Oswoolf, brother of the famous "Barbarian" Edric, is standing in front of Buckingham's gallows, unable to regret it.

He hated why he had come to the king without any hostages, and he even remembered that the Earl of Uhtred had fallen into the trap of King Canute in the first place.

It was Roger of Hereford who had "kidnapped" him, the Norman father who had fought with his brother and himself, and now that he was in the hands of his men, so he did not expect to be good-looking, and when he passed through Gloucester, the Normans refused his request to change his horse, his mount was too small, and he became weakened after passing through the pass, and finally Edwin was ordered by the king to bring him a gray pack horse, so that he avoided the pain of walking with his men.

Of the people who were about to be executed, he recognized the one on his left, so his eyes never stayed in that direction, and the other was the elder Burton, who was accused of killing a Greenwich and selling the king's subjects into slavery.

"Why hang such an old fellow? How many steps is he left from the grave? ”

"Lord Oswoolf, this is the King's law." Count Roger coldly interrupted the other man's grumbling, in his eyes, this Saxon was a lawless barbarian like his brother, not a lord at all, no different from the criminals who were hanged in front of the drawbridge of the castle.

Oswoolf didn't speak, today's scene was nothing, far worse than the execution of all the robbers that the Normans had brought to the king before - dozens of swords were unsheathed at the same time, steel instantly cut the soft neck, and blood flowed all over the ground, and he also became the king's "guest" in a moment of shock, and was "invited" here.

The chief of Alden did not beg for mercy, not even any expression, as if he was asleep, and the villagers looked at him with nervousness, and everyone was afraid of what he said.

"Your Majesty, why didn't you announce that?" Edwin whispered, Chief Alden had confessed some of the names of the Edric family, and Oswoolfsain was here, and if he hadn't confronted him before the execution, the truth of the matter might have been lost forever.

"King David said after the defeat of Saul, 'Do not report in Gath, do not preach in the streets of Ashkelon—lest our enemies be glad when they know about it.'" Edgar's lips twitched, his voice subtle, "Now I don't want to ruin Edric's reputation and make the Normans laugh at our barbarism. ”

The king then casually mentions that Madame Maude (Matilda) of Normandy has died, and that the duke's eldest son and heir, Robert, is once again in exile, this time seemingly choosing to go to Italy.

"I have heard that the Bishop of Ostia seems to be planning for Robert to marry the Tuscan lady." Edgar showed a strange expression, as if he was playing with something, "Although there is little hope for this matter, we must also be wary of this alliance, what is likely to be planned by Rome for Normandy." ”

"Normans? Will they still be against us? ”

"William is old, and even if Robert inherits the duchy, it is unlikely that he will be unable to get along with us, but Rome, if it has the support of Normandy, may not accede to our demands on Saxony......"

Edwin's heart palpitated, Duke Magnus of Saxony was in the prime of life and in good health, why was the king so sure that he could obtain this duchy through this marriage...... He didn't dare to think about it any longer, so he hurriedly gathered his mind and turned his attention back to the execution ground.

Dean Benedict did not seem to realize the origin of his misfortune, but talked to Oswoolf from time to time, not noticing the latter's embarrassment. Just then, a voice rang out.

"It's not fair!"

Edgar looked up, and it was the shepherd "Boneless" Theowulf who spoke.

His body was covered with a thin jacket that covered the ends of his beard, but it obviously couldn't stop his excitement: "You guys...... All of you know the facts, you all have blood on your hands, not only from other people, but also from your own family! Alden was a bastard, but he didn't let the brute slaughter the whole village, and you just watched him die alone, hoping to bury the old goat and then everything would be back to what it was before? ”

"What are you talking about? Shepherd. The magistrate asked in a loud voice, "I warn you......"

"My lord, you might as well listen to him." The king's words were like a dam to the governor's words.

"Thank you, my lord." The shepherd seemed to be a different person, and the silence and cringe of the past were gone, "This is how ...... this"

A black figure began to tremble, and as the shepherd spoke, many eyes crept into him.

The man was standing beside Abbot Benedict, wrapped in a wide black robe, as if it were a warrior's armor to protect him from aggression.

"Wait a minute, did he say that?" Abbot Benedict was an engineering scholar, but he was also a theologian, and a word that came out of the shepherd's mouth reminded him.

"Yes, he told them that at the beginning of the world there was a relationship between brothers and sisters, and that this bond strengthens the family and is the way to purity." The one who answered the magistrate was the lady of Hildegard.

"Pure (Cathari)?" The term was obviously not unfamiliar, but the Dean couldn't believe that someone had spread this heresy to the land, turning the entire village into a fortress against the Unclean.

"Your Majesty, it seems that this matter is far more serious than we thought, and we must examine all the families here." The Dean emphasized the word family.

Edgar did not expect this turn of events, he had sensed from the beginning that something was wrong with the atmosphere in the village, and that the pagan rituals did not arouse his suspicion, after all, such things were recorded in the ecclesiastical books of Exeter. However, he did not expect that the defense of the villagers of Burton against outsiders was actually to protect one person, and behind the captivity of the population was such a tightly organized village group.

"Your Majesty, twenty years ago, when I was in Orleans, I heard about them, and it is said that they had some connection with the Paulineans of the East, who valued the cohesion of the family organization most and secretly opposed the tithes and other taxes paid by the peasants, so they were hated by some of the local lords."

"Lord Sittrick." The king said to the Buckingham magistrate, "Stop the execution, for God's peace is more important than the king's peace." ”

He knew what he was up against—the Puritarians, a mystical belief from the East, that believed that the mystical religious power of the family would continue to spread in the form of a family network for hundreds of years, just as a sick pig with cysticerci could infect an entire circle of pigs, and that individuals who accepted this heresy would soon affect the whole family, and the local knight lords would often refuse to suppress them, as they often had their own family members and relatives, Many aristocrats would even think that the people of this sect lived the life of a saint!

And in the village of Burton, there is already one such saint, the black-robed public lover - Father Billig!