The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker

Chapter Eleven

The gaol was in the castle, at the northernmost tip of the city – a large, red-stone block which dominated the city from its perch on the hill.

Elias was in a squalid cell, along with many other men. All were forced to make use of a single leathern bucket for their toilet. A man had apparently become ill overnight, calling out and then going into convulsions; he had kicked the pail over, adding the noisome reek of its contents to the already foul interior.

The suffering man lay on his side near a wall, his face gaunt and grey with a faintly green tinge.

‘He won’t last the day,’ Baldwin murmured compassionately.

‘I fear not,’ the Coroner agreed. The fellow had evidently rolled over in his fever, and now his clothing was bespattered with the bucket’s contents.

Elias turned out to be a tall, gangling youth in his early twenties, pale-faced with terror. ‘There are rats in here, sir,’ he said pathetically to Roger as they called him out of the cell and studied him in the corridor outside.

‘Sod the cell and sod the rats,’ Roger said unsympathetically. ‘You’re here to answer any questions these gentlemen wish to ask you.’

‘I didn’t do it, sirs,’ Elias stated. Although he mumbled the words they were clear enough, as was his bitterness at being incarcerated. ‘I’ve never been in a place like this before, and I didn’t ought to be here now.’

‘What didn’t you do?’ Simon asked.

‘Murder my master. I couldn’t have!’ he cried. ‘He was like my father, was Master Ralph.’

‘Is that why you robbed him?’ demanded Roger harshly.

While he professed his innocence and denied any involvement in either the theft or the murder, Baldwin studied the apprentice carefully. His long slender fingers twitched and moved as he spoke, pointing at his breast in devout rejection of guilt, clasping together as he fervently implored their belief, washing over and over as he proclaimed his innocence. There was helplessness and despair in his eyes but not, so far as Baldwin could detect, any hint of guilt.

‘Tell us exactly what happened that morning,’ Baldwin said at last when Roger had run out of accusations.

Elias licked his lips, then went through the whole sorry story once more. He had told it so often now that the tale was beginning to sound artificial even to himself. Could he have remembered things wrongly? Might he have invented something by mistake? He had heard of such things. It was growing difficult to know what was true and what wasn’t.

Baldwin listened attentively. ‘So you tried to get in by the door at the front of the hall, then went to the back. You didn’t at any time go into the shop?’

‘No, sir. I tried the shop’s handle, but it was locked.’

‘Yet when Bailiff William tried it, the shop was open,’ the Coroner grunted.

Elias held out his hands helplessly. ‘It was locked when I tried it.’

Baldwin nodded. ‘With regard to the money and jewels your master had been given – had you ever seen them?’

‘Yes, I saw them when the two clerks brought them, early in the month.’

‘Who were they?’

‘Master Peter and Jolinde Bolle.’

‘Did they bring them to the shop?’

‘Yes. My master and I were working when they arrived, so they had to.’

‘And your master’s shop has how many rooms?’

‘Only the one.’

‘So you were in the same room with your master? You saw everything as the two clerics handed over the jewels?’

‘Yes, sir. I saw it all. The clerics had brought money and gems with them and they passed over the money and counted it with my master, getting him to sign their receipt with his mark and seal, then they tipped out all the jewels and pearls that he was to use to decorate the gloves and got him to mark their receipt again.’

‘Do you remember the amounts?’ Simon asked.

‘There was two pounds, one shilling and one farthing in cash; in stones there were two rubies, forty-four gems and a small number of pearls. My master was not happy because the money was less than he had agreed with the Dean and he wasn’t sure how to split up the quantities of gems between gloves, for he had been asked to make ten pairs and the gems and rubies wouldn’t divide easily between them. He was grumpy about it and said that he’d speak to the Dean, but one of the clerks, Jolinde Bolle, said that the Treasurer had decided they couldn’t afford so much, not with the building work continuing.’

