Transcript
Welcome to Newsam. I, Hugues de Montbard, am preceptor here. The estate serves the Order — everything we produce, the wool especially, funds the brothers in Outremer and the protection of pilgrims on the roads to Jerusalem. That is the work. It was mine once, that escort duty. I spent fifteen years keeping convoys safe between Acre and the city.
The last time was escorting pilgrims back to Paris. Then I brought Luc here — through London, then Hirst. Nearly half a year on the road, all told. The road suited me. But this is where I am needed – this is the work now.
Now I keep sheep safe between here and the shearing barn. It is not really so different.
There are two of us brothers — myself and Jean – the Priest Brother. We had more, but they were needed elsewhere. Our squire, Luc, tends the horses and assists as he can. The estate itself is large — eight villages, over a thousand sheep, mills on the river, good grazing land. Wulfric, the reeve, manages the daily work. He has my trust. He knows this ground better than I ever will.
England is cold. Wet. Far from where the fighting is, where it matters. But the land is sound and the people here work well. The great barn — you’ll have seen it from the road — few manors have one that scale. The fulling mill, too – you won’t see many of those.
I miss certain things. The taste of meat spiced properly; cumin, coriander — they don’t grow here, and even if they did, Edwin wouldn’t know what to do with them. Small matters. A man adjusts.
The work here is plain. Prayer at the night office, at dawn. Walk the estate, meet with Wulfric, attend to what needs attending. The accounts, the messages, the disputes. Brother Jean and Luc speak Frankish like I, so we manage well enough between us. The rest I use my hands and Wulfric’s translation. It suffices.
Language
- Frankish – French
- Acre – port city in the Holy Land
- Outremer (‘owt-rey-mer’) – the crusader states in the middle east.
Jon Eland 