The Medieval Marine - Cauldron Simmering
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 8: A New Settlement
“Each colony became accustomed to planting new settlements and to claiming new boundaries.” – Albert Bushnell Hart.
Rome, Italy. September 1078
Matilda was thrilled to have a minute to relax. She had been going non-stop for the last few months trying to integrate Genoa and Pisa into the Kingdom of Italy. If she wasn’t fighting with the Genoans or Pisans, it was her own aristocracy or the church.
Gregory VII was still trying to regain his former government role, but Matilda had too much support among the nobility for him to do anything. Still, he kept an eye on everything through his eyes in the church. While Italy was full of bad news for him, the Holy Roman Empire and France produced much better news. Henry was getting beaten back, and Philip I and Werner I, Count of Klettgau, had been making friendly noises toward Italy and the papacy. Maybe it was time to show his wife he knew what he was doing.
Matilda’s secretary, Eva, knocked and poked her head in once her mistress gave her permission. Matilda had taken Eva as a secretary to smooth the feathers of a noble she had angered. Although Matilda started off not liking the girl, Eva quickly proved to be very bright and discrete, thus earning Matilda’s trust.
“Yes, Eva?”
“Your husband is here to see you. I looked at your schedule, and although you have nothing planned for him, you also have no other appointments scheduled for the rest of the day.”
‘What does he want?’ thought Matilda. “Thank you, Eva. Once you have finished your work for the day, you can retire for the evening.”
“Thank you, mistress. One of my friends needs to order a new dress and asked me to go along.” Matilda smiled, seeing the simple joy in her secretary’s face. Then she tossed Eva a small pouch of silver.
“Here you go. This should help you get the best dress possible.” Eva looked in the pouch and was speechless. Matilda smiled. “Once you get your jaw off the floor, do you mind asking my husband to step in?”
Eva rushed out, blushing deeply, and Gregory stepped in behind her and shut the door.
“Hello, Hildebrand,” started Matilda.
“Matilda. I will get right to the point. I come bearing a proposition.”
“Proposition. What kind of proposition?”
“I think it goes without saying that eventually, Henry will want the land back that you conquered.”
“Yes. So?”
“Once he deals with the rebels and the French, where do you think he will strike next?”
“By then, his army will be so weakened we will have no problems sending him packing.”
“Arrogance really does not suit you, Matilda. What if he doesn’t have problems with his current wars and comes down here with his army of battle-hardened troops?”
“My army is battle-hardened as well.” Matilda really didn’t like being told her army wasn’t as good as other armies. Even though everyone knew the British Army would slaughter them without breaking a sweat.
“No, your army is not battle-hardened. The new troops and officers have never tasted defeat or even a close victory. Henry’s army has done both. The old soldiers in your army who know what it’s like are long gone. His men know what they can do and have faith in their officers to lead them to victory in the end. Your men do not have that faith in their officers. While your officers have faced some challenging situations, they have not encountered the grim, life-or-death situations that many German officers have. Many German officers have come up from the ranks, like in the British Army. They were promoted based on their ability to lead troops in combat, not who their family is. This leads to a much higher quality of officer. In short, if the German Army comes here, losing is a serious possibility.”
“And you can make it where we win?” Hildebrand nodded.
“The easiest way to win is not to fight. If we were to support Philip and Werner against Henry, it would not only buy us some goodwill with those rulers but would put additional pressure on Henry. I believe that with the pressure he is already getting from Poland, the additional pressure would be too much for him.” Matilda thought about what Hildebrand was proposing. It made sense, but what did he want?
“Your idea makes sense to me. The question is, what do you want? You would not have brought me this unless you wanted something, and I have told you before I will not give you the throne back. The aristocracy loves me where they only tolerated you.”
“You are right, and I do not wish to rule the country.” Matilda couldn’t believe her ears, but Hildebrand continued before she could ask. “I want the kingdom and the church to have a closer relationship. The church can do much good if you accept this.” If Matilda had 100 guesses of what Hildebrand might want, this wouldn’t have been it.
