The Hoodsman - Killing Kings

By Skye Smith

Cover Flap

An English arrow ended the Viking Era when it killed King Harald of Norway at Stamford in 1066. That one arrow changed the history of all of the North Sea kingdoms, and a month later William the Conqueror began his twenty year reign of terror over England.

Thirty four years after the death of Harald, when the Conqueror's son, King William II, had turned into a worse king than even his father, the same man who loosed the arrow in Stamford decided that it was past time to loose another arrow and kill another king.

This is the first in a series of historical novels about that English bowman, and about the brotherhood of English archers that became the core of the resistance movement against the enslavement of the English by the psycho ruling class of Normandy. The Brotherhood, the Hood, the Hoodsmen.

About The Author

Skye Smith is my pen name. My ancestors were miners and shepherds near Castleton in the Peaks District of Derbyshire. I have been told by some readers that this series reminds them of Bernard Cornwell's historical novels, and have always been delighted by the comparison.

This is the first of my Hoodsman series of books, and you should it before reading any of the others. All of the books contain two timelines linked by characters and places. The "current" story is set in the era of King Henry I in the 1100's, while the longer "flashback" story is set in the era of King William I after 1066.
I have self-published twelve "The Hoodsman ..." books and they are:

1. Killing Kings
2. Hunting Kings
3. Frisians of the Fens
4. Saving Princesses
5. Blackstone Edge
6. Ely Wakes
7. Courtesans and Exiles
8. The Revolt of the Earls
9. Forest Law
10. Queens and Widows
11. Popes and Emperors
12. The Second Invasion

• Language: English
• Publisher: Skye Smith
• Release date: Jan 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781927699003

Book preview

The Hoodsman

Killing Kings

(Book One of the Series)

By Skye Smith

Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Skye Smith

All rights reserved including all rights of authorship.

Cover Illustration is a part of Death of William Rufus of England

By Alphonse de Neuville (1835-1885)

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Revision 4 . . . ISBN: 978-1-927699-00-3

Cover Flap

An English arrow ended the Viking Era when it killed King Harald of Norway at Stamford in 1066. That one arrow changed the history of all of the North Sea kingdoms, and a month later William the Conqueror began his twenty-year reign of terror over England.

Thirty-four years after the death of Harald, when the Conqueror's son, King William II, had turned into a worse king than even his father, the same man who loosed the arrow in Stamford decided that it was past time to loose another arrow and kill another king.

This is the first in a series of historical novels about that English bowman, and about the brotherhood of English archers that became the core of the resistance movement against the enslavement of the English by the psycho ruling class of Normandy. The Brotherhood, the Hood, the Hoodsmen.

* * * * *

* * * * *

THE HOODSMAN - Killing Kings by Skye Smith

About The Author

Skye Smith is my pen name. My ancestors were miners and shepherds near Castleton in the Peaks District of Derbyshire. I have been told by some readers that this series reminds them of Bernard Cornwell’s historical novels, and have always been delighted by the comparison.

This is the first of my Hoodsman series of books, and you should read it before reading any of the other books. All of the books contain two timelines linked by characters and places. The current story is set in the era of King Henry I in the 1100’s, while the longer flashback story is set in the era of King William I after 1066.

I have self-published twelve The Hoodsman ... books and they are:

# - SubTitle

. . . . . . . . . . . . William I Timeline

. . . . . . . . . . . . Henry I Timeline

1. Killing Kings

. . . . . . . . . . . . 1066 killing King Harald of Norway (Battle of Stamford Bridge)

. . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 killing King William II of England. Henry claims the throne.

2. Hunting Kings

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066 hunting the Conqueror (Battle of Hastings Road)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 hunting Henry I (Coronation Charter)

3. Frisians of the Fens

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067/68 rebellions. Edgar Aetheling flees north with Margaret.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 amnesty and peace. Henry recuits English bowmen.

4. Saving Princesses

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068/69 rebellions. Margaret weds Scotland (Battle of Durham)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100/01 Edith of Scotland weds Henry (Battle of Alton)

5. Blackstone Edge

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069/70 rebellions (The Harrowing of the North)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 peace while the economy is saved from the bankers

6. Ely Wakes

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070/71 Frisian rebellion (Battles of Ely and Cassel)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 Henry collects allies. Mary of Scotland weds Boulogne.

