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LIVING IN…

MIDDLE
THE

AGES
LIVING IN…

MIDDLE
THE

AGES

Series consultant editor: Norman Bancroft Hunt

LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Text and design © 2009 Thalamus Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:

Chelsea House
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York, NY 10001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bancroft-Hunt, Norman.
Living in the Middle Ages / Norman Bancroft Hunt.
p. cm. -- (Living in the ancient world)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8160-6341-3
1. Middle Ages--Juvenile literature. 2. Europe--History--476-1492--Juvenile literature. 3.
Europe--Social life and customs--Juvenile literature. 4. Civilization, Medieval--Juvenile literature.
I.Title. II. Series.

CB351.B34 2008
909.07--dc22 2008033137

Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for
businesses, associations, institutions or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in
New York at: (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755.

You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at: http://www.chelseahouse.com

For Thalamus Publishing

Series consultant editor: Norman Bancroft Hunt
Contributors: John Haywood, Angus Konstam,Warren Lapworth
Project editor:Warren Lapworth
Maps and design: Roger Kean

Printed and bound in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper

Picture acknowledgments
All illustrations by Oliver Frey except for – Roger Kean: 53 (both), 54 (both), 55; Mike White/Temple Rogers: 18–19 (top), 22–23 (below),
24–25, 42–43, 50–51, 60–61, 73, 80–81 (top), 84–85, 86, 88–89, 90–91 (top), 92.

Photographs – Gianni dagli Orti/Corbis: 37 (top), 37 (below), 43 (top), 49, 75; David Reed/Corbis: 54; Archivo Iconografica/Corbis: 40, 43
(below), 47, 52, 60, 87; Arte & Immaginari: 84 (center), 84 (below); Philip de Bay/Corbis: 62–63; Bettman/Corbis: 72 (top); Christies
Images/Corbis: 67 (below); Elio Ciol/Corbis: 84 (left); Corbis: 8–9; Franco Frey: 25 (both), 29 (both); Francis G Mayer: 67 (top);Thalamus
Publishing: 2, 19, 20, 28, 34, 36, 39, 44–45, 48 (both), 57 (both), 63, 66 (all), 69, 72 (below), 74, 76, 82–83 (all); Nik Wheeler/Corbis: 53.
CONTENTS

Introduction Chapter 4: Life in a Medieval Town

Place in History 6 The Growth of Towns 58
What the Middle Ages Did for Us 7 A New Middle Class—the Yeoman 61
Landscape and Climate 8 A New Middle Class—the Burgher 62
A Brief History of Medieval Europe, 800–1450 CE 10 A Burgher’s House 65
Table of Major Dates 12 A Flowering of Styles 66
Merchants Gang Up 68
Chapter 1: Working for the Overlord The Rise of Education and Universities 70
A Life of Obligations 14 Books and the New Literature 72
The Early Medieval Village 16 A Hodge-Podge of Laws 74
A Peasant’s Life in the Farming Year 18 Punishment Fits the Crime 76
Local Medieval Government 22 The Town Inn 78
The Manor House 24 All the Entertainment of the Fair 80
Coinage and Banking 82
Chapter 2: Life in the Castle A Town’s Trade and Commerce 84
An Early Feudal Castle 26 The International Wool Trade 88
The Medieval Stone Castle 28 The Rigors of the Journey 90
A Castle Under Siege 30 The Medieval Port 92
Building a Castle 32
Jobs in the Castle 35 Glossary 94
The Noble Family 36 Index 96
Men-at-Arms 38
The Road to Chivalry 40
Jousting—the Sport of Knights 42

Chapter 3: The Power of the Church

Father of the Community 44
The Abiding Faith 46
Prayer and Toil—the Monastery 48
The Monastery as a Surgery 50
Building God’s House 52
Gothic—Reaching for Heaven 54
Pestilence—the Black Death 56
Place in History

E
6000 BC
CE
4000 B

BCE
3500
E
0 BC E
234 BC
00 CE

E
19 B

BC

BCE
6 00
1

00
11

539
CE
0B
310 E
6 BC
268
CE E
00 B 0 BC E
22 04 BC E
2 BC
E
82
BC

E
7

332 BCE
1 70

30 BC
BC
15
70

747
10

E
E
0 BC
260
E
BC

146 BCE
BC

C
00

500 B
11

800

E
BC

27 BC
509 BC
753

E
 INTRODUCTION

What the Middle Ages

Did for Us
he period called the “Middle
T Ages” is often portrayed as
one of romance, of mighty castles,
of chivalrous knights and their
elegant ladies, but it was also a time
when peasants, through their own
efforts, began to assert their rights.
While it was still a time of
primitive superstition, the Middle
Ages gave us the foundations of
1700
CE
the modern city and the laws to
govern it, the beginnings of
1450
CE modern democracy, a return to a
47
6
CE

13 5
0C monetary economy, the first banks,
E

12 the first real books mass-produced

00
C E
on printing presses, and a merchant
80
0
CE

middle class that would soon

promote undreamed of exploration
of the world in their perilously
small sailing ships.
7
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Landscape and Climate

From the rainswept Atlantic seaboard to the edges of the
Russian hinterland, western Europe is a land of differing
regions, divided by mountain ranges and mighty rivers.

