February, 859.
Vig issued an edict announcing the convening of a Witenagemot (Council of the Wise), inviting elites from various peoples—Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Welsh, Picts, and others—to gather in Londinium to deliberate on the compilation of a royal law code.
The Royal Law Code would be an expanded version of the earlier Tynefort Code, comprising a Civil Code, Commercial Code, and Nobles' Code.
The venue was chosen as the old royal palace. Although most of the wooden structures had been burned down, the brick-and-stone main hall remained largely intact and was suitable to accommodate more than two hundred attendees.
Because of stark differences in language, customs, and dress, participants tended to sit with their own kind. The front-left seats were occupied by Viking nobles; a red carpet ran down the central aisle; Anglo-Saxons sat on the right; while the rear rows were filled by Welsh, Picts, and Gaels, along with a small number of Irish delegates. (Though invited, the Dublin court sent only five low-ranking knights as a token gesture.)
After waiting for about ten minutes, Vig entered the hall surrounded by guards and ascended the steps along the red carpet. He was still wearing the black robe embroidered with golden dragons that had become his everyday attire.
For a long time, three seats had stood atop the dais—the central one for Ragnar, flanked by his two queens. Unfortunately, those gem-inlaid, gold-plated thrones had been chopped to pieces by rioters and taken home as souvenirs. Vig had no choice but to make do with an ordinary chair.
Once seated, Vig looked at the inattentive faces before him. Knowing they had little patience for pleasantries, he went straight to the point.
"For many years, Britannia has been divided among many realms, each with its own customs. I have summoned you today to establish a fair and effective law code to resolve disputes."
Ragnar had never promulgated a formal code of law, which led local gentry and merchants to constantly petition him, draining his energy. For example, a landowner's sheep might graze on another farmer's wheat; the sheep would be killed in retaliation, triggering a feud between two families.
Vig feared being trapped in the same morass. By codifying the law, he intended to pass such petty matters to the Minister of Justice and county judges. Only the most serious disputes would reach him personally.
Seeing the hesitation among the attendees, he outlined the basic principles of the Royal Law Code and promised to repeal a series of disastrous policies enacted late in the previous royal regime. These included reducing the agricultural tax in crown lands from 25% back to the former 15%, as well as lowering taxes on certain goods.
However, one seemingly absurd institution was retained.
Several years earlier, to raise money, Aslaug had created a new noble title—"Knight"—held for life but not hereditary.
Vig continued this system, declaring that commoners who made "a certain level of contribution" to the crown could be knighted. The title would not be hereditary, but in legal terms they would be nobles, and one of their children could attend the Royal Academy.
His purpose in maintaining knighthood was not merely financial. More importantly, it was meant to protect the merchant class and reduce exploitation by local nobles.
In Vig's memory, after the 11th century Western Europe adopted many measures to protect commerce—such as granting charters to cities with extensive privileges. In some regions, a principle even emerged: if a serf escaped to a city and resided there for a set period (usually a year and a day) without being reclaimed by their lord, they would gain personal freedom.
After long observation, Vig concluded that merchants excelled at creating wealth and generating tax revenue, but lacked fighting power. Commercial cities often depended on mercenaries for security.
Feudal nobles, trained in arms and horsemanship from childhood, could provide high-quality cavalry, but paid little in taxes.
Each group—nobles and merchants—had its strengths and weaknesses, while the Church or temples played their own unique role. From this perspective, a king's task was to maintain a balance among the three.
Having publicly set forth his ideas, Vig left the hall. He would not participate in the detailed drafting of the code; that task was delegated to the cabinet and the Witenagemot.
With more than an hour before lunch, he went to the Royal Mint in the western district of the city. Silver ingots from the Cornwall mines had been delivered a few days earlier, and minting was already underway.
The mint was surrounded by a stone wall and heavily guarded, with sentries and hunting dogs patrolling constantly. Under the supervisor's guidance, Vig entered the workshops and observed the entire coin-production process.
First, silver ingots were hammered into thin sheets, cut into small round blanks, and weighed. Overweight blanks were trimmed; underweight ones were melted down again.
(In the 9th century, Carolingian deniers weighed about 1.7 grams, while silver coins in Britannia typically weighed 1.46 grams.)
Next, the blanks were heated to soften them, then placed into dies. A hammer struck the upper die forcefully, compressing the blank between the dies and imprinting designs on both sides. The obverse bore the dragon emblem of the House of Tynefort; the reverse depicted the outline of the Kingdom of Britannia.
After striking, workers used files to remove burrs from the edges, producing a finished coin, which was then sent to the treasury.
Watching the entire process, Vig made no comment. He had once considered implementing a gold standard, but gold in circulation was far too scarce, leaving silver as the only viable option.
"Only after opening sea routes to the New World and acquiring vast quantities of gold and silver from Mesoamerica would a gold standard be feasible."
Setting aside that thought, Vig asked the supervisor about coin output over recent years. On average, about 600 kilograms of silver ingots were produced annually, yielding roughly 1,700 pounds in silver pennies.
"Too little," he thought.
Agricultural productivity had risen sharply, and many goods were flowing into the market, but the shortage of currency constrained further economic growth.
After weighing the options, Vig concluded that the only effective solution for now was to increase mining output and mint more silver coins. Issuing paper money or relying on copper coinage both had serious drawbacks and were unsuitable.
After leaving the mint, Vig summoned Gwen, head of intelligence, and ordered a covert investigation of the silver mines.
"Your Majesty, the Chancellor has already sent officials to investigate. Should my agents conduct a separate inquiry, or assist the civil officials?"
"Conduct a separate investigation—one overt, one covert. Focus on the Nottinghamshire silver mine."
Gwen bowed and withdrew. More than ten minutes later, he arrived at an unremarkable courtyard. Nominally, he and his subordinates belonged to the Londinium County Constabulary. In reality, they answered only to the king and were paid from the inner treasury, not the state treasury controlled by the Chancellor.
At present, the intelligence system comprised three divisions:
Investigation Division, the largest, responsible for gathering intelligence everywhere;
Analysis Division, which filtered useful information and reported regularly to the king;
gLogistics Division, the most relaxed, responsible for training agents and handling miscellaneous affairs.
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