Part 1 (1/2)
A Burnable Book.
A Novel.
Bruce Holsinger.
For my mother, Sheila, who taught me to write.
At Prince of Plums shall prelate oppose.
A faun of three feathers with flaunting of fur, Long castle will collar and cast out the core, His reign to fall ruin, mors regis to roar.
By bank of a bishop shall butchers abide, To nest, by G.o.d's name, with knives in hand, Then springen in service at spiritus sung.
In palace of prelate with pearls all appointed, By kingmaker's cunning a king to unking, A magnate whose majesty mingles with mort.
By Half-ten of Hawks might shender be shown.
On day of Saint Dunstan shall Death have his doom.
The thirteenth prophecy, from Liber de Mortibus Regum Anglorum.
('Book of the Deaths of English Kings').
CAST OF CHARACTERS.
ENGLISH ROYALS, MAGNATES, AND RELATIONS.
Richard II, King, son of Prince Edward (the Black Prince).
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, brother of Prince Edward Henry of Bolingbroke, son and heir to John of Gaunt Joan, Countess of Kent, mother of King Richard II.
Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford Stephen Weldon, knight of Oxford's faction Katherine Swynford, governess and consort to John of Gaunt, sister-in-law of Geoffrey Chaucer Robert Braybrooke, Bishop of London.
William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester Michael de la Pole, Baron de la Pole and Lord Chancellor of England Isabel Syward, Prioress of St Leonard's Bromley.
OFFICERS OF THE CITY OF LONDON AND SERVANTS OF THE CROWN.
Thomas Pinchbeak, serjeant-at-law Ralph Strode, common serjeant of London.
James Tewburn, his clerk Thomas Tyle, King's Coroner of London Nicholas Symkok, clerk to the King's Coroner Richard Bickle, goldsmith of London, beadle of Cheap Ward Thomas Tugg, keeper of Newgate Prison Geoffrey Chaucer, controller of the wool custom Philippa Chaucer, his wife, sister of Katherine Swynford COMMON WOMEN OF LONDON AND SOUTHWARK.
Eleanor/Edgar Rykener, maudlyn of Gropec.u.n.t Lane Mary Potts, maudlyn of Gropec.u.n.t Lane.
Agnes Fonteyn, maudlyn of Gropec.u.n.t Lane Joan Rugg, their bawd Bess Waller, bawd of the p.r.i.c.king Bishop; mother of Agnes and Millicent Fonteyn St Cath, maudlyn of the p.r.i.c.king Bishop TRADESMEN, FREEMEN OF LONDON AND SOUTHWARK, AND COMMONERS.
John Gower of Southwark, esquire and poet Will Cooper, his servant.
Simon Gower, his son, clerk to Sir John Hawkwood Mark Blythe, mason of Southwark George Lawler, spicerer of Cornhull Jane Lawler, his wife.
Denise Haveryng, widow of Cornhull Nathan Grimes, master butcher of Cutter Lane, Southwark Tom Nayler, his first apprentice Gerald Rykener, his second apprentice and ward; brother of Eleanor/Edgar Millicent Fonteyn, singlewoman of Cornhull; sister of Agnes Fonteyn Sam Varney, gravedigger IN OXFORD.
Peter de Quincey, keeper of the books of Durham.
John Clanvowe, knight of the King's Chamber John Purvey, curate of Lutterworth, disciple of John Wycliffe IN FLORENCE.
John Hawkwood, mercenary knight, chief of the White Company.
Adam Scarlett, his chief lieutenant Jacopo da Pietrasanta, his chancellor.
Giovanni Desilio, doctor of the Studium Generale, Siena.
Prologue.
Moorfields, north of the walls.
Under a clouded moon Agnes huddles in a sliver of utter darkness and watches him, this dark-cloaked man, as he questions the girl by the dying fire. At first he is kind seeming, almost gentle with her. They speak something like French: not the flavour of Stratford-at-Bowe nor of Paris, but a deep and throated tongue, tinged with the south. Olives and figs in his voice, the embrace of a warmer sea.
He repeats his last question.
The girl is silent.
He hits her.
She falls to the ground. He squats, fingers coiled through her lush hair.
'Doovay leebro?' he gently chants. 'Ileebro, mee ragazza. Ileebro.' It could be a love song.
The girl shakes her head. This time he brings a fist, loosing a spray of blood and spittle from her lips. A sizzle on a smouldering log. Now he pulls her up, dangling her head before him, her body a broken doll in his hands. Another blow, and the girl's nose cracks.
'Ileebro.' Screaming at her now, shaking her small frame.
'Nonloso!' she cries. 'Nonloso, seenoray.' She spits in his face.
He releases her and stands. Hands on his knees, he lets fly a string of words. Agnes can make nothing of them, but the girl shakes her head violently, her hands clasped in prayer.