Chapter 22: Silent Night

“Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back.” – Marcus Aurelius.

Rome, Papal States. December 1072

Alexander’s treatment of the Jews was already paying off since he found he could borrow large amounts of money. Many Jews were bankers since they were banned from many other professions. With the Jewish capital, Alexander expanded his firearm and mining industries.

Even though the expanded mining was in the infant phase, it was already helping calm down the population of Sicily by providing large numbers of jobs. Within the first month, Alexander had to increase pay at his mines to find miners. When they were opened, the managers thought miners would line up for jobs, but the compensation was so low almost everyone stayed away.

Like many other problems Alexander faced, he could blame the British. When they invaded western Sicily, many soldiers talked with the locals. While talking, many British soldiers told the locals how well their miners were paid and the other benefits, like company-provided safety equipment.

When the Sicilian miners went to work for Alexander, they demanded the same benefits: benefits that cost money. However, Alexander didn’t have much choice since the slave markets around the Mediterranean were drying up. Slave dealers weren’t taking any chances; they would have to deal with the British since capture meant losing everything, including their lives.

Elsewhere, Papal commanders were making plans for their next war, Sardinia. Sardinia was a Christian island with several small kingdoms, making it vulnerable. The reason for wanting Sardinia was mining. Lead, copper, iron, and silver could all be found on the island. These metals were vital to the industry in southern and central Italy. By adding Sardinia, Alexander would secure even more minerals for his growing industry.

For the first time in several years, there was peace in Rome for Christmas, and the citizens could breathe a sigh of relief. The streets were peaceful, jobs were plenty, and food was cheap and plentiful. It was a better time to be a Roman. In years past, there were riots; jobs were scarce and hardly paid. Worse was what money people did earn was almost entirely used to buy food.

On Christmas morning, Alexander looked over Rome and smiled after enjoying a quiet night with his mistress. Everything finally worked for him, although the new British ideas gave him problems. By this time, Alexander realized the British were there to stay and would have to do his best to deal with them. Just because he had to tolerate them didn’t mean Alexander couldn’t push back. The easiest way to do that was to use Marion’s religious freedom against her and send more priests to Britain.

Alexander knew that even if he could bring Great Britain back into the fold, he couldn’t put the devil back into the bottle. Too many people liked what the devil was selling and were unwilling to part with the devil’s tools and ideas.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. December 1072

Like Marion, Brunhild gave her husband a Christmas gift with the news she was pregnant. Unlike Marion, Brunhild was excited and nervous, being this was her first child. However, since Henry’s first wife had a boy, he was first in line for the throne, and unless Henry changed the rules, Brunhild’s children wouldn’t be in line for the throne because she wasn’t of noble birth.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that since her children would always be considered second best. Meanwhile, Brunhild was fully aware that Mackenzie was considered the leading candidate for next in line to the British throne even though she was a girl and Luke’s noble status had never been determined. Marion was on record saying the next in line would be the one who would be best for the nation.

Outside of learning that Brunhild was pregnant, the news was bad for Henry. His army was still tangled up in Poland, and even though it was winter, the fighting still hadn’t died down for the season.

General Roon had hoped to take a page from Marion and Ingegerd’s playbook and continue the offensive into the winter months, thus taking the enemy off guard. That didn’t happen, and the Poles kept fighting as long as the Germans fought. To make matters worse, Bolesław II the Bold, Duke of Poland, was rallying support for the war against Henry. Henry had done what Bolesław couldn’t do when he fought the Prussian tribes; he unified the Polish nobles.

The Polish war against the Prussians was very unpopular with the Polish nobles who were not on the border. It was seen as a way for Bolesław to gain additional power. However, the war against Henry IV was seen as a war for survival. The Polish nobles saw what Henry had done to his nobles, and they didn’t want the same to happen to them, so they opened their purses and financed more troops for the fight. Also, when Henry cut off the Baltic from Polish trade, he made any noble on the fence an enemy since most relied on the Vistula River to carry their grain to foreign markets and import foreign luxuries.

By December, the German Army had closed in, putting Posen under siege. Unlike sieges only ten years before, the besiegers had a significant advantage with their cannons. Posen’s limited fortifications were no match for the German guns, but the men manning those fortifications were. However, the Bohemian sacking and destroying of the city in 1038 made it difficult for the defenders to defend themselves.

The defenders did their best to use the available resources but struggled to dig into the frozen earth. This was one of the disadvantages the defenders had due to the winter campaign. Another disadvantage the Polish had was they were not ready for a campaign, never mind a winter one, and they didn’t have the food stored to withstand a protracted siege. On the other hand, supplies had caught up to the German Army, and with the backing of the Holy Roman Empire, the German soldiers didn’t starve. They grumbled about fighting in the cold but were warm and well-fed. Henry planned to fight a winter war but didn’t plan to be so close to home.

In early January, Henry received a letter from Marion proposing a state visit to discuss all the issues facing the two nations. When Brunhild learned the news, she was wary. From everything she heard about Marion, it paid to be cautious when dealing with her and watch out for the metaphorical dagger. Another reason for Brunhild to be wary was personal. Henry’s former whore now worked for Marion as her spy mistress. That meant Marion could quickly discover Henry’s weaknesses while Henry didn’t have the same ability against Marion. If Gretchen accompanied Marion in her travels, Brunhild didn’t know how she would act.

