Chapter 34

Rome, Papal States. December 1069

Pope Alexander looked shocked as he finished reading the news from France; British troops had decimated the kingdom, taking the King and Queen of France captive. British troops had visited every monastery in the central part of the kingdom, with every monastery visited being looted. The British took precious artifacts, books, food, and money from the monasteries. Despite the looting of monasteries, the British troops were popular with the local peasants. The British bought grain and meat from the local peasants at a fair price and destroyed regional land registries to keep returning nobles from reclaiming their land. Everywhere British troops had been, they freed all serfs and slaves, usually setting them up with a plot of land. This way, the peasants could support themselves, and to prove it was their land, new land registries were created using the British method of surveying to divide the land.

If the news from France wasn’t bad enough, Alexander had the Bretons Hawise of Rennes and Hoël II to deal with. Hawise demanded the pope support her in her efforts to reclaim her duchy from the godless British. Not only was Hawise annoying, but Hoël was talking with many of the nobles throughout the Italian Peninsula. All the talking Hoël had been doing over the last few months was slowly stirring the nobles into demanding Alexander do something about the British queen and her minions. Even though the British were gone from Brittany, Hawise and Hoël remained in Rome.

In Sicily, the Papal Army and local Muslim forces continued to do battle. Most battles were little more than skirmishes, but they helped Papal troops improve using their new weapons. Slowly the Christian forces were driving the Muslims off the island. As more land was brought under Papal control, more resources were brought under Papal control. Also, having all the land under one ruler helped keep the peace, boosting farming production. What hurt the Papal military machine was the lack of iron. While they got some from the Holy Roman Empire, it was never enough.

While the Papal Army was slowly bringing southern Italy under his control, Alexander’s diplomats were busy throughout northern Italy trying to convince the Italian city-states to join with the Papal States. All the major cities refused to listen, while some smaller cities listened but refused to move.

Hawise and Hoël were just as sick of the pope as the pope was with them. After all, they had witnessed the raw power Britain processed, yet few on the Italian peninsula seemed to care. It disgusted Hawise that even after months of raising the alarm, local nobles barely cared about Britain. Britain was far away from them, and to threaten the Papal States, the British would have to fight their way through the hordes of Moors and Berbers around the Strait of Gibraltar.

Even though the British left Brittany, Hawise didn’t return home. Little wealth remained in the duchy, most having been removed by the victorious British and the rest being spread throughout the population. Hawise wanted revenge, but she wouldn’t be able to get that revenge based in Brittany. For one reason, she had no legitimacy left after fleeing the duchy. The second reason was that King Philip sent troops into the area when he landed in France to secure the duchy for the French crown.

On 1 December, a new door was opened for Hawise in her war with Marion when representatives of Dyflin arrived in Pope Alexander’s court. Dyflin was the name of the city that would later become Dublin, Ireland, and they were seeking help against the British tide on their doorstep. The city led an alliance of Viking settlements along the coast and some of the native Irish tribes. The reason for the uneasy coalition was the sudden rise of Marion’s Britain. As much as the Vikings and local Irish tribes hated each other, both recognized the threat from the east. Many of the coastal settlements and Irish tribes took slaves during raids, and some of those raids were against British occupied Wales. This made them a target for Marion, although she had her hands full with France for the time being.

Hawise knew the Irish and Viking kingdoms would stand little chance against the British juggernaut in their current state. But if all the Viking settlements and Irish tribes came together with firearms, they might be able to stand up to Marion.

“Excuse me, your majesty,” Hawise said as she walked up to the king of Dyflin Murchad mac Diarmata, who also represented his father Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, King of Leinster, “but I may be of assistance. I have fought Marion before, and I know her method of warfare. If you go at her as you have fought in the past, you will lose. Her officers and soldier are loyal to her; they are well-trained, well-armed, and highly disciplined. If you don’t believe me, ask the French.”

“What do you have to offer, woman?”

“I am Hawise of Rennes, and I can advise you on how to build your army to oppose Marion. I know her army’s weaknesses and her strengths. The British Army is not unbeatable; they have vulnerabilities that can be exploited, and I know them.”

“Then why didn’t your army defeat her?”

“I have troops spread around Europe, so my army wasn’t at full strength. My army that invaded England was under French commanders, but if it weren’t for my army, the French wouldn’t have gotten as far as they did. When my army was lost in England, I didn’t have the time or money to rebuild my army.”