‘I see,’ Baldwin said musingly, then he looked up as a sudden thought struck him. ‘You say your master put his mark to the receipts?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Could he read?’

‘No, sir.’

Baldwin’s face cleared. ‘Good. I begin to see a way through part of this mystery. Perhaps, anyway. Where did your master put the money and jewels?’

‘Sir, he had a strongbox in his chamber. When he was in his shop, he would take it there with him so that he had money to give in change to buyers, but also so he knew where it was. He didn’t want to be robbed like poor Master Karvinel. He has…’

‘Yes, yes, we know of Karvinel,’ Baldwin interrupted testily. ‘Tell us about the money.’

‘When the clerics and my master had counted it all, he put it into his strongbox. That was that.’

‘To return to the day he died: the money was all gone?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘So someone could have broken in, taken the money from the box and fled with it,’ Baldwin considered. ‘Maybe that was happening when the glover arrived and he confronted the thief. The thief struck him down, then made his escape?’

Baldwin turned to the Coroner. ‘You told us that there were some seven wounds in the front of his chest and four in his back. Simon said at the time that it sounded frenzied, but all the lunatic killers I have known lose all sense of restraint when they stab. They thrust with main force, and that drives the blade up to the hilt. Yet Elias’s knife was an inch broad at the hilt. The wounds were all half-an-inch wide, so it couldn’t have been Elias thrusting home his own knife.’

‘It’s a thought,’ Coroner Roger said.

‘Let’s take it as a proposition. Perhaps someone went to the glover’s door and asked to see something in the shop? They entered, and as soon as the killer could, he whipped out a dagger and stabbed him four times in the back. The glover fell to the floor, and the killer made sure he was dead by stabbing him again in the chest. Then he made his way back into the hall, up to the chest, took what he needed, and departed.’

‘But, sir,’ Elias protested weakly, ‘if he’d done that, I’d have been able to get in. As it happened, the door was locked, and so was the back door. Yet when I returned to the front, the door was ajar.’

‘Right.’ Baldwin started again. ‘The murderer went to the glover’s door and asked to see something in the shop. He followed Ralph inside, murdered him, took his keys and locked the shop door. Then he returned to Ralph’s house, locked the doors after him, and ransacked the place looking for the chest. When he…’

Simon growled, ‘Baldwin, what about the apprentice? He’d have known that Elias would soon be back with bread in the normal routine.’

‘Ah yes,’ Baldwin said, turning to Elias. ‘You were away a while, talking to Mary, you said?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Would you say you were away for longer than usual?’

Elias recalled his hasty rush back to the house. ‘Oh, yes, sir. I was very late, I knew that.’

‘The thief obviously knew he had plenty of time,’ Baldwin said. ‘He knew Ralph was alone, and that must mean he knew that the apprentice was out.’

‘You are assuming someone planned this?’ Coroner Roger demanded. ‘What if it was a mere spur-of-moment attack?’

‘There are too many coincidences,’ Baldwin told him. ‘A man decides to rob the glover just at the time that the glover has all that wealth; he stabs the glover without knowing whether someone else is there. How often does someone do that? And just by chance, this is the day that Elias is particularly late home… No, it does not sound likely to me.’

‘You mean it was all premeditated?’ the Coroner asked sceptically.

‘The murderer knew what the household routines were; he had either been watching it, or had someone tell him,’ Baldwin said. ‘The man who killed Ralph must have been confident that Elias would be late back. Yes, he knew he had plenty of time.’

‘And yet Elias was back before he had finished,’ Roger pointed out.

‘Yes, but maybe the man couldn’t find the chest as quickly as he had hoped. Maybe he hadn’t expected Elias to be back so quickly.’

Roger stood and motioned Elias back into the gaol. ‘Sorry about this, lad, but you’ll have to stay in there a while longer.’

‘Just one last question or two, please,’ Baldwin said. ‘Elias, your girlfriend – has she been able to visit you?’

