was paying one of his regular visits to the town on the same day that Wulfric visited. Roger de Mowbray was not aware that Wulfric knew the bishop, until the bishop appeared behind Roger de Mowbray after leaving a church which they were standing outside, and greeted Wulfric with surprise and warmth. He strode forward and clasped both of Wulfric`s hands and blessed him. Roger organised a feast in the town`s guildhall which doubled as his private residence, and Wulfric and Bishop Poore were the principal guests. Over the feast conversation between Wulfric and the bishop turned to Salisbury, and the bishop informed Wulfric that the new cathedral was now over half completed. William Longespėe was still Earl but was not in good health so was seldom seen in the new city of Salisbury, spending the majority of his time in the castle at Old Sarum or in London. William Marshall was still the Protector and was in fact due to visit Salisbury in a month`s time. Bishop Poore suggested that Wulfric might like to make the journey to Salisbury to coincide with the Earl`s visit and to bring his new wife with him. Roger de Mowbray was also attending and it was suggested that maybe they could travel together. Wulfric gladly accepted and made arrangements there and then with Roger de Mowbray regarding their travel arrangements. It was agreed that Wulfric would provide the military element of the party as Dorchester only had a small poorly equipped militia.

Three weeks later, Wulfric again made the journey to Dorchester, this time accompanied by Arabella in her wain with her two servant maids, and their military escort. They rode straight to the guildhall where Wulfric had arranged to meet Roger de Mowbray. When they stopped outside the guildhall, the main door opened and a liveried servant came down the steps to meet them. He looked unhappy and Wulfric asked what was troubling him. The servant informed him that Roger de Mowbray had been killed the previous evening by a band of raiders from, he thought, across the border in Devonshire. The raiders had fired several buildings in the upper part of the town and had run off a herd of cattle grazing nearby. When Roger de Mowbray had intervened and given chase, he had been shot down by an arrow to the heart. Wulfric digested this disturbing news with a stony expression on his face. He instructed the servant to return indoors and to carry on with whatever preparations he was doing, then detailed two of his troop to ride at full speed back to Corfe to summon reinforcements. He dispatched a further two men to ride with all haste to Tintagel and to inform Gregory what had occurred. He sent a lone rider to Salisbury to inform Bishop Poore and to send his apologies for not being able to come in person. Finally, he selected half a dozen further knights and sent the remainder back to Corfe with the wain, under instructions to protect the women with their lives if needed. The selected knights then went with him to see what damage had been inflicted on the town, with the intention later of following the raiders, who he was pretty sure, came from Exeter. He was pretty certain that the raiders were from there and probably under the direction of the mayor who was probably still smarting from his public humiliation at Wulfric`s hand a while ago. One man had stood out in the town as probably the ringleader of the raiding parties, a man named Edmund Cartwright, not a native Devonian but from across the sea in Ireland. He had heard on good authority that he had been instrumental in the trouble in that country some years ago when William Marshall was in residence there, fighting for his lands over there, part of his wife`s dowry in the southern part of the land. Wulfric swore to himself that the killers of Roger de Mowbray would be brought to justice, hopefully by his hand. He was anticipating that when Gregory learnt of what had happened, he too would despatch a force to Dorchester as well.

Wulfric`s messenger arrived at Salisbury a day and a half later and his news was met with concern from Bishop Poore and the other elders of the city. William Marshall had arrived the previous day and he too was sad to learn that Wulfric would not be coming and saddened to learn of the death of Roger de Mowbray. He told Bishop Poore that if anyone could catch Edmund Cartwright and his rebellious cronies, then Wulfric could.

14.

The messengers sent to Tintagel received a similar response from Gregory. He promptly detailed a troop to head to Dorchester and offer Wulfric any assistance he might need. The troop was led by Favian who also hated Edmund for causing him and Wulfric such delays when he had first brought Wulfric to the castle. Gregory instructed him to be on the lookout as he headed east particularly in the Exeter area and if he should encounter Edmund Cartwright he was to attempt to take him and his men prisoner, rather than just putting them to the sword. He said it was time that the rebels were bought to proper justice where they could be publicly tried for their crimes, also saying that he didn`t want them to become martyrs to their cause, which would probably happen if Favian killed them.