1. Dublin urope’s climate varies enormously,

2. London
3. Hamburg
E from north to south and from west
to east.The temperature gradient from
4. Copenhagen the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean is
5. Oslo extreme, being warmer further south.To the
6. Stockholm east, winters are bitterly cold due to the
7. Reval (Tallinn) prevailing icy winds from the northern
8. Riga Tundra region, and summers are dry and hot. 42
9. Danzig However, temperatures are kept on a more
10. Lübeck even keel along the Atlantic seaboard because
11. Caen of the moderating effect of the ocean. 1
12. Rouen Typically, those countries facing the 41
13. Paris Atlantic Ocean have a much higher average
14. Cologne rainfall than those in the central and eastern
15. Frankfurt areas, which are sheltered by the mountain
16. Munich ranges of the Pyrenees, Alps, and central
17. Bordeaux German highlands. As a result, northwestern
18. Lyon Europe is more suited to growing grain and
19. Basel livestock.While England is best suited to 57
20. Zurich raising sheep, France is the great granary.
21. Arles The mountains have a large effect on both
22. Genoa the climate and cultures, naturally dividing
23. Milan one region from another.They are also the
24. Venice watersheds for Europe’s great rivers, along
25. La Coruña which most trade flows in the Middle Ages.
25
26. Oporto At the start of our story, and with the
27. Lisbon exception of the more arid regions of the
26
28. Cadiz Spanish plateau, approximately 80 percent of 61
29. Toledo Europe is covered by forest.The few roads
30. Málaga that exist are little more than mud tracks, 29
31. Valencia and almost everyone is engaged with
32. Barcelona agriculture in one way or another. Not many 27
33. Cagliari people live in the very few small cities—
34. Florence most inhabit widely scattered villages, often
35. Ravenna of no more than a hundred people. At the 30
28
36. Rome start of the medieval period, that’s all about
37. Naples to change…
38. Palermo
39. Syracuse 46. Denmark-Norway 54. North Sea
40. Bari 47. Sweden 55. Baltic Sea
48. Baltic states 56. Adriatic Sea
41. Ireland 49. Lithuania 57. Atlantic Ocean
42. Scotland 50. Italian states 58. Mediterranean Sea
43. England and Wales 51. Hungary 59. Ionian Sea
44. France 52. Balkan states 60. Tyrrhenian Sea
45. German states 53. Balearic Islands 61. Spanish states

8
 INTRODUCTION

5 6
46
7
46 47 48
46 8
55 48
4
54
3 10 48 9 49
43
2 45
14
12
11 15
13
44 19 20 16
51

17 18 23 24
50
35
21 22 34
52
36 56
50 50
32
37 40
60 61 52
31 50
53 33
59
58 38
61
39

58

9
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

A Brief History of Medieval Europe, 800–1450 CE

While this volume covers the whole period from the late Frankish empire in about
800 CE to the beginnings of the Renaissance in about 1450, it concentrates on two
periods in detail—1000 to 1200 and an “ideal” moment in about 1350–1400.

ollowing the fall of the Roman Empire, In 800 the institution of the Holy Roman
F Europe faced its bleakest period for
centuries as it was occupied by successive
Empire was created when Pope Leo III
crowned Charlemagne “Roman Emperor.”
waves of invaders. Christianity was almost This politically minded move split western
extinguished, but the faith was kept alive by Europe from the Byzantine east, whose
isolated Celtic and Mediterranean monks emperor claimed sovereignty over all of
who ensured its survival. Europe as the direct successor of the ancient The Crusades were a
A series of Gothic, Saxon, and Frankish Roman rulers. defining event of the
states emerged in western Europe.The For centuries to come, Holy Roman Middle Ages. For 200
eventual dominance of the Franks in Emperors and later French kings would years between 1096
northwestern Europe created a degree of battle with each other for dominance of and 1291, Europe
stability.The conversion of the Franks to Italy—sometimes allied to the pope, poured nobles, knights,
Christianity took place just as Muslims were sometimes against him. At the start of the and armed retinues by
invading Spain, and much of the Iberian period, much of Italy was dominated by the the thousands to
peninsula remained in the hands of these Lombards, another Germanic “barbarian” recover Jerusalem and
“Moors” for most of the Middle Ages. race. Soon enough, the southern regions the Holy Land from
came under the thumb of Norman invaders Muslims. In the end, it
Unity of the Holy Roman Empire and became a battleground between was a failure and
The Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties Normans, Byzantines, and Germans. among some unhappy
of the Frankish kingdom halted the Muslim examples, the saddest
advance, and under Charlemagne The Normans and feudalism was that of the
(r.768–814) the Franks created an empire The Normans were descendants of Vikings Children’s Crusade of
that unified western Europe culturally and who settled the region of France around 1212. Most never made
politically. Although this unity was the mouth of the River Seine in it beyond the heel of
short-lived, it was encouraged by about 900.They created the Duchy Italy, prey to slavers and
the Roman Catholic Church. of Normandy, in theory subject to starvation.
 INTRODUCTION

the Frankish kingdom, but in reality quite Eventually, the French kings gained
independent. ascendancy over their nobles, and the
Norman adventurers began invading Italy Hundred Year’s War (1337–1453) ended
in about 1050, and famously Duke William English dominion on the Continent.
of Normandy conquered Anglo-Saxon
England in 1066.The Normans and their A growing spate of urbanization
Angevin successors were great castle-builders, Although there were differences in the
inspiring a spate of building in all parts of peoples, languages, and cultures across
Europe that saw stone towers appear on Europe, there were many similarities.The
almost every suitable hilltop. Roman Catholic Church was the great
It was the Normans who developed defining power and, in theory at least,
feudalism to its peak (see page 14).This from peasant to king, everyone owed
system of obligation lasted until almost allegiance to the pope in Rome as
the end of the Middle Ages, finally spiritual head of the Church and God’s
overthrown by the demands of a representative on Earth.
growing middle class of merchants and In 800, much of Europe was
skilled craftsmen. forested, its low population widely
The feudal system took root scattered, mostly peasants tied to the
throughout western Europe, although the lands of their overlords. By the end of
way it operated altered from region to the Middle Ages Europe had changed
region.While France and England were beyond recognition. Most of the forests were
similar, the numerous rulers of the gone, cleared for grazing land and to provide
patchwork German states kept the peasantry timber for building towns and the growing
in something approaching slavery.The local merchant fleets and navies.
rulers also kept themselves more aloof of The pope or an Towns came to dominate the economy
their overlord, the Holy Roman Emperor. archbishop anoints a and culture. No matter the means of wealth,
His was an elected position, unique in king with oil at his from Germany to Italy, from England to
medieval Europe. coronation. The oil France and Spain (beginning to emerge from
symbolizes that the Muslim dominance), the new towns
Fighting France monarch has received prospered through the efforts of a growing
France’s story during the Middle Ages was God’s grace from his middle class of merchants, fueled by cheap
one of the king struggling to dominate his representative on Earth. labor, and financed by the new banks of
virtually independent barons. Unity was It also gives popes a Germany and northern Italy.
needed to drive the English from their vast claim to rule the king, All over the Continent, universities had
holdings in the old Frankish kingdom. a source of much appeared, sponsoring a passion for learning
These were the hereditary Norman lands conflict throughout the and acting as a unifying force between many
and those of the Angevin (or Plantagenet) Middle Ages. different countries.With the new knowledge
dynasty that followed through intermarriage, came discoveries of ancient Greek and
which originated from the region of Roman teaching, and the way was paved for
southwestern France. the cultural Renaissance.
Table of Major Dates
All dates CE 800 900 1000 1050 1100