“So, how can we defeat the British?”

“Fight on the defensive whenever possible and only attack when you are sure of victory. Forget about swords and pikes; cold steel will not win against hot lead. Another piece of advice is to focus on the British supply lines and not the army itself.”

“You expect us to fight like cowards?!?!”

“If you don’t fight as I advise, you will lose. The French thought the same of you and invaded England with 30,000 men; only a dozen returned to France.”

“So, how should we fight?”

“Arm all your troops with firearms, even the cavalry. Buy cannons and make sure the crews know how to use them. One last piece of advice is to train your troops constantly under all weather conditions and at night. The British like to fight at night and in adverse weather conditions.”

“What would you bring if I hired you?”

“You would have my experience and connections to weapons makers and alchemists. Even then, it will take you at least a year to build your army to a strength that could stand against Marion.”

“We don’t have a year. Spies tell me the British are preparing to invade.”

“Then you will need all the help you can get.”

Murchad thought briefly before holding out his hand, and Hawise took it. While it would take a couple of days for the scribes to write the formal contract, Hawise, and her husband began advising Murchad immediately. Murchad agreed to pay Hawise ten silver Marks per month plus the first choice of the spoils from the defeated British. Hawise’s experience came cheap for Murchad, but that was because she wanted revenge for everything Marion had done to her.

Even though the contract only took a few days to sign, Murchad’s party didn’t leave Rome until after Christmas. They would sail across the Mediterranean to southern France, then walk to the Atlantic coast before boarding a ship for Dyflin. With the Atlantic winter weather, there was a good possibility the group would be stuck in France while the weather cleared.

Hawise hoped they could leave France quickly; she didn’t trust Philip, and Philip had already annexed Brittany into the Kingdom of France, leaving nothing for Hawise. Once in Dyflin, Hawise would use her connections to obtain firearms and powder for Murchad’s army. Her task was made harder before she even left Rome when the pope refused to subsidize the Irish Army. He had lost enough money fighting Marion and had nothing to show for it.

Paris, France. December 1069

At the same time Luke was disembarking in Portsmouth, Philip I was moving up the Seine to Paris. When Marion let Philip return to France, she allowed all French soldiers in British captivity to return as well. This gave Philip an army of almost 30,000 troops; although Marion didn’t let him have firearms, she let him have spears and swords to arm his troops.

So far, on his trip up the Seine, Philip had seen only devastation left behind by British troops. What surprised him was he wasn’t angry with the magnitude of the destruction. Guiscard had started this war, and now he would have to suffer the consequences.

Philip also recognized he had the golden opportunity to unite France and crush the powerful nobles who supported Guiscard. After spending so much time in Britain, Philip had seen the power of distributed power firsthand. He intended to take the land from every noble who revolted and sell it to the peasants, eliminating the noble’s authority and increasing Philip’s. By spreading the power out among the population, there would be no nobles strong enough to challenge Philip, and being honest with the peasants would keep them in line.

After settling back into his castle in Paris, Philip sent troops to every corner of his kingdom to arrest all the disloyal nobles and seize their land. That land would belong to the crown until it could be sold to the peasants. Until it was sold, the land was rented out for cash; the remaining nobles couldn’t force any unpaid labor from the peasants, and the peasants would no longer be tied to the land. If a noble wanted workers, they would have to pay the workers a high enough wage to attract those workers.

One of the most important areas to secure was southern France. There the nobles had been untouched by the recent war and were still firmly in control. Central, eastern, and northern France had been looted by the British, with every noble and monastery looted. While the nobles and the church paid dearly for the British invasion, the peasants benefited greatly, with the British paying for their supplies. Not only did the British pay for their supplies, but they helped villages with sanitation projects and gave them free medical care.

It would take time to rebuild France, but Philip knew Marion wouldn’t attack. They had signed a treaty before he left for France: Marion wouldn’t attack Philip if Philip didn’t attack her, and vise versa, Philip would be recognized as the King of France and Marion as Queen of Britain. Trade would flow freely between French and British ports, and anti-piracy laws would be enforced to keep pirates out of the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. Philip didn’t have to pay war indemnities to the British and could immediately resume the manufacture of firearms.