The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker

Chapter Four

It was two days later, on twenty-third December, that Sir Baldwin de Furnshill drew near to the city. Sitting on his favourite rounsey, he gave his wife a twisted smile and then returned to surveying the River Exe on their left side and warily eyeing the trees on their right. He was always looking for danger. Outlaws were everywhere nowadays.

‘I know, my love. And I am glad, too, that we shall not be forced to remain here overly long,’ he said.

His wife gave a longsuffering sigh. ‘All I said was, I am glad it was not my fault we were invited, Baldwin. It should be enjoyable – I don’t understand why you are so glum.’

‘I do not like to have to travel. Especially over the feast of Christmas. It is a time to be at home, to celebrate in our own church.’

The knight had travelled extensively when he was one of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon – a Knight Templar – but since settling once more in his family’s estate at Furnshill near Cadbury and marrying Lady Jeanne de Liddinstone, the tall, grave man had thought that he would no longer be forced nor expected to journey far and wide.

Sir Baldwin was Keeper of the King’s Peace in Crediton, a job with some responsibility, but which required limited effort since few crimes plagued the small country town, nor were they generally violent in nature. He rarely suffered the difficulties of enquiring after murders and when there was such a case, it could normally be speedily resolved since the perpetrator was commonly still standing over the victim with a knife or rope in his hand when the Hue and Cry arrived. Many criminals surrendered themselves quietly, accepting that they had done wrong and must pay. Since becoming the King’s Keeper of the Peace five years ago, Baldwin had only been forced to seek four murderers in Crediton itself.

But this was not Crediton, Sir Baldwin told himself, looking past the weir towards the stonework of the city of Exeter.

The small city was a pretty red sandstone marker in the green of the fields all about. There were few solid buildings outside the walls, for all those who could afford to would buy a small house within their safety. Only a few timber buildings leaned against the outside of the walls. Looming over all was the castle, a solid-looking fortress built on the highest ground. Beneath it Baldwin could see the great mass of St Peter’s, the Cathedral, with its pair of tall spires marking the two towers of the crossing.

Away from the city were a few sparse settlements which stood out in this smoothly rolling countryside. There were any number of church spires and towers: to the north lay St David’s, ahead of him, over beyond the South Gate was the small leper hospital of St Magdalen, while he knew that St Thomas’s was almost dead ahead on the Cowick Street, not that the church could be seen from here. There were too many trees blocking the view.

Still, Sir Baldwin confessed to himself that it was a pretty enough little city; not so busy and hectic as London or Paris, not so scruffy as York, nor so unbearably humid and noisome as Limassol. It lay sheltered above a great sweep of the River Exe, quiet and serene in the clear wintry light.

The trouble was, he had another reason to wish to be at home. He did not want to travel all the way to Exeter for Christmas – especially not with his wife.

‘Well, you may remain as gloomy as you wish; I for one intend to enjoy myself,’ Jeanne said tartly.

He grinned at her. Jeanne and he had been married only since the springtime and he had never known such happiness. Even now, with her face betraying her truculence, he adored her. Never shrewish, usually calm and contented, she was a source of pleasure. Right now she was unhappy, rolling in the coach with each jolt as the wheels thundered over the rough roadway, registering her displeasure at every jarring crash, yet he could only see her beauty. Lady Jeanne was a tall, slender woman with red-gold hair and the clearest blue eyes he had ever seen. Her face was regular, if a little round; her nose short, perhaps too small; her mouth over-wide with a full upper lip that gave her a stubborn appearance; her forehead was maybe too broad – but to Baldwin she was perfection.

Except her temper had fluctuated recently since she had learned that she was pregnant.

It wasn’t that she was temperamental – Baldwin would hesitate to use such a perjorative term to describe his wife – but she had become a little more peppery since becoming pregnant. She responded badly to his well-intentioned suggestions designed to ensure her comfort. This was Baldwin’s first child and he intended guaranteeing that his wife remained healthy and that their unborn baby was cosseted and protected. Riding all the way to Exeter in the middle of winter did not strike him as the best way to protect either Jeanne or her baby, which was why, against her wishes, he had insisted that she should ride in comfort in the wagon.

‘Not too far now, my Lady,’ he said encouragingly.

In answer she gave a snort of disgust. ‘Good. Oh, this damned road!’

He grinned and she lifted her chin in haughty contempt, but his bellowed laughter made her give a fleeting smirk. Feigning annoyance, she turned from him and pulled her furs more tightly about her. It was hard not to giggle with him when he relaxed in this way. Just then a triple hammering jerk almost knocked her sideways, and she swore viciously under her breath.

She adored her husband. He was considerate, kind, intelligent and serious. She loved his dark complexion, his almost-black eyes, his grizzled hair which contrasted so strongly with his black beard and eyebrows, as if his head had been caught in a heavy frost. Even the scar which ran from his temple almost to his jaw was, to her, an endearing mark, a proof of his martial past, evidence of his chivalry – but that didn’t change the fact that he was being too overprotective because she was pregnant.

