The Mad Monk of Gidleigh Read online

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  The Fourteenth Knights Templar Mystery

  As the winter of 1323 descends upon a windswept chapel on the edge of Dartmoor, who could blame young priest, Father Mark, for seeking affection from the local miller’s daughter, Mary? But when Mary’s body, and the unborn child she was carrying, is found dead, Mark is the obvious suspect.

  Called to investigate, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock soon begin to have their doubts. Could one of Mary’s many admirers have murdered her in a fit of jealousy? Or might it be someone even closer to home? By the time their search is over, life for Baldwin and Simon, and their families, will never be quiet the same again.

  * * *

  Michael Jecks

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Glossary

  Cast of Characters

  Author’s Note

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Final Note

  * * *

  Michael Jecks

  THE MAD MONK OF GIDLEIGH

  2002

  For all at Caterham & District Rifle Club, but especially my good friend Hugh Keitch.

  Good shooting!

  About the Author

  Michael Jecks gave up a career in the computer industry to concentrate on his writing. He is the founder of Medieval Murderers, has been Chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association, and helped create the Historical Writers’ Association. Keen to help new writers, for some years he organised the Debut Dagger competition, and is now organising the Aspara Writing festival for new writers at Evesham. He has judged many prizes, including the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. Michael is an international speaker on writing and for business. He lives with his wife, children and dogs in northern Dartmoor.

  Michael can be contacted through his website: www.michaeljecks.co.uk.

  He can be followed on twitter (@MichaelJecks) or on Facebook.com/Michael.Jecks.author.

  His photos of Devon and locations for his books can be found at: Flickr.com/photos/Michael_Jecks.

  Acknowledgements

  There are too many people to whom I am indebted for me to mention them all, but I am especially grateful to Mike, a great countryman and local historian in his own right, for introducing me to his friend, the late Dickie Narracott, last hereditary Warden of the Bradford Leat. From them came the plot, and I am hugely grateful.

  There is another person who must be thanked. In the week that my copy-editor asked where we could find a vocabulary of medieval curses and insults, along came an email with thirty-odd. Max, thanks!

  Finally I have to thank those who have helped, advised, guided and slapped me down occasionally: first my wife Jane, then my agent Jane; Marion, Andi and Shona, the world’s three best commissioning editors (I would say that, wouldn’t I), and Joan Deitch, for copy editing with courage, conviction and courtesy.

  Having said all that, of course, I have to point out that all errors are their fault and not mine.

  Glossary

  Benefit of Clergy

  If a priest or monk was accused of a crime, he could claim the ‘benefit’ of being tried only by his peers in an ecclesiastical court. This meant that he was safe from penalties of life and limb – he couldn’t be hanged. To prove his eligibility, he had to recite, usually, the pater noster in Latin or a similar sequence that only a cleric would be expected to know.

  Chevauchée

  A small band of warriors on a raiding party; the name was given to the raid or campaign as well as the group itself.

  Frankpledge

  All the male inhabitants of a vill were automatically members of the Frankpledge. At the age of twelve they had to swear to keep the peace and to restrain anyone who did not. All members were answerable for any infringements and for damages caused by others. This system was imposed by the Franks (the Normans) after the invasion.

  Grace

  In the 1300s Grace could be said either before or after the meal, unlike today when it is invariably spoken before the meal.

  Leyrwyte

  A fine imposed on women for sexual incontinence.

  Pater Noster

  The ‘Our Father’ prayer; at the time of Baldwin and Simon, it was known only by priests and recited in Latin.

  Petty Treason (petit treason)

  The term given to simple treachery. It was the treason of a serf to his master, or even a wife to her husband, as opposed to high treason, which was treachery against the Crown.

  Placebo

  This was the evensong of the dead, known from the first word of the service.

  Seven Interrogations

  The seven questions asked by a priest to confirm that a dying person believed in God, the scriptures, Jesus, and that God would forgive those who sincerely regretted their sins and offences.

  Seyney

  Many monks lived in conditions of extreme hardship, and there were times when they had to be sent away for a short period to recover. At such times, they would be rested and given better food, including good cuts of meat. This recreational period was known as a ‘seyney’.

  Stannaries

  The Stannaries of Devon were any locations in which miners claimed to have found tin to mine. These sometimes lay beyond the bounds of Dartmoor, which at the time was a relatively small area.

  Vill

  A basic administrative area. It could mean a single farm, a hamlet, a small town, borough or city. Every part of England belonged to a vill. In later years, the vill or group of vills grew to become a ‘parish’, but this did not happen until the Tudor period.