“I accept,” she agreed.
Matilda didn’t realize Hildebrand was playing a very long game. He wanted his power back but realized he needed to bide his time until Matilda screwed up. However, Hildebrand wished to ensure that when Matilda screwed up and he regained control, there would be a kingdom left for him to rule.
Matilda began working out how much she would support Philip and Werner. She realized that there was another angle to this. If they didn’t get all the support they needed, neither would be strong enough to defeat Henry, but both sides would bleed themselves white before either could claim victory. By then, none of them would be strong enough to challenge Matilda, and she could defeat the Italian states without outside interference. It would take some time to get everything set up; However, Matilda had time. But not as much as she would like to think.
Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. September 1078
Henry definitely didn’t have time. With wars on three fronts and none showing signs of ending, he realized he would have to do something drastic to win. All three wars were currently in a stalemate situation, but he knew that couldn’t last much longer. It was becoming increasingly difficult to recruit soldiers. Not only that, but weapons were also becoming more expensive.
For all the advances that Brunhild had introduced, she still hadn’t figured out how the British built their firearms. Not only were British firearms more advanced, but they were also of much higher quality than anything produced in continental Europe.
“Henry, this cannot continue,” stated Brunhild.
“I know, but what am I to do?”
“Pick a war, concentrate on it, win, then go to the next one.”
“And which two should I stop fighting in the meantime? France wants the border between us to be the Rhine River, the southern rebels want me gone as Emperor, and Poland will swallow all the territory we have paid so dearly for.”
“I would withdraw most troops from Poland and send them into France. Attack Paris, then head to Toulouse. Rip the heart out of Philip’s war machine. While that is going on, send any men you can spare south to hold the line until you can free the army up.”
“And if one thing goes wrong?”
“And if you do nothing different?” Brunhild asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Damn it. I want you and the children to go to Britain. There, you will be out of danger.”
“The children, yes, since they are the future of the empire. However, I will remain by your side. This will not be my first war.”
“Brunhild...”
“Do not start, Henry.” Brunhild’s eyes locked on his. “My mind is made up, and I will stay by your side until the end. No matter what end it is.”
Henry sighed and looked at Brunhild. She looked so lovely in the candlelight that it was impossible not to fall in love with her all over. No matter what he wanted to do with Brunhild, Henry had duties to attend to. Calling for his aid, Henry sent orders, recalling his troops from Poland. When they withdrew, they were not to leave anything of value, and if it couldn’t be taken, it would be burned. With winter coming, Poland would be so weakened they wouldn’t be able to attack.
His troops would withdraw into Prussia and western Poland. Henry wanted to ensure he kept Silesia north to Pomerania and east to Prussia. Poland could have everything else back for now. Thanks to the telegraph lines, the orders would arrive at the eastern army headquarters only ten minutes later.
When General Von Roon read his new orders, he wasn’t surprised at the orders, only that it had taken so long. He had been making preparations for this move ever since the noble’s rebellion had broken out, so the withdrawal wouldn’t take long. The only thing Von Roon would change was instead of hitting France, they would take out the rebel forces and bring the south to heed. Once the troublesome nobility had been tamed, he would strike the French.
After issuing the withdrawal orders, Von Roon hitched a ride on a train. He wanted to present his ideas to Henry personally. Von Roon knew that, unlike many nobles, Henry would listen to reason, and if you presented a good argument, you could sway him.
When General Von Roon arrived in Frankfort, he found the city calm. It seemed that many people didn’t care that the empire was fighting for its life or that they would probably lose everything if the empire failed. It was even more disheartening to see recruitment stations empty; this meant the limited supply of soldiers would continue to dwindle.
Arriving at Henry’s study, he found himself looking at a man who looked 68 years old instead of 28.
“General Von Roon,” Henry said in a tired voice.
