Chapter 1570 Reglaf at the Vienne River and the Convent of Kant

"Boss, the river mouth is ahead. Look, the beach over there!" A sharp-eyed soldier shouted while paddling.

Regraf approached the bow of the ship, held the wooden sculpture of the alien beast and looked to his left side.

Looking carefully at the situation ahead, there are a large number of yellow and white beaches.

"Okay, let everyone know now, we are starting to turn! Be careful, we are going to enter the Vienne River!"

The fleet is divided into three subsets, each subset is towed by a long boat dedicated to rowing, and the following boats are connected in series with ropes. The fleet will be stable and safe when sailing on calm lakes or offshore areas. Now they are quite stable drifting downstream along the Loire River.

However, it is almost impossible for such a fleet to turn at an acute angle.

The discovered beach became the perfect temporary gathering place for Reglaf's troops. He rushed to complete the turn, but found that the current swept the fleet as a whole. The fleet was like a python swimming in the river. The sudden big turn was accompanied by a "dragon swinging its tail", and the stern of the ship was swayed by a powerful horn. The momentum was thrown away.

Some of the small barges in the first team saw that the connecting ropes were broken. When the two teams followed, they simply stopped at the beach temporarily.

Fortunately, although the first team was unlucky, the small fleet broke up unexpectedly, and the materials transported by each ship were safe.

After they pulled the lost boats back one by one, everyone simply used this beach as a temporary camp, and everyone camped in this small estuary delta.

That night, a large bonfire was lit.

The firelight made the half-stranded ship shine brightly, and the soldiers clinging to the campfire were busy eating.

They unloaded the genuine Ross-forged iron pot from the ship, and paired it with the large pottery urn bought in Tours. Reglaf and his friends had relied on this to maintain their good health during field battles and travels in the past three years. of food.

The wheat still needs to be cooked for a while, and the warrior with a growling stomach is already chewing on the dried sea bass and the smelly cheese cubes.

However, what they ignored was that not far from the beach, a monastery was located on the banks of the Vienna River.

Including the beach where Regrave is temporarily staying, it already belongs to Shannon's territory.

The Abbey of Conde, an institution affiliated with the Cathedral of St. Martin of Tours, is also the summer residence where the Archbishop of Tours sometimes resides. Five hundred years ago, Saint Martin not only presided over the construction of the cathedral in Tours, but also presided over the construction of a number of monasteries in the area near Tours, one of which was the Convent of Conte.

Even all the monasteries and churches in the Shannon area can trace their origins to the legendary missionary Martin, who was awarded the title of Sainte for his merits.

Tours has a small parish in Shannon, which is subdivided under the parish of Shannon.

Nowadays, the County of Tours is very large. Before Robert inherited the legacy of little Hugo, Tours had already occupied everything in the County of Anjou. Now that Le Mans has been taken, half of the Neustria region is here. under the control of Tour.

By means of war, they annexed the county of Anjou and expelled the old count family. However, a large number of old Anjou vassals were killed in the war. Finally, Tours canceled the titles of a large group of orphans and widows, and the entire Anjou became The direct jurisdiction of the Count of Tours.

Anjou was further divided, and part of the territory was included in the Shannon area, so that everyone living there could only accept a new reality.

How will the new Shannon area boundaries be determined? The deceased King III of Tours asked the deceased old bishop what he meant, and the latter simply put forward a suggestion: south of Tours, all the monasteries built under the supervision of Saint Martin could be included in the small parish of Shannon.

Five hundred years ago, Saint Martin would find ways to build a monastery wherever he spread the gospel.

Based on this suggestion, the old earl assigned the southernmost point of Shannon to a monastery called Rowave.

Directly south of Ruwave Abbey is a large forest, and there is no road across the forest. Further south of the forest is the barony of Ludunesis, which already belongs to Aquitaine.

Shannon under the rule of Tours is on the southern border with Aquitaine. The deceased Hugo entrusted Reglaf here. The more he ponders the deeper meaning, the more headache he becomes.

The dense forest is the southern boundary between Shannon and Aquitaine. Its east line is the Avenue of Aquitaine and its west line is the Touai River, another tributary of the Loire.

The new Shannon has not enfeoffed any lower-level nobles since it was assigned to the region. Now Regrave takes over an area where only a number of monasteries take care of people's livelihood. When he comes, he is the only feudal lord in the area.

