For the three months from June to September 1545, Isabel Walton, Lady of Ripley, was busy tending to her Ripley Castle estate. While retaining the original infrastructure of the castle estate, according to the model of his father, Baron Walton's estate, some living facilities such as hunting grounds, school grounds, medical halls, church schools and public toilets were added one after another.

In addition to the original 20 servants of the Ripley Castle estate, Isabel appointed herself with 200 attendants and 40 male and female servants in various positions, according to the aristocratic life standard of the viscount rank, for a total of 260 domestic servants. Among them, two doctors, two embroiderers, a barber, a pharmacist, a housekeeper, a captain of the squire, and a captain of the castle manor guard were the new domestic servants and attendants.

1/3 of the 60 male and female servants had been Isabel's own servants, and now they had just moved from Baron Walton's estate to Ripley's castle estate. Some of the new skilled servants were hired from Yorktown, London and Devon.

As for the selection of attendants for the squires and the castle manor guards, Isabel solved it by seconding the guards to the Duke of Richmond. Nominally seconded, the Duke of Richmond didn't mind how many guards she wanted to take with her to Ripley's Castle Manor. Even if these seconded guards would never return to the Duke's Court, he would not ask Lady Ripley for it at all.

As a result, Baldwin, Fast, Hall, Miller, James Short, the ship's gunner from Plymouth, Enoch Dewey, the second son of the Yoman farmer in Westerlylin, and several other guards who had sailed south, became chamberlains in the service of Lady Ripley.

Everyone packed their personal belongings and when they followed Isabel to Ripley's Castle, the bold Fast couldn't help but laugh, "My lord, I thought Ripley's Castle was a castle the size of His Highness's castle. Unexpectedly, this castle looks... It's like a castle for the children of His Highness's heirs. ”

Isabel, who had her back to the main building of the castle, glanced at the Duke's guards present, smiled and shook her head, "Fast, do you guys dare to be so rude in front of me?" ”

Baldwin, who had always been calm, replied respectfully, "My lord, if other northern nobles had asked His Highness to borrow a dozen servants, I don't think we would have been allowed to borrow them by His Highness. ”

Wei Cong Hall, who was standing on the side, said as he looked at Isabel, "My lord, Your Highness has too many Wei Cong, and young Wei Cong like me and Miller will not have the opportunity to participate in the war and get the spoils of war. If you hadn't taken us overseas, we probably wouldn't have known what the Caribbean is and what an arquebus is. ”

The young defender was very pertinent and made Isabel very satisfied. Seeing that the others still wanted to take the initiative to speak, he waved his hand, "Brothers, for now, you will take up my position as an attendant. In a few days, you will be my gentleman's retainers. Because, I know that each and every one of you has a lot of possessions. ”

The dozen or so guards present laughed in unison, except for Enoch Dewey, the second son of young Yomannon, who did not laugh. Isabel, who was standing with her hands behind her back, smiled and turned her gaze to the second son of Yomanon, who was not smiling. As he paced in front of the other party, he whispered, "Enoch, I didn't see a happy smile on your face, wouldn't you want to come to my castle to take up your position?" ”

Enoch quickly and respectfully straightened up, stared at the gate of the main castle behind Isabel without squinting, and replied loudly, "No, my lord, I am very willing to serve you. It's just that... It's just that... I haven't sailed out to sea, so... I don't have £40 worth of property to be your gentleman's retainer. ”

"Well, 40 pounds?! Enoch, tell me, do you want to have so much property? ”

"Yes, sir."

"You'll have this chance, as long as you don't betray me."

The young second son of Yomanon stood up straight again, raised his head and replied, "My lord, I can swear to God that I will never betray you and Your Highness. ”

Isabel pursed her lips and nodded with a smile, "Good." Now, I'm going to assign you some other duties. ”

Fast was slightly stunned, "My lord, I remember you just said that let us serve as your attendants?!" ”

"Yes. However, I would like you to take up a higher position. After saying this, Isabel paced back to the small staircase in front of the main castle, glanced at the people present, and said, "I will appoint Baldwin to the post of chief of the castle guard with an annual honorarium of ten pounds." Fast was appointed captain of my squire with an annual honourary of £10. ”

As soon as the words fell, everyone present congratulated Baldwin and the others. Isabel raised her right hand and pressed it twice in mid-air, and then said aloud after everyone was quiet: "James, Hall, Miller are the captains of the squad, and the annual remuneration is 8 pounds. ”

As he said this, he looked at Yomannon's second son, "Enoch, you are not qualified enough to serve as a squad leader. However, it is possible to start Faster's deputy, with an annual remuneration of 7 pounds. ”

Enoch didn't expect to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant of the captain of the squire team, and with a look of excitement, he puffed out his chest and replied loudly, "Yes, my lord." ”

"Now, you all have your own positions." Isabel paused and gave an order as she looked at the three squad leaders, "James, the three of you are going to a nearby village in my name to recruit some young men between the ages of 18 and 25 to serve as squires, understand?" ”

"Yes, sir." The three replied almost in unison.

"Tell them that each squire will receive not only an annual remuneration of six pounds, but also food, weapons, and armor

Horses, capes, robes, and all garments. ”

"Yes, sir."

Three months later, Isabelle Walton, a baroness, created a private army of nobles under her own. Although it cost a lot of aristocratic private property to equip a private army, the price level in northern society has remained very low for decades.

As a result, Isabel spent less than £500 on the army's weapons, horses, and armor. Of course, under Henry VIII's strict restrictions on the private armies of local nobles, Lady Ripley declared to the public that this was only her squire, and would never be the private army of nobles who tried to rebel.