‘No, sir. I wish she could, but Mary is very busy and I doubt her father would want her to come to a place like this.’

‘Quite understandable!’ Baldwin said, glancing about him. ‘Now: is there anything else you can tell us about that day, Elias?’

The apprentice licked his lips and peered at the Coroner. ‘There is one thing, sir,’ he said hesitantly. When Baldwin nodded, he spoke slowly. ‘That morning, not long after Ralph had left for church, I stayed a while in my bed, but I was woken by the cleric Peter. He wanted to put some more jewels and money in my master’s strongbox. He said that he and his friend had made a mistake when they had delivered the payment and the jewels before. There wasn’t enough, just as Ralph had said. I let Peter upstairs and opened the chest, and added the extra coins and jewels in the purse he gave me.’

Baldwin and the other men were frowning uncomprehendingly.

‘He brought extra treasure for Ralph?’ Baldwin muttered, baffled.

‘He asked me not to tell anyone, said it would get him into trouble,’ Elias nodded wretchedly. ‘That was why I didn’t mention it before. But it can’t hurt him now, can it?’

Coroner Roger glanced at Baldwin. ‘That’s enough,’ he said. ‘I have other cases to look into. Is there anything else you want to know?’

Baldwin shook his head. ‘No. Godspeed, Elias.’

‘Merry Christmas!’ Elias said, mournfully, as he turned and trudged back to his cell.

The nervous, smiling boy capered into the woods when he returned from the city. He was worried, because his master was sometimes in a bad mood when he came back, but today Hob was relieved to see that Sir Thomas was laughing as he sat back on a tree trunk, one arm around Jen, the other gripping a wineskin, from which he poured wine into his mouth. He stopped, grinned wolfishly, then tipped wine over Jen’s breasts, making her squeak. Sir Thomas dropped the skin and thrust her backwards, grasping her torso and slobbering over the wet tunic, sucking the juice from it, then, pulling her tunic apart to free her breasts, he began to lick more slowly at her flesh while she smiled down at him, cradling his head with an elbow like a mother with her child.

Seeing Hob approach, she frowned and shook her head, signing to him with her eyes not to interrupt, and Hob slipped back into the trees again.

He left them there. There was no point in trying to speak to Sir Thomas if he was busy with Jen. When he started squirming on top of her like a dog on a bitch, neither would listen. Worse, Sir Thomas would get angry. Aye, he’d throw something at Hob, scare Hob. Make him run. Hob didn’t like Sir Thomas to be angry; Hob had to please Sir Thomas, because Sir Thomas was his protector. That was what Jen had told him. She said Sir Thomas was their guard. He looked after them. That was why she had to keep him happy, and Hob had to as well.

Hob wandered disconsolately along the pathway through the trees. All the branches were empty now. Hob didn’t like seeing them bare like that. It took away all the places to hide. The beech trees, they tried to keep their leaves: there were still a few clinging to the bough overhead. Hob liked beech trees.

It was a long time since he and Jen had met Sir Thomas. Beforehand, Hob and Jen had lived alone, ever since the dreadful famine when the crops all spoiled on the ground and their parents died. They had been allowed to remain in their little cottage after they were orphaned, living on whatever Jen could bring in. She knew Hob would never be able to earn enough to keep them. It hadn’t been easy for her, not at a time when grain rose in price daily.

Their mum had brought eight kids into the world, but only three survived the hungry years. Or so Jen said: their oldest brother had been taken away by the Bishop’s men when their parents were still alive and she fondly assumed he had lived. Hob was only young when he’d gone. That was before his mother had died. It was years ago now. Ages. Jen said it was better to forget, but Hob couldn’t. Not after finding her body.

Hob’s eyes filled with tears at the memory of the wretched, emaciated corpse sprawled in her feeble agony. Hob had found her lying over the fire when he came back from his work scaring crows from the fields. It looked as if she had just toppled over and died on the smouldering logs. She must have felt the flames scorching her flesh, but was too weak to get away. Hob had stood in the doorway staring. He couldn’t even cry out for help. Not that anyone could do anything for her. Her body came away in halves when they dragged at her, burned through in the middle.