PEOPLE • Jewish merchants • Abbey of Cluny • Dawn of the new • Welsh epic poem • The First Miracle
AND in Lombardy open the established in France, millennium creates the Mabinogion is (Passion) Play is
CULTURE first bank/money 910 widespread terror; written, 1050 performed, 1110
repository, 808 • St. Bernard's people think it is the • Work begins on • St. Bernard
• Vikings discover Hospice founded in Day of Judgment Westminster Abbey in founds a
Iceland, 861 Switzerland, 962 • Lief Eriksson London, 1052 monastery at
• Technique of • Olaf Skutkonung is discovers the North • Appearance of Clairvaux, 1115
nailed-on horseshoes first Swedish king to American continent, Halley’s Comet • First trade guilds
invented, 890 accept Christianity, 1000 recorded in Bayeux are recorded, 1120
993 • Musical scales Tapestry, 1066 • Pope recognizes
introduced by Guido • Start of the the religious
d’Arezzo, 1027 Investiture Crisis that military Order of
damages authority of the Knights
the Holy Roman Templar, 1128
Empire, 1075 (until • Work begins on
1172) revolutionary
• Construction begun Gothic abbey
on the Tower of church of St. Denis
London, 1078 in Paris, 1132
• The Domesday • Chartres
Book compiled, first Cathedral built on
The peak of survey of the Middle Gothic lines, 1145
Crusader castles, Ages, 1087 • First mention of
Krak des Chevaliers. • First Cistercian Russia in historic
monastery founded in documents, 1147
Citeaux, France, 1098

MILITARY • Charlemagne • Magyars enter • First persecution of • Norman kingdom • Stephen of

AND crowned Roman Germany, 907 heretics by the established in Boulogne seizes
POLITICS Emperor, 800 • Franks recognize a Church, 1012 southern Italy, 1053 the English crown
• Vikings raid French small area of the • Danes conquer • Macbeth, King of on the death of his
coast as far south as Seine estuary as the England, 1014 Scots, is killed by his uncle, Henry I. Civil
the Loire estuary, 814 Duchy of Normandy • Norman rival Malcolm, 1057 war breaks out,
• Kenneth MacAlpine under Viking Hrolf adventurers act as • Duke William of 1135
founds a unified (Rollo) the Ganger, mercenaries in Italy, Normandy defeats • Start of
Scotland, 844 911 1015 King Harold at Hohenstaufen
• Danes attack the • Rollo annexes all of • Navarre annexes Hastings and dynasty in
Anglo-Saxon kingdom Normandy, 923 Castile in Spain, 1028 conquers England, Germany, 1138
of Wessex, 871 • Battle of Lechfeld • Macbeth of Moray 1066 • Second Crusade
• Alfred defeats the ends Magyar threat kills Duncan in battle • Normans begin ends in failure,
Danes, 878, England to western Europe, at Elgin, Scotland, conquest of Sicily, 1149
divided between the 955 1040 1072
Danelaw to the north • First record of silver • Toledo in Spain
and Wessex in the mining in Germany’s recaptured from the
south Harz mountains, 964 Muslims, 1081
• Viking fleet • First Crusade
besieges Paris, but is begins, 1096
driven off by Charles • Crusaders capture
the Fat, 887 Jerusalem, 1099

12
 INTRODUCTION

1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450

• Council of Cathar • Foundation of • Minting of gold • Dante’s Divine • Black Death ends • Italian architect
heretics formed in Cambridge University, coins begins, 1252 Comedy is written, after ravaging most Filippo Brunelleschi
southern France, 1200 • Birth of the painter c.1300 of Europe, 1350 produces his Rules of
1167 • Wolfram von Giotto in Florence, • Birth of Italian poet • First marine Perspective, 1412
• Foundation of Eschenback writes of Italy, first of the new and humanist thinker insurance begins in • The Medici of
Oxford University, knights and chivalry “Renaissance” artists, Francesco Petrarca Genoa, c.1350 Florence become
England, 1167 in Parzifal, 1203 1267 (Petrarch), 1304 • Hans Fugger founds papal bankers, 1414
• Romantic verse • Francis of Assisi • The Venetian Marco • Giotto paints his a bank in Augsburg, • Joan of Arc relieves
Lancelot is written, founds the Franciscan Polo starts his 24- frescos in Padua, Germany, 1380 the siege of Orléans,
1168 Order of monks, 1209 year journey to China, Italy, 1305 • Theologian Wycliffe 1429
• Thomas à Becket • Gottfried von 1271 • Birth of Italian is expelled from • Portuguese sailors
murdered in Canterbury Strassburg writes • English philosopher humanist writer Oxford and his first explore Africa’s west
Cathedral, 1170 Tristan und Isolde, Roger Bacon is Giovanni Boccaccio, translation into coast, 1434
• First recorded 1210 imprisoned for 1313 English of the Bible • Birth of Leonardo
windmill in western • Danes adopt the heresy, 1277 • Construction is condemned, 1382 da Vinci, 1452
Europe, 1180 first national flag in • The romantic poem begun on the Papal • Geoffrey Chaucer
• Reynard the Fox is Europe, 1218 Lohengrin is written, Palace at Avignon in writes the Canterbury
written, 1186, a French • Foundation of 1285 France, 1334 Tales, 1346–1400
fable that influenced Naples University in • Spectacles are • Hanseatic League • King addresses
later writers Italy, 1224 invented, 1290 dominates Baltic parliament in English
• First Florin minted in • Roger Bacon first • First mechanical trade, 1344 rather than French for
Florence, 1189 records gunpowder in clocks recorded, • Approximately 24 first time, 1367
• Teutonic Order of Europe, 1249 1270 million die in the • Construction on the
Knights founded, 1190 Black Death, Bastille fortress in
1346–50 Paris begins, 1369

