Chapter 11

Rome, Papal States. August 1067

Pope Alexander sat in his office with a crumpled report on his desk. His choice of Archbishop of Canterbury had died en route, so Ealdred, the old Archbishop of Canterbury, still held the title and, being back in England, was thumbing his nose at the pope regularly. He could do this because he had Marion’s backing and protection. After visiting Rome, Ealdred concluded that it would be far better for him to support Marion. Ealdred had gone so far as to kick the old parish priest Luke had confessed to out of the priesthood. The old man was trying to make waves by telling anyone who would listen to him that Luke wasn’t of their world. While Ealdred didn’t doubt the tale, he knew it would undermine Marion. It was an open secret that Luke came from another world, and while almost nobody knew anything about that world, most people believed it.

Alexander couldn’t do anything to Ealdred, and they both knew it; the crumpled piece of paper was proof of that. It was a reply to the pope’s dismissal of Ealdred, and in it, Ealdred told the pope that if he wanted Ealdred removed as the archbishop, then the pope could come to England and give the order in person. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of the pope traveling to England.

It wasn’t that Alexander was worried about his safety; he didn’t want to deal with the British queen. That and he had plenty to do in Rome. The Normans in southern Italy under Richard Drengot were becoming troublesome. The loss of prestige from William being decisively defeated had weakened the pope, and now William’s southern cousins were out to take full advantage of the situation. Richard wanted more land and titles from the pope. Alexander knew if he granted Richard what he wanted, Alexander would have to dance to Richard’s tune. If that wasn’t enough, the Holy Roman Emperor wasn’t willing to help without significant concessions.

By July, Alexander granted Richard almost everything he demanded, while Alexander was able to keep his throne and the lands under his direct control. To accomplish that, he made one of Richard’s relatives a cardinal. Richard came out much better because he was now in control of southern Italy and had a free hand in Sicily, plus a yearly tribute from the pope.

As if Alexander didn’t have enough problems, right after he settled with Richard, Alexander started getting more disturbing reports from Britain. They had been sent by bishops and priests still loyal to the pope. As more people learned how to read, people started questioning the church’s teachings. With Pollyanna’s printing presses running 24 hours a day, printing the bible in everyday English, more people could afford it and read Christ’s teachings for themselves. They realized many priests were twisting the teachings to give themselves more power. Every week, more people decided they would support Marion instead of the church. What had started as a ripple was turning into a tidal wave. Marion also quietly encouraged the people to form their own church, independent from Rome. Every one of the independent churches represented another blow to the Roman Catholic Church.

The worst reports were from none other than the same priest Marion had used as a cum dump. He couldn’t travel to Rome because of his knee, but he could write letters detailing the daily abuses he suffered under Marion’s rule. The members of his flock were questioning everything he taught, and as time went on, his flock decreased in size as members left for greener pastures. If the trend continued, he would be forced to close his church and move.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. August 1067

Henry had watched the events in southern Italy with interest but refused to do anything without concessions. Alexander wasn’t willing to grant them, so Henry stayed north of the Alps. He had enough things to look after, like his army modernization project. His gunsmiths were producing a slow, steady supply of firearms, and the powder mill had been expanded to meet the rapidly increasing demand.

German miners found that using gunpowder to loosen the ore significantly sped up mining. Using gunpowder made mining more dangerous, but that was nothing miners weren’t used to. The extra money from increased productivity was welcomed by workers and owners alike. With explosives in the mines, several problems were encountered that had never been seen before, such as sparks lighting the powder prematurely. Even with the latest issues, mining continued at breakneck speed because the demand from new industries was still far ahead of the mines’ ability to supply raw materials.

Henry was still determined to stay out of any fight with Marion, which was further reinforced by his courtesan Gretchen’s views. She viewed Marion with a source of awe and hoped one day to meet her. In the meantime, Gretchen was kept busy with her teaching. Every day she had classes to teach people how to read and write. It wasn’t surprising to Gretchen to discover the younger the person; the easier it was to teach them. Children didn’t have any preconceived notions like the adults had or any of their bad habits. Many days, Gretchen was in the classroom from dawn till dusk and would drag herself back to Henry’s chambers, where she would still have to service him.

Gretchen had raven-colored hair, dark green eyes, and snow-white skin that made Henry wild with lust. Whenever Gretchen thought she was exhausted, she just had to look at Henry to know that she could have had it worse. On many days, he would have to be assisted back to his chambers, where he would get some rest before having his way with Gretchen. When Henry finished for the evening, Gretchen’s job was to help him relax in any way she could. She would help him with a bath and massage his shoulders. After Henry got clean, he would lay on the bed and watch as Gretchen stripped. Once she was naked, she would climb aboard Henry and ride. As she rode, Gretchen imagined that she was riding Marion’s husband. Rumors of his sexual prowess had reached her a month earlier, and her favorite fantasy was to imagine riding Luke while Marion kissed her all over.