That was when their father arrived, called by one of the other men in the vill. Strong, good-looking, he was, but all Hob could remember was his face cracking with horror when he saw what had happened.

So many others had died, there was scarcely anyone to offer sympathy. All had lost family or friends; the vill itself was falling apart. Rain fell in torrents and the plants that took root withered where they straggled upwards. Those which produced grain were so sodden that it must be dried in special ovens first, and when bread was baked, it was un-nutritious and unwholesome. Not that the villagers would have refused it. There was nothing else, not after that hideous summer. All the winter food was gone, the pigs and sheep eaten long before.

It was midwinter when their father gave up. He had kept Jen and Hob in scraps of food as and when he could, but with the loss of his wife, he had lost his desire to live. One morning Hob woke in the family bed knowing that something was wrong. Jen wasn’t there, but she often wasn’t. She had her own friends and more and more often stayed away from the home. Father was past caring. But this morning Hob jerked awake to find that his father was dead. His face was slack, the jaw hanging. Hob hadn’t even been able to cry that time. Lost in the depths of despair, he rocked back and forth, cradling himself, until Jen came.

That was 1316, so Jen said. He had been almost thirteen if the priest could be believed. And not long afterwards Jen and Hob left the village for ever.

Jen was clever: Hob knew she was. When she realised that their father had abandoned hope, she had made up her mind to find someone who could protect them both. Another man in the vill had already suggested that she should give herself to him and live under his roof. He had promised to feed her and look after her – but Hob, he said, would have to find somewhere else to live.

That was no bargain as far as Jen was concerned. She told Hob later that she wouldn’t take a mate who wouldn’t look after Hob as well. Hob wasn’t sure what she meant, but he was glad that she wasn’t going to leave him. That much registered.

She had known Sir Thomas already; confessed to Hob that she had been as good as married to the nobleman since the summer. He had ridden past the vill and she caught his eye. The knight had offered her food and she had accepted. When their father was gone and buried, Jen and Hob left the vill and went to live at Sir Thomas’s manor. Jen was welcomed, although Hob was abused, being little use for anything but the most menial work; at a time of famine no one wants a useless mouth to feed. Sir Thomas’s men made their feelings plain. They kicked Hob, hurled stones and spat at him, and beat him with sticks, just as they might ill-treat a cat or a stray dog. Hob didn’t know why, but everyone hated him. Only Jen loved him.

He sniffed again, wiping at his eye with a grubby sleeve. Hob wouldn’t whine; Hob wouldn’t complain. Hob was strong.

He’d never been popular in the vill. He was used to being made fun of, being thrashed. It hurt, but everyone treated him like that because he was different. One day, Jen saw him being kicked and she told Sir Thomas, who saved Hob. Rushing out into his yard with a cudgel, he smashed the hardened knob over one man’s head, then another’s, and hauled the squirming boy to his feet. That was when Sir Thomas had bellowed at them, ‘You leave him alone – he’s under my protection. He has no father, no brother, so I am his defender. If you want to beat him you’ll answer to me!’

Hob had not been hit by Sir Thomas’s men since then. Only by Sir Thomas himself – occasionally. But it was his own fault. Hob knew he must deserve it if his own defender clobbered him.

‘Hob? Where are you?’

‘H-here,’ he stammered, standing.

Jen stood in the track a few yards away. Her breast was covered again, her hair decorously tied up, but her face was flushed. She saw his tear-streaked face and held out a hand. ‘You been thinking about Mum again?’ He nodded. ‘Come on, Hob, let’s get back. I hope you have good news for him.’

‘Yes, sister,’ he said hesitantly, trying to get the words out before the stammer strangled him. ‘The m-merchant’s clerk is dead.’