7. Courtesans and Exiles

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072/74 English lords flee abroad (Battle of Montreuil, Edgar surrenders)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 Henry collects allies (the Honor of Boulogne)

8. The Revolt of the Earls

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075/76 Earls revolt (Battles of Worchester and Fagaduna)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 Earls revolt (Battles of Arundel, Bridgnorth, Shropshire)

9. Forest Law

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076/79 fighting Normans in France (London Burned, Battle of Gerberoi)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103 fighting Normans in Cornwall (Battle of Tamara Sound)

10. Queens and Widows

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079/81 rebellions (Gateshead, Judith of Lens)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103 Edith made Regent (Force 5 Hurricane)

11. Popes and Emperors

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081 Normans slaughter English exiles (Battle of Dyrrhachium)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104 Henry visits Normandy (Duchy run by warlords)

12. The Second Invasion

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082/85 power vacuum, peaceful anarchy (Regent Odo arrested enroute to Rome)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085/87 Re-invasion and Harrowing of all England (Battle of Mantes, Conqueror dies)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104/05 Henry invades Normandy twice (Battle of Tinchebray)

* * * * *

* * * * *

THE HOODSMAN - Killing Kings by Skye Smith

Prologue

This historical novel is as historically accurate as I could make it. I have even used the old names for towns, so for instance Burna rather than Bourne, Scafeld rather than Sheffield.

I did, however, convert the dates to our modern calendar to save the reader the confusion of January being the tenth month of the old year rather than the first month of the new year.

I have also corrected a few popular misconceptions about that period of history. For instance, William I did not conquer the Anglo-Saxons in 1066, he conquered the Anglo-Danes. The Anglo-Saxons were conquered in 1015 by the Danish King Knut the Great.

Knut created a North Sea Empire, with England as the jewel in the crown. During Knut's reign, all of the noble families of England became Anglo-Danish, either by direct replacement or through intermarriage.

By 1066 Anglo-Danes comprised not only all of the nobility and most of the land lords, but also most of the warrior class, and over half of the general population of England. York was the second largest Danish city in the world, after London.

Another misconception is that Harald of Norway was a bestial Viking. Before returning to Norway to become king, Harald had lived well in Constantinople and had commanded Byzantine armies. He was wealthy from the Baltic/Black Sea trade routes along the rivers controlled by his allies, the Kiev Rus.

William's Conquest of the Anglo-Danes may have begun in 1066, but it took him ten years of ceaseless genocide against the Anglo-Danes to eventually conquer them. By that time the Normans had killed off well over half the population of Anglo-Danes. Do the math; a genocide of well over a quarter of the population of England. In Danish Northumbria they made a desert and called it peace.

Normandy's culture was akin to a military dictatorship. England's culture was akin to a democracy with the rule of law. To put this in perspective, think about the changes in English life that would have happened had Nazi Germany successfully invaded and conquered England.

The most widespread misconception is that Robin Hood and his Merry Men lived in the time of King Richard and King John. That misconception is due to the borrowing and the sanitizing of earlier legends and stories by the romantic writers of the Tudor era. The original legends would have been based on the adventures of men like Hereward the Wake and the other Anglo-Danes who resisted William's conquest.

Another misconception is that the Normans brought Christianity to England. Not so. England had long had Orthodox Christians that believed in the true Church in Constantinople, and also Romanized Christians who believed in the excommunicated breakaway sect in Rome. The Normans favoured the Romanized sect, because the Pope in Rome would sell them forgiveness for the genocide of Orthodox Christians and of non-Christians.

The Caliphate of Al-Andalus is mentioned in this novel. This was a Moorish Muslim kingdom in what is now Spain. Cordoba was the second largest, second wealthiest, and second most advanced city in Europe after Constantinople.