“Your Majesty. I have come to ask you to reconsider your orders for the army. I agree we should withdraw from Poland; they will not be strong enough for years to attack us. But instead of attacking the French, I suggest you focus on crushing the noble’s rebellion. You can use their confiscated wealth to raise an army to defeat France once and for all. Once France is gone, we can return to Poland.”
“You know France wants the border to be the Rhine River?”
“And you know the rebels want you gone? What point is it to defeat the French if you lose the throne? If that happens, we will have done all the work for the traitors.” Henry looked daggers at General Von Roon. Henry knew the general was correct as soon as the general asked the question about Henry losing his throne. “I would go further and suggest you also withdraw the troops facing France. Leave enough troops in the fortified cities to slow the French down, but allow me to use the rest of them to put down the noble’s revolt.”
Henry looked at Von Roon and sighed. He stood and turned to look at the portraits of his father and grandfather. He knew if they had been the ones ruling, then all this wouldn’t have happened. Then again, they never had to deal with someone turning the world upside down.
“Very well. Order most of the troops on the French front to meet up with the forces from Poland. Once that happens, crush the rebels.”
“As you wish. The troops from Poland are already on their way back as I gave the orders before I left. The troops from France should start their trip tomorrow. I love this technology the British have introduced. Before, I could never have imagined being able to control troop movements hundreds of kilometers away or moving them that distance in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks.” Henry barked a harsh laugh.
“And the other ideas from Britain have landed us in this mess.” Von Roon shrugged.
“There have always been revolts, but never in history has so much advanced technology been introduced so rapidly.”
“Yeah. General, I want you to gather all the intelligence on these rebels. If we can hit their estates, their funding will be cut off. No money, no mercenary army. No mercenaries, the rebellion collapses.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Anything else?”
“No. I need to oversee arrangements to get my children out of the empire.”
“Britain? Brunhild going with them?”
“They are going to Britain. Brunhild has already told me in no uncertain terms that she will stay by my side no matter what.”
“It is a good thing you married her. A woman like that is worth her weight in gold.”
“She’s worth far more than that to me, general. I only wish she would go with the children.” General Von Roon turned to leave, seeing Henry settle into reflection. “General, if things do not go according to plan, see to it that Brunhild gets to Britain. I will not be leaving the empire, no matter the circumstances.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
General Von Roon sent orders for his troops to concentrate near Passau. Meeting there would give them some breathing space in case the volunteer regiments collapsed and Linz fell. Meeting in Passau would also enable most troops to utilize the rail lines to facilitate their movement. Thanks to the rail network, the first troops would be arriving from Poland by the end of the week. The volunteers would only need to hold on for another week, then the regular army could take over.
It surprised General Von Roon when the volunteer regiments formed from men worried about what would happen to their livelihoods should the nobility return to power. So he was stunned when the volunteers fought valiantly and halted the rebel advance in its tracks.
In Vienna, Werner was furious. After months of fighting, they were no closer to capturing Linz, and with winter approaching, their window for capturing the town was shrinking. If they couldn’t capture the town, the army would have to be withdrawn to Vienna to wait for next year.
At that time, it would be hard knowing what Henry would do. The German Army was battle-hardened and had fought battles in the depths of the Polish winter. If the German Army caught the rebels in the open during winter, the battle would be so one-sided that it wouldn’t even be able to be called a battle.
During the summer, the nobles launched attack after attack, always trying something new. When they sent an attack up the Danube on boats, the volunteers launched fire boats, which broke up the nobles’ attack and burned many of their boats to the waterline. After that, none of the noble’s troops would step on a boat.
When the nobles tried to bridge the river, a sudden summer storm washed their nearly completed bridge away. One attack was a flanking cavalry attack, but it got bogged down in the wooded hills and was cut to pieces by small groups of volunteers led by hunters. It seemed that every time the nobles tried something, the volunteers had an answer. Many nobles couldn’t understand how the commoners who made up the volunteer army could constantly defeat them.
