The Isle of the Wise

Fourteen hundred years ago, Lorik a loyal chieftain had been offered his choice of lands by the duke of the day, Warlord Nils, for service rendered on the field of battle. All had been surprised when he’d asked for the island which had till then never had a name other than the island. None had ever set foot on it, but it could be seen to be lush and green with fair woodlands from a distance, and all knew the seas around it were rich and bountiful fishing grounds. Comprised of basalt, it was a solitary massif jutting out of the sea several hundred feet into the sky mayhap thirty miles from the mainland. There were no other islands within a day’s sailing of it. It was roughly lozenge shaped with it’s long axis pointing out into the ocean away from the mainland. At forty-five miles in length and thirty-five across at its widest it would be a substantial holding for the man who could claim it. The only issue was accessibility, for all around the basalt presented sheer cliffs that rose vertically out of the sea. Lorik was a clever man and he’d chosen it with security in mind, after all he reasoned taking possession for the first time would be considerably easier than assailing it when it was being defended. Lorik had announced to all his folk at the mid winter feast, ‘I’ll provide ships and equipment to any who wish to essay the climb. The first to put a light cord over the edge to which a rope can be attached will receive a boon of their choosing. No spikes nor similar may be knocked into any fissure for that will make it harder to defend.’

Godwin, a distant kinsman of Lorik’s, whose folk were coastal fishermen who supplemented their livelihoods by scaling sea cliffs to harvest the eggs of gulls and later in the season young sea birds had started his climb where no others believed a route was to be found. At mid summer, he started as first light hadn’t yet dawned and seventeen hours later he could no longer be seen in the gloam as he neared the top. All others had given up due to lack of hand holds. Despite his prohibiting it, some were trying to persuade Lorik to allow the hammering of oaken spikes into existing crevices to assist, saying they would eventually rot, but Lorik still wouldn’t hear of it retorting that they may well last longer than his grandchildren’s grandchildren. At first light the following day Godwin could be seen at the top of the cliff and a boat was lowered to collect the trailing end of his cord. A rope was secured to it and Godwin hoisted it and made it fast at the top to a massive tree some fifty strides from the cliff edge. The rope was used to haul up a dozen or more rope ladders and by mid afternoon a hundred men were on the isle cutting timber for a large hall. By the end of that summer all of Lorik’s kin and retainers and all their chattels and livestock were safely and warmly ensconced in their new home. Ultimately it made them all very wealthy, so wealthy that they had the resources to start the centre of learning that ultimately gave the island its title of ‘The Isle of the Wise’. Lorik had announced at their first evening meal on the Isle, ‘I shall give Godwin till the next full moon to consider his boon.’

‘There is no need, Lorik,’ the young man replied. ‘If she has a mind to it I’d like to take Ailidh to wife. If she has no mind to it I have need of naught, so I’ll ask for naught.’ It was a bold request for Ailidh was Lorik’s second daughter. Many wondered why he hadn’t asked for her elder sister, for Lorik had no sons and marrying the elder girl would make him Lorik’s heir.

‘If she has a mind to it, Godwin, you have my blessing.’ The young couple had had eyes for each other for some time and Lorik had been made aware of the matter by Agnes his wife. Both had wondered when and how Godwin would approach Lorik concerning the matter. From Lorik’s point of view this was perfect and none could cavil over Lorik paying his deep debt of obligation in such a public manner. Like it or not Godwin was now his son. In time Ceinwen Lorik’s eldest daughter married a scholar like herself who’d no mind to lead the adult community preferring to educate their children and Godwin gradually took over as Lorik aged. Ailidh gave Godwin twenty-six children all of who were hale and thrived. In not too many generations due to intermarriage with Godwin and Ailidh’s numerous descendants all the inhabitants of the Isle carried Lorik’s blood. Fourteen hundred years later the Isle was governed by a Council of men and women who were pushed forward by the folk of the Isle. They were not elected, but were on the Council by consensus of opinion of their kin.