The wain and it`s escort with Arabella and her two women, arrived safely back at Corfe without any incidents on the short trip. Wulfric`s deputy constable, a large burly knight by the name of Sir Zane Knavesmire doubled the castle guard and even went to the extent of placing armed knights at the foot of the stairs leading to the private apartments of Wulfric and Arabella with strict instructions to allow no unknown person to pass.

With Wulfric closing in from the east and Favian closing from the west, even a brash individual like Edmund Cartwright who thought that he was pretty much untouchable, due in part to his close friendship with the mayor of Exeter who he presumed would shield him no matter what happened, had reason to be worried when he learnt that he was being hunted from both sides by two very efficient knights who were both also extremely competent trackers. He quickly abandoned his dwelling on the outskirts of Exeter and led his band of ten rebels into the high country of Dartmoor where he thought he would be safe until everything died down. Like many before him, he had seriously underestimated the combined skills of Wulfric and Favian.

Wulfric and Favian met up just north of Exeter a week later and it didn`t take them long to find out that Edmund Cartwright had left town days earlier. Likewise, it didn`t take long to work out where he might have headed. As Favian was more familiar with the countryside in the area, it seemed only natural that he would take overall charge of the manhunt. Wulfric was happy to rely on Favian`s far greater experience to find Edmund Cartwright. Favian had told Wulfric that Gregory wanted him caught alive and taken back to face proper justice and Wulfric was agreeable to this plan. They tracked the rebel group onto the high moors and after two weeks, ran them to ground near Holdsworthy in the northern part of the moor. A brief skirmish followed with the rebels incurring several casualties from arrows but no lives were lost. Wulfric and Favian didn`t sustain any casualties and they had the prisoners tied and bound in their old familiar style with no footwear within the hour. They then set off on the return trip to Exeter where they would in due course appear before the circuit judge, Justice McKinnon for sentencing. The prisoners were taken by Wulfric and Favian to Rougemont Castle in Exeter, so named because of its red stone construction. The castle was held by Hadrian de Bolbec as custodian, a man loyal to William Marshall, hence in turn to the young Prince Henry who would one day become king. It transpired that Justice McKinnon was related to William Marshall, distantly by marriage and he took advice from the Earl regarding an appropriate punishment for Edmund Cartwright and his gang, prior to them being brought before him. Several days passed before McKinnon summoned the prisoners to court. He listened to reports from Wulfric and Favian and swiftly passed sentence. They were all condemned to spend five years in the dungeons of the castle, and when he spoke the sentence, several of Cartwright`s party broke down and howled like babies. Edmund Cartwright was made of sterner stuff, however and just glared at McKinnon as sentence was passed. Any ideas that he might have harboured about escaping or causing trouble of some kind, quickly faded when he saw the dungeon. The only access to the grim hole beneath the castle was by a ladder which was immediately withdrawn once all the prisoners were down. Even he could see that there would be no escape from this place as it was over twenty feet from the earthen floor to the rim where a sliver of daylight showed.

14.

Once the prisoners were safely ensconced in the dungeon, Wulfric and Favian said their farewells and departed from Exeter for their respective castles. Wulfric, now that he was in charge of his own castle, albeit only as constable, soon became familiar with the financial structure of the castle and it`s estates. The fact that the royal mint was housed here helped in this as he could call on any number of scribes and treasury officials for advice on any fiscal matter. Likewise, Arabella discovered that she also had a head for figures and took over the whole of the household finances and quickly changed things so that the estate actually bought money in the castle rather than just being a drain on resources. Wulfric found that now he was mixing with people higher up the social ladder, he found himself gaining an interest in the political scene. He socialised with several men who were important people in the county, involved in the legislature of the whole of England. This work took him to London on a regular basis where he renewed his acquaintance and friendship with William Marshall, who was only too happy to take Wulfric under his wing and teach him the finer points of government. It wasn`t long before Wulfric showed such promise in the diplomatic field, that prompted William Marshall to offer him a permanent position in his government, which would not be based in London but in Dorset meaning that he could retain the constable-ship of Corfe, in addition to being appointed as Lord Lieutenant of the county. Wulfric settled well in to his new role and spent a lot of time riding round the county, settling disputes, diplomatically of course. He was also the representative of the government in London under William Marshall so his work also entailed civic functions when he was required to dress up in robes. He didn`t really feel comfortable wearing clothes like this, but Arabella loved it and by now had quite a collection of splendid dresses. Six months after taking up the post, another surprise occurred. Wulfric was summoned to London by William Marshall with instructions to bring Arabella with him. On arrival at the Tower of London, they were met by William Marshall and his wife Isabel de Clare, who Wulfric had only met once. They were led into the great hall of the tower and William and Isabel took their seats on a raised dais. A trumpet fanfare rang out and Wulfric was ushered towards the dais by an arch-bishop that Wulfric didn`t know, but presumed him to be the Arch Bishop of Canterbury. William spoke first and welcomed Wulfric and Arabella to the tower and said that he and his government had been watching Wulfric`s progress closely and they now felt that the time was right to elevate him to the peerage with the bestowing of an earldom in his own right. So from henceforth Wulfric would be Sir Wulfric Mason, Earl of Wessex. The title came with its own castle, this time at Sherborne, still in Dorset with estates and land holdings amounting to over seventy thousand acres, spread widely over Dorset, Somerset and a small part of Hampshire. The revenue if managed properly would bring in several thousand pounds per year, making Wulfric a rich man. Wulfric was for once, speechless with surprise. He was told he could continue living at Corfe if he wanted or to move his entire household to his own castle at Sherborne, where he could also continue with his work as Lord Lieutenant of the county. Wulfric and Arabella talked about this at some length and finally decided to move to Sherborne and really make the place their home.