This novel mentions the hairy star or star of Bethlehem. 1066/67 had one of closest passings of Hailey’s Comet ever recorded. It was in the sky for months, and passed closest to the sun in March of 1066. This date is another misconception, because on our modern calendar this would be March of 1067. Whatever the date, it was taken as a good omen by many would-be emperors, and triggered all sorts of invasions.

The most important one was not the invasion of England, but the invasion of the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire by the Seljuk Turks. This eventually led to the Crusades, and the picking to pieces of the Byzantine Empire, and Constantinople, and the true Christian Church; first by the Muslims, and then more insidiously, by the Romanized sect of Christianity.

Hardships in the Byzantine Empire hurried the spread of those Greeks' knowledge outward from Constantinople to all of the other kingdoms of Europe. This included their knowledge of luxury goods, health care, banking, building, geography, navigation, and warfare. Greek was the language of knowledge and history. Latin was the language that the Romanized sect had the Greek knowledge translated into, so that they could censor the knowledge.

* * * * *

* * * * *

THE HOODSMAN - Killing Kings by Skye Smith

Table of Contents

Title Page

Cover Flap

About the Author

Prologue

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Hunting in Ytene (New) Forest, Hampshire in August 1100

Chapter 2 - Healers of the Glade, Peaks Arse, Derbyshire in 1058

Chapter 3 - Killing a King, Ytene (New) Forest in August 1100

Chapter 4 - Lovers in Hathersage, Derbyshire in June 1064

Chapter 5 - Death of a Lamb, Peaks Arse in June 1064

Chapter 6 - Lamb's Revenge, Scafeld, S.Yorkshire in June 1064

Chapter 7 - Mourning Rufus, Ytene Forest, Hampshire in August 1100

Chapter 8 - Getting Away With It, Ytene (New) Forest in August 1100

Chapter 9 - Lovers Again, Hathersage in July 1064

Chapter 10 - Safe with Old Friends, Winchester in August 1100

Chapter 11 - Searching for Carts, Yorkshire in September 1066

Chapter 12 - Rejoicing in Winchester, Hampshire in August 1100

Chapter 13 - Mill on the River Ouse, Yorkshire in September 1066

Chapter 14 - John Returns to Winchester in August 1100

Chapter 15 - Hereward of Burna, The River Ouse in September 1066

Chapter 16 - Walking to the Coronation, Winchester in August 1100

Chapter 17 - Meeting a King, Tatecastre, Yorkshire in September 1066

Chapter 18 - Walking to a Coronation, Basingestoches in August 1100

Chapter 19 - Scouting Near Stamford, Yorkshire in September 1066

Chapter 20 - The Battle for Stamford Bridge, in September 1066

Chapter 21 - Killing a King, Stamford, Yorkshire in September 1066

Chapter 22 - Riding to Guildford, in August 1100

Chapter 23 - Riding to the Travelers Domus, London in August 1100

* * * * *

* * * * *

THE HOODSMAN - Killing Kings by Skye Smith

Chapter 1 - Hunting in Ytene (New) Forest, Hampshire in August 1100

Raynar was too old for this. His scrambling climb up Bramshaw Oak was slower each time he made it.

For three days he had slept in the cover of this tree and watched out from the great boughs of this ancient giant. The giant was on the top of Bramshaw ridge, which was low, but had an all around view. The view was especially good south towards the winding stream that began as a spring at the foot of the ridge. The fresh spring water was why the original village had been built here, and why the village had been cleared away and replaced by the royal hunting lodge that he was watching.

The lodge was squat, the size of a village church but without a tower. It was post-and-beam filled with wattle and plaster, but with a slate roof. The kitchen fires were alive and smoking under another open slate roof twenty paces from the lodge. The defensive earthwork ring surrounding the lodge was probably as ancient as the original village had been. It had space enough within it for the lodge and outbuildings, plus a dozen large tents, so at one time the village would have been quite large. Now the ring was almost empty save for a few horses being groomed and a few small tents. Tents fit for grooms, not for courtiers.

The stream ran through a tunnel at each end of the earthen ring wall, but after such a dry summer it was now a dry bed. A groom was kept busy hauling buckets of water from the central well to the horses.