On the Mainland life was difficult almost to the point of impossibility for Alexandre, the heir apparent to a dukedom and hence to a projected life of power, wealth and luxury. That was till the Alexandra that existed just below the surface refused to stay there. Alexandra clearly could not assume the title, so her younger twin brother who in his resentment had tormented her for years had his wishes come true. Most of the male members of the family, and of all the folk too, considered it to be for the best, though the women had grave doubts as to Angus’ suitability. Angus was big, strong and harsh featured. He looked every width of a ducal heir whereas his elder sibling was small, delicate and latterly pretty, in short completely unsuitable. However, appearances are often deceptive, for Angus was violent tempered, stupid, and not literate enough to read documents for himself. He’d sign whatever was put in front of him if someone bored him as to it’s contents long enough, and thirty seconds was more than long enough. Alexandra was in contrast patient, well educated and highly intelligent. It was clear to their parents that Angus was bullying Alexandra even more than before and if they were not separated Angus would probably kill his sibling in a fit of rage, so in accordance with fourteen year old Alexandra’s wishes she went to live on the Isle of the Wise where she could become the woman she wished to be and study medicine. Alexandra was sixteen when Argrodd her father died young. It was said to have been a hunting accident, but most accepted that Angus had had a major hand in his father’s death. Fearing for her life Selena Alexandra’s mother took her three younger children with her when she too left to live on the Isle of the Wise.

Angus had surrounded himself with sycophants who only ever told him what he wished to hear and who daily as systematically drained his coffers as they did his mead barrels. All others had wisely left the capital and returned to their lands. Hearing in the whispers of news that originated from the itinerant entertainers that he was openly spoken against by those on the Isle of the Wise Angus raised an army and an armada to invade it as punishment. Only men as brutish and stupid as himself supported the venture listening to promises of massacre, loot and women by the score to treat as they willed. The towering cliffs that completely surrounded the Isle were unassailable and no wooden ship survives long with a fusillade of quarter ton [500Kg, 560 pound] rocks raining down on it from several hundred feet above [a few hundred metres]. Since the only access to the Isle was via a lift cage operated from above and the range of the fearsome engines of defence mounted upon the Isle was in excess of a mile [1500m] Angus perished along with his entire army and armada as they fled having achieved naught. The boulders were replaced from remote quarries on the mainland ready for the next such event.

Over his time on the throne Angus had systematically assassinated all his relatives who could even remotely aspire to the throne. He’d personally strangled both of his sons as newborn infants and their midwives too claiming the boys were stillborn. On the death of Angus the royal family no longer existed and civil war broke out as various factions of the upper classes fought for power on the mainland. The wars raged for over twenty years. After a few years the tales of alliances and betrayals became so common place they weren’t even talked about in ale houses by men in their cups. The fighting only ceased when most of the men of fighting age were dead from fighting or from starvation. None had tilled the land of the aristocracy for years, food was scarce, ale had become just a memory for the barley to make it with wasn’t even available for bread. However, in out of the way places that had been relatively unaffected by the turmoil, peasants still tilled their plots and raised their livestock. They may have had to toil from sunrise to sunset, but at least they had enough to eat to be able to do so.

It hadn’t taken long for the mainland to degenerate to the point where the social and economic life of all folk were leading them to the barbarism of millennia ago. The so called upper classes, that is the folk of families who once were wealthy, no longer had control of their own lives never mind those of the manipulated folk whom for centuries they had profiteered off. Those poor folk who were considered to have lost the ability to make decisions for themselves tens of generations ago rapidly organised their lives. Initially most were in desperate straights and struggled to feed their families, but at least, unlike their so called betters, they knew how to plough, seed, weed and harvest, and too they knew how to breed, raise, and ultimately slaughter and butcher their domesticated livestock. After the civil wars had fizzled out things improved a little, for at least there was enough barley available for ale as well as bread though life on the mainland for all was mostly a pretty miserable affair. Women long having been the down trodden sex had always been more aware of what truly mattered than men, and thus the daughters of the upper classes had rapidly realised that it was far better to be the wife of a sucessful peasant farmer than that of a starving upper class male with no ability to support herself or their children. Within a generation the upper classes just in order to eat had become the poverty stricken workers of the lowest class working for those they had not so long ago abused and retribution was not kind to them.

On the Isle of the Wise not much had changed during the civil war. It had long been a completely self sufficient culture much different from the mainland and the only effect of the war was that it withdrew all contact with the mainland other than via it’s itinerant entertainers who were in fact gatherers of news and information and not known to be from the Isle. The entertainers were believed by mainland folk to have been mainland folk who for generations had no fixed home. They travelled widely and always said with a smile, “Home‽ The road is home.” No inn ever charged them for shelter, a crust and a mug of ale to wash it down with, for it was understood that in return they would entertain all and sundry for a few coppers in the common room, and once word went out, as it did in mere minutes, that there were entertainers in the inn the landlord could guarantee a packed house of thirsty patrons. Oft so packed the entertainers performed in the inn barn so as to accommodate all, and the ale draper(1) paid youngsters to carry ale to his customers as he just kept pouring it and taking the money.