• Frederick I • Fourth Crusade • Byzantines • The papacy is • English victory over • Owen Glyndwr
Barbarossa turns from the Holy recapture moved from Rome to the French at Poiters proclaims himself
(1152–90) becomes Land to sack Constantinople from Avignon, 1305 temporarily halts the Prince of Wales and
Holy Roman Emperor Constantinople, 1204 the fading Latin • The English capture Hundred Year’s War, rebels against
• Frederick • King John of empire, 1261 and execute Scottish 1356 England, 1400
Barbarossa sacks England agrees to • Muslim armies rebel William Wallace, • Hundred Year’s War • French are
Milan in Italy, 1162 make England a capture Acre, the last 1305 is renewed, 1369 decisively defeated
• Henry II of England papal fief, 1213 Christian stronghold • Robert the Bruce • Start of the “Great by the English at
formally annexes • King John signs the in Palestine, marking defeats Edward II at Schism” when two Agincourt, 1415
Ireland, 1171 Magna Carta, the end of successful Bannockburn and and then three • The English burn
• Saladin recaptures creating rudiments of crusades, 1291 makes Scotland opposing popes Joan of Arc at the
Jerusalem for the a parliamentary • Edward I’s “Model independent, 1314 existed, 1378–1414 stake in Rouen, 1431
Muslims, 1187 system, 1215 Parliament” summons • Swiss defeat • The Peasants’ • The English are
• Third Crusade is • Pope orders the knights and burghers Habsburg dynasty at Revolt is led by Watt defeated by the
proclaimed, 1189 creation of the from English shires Morgarten, 1315 Tyler in England, French at Castillon,
Inquisition to end and towns to • Start of the 1381 ending the Hundred
heresy, 1233 participate in Hundred Years War Years War, 1453
government between England and • Start of the Wars of
Monks kept alive the decisions, 1295 France, 1337 the Roses between
Christian faith and the • Persecution of the Lancaster and
skills of reading and Jews gathers pace in York dynasties of
writing. Germany, 1348 England, 1455

13
CHAPTER 1

Working for the Overlord

A Life of Obligations
Beset by enemies—Magyars from the east, Moors from the south, and Vikings from
the north—the Franks have developed a social and military system that offers
protection against external threat. This structure is known as the feudal system.

he word feudal comes from the Latin

T feudum, or fief (estate). A fief is a parcel
of land held by an individual in return for
his allegiance and military commitment to
his feudal superior.The roots of feudalism go
back to the barbarian invasions during the
last years of the Roman Empire.
The holding of a piece of land in return
for certain obligations was common under
Roman law, while the fealty (an oath of
loyalty) sworn by an inferior to his superior
is a Germanic tribal tradition. Feudalism
simply combines the two practices.
The feudal system is a pyramid, with the
king or a duke at the top and the mass of
peasants at its base. From top to bottom,
feudalism is based around military service.
Beneath the king or duke come the
powerful nobles—barons and then counts—
and lower down the scale the many lesser
knights.

Protection at a price
The minor lords and knights are mounted
warriors, who need to own the resources to
supply horses, armor, and equipment.They
are required to devote most of their time to
military service.
In return, their overlord grants them land
as a fief, including all the peasants living
there.The peasants, called serfs or villeins, are
virtual slaves of their lord, and toil in the
fields to create the wealth the knight needs
to fulfill his feudal obligations.
In times of war, the knight conscripts
many of his serfs to take up arms as
infantrymen to fight for the king or duke.
This forced conscription is part of their
obligation to their lord. In return, the lord
must offer his serfs protection, so that they
can sow and harvest the fields in safety and
raise children.
 Raiders of Europe
SCANDINAVIA

Uppsala
Vikings SCOTLAND
Magyars
NORTH
Arabs and Moors 739
SEA
IRELAND
Ribe BALTIC
841 York SEA

ENGLAND Hamburg
London 845

ATLANTIC 882
AUSTRASIA
OCEAN
Paris 937
883 908
NEUSTRIA
Tours
732

844 Lyons
899
Venice
Toulouse
Narbonne
UMAYYAD 721
CALIPHATE
714 Toledo
Corsica
Rome
711 936
Seville
1015
Cordoba Sardinia
844 Balearics 1015
711 859
Gibralta GREECE
M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A
Athens
821
Sicily

Servants of a higher authority own fiefs. Many kings are little more than
In the war-torn Middle Ages, free farmers figureheads. Barons administer their own
lack the means to defend their own lands, estates, dispense their own justice, levy taxes
and so many seek the protection of a knight. and tolls, and demand military service from
Unfortunately, this means exchanging their their vassals. Often, the barons can field
freeholding status for serfdom, but at least it greater armies than the king.
ensures survival.
In theory, it is the king or duke who The Catholic Church apart
grants a knight his fief, but in practice many In the Middle Ages, the Church stands apart
lesser knights lack the resources to defend from the feudal system by not being a vassal
their land against large invasions. In this case, of king or noble. Under the Carolingian
they often surrender their lands to a more kings—who adopted some aspects of
powerful count or baron. In turn, this Roman government—Church lands were
overlord grants the fief back to the knight, given special privileges, which have been
who becomes his vassal, or subject (“vassal” maintained. Far left: The feudal
comes from the Latin vassus, meaning Bishops may operate separately from royal pyramid of power—
servant). authority.They can also pass local laws, own from mighty king or
In theory, the king is the feudal overlord, the serfs working on their land, and raise duke down the ranks to
but in reality his barons are supreme in their tithes (taxes) as they see fit. the lowly serfs.

15
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The Early Medieval Village

At the heart of every fief is the village—a community where
the villeins live. It is usually situated close by the local
knight’s castle, to offer service and receive his protection.

udford is a fictitious but authentic early

L medieval village.There are various
reasons for its siting, but the most important
is that the castle guards a ford, which crosses
the river at the highest point barges can
reach from the nearby sea.The road here is
an old Roman route, and much trade is 5
carried along it.The knight can increase his
wealth by charging a toll on all merchants
traveling north or south on the road.
Ludford’s lord is Sir Edmund, a knight of
some eminence, and his manor (see “Lord of
the manor”) boasts a castle of a type called
motte and bailey (see pages 26–27), a simple
affair built on the low rising hill beyond the 3
village.The land around the river crossing
was cleared long ago during Roman times
and provides plenty of fertile ground for
farming.

