De Warenne Dynasty 01 - The Conquerer (47 page)
Read De Warenne Dynasty 01 - The Conquerer Online
Authors: Brenda Joyce
"I gladly accept, my lord," she whispered, and he crushed her to him again.
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EPILOGUE
OnDecember 24, 1072 ,Alice hanged herself in her chamber in the Convent of the Sisters of Saint John.
OnDecember 24, 1073 , Ceidre was married toRolfede Warenne . The wedding took place atYork
.Edwin was released temporarily from confinement to give away the bride. Their three children, two boys and an infant daughter, attended the ceremony, as did King William, Roger of Shrewsbury, Bishop Odo, William fitz Osbern, Walter de Lacy, and many others. The bride was radiant and beaming, the groom grinning and proud; everyone agreed there had never been a more lovestruck couple. The king's wedding present to the couple was the suspension of Ceidre's life sentence; and he was named godfather of their infant daughter. Most of the female congregation wept throughout the service, and a few of the men had shiny eyes as well.
Ever generous when the mood struck him,KingWilliam remandedEdwin intoRolfe 's custody. He also agreed to the engagement of his widowed daughter Isolda toEdwin . They were married early the following spring, andEdwin promptly claimed Isolda's two-year-old daughter as his own. It is rumored that she had visited him in his confinement atWestminster as early as January of 1070.
Author's Note
Rolfede Warenneand Ceidre are fictional characters.
Edwinand Morcar were powerful Saxon lords prior to William of Normandy's invasion and the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. They were the sons of the eaorl of Aelfgar, who was good, kindly, nobly connected, and powerful. Morcar was the younger son, renowned for his handsome looks. They did have a sister, but she was married to a Welsh lord.
Prior to 1066,Edwin and Morcar were weakened by an attack from the king ofNorway , and they did not fight atHastings , which was apparently fortunate forWilliam . After that battle, bothEd and Morcar swore fealty toWilliam .William in turn promisedEd his daughter, whom I took the liberty of naming Isolda, and gave him control of all of the north, making him eaorl ofMercia . His own Norman lords, who had followed him from Normandy, as Rolfe did, to gain lands and power, were justifiably upset that so much power was being given to Ed. William finally reneged on his promise to give Ed his daughter, and Ed and Morcar, who had gone to Normandy with William after Hastings, returned home furious.
In 1068, while there was the threat of a Danish invasion,Ed and Morcar staged their first rebellion in the north.William had secured the south ofEngland by granting feudal fiefs to his followers at strategic locations, as I have described in this novel. He took his army north and crushed the rebels, building castles and leaving royal garrisons everywhere inMercia , including atYork . Both brothers swore fealty to him again and were forgiven. However, there were now royal garrisons and Norman castles in their territories, to keep them in check.
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The brothers staged a second rebellion in 1069, killing the earl ofDurham (aNorman ) and attackingYork .York was besieged and demolished. Apparently at the same time, the Danes invaded and were repulsed atNorwich . It is not clear if this was a coincidence.William and his troops crushed the Danes, relievedYork , and sent the rebels fleeing. Construction of a second castle atYork was begun, withWilliam remaining there to oversee it personally. Meanwhile, his policy to destroy the rebels began in all earnestness-an iron fist. He would burn and destroy every rebel lair and village, even if he burned down most of the north. Historians have referred to this phase as "the harrying of the north." In my opinion this is too light a term for such a ruthless policy. This is where the story ofRolfe and Ceidre begins.Rolfe isWilliam 's most trusted commander in charge of securing the north, crushing the Saxons, and carrying out this policy of burning out every inch of every rebel nest.
It worked. One year later, in 1070, there was a last uprising in the fens, led byEdwin , Morcar, and Hereward the Wake. Because of treachery from within, the rebellion failed. Morcar was killed,Ed captured and imprisoned for life. Hereward's fate is unknown.
Because of the fast pacing of this novel, I took the liberty of moving up this last rebellion so that it occurredSeptember 30, 1069 . I also gaveEdwin a fictional happy ending with his true-love marriage, finally, to Isolda. His final fate is unknown.
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