  Cast of Characters

  Sir Baldwin de Furnshill

  Once a Knight Templar, he has returned to his old family home in Devon where he is now Keeper of the King’s Peace. He’s known to be an astute investigator of violent crime.

  Lady Jeanne

  His wife, to whom he has been married for two years. Jeanne is a widow whose first husband abused her. She has now learned to enjoy married life.

  Edgar

  Baldwin’s servant and Steward.

  Simon Puttock

  Bailiff of the Stannaries, and Baldwin’s closest friend and trusted companion. Based at the administrative and legal centre of the Stannaries, Lydford Castle, Simon is responsible for keeping the peace wherever miners work under the Warden of the Stannaries, Abbot Robert Champeaux of Tavistock.

  Margaret Puttock (Meg)

  Simon’s wife, the daughter of a farmer, whom he marri
ed many years ago.

  Edith

  Simon and Meg’s daughter, some fifteen years old.

  Hugh

  Simon’s servant of many years.

  Elias

  A sad, widowed ploughman.

  Sir Richard Prouse

  Terribly wounded in a tournament in 1316, he is the impecunious owner of Gidleigh Castle until his death in 1322 aged thirty.

  Mark

  On the death of the previous incumbent, he was given the chapel at Gidleigh. The monk is not happy in the rural backwater.

  Piers

  An intelligent and hardworking peasant, now Reeve in the vill.

  Henry

  Piers’s young, somewhat feckless son.

  Huward

  The miller, living near to the castle.

  Gilda

  Tall, attractive wife to Huward.

  Mary

  Eldest daughter of Huward and Gilda, she is known for her kindness and beauty.

  Flora

  The younger of Huward’s two daughters, and perhaps not so attractive as Mary.

  Ben

  The miller’s spoiled and precocious son.

  Osbert

  A local freeman who adores Mary, but whose affection is not reciprocated.

  Sir Ralph de Wonson

  Master of Wonson Manor, he acquires Gidleigh on Sir Richard’s death.

  Esmon

  Son of Sir Ralph, he is an experienced warrior and successful raider.

  Lady Annicia

  Wife of Sir Ralph and mother to Esmon.

  Surval

  The hermit who tends to Chagford Bridge, maintaining the small chapel at which he prays for travellers and pleads for forgiveness.

  Roger Scut

  A cleric at the canonical church of Crediton, he makes notes during Baldwin’s inquests.

  Thomas

  One of the new Constables at Crediton; a surly but loyal servant of the Law.

  Godwen

  The second Constable at Crediton; he hates Thomas because of a dispute over a woman from many years before.

  Wylkyn

  Once Sir Richard Prouse’s servant, and an essential part of Gidleigh’s household because of his skills with salves and potions, Wylkyn has run away from the castle to live with his brother and become a miner.

  Sampson

  The vill’s fool, poor Sampson is dependent upon alms which he collects at the castle’s door.

  Brian of Doncaster

  The leader of the garrison at Gidleigh, Brian is ambitious and has tied his future to Esmon thinking that the son of Sir Ralph will have a glorious career which must offer opportunities for profit.

  Saul

  A carter who makes his money by transporting food and goods from one town to another.

  Alan

  Apprentice to Saul, Alan often joins him on his travels.

  Author’s Note

  There are some aspects of medieval life which often give rise to confusion, and it’s probably a good idea to clear up some of them before launching into another story.

  Even the most basic concepts of medieval law can give us difficulties. Nowadays we think of the ‘parish’ as being the smallest political and administrative unit. The parish, though, was a Tudor invention, largely designed to deal with problems with the poor. It didn’t exist in the early 1300s, when the smallest unit was the ‘vill’. A Norman term, it could mean anything from a tiny hamlet to a borough, or even areas lumped together to form a city.

  Every man who was not a magnate, knight or his kinsman, cleric or some other form of freeman, had to be in a ‘tithing’. Basically this meant that every man was part of a group of ten, twelve, or maybe more men. (A ‘tithe’ literally means one tenth.) In the less populated rural south and west of England, a vill tended to be a tithing. When a man became ‘outlaw’, he lost his place within a tithing. This was crucial to medieval life because he was now without any protection. Not even the tithingman, the leader of the tithing, would speak up for him.