That the entertainers were welcomed on the Isle of the Wise was no surprise to any, for all enjoyed their entertainment and news, and doubtless the folk on the Isle were no different. “We keep moving, for after ten days at most we have narrated our news, sung our songs, told our tales, played our plays and juggled our jugs. We have no intention of ever outstaying our welcome, for doubtless in years to come we’ll be as welcome when we return for another ten days.” In one way the entertainers were very different from mainlanders, for they always enquired if there were any orphans wherever they stopped. Orphans were seen as a drain on the community and despised as such, but the entertainers always took them away with them no matter how many there were and no matter what their age which was seen as foolishness but convenient. What happened to those orphans none cared nor ever found out, for the entertainers were as reticent about that as about anything else to do with themselves, and the same group of entertainers never visited within twenty years by which time they were older, looked different and all of their previous visit was forgot. It was believed they sold the orphans off as indentured apprentices, which was barely better than slavery, somewhere far away, but none cared, for they did not have to feed them. In reality some few of the brightest became entertainers, but most were assisted back to the Isle as much welcomed, loved and cared for additions to families there.

What fascinated most mainlanders to the point of extreme envy were the tales the entertainers told concerning their visits to the Isle of the Wise. Tales of banquets, not for the wealthy, but for all. Tales of a well fed folk who were all kin and looked after each other. Tales of even the poorest receiving care from the healers even unto none ever being halt as a result of a broken leg not being set properly. Tales of all being spared pain by the healers, even the extremely agèd as they approached their ends in what without the healers otherwise could have been agony. Tales of warm windproof houses for all, but what perplexed them completely was that the entire population of the Isle could read and write, for on the mainland that was a closely guarded family secret known to less than one in thousands. Not much less surprising was that apprenticeship to skilled craftsmen were available to any, for on the mainland such were only available to a craftsman’s sons or if he had none his nephews. It was no different for women, for it was well known to learn spinning, weaving or similar on the mainland one had to be a daughter or at least a blood relative, yet all were acceptable on the Isle. None considered that that was how skills were lost and their society became progressively that bit poorer as the years went by. The tales of generosity to strangers were not believed, and the tales of how the Isle was governed were simply not understood.

Far Isle, an island two hundred miles out to sea from the Isle of the Wise with a cove and natural harbour facing out into the ocean was where the Isle’s fleet of fishing boats were built, maintained and put into after delivering their cargo to the Isle. The existence of Far Isle was not known to any mainland ship’s captains, which was of no concern to any from the Isle of the Wise, for mainland shipbuilding skills had deteriorated to such an extent that no mainland captain had a ship that could survive that far out to sea. Too, their navigational skills were now so rudimentary they involved no more than recognition of the land as seen from the coastal waters and hence none existent once out of sight of land. To be out at sea in the dark was now terrifying, for like the last compasses all mainland sailors able to navigate by the stars had gone down on Argus’ ships and were now regarded as mythical, magical instruments and skills no longer credited with ever having existed since no mainland mariner alive had any understanding of how they had been used.

On the rare occasions when a mainland ship had been blown out to sea and sight of land had been lost the mariners prayed for the sight of a bird to follow thinking it would be flying towards land. Sometimes it had taken them back to the coast and sight of land and sometimes it hadn’t and the ship had been lost with all hands. Sailors from the Isle referred to mainland sailors and vessels as coast huggers. No mainlander alive had ever seen any of the large ocean going ships of the Isle’s fleet, for the entertainers, whose marine skills were legendary amongst their folk, when they did use boats used small single sailed ones scarce larger than a small rowing boat. Once the town of Far Isle had been established the Isle’s fleet went looking for similar places elsewhere and within a few years seven other maritime havens farther out to sea had been established on a huge land mass that was a rich source of resources of all kinds including fish of many kinds from the cold offshore waters which also teemed with shellfish and crustaceans.