As for how the Earl of Tours family collected taxes in such an area in the past, it was nothing more than sending soldiers to various villages to ask for tribute. In the face of absolute force, ordinary farmers turned over all kinds of exorbitant taxes.

In this regard, the priests of various monasteries could only watch with regret as this group of cavalry marched wildly.

The local area is centered on the Saint-Maximin Church in Shannon and surrounded by the three main monasteries of Vienne, Conde, and Rowave. The church's hands are deeply involved in the secular life of the villagers. They are all under the remote control of Archbishop Tour, and they have also received information about Baron Shannon's upcoming appointment.

In Archbishop Vivian's letter, Reglaf's image was well described, but the abbots were also told to keep an eye on the Norman warriors brought by Reglaf.

Whether they are truly lost sheep or despicable pretenders, everything they do after arriving in Shannon will prove it.

Until then, monasteries must remain vigilant.

Guillaume Hart, the abbot of Kant, silently observed the bonfire in the distance. He was convinced that the Normans described in the letter had arrived.

No! It was Regrave, Baron of Shannon, who came with his Norman warriors.

The dean did exactly what his superiors asked him to do. He neither planned to send anyone to stand by the river to greet him, nor did he plan to remain on guard.

The daily mass activities continued, the nearby residents came to confess, the expedition Guillaume Hart continued to listen, everything was as usual.

The abbot stood by the river, observing the scene there in the darkness. Behind him was the ancient monastery with stone walls and wooden beams. The building was still immersed in the dark and cold night of early winter.

The bonfire crackled, and the wheat in the iron pot was finally cooked. Regraf lay on his side next to the fire, sipping wheat porridge with a wooden spoon while chatting with the old guys.

"I was wrong. I thought the fleet could turn directly into the Vienne River. Even the water in winter is really strong."

"It's not that we are carrying too many supplies. It's difficult to turn around if there are too many things. Fortunately, the supplies are safe." At this point, Old Eric asked again: "How about tomorrow? It is said that this is already Shannon."

"Oh? Are you planning to let me send people to go directly overland to find the Saint-Maximin Church?" Regraf asked leisurely.

"May be."

"No need. I heard that the small church is also on the riverside, and there is a castle that seems to have been abandoned for a long time."

"And the castle?" Old Eric's eyes lit up and he couldn't help pinching his braided beard: "Maybe we can rest the castle and the brothers can live in it directly."

"But it's abandoned."

"I'm afraid it won't be difficult to build again, but we just need to build more longhouses." Old Eric dealt with this problem in the same way as Ross. When it comes to building traditional wooden longhouses, the brothers have rich experience.

"So we were going to have a field trip, and in my opinion the best way to do it was to take a boat and pass by it. And! I had to give the villagers and priests of Shannon a little shock, so I decided to find the chapel of St. Maxime, and just Land near it. Let's go straight to the church. I want to have a good chat with the local dean in person."

"That's fine." Old Eric shrugged: "It's just that the daylight hours are limited. We have to re-plan the fleet arrangement early tomorrow morning, which will take some time."

"There's nothing wrong with wasting some time. After all, we have to re-form when we enter the Vienne River."

"That's right." Thinking of something, Old Eric laughed naively.

"Uncle, why are you laughing?"

"My king, my baron. You remind me of King Rus."

"Then think of me as my father. I will do what my father does, so I will succeed."

Regrave decided to copy his father's successful experience in Shannon. In his limited life experience, he took it for granted that his father's plan was the only truth.

The church was very sophisticated in local governance in the Shannon area and Regrave was interested in proactively working with them.

Because this is also part of his father Rurik's successful plan, or this approach is an old rule implemented by Ross in the tribal era-cooperating with the priests.

Just think of the priests as "high priests" and everything makes sense.

The next day, after wasting a lot of effort, the fleet continued to move forward.

Just like an assembled train, the long boat dedicated to rowing is the power locomotive, and the large and small cargo barges are the carriages, and they are completely connected to each other by cables. The barges were simply moved to the edge of the Vienna River to complete the series one by one. After a small fleet was assembled, the long boat at the head of the team began to paddle hard, leading the entire fleet to row against the current.

All the above operations are closely watched by the Kant Monastery not far away.

The dean, Guillaume Hart, still observed the situation silently and ordered the subordinate priests to write for him. He described what he saw and felt orally and planned to compile it into a file in the future.

After all, this was also the first time he saw the Normans and their longships, and he was surprised to see them using cables to assemble the fleet.

