Hamwic 1040 ADMy absence from Winchester provided Queen Emma with the excuse she needed to continue her persecution. She hissed to her son that retreat to my estates was a sure sign of guilt and that I should be brought before a court for the murder of Alfred. As a Saxon Earl who had treated his peers and lesser lords in an even-handed manner, I had many supporters among my people; but also, the Danish lords were in favour of an Earl who had been the right-hand of their great King Knut and of his son, Harold. Amid these ominous portents came the episode of Gytha, the hermit and the trees.
“Explain to me, husband, how I reach the yews of Kinglea Vale?”
“Why would you wish to visit the yews, Gytha? This is indeed a strange question.”
“So, what of that?”
My wife looked at me with the secr
