1091

YEAR 1091

Scribed by Petrus

Spring 1091 AD

The rain has turned much of thecompound into mud, and walking is quite treacherous. Fortunately up here inthe library I must suffer little, but pity the poor grogs who must stumblearound in the mire to carry out their duties. We Magi have duties to the covenantalso, but thankfully they do not require many of us to slop about in the rainlike mules. Idris is making his way back from his morning visit to the spring,he does not seem to mind the mud that much. From the library window I cansee Turold talking to our new blacksmith and casting an expert eye upon thefitting of the smithy. He has decided to spend his free time this year learningwhat he can from our smith, to improve his own skills. Our meeting this morningwas quite long, but our activities for this season were decided quickly enough.I shall extract Vim Vis for myself this season and next. I must make readyfor the preparation of my potion this Winter. Idris is packing up his thingsto go on an trek into Wales. The Welsh may be stirring in preparation foran uprising, and forewarned is forearmed. Ruaridh is attempting to inventa Muto Mentem spell, while Turold is reading up on the Perdo books.

The bulk of our meeting regardedthe recent visit by Vaesic's assistant. It appears that the old reeve, Baldwin,is dead, and Vaesic is his successor. However, there is apparently a problemwith our lease of the land, again. It appears that there is no record of ourcontract with Baldwin, and the land now belongs to the Church. We have decidedthat we will pay over the rest of the money for the land in a lump sum, andif the Archbishop gives us any cause for grief, that we shall declare whowe are and leave it to their wisdom not to meddle in our affairs. I must confessI lose patience with these mundanes. Perhaps it was a mistake to ever pretendthat we were not wizards, these men of ignorance seem constantly to pressour attention. We hear that Oswald, the Archbishop, has accepted our terms.But we have had to pay 200d in tax to further the King's campaign in Normandy.

Summer

This season we have called uponTurold to begin the first of two items that he will make for the covenantas service. He is to make a tabbard which will deflect the blow from a swordor axe, an item that will protect our Castellan. Ruaridh is to attempt theinvention of a Warding spell against spirits. Idris will be away from ourcovenant again, looking for a pagan priest to perform fertility rites overhis vulgar relationship. This sort of thing never happens at Blackthorn.

It appears that the Scots haveinvaded from the North and rumours hold that Robert and William, having settledtheir differences, come with a huge fleet to repulse King Malcolm. The Welsh,meanwhile, are stirring for battle, which Idris believes will be soon. Laterin the season we receive a demand from Gloucester to send one in five of ourmen to fortify Monmouth, or send 35d in the place of each man. It appearsthat the Earl has moved all of his men to counter a move from the Welsh tothe North. The King loses many ships at sea, but succeeds in stalling Malcolm'sadvance with land levies. The Welsh take Shewsbury and march upon Hereford.In a surprise move the Welsh also storm the castles of Monmouth, Chepstowand Goodrich. We find out from Thurstan afterwards that the Welsh seemed contentto besiege the castles while their main force moved upon Gloucester. At Mid-summerJohn, one of Ruaridh's spies still sheltering in the covenant after the assaultby diabolists, is transformed into a stoat. We must do something about thesefae. Lest we end up with a menagerie for an honour guard. To make mattersworse several of our Welsh grogs deserted to join the uprising.

Autumn

Though we are in the middle ofa war, the Welsh seem unwilling to harass us. Perhaps due to Idris's goodname among the peasant folk. I shall write up some of my spells as covenantservice, while Turold will complete another item, this time a sword whichcracks open metal armour. Ruaridh will study three pawns of Muto vis and Idriswill study the Vim book.

Much of this tale was not relatedto us until much later. The war continued with a feint from the Welsh. Bymarching north they appeared to be attempting to aid their comrades at Hereford.However, it was a trick to lure out the Norman army from Gloucester. Thinkinghe had found the rearguard of the Welsh levies, Earl Robert committed hisarmy to attack, hoping to catch the Welsh unawares. However, the Welsh longbowmenwere in wait just within the tree line, and as the Normans (mainly Saxon leviesin fact) approached they were cut down in droves. The battle was hard fought,but the Earl was defeated. Now the Welsh turned their attention to their trueaim; Gloucester itself. Not wishing for an extended siege at Gloucester, andthereby risk Hereford breaking through their siege and relieve the Earl, theWelsh press the attack. After a few days a section of the castle wall is broughtdown, and the troops move in. Archbishop Oswald leads a rally to break theWelsh at the walls, and he is cut down in the fray. Once the wall is downthe Welsh charge on mass. The Earl is seen fighting amongst the men on horseback,and for a moment the battle is in sway as the Welsh are broken by a chargeof the Earl's elite Housecarls. In that moment a longbow arrow strikes outfrom the Welsh battle line. The Earl is struck and he is carried back to thekeep. Without their leader to rally them the Normans are driven back. Gloucesterfell and many of the bodies of the vanquished Norman knights were hung uponthe Castle walls as trophies. How murderous the mundanes can be. With thecoming of Winter there will at least be a pause in the hostilities.

Winter

Ruaridh will study from Muto vis,while Idris furthers his experiments with Corporem. Turold has kindly agreedto aid me in the production of my Longevity potion. Next year I will returnthe favour and lend him a season of my aid. It was revealed to us at councilsomething of the extent of Idris' involvement in the conflict. After promptingby Ruaridh, Idris reveals that it was in fact he that fired the fateful arrowthat slew the Earl. This will cause few problems amongst the Welsh, but wouldcertainly bring the wrath of the Normans if they catch wind of it. Let ushope that these Welsh victories will last long enough for the rumours of theinvolvement of a Welsh war wizard from the Dean to subside.

Stassius pushed through to reachus with news. We heard that in the Autumn, William, the King of England, hadbeen slain in battle against the Scots. He left no heir, so his brother DukeRobert took command of the Armies and pushed the Scots back. He was latercrowned at Westminster and became the new King of England and Normandy. Heswears upon his coronation to make the Welsh pay in blood for their treacheryand decrees that, come the beginning, of spring that each Lord who is loyalto the crown should send 500d and levies. A report from Blywyddan revealsthat they too saw the Red Dragon flying shortly before the rebellion. Tyrianiareminded all magi in the tribunal that they are to avoid involvement in theconflicts of the mundanes, and promises that the Quaesitor will take a dimview of any magus who openly involves themselves. Tho' the comments were undoubtedlydirected mainly towards the Jerbiton, we wonder now whether any retributionwill come for Idris' role in the conflict. Finally the mine has finally becomedry. Throughout this year we have stockpiled as much as we can, so with luckwe can survive another year or so without a fresh source of money. Other thanthe war it has actually been a quiet year for us. Let us hope that it remainspeaceful in the future. We are yet to count the cost of Idris' actions. Lastbut not least; my Longevity potion was a resounding success. I have no doubtthat Turold's assistance was invaluable in this; with luck I shall not haveto concern myself with old age until I am considerably over a century old.