Henry was thankful that Gretchen could help him relax in the evenings. The nobles of the Holy Roman Empire hated many of Henry’s programs and were doing their best to kill them. Almost to a member, every nobleman opposed the lower classes being taught how to read and write. Many nobles had enough power to keep their serfs on their land and out of the classroom.

If that wasn’t enough of a problem for Henry, the nobles were jealously guarding the rights previous emperors had granted them. While he watched the British economy grow rapidly, the growth of the empire’s economy was anemic; many of the nobles still heavily taxed goods that traveled through their lands, which drove up the cost of goods despite the Kaiser’s orders to eliminate tolls. When Henry tried to build royal roads and canals, many nobles wouldn’t let them cross their land, and he didn’t have the military or legal power to enforce his will.

Rennes, Brittany. July 1067

Hawise of Rennes was furious. Her treasury was empty from the extra military spending, and the French subsidy didn’t go far enough to make the difference. Philip wasn’t willing to increase the assistance either. Hawise would make do with what she had and launch her invasion of Britain before her army was completely reequipped, or she could launch an invasion of France.

Invading Britain at this stage would be suicide. Assuming she could win a quick victory, invading France might pay off handsomely for Hawise. The problem with this course of action would be that she would make a powerful enemy in Philip, giving her an enemy on her land border. If she didn’t attack, she would never be able to afford the invasion of Britain. Another factor influencing her decision was the naval base Marion was building in the Humber Estuary. If this base were allowed to be completed, Britain would rule the seas, and Brittany would be defenseless.

Being a naval power, Hawise knew this, and with the experience, they had already obtained with their cannon-armed ships knew cannons on ships were a winning combination. The leading military minds in Brittany also knew that if Marion armed her ships with the same artillery she used on land, no ship would be able to get close to them.

With everything taken together, Hawise only had one course of action. She had to strike at the British naval base at Hull. This strike had to be successful to give Hawise time to finish building her army. As she contemplated the possible consequences of a preemptive strike, her trusted adviser Augustine came in. He had been an adviser to Hawise ever since she became ruler of Brittany, and she trusted him.

“How come God chose to bless the damn English, Augustine?” asked Hawise.

“The Lord does move in mysterious ways.”

“You are a lot of help.”

“Are you serious about attacking Britain?”

“I think it’s the only way. If we attack Philip and we lose, we will be crushed. He can field an army of almost thirty thousand and strike at us without using ships. Marion might have a larger army, but she has no navy yet. If we can destroy her main shipyard, we can buy valuable time to finish building the army. Then, invading with the Welsh, we should be able to win.”

“That’s a lot of conjecture, and if anything in that sequence goes wrong, you could lose everything.”

“Philip is supporting us financially, so I doubt they would attack. The Iberians are embroiled with the Moors, so they can’t attack. The only possible enemy left is Marion. She has nobody pressuring her at the moment, and once she gets complete control of the island, we will be next.”

“But, why would she attack us?”

“From reports, her merchants are extremely aggressive in business, and the native merchants are forced out. With merchants like that, my merchants will be demanding something be done. From what I have heard about an ultimatum Marion sent King Philip, it will be war if her merchants are interfered with.”

So, you believe you will be forced to do something with her merchants, and that will be the casus belli Marion needs to wage war on us?”

“I don’t believe Augustine, I know.”

Hawise grabbed the wine decanter from the side table and started drinking from it after offering Augustine a drink. Anytime Hawise discussed Marion; she had the powerful urge to drink as much as possible. After Hawise passed out, Augustine carried her to bed before going to bed himself.

Aberffraw, Gwynedd. July 1067

While Hawise was arguing with Augustine, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn had his own problems to deal with. Some of the Welsh nobles were starting to raid English border towns. This wasn’t the plan Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his nobles had come up with; the plan was to wait until the Bretons came over and then attack all at once. If Bleddyn ap Cynfyn didn’t commit his forces now, Marion’s army would cut the Welsh forces up piecemeal, while if he did commit and Marion won, it would be all over. Bleddyn ap Cynfyn had almost twenty thousand soldiers, a large number being Irish mercenaries.

Anytime Bleddyn couldn’t stand Welsh politics, he would look across the Irish Sea and cheer up. Most of the Irish nobles were nothing more than sheep rustlers with delusions of grandeur, and wars were usually just raids and counter-raids. All this raiding, though, produced large numbers of seasoned warriors who were reasonably inexpensive to hire. On the other hand, controlling them was difficult, especially when liquor or young women were around.