This decision meant that the constable`s post at Corfe was once again vacant and Wulfric approached William Marshall regarding his replacement. Wulfric remembered back to his early days when Tybalt had taken him under his wing and taught him most of what he now knew, so put his name forward to William Marshall. The earl seemed to approve of the recommendation , saying he knew Tybalt.

Five days later a messenger wearing a hauberk with the Marshall crest on the front approached the main gate of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, the home castle of Simon de Montfort. After hobbling his horse near the entrance, he crossed the lowered drawbridge over a dry ditch and hammered loudly on the closed heavy wooden gate with the hilt of his sword. Minutes passed before a small panel in the door opened and a gruff voice demanded to know his business. The messenger replied that he was a representative of the Earl Marshall, Protector and Regent of England and that he had official business with the guards master and demanded entry. This was greeted with a surly remark and he was told to wait, then the panel slammed shut. The messenger waited patiently for about fifteen minutes then hammered again on the gate. The panel opened almost immediately and the same guard told him that his master was not in residence and told the messenger to depart. The response from the messenger was not so polite as he had been before, and thrusting an official looking sealed scroll in front of the open panel, he once again demanded entry, adding that he knew the guard`s master was in residence as his pennant was flying from the high battlements. He finished by telling the unhelpful guard that when he did gain entry he had better be prepared to get thrashed, either by himself or by the master for interfering with the official business of government. The guard looked closely at the scroll and its seal, then the panel slammed shut again. Moments later there was a creaking sound as the bar securing the gate was withdrawn and then the doors opened slowly. As soon as the gap was large enough to admit the messenger, he squeezed through the gap and in one swift movement, pinned the hapless guard against the wall and hissed in his ear that he had better look out as he would be back as soon as he had spoken with Simon de Montfort. The guard looked suitably shaken and numbly pointed the messenger in the direction of the great hall. The messenger strode purposefully across the bailey and approached the door leading to the great hall. At the door his progress was halted by an armed knight who again wanted to know what he was doing there. Once again the messenger showed the scroll and said that his business was with Simon de Montfort and could the knight go and fetch him at once. This knight was somewhat more savvy and polite than the oaf on the main gate and after looking briefly at the scroll with its official seal, which he seemed to recognise, he saluted and told the messenger he would fetch his master and invited him inside the great hall and politely asked him to wait. After a wait of about five minutes, a door at the far end of the hall opened and de Montfort entered. He strode forward with a worried look on his face as he was obviously not used to being summoned in such a manner. As he approached, the messenger bowed and handed him the scroll. He was then dismissed with a wave of de Montfort`s hand. Simon broke the seal and opened the scroll and proceeded to read the contents. After reading through the contents a couple of times he turned back to the messenger and told him to go to the castle kitchen and get some refreshment and that he would speak with him again shortly. The messenger departed to find the kitchen. Simon de Montfort beckoned to the knight who was now back by the entrance to the hall and instructed him to find the guard captain and to tell him to report to him in the hall as soon as possible. The knight departed on his errand.