Everyone is a farmer
Ludford’s population is less than a hundred
men, women, and children. Almost all of
them work in the fields, although some
women and a few men are also employed in
the castle, doing menial jobs in the stables
and kitchen.
Some of the population are peasant
farmers, who rent their land from either the
local priest or from Sir Edmund, the rest are
his serfs.
Children are also expected to toil in the
fields, with the youngest looking after the
pigs and poultry.There is no school, since no
one needs to be able to read, write, or count
any more than a handful of farm animals.

16
 CHAPTER 1: WORKING FOR THE OVERLORD

Religious observance
Ludford has a small church and a priest who
lives in a hut beside it. He also acts as
chaplain to the castle, and survives on the
rent from peasants living on the nearby
church lands, tithes from the villagers, as well
6 as a small stipend (salary) from the knight.
However, the monastery at some distance
from the village also provides religious
counsel. Its monks share the knight’s revenue
from tolls and exact tithes (see pages 48–49)
on the villagers in return for providing
medical care.
Beyond the outskirts of the village, the
dark forest closes in, isolating Ludford from
4 its nearest neighbors miles away.

The peasant’s hut

At this stage of its development, Ludford
consists of about 30 families living in rough
huts.These are typically of one or two rooms
(see page 20), constructed of simple timber
frames filled in with dried turf or “wattle and
daub”—a screen of small branches covered
in a mud made from soil and cow dung,
whitewashed after drying out.The floor is
just stamped-down dirt. A portion of the
house is divided off as a “byre” to stable the
livestock in winter.
The roof is a thatch of straw or river
rushes.There are neither chimneys nor real
windows. Smoke from the hearth escapes
through a hole in the roof. Furnishings are
few—simple stools, a trestle table, and beds on
the floor made from rushes, straw, or leaves.
1. Ancient Roman road,
now fallen into
disrepair. Lord of the manor
From the Latin manere (to remain, or
2. Ford across the river, dwell), manor is the term that describes a
with the lord’s tollgate. feudal lord’s estate. A manor consists of a
2 fortified manor house (or castle), one or
3. Huts of the villagers. more villages, and up to several thousand
acres of land divided into meadow,
4. Chapel and priest’s pasture, cultivated fields, and forest.
hut, and behind it the The farm land is divided into three—
“tithe barn.” about half for the lord of the manor,
about a third for the church, and the
5. The lord-knight’s remainder for the peasants and serfs.
motte-and-bailey castle. Peasants who rent land, called a croft, pay
for it by giving at least half of every week
6. Benedictine to work for the lord and the church.
monastery.

17
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

A Peasant’s Life in the Farming Year

The turning seasons mark the basic rhythm of people’s lives.
The time of year determines what they do, the length of the
working day, and what they eat.

his is an agricultural world in which as

T much as 90 percent of the population is
engaged in farming.The weather shapes the
lives of the serfs, and determines the
outcome of the harvest—and whether
people will survive or die of famine.While
the Church marks the New Year on January
1, for the medieval peasant Lady Day, March
25, is the start of their New Year. It is the
time when work in the field begins in
earnest after the winter lull.
The winter months are far from idle,
however. December is occupied with
mending tools, carrying out maintenance,
and caring for the confined animals. Dung
from the barns is stockpiled and mixed with
marl (a clay rich in lime used as fertilizer)
and spread on the fields. Unfortunately, there
is never enough to fertilize more than the A harrow is used for
closest strips. breaking up the soil and
covering over seeds. It
The spring planting has between four and
The fields are made up of long strips, and six wooden beams
divided into fertile and fallow fields. In order called bulls, into which
to give the soil time to recover its fertility, are set wooden pegs
fields are left fallow, or unplanted, for a year, projecting down to rake
which means only half of the available the earth. The bulls are
ground can be used for crops. However, the joined together by
concept of crop rotation is catching on and wooden crossbeams.
improving yields (see “The three-field system”).
The first plowing starts in April when the
soil is soft enough to turn easily. A wheeled The three-field system
plow is used on sandy soil, but in heavy clay One simple agricultural improvement has
areas the “moulboard” plow is preferred.The been the change from a two- to a three-
moulboard, mounted on the right-hand side field system, where one field is planted
behind the plowshare, turns over the cut with winter grain, one with spring grain,
earth.The heavy plow is pulled by up to and the third is left fallow, ready for use in
eight oxen or heavy horses, guided by a the following year.This crop rotation
plowman. Each team is expected to plow an system improves a village’s production
acre a day. during the year by about one third.
Behind the plowmen come the sowers Improved horse harnesses and the A moulboard
planting barley, oats, peas, and beans.The introduction of horseshoes has also plow produces a deep
seed is protected by covering it with soil by increased the efficiency of plowing teams furrow and turns earth
“harrowing.” A harrow is effectively a large over those using oxen, and horses are that the coulter blade
wooden rake which is dragged over the becoming more widely used in farming. and plowshare have cut
planted ground. through the surface.

18
 CHAPTER 1: WORKING FOR THE OVERLORD

Above: This illustration Summer activities

from a manuscript of Haymaking is the main activity of June, and
about 1050 shows serfs involves almost everyone in the village.
using a hoe and long- Teams of haymakers, using long-handled
handled scythes to cut scythes, cut the grass close to the ground.
grain in August. Women and children follow behind them
turning the hay to ensure it dries evenly.
Finally, the hay is gathered into large stacks.
The hay crop is vital to the village. It
provides the main winter fodder for animals
and a good crop means a steady supply of
fresh meat over winter, a good supply of
breeding stock, or a surplus for sale.
As the summer progresses, the main task is
weeding with hoes or a pair of long-handled
sticks, one with a Y-fork at the end and the
other with a small sickle blade. Used
together, they cut the stem of the weed at
ground level.
The peasants go hungry in July. Grain
stores and vegetables are at their lowest and
many peasants eke out their diet by foraging
in the forest, some of the more daring by
poaching their lord’s game.

