“Hook that rope around the doorpost!”
The Norman warrior tossed the cord with an iron grapple attached to one of his men. The other end was fastened to the yoke around the shoulders of a large ox.
“You can’t do this! It’s my home!” A weeping woman cried. “At least let me gather some things!”
Her arms were pinned behind her back by another of the men whose task was simply to obey orders and deal with anyone, like this woman, trying to stop them executing their officers’ commands.
“You should have taken your belongings when we issued the warning!”
The officer had no more time to waste on the wretched Saxon slattern. He raised his birch wand and brought it down hard on the rump of the ox, which ponderously but irresistibly thrust its weight forward, heaving the doorpost out of the ground