The increasing sounds of dogs meant the first hunting party was readying to ride. On the first morning, there had been but a single hunting party of a half-dozen men. Too many men for Raynar's purposes. Yesterday they had split into two different parties, each riding in a different direction. Unfortunately, he had followed the first party, the wrong one. These Norman hunting trips seemed to be just an excuse to get away from the complexity of castle life and women, and stay drunk, and exercise the coursers.

They obviously didn't need the meat from the hunt, because all deer within a Roman mile would be leaping away from all this noise and man scent. These ruling Normans were not stealthy huntsmen in soft shoes, clothed in verderer's green, keeping to cover while tracking their prey. These men stomped through life in riding boots, dressed in bold colors, and astride heavy horses. Their voices were loud with the insistence of those used to bellowing orders at their serfs. They hunted the same way they made war. They charged at full voice.

Over the days, Raynar had marked the look of each man and could now recognize the members of the parties even from this distance. The party leaving now was with Henry. Henry was always the keen hunter, leaving before the verderers and their lymers returned from their dawn scouting. It must be that Henry did not join the evening drinking bouts for he rose early and did not wait around for the rowdy assembly of the rest of the hunters. Raynar had no interest in Henry.

It would be another hour at least before his brother William stumbled into the sunshine. Raynar chewed on some of the roots and berries he collected yesterday afternoon. The strips of smoked rabbit were finished, as were the hard-boiled eggs. His aleskin was empty. He watched the August sun climb in the north east. He was feeling warmer now and he loosened his mud-colored homespun cloak. By the fates, it must be today, he whispered to himself, but I must be patient.

Two verderers arrived back at the lodge and in minutes were gone again, trotting eastward with four dogs. Enough dogs for only one relay, so the game they had found was not far away. Raynar had hoped for the east. This ridge ran almost east and not only did it have a fast path along its spine, but that same path had a view.

What a colossal waste of effort royal hunts were. The verderers were expert bowmen. They could have brought down the game and carried it to the lodge in less time than it took 'those born to the manor' to get dressed, fed and mounted. Raynar leaned out from the bough and had a long piss.

The sun felt good on him while he leaned out, but he cursed his own foolishness for breaking cover. He had lived outdoors, lived rough, for most of his youth, and was as good a tracker and huntsman as any of the verderers below, but he was out of the habit. Too much soft living. Too many years of cultured comfort. Too many years of having the coin to sleep in a bed and under a roof.

Slowly he pulled back into the dense foliage and adjusted his legs so he could put his back against the giant's trunk. His right kidney complained and he rubbed at it with his hands. The warmth of the rub felt good, so he reached for a rawhide cord that hung around his neck and pulled the quartz crystal pendant over his bushy blonde-going-to-silver hair.

After loosening the homespun tunic and pulling it up so his back was bare, he held the crystal butted in his right palm and pressed the crystal's iron cage against the skin over the kidney. Now he must channel the warm healing touch from his hand through the crystal and into his back. Focus the warmth, but not think of it. Think of something else so he would not think about the crystal.

With his eyes closed he thought pleasant thoughts, thoughts of the wooded glade where he had grown up, and of the women who had given him this crystal so many years ago in the mining valleys of Derbyshire. How old was he then? Maybe ten, but a tall ten compared to most of the miners and their families. They were Welsh and of the old blood. Small, dark and wiry.

The women were Welsh. Gwyn was his age. Ahh, Gwyn. Gwyn the healer. He felt the warmth from the crystal grow stronger. And her mother, also a Welsh healer and seer. What was her name? It was on the tip of his tongue, but his aging male memory failed him. Both mother and daughter had been lithe and handsome and quick-witted.

* * * * *

* * * * *

THE HOODSMAN - Killing Kings by Skye Smith

Chapter 2 - Healers of the Glade, Peaks Arse, Derbyshire in 1058

It was raining, as usual, and everyone who had stopped at the porter's resting glade was hiding from it under the rough thatched roofs. Good, the men wouldn't see him carrying water. Carrying water was women's work. Young Raynar pushed the hide door flap out of his way and got out of the rain himself. While his eyes adjusted to the dim, Gwyn took the pot of steaming water from him and flashed him a white smile of thanks.