Following the plowman, Harvest time

the sower scatters seed Planting continues into May, and children Weather permitting, the main grain harvest
from a box. He is with slings defend the newly-sown seed begins in August. Several weeks of warm sun
followed by a harrow from birds. Only the lord’s doves are safe, and gentle rain are required for a good crop
and boys with slings to since killing one brings a heavy penalty.The to grow, but also several dry sunny days are
stone the hungry doves cause considerable damage to crops needed to bring the harvest in.
rooks and crows. and they are a hated symbol of the lord’s Wheat is harvested with a sickle and cut
power. just below the ear of corn, leaving the long
Other peasants attend to the gardens, used stubble standing in the field. A team of
to grow such staples as cabbages, onions, five—four reapers and a binder—can harvest
leeks, and garlic. Flax and hemp are also two acres of crops in a day. In a process
grown for use in making cloth, rope, and known as “gleaning,” some peasants are
sacking. Culinary and medicinal granted the right to pick up any grain that
herbs include parsley, fennel, falls to the ground during harvesting.This is
celery, camomile, mint, done before livestock is released to graze the
summer savory, catmint, stubble. Gleaning rights are hotly contested
mustard, opium poppy, because they are of considerable benefit to
and coriander (cilantro). the recipients.
19
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Apple picking in a
French medieval village.
The lord, with his bailiff,
checks on the progress
the serfs are making in
picking his apples.

Into the fall

In September, other crops such as peas and
beans are picked, and the grain is processed.
It is first threshed with a flail to separate the
individual grains from the ears and then
winnowed to remove the chaff and straw.
This is done by throwing the grains on a
winnowing sheet and letting the wind blow
the lighter chaff and straw away.The chaff
and straw is collected to use as animal fodder.
Church tithes—one sheaf in every ten—
are collected from the field before the
peasants take the crop to the lord’s barns (see
page 23). Carefully stored and kept free from
vermin—a difficult task—the grain will last
for several years. Because flour is much
harder to keep, the grain is only milled when
required for making bread.
Toward the end of September and
throughout October, swineherds drive their 1. Thatch roof of straw or
pigs into the woods to forage for acorns, a river reeds, with an open
means of fattening them up for slaughter. end to allow smoke to
Martinmas (November 11) is the traditional escape.
day for slaughtering and salting pigs and 1
older livestock to provide a supply of meat 2. Wattle
for the coming winter. and daub
Little of the animals is wasted.The flesh wall.
provides meat, most of which is preserved by
salting or smoking it.The skin is cured
(preserved) into tough leather, the bones
dried for making needles and pins, or boiled 3
to make glue. Even the blood is carefully
saved to make blood puddings.
In mid-November it is time to collect
firewood from the forest.The serfs are
forbidden from taking anything but dead
wood for their own use, and the amount
they are allowed to take is limited. Peat is
also cut from the wettest sections of the river
2 4
meadows and stacked to dry for the winter 3. Simple
fire. Other serfs cut reeds to be dried for roof furnishings:
thatching. three-legged stools,
The success of the harvest will determine trestle table, and a straw
how the people fare during the harsh winter bed on the floor.
months before it is time to prepare the fields
for the next year’s sowing. 4. Wall dividing off the animals’ byre.

20
 CHAPTER 1: WORKING FOR THE OVERLORD

The medieval peasant’s diet The common drink is ale, an alcoholic

Serf or peasant, the diet is unchanging.The concoction made from grain, water, and
staples are coarse unleavened black bread, fermented with yeast. In some regions, a
peas porridge, and a broth of stewed root more expensive beer is also available, the
vegetables called pottage. Pottage is a soup- difference between medieval ale and beer
stew made from oats, occasionally flavored being that beer also uses hops as a flavoring.
with beans, peas, turnips, parsnips, or leeks.
There is very little meat in the diet, and Peasants’ clothing
most protein is obtained from butter and The clothing of peasants and serfs is
cheese made from cows’ milk. Since the generally made from rough wool or linen
choicest cuts of any freshly slaughtered made from flax fibers.Women spin wool into
A cheese mold and animal go to the lord of the manor, the threads and weave a coarse cloth. It is rare
butter churn. Butter is peasants are left with the bones and gristle. for any peasant to own more than two sets
made freshly from Of this, they hash and mash the fatty pork, of clothing.
cow’s milk, but cheese stringy mutton, or tough chicken (only after Men wear a tunic, with long stockings or
curds are allowed to passing egg-laying stage) into soggy stews. leggings, while women wear long gowns
mature in the mold. Their teeth are worn to stumps from with sleeveless tunics and a simple form of
gnawing bones and munching coarse grains, wimple to cover the head. Sheepskin cloaks
which usually contain grit from the flour and woolen hats and mittens are worn in
grinding. winter to protect against the cold. For those
who can afford them, linen undergarments
Adding to the diet protect the skin from the scratchy outer
Although there is little free time in the clothing.
working week, a few men manage to slip The base coloring of cloth is a russet
down to the river bank in early evenings in (brown), so most clothing is a drab
the hope of a catch. Fish is fried or stewed, combination of browns, reds, and grays, with
as well as smoked or salted to preserve it for only small variations. Both men and women
the winter. wear wooden clogs or shoes made of thick
The peasant crofter can grow such cloth or leather. Leather boots are soled and
Pigs are seasonal vegetables in his garden as lettuces, covered with wooden patens (plates) to keep
sent out to beans, radishes, carrots, turnips, and onions. the feet dry. Children’s clothing is simply a
forage. Most keep a few scrawny chickens that miniature version of their parents’.
provide tiny eggs, but the serf is reduced to Outer clothes are almost never laundered,
taking eggs from the nests of any and all but linen underwear does get a regular
wild birds—from swans to sparrows. Fruit washing.The tunics and leggings smell of
trees and bushes provide apples, pears, plums, sweat and the wood smoke that permeates
and berries, but most of this supply belongs fabric in the poorly ventilated huts.
to the lord or the priest, so only a small
amount of fruit finds its way into the
peasant’s diet.

