Historical Setting, 631 C.E. the family farm in the Vosges
Greg is explaining a perspective of a world that can be laid out on a table as a sheet of velum, marked with strategies in doted lines. It has X’s for various peoples distinguishing one from another with color codes for possible enemies — “others.” He tells me the King is cautiously regarding the growing powers of the Wends who are Slavs. Then new concerns for the Avars here at our eastern boundary now that the Persian wars in the east are not roiling. Also, amid the rumors of wars are the intrusions by the Angles, and the Saxons. And who knows what others are waiting on the edge of the map to swoop down on the north winds in the dark of night and burn our houses and fields?
“What are you assigned to do about the dangers?” I ask him.
“While the Burgundian soldiers are off with all these horses and mules, Gaillard and I will be traveling east to the valley of the Rhine. An artisan, an armorer, sent a messenger with swords samples. This marketer told the King tales of a flood, as great as in the days of Noah, or maybe even as great as the flood Gilgamesh faced when floods covered the whole earth. And now the forty days and forty nights have passed or was it forty years, and people have gone into that place where the river runs into the sea to make a great trading center for all the soldiers of the world to come and buy their arms.” [Footnote]
The pack-load for soldiers is weighty when the byrnie for saving the soldier is added to the weight of weapons. A soldier wears that weighty byrnie made of links of chain to cover him nearly to the knees. That isn’t warm and wooly like a gambeson. Trimmings for the battle itself require a shield, a helmet, and a breastplate. To outfit an army, then send them on a long journey across all of Gaul requires the wealth of a king. And add to that the need to move an army from Burgundy to Iberia with so many horses and mules.
While the King’s men march into war to the south, Greg and Gaillard will go east on a covert mission to learn which kingdoms are purchasing arms. The cover for the spy mission is to purchase new swords. Greg and Gaillard are being sent to gather information for the King.
[Footnote] How could this blogger forfeit this moment seeking a truth? Among the Rhineland lowlands with flooding ending mid-7th Century, traces of metal works and trade with Mediterranean artifacts have been identified in this region. https//:www.Scientedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409x23411x Journal of Archeological Science: Reports Vol. 53, Feb. 2024 104236 (Retrieved, Feb. 7, 2024)
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 