Conquest

It was futile for the Bretons to try to engage. Count Conan, realizing that the day was lost before it had begun, joined his men in flight. When the horn sounded for lances to be couched, a great roar went up from the walls of Dol to match the thunder of the hooves of the Norman horde, and the slaughter began. For the Norman cavalry it was like sticking pigs in the forest, as they cut the Bretons down one by one.

Eventually, some pockets of resistance did form, as a few men decided to turn and fight. In one incident, a large group of Bretons managed to unseat three Norman knights by luring them into soft ground. The Normans were obviously in peril and Harold, leading the nearest conroi, went to their aid. He ordered his men to dismount and attack on foot, to avoid the same fate that had befallen the heavy Norman horses. With his housecarls behind him and Hereward and his companions in the midst of them, he set about the enemy.

It was an impressive onslaught, conducted in William’s full view. Harold, advancing at the point of a wedge of flailing yet precisely choreographed English battle-axes, cut his way through the melee. Using their shields as a solid defensive wall, and striking either side of them with their axes, the Anglo-Saxon housecarls demonstrated to William their renowned battle technique at its best. Hereward was in his element, not only because it was hand-to-hand combat, but because the men he was fighting with were his kith and kin and he was but a yard from Harold, the Earl Marshal of England. Supported by Martin, Einar and Alphonso, he kept a close eye on Harold, constantly protecting his flanks and rear.

It did not take long to rescue the beleaguered Normans and get them mounted on their destriers. William was doubly delighted: the Bretons had been routed and taught a lesson they would never forget; and his English guest had not only witnessed the victory, but had also played a heroic part in it.

The Duke decided that he liked the Earl of Wessex; he was a brave warrior and a man worthy of standing with Normans in battle. He hoped that, following his succession, Harold Godwinson would agree to be his Earl Marshal and thus avert a revolt by the English earls.

William’s dreams of wealth and power were becoming more and more tangible by the day.

Harold talked at great length to Hereward on the march back from Dol. The Earl was impressed by the carnage wrought by Hereward’s Great Axe during the skirmish and thanked him for staying so close to him. Harold described himself as a soldier at heart, a man who felt more comfortable on the battlefield than at court. Nevertheless, he had gradually grown to respect King Edward, whose effete manner and Norman sympathies he had initially despised. At first, he had refused to travel to Normandy for a meeting with William, but the King had finally convinced him. He was a persuasive man and a shrewd and clever ruler who had done much to bring stability and prosperity to England. Now that his long reign was in its twilight years, Edward feared the uncouth barbarians from Scandinavia, especially Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway.

Edward was convinced that to secure England’s future, he had to forge an alliance with the Normans. Hemmed in by the French to the south, and the Holy Roman Empire to the east, the Normans needed land and a kingdom to call their own. In exchange, England would get what it needed: a bridge to mainland Europe and its sophistication; the Norman spirit of adventure and conquest; and their rigid system of social discipline. To achieve this, Edward knew that William would have to be his successor; there was no other choice.

Hereward was appalled to hear Harold’s account of Edward’s reasoning. It would mean the end of everything he cared for as an Englishman. England’s traditional Anglo-Saxon culture would be transformed from its pastoral simplicity into the harsh efficiency of a Norman state.

He decided to say what was on his mind. ‘But, my Lord, you could be King.’

Harold smiled at him warmly. ‘Most people think that I want the throne, but I’m a soldier, not a king. Edward says the days of warrior kings will soon be over, that there are far more important things for a king to do than rampage across the country fighting battles.’

‘I’m not sure, my Lord. The Duke of Normandy is a warrior; he fights his own battles and rules his domain as firmly as any in Europe.’

‘The King says men like the Duke of Normandy and Harald Hardrada are a dying breed; that England must be ready to change from its ancient customs and practices and become a land with an ordered system of government like the empires of Europe.’

‘Perhaps, but I still believe you could guide England’s future just as forcefully as William.’

‘The King doesn’t think I have a good enough claim. Although my Anglo-Saxon pedigree is noble, I have no claim to the Cerdician line of Edward’s family; that honour rests with Edgar the Atheling. Both the Duke and Hardrada have blood much closer to the King’s.’