The
women grow
seasonal
vegetables in
the small
croft garden.

21
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Local Medieval Government

The oppressed peasants and virtually enslaved serfs are further burdened by the
obligations they owe to their lord and the Church. Both powers rely on the “reeve”
to make sure people work hard, obey the rules, and pay their taxes.

efore the Norman conquest of England

B in 1066, Germanic Anglo-Saxons lived in
rural communities called tuns (from which
the word “town” is derived). A tun comprised
a group of ten families called tithings, or
“tens.” In turn, tithings were grouped in
blocks of ten, called hundreds, and collectively
the hundreds formed into geographically
based divisions known by the Anglo-Saxon
word scir, which means,“a piece cut off.” Raising the “hue and
The Normans altered the pronunciation, cry,” the reeve is joined
scir became “shire,” and they loosely adopted by a posse of villagers.
the boundaries of the shires as feudal fiefs.
They did much the same in France and Italy.

The reeve’s responsibilities

The Anglo-Saxons appointed a gerefa
(guardian) for each hundred, which the
Normans now call a “reeve.” Each lord of
the manor has his own reeve, who supervises
the work of the serfs and guards against any
laziness or cheating.The baronial overlord’s
reeve is an important person because he
looks after the whole shire. His title is “shire
reeve,” or sheriff.
Like others of his station, the reeve of
Ludford has a police responsibility to the
lord of the manor. He has authority to raise
the “hue and cry” for the pursuit of thieves
and other criminals.The hue and cry is a
communal posse in which all who hear the
cry that a crime has been committed are
bound by honor to join the pursuit until the
villain is captured.
The reeve is also responsible for
overseeing the collection of his lord’s taxes
and tolls, as well as enforcing the Church
tithes. In return, he is allowed to keep a
portion of each and also enjoys the benefit
of choice farming acreage and the use of
serfs to work it.

The church’s great tithe barn is one of the largest

structures in Ludford. Winnowed grain is taken to
one of the mills for grinding at no cost to the priest.

22
 CHAPTER 1: WORKING FOR THE OVERLORD

The role of the Church

The Church dominates everybody’s life
A spell in the village because it is the representative of God’s
stocks for wrongdoers earthly power (see page 46). At every level of
is an unpleasant medieval society, people are gripped by their
experience. utter belief in the physical reality of Heaven
and Hell. Since it is common knowledge
that the only way to reach the heavenly
paradise after death is with the blessing of
the Roman Catholic Church, everyone does
their best to honor their obligations to the
Church.
As a result, the Church has total control
over the people. One such obligation is to
work unpaid on Church lands. For the serfs
who also have to devote a portion of their
time to working in their lord’s fields, this is
an extra hardship, using time that could be
better spent working on their own plots,
producing food for their families.

A religious tax
In addition, both serfs and free peasants pay
to their local church about 10 percent of
what they produce in a year—a form of tax
called a tithe. Because there is almost no
coinage in circulation, tithes are paid in
seeds, harvested grain, fruit, or livestock.
The produce that forms the tithe is kept
in huge tithe barns. Failure to pay may result
in arrest by the reeve and subsequent
punishment—the stocks and floggings are
common. In addition, the priest tells the
offender that his soul will certainly go to
Hell unless he does religious penance (see
pages 46–47).

Hatched, matched, and dispatched A priest joins the hands

The Church is involved at every stage of a of a couple during a
person’s life. Even the poorest must pay a wedding. Early medieval
priest for the baptism of their children, marriages are secular
which is essential because the unbaptized are affairs—a priest is not
unable to pass the portals of Heaven. needed to officiate, but
To remain unmarried is considered sinful, by the 14th century the
and again the priest must be paid to bless the Church makes it
ceremony. In order to reach Heaven, burial unlawful to wed out of
in holy ground is essential, and church church.
burials are a heavy cost for families.
However you look at it, the Roman
Catholic Church receives wealth from every
quarter—so much in fact, that its disposable
income far outreaches that of the king. And
as well as that, it is exempt from taxes.
23
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The Manor House

While the most powerful lords live in large castles—either
older ones or newly constructed ones, built with the king’s
permission—the lesser nobility prefers the extra comfort
afforded by a manor house.

anor houses vary in size, reflecting the

M lord’s wealth and status.They often
comprise several buildings and are mainly
self-sufficient, with serfs growing the lord’s
food and keeping his livestock in the grounds
surrounding the house. Because the times are
uncertain, the manor house is often fortified,
and while the defenses will not
keep out an army, they are
sufficient to give the lord,
his family, and servants 4
protection against
bandits and smaller
raiding groups.

5. Guests gather in the 8. Storerooms at ground

2. The dovecote. great hall, ready for the level, where the lord
1. The kitchen, next to feast. keeps his luxury goods
10
the brew and bake- 3. The buttery and and valuables.
houses, is a hive of pantry, with a guest 6. The lord and lady’s
activity. Because of the chamber above. private chamber, 9. Outbuildings line the
fire risk, it stands reached via a staircase walled courtyard. They
separate and is linked 4. The chaplain has his from the hall. provide room for stores,
to the main building by own room above the arms, servants, and 10. The fortified
a passage way. entrance to the hall. 7. The private chapel. dogs. manor’s gatehouse.

24
 CHAPTER 1: WORKING FOR THE OVERLORD

Top: Stokesay’s north

end, with the lord’s
private apartments on
top, surrounding wall,
and the later timber-
framed gatehouse (built
in the 17th century).
The great hall, seen
here (center) from the
east, links the private
6 apartments to the tower
keep, with its separate
entrance.