The tales of the Isle of the Wise had never lost anything in the telling, and the mainland folk were beginning to wonder why they couldn’t live like the folk in the tales too. All was of course promulgated by the carefully crafted tales inserted into the mainland consciousness by the entertainers, who contrary to popular mainland opinion were not a not overbright folk who could do little else, but were the cream of a product of a lengthy and intensive education designed to assist the mainland folk to begin to think for themselves.

Eventually matters started boiling and coming to a head on the mainland. “Why can’t we live like that?” was a frequently asked question in alehouses. “Once over, we were the same folk as those who live on the Isle. Centuries ago Lord Lorrik and his folk were all mainlanders as were Godwin and all his kin. It was Angus and his followers who brought us down to this. Then it was our so called betters that brought about the bloodshed, and it only stopped after they killed each other and then starved along with a lot of the rest of us. Since then, yes we’ve survived, but that is all we’ve done. None can say we are living well. Once there was plenty for all to eat including readily available meat. Agreed we have control of our lives, but we lived better when Duke Argrodd ruled, for none went hungry or cold in those days. It got so bad at the depth of the bad times that a loaf of bread with no mould on it tasted peculiar. Folk aughtn’t to have to live like that.”

Eventually it was realised and talked about in the inns that the benevolent rule of generations ago was a better state of affairs than what they had to live with at the time. It was Pepot, a simple and honest labourer who was known to have learning problems, who triggered the continent wide discussion when he asked with the naïveté of a child, “Why can’t we ask Arch Duchess Alexandra to manage things? She’s the eldest descendant of her dad Grand Duke Argrodd and my mum said we all lived well then and none were ever hungry nor cold. She told me the law was fair to all no matter how low down he was and folk like us didn’t just have the clothes we wore to work in, but some for best too, like on festival days when none had to work. I know I’m not clever, but I know what is right and what is not, and my mum said life for all like us was better then, and that folk like us owned sheep and cattle too not just pigs and hens as like it is now. My mum was a good woman and I believe everything she told me because I know she didn’t have lie in her.”

Pepot’s words spread rapidly assisted by the entertainers. That he was as he was made his words of greater significance to the entire mainland population, for those who knew him knew he was not capable of saying aught he did not truly believe. It was never understood how it came about, but the overwhelming belief of the mainland population was that Arch Duchess Alexandra should be invited to take control. Alexandra had a simple reply. “Whether you accept my legitimacy to rule or not makes no difference to me, for at my age I have no desire for it and I am not prepared to be your Duchess. I am a citizen of the Isle and am more than happy to mind my own folk and let you to have care for yourselves. You men rejected me once in favour of my brother. You men, and I mean all of you not just the nobles, chose Angus simply because he was a man thinking a woman couldn’t be an effective ruler. Well you soon found out how good and effective a ruler the man of your choice was.

“I shall never again live on the mainland, for I shall never be prepared to take the risks to my family that that involves. Think on, you men brought about the situation you live with. You men did this to yourselves and you took your families down with you as you did so. I suggest you men start to listen a little more closely to your wives and daughters if you wish your lives to improve. However, my eldest grandchild is a little more flexible than myself and her mother and she has said, with stringent conditions, that she is prepared to be your Duchess pro tempore, but at the first sign of recalcitrance on any of your parts she shall return home. The matter is one of your choice, and I know she will be more than happy to come home and leave it all to you. You need to realise that you are supplicants and we have no reason to consider your requests, for you are offering nothing of any value to us at all. We have a good life here that is in no way dependent on anything the mainland can offer us.”

“Many of you know I was born Thorkil a boy, but to those of you who were not aware of that I am not prepared to pretend to be what I am not. I have no particular desire to be here and I certainly have no desire to rule here for the rest of my life. I am only here because my grandmother and mother asked me to give you the opportunity to accept my suggestions. I suggest you consider whether you desire to live under my rule or not. I hope not and that you desire to become your own rulers. However, that will give you authority and with authority comes responsibility, or it is merely a dictatorship and you lived like that for centuries and didn’t like it. If you accept my terms doubtless I shall decree things that some of you do not like. However, you have asked to live a life like it is lived on the Isle. I shall work towards delivering that till you say nay. I promise I shall only decree what I consider to be in your best interests and mostly that will be giving you greater control of your lives. If there is any significant opposition to that I shall accept it and leave matters to you. If I stay I shall be constantly working towards enabling you to be self governing.”