Regrave naturally also noticed the monastery on the other side of the river. Unfortunately, it did not know its goal. It was just one of the monasteries in the Shannon area. Its name was also clear to itself, Kant Monastery, a subordinate institution of Tours Cathedral.

However, a pair of eyes still glanced at the stone building on the right that could not be hidden by the riverside forest.

"Don't look at it, it's just Kant Abbey." Reglaf stayed in the first group and ordered his men: "Start paddling! Our goal is the town of Shannon, and we must arrive before night."

The soldiers roared fiercely, then twisted their waists vigorously, and continued to row while shouting rhythmic chants. The huge oar blades were like countless wings flying up and down the river. The entire row of boats began to squirm, and then rowed quickly.

This has never been the case! Even the Vienne has few boats moving on weekdays.

Because all the mountains, rivers and lakes in the Earl's direct jurisdiction belong to the Earl's family's private property, the free people living here cannot log or fish at will. Of course, these things can be done secretly, and if discovered, a severe fine will be imposed. Once the free people cannot pay the fine, the whole family will automatically become serfs of the earl family.

This is the reason why the locals guard the Vienne River but dare not openly fish, although the catch in this river is relatively limited.

No one fishes, and few boats pass by on the river. In addition, there is a solid Roman-era stone bridge upstream, which is part of the Roman Avenue. Its existence directly blocks ships. Even wooden rafts cannot pass through the series of small stone arches that stand on the river.

The rest of the road was smooth, and the river course even began to be conducive to the sails catching the north wind.

In order to save energy, Reglaf ordered the triangular sail to be raised. Even if a string of ships only has the only sail raised by the longship at the head of the team, it can save a lot of energy.

Guillaume Hart, who was still observing the situation, his eyes lit up, and he specifically told the ghostwriter: "Look, they have raised the strange sail. Please record this situation truthfully. Oops, the sail is actually triangular, and it was blown by the wind." Puffy, like toasted bread.”

Reglaf continued to move forward. As expected, due to the narrow channel, the entire fleet was forced to form a long snake formation. The three squadrons lined up in a row, advancing like giant water snakes.

There are many monasteries and churches on both sides of the Vienna River. The history of almost all monasteries can be traced back to the Roman Empire.

After the Edict of Milan was promulgated, the Catholic faith was openly spread throughout the empire, and a large number of fanatical missionaries took action, among which a large number of canonized people emerged.

Saint Martin, who single-handedly created the diocese of Tours, was a great figure. Saint Martin himself is buried under the cathedral he supervised. There is a tomb for him in the church cemetery in Tours (due to limited space, Subsequent priests could only bury the bones in a new cemetery outside the city).

Another ancient saint, "Saint Germain", is buried in the Shannon area under Tours, at least part of his remains.

German, who was born in the Auxerre region, was named after "Germanic", which was nothing in the era of the Roman Empire. The son of a Roman nobleman, he went to Rome to study law when he was young and became a famous lawyer for a while. He later served as governor of the provinces of Aquitaine and Lyon, and finally became the archbishop of Auxerre, and died in office.

After his death, he was buried in the cathedral of Auxerre. As time passed, his tomb had already been opened by later generations of fanatical believers. The holy remains were divided and moved to multiple churches and monasteries in Frankland.

Some of his holy remains are actually stored in a slightly remote area like the Vienne River. To this end, the past Bishop of Tours also funded the construction of a small church, the Abbey of Saint-Germain.

The purpose of its existence is only to store the holy remains of saints. Only during some festivals, a group of nearby villagers flock to it. The simple villagers just want to pay respects to the holy remains, even if they just walk around the church. It is said that you can receive the protection of divine power and protect the health of your whole family.

It is precisely for this reason that the intact holy remains were torn apart by the people.

Saint Germain was friends with Saint Patrick when he was alive. The latter took a small boat and risked drowning by crossing the Channel from Cape Calais into Britain, and then went to Scotland and Ireland to spread the gospel, so that some people in Sheth The Celts living in the Netherlands Islands also converted to God.

St. Patrick left a small monastery in the Shetland Islands, as well as some holy relics, but those holy relics had long been placed at the head of the Kingdom of Rus. Rurik knew what a precious thing was. The hard cover of the captured parchment gospel was inlaid with a layer of fine diamond sand, making it crystal clear.

Captured in the remote Shetland Islands, the hand-copied Gospel's title page identifies the scribe as Patrick himself, and the date of its writing in Roman numerals.

It was still treasured as a treasure, but it was firmly hidden by the Kingdom of Rus.