The man lying on the pallet was speaking Welsh to the healer woman, Gwyn's mother, and though Raynar understood much Welsh, this man was speaking too quickly for him to understand. The man was a cave miner, and his foot was paining him so much that he could not earn his bread. The healer was poking, prodding, and kneading his foot as she asked him questions. Your feet are growing mushrooms, she eventually told him. You should have come sooner, before they were painful. I can heal you, but you must not walk for three days, maybe five.

I will starve. My family will starve. The miner had a wild look, the look of a panicked animal.

Not while you are here at the porter's glade, the healer said. The brotherhood of miners will provide for your family while you recover.

I did not join the brotherhood, he sobbed. The leaders are not of my clan.

Fool, she replied with a wave of her hand to confuse any of the fates that may be listening, the hood is for all who have the risks of mining in common. This lad's father, you know him, the man with the twisted back, he will take your oath. There are enough miners in the men's shelter to witness it.

She turned to the tall fair boy. Raynar, wash his feet, both feet, with the hot water and that lye soap, and don't be gentle even if he kicks you. When they are clean, I will start the healing.

The healer saw the boy's eyes go wide as he looked at the disgusting oozing sores on the foot. She grabbed him by the hand to stop him from fleeing. Softly, calmly, she breathed in and then raised his hand by the wrist up to her neck, and hovered it near the soft skin under her chin. You have the touch, she told him and looked around for her daughter. Gwyn, did you know that Raynar had the touch?

Gwyn blushed and looked at the rushes on the floor, Not for sure, but I suspected. I was going to tell you but I thought his sister would have by now.

Boy, the healer told him, get busy and wash those feet while Gwen and I prepare the salve. Gwyn, the poultice must draw the weeping, and poison the mushrooms. We will need the hot spring salts.

He was kicked a handful of times by the miner, but he ignored the howls of pain and the abuse and persisted until the feet were clean. After he had dumped the fouled washing water, he came back to watch the healing. First the healer took a crystal pendant from around her neck and spent a long time hovering it above the sores. When he asked what she was doing, three voices shushed him.

The miner fell into a deep sleep while the crystal was being hovered, and stayed asleep while the mother and daughter spread a freshly prepared salve over every inch of both feet, especially between the toes, and then wrapped them both in clean rags.

Why do both? he asked. Only his left foot had sores.

You who cleaned the feet ask that? replied Gwyn. Did you not see the scaled skin on the right foot. The mushrooms are growing on it too but he hadn't scratched it raw yet. She scrunched her nose at him as if his foolishness smelled of farts.

Shhh, her mother scolded in a whisper. Let a sleeping man lay. It's the only time they aren't causing more work for women. The healer grinned, and then again took Raynar's hand and held it near to her neck.

Raynar looked on in wonder and then in shock as the woman dropped the homespun from her shoulder and exposed a breast and then hovered his hand over the nipple. The nipple blushed and grew larger.

Your mother died just before we came here, so I did not know her. She was a healer, yes? Was she Welsh?

Oh no, replied Raynar. She looked like my sister Leola. Tall and slim and fair. She was a flatlander, not from the Peaks. But yes, she was a healer. The first healer in this glade. It was she who convinced my father that the spring that runs here would help injured miners to heal. She died in labour over two years ago.

Ah, the healer's curse. It's hardest to heal yourself. Most unusual that an injured miner outlives his wife. I suppose that's why this glade is overfull with widows this year. It has been a bad year in the mines.

He always tells Leola that he swore to mother that he would see her well married, replied Raynar still staring at the naked breast. He pushed his hand forward and squeezed it, and got cuffed across the back of his head for his rudeness.

Be careful of this one, Gwyn, the healer chuckled, a man with 'the touch' is a danger to all virgins.

Mother, blushed Gwyn. When she blushed, not only her cheeks got rosy, but also the tips of her ears. Some of the men called her a charmed fairy because she was quick with an impish grin. She resented being so small and light. Leola was a head taller than her and two years younger.

Go and bring the biggest of the crystals, her mother said, "and a lace to