Kathleen's Reviews > The Swan-Daughter

Count Alan was much nicer in real life: he excluded the Normans from his lands and the English called him their friend. After his death, Gunnhild wrote, to the famous Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury no less, that their love was mutual. In his memory, Englishmen in exile named their heirs after him.

Since I first learnt of Count Alan Rufus a few years ago, when he was reported in the newspapers as having been stupendously wealthy, I've been researching his career and discovering how very important he still is.

Essentially because of the groundwork he laid, we have Cambridge and Harvard University, the American cities of Boston and New York, the American revolution, parliamentary democracy and modern economies. His wealth, invested down the centuries, fueled the French Renaissance and paid for some of Leonardo da Vinci's later works (e.g. "Lady with an Ermine"); it also bailed out the Medicis and paid off several national debts. Alan is largely responsible for the popularity of the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood, all of which are closely connected with him in some way. Later members of his family, using wealth inherited originally from him, funded the Caxton press and edited the print edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

A contemporary of Alan's who also deserves much more credit than she has generally received is Matilda of Canossa, Countess of Tuscany, whose courageous and ultimately successful defence against the German empire freed and enriched the Italian city states and made the Italian Renaissance possible.

Alan was a quiet achiever, mostly content to let others have the glory while he did the work. The rare occasions when he did speak up and this was recorded were when he defended people who were otherwise helpless.

For example, when the monks of Whitby Priory were repeatedly displaced from their lodgings by William de Percy because he wanted their profits for himself, Alan offered them his land in York. Alan had a long tussle with his own associate, Thomas the Archbishop of York, over that land before the issue was settled in the monks' favour.

When William de Saint-Calais was summoned to trial for treason in the autumn of 1088, Alan was the chief arresting officer. According to "De Iniusta Vexacione Willelmi Episcopi Primi", or "Of the Unjust Persecution of the Bishop William I", in court the King, the bishops and the barons were shouting St-Calais down, but Alan spoke up "in a calm, clear voice" that cut through all the clamour and insisted that St-Calais be given a fair trial, otherwise, Alan said, "I would believe myself obliged to cease all service to the King".

Coming from the man who ranked second in the kingdom (according to order of precedence in charters and his own epitaph) and who was principally responsible for the King retaining his throne against the Rebellion in spring-summer of 1088, Alan's remarks were gently decisive.

Incidentally, that Rebellion, by the majority of the leading Norman magnates, seems to have been occasioned by Alan's and William II's founding in Jan-Feb 1088 of St Mary's Abbey (with Stephen as first Abbot) as a way of apologising to the English for the damage done to the North in preceding decades largely by those magnates who then rebelled!

During the rebellion, Alan advised the King to gain the support of the English, and with relish they defeated rebels in the centre and west of England and the Norman advance fleet, so preventing Duke Robert Curthose from landing. Archbishop Thomas of York and the Earl of Chester fought such rebels as there were in the north while Alan marched south to aid the King who was outnumbered and in dire difficulties against the leaders of the rebellion, namely Bishop Odo of Bayeux, Count Robert of Mortain, Earl Roger Montgomery of Shrewsbury and many other powerful barons.

Alan's epitaph is amazing: it's compact but contains a wealth of information. It's all the more impressive once you know Alan's backstory and can appreciate the many layers of meaning it has, hinting even of his ancestors in ancient Rome and Persia.