Despite Brunhild’s urging of caution, Henry eagerly accepted Marion’s proposal, especially since Marion was the one who would be traveling. Henry couldn’t travel outside the empire because the nobles he had squashed would try to revolt as soon as Henry was away. Everyone from the poorest homeless person to Henry knew it.

One of the reasons Henry eagerly accepted Marion’s proposal was that he wanted to see Marion with his own eyes. For the past seven years, he had heard Marion was the most beautiful woman in the known world, and Henry wanted to see for himself, not that he would admit that to his wildcat wife. Brunhild was slightly jealous and was pissed whenever she caught Henry looking lustfully at the other women in the palace.

Good news arrived for Henry by late January when his army took Posen with surprisingly light casualties. The German artillery had made the difference and firmly dispensed with anyone remaining in Henry’s government or military who didn’t believe in firepower. It always surprised Henry how many people were locked into the old ways of fighting. With the technological advances coming out of Britain, the old methods were hopelessly outdated and would only lead to death and destruction for their believers.

With Posen under control, Henry called a halt while a railroad was built from the nearest German rail line at Meissen. This rail line served the growing mines and farms of the Ore Mountains. The continuation of this line to Posen was a natural move since this line could also go in any number of directions.

General Roon and Henry discussed strategy while the army paused to rest and refit. Roon wanted to stop and sign a peace treaty, but Henry, with Brunhild’s support, wanted to take Breslau or Wrocław to the Poles. With Breslau in his hands, Henry would control the wealthy region of Silesia while shortening the frontier that would have to be defended.

It was decided the army would stay in Posen until the weather improved. While the regular army occupied the Polish forces, a German militia would advance on Breslau while a new rail line was built behind them. Roon and Henry didn’t think the Polish could resist two German armies and were willing to gamble the Poles would focus on the regular army.

Paris, France. December 1072

Philip was dreading trying to survive another winter. He had learned much over the past few years and was more prepared for the coming winter than in years past. Although the coming winter would be hard on the peasants, the town dwellers could get food without Philip having to buy it from Britain. He was still furious every month when his loan payment was sent to Marion. If he had that capital, he could build a successful war machine that could take advantage of the Holy Roman Empire, having most of its army in Poland.

It seemed to be the Christmas of children because, on Christmas Day, it was announced that Bertha was pregnant again and was due in July. She wasn’t nearly as nervous with this child as with her first one. One reason was that she had been through this before, while the other was that more food was available. With child death rates near 50%, every child Bertha could successfully deliver improved the chances for the dynasty to survive.

When Philip heard Marion was visiting Norway and the Holy Roman Empire, he exploded and threw everything he could pick up in his office. The only reason Philip could think for Marion visiting Norway and the Holy Roman Empire was to form an anti-Frankish alliance. Against such an alliance, Philip was helpless and could only hope the long distances would hinder an allied advance.

Bertha heard about Marion’s visit from Philip, but unlike Philip, she was calm. She figured Marion knew she could easily beat Philip by herself. So why would she go looking for allies? Bertha thought Marion was looking for industrial supplies for the growing British industry.

If she were wrong, though, Philip wouldn’t be king for long as the allied force would dwarf anything Philip could put in the field. In the end, Philip couldn’t do anything but pray and hope. With little gold or silver, Philip couldn’t equip an army, and the Frankish noble families didn’t have nearly the power they used to. They were the only ones who could have afforded to arm themselves.

Niðaróss, Norway. December 1072

Ingegerd decided she hated Christmas as she had no hope left. Like many people, death had paid her a winter visit; in her case, the Grim Reaper claimed the life of the man she loved. Gandálfr was working in his shop when he accidentally cut himself on a piece of rusty iron. He thought nothing of this and kept working since he was paid piece-rate.

Gandálfr worked many long nights as he built his funds to buy Ingegerd’s necklace. She would have happily given him the money, but he was determined to earn it and not impose on Ingegerd.

A week after cutting himself, Gandálfr noticed he had spasms in many of his smaller muscles and was running a fever. Afraid of being ill, he sent word to Ingegerd to stay away; he didn’t want her to become sick. When Ingegerd heard, she broke down and sobbed as she prayed like she had never prayed before.

However, when Sunnifa heard about Gandálfr, she went to see him. Something sounded familiar to her, and she wanted to check on him. Seeing Gandálfr, Sunnifa was even more suspicious, so when she returned to the castle, she went to the small library devoted to books Magnus had sent from Britain.

Sunnifa had developed the habit of reading every evening, although she didn’t have a favorite subject. It took her over an hour to find the book she sought. Gandálfr’s symptoms sounded like something she had read; she just had to locate it. Flipping through the pages, Sunnifa stopped on the page for tetanus or, as she knew it, lockjaw. What she read terrified her, but at least it wasn’t contagious.

With the information in hand, Sunnifa went to Ingegerd and showed it to her. Sunnifa barely finished before Ingegerd was through the door. She moved so quickly that she outran her guards. The last thing Ingegerd cared about was assassination and her power a close second.

Bursting into Gandálfr’s home, Ingegerd dropped to her knees by his bed, and her lips found his. This wasn’t how she dreamed of her first kiss in bed, but her dream was turning into a nightmare.

“Ingegerd, please! I wish you not be infected with the devil as well.”

“Gandálfr, you are not infected with the devil; you have something worse. Have you cut yourself recently?”