After many years of wanting children and not being able to conceive with her first husband, she had fallen with Baldwin very soon after the summer – a profound relief, because she had wondered whether she was barren as her first husband had told her – yet Baldwin’s constant anxiety was wearing. Other women gave birth naturally. It was a normal event in any woman’s life, as natural as breathing or making love or dying.

Earlier in the year Jeanne had seen one of Baldwin’s peasants going out to harvest turnips, a short woman with a massive belly. In one hand she carried a wicker basket. Later that afternoon, the woman returned, a basket full of vegetables on her hip with, on the top, a contented baby swaddled expertly against the cold. When Jeanne asked her how she had coped, the woman shrugged evasively, unsure how to answer her mistress. Eventually, when pressed, she muttered that she had given birth to seven others, all in the field while she worked. There was nothing special about this one, she said.

And yet here Jeanne was, forced to ride in an open coach like royalty, because her husband was concerned that she might strain something riding on her mare. ‘More risk of straining something in this damned wagon,’ she spat as the coach thudded heavily into another rut.

At least here the route was downhill. Up was worse because then the wagon lumbered more heavily. Going down was easier, faster and more comfortable. As she thought that, another deep hole made the wagon rattle and creak and Jeanne struck her head on a stanchion supporting the roof. Cursing quietly to herself, a hand at her bruised temple, she tottered to the front of the coach and sat on the board beside the driver, Edgar, Baldwin’s steward and loyal servant for many years.

Peering ahead she could see the city, its great bridge reaching out over Exe Island, where a growing number of houses were springing up, most on the island where there were many businesses, but quite a few on the bridge itself.

‘It’s pretty enough, isn’t it?’ she commented, shading her eyes against the morning’s sun which lay low in the sky so late in the year.

Edgar nodded, hunched in his seat and staring at the road ahead. He grunted his agreement as Baldwin rode up to their side, a troubled expression on his face. ‘Shouldn’t you be resting, my Lady?’

Jeanne looked at him coldly without comment.

The bridge led to the great western gate of the city, which gave onto a broad roadway running up the hill towards Carfoix, where the northern, southern, eastern and western roads all met in the city centre.

Soon Baldwin and his small entourage were rattling slowly up the incline. Gardens, orchards and fields lay on either side between or behind houses; pigs squealed and rootled among piles of leaves and rubbish while dogs snapped at each other as they scavenged. A cock crowed and horses neighed or whinnied on all sides. It was not as noisy and unpleasant as some places, Baldwin told himself, but there was still proof that crime occurred. A man lolled in the pillory, blood dripping from a gash in his forehead where a rock had been hurled. Nearby, a man’s body hung from a beam lashed between two trees, his hands bound behind his back, his madly staring eyes gazing all about him as his corpse swung gently, turning from left to right as the breeze blew up the hill.

Jeanne peered at them. ‘I wonder what his crime was?’ she murmured.

‘God Himself knows,’ Baldwin said with a shrug. Perhaps he was a murderer. In a city the size of Exeter with many thousands of citizens, there would be several murders each month. ‘None of my concern anyway,’ he added airily and, as he would soon learn, inaccurately.

‘Someone should make sure he’s all right,’ Jeanne said. She saw her husband give a quick smile. ‘What is it?’

‘I assumed you were talking about the corpse. It never occurred to me that you meant the man in the pillory.’

She glanced back at the dangling man. ‘I think it’s a little late for anyone to worry about him.’ As she said these words, she shivered and pulled the furs up to her neck. Later she would remember those words and realise she had been wrong.

Their destination was near the Guildhall in the middle of the city, at the house of Vincent le Berwe. In a vain attempt to distract herself from the discomfort of the journey, Jeanne brought the powerful merchant to mind. Luckily Baldwin trusted her and valued her judgement, so he often discussed the men he must deal with, seeking her comments and advice.

Vincent was a successful merchant, a rich man who was well regarded among the ruling group who controlled the city of Exeter. It had not always been so. He had married foolishly when younger, a pretty, vivacious girl who was only some fourteen years old. She died giving birth to their first child, and many of the city-folk looked at him askance after that. They were religious in Exeter, and unimpressed with a man who took so young a wife. Her early death heralded dark mutterings about Vincent himself and many of his clients had left him. It had almost ruined him, although now he had been able to renew his fortunes, helped with the diplomatic skills of his new wife, Hawisia.

She was reputed to be a clever young woman: intelligent, cultured, well-reared and courteous. Since marrying her, Vincent’s wealth had increased greatly. Baldwin thought she had given him the stability and comfort which he craved. Baldwin had said this with an expression of pensive understanding, which had made Jeanne smile and put her arm through his. She knew he was considering the parallel between his own life and Vincent’s: Jeanne had filled a void in his life just as Hawisia had in Vincent’s. Secretly Jeanne was convinced that he would have been perfectly capable of continuing his existence without ever meeting her, provided he had his hounds, hawks and horses. That was not the case for her. If she had not met Baldwin, Jeanne would have become a crusty, embittered old widow, always regretting the fact that she had never given life to a child. And now she was pregnant.

It was with an inner feeling of relief that she noticed the Guildhall ahead. She had no wish to contemplate how much her life was about to be altered with a baby in her house, nor how truly maternal she would turn out to be when a squalling child was placed in her arms by the midwife.

