Love and Honor by Alexa Aston

Author:Alexa Aston
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medieval
Publisher: 0
Published: 2018-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

EDWARD LEFT TEMP’S cottage and headed toward the wall, where he’d spent the last week laboring. He’d learned quite a bit about the work going on since he’d been hired. Yevele, the master builder overseeing the nave’s expansion, had designated the new walls be built on the foundation of the old Roman ones which surrounded the city and had originally included eight gates, erected over a thousand years ago. Time had eroded the structure, which was why the king had called for this massive undertaking a few years ago. Only stone was being used, due to its sturdy nature. When completed, the awe-inspiring wall surrounding Canterbury would be capable of enduring a significant pounding from an enemy and last even longer than the one the Romans built.

Fine stone masonry was used for public works, such as this wall, and Edward found out this was a costly process because of the expense of the materials and the journeyman tradesmen involved, not to mention the expertise of engineering required. Stone had to be hauled into Canterbury on horse-drawn wagons from nearby quarries, where it had been pounded and broken. On site, stone masons chiseled the raw stone into large blocks before craftsmen used man-powered cranes to lift the completed rocks to the scaffolding along the wall. Masons used long ropes with knots placed every meter to measure the space accurately, as well as utilizing wooden triangles with a line and plumb bob suspended from one angle as a level when they placed the stones.

A separate group of workers on the ground took lime, soil, and water and mixed it together to form the mortar that held the blocks together. It, too, had to be transported skyward as the wall grew in height. Edward had grown to enjoy the smell of the mortar.

He had been employed strictly for physical labor since he did not possess the papers marking him as a guild member with a special skill. All but one day he had transported stones from the arriving wagons to the masons near the wall, while once being tasked to mix mortar when another worker fell ill. Edward asked questions of every man he labored beside, playing on his role as a curious country peasant who was eager to know the ways of the city.

Edward had learned that a total of twenty-four towers would be constructed around the circuit and that many of the existing gatehouses were being rebuilt in stone and brick. The towers being assembled atop segments of the wall extended outward slightly, so that the men eventually stationed in them would be able to observe the exterior of the walls on either side.

Every man he observed put in an honest day’s labor. No one shirked his duties. Most of the laborers worked in silence but were friendly when he asked them a question. He counted the wagons that arrived throughout the day and the number remained consistent over the week. Each day he watched the progress of stones being placed, both by height and length.

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