Chapter 20

Rome, Papal States. April 1068

Pope Alexander was preparing for Good Friday services when he got a message from an agent in England. The planned noble revolt was going to happen as planned the day after Easter when the message was sent. Their spies in Marion’s office and army had reported that she didn’t know the rebellion would happen. Every noble discounted the British 1st division building a new base west of London. The 1st division would be their first target, and once the division was wiped out, the nobles would have plenty of rifles and ammunition.

As he read the report, Sextus watched a smile spread across his liege’s face. It was the first genuine smile Sextus had seen on Alexander’s face in months. This was Alexander’s best chance to get rid of Marion forever and be owed a favor by the next British ruler. After all, he had spent vast sums to help arm the rebels and hire mercenaries. According to reports, the rebels had almost forty thousand men under their command. Alexander knew Marion only had thirty-six thousand soldiers under her command; nearly twenty percent were women, and virtually all the officers were commoners.

The other report on his desk wasn’t as good but could lead to something good. The French nobles were also getting ready to rebel against Philip I and his attempted British-inspired reforms. Alexander also supported them, but they didn’t need as much money. He knew Philip had mercenaries from Brittany, but nobody worried about five hundred extra soldiers. As Alexander walked to Good Friday services, he was in the best mood he had been in for months.

Since Alexander was in a good mood, he didn’t need the sadistic pleasure of torturing whores. That pleasure was reserved for times when Alexander was under abnormal stress. During normal times, Alexander’s mistresses kept him satisfied.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. April 1068

To the North, Emperor Henry IV was also thinking about rebels. He knew about the coming rebellion in France and worried about his nobles rebelling as well. If the possibility of his nobles rebelling didn’t worry him enough, Henry knew his latest letter had reached Gretchen. If he had to do everything over again, he wouldn’t have sent her to Britain, but the information she sent home had been invaluable.

After Good Friday services, Henry sat with his wife, Bertha of Savoy, and waited to start a feast celebrating Good Friday.

“You have no need to worry, Henry, your nobles and army are loyal, and unlike the English wench, you have your charming intelligence.”

“As usual, you are correct. I wish I hadn’t sent Gretchen to Britain; I could use her advice.”

“But look at the information she is sending back. It amazes me the stupid British queen would let her anywhere near that kind of information. Doesn’t she know that knowledge is power?”

“According to Gretchen, I think she does. Still, I too, wonder why she is allowing Gretchen access to all that information. From everything I have heard, Marion is much smarter than that. Oh well, her loss is our gain.”

Henry and Bertha failed to understand that the economic reforms Marion was introducing were impossible without social reforms. If Marion had been by herself, she wouldn’t have been that free with information, but under Luke’s influence, most information was freely available to the public. Luke knew what would happen; the European nobility would want economic and military reforms without understanding the social reforms required for the other reforms to succeed. Marion knew this and set herself up for her and her family to stay in power long into the future.

After the banquet, Henry and Bertha headed back to their chambers, Henry needed an heir, and Bertha was at peak fertility. It was time to lay with his wife, although with her being queen, there would be an audience to make sure Henry was the one to knock her up.

Henry didn’t even help Bertha undress; she had her attendants help with that. Once naked, she ran her hands over her naked body, hoping this time wouldn’t hurt like the last time she had been with Henry. They knew Henry was fertile, so that wasn’t the problem, and the attendants suspected the previous month wasn’t the month she was blessed with a child. Hopefully, this month would be better.

Bertha slipped a nightshirt on before she left her chamber. As she walked into Henry’s chamber, she watched his eyes dilate and knew he desired her. Her sex education started early and was so clinical that many later Christians would have had a heart attack. Bertha knew all about the mechanics of sex and what was expected of her. Her only job was to lie on her back and get pregnant. The empire needed a boy, and it was believed to have a boy, the man had to be on top and tucked deep inside the woman.

