My chief preoccupation was raising a Christian army in Britain to reinforce our regular troops, and Bishop Candless had come to Chester to report his progress. “The numbers are there,” he said, stretching comfortably in his chair. I saw that he now wore beautifully-tooled soft leather boots under his cowled habit of fine wool. His hands were soft, I noted when we greeted each other, and the modest silver tau-rho cross he used to wear around his neck had been replaced with a substantial-looking gold one. The bishop seemed to be prospering. “The faithful have interest in seeing their oppressors defeated, and I think we can raise a substantial fyrd for this holy crusade.” The fyrd, I knew was a British term that had meant ‘journey’ but was used now to describe an army of freemen. It was usually raised for specific defensive purposes, but could be called upon to reinforce the monarch’s standing army. “My problems are, respectfully, lord,”