What they didn’t understand was that many volunteers had served in the German Army while others were miners, blacksmiths, and property-owning farmers. The men and women in the volunteer army had something to fight for and would rather die than be placed back under the noble’s yoke.
Every time the nobles attacked and failed, their morale sank further, and each attack was carried out with less vigor. Werner was also feeling the heat as the nobles who elected him were beginning to question him. Then he received news the German Army was on the way.
News had leaked out of Frankfort that Henry was recalling his army from Poland and Burgundy to put down the rebellion. Knowing it was either now or never, Werner ordered an all-out assault. Every man and horse was to be committed, and there would be no turning back. It was either capture Linz or die. When the orders were issued, the news from Frankfort was revealed, and everyone present knew what it meant. Henry’s forces would hunt them down, confiscate everything, and throw them into the mines if they didn’t win now.
The noble’s attack came at sunrise with little warning for the volunteers. There were no trumpet blasts or drum beats, and the rebel’s cooking fires were lit. The fires had been a ruse to lull the volunteers into a false sense of security. When the rebels were spotted, the attacking army was only 600 meters from the volunteers’ lines.
Many volunteers were not dressed as they rushed to their positions, grabbing their muskets and ammunition. They didn’t even have time to form lines as every soldier shot as fast as they could reload. However, it wasn’t fast enough. The noble cavalry charged and closed the gap before the volunteers had time to mount an effective defense.
Now, amongst the enemy that had frustrated them for months, the cavalrymen were furious as they cut down one volunteer after another with their swords. Count Werner had led the charge and now rallied his men to take Linz before the town could organize. As the infantry caught up, the cavalry charged the town and were inside before the civilians knew what was happening. Any civilian caught outside was cut down. Man, woman, child, it didn’t matter as the cavalry rode through the streets.
By 10:00, it was all over, except for the cleanup and gathering of the spoils. A few volunteers escaped, but cavalry patrols caught most of them. Any volunteer captured was put to work digging mass graves while the mercenaries and nobles gathered the volunteers’ weapons and looted the town.
The noble’s punishment for the town of Linz was particularly harsh. Count Werner wanted to send a message to anyone who resisted, warning them that this would be their fate. All the civilians were rounded up in the town square, where the mayor and leading citizens were stripped naked, castrated, and burned alive. If any people turned to look away, their head was taken off.
Before the leading citizens were executed, their female family members were brought out before them. There, they were stripped of their clothing. The old women were slaughtered while the rest had their wrists and ankles tied to tall stakes buried in the ground. In this configuration, the females hung down in such a way that all three of their holes were available for servicing the victorious soldiers.
What followed was an orgy of violence, with many of the tied females not surviving. To make it even crueler, family members were tied close together so they could hear and see their loved ones being raped. Mothers were forced to watch as their daughters were raped, and because some had undeveloped bodies, they suffered catastrophic injuries at the hands of their rapists.
After several hours, the soldiers became bored with ordinary rape and began slicing female body parts off. Breasts and clits were the favorite targets, followed by hands and feet. Only after the last female was dead were their male family members put to death.
Once the fires had gone out, the male civilians were separated from the females. The females were forced to become concubines for the army, while the males were sent to the mines that kept the rebel army funded and supplied.
Since there wasn’t time before winter, Werner decided to fortify what was left of Linz and settle in until spring. By this time, his spies had informed him the German Army was massing in Passau. Werner knew he didn’t have the strength to attack the regular army head-on, but he could bleed it white. Spies had reported recruitment was almost nonexistent for the regular army, while Werner had no problems finding soldiers thanks to all the fighting in the Balkans.
Werner would use the winter months to strengthen his army and extend diplomatic outreach to Italy, Poland, and France. All three kingdoms had reasons to want Henry IV gone, and Werner was all too happy to negotiate with them.
Paris, France. September 1078
Philip was tired. His war in Burgundy wasn’t going to plan. His army was being bled white by the Germans, steadfastly refusing large-scale attacks. Instead, they fought from cover and with small formation tactics. The Germans would wait until a French unit dropped its guard, then strike. The purpose of the attack wasn’t to gain ground but to kill French troops and morale.