If Henry didn’t need an heir, he wouldn’t have been with his wife. Trying to impregnate her was more work than he wanted, especially after being with Gretchen, who had been adventurous in bed. Thinking about Gretchen, a thought hit him, ‘maybe he could teach Bertha to be more adventurous.’

With a grin, Henry jumped on the bed and began to kiss Bertha’s body. She wasn’t used to this and tried to push Henry off, but he wasn’t having it. Pinning her arms down to the bed, he began to kiss her small breast and suck on her long brown nipples. Noticing Bertha wasn’t responding, Henry, kissed his way south until he reached the junction of her legs. Forcing her legs apart and parting her pubic hair, Henry kissed her outer lips and sucked on her inner ones; this got a reaction from Bertha as her hips started slowly moving up and down. Bertha was trying to fight her feelings, but her body would not be denied. When Henry sucked her clit between his teeth, Bertha’s muscles seized as she arched her back until the only parts on the bed were her feet and the back of her head.

Before Bertha could recover from her orgasm, Henry slipped his cock inside her, causing her to squeak. Looking into her glazed eyes, Henry had a thought. Remembering the spot Gretchen liked to have rubbed, Henry suddenly picked his wife’s ankles up and put them on his shoulders. With her legs out of the way, a hand found its way down, where the fingers found the button. As Henry began to play with it, Bertha began to squirm on the bed.

“Oh, stop that. It’s so dirty!! What are you doing to MEEEEEEE!!”

Again, Bertha exploded as juices flowed out of her, and her muscles clamped down on Henry. There was too much stimulation for Henry, and he shot a solid stream of cum deep inside her. Having shot his load, Henry collapsed on Bertha, who was panting and covered in sweat. The people watching sat there in stunned silence, never having witnessed a woman do what Bertha had done.

As Henry rolled off his wife, he gathered her in his arms and pulled a blanket over them as they fell into a deep sleep. The following day when Henry woke up, he found Bertha awake and staring down at him.

“Good morning.”

“Don’t “good morning” me! What did you do to me last night?!?!”

“You didn’t enjoy your orgasms?” Henry asked innocently.

“NO, that’s not something a Christian lady should be doing!”

“Tell you what, if you can stand there and honestly tell me that you didn’t secretly enjoy that and want more, then I won’t give you any more.”

Bertha stood there, her face getting red as she tried to get the words out, but her mouth refused to follow her brain’s directions. Henry slowly stood, still nude, and stopped before her. As he messed with her shirt, she wanted to stop him but couldn’t. When he got about half wave down, Bertha suddenly shoved him back on the bed, ripped the clothes she was wearing off, and jumped in bed with him.

As the day passed, various staff members listened in at the door and heard the royals laughing and giggling while moaning and groaning regularly, intersecting with grunts and squeals. Some of the older women on staff did nothing but smile as they remembered their lives as newlyweds.

All good things much come to an end, and the call for dinner ends the couple’s lovemaking. They were both famished and rushed out of their chambers with little on but some nightshirts and smiles. Their eyes never left the other as they ate, and both tuned everyone else around them out.

The following night, Bertha slipped into Henry’s bed and curled up with him. They chose to partake in slow and soothing lovemaking before drifting off to sleep. As he fell to sleep, Henry felt better about his letter.

Paris, France. April 1068

Next door in France, King Philip I wasn’t worried about a simple letter or an heir; he had much more important matters to contend with. It was the day after Easter, and the nobility had rebelled. Unlike the usual noble rebellion, which might only have a few nobles participating, almost half the nobility participated openly in this rebellion. The other half of the nobility quietly supported the part that rebelled.

Philip’s intelligence network broke down, so he had no warning the rebellion was coming and had to flee Paris as the noble’s army swept through the city. He had known a rebellion was looming but thought he had time. Just after dawn, Philip was awakened by a servant informing him that the rebel army was already in the city. The royal army that Philip had so painstakingly built didn’t even fight. They stepped aside in the best cases, but in most cases, they joined the rebels.

