Mary's
Altar, were but rebels, and that the monks who had blessed them
were schismatics.
Hence the Normans in their hour of victory had cleared out laymen
and monks alike, root and branch, and the French tongue had
superseded the good old Anglo-Saxon dialect in the district.
It was a fine May evening, and the country was lovely in the
foliage of early summer.
A boat was descending the Isis, rowed by six stout rowers; it was
evidently from Oxenford, for the men bore the badges of Robert
D'Oyly, the Norman lord of that city, who had just built the tower
which yet stands, gray and old, beside the mound raised on Isis
banks by Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, daughter of the great Alfred,
and sister of Edward the Elder.
In the stern of the boat sat Etienne de Malville.
He had journeyed first to Warwick, where he met the fugitives from
Aescendune, and heard their story; burning with revenge, he had
sought the aid of Henry de Beauchamp, the Norman governor of the
city; but that worthy, seeing the whole countryside in rebellion,
bade Etienne repair to the king for further aid, while he himself
shut his gates, provisioned his castle, and promised to hold out
against the whole force of the Midlands, until the royal banner
came to scatter the rebels, like chaff before the winds.
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