Wolf Wood (Part One): The Gathering Storm (10 page)

Harald Gascoigne came to his aid. 'Did I hear the term
lord abbot
?' He put down
his eyeglasses and squinted like a short-sighted scribe seeking
confirmation of a trivial point.

'That is
correct,' William Bradford returned his stare.

'It has been
used a lot recently,' Harald muttered as he wrote. 'I'm sure my
former colleagues in Westminster would be interested to hear of
it.'

William turned
to Canon Simon. 'What's he going on about?'

'Sir Harald
studied law at Oxford before family duties obliged him to return to
Dorset,' Simon said.

'Well. That's
as may be,' William grunted. 'I know Sir Harald as one who cavorts
with a lady who mixes strange potions, says prayers in strange
languages and thinks she has a right to baptise infants, all of
which sounds very much like witchcraft to me. Are you saying he has
other claims to fame?'

'Sir Harald
worked at Westminster, Father.'

'I don't care
where he worked,' William seemed to miss the point. 'His remark is
totally uncalled for.'

Harald rose
slowly to his feet and adjusted the lapels of his gown. He eyed
William coldly before continuing.

'It is a serious offence of
lese-majesty
to anticipate the
sovereign's wishes.'

'Don't lecture
me.'

'I am not
lecturing you, Sir. I am making a point in law.'

'You are being
impertinent.'

'No, Sir. I am
merely stating that you are not yet lord abbot. You will not be
lord abbot until His Majesty has seen fit to grant you a
licence.'

'And are you
suggesting His Majesty will refuse a licence? That sounds very much
like lese-majesty to me.'

'I recall a
case,' Harald said quietly. 'The king's officers were informed that
a certain candidate for high office was flaunting his new title
before his appointment had received royal approval. There was talk
of disbarring him. In the end, it was decided to increase the fee
for the licence. If you wish, I could make inquiries to see if such
strictures still apply.'

Canon Simon
was on his feet before William could open his mouth.

'Father
Bradford fully accepts the points you are making. There has never
been any question of anticipating His Majesty's wishes. The
premature use of the term was for the benefit of the less able
amongst us. Those who, through no fault of their own, are unable to
understand the complexities of appointment to high office.'

'Will that be
your defence in Westminster?'

'I trust that
eventuality will not arise,' Simon nodded in Harald's direction.
'As Master Baret has so rightly observed, it is in our interests to
work together and overcome common difficulties.'

'There is a
further point.' Harald's face reddened. 'It is a serious offence to
bare false witness. The Lord's Ten Commandments make that very
clear. I trust we shall be hearing no more accusations of
witchcraft. I am sure that His Majesty would have them investigated
and draw conclusions about the suitability for high office of
anyone who lightly makes them.'

He made a
short note on his writing block, turned on his heels and left the
chamber, followed by his companions.

***

John Tucker
leant over the table and surveyed the list of names inscribed on a
sheet of paper. His own was there together with four others ... all
described as dissidents.

'Tocker! You
don't spell it like that.'

'That's how
they spell it in Salisbury,' Richard reached for the document. 'I
just copied it how they wrote it. You should be pleased they didn't
make more of a dog's arse of it.'

They were in
the Julian. Richard had just joined them from All Hallows where the
vicar had posted a bill, issued by Bishop Neville, announcing a
public meeting. Parishioners were invited to voice their
grievances. The bishop named certain persons as dissidents and said
he would determine what measures should be taken to resolve their
differences with the abbey.

'Why are we
listed as dissidents?' John asked.

'Because you
put up that font and paraded round it,' Betty said. 'You didn't
make a secret of what you was doing.'

'What about
Jonnie Baret and his lot?'

'They're
helping the bish put things right.'

'How do you
know that?'

'Sister Alice
told me.'

Betty pulled
Richard's copy of the bill away from the pool of wine that was
spreading towards it.

'Alice said
she'd discussed it with the mole. He reckons the bish is none too
impressed by Billy Bradford ... thinks he's a bit of a dill.'

