Chapter 5

The estate was about three and a half centuriae in extent. It was on the better land, of course, but luckily the tribe that had occupied this river valley had been recalcitrant and had rebelled a couple of times. The tribe had been exterminated to a man, woman and boy. The history of that little campaign is recorded in Listrata’s Et Bella Ex Britannica. The usage made of the women and boys before execution probably amply justifies my small act of domination over these current captives.

So no existing tribe was available to claim ownership; but, of course, the local tribe was associated loosely with the Regnenses, so they might call upon substantial numbers if they felt like it. I had to make sure we stayed friends.

The upper fields grew wheat and barley, the lower ones near the river were damp and more suited to leafy vegetables and cattle. On the ridge, sheep grazed the open tops. It was a good farm. We did not grow many vines for some reason. I made a mental note to check with Gricolus to find out why.

Our village neighbours brewed beer from barley, ours and theirs, and kept their own cattle and sheep. We should have to see if their animals could be improved with mating with ours – or visa versa, but I doubted that somewhat. We had had a good wool spinning shed, but half of the spinning slaves had run away. I suspected most would be dead now. This was not a safe place to be an unknown traveller.

Cheese, meat, bread: these were our main products. The tiles we made ourselves, but then the locals preferred thatch, so it wasn’t a barterable product. I encouraged the spinners to start work in producing wool yarn and then turn that into clothing; we might make more profit that way and give people choice. Choice always helps stimulate the market, Gricolus had once said. I really hoped I could keep him alive, he was so useful. We would eat our own food and trade some too. The slaves, I mean ex-slaves, would eat better now, so more food was needed. The reduction in food for the family would not balance that. But there again, there had been much wastage. Slavery does not make many people careful for their masters. A carcase would be only half used before being dumped as rotten. Now we might use the whole carcase for stews and the like? Much of the harvest was wasted, I knew. Some of it was stolen, of course, but some was simply allowed to rot in the fields because there was no incentive to work harder. We would use the poorer wheat for beer too. We would use the chaff for fuel or fertiliser or bedding. We would try and grow more. Gricolus was content to make a lot of money but not efficiently, now we needed to make more money by efficiency so all would stay happy.

The local currency stayed: solidus was the basic coin. A man found debasing coins was killed in the village. A man found clipping had his lips cut off. More and more, though, barter became the preferential means of trade. We all kept the gold we had in case of need.

I nearly chose Gricolus’s horse, but then realised this might send the wrong impression. So I walked around the estate, spoke to the workers on their level, explained the plans I had. Slaves could be ordered to do a job – often badly. Now I had to cajole and persuade the workers when I said we should improve the dam. The mill pond dried in summer. If we raised the dam, we could mill other crops and maybe use it for beetling too. The people around me looked blank. I explained how beetling might produce better tools (and weapons) easier. They bought into the idea. The local blacksmith was interested in the idea of a hammer that did the work for him. We formed our first joint venture.

But the dam would need strengthening, not just raising. More water meant more pressure, which meant a stronger dam was needed. Gricolus’s flaw, I discovered, was that he was no engineer. He could not see the problem. I worked with the blacksmith (who was definitely up for the idea of having a water driven hammer for his blacksmith’s work). We drove piles in, inside the pond. Then rocks between the piles and the old dam. Then we filled it with earth. I say ‘we’, I mean we supervised, got involved sometimes to show willing, and the workers did most of it. The wider, higher dam became an immediate easier route to and from the village; so we gravelled the top to keep wear down. I should have liked to put slabs down like the Romans, but that would have been too much work without a slave army to do it. We would get round to this in time, I hoped. This all took months, of course, so I’m getting ahead of myself.