such builders?' I interrupted him.
'In the towns,' he said, 'there you would find them.'
'Then go to the towns,' I said. 'Bid them take work here. Are there not quarries among the cliffs where stone can be found?'
At that, he did laugh, a sharp, short sound, as if mocking at himself. 'Aye,' he said, 'there are quarries here no doubt, although overgrown. We have not had need of stone at Sieux these many years. And masons in the town, also no doubt, who, if they will spare the time from their chapel building, could build a castle for me here. But you did not heed me. There are men to do it, but they must be paid.'
'Paid?' I said, the idea new to me. 'How paid?'
'With coin,' he said almost impatiently, 'gold or silver, they care not which. They are townfolk,' he said, as if that said it all. When still I did not understand, he added, 'Men who have their own laws and customs, who live outside the feudal ones. They need no overlord to act for them; they have their own guilds to protect them and select a master to speak for them. And they hire themselves out for pay, having no duties else, no overlord. To "bid" them come here as you suggest, to order it, stands outside possibility. Even if I brought them here as prisoners, I could not get them to work. And to hire them . . . have you forgot how little I have left?'
At that, I was silent in my turn. I had know of it, of course, have I not just said he had been beggared by these wars. But knowing does not always mean understanding. I had come from a small fief, but even I had felt the lack of revenues when Cambray had been captured early on.
I tried to remember how the accounts of Cambray were kept. Dylan, the seneschal, would have them in his charge. Upon a certain day in the autumn months, at his command, a man who could read and number would unroll the great scroll where the records were kept, would read out each serf's name, have him pay his dues, work and goods in return for protection. That is the feudal law, the feudal way. So many sacks of grain, of flour already milled, so many heads of sheep or cattle, so many hours of work in field or barn or castle guard, in return for a lord's watch and ward. But when peasants cannot work the fields, when the harvest is not planted or reaped, when the cattle is lost or stolen, what revenues should a lord get? The wars that had stripped my little estate of all its wealth had stripped Sedgemont likewise. Moreover, Raoul had freed many of his men at Sedgemont. Knowing that Henry would brand him as traitor, he had wished to spare his men the same fate. It must rub deeply that he could not have spared his men at Sieux. But, in any case, most of his wordly goods had gone to provide for those who would have been destitute without him. The rest Henry had taken or had demanded as relief or tax when he had restored Raoul to his lands and given him title of earl. A relief unfairly levied, the tax having been paid already when Raoul had first inherited upon his grandfather's death.
‘How little I have left,' he said. I had not really known what that meant. I was used to so little myself, I had not thought that a lord might feel the need so keenly. What lord, however low, who does not carry his purse openly to scatter alms to the poor? What lord, however low, who does not like to ride out with his men well equipped, his horses sound and matching, his armor blazing with his colors? Some lords would squeeze more from the peasant; force their payments, but Raoul was not the man, nor I the woman, to steal more than our rightful share. And, I thought, my Norman ladies were at least right in this, and I the fool not to have minded for him, that we rode out like out-casts and lodged like paupers. And I thought as well, but even so, there must be some way.
Perhaps he was thinking it, too. For at last he said slowly. There is one hope.'
He turned toward me on his sound side. The moor caught his eyes again, how they gleamed,
'In the towns,' he said, 'there you would find them.'
'Then go to the towns,' I said. 'Bid them take work here. Are there not quarries among the cliffs where stone can be found?'
At that, he did laugh, a sharp, short sound, as if mocking at himself. 'Aye,' he said, 'there are quarries here no doubt, although overgrown. We have not had need of stone at Sieux these many years. And masons in the town, also no doubt, who, if they will spare the time from their chapel building, could build a castle for me here. But you did not heed me. There are men to do it, but they must be paid.'
'Paid?' I said, the idea new to me. 'How paid?'
'With coin,' he said almost impatiently, 'gold or silver, they care not which. They are townfolk,' he said, as if that said it all. When still I did not understand, he added, 'Men who have their own laws and customs, who live outside the feudal ones. They need no overlord to act for them; they have their own guilds to protect them and select a master to speak for them. And they hire themselves out for pay, having no duties else, no overlord. To "bid" them come here as you suggest, to order it, stands outside possibility. Even if I brought them here as prisoners, I could not get them to work. And to hire them . . . have you forgot how little I have left?'
At that, I was silent in my turn. I had know of it, of course, have I not just said he had been beggared by these wars. But knowing does not always mean understanding. I had come from a small fief, but even I had felt the lack of revenues when Cambray had been captured early on.
I tried to remember how the accounts of Cambray were kept. Dylan, the seneschal, would have them in his charge. Upon a certain day in the autumn months, at his command, a man who could read and number would unroll the great scroll where the records were kept, would read out each serf's name, have him pay his dues, work and goods in return for protection. That is the feudal law, the feudal way. So many sacks of grain, of flour already milled, so many heads of sheep or cattle, so many hours of work in field or barn or castle guard, in return for a lord's watch and ward. But when peasants cannot work the fields, when the harvest is not planted or reaped, when the cattle is lost or stolen, what revenues should a lord get? The wars that had stripped my little estate of all its wealth had stripped Sedgemont likewise. Moreover, Raoul had freed many of his men at Sedgemont. Knowing that Henry would brand him as traitor, he had wished to spare his men the same fate. It must rub deeply that he could not have spared his men at Sieux. But, in any case, most of his wordly goods had gone to provide for those who would have been destitute without him. The rest Henry had taken or had demanded as relief or tax when he had restored Raoul to his lands and given him title of earl. A relief unfairly levied, the tax having been paid already when Raoul had first inherited upon his grandfather's death.
‘How little I have left,' he said. I had not really known what that meant. I was used to so little myself, I had not thought that a lord might feel the need so keenly. What lord, however low, who does not carry his purse openly to scatter alms to the poor? What lord, however low, who does not like to ride out with his men well equipped, his horses sound and matching, his armor blazing with his colors? Some lords would squeeze more from the peasant; force their payments, but Raoul was not the man, nor I the woman, to steal more than our rightful share. And, I thought, my Norman ladies were at least right in this, and I the fool not to have minded for him, that we rode out like out-casts and lodged like paupers. And I thought as well, but even so, there must be some way.
Perhaps he was thinking it, too. For at last he said slowly. There is one hope.'
He turned toward me on his sound side. The moor caught his eyes again, how they gleamed,
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