William Priest Grand Thane

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William Priest My Disastrous Day.
By Sharphawlad

I am William Priest, Grand Thane and companion to Harold the Godless. This is a diary of what has befallen me and my companions the last few days.

Today Harold the Godless has received notification that his brother Tostig has sided with Harold the Hard King of Denmark and they have taken the Northern capitol of Yorvik. Harold has called for all his housecarls. We are to march to Yorvik and meet the invaders.

Our resident witch threw the bones and said, "The day will go well for Harold." Which Harold did she mean? Well, we are all off, for better or worse. We are gathering more men as we march North. They come flocking to the Dragon standard of Wessex.

We got to Yorvik to find the streets running with blood. All the inhabitants had been slaughtered on Tostig's orders for resisting the invasion. Eventually we found a woman who was dying. She pointed the way the invaders had gone. There was nothing we could do for her but say a prayer for her soul. Harold decided we would march through the night.

We soon saw the trail of devastation and destruction. Dead bodies, being attacked by carrion crows and dogs, marked the way. We could smell their fires, and hear their drunken celebrations long before we set eyes on our enemies. By the time we met up with them the men were sickened with what they had seen. They decided no quarter would be given to the invaders. No we were not going to leave a single Viking alive that day. We flew the black flag so the Vikings knew unless they left immediately they would receive no quarter.

We decided to camp on top of the hill overlooking the Viking camp. Our Housecarls were up early in the morning, refreshed and ready for battle. Our foes had been drinking and celebrating. They were not prepared for us when we appeared. This did not stop the Vikings putting up a good fight.

Eventually we won the day and were about to celebrate. When the worst news possible reached us. William the Bastard had landed near Senlac. We gathered the spoils of war and buried our dead in a great pit. We have lost over half of our main fighting force. The Vikings we left them where they fell. We had not time to bury them after we got the call of the Norman’s landing. Once again we were marching to do battle.

Back down South now with a greatly depleted force we went. Our men were hopeful but they also knew William the Bastard has a legitimate claim on the throne, unlike Harold the Godless. I feared some of our men would be changing sides, yes or slink back off home. Just as I feared some of the men said they where too injured to fight another battle. Never the less, we still have a larger fighting force William the Bastard would not be like Tostig & Harold. He would have priests and would ban all drinking, until the battle is over. He likes his men to have clear heads.

Even Harold was concerned and asked me to go and take the Anglo Saxon Princess to a safe place. I took her to the Isle of Ely and placed her in the care of the Abbot.
We carefully took the path across the fens few men know. I doubt that William will ever try to cross the fens. It always proved fatal to man and beast if they did not cross at the correct place. They would find a watery grave instead.

The Abbot has assured me the Princess was quite safe and the Princess was placed in his care. I left three of the housecarls to act as her guardians. For William to take Ely would need a traitor. Hereward would be in charge of the housecarls.

We returned to fight alongside Harold only to find the English Army had been totally wiped out. There was a great pile of English bodies & we presumed Harold had gone down fighting the Normans’. William was celebrating winning the battle although he still had not confirmed Harold was dead.

He recognised me and said, "I see you did not fight with your master."

I replied, "I did not because you have a legitimate claim to the throne as the Confessors nephew. I fought with Harold the Godless against the Vikings but I will not go against the Lords appointed." I could not tell him I had been busy hiding a Saxon Princess.

William said, “As you did not fight against me you shall also be my Thane."
"King William as I knew many of the slain Saxon nobles may I make arrangements to send their bodies back to their families?"

The Bishop of Rouen advised, "Sire it would be the Christian thing to do." "Who better than a Saxon Thane to return them to their loved ones."

William the Bastard said, "You may return the bodies but I would like to see that of Harold. Even in death he will be granted the rituals of a King.

The English warriors we buried in a great pit as we had done at Yorvik. The Earls and Thanes we sent to their families for burial. Among those still alive we found Harold with an arrow in his head. I stripped him of his clothes and placed those of a Thane on him.

My friend I am getting you out of here. Your army is vanquished & all I can do is save you now. Perhaps we might once again raise an army against the Norman invaders.

He touched my arm and said, “No William is the chosen one.”

I spirited Harold away to Ely; there he would be well protected. I found the Dragon standard of England and was spotted by one of the Norman's. I said, “I was just going to take this to William it is the English Standard. Look I have found the King with an arrow in his eye.

The unknown English Thane's face was smashed beyond recognition but he certainly wore the raiment of the king. The noble ran to William and said, "He has identified the King." William looked at me and said, "You have served me well. As I promised this King shall be buried in London."

My friends said, "We know that was not Harold the Godless. But it is better all believed he died in the battle.

William said, "Tell me what you desire and it shall be yours?"

"Sire I tire of all this fighting and had been thinking of taking Holy orders. If it is your desire I would like to be made Bishop of Ely."

"You have given me a kingdom so the least I can do is give you the Bishopric of Ely as you requested."

Was I a traitor to England? I took the Bishopric of Ely and kept out of the way. I did have a lot of chats with my Half Blind companion who joined me in Ely. William often visited us in Ely and eventually insisted I married the young lady who lived near by. I could not deny the King could I?

As for the real Harold he is now known as the good. He often has talks with William who knows full well who he is but the population believes Harold died at Hastings on that fateful day, it certainly changed English history forever.

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Comments

Interesting take on English

Interesting take on English Royal history. And as they say "the rest is history."

Who knows?

Podracer's picture

It could have been so. I had a poke around the Fens last year, and Ely's museum.

"Reach for the sun."