The Invasion of 1812: A Northumbrian Timeline
[FONT="]A Tale of an alternate Anglia
12th March 1812[/FONT] [FONT="]
Two black-cassocked clergy hastened up the nave of the great Minster of St Peter. The cathedral bells were clamouring an unexpected alarm. They met before the choir screen with its statues of the kings of old. [/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“Invasion! War!” cried the stocky middle-aged cleric, panting after his exertions.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Great God preserve us! War?” exclaimed his taller companion in incredulous horror. “The church has kept the peace in these islands for centuries. What black fiend has broken it?”[/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“Foreign invasion! The French!” [/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“What can they want with us, Fr Edmund?” [/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“They say the king refuses their trade embargo to support their great invasion to the East.” At last the stout priest had regained his breath and could respond more coherently to his friend Canon Behrtic.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Our Lord and Saviour will preserve us in this hour of need. May he drown the invaders as he did the heathen Ivar Ragnarson? Come, good father, we must say a Mass for the preservation of the realm.” [/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]As they made their way to the chapel of St Alcuin, a stalwart figure, resplendent in the scarlet and gold of the Royal Lifeguards, hailed them.[/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“Holy fathers, a word.”[/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“Yes, my son.” Fr Behrtic replied, raising his hand in pious benediction.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“My lord, the king, has ordered a meeting of the Parliament and seeks an interview with Archbishop Leofric beforehand.”[/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“Captain Ælla, we will take you to his Grace. Can you give us more news?”[/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]“Only that the French ambassador just delivered a declaration of war on behalf of the tyrant and the quittance of his embassy. The Hull merchants had lately reported the concentration of large forces, ships of war and barges at Boulogne. My guess is that he must seek to conquer all Anglia. However mighty the ogre’s forces, King Edward will prevail by the Grace of God.”[/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]So, the three men sought the door of the North Transept to take them to the Episcopal Palace beyond the Dean’s Park.”[/FONT]