Those Memories Made on Teardrop Lake – (24) The Christian Lady and the Pagans

 

It was in the middle of the 7^th Century when 17 year old Olwen, the youngest daughter of King Osric, was pledged in marriage to young King Ryce of West Untenena.

King Osric’s tribe was in the east bordering Cantwarena and the marriage was designed to affect a treaty between the two tribes and preserve the peace by forming a mutually beneficial alliance against West Sexena.

 

Osric’s tribe in East Untenena were Christina converts and because of her faith, Olwen only agreed to the union if she could be married at St Augustine’s Church in the place of her birth.

 

The citizens of East Untenena were very pleased with the union as they hoped it would lead to a lasting peace.

Olwen was very popular among her people and the wedding was the cause of much celebration with seven days of feasting.

 

It was a joyous occasion and when it ended Olwen and her new husband then travelled under heavy escort to her new home.

Soldiers of both East and West Untenena made up the escort as an act of solidarity.

Olwen was also accompanied by her maids Esme and Elwin, and by her priest Father Audley.

 

Her new home was the great hall of King Ryce which stood in a settlement at the head of the Lake Tåre Drape on the edge of the great forest.

 

Although the marriage was forced upon her she was not disappointed with the union, Olwen liked Ryce and in time she grew to love him very deeply.

And she also grew to love her new home very much.

But she came from a Christian realm and she had married into a pagan one.

Though Ryce was prepared to adopt the new faith his subjects and more importantly, his chieftains, were not.

Although most of his subjects took to the new Queen and loved her almost as much as her own people did.

Though not all of them, in fact two of them were openly hostile to her and a third, Holt had threatened to kill any Christians who dared practice in his lands.

 

For the first year Olwen was content to have Father Audley attend to hers and her maid’s spiritual needs in her private chambers but she was not prepared to deny herself a place of worship forever.

 

So at the beginning of her 19^th year she broached the subject with Ryce when he asked her if she was happy in his kingdom she replied rather unconvincingly

“Yes”

“You are unhappy?” Ryce asked

“No I’m not unhappy” she replied “but...”

“You still miss your home” he said

“A little yes” she admitted

“But really I miss my Church”

“I see” he responded “the one thing you miss is the one thing I cannot give you”

“Not even a small Chapel for us?” she asked in her most feminine voice.

“I can’t grant you that” Ryce said

“It’s doesn’t have to be grand or ornate”

She pleaded

“If I was to openly build a Church in this settlement it would give Holt the excuse he needs to move against me” He said and Olwen was crestfallen.

“I’m sorry” he said

“What if we built one in secret?” she asked

“Where?” he asked

“In the forest” she said

The King was very thoughtful for a few minutes and then he said

“I will give it some further thought”

Then he took his leave.

 

Olwen took that to mean no, but she left it at that for now, she didn’t want to back him into a corner.

But that didn’t mean she would give up.

 

After several days Ryce gave Olwen his decision as they lay in his bed.

“You may have your secret Chapel” he said

“Thank you my King” she said excitedly

“But it must remain secret” he reiterated

“If Holt or his kinsmen find out, there will be open revolt”

“Yes my Lord” 

“No materials or craftsman from my realm can be used”

“I understand” Olwen said

There was a regular caravan that travelled between East and West Untenena so over the following 18 months Stone was brought in secret from Thanet Island in small quantities and an Alta stone was transported from Lindisfarne via a circuitous route.

 

Firstly a large area of forest was cleared and building began on a small timber Chapel to Olwen’s specific design.

The Thanet stones were placed around the outline of the building in the traditional cruciform shape and some locally acquired flag stones formed the floor and the Lindisfarne Alta stone was given pride of place.

The Chapel walls and roof were made of Dancingdean timber and only a small number of trusted woodsman knew what was being built in the woods.

There was also a large baptismal bowl set into the floor of one side of the transept where Olwen’s husband Ryce and their children were baptized.

Its Water was drawn from a natural spring besides the Chapel clearing which the faithful claimed only sprang forth when the church was completed.

 

The first service was held on Olwen’s 22^nd birthday and monthly thereafter so as not to draw attention.

This went on regularly for four years without incident until one spring when her brother Hugh and his wife Henrietta were visiting with her for Olwen’s confinement.  

She was six months pregnant with her third child and she was praying this one was a boy.

So she made more regular visits to the Chapel so she could pray to God to grant her wish.

 

It was on a bright spring day when Father Audley led Olwen, Ryce and their daughters, Lucetta and Annis, and her brother and his wife along the hidden path to the Chapel.

But as the priest stepped into the sunlight Ryce was struck on the side of the head with a sword hilt and fell to the ground.

“You will die for this Holt”     

Olwen screamed as she saw the face of her husband’s assailant.

“I think not” Holt said as he brandished his sword “You will all die here today at your holy place”

And his kinsman Irwin drew his sword at the same moment.

Thankfully Godwin the woodsman who had been instrumental in the Chapel’s construction was already inside when the attack began and without thinking he took up his axe and charged out and cleaved Irwin’s head in two. 

As Irwin fell down dead it distracted Holt long enough for Hugh to burst out of the trees and thrust his sword through Holt’s throat, and he turned to look at Hugh with a look of surprise and then dropped his sword.

“God has spoken” Olwen said and he fell dead to the ground.

 

It was all over in a trice, fortunately Henrietta had taken the young girls away at the first sign of trouble, so were spared the bloodshed.

Ryce was helped to his feet as Father Audley gave the dead men the last rites and Hugh and Godwin went in search of the chieftain’s horses.

 

The bodies of Holt and Irwin were draped across their horses and then Godwin led them into the deep wood and the bodies were never seen again.

With the resistance to the new faith gone the following year work began on a new Church adjacent to the great hall.

There were mutterings from those close to Holt about what had become of him and his kinsman but they were silenced when rumours spread that the one true God must have smite them down. 

 

The Chapel fell into disuse after the new Church was built though Olwen would visit it from time to time but no one went there after she and Ryce had died.

And ten years into her son Hugh’s reign a war began with West Sexena and Hugh had to abandon the Great Hall and the Church which were then destroyed.

By the time West Sexena were defeated and driven out 20 years later by Olwen’s grandson Edric all memory of her Chapel had faded and was all but forgotten until early in Queen Victoria’s reign.