Conquest

Hereward knew the date, because he had used his precious gift from Rodrigo of Bivar to calculate it. He had made plans for a religious service, followed by the roasting of an ox, because 23 June was the feast day of St Etheldreda, the virgin martyr of Ely and patron saint of the Brotherhood. When William belatedly heard of the coincidence, his fury knew no bounds. He dismissed his seers, sending them back to Normandy bound hand and foot and dressed as harlequins complete with foolscaps. He stormed around his camp in a drunken rage, berating everyone in sight.

William ordered a new, much more substantial causeway, to be built. It would begin opposite Aldreth, on the southern tip of the island at the furthest point from the Burgh of Ely. Norman soldiers were despatched far and wide to round up hundreds of English peasants to provide the forced labour to construct it. The new structure would be much longer, almost a mile, and would be solid and permanent. It would be based on piles formed by stone gabions, topped by sheepskins of sand and covered by heavy timbers of elm and oak.

Protected by towers and sentry posts and wide enough for cavalry six abreast, it would form an important part of the fortifications being built all over England to ensure that the kingdom remained under Norman rule for generations to come.

William would not repeat his earlier mistakes.

As July and August came and went, Hereward watched the new causeway grow. He knew that he needed to buy some extra time, to allow winter to come to the aid of the Brotherhood.

He organized raiding parties, large and small, all of which he led himself, to harass the Normans. Using small boats along the hidden waterways and streams of the Fens, he ambushed Norman patrols, burned their supplies and scattered their horses and livestock. On one of these punitive raids, Edwin, Earl of Mercia, was caught trying to cross a mere by a troop of Norman cavalry and cut down. His body was later recovered and, presided over by Bishop Aethelwine, he was given a funeral befitting an earl of England. His death meant that Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, became the last English earl not under the heel of the Normans.

In the middle of September, Hereward returned to Ely from a three-day raid on one of William’s supply camps on the road to Cambridge, to face disturbing news.

Bishop Aethelwine, Siward Bjorn, Earl Morcar and Martin Lightfoot came to see him with a report that, although morale remained high, Abbot Thurstan’s monks had been fomenting dissent within the Brotherhood. Earl Morcar had discovered that Thurstan was sending messages to William and that a deal had been done between them for the end of the siege.

In return for encouraging opposition within Ely, William would grant significant new lands to Thurstan and endow Ely Abbey with a considerable sum from his treasury at Winchester. Several monks were very tempted by this and, with Thurstan’s encouragement, had started a whispering campaign to spread doubt through the ranks. The monks were also talking seditiously to the townspeople, some of whom, especially the wealthier ones, had no real sympathy for the Brotherhood’s cause and would much prefer to trade with the wealthy Normans.

Hereward gave swift instructions to convene a court of fifty randomly-selected members of the Brotherhood in the cloisters of the abbey. Thurstan was summoned to appear before it. Earl Morcar presided and conducted an elaborate trial with witnesses and formal statements.

Thurstan spoke eloquently in his own defence, arguing that the ‘messages’ in question had all come from William and that none had gone the other way. He also claimed that it was the duty of monks to listen to all God’s children, to hear their concerns and to offer advice; that was all his clerics had been doing. Where previously there seemed to be certainty about his guilt, Thurstan’s clever arguments and subtle oratory were creating a sense of doubt within the court.

Then, a young monk, one of Thurstan’s men, rose from the back of the cloisters. ‘My Lord…’

The entire court turned to see where the faint voice came from.

The boy breathed deeply and spoke more loudly, trying to suppress his nervousness. ‘… Abbot Thurstan has been plotting for many weeks to undermine the Brotherhood and reach a settlement with the King for the future of the abbey. He cares nothing for our Oath and thinks only of himself.’ The boy sat down, relieved to have found the courage to speak, but still fearful of the consequences of his words.

Earl Morcar addressed him directly. ‘What is your name, young monk?’

‘Rahere, my Lord.’

‘Thank you, Rahere. Thank you for your faith in the Brotherhood.’

Thurstan seethed with anger at Rahere’s denunciation. He sat and rocked like a child, his face contorted in rage. ‘The boy lies! How dare he impune my name!’