Most of the French Army were either nobles eager to prove themselves or conscripted infantry. Fighting against the German tactics caused both groups of soldiers to suffer severe declines in morale. The nobles didn’t like not attacking, while the conscripted infantry needed to return home to harvest their crops. They couldn’t do that if they were pinned down by German attacks.
Day after day, more and more troops deserted the French Army. All their loot from earlier in the campaign had long been spent, and Philip was always slow in getting pay for the troops. Many troops hadn’t been paid in months, and their pay was often in the form of credits that could only be used in army stores. Some soldiers were so far in debt to the army stores that they would have to stay in the army for years before the debt could be repaid, so they left instead.
Philip entered Burgundy with 30,000 soldiers, but after years of war, disease, and desertion, he could only bring a force of 6,000 to battle. His army had almost numerical parity with the Germans. If the Germans struck with their entire army, there would be nothing he could do to stop them.
He couldn’t even rely on Bertha as he had previously done. She wasn’t speaking to him and went out of her way to avoid him. Philip began to wonder if he would be better off sending Bertha to a convent and marrying someone else. It was a problem that would have to be addressed once the war ended.
Seeing Henry’s situation, Philip saw an opportunity. If he could reach a peace agreement with Henry that would allow him to keep what his army had already captured, then Philip could count it as a win. It would take years for France to rebuild, but it would take the Holy Roman Empire longer because they were fighting a civil war, and Philip knew all about that.
To that end, he sent envoys to Henry with the proposal. Basically, if Henry left Philip to keep what he had already captured, then Philip would withdraw his army and promise not to attack for ten years. To sweeten the deal, the envoys were authorized to make trade concessions to Henry. It was a good deal for both sides and would allow Philip to solve many domestic problems in relative peace.
New Cork, New Ireland. September 1078
Toirdelbach was furious. A large number of recently captured slaves had managed to escape and killed twenty Irish doing so. If that wasn’t bad enough, Órlaith came down with a terrible flu, which came close to killing her. If Órlaith had any doubts as to whether Toirdelbach loved her, they could be put to bed after seeing how he reacted during her illness. Against everyone’s advice, Toirdelbach stayed by his wife’s side and did everything possible to comfort her.
Órlaith was deeply touched by her husband’s behavior and finally did something she had been avoiding since they got married: she opened her heart and let him in. One of the old doctors saw the change in Órlaith’s behavior and guessed what caused it. It gave the old doctor a small smile to think something good might come from this near disaster.
It took Órlaith almost two weeks to recover from her illness. After she began to recover, Toirdelbach was kicked out of the house to give Órlaith a break. While she loved Toirdelbach’s care, he was becoming annoying, and Órlaith laughed as she told him to get out so she could rest. The smile that lit her husband’s face was profoundly touching, and Órlaith couldn’t help but feel his love for her.
Toirdelbach had more than enough to do, as the runaway slaves hadn’t been caught. All the Irish knew was that they were last seen headed north, and without tracking dogs, they had no chance of finding them.
Instead, Toirdelbach ordered security around the remaining slaves to be tightened, and any of them caught escaping would be burned alive before all the slaves. The goal was to show them they would be better off if they did as they were told. Another precaution taken was every slave had their feet shackled when not working.
With the slave problem solved for the time being, Toirdelbach had to send out patrols to find more slaves; otherwise, they wouldn’t have enough labor to harvest the year’s grain. The fields looked good, and when the earlier varieties were harvested, they produced a bumper crop.
With every British ship that went past, Toirdelbach swore he would get his revenge on the queen who kicked him out of his dear Ireland. While he hadn’t figured out how he would go about it yet, it was a goal that was always in the back of his mind. What he didn’t know was the greatest threat to his North American adventure had landed roughly 350 kilometers to his northeast.