  Each boy, on reaching adulthood at the age of twelve years, must join his frankpledge and swear to keep the law. On making the oath, he immediately became liable for keeping the peace himself, and liable for damages – both for his own actions and the actions of other members of his tithing. Frankpledge, or frank pledge, as the words suggest, were an imposition of the Normans after the invasion, but based upon a mistranslation of the Old English frithborh, which meant ‘peace-pledge’. Under the Normans, this became a tool for control of the peasants.

  Every peasant was responsible for keeping the peace in his tithing and was legally responsible to, amongst others, all his neighbours. That was why onlookers would pile in to calm fights, stop robbers, even soothe bickering between a husband and wife. It was an effective means of self-policing.

  Here I should point out that women were not included in tithings, nor did they have to join a frankpledge. Women and children couldn’t be ‘outlawed’ for the excellent reason that they were never ‘inlawed’. However, they could be ‘waived’, which had the same unpleasant implications.

  There are far too many books on the history of British law for me to list them all here, but Pollock & Maitland’s History of English Law is an excellent start.

  The Keeper of the King’s Peace had a unique role to play within the legal machinery of England.

  In each county, a number of courts would each month record offences that should be considered by the King’s own judges. Some men were imprisoned ready to be hauled before the judges, others would be set loose, after a payment to guarantee their appearance in court. Then, once a year, the Sheriff would come on his ‘Tourn’ to consider all the cases. Finally, the King’s Justices would arrive, usually once every ten years or so, and would listen to all cases outstanding, issuing swift justice. If you doubt this, consider that during the Eyre of 1238, the Justices disposed of some thirty pleas each day. And a losing petitioner in a matter of felony would have been taken out immediately to be hanged!

  The point here is that the Sheriff and the Justices were turning up a long while after many of the offences had been committed. The primary purpose of the Coroners and Keepers was thus to ‘Keep’ – that is, maintain a record – of the offences. In the case of the Coroners, they had the task of investigating every sudden death; they also had to visit wrecks, and record discoveries of treasure trove.

  We have, from Kent, several copies of the Keepers’ Rolls, which were investigated in 1933 by B. Putnam PhD for the Kent Archaeological Society. She discovered that in the terrible years of King Edward II’s reign, the job of Keeper changed quite dramatically.

  Initially, in December 1307, their duties were: to enforce the peace and the statute of Westminster; to arrest those who resisted and keep them in custody until the King commanded otherwise; to maintain the coinage and prices; and attach coiners and forestallers. This is a good series of duties, along with maintaining the records, but in 1314 the job had expanded to: enforcing the peace and the statute; inquiry by sworn inquest of trespasses and crimes; arrest of those indicted by the inquests; pursuit, if necessary, with the posse comitatus from vill to vill, hundred to hundred, shire to shire, and imprisonment until lawful delivery by the command of the King; to submit a monthly report to the King’s Council of names of malefactors; mandate to the Sheriff to assist and empanel jurors. There was also a promise of ‘supervisors’ to ‘determine’ their indictments.

  Thus, in the space of seven years, the job had grown to give Keepers the job of catching and arresting crooks and seeing them in court. By 1316 these duties had expanded again to include holding formal inquests into felons and felonies. Probably these developments were nothing more than a proof of the disastrous early years of the century, with famine, disease and war leading to an inevitable increase in crime as the poor struggled to survive.

  There is another fascinating insight which we glean from the Kent records. Putnam looked at the records of Gaol Delivery for the same period, and then corr
elated the names. Interestingly, she found that many of the Justices of Gaol Delivery were the Keepers who had originally tried a man and sent him to gaol in the first place (Gaol Delivery meant that the suspect was delivered from gaol to the judge to have his case decided). In the same way, it was not uncommon for a juror who had decided upon a man’s guilt during the original inquest, to then sit on the jury of Gaol Delivery.

  We know very little, sadly, about how the inquests would have been conducted since there are no extant records written by an independent viewer; however, by looking at the set-up of other courts, it is clear that the same general procedures appear to have prevailed, and thus we may extrapolate from them to see how Baldwin might have run his court.

  While looking at Baldwin’s role, it would be unfair not to briefly mention Simon’s, because the Bailiff’s duties were as extensive in many ways.

  The Bailiff of Lydford was the servant of the Stannaries, the ancient tin mining areas of Devon (Cornwall had its own system and its own Stannary). Key areas of responsibility were situated in the centre of Dartmoor, but I believe that his territory was much wider than this. He was responsible for preventing fights and arguments between miners and local landowners, and mining didn’t stop with the old forest of Dartmoor. As a proof of this, one need only consider that the stannary towns of Tavistock, Ashburton and Chagford, were all outside the known extent of the forest of Dartmoor.