'Alice and the
mole are seeing a lot of one another,' John grinned. 'Do you think
they're having it off?'

'Their
relationship is purely Platonic,' Betty said.

'What does
that mean?'

'It means they
are not having it off ... they're just good friends.'

The reply
produced a chorus of laughter.

Richard
brought it to a close.

'We have to
decide what we're going to do.'

Walter Paskuly
looked up from his drink.

'You mean ...
do we present ourselves at the inquiry?'

'Right first
time.' Richard slapped him on the back. 'Is there anyone else who
would like to add to Master Paskuly's penetrating observation?'

Thomas Draper
raised a hand.

'What will it
involve if we present ourselves?'

'Not much.'
Richard grinned across the table. 'You'll just have to go up to the
lord bish and whisper in his ear "I'm a poor shopkeeper. For
reasons you'll never understand, I got it into my head to buy a
font and erect it in All Hallows so we could baptise babies and
cheat you and your mates out of a whole lot of money." '

'I don't think
I'm prepared to do that.' Thomas said. 'There's too many ways they
can get back at us.'

'Quite right.'
Richard flicked a crumb at him. 'For the moment, they've got the
upper hand. They make the laws and set the taxes. We'd be stupid to
meet them head on. We'll send observers and keep well out of
it.'

***

Harald scraped
a fungus from a fallen branch and placed it in a basket. He wasn't
accustomed to manual work and it was a novelty to help Alice
collect medicinal herbs. Elsewhere, beneath the trees, servants of
the almshouse and the more active residents were helping with the
autumn harvest. It was late afternoon and the sun was low in the
sky. Alice joined him with a basket of hips that she had gathered
from a nearby hedgerow.

'They are
particularly good for combating the chills of winter,' she
explained. 'I intend to make an infusion and serve it at meal
times.'

Rose hip tonic
was no novelty to Harald but the same could not be said for all the
things Alice had in her basket. There was a fungus that he believed
to be poisonous and the root of a plant known to him as witches'
balm. Alice said the fungus was used to treat certain skin
conditions and the root was good for palpitations of the heart.

Harald didn't
doubt her word. His concern was for what others might make of it.
Elizabeth Baret had warned Alice about dabbling with potions and
muttering prayers in obscure languages. She was even receiving
warnings from within the monastery itself. The monk with the
lecherous grin had advised her on the need for caution.

'You said
Ralph Knowles told you to be careful?'

'Ralph said
Bradford was furious with the people behind the almshouse charter.
He sees it as part of a move to have Sherborne declared a royal
borough. That would put an end to his powers,' Alice replied. 'He
calls it a Trojan Horse and intends to stop it ... one way is to
attack me.'

Harald placed
a fungus in her basket.

'Did you ask
him how he knew?'

'He said walls
have ears.'

'Do you
believe him?'

'Harald, I
know you are suspicious of Ralph because of your feud with his
cousin. But you have to understand that he's on your side. He
admires you. He was greatly impressed by the way you stood up to
William Bradford.'

The revelation
came as a surprise. Harald thought that Ralph regarded him with
contempt. It was the fate of all cuckolds.

'Ralph says he
was asked to bear false witness,' Alice said. 'Roger Knowles wanted
him to swear on oath that Judith had told him a very intimate
secret.'

'What sort of
secret?'

'That she'd
lost her maidenhead to Guy in the hayloft above your stables.

Harald
wondered if Ralph had said it to mock him.

'Ralph
refused,' Alice said.

'Is that
all?'

'No. His
cousin Henry agreed to do it.'

Harald cast
his mind around the extended Knowles family and identified Henry as
an unpleasant young man with a predilection for greyhounds and
gambling.

'He looks
older but he's only twenty-two,' Alice continued. 'He would have
been ten at the very most when this intimate secret was divulged.
Ralph thinks you could make a lot out of that in court.'

'What else has
Ralph told you?'