The mainland after eighteen months of infighting decide to accept Thorkilla, Alexandra’s eldest granddaughter as their Duchess. Her next words to them were, “It has taken you a year and a half to invite me here. It will take me less than a day and a half to reject you and be back home again, for I have a ship standing by at all times for my return passage. To tell you the truth I’d much rather be at home with my siblings and future husband. I can make your lives better, but only if you are prepared to accept me because if you are not why should I care? I am my mother’s daughter, my grandmother’s granddaughter, and my great grandmother’s great granddaughter too, and it should be no surprise to you that I think the way they do. You say that you desire a way of life that is enjoyed by all on the Isle. I don’t blame you, for I’d hate to have to live a squalid, hungry and desperate life like you do. I’d hate to be the constant victim of theft, rape and murder. I could not live with the fear and distrust. If you accept what I propose you will be ruling yourselves as soon as I can bring it about. However, what I would ask is are you prepared to pay the price? for nothing is free. For us the price is honesty, and if you are not prepared to pay that I shall just go home. We have no thieves amongst us and I have no intention of accepting any. It is up to you, but if I am your advisor thieves, rapists and murderers must be severely punished, and you have to take the responsibility for those punishments. If you won’t I’ll go home.

“I have no intention of enforcing any of those punishments, but you must do so. I am more than prepared to provide guidance, but you, not I, must be responsible for what is after all your society, for you are that society. What I am saying is that you must clear up the mess that you live with, and the blame for any and all failure shall lie upon your shoulders not mine. To do so you must first decide what is acceptable and what is not. That is easily achievable and it does not require my rule. It does not require the rule of any one. However, it will require you to be resolute about your self determination. That would provide the best solution for all, for eventually I could go home and you could solve your problems. All it requires is the will to solve the problem and a goodly degree of perception and compassion. Someone stealing property so as not to have to work for their livelihood is an easily recognisable crime, but not all theft is a crime of itself. Consider when a hungry child is caught stealing food to eat. There is a crime involved, but it is not theft. The crime is that the child was allowed to be hungry and not looked after. It is not a crime to be a neglected hungry orphan. It is a crime to allow a child to be a neglected hungry orphan.

“Perhaps a sensible way forward would be to seek amongst yourselves for trustworthy men and women of integrity and compassion to become magistrates to oversee and to sit in judgement on complaints and wrong doers. If you do so then those magistrates must be supported totally by you, all of you, for if you do not why should they be any more bothered than I concerning your society’s ills? They would doubtless under those circumstances resign and allow you to deal with the matter yourselves since you objected to their ajudgement. That of course does not preclude the rest of you offering your magistrates advice and opinions. Good magistrates would naturally welcome such, so that at least gives you a yardstick by which you choose them. As I have said you need to make decisions and then be resolute and see those decisions through to the end, the bitter end as it will certainly be in some cases. Till you manage to select your first group of such men and women, I suggest I should bring from my home some experienced and educated folk who can provide the necessary education and training. I am prepared to assist, but the decisions and responsibilities must be yours. Your first task is to take into you families the hungry, the uncared for and the homeless. Apprentice them to your crafts and trades, a major reason you are poor is that you do not have enough persons to create wealth due to your unwillingness to share knowledge and skill.

“Start schools, for an illiterate society is a poor society where most are incapable of monitoring who is taking advantage of themselves and their neighbours. I can provide teachers till you have your own. Punish wrongdoers by making them repay their crimes. Gaols are an expensive drain that you cannot afford, so I suggest useful hard labour in the mines, forests and quarries would be much better punishments, but be reasonable. Match the sentence to the crime and not to your very natural desires for vengeance. In the final analysis if their crime is so heinous that they are a danger to society kill them. Banishment for such merely passes the problem on to some other town or village. Be resolute and end the problems they pose permanently. Currently your society is a haven for the shiftless and the dishonest and you have to accept that that is your fault and up to yourselves to deal with before you will be in a position to bring that situation to an end. Most of all you need to rear your children in the belief that such behaviour is totally unacceptable and deserving of punishment. First offenders need to be dealt with appropriately. Recidivists need to be dealt with much more harshly.

“I refuse to make your decisions for you. That is up to you. You have to decide what kind of a society you wish to live in. I am prepared to help as long as your behaviour demonstrates that you appreciate that help. After that I leave it all to you. You have things to decide. Till you tell one of the entertainers that you have decided that you wish for assistance I’ll go home. The problems of your society are your problems. For good or for ill you are responsible, so act responsibly.”