Ingegerdsborg, Scandinavia. September 1078
Ingegerd was deeply disturbed. Soon after farmers had harvested the year’s rye crop, people in the capital began hallucinating. It wasn’t the first time Ingegerd had seen such behavior, but it was the first since she came to power. The usual method of dealing with it was to pray and begin a witch hunt.
The old methods didn’t sit well with Ingegerd, so she sent an urgent dispatch to Anna. She hoped she could tell her how to fight whatever was ailing her people. Thanks to almost daily airship flights, the dispatch reached Anna quickly. Airships flew daily flights between Ingegerdsborg and Ribe on the Jutland Peninsula. From there, the airships would cross the North Sea to York.
Four days later, Ingegerd was informed she had important visitors. When they were let into her office, her mouth dropped to the floor because she was looking at Anna and a beautiful redhead in a British Army uniform. Anna giggled, seeing her sister-in-law’s reaction to her being there.
“Hello, Ingegerd.”
“Anna!” Ingegerd squealed as she ran around her desk to hug her. “What are you doing here?”
“You said you needed help.” Anna then turned to the redhead. “Ingegerd, allow me to introduce my mentor, Doctor Alice MacDougall.” Ingegerd and Alice nodded at each other.
“Doctor, what are you doing here?” Ingegerd asked in almost religious reverence. Alice laughed.
“There’s no need to canonize me. Kissing me between my legs will do.” Anna smacked her mentor and then looked at Ingegerd, who was bright red.
“Don’t worry about her, Inggie.” Anna giggled. “Alice is perpetually horny.” Then Anna noticed Ingegerd’s nipples poking out. The trouble was that Alice noticed too and ran her tongue along her lips, further frustrating Ingegerd. Anna smacked Alice again before turning serious. “Have you had any more cases?” Ingegerd sighed.
“Yes, another thirty people have gone insane since I wrote you.”
“They are not insane,” Alice spoke, slipping into her doctor mode. “I suspect something far worse, although it is preventable. But first, I would like to know where each person lived before I voice my suspicions.” Ingegerd pulled out a city map, where she had already plotted the locations of the people. Alice studied the map and noticed there were three heavy concentrations. “Ingegerd, where are the bread bakeries?”
“Why?” Alice looked up at her.
“Humor me.”
Ingegerd pulled out a separate map that showed the various buildings. Alice took that map and transferred the bakery locations to the outbreak map. Once she finished, Ingegerd gasped as three bakeries were near the center of the outbreaks.
“Why?”
“I suspect those three bakeries get their flour from the same miller. From the symptoms, I think the people are suffering from ergotism.” Ingegerd looked confused. “Ergot is a fungus that often infects rye and produces alkaloids that are highly toxic to humans and animals.”
“How do you know all that?” asked Ingegerd.
“Thank Kukka because she found it in one of Luke’s chemistry books.”
“Ah. Any news about him?” Alice sighed.
“No, not a word. Wherever he is, it’s being kept need-to-know because even Gretchen’s intelligence network is coming up empty.”
“I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help.”
“Thank you. I think the worst thing is not knowing whether he is alive or dead.” Alice shook her head. “Speaking of dead, has anyone died?”
“A few children and one young adult male who had a history of being sick.”
Ingegerd led Anna and Alice out. They were headed toward the closest bakery to inspect the flour. As they walked the streets, the people stopped to watch the queen and her guards go by before returning to their labors.
At the bakery, Alice took several samples of flour and bread that had already been baked. She would need to examine the flour before determining whether it was contaminated. The group walked to the other bakeries and repeated the process. Alice also questioned the bakers and quickly determined they bought their flour from the same miller who was Alice’s last stop.
At the miller, she was able to examine the grain before it was milled. She was looking for black kernels that floated in a brine solution. Back at the palace, Alice mixed the brine solution according to Kukka’s directions, then put some of the collected grain in it. All the grains sank in the first three samples, indicating they were healthy. In the fourth sample, however, several kernels floated and were black in color.