Friday 9th October,
Dear Diary,
Hello my name is Pierre and I work at the International Museum of History. Recently we have raised funds for a time machine so we can learn more about history and share it with the world. Finally the day has come that we have built a time machine and I have been nominated to be the first man to walk through time and discover the world’s biggest secrets. My first assignment was to go to the battle of Hastings, I already knew enough about the battle to not get killed so I was confident that I will survive the battle. Before I went my friend Jacob (who also works with me) said; remember, you’re a middle classed villager who recently moved there and who wants to be a blacksmith to help William Duke of Normandy conquer England. I stepped into the time machine and told everybody “See you in a second.” Jacob yelled, “Wait, don’t forget to write in your journal.” “Ok” I said. I then closed the door, set the date to 9th of October 1066 and hit enter. Everything started spinning fast then faster and then it got slower until everything stopped. I opened the door and found myself in a freezing cow field and thought I’d better stay in the time machine for the night.
Saturday 10th October
Dear Diary,
After an uncomfortable sleep in the time machine I got up and bought a horse and a giant wooden wagon which I used to carry around the time machine. While in the village there was a giant farmers market where I purchased hay which I used to hide the time machine. I also purchased an anvil, a hammer, a couple of sheets of metal and some fresh food. Now that I have materials necessary to be a blacksmith I only need to know how to get into the Duke of Normandy’s army and the Battle of Hastings which I have to be a part of in just four days!
Sunday 11th October
Dear Diary,
Last night I slept on hay in the wagon and as soon as I woke up I walked around the village and sketched what I saw. After breakfast I tried to spot some soldiers recruiting new people to be in William’s army. After a couple of hours of no luck I spotted some tough looking men walking into the village. One of them stood on top of a crate and started talking really loud in French. Another man stood by him and repeated what the man was saying in English and said something about joining the army of William Duke of Normandy. “Yes, this is it!” I thought, I just need to find out from the English speaking one if they need a blacksmith. If they say yes then this is going to be a success for sure! Then I walked over to him and said “Hi my name is Pierre and I would like to be a blacksmith in William’s army. I even brought my own anvil and metal.” Then he just stared at me with his eyes wide open and said, “Are thou saying that thou is a blacksmith?” Uuu… Yes. “Fantastique!” the man shouted, hugged me and told the other French man something and that man smiled and hugged me harder than the English man did. “Bringith your supplies blacksmith, thou has long journey ahead of himself.” A little confused I brought my horse and followed the Englishmen to a camp. The good thing is I’m not sleeping in a medal time machine or on top of some hay but on a comfortable tent in a town near the Norman fleet of boats
Monday 12th October
Dear Diary
This morning I was sleeping soundly when the man who spoke English came into my tent and screamed “Wake up!” I practically jumped out of my bed when that foghorn of a voice went off. “Come on then” said the man dragging me out of my tent and put me in front of my anvil and handed me my hammer. “Thou shall make this.” he took my hammer and got a long piece of hot steel and pounded it until it was shaped like a sword. “Now thou shall create a sword like I did and I shall sharpen it.” “Oh no” I thought, while the man was watching me I took out the long piece of metal and tried hammering it like the man did. After a while I made a not too bad sword and the man sharpened it until it couldn’t get any sharper. We did this for hours and I think I got the hang of it but we only made twenty five swords in about six hours. By now I was afraid that the man might have a hunch that I’m not a blacksmith. When noon came and we all had lunch, suddenly everybody stood up at attention to one man and it took me a second to figure out that that man was William Duke of Normandy. His face looks just like the description in the monk scrolls. Just then an arrow zoomed by my face and skidded past Williams head and missed him. Another arrow flew by and a brave knight jumped up and took the hit of the arrow. Just then my horse ran and knocks over the man who was shooting all of the arrows and knocked him clean out. Someone shouted “Whose horse did that?” “It’s my horse” I said. The brave Knight who took the arrow just lay on the table until medics came and removed the arrow from the knight’s arm and talked to the scared William and my friend who can speak English said “Thou are too weak to fight.” Who shall take his place, said my friend. William Stood up and said something in French that I didn’t understand. What did he say I said to the English speaking man, he said “thou shall be granted the rank of knight whoever owns that horse.” “Wait I own that horse!” All of a sudden everybody turned to me and William walked towards me, took out his sword and said something I didn’t understand. My friend whispered to me that Lord William Duke wishes to know your name. “Pierre sir”, Then William said Pierre and the rest I did not understand and put his sword on my left and right soldier and my friend said “thou are now a knight.” “Oh no” I thought as we all got on our ancient boats to invade England and I got on Williams exclusive boat with my friend and thought that this may end badly.