'He's been
speaking with the brothers in the infirmary. They think Bradford
might stop me visiting them. There's talk about magic potions and
casting spells. It's the sort of thing that happens in a closed
community …'

Harald
listened with mounting apprehension. Alice seemed unaware of the
seriousness of her situation. She already had a reputation as a
free thinker. Now, far more dangerous accusations were being
levelled against her.

He looked at
the contents of her basket and wondered if she was collecting them
as an act of defiance. The odd-looking roots and fungi might have
curative properties but that didn't mean they couldn't be produced
as damning evidence in a witchcraft trial.

She was a
strange person but that didn't stop him from loving her. They had a
lot in common. Alice had been abandoned by her family and placed in
the care of nuns. He had nothing in common with his family and
lived with them because he had nowhere else to go.

He was feeling
vulnerable. There was the pending law case against the Knowles
family, who were questioning William's right to his mother's dowry,
and there was his feud with William Bradford.

In a fit of
anger he had lashed out at William for accusing Alice of
witchcraft. For a while he had the man cowered. Bradford felt
vulnerable while his election as abbot hung in the balance. But it
hadn't lasted. Royal assent had been granted and William was now
Abbot of Sherborne with all the rights and privileges that went
with that high office.

William's
spies were at work trying to get people to make false witness
against Alice and himself. His mother had written to his father in
France, saying the family's good name was being called into
disrepute. She wanted him to send brother Guy to Sherborne to sort
things out. That would make things far worse. Guy had a soldier's
way of dealing with problems and it always ended in violence.

Betrayal

While Richard
was praising John Baret for his handling of the bishop, John was on
his way to the almshouse with his wife, Elizabeth, and Harald
Gascoigne. John had agreed to accompany Harald to the Dorchester
assizes and had asked to see the evidence Alice was gathering to
refute the Knowles' case.

The old
almshouse consisted of three buildings crammed on a small block.
Alice occupied the smallest. It was where she had her infirmary and
kept her records. On that cold winter's day, John and his two
companions squeezed up the narrow stairs to her room. He found a
place to sit with Elizabeth. Harald remained standing.

The Gascoignes
were a tall family, like many members of their class, and ceilings
of humble dwellings were rarely high enough for them. Harald
crouched in the gap between two beams, removed his eyeglasses from
their pouch and peered at the documents laid out for his
inspection. While he was occupied, Alice provided a brief summary
for Elizabeth's benefit.

'You will
recall that the Gascoigne's insisted on a special clause in the
marriage contract. It stipulated that no child of Judith's should
inherit if it were born out of wedlock.'

'And, the
Knowles claim that William is a bastard?'

'They claim he
is the son of Harald's younger brother, Guy. If they are to be
believed, fourteen-year-old Guy and fifteen-year-old Judith were
lovers.'

'Can they
substantiate that?'

'They have two
witnesses. One is their nephew, Henry Knowles. The other is
Catherine de Lambert, a relative of mine.'

'Can we refute
them?'

'I think we
can.' Alice produced a strip of parchment. 'This is a certified
copy of an entry in the baptismal register of Saint Paul's Chapel
on the Knowles' estate. It is dated three days before Christmas, in
the third year of the reign of Henry the Fifth, and records the
baptism of an infant. The names of the parents clearly identify the
child as Henry Knowles. There is even mention of him being named in
honour of King Henry and his victory at Agincourt.'

She handed the
document to Harald who placed it in a leather folder.

'The baptismal
record shows Henry was six or seven when Harald's former wife,
Judith, allegedly told him she lost her maidenhead to Guy. The
jurors will be asked to believe that a fifteen-year-old girl would
somehow divulge such an intimate secret to a seven-year-old
boy.'

Alice produced
another strip of parchment.

'This refers
to the baptism of Catherine de Lambert. Unfortunately, it shows
that she was born in the same year as Judith.'

'Why's that
unfortunate?' Elizabeth asked.