Stokesay Castle
Despite its name, Stokesay in England is a
7
fortified manor house—a fine example of
the more luxurious living available to the
lord of a manor than a drafty castle can offer.
Its owner—a leading wool merchant—is a
5 wealthy man. He built Stokesay to impress
his business partners as much with the
8 elegance of his house as with its strength.
At the southern end there is a three-story
tower topped by battlements—a place of
security for the family to retire in case of

Development of the
manor house
Mid-10th century,
These plans show the Anglo-Saxon enclosure
same building at Late 12th century hostilities.The lord’s private apartments are
different periods. The situated at the northern end, and include a
house starts small, but large solar (see page 33) with unusually large
expands to become a Mid-11th century, late windows.These are set up high to make it
comfortable home for Saxon-early Norman difficult for an attacker to reach, and are
the lord of the manor. protected by arrow slits beneath.The
In the earliest days, Early 13th century
windows let in plenty of light while not
windows are few, and harming the house’s defensive capabilities.
small to make them Early 12th century In between is a great hall for entertaining,
easily defended. As the with heavy wooden shutters to secure them
times become more in case of attack. Stokesay also has a
peaceful, the walls are defensive outer wall running in a semi-circle
pierced by more and from the north end to the tower, with a
larger windows. Mid-12th century Early 14th century gatehouse in its center. Beyond the wall, a
wet moat is supplied from a pond.
25
CHAPTER 2

Life in the Castle

An Early Feudal Castle
In the Dark Ages, the Roman fortifications were dismantled and their stones used
for building houses and churches. When castles begin to appear again during the
9th and 10th centuries, they are constructed from wood.

he castle pictured here is typical of the Where the palisade is pierced by a gate, a
T earliest Norman fortifications. As the
Normans conquer lands in northern France,
second area of enclosed ground forms the
bailey. Another ditch and palisade surrounds
England, and Italy, they need strongholds that the bailey, and the two fortifications are
can be erected quickly and defended against connected by a wooden walkway or ramp.
the hostile natives. Many of these wooden The bailey contains a kitchen, barns,
structures take the form known as the stores, stables, animal pens for livestock,
motte-and-bailey castle. workshops for carpenters and smiths, a
The motte, or mound, is surrounded by a chapel and a well, as well as domestic
fortified enclosure called a bailey.The bailey quarters for the lord’s retainers and servants.
is protected by a ditch, the earth from which
is thrown up to form a steep-sided bank. Using the lie of the land
This raises the height an attacker must climb The exact layout of these motte-and-bailey
to reach the timber palisade that runs along castles varies considerably, depending on the
the top of the bank.This “ring-work”—the features of the local terrain. For instance, an
term usually applied to a castle’s outer existing hill or rise in the ground might be 1
defenses—is formed from stout tree trunks used for the motte, otherwise it must be
rammed into the earth and fixed together. man-made. Some early castles have even
been constructed inside the remains of pre-
The Norman-style castle medieval earthworks, such as old Celtic
A wooden platform runs along inside the hillforts, which provide additional outer
palisade to form a walkway, and the space rings of ditches and banks.
below is sometimes filled in with earth to The Normans brought the motte-and-
thicken the base of the palisade. Inside the bailey castle to England, and many were
ring-work stands the motte, usually about erected within months of the country’s
15–30 feet high, sometimes surrounded by a subjection. However, most have now been
second ring-work.The top of the mound is rebuilt of stone to be far stronger.
flattened and on its summit stands a tall
wooden tower, called a keep or donjon.

If danger threatens, the

local serfs and villeins
take their goods and
livestock to the castle
for protection.

26
 CHAPTER 2: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

1. Wooden palisade 4. The drawbridge can 6. Outer bailey well, 8. Walkway over the 10. Raised motte.
standing on top of a be raised to prevent usually used only in cross-ditch, connecting
rampart made from attackers from reaching times of siege. the outer bailey to the 11. The wooden donjon
earth dug out of the the secondary inner bailey, with its or castle keep stands
ditch. gatehouse in the 7. The main ditch own gatehouse. on top of the motte. It
palisade surrounding completely surrounds only has small windows
2. The castle’s main the outer bailey. the entire castle inside 9. Inner bailey, with on the upper floor to
gateway, with defensive the palisade. lord’s stables and armed make it easier to defend
extensions of the 5. Outer bailey, with its retainers’ quarters. against attackers who
palisade on either side. several buildings for might break through all
smiths, carpenters, the other defenses.
3. Bridge across the stables, kitchens, and
main defensive ditch, quarters for the
connecting the main servants and workers. 11
gatehouse to the outer
bailey.

10

8
5

4
3
7

The lord’s dungeon

The small stream on the The modern word “dungeon” is derived
left is the castle’s main from donjon, which itself is the medieval
water supply, but Latin for domnio, meaning “home of the
sensible castle owners lord.”The fact that captives were often
dig a well near the held in the donjon’s cellar has led to the
donjon to provide some connection between “dungeon” and
water in times of siege. “prison.”

27
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The Medieval Stone Castle

Within a few years of the Norman conquest of England, C C
Norman-French castles of stone have replaced the early
wooden motte-and-bailey structures. B B

astles are centers for administration and Tower keep—Conisbrough A A

C the dispensation of justice.They are
constructed at strategic sites, often along
This is an example of a tower keep, a castle
where the donjon stands alone, without
borders, roads, or rivers, or in a stretched line extensive outer ring-works. It was erected in Section through keep at SS
to enable easy communication with each about 1185–90, during the Third Crusade
other. Sometimes a site is chosen because its (1188–92) and the reign of King Richard I, N
terrain is ideal or because the lord wishes to by the half-brother of Richard’s father, King
control an immediate area, perhaps following Henry II. Its semi-circular bailey is little 0 10 20 30 40 50 ft

its seizure from another noble. more than an entrance yard. 0 5 10 15 m

A single castle can command the Conisbrough is one of the first circular
countryside for a radius of about 10 miles, keeps erected in Britain, and is unusual in S
which represents a day’s ride out and back. having six wedge-shaped buttresses jutting
Invading armies usually prefer to avoid out. Only the one that partly contains the
pitched battles, and so send soldiers to pillage, chapel is not solid throughout the levels.
S
which destroys the local economy while at There are four floors above a vaulted Plan at CC
the same time feeding their own men. basement, with a first-floor entrance.
But a garrison can also cut off the raiding Typically, there are few windows, and they
enemy’s supply lines and act as a base for are mostly narrow arrow slits. S
massing troops for counterattack.This means
that an invader cannot seize any land until
he has captured its castles. Because sieges are S
Plan at BB
expensive, castles therefore act as a deterrent
to invasion.
Those regions that are most