Tuesday, 13th October
Dear Diary,
Early this morning our fleet washed up on England’s shore. My friend and the rest of the army looked pleasantly surprised that there was no army here. Relieved, everyone climbed out of their ships and got their weapons out. All were ready to terrorize the villages in order to grab the king of England Harold Goodwinsons attention. After a long hike to the first small village we saw that it had only a small mound of dirt to protect itself. However, what the soldiers where about to do to the village could not be protected by the dirt. All of a sudden, William Duke of Normandy gave a battle cry and the rest of the army joined him in screaming. William then charged and the rest of his army followed as well. Unfortunately, I had to do the same charge with the soldiers and destroy the village. As we moved down I saw the people and they were dirty and wore rags; this must mean it is a peasant village. We also slaughtered all their animals and put all of their straw houses and crops in a mighty blaze of fire. All day today we did the same, pillaging and plundering villages until we moved to Hastings. There we celebrated with food and wine all night about our mighty victory. By now a messenger must be informing Harold Goodwinson about William Duke of Normandy’s invasion.
Wednesday 14th October
Dear Diary
Today I woke up early to train for the battle because being from the future I knew that today is the date of the Battle of Hastings. So after an hour of training a watch out man spotted King Harold’s army on top of Senlac hill and everyone got battle prepped for battle. Once everyone was ready we all moved out, then I thought to myself just block with my shied and keep my distance from the English shield wall. The English shield wall was used when locking together their shields to form a defensive line against the enemy. However, the most important rule I must remember is trying not to kill anyone because if I do that it might cause catastrophic changes to the future. Once we reached the battle field it was very misty and Goodwinsons army was dead a head of us clacking their swords against their shields to try and intimidate us so we did the same thing to them. With electricity buzzing through my head that there is nothing to worry about the archers positioned themselves and fired there arrows. I remember this part of the battle, where the English had an uphill advantage so the arrows couldn’t reach them and I was right. All of the arrows just hit either the ground or the shields not even harming the English. I thought to myself that next William sent his troops into the battle. Then he did, William gave us the order to go towards the English. Calming myself down I thought no pressure, just stay away from all of the fighting. I managed not to get hurt for a while but a crowd of my men pushed me and my horse to the left side of the field towards the shield wall. “Oh no” I thought as I was blocking all of the swords trying to cut me and my horse and all of a sudden all of the Bretons retreated down the battle field. The Bretons where supporters of William Duke of Normandy. Unfortunately I had no chance but to run with them because half of the English army is chasing me! “If I turn around towards the battle field I might not get cornered by the English in the marshy river ahead.” Just as I was escaping from the English I saw that William had positioned all of his archers in the back. Then the archers aimed there bows towards the sky and flew down on to the English. This must be the part of the battle where Harold Goodwinson was killed from an arrow going through his eye. By now I have figured out that this is where I should leave this time period but I want to talk to my friend before I go. So once I got to him I jumped off my horse and said here take my horse, “why?” He said, well because I’m going back to where I came from and you can have all my stuff. Oh and what’s your name friend? Anthony Ores he yelled. Oh, Good bye Anthony! Good bye Pierre! After that I ran down the hill and now it seemed that the English where surrendering and fleeing as I rushed to the time machine. Once there I take the time machine out of the giant wooden wagon and get inside. Then I turn the dial to October 9th 2009 and punch enter. Everything started going fast then faster and then got slower until everything stopped and I had just been away from the International Museum of History for only a second.
No comments:
Post a Comment