The knight finally located Tybalt who was now the castle`s guard captain working on the enclosed tilt field with a group of younger knights, putting them through their paces with lances at a quintain, which seemed to be progressing well with each knight in turn successfully striking the quintain and making it spin on its mounting post with each strike. The knight passed on the message to Tybalt and when he asked what was going on, the knight shrugged his shoulders and said that Simon had summoned him after receiving a scroll with an official seal from a messenger. Looking puzzled and slightly worried, Tybalt accompanied the knight back to the great hall after first telling his pupils to take a short break. When Tybalt entered the hall and bowed to de Montfort, Simon told him to sit as he had some important news for him. Tybalt did as he was instructed and still looking rather puzzled and alarmed, waited for Simon to speak. After reading the scroll once again, Tybalt thought that de Montfort was toying with him, by making him wait and practically squirm in his seat, Simon spoke and told Tybalt that he had received an invitation from William Marshall, Regent of England, for Tybalt to take on the constable-ship of Corfe Castle way down south in Dorset. He said he had been recommended by an old pupil of his, one Wulfric Mason who was now an earl in his own right and was now Earl of Sherborne also in Dorset. He had just been made an earl and so his previous post as constable at Corfe was now vacant. Simon explained that it was a very prestigious appointment as the Royal Mint was based there and would pay Tybalt a handsome salary, far more than he could ever expect by remaining at Kenilworth. Tybalt was speechless with surprise, not least at being recommended by his old pupil and friend, Wulfric. Simon said that he would need to make up his mind quickly as the messenger would need to take an answer back to William Marshall when he left the castle later, saying that sorry as he would be to lose him, he should think of his own future and accept the invitation. Tybalt thought about the possibilities for a few minutes and then told Simon that he would accept the offer. Simon shook his hand and said that he had better pack and be ready to move as he could accompany the messenger when he left. Tybalt thanked Simon de Montfort and with his head in a whirl, left to pack his belongings and to get ready for the ride south.

15.

Three weeks after Wulfric and Arabella moved to Sherborne, Tybalt was sworn in as the new constable at Corfe. The two men had met up as soon as Tybalt arrived from London after formally accepting his new post in front of William Marshall and his government. They talked over how things had changed for both of them and caught up with each other`s lives since their last meeting. Tybalt settled in well at Corfe and soon became as popular with the castle staff and local peasants as Wulfric had been before him. Several months into his new post, Tybalt met and married the daughter of one of the more wealthy tenant farmers on the Corfe estate who worked a medium sized spread just along the coast at Lulworth. Around the same time Arabella announced to Wulfric that she was with child which made Wulfric very happy. He and Arabella met up frequently with Tybalt and his new bride Cedany and their friendship flourished and grew. Wulfric was becoming more and more involved with politics now and made frequent visits to London, for meetings with William Marshall and his government, along with several trips further afield to visit the governments of foreign countries as a representative of England, going often to France, Germany and once as far afield as Northern Italy which sometimes took him away from home for sometimes up to a month at a time. Tybalt kept an eye on the estates at Sherborne when Wulfric was away except on the occasion that Wulfric invited him to accompany him on a trip to Bavaria in Germany.

Late in May 1219, Wulfric received the sad news that William Marshall had passed away aged seventy two years. Hubert de Burgh, First Earl of Kent was sworn in as regent in Marshall`s place and he ruled as regent until 1227 when the young King Henry became of age. Under de Burgh, Wulfric was appointed as a government official, with special responsibilities for overseas trade and development so consequently spent the majority of his time in London. He retained his title as Earl of Sherborne despite seldom being there, as he had moved Arabella and their two sons to a residence in London, not far from the seat of government at the Tower. He had appointed his younger brother, Merek, as custodian of the castle at Sherborne and he like his brother soon turned out to be a capable leader at the castle, despite not having as much military experience as his brother and his still young age.

Tybalt made a great success of running Corfe and introduced many new ideas which made the lives of all those who lived and worked in the castle a lot better. The Royal Mint was still based there and under Tybalt the mint was now accepting minting work from places like Scotland and France as well as for England, which of course made the whole operation more profitable and prosperous. He also introduced a new breed of sheep to the Dorset countryside, hardy little animals that had originated up north in Yorkshire and soon flourished on the Dorset hills. Tybalt found that he had a natural talent for farming and spent much of his time on his father-in-law`s farm.