The wagon stopped and Baldwin nodded to Edgar. ‘Go and tell Sir Vincent that we are here,’ he said, but before his servant could obey, the door opened and the man himself appeared.

‘Sir Baldwin – and Lady Jeanne, too! God’s blessings upon you both!’

The lookout dropped from his tree and picked up his axe which rested against the tree’s trunk. ‘He’s coming,’ he said.

All at once there was a general movement. Two men at Hob’s side hurried back past him and went out to their positions nearer the entrance to the clearing, while another lifted a leather bucket to douse the fire, but Sir Thomas of Exmouth shook his head and barked, ‘Stop that! There’s no point. We don’t want to freeze when he’s gone. Leave it.’

They didn’t have to wait for long. The dark figure, cloaked and hooded, appeared in the shadows among the trees, walking slowly, muttering as the dragging cloak snagged on brambles and twigs.

To him the clearing was a scene of fearsome danger, and not only from the outlaws themselves; if he was found here, he could easily be accused of conspiring with felons. Conversely, if the outlaws decided he posed a threat they might execute him no matter what their leader told them.

He stepped out boldly enough. If they had wanted to kill him, they could have done so – perhaps still would do so – and there was no point in his waiting and skulking anxiously. An arrow to the throat, a knife to the heart – there were many ways of killing a man, and these vicious bastards knew most of them.

The clearing was a rough oval carved out of the old woods. It did not appear to be a regularly used base, for there were no huts or tents, only a single log fire burning with a clean, smokeless flame. Above it dangled a large metal cauldron, in which bubbled a thick pottage. One man knelt at the side, stirring. He wore the innocent expression of the idiotic. His slack mouth dribbled and one corner twitched upwards into a smile, but without conviction. There was a nervousness in his features, as if he was used to being beaten and half-expected to be treated like a cur.

Behind him stood Sir Thomas of Exmouth, a more dangerous man by far. His face was swarthy and narrow, his eyes glittering under a low forehead. He wore russets and greens, a thick woollen cloak and hose, a leather jack and a dangling hood – nothing to betray his true background as a knight: no gilt spurs, no mail, no insignia of chivalry. He had rejected his past and was now a mere outlaw. The only incongruous feature was the knightly riding sword which dangled from a richly enamelled belt at his side.

‘Come on over here, please. Take a seat. Wine?’ he said, and his visitor gave him a humourless grin as he approached the fire.

‘I received your message. There’s no need to pretend that we are on friendly terms.’

‘But at least we do not need to be enemies.’ The outlaw beckoned. A young woman appeared between the trees and poured out wine for them, and when she was done he continued, ‘I thank you for your prompt appearance. It is better, I always think, to get these things resolved as quickly as possible.’

‘I don’t know what you want from me.’

‘I think you do. First, I want information. My friend Hamond, is he…?’

‘Hamond was hanged yesterday morning. If you want his body, the hangman will cut it loose tomorrow. Send someone for it.’

‘That is a shame, a great shame.’ The outlaw held his gaze for a moment, then turned his bitter, shining eyes to the fire. He was silent a while and then drained his goblet and held it out to the girl. She refilled it silently and held the jug up for the other, who shook his head.

‘He was captured after ambushing a merchant,’ the newcomer said heavily. ‘Not only did he not run from his offence, he had the foolishness to go ahead of the merchant into the city and drink a pot of ale at the Nobles Inn when the merchant passed.’

‘He was a good friend. Headstrong, but good,’ Sir Thomas growled. ‘Still, he will be with God now. That’s that.’ He motioned to the girl. ‘Enough, Jen. Leave us.’

As she walked back to the shade under the trees, he watched her go. Indeed, he was so intent upon her slender figure that he appeared to have forgotten his guest, who stirred and cleared his throat. Sir Thomas bowed apologetically. ‘Ah, yes. My apologies. I was forgetting. Now, Master, I think you can help me – and I may be able to help you as well.’

‘You help me?’

The outlaw stood more straight and his left hand rested upon the hilt of his sword as he raised an eyebrow. ‘You may live a privileged life in the city but any man at need would be grateful of the assistance of a knight.’

‘You think so?’ came the sneering reply. ‘What sort of assistance could an outlaw knight like you provide?’

‘Your sarcasm does you a disservice.’

‘How can I not be sarcastic when you have only ever sought favours from me?’ came the sharp rejoinder.

Sir Thomas looked away. After a moment, he said, ‘I agree that I have misused you, but perhaps I could offer money to…’

‘Money stolen from another church? Do you mean to insult me?’ the other snapped.

‘All I want is justice! Hamond has been hanged – but was he guilty of the crime?’

The other said impatiently, ‘He was with your gang, wasn’t he?’

‘Listen to me, you fool! Hamond had nothing to do with it – he was with me in the city when the ambush was supposed to have happened. I sent him to the tavern myself to fetch some wine, and it was while he was there that he was pointed out and captured. So tell me – how did he commit this ambush, how did he get recognised by a merchant as an outlaw who had robbed him, when all the time he was with me?’

To which his brother, Canon Stephen Soth of Exeter Cathedral, had no answer.