Viscount Guiscard had forbidden all looting, and any soldier caught looting would be hung on the spot. It pissed him off that his troops had only missed Philip by half an hour, but they managed to capture the royal treasury intact. Without the treasury, Philip couldn’t do anything against the nobles now in charge.

As Philip moved into the countryside with his family and loyal servants, he wondered how he missed such a coordinated uprising. Such an uprising had to have been planned over months, and nobles were not known for keeping secrets. Now he was almost penniless and had only the clothes on his back and a small purse. His only hope was to make it to the channel, sail to Britain, and beg Queen Marion would give him asylum.

Guiscard had managed to keep the uprising a secret from Philip by placing one of his trusted enforcers with each noble. If the noble tried to talk about it, they would be punished, usually with a beating, and if they still couldn’t keep their mouth shut, the enforcer would kill them and take everything the noble owned, including their family. Even with his precautions, Guiscard knew word of his impending rebellion leaked out, hopefully not to Philip.

The speed at which the uprising succeeded surprised everyone, including Guiscard. They had been planning a protracted war of attrition instead of the swift, bloodless victory they had experienced. The royal army had stepped to the side instead of fighting. All the officers were nobles, and they hated Philip just as much as the rest of the French nobility. Even the mercenaries from Brittany stepped aside after Guiscard promised they could keep their weapons and go home.

Usually, Guiscard’s word wasn’t worth shit, but with five hundred armed men, he thought it would be better to keep his word this time and let them go. Brittany could be absorbed into France at a later date. Guiscard had other more significant problems to deal with without angering the Bretons. Now he had a much more difficult task; Guiscard had to form a new government and rule. This part of every rebellion is always the most difficult, with almost all rebellions failing this step.

Rennes, Brittany. April 1068

Hawise, like Philip, had known a rebellion was brewing in France and had stationed soldiers along the frontier to ensure the revolution stayed in France. Her nobles were loyal to her since their money had been repaid in full after the Breton defeat. They also knew Hawise and Hoël were planning another invasion attempt as soon as they could rebuild their forces.

A week after Easter, Hawise was surprised when the five hundred she had loaned to Phillip showed up and informed her of what happened. Outwardly, she shrugged and allowed the soldiers to go home to get some rest. Privately though, she was worried. If Guiscard had overthrown the King of France in one day, how long before he turned his attention to Brittany? Hoël told her to stop worrying since he had been friends with Guiscard for many years and would send him a letter indicating Brittany was looking for an alliance with him.

Hoël hoped an alliance with Guiscard would allow them to concentrate on Great Britain and possibly bring direct French support to their cause. The Bretons had an excellent reason to believe this, Guiscard hated the British. Even before Marion became queen, he couldn’t stand them. With ideas such as banning serfdom and equal rights coming from Britain, Hoël was sure they would get some help.

The ancient kingdom of Wessex, Great Britain. April 1068

Across the channel in England, the rebellion wasn’t going nearly as smoothly. The nobles there were not as united as the nobles in France, with numerous English nobles refusing to rebel. The ones who refused to rebel were the ones who were smart enough to profit from Marion’s new system. Many of them had increased their income by more them fifty percent over pre-Marion days.

Wulfnoth Godwinson had worried leading up to the rebellion. The British 1st division had been stationed west of London and could reach his lands in a day and a half. To make matters worse, the division commander was a female commoner who had seen nobility at its worst, making it impossible to buy her off.

The rebels had much better luck with some of the guards, though. Even though Marion paid her soldiers on time and well, there will always be someone who wants more, and it didn’t take the nobles long to find such people. Wulfnoth’s problem was the guards on duty kept rotating, so he couldn’t predict who would be on duty at any given time.

Eventually, he decided to have all the soldiers he bought off, attack and take control of one gate. From there, his soldiers could get in and take control of the base. The captives would be enslaved and sold to Muslim traders from North Africa. Even the soldiers who turned their coats would be sold, thus earning Wulfnoth his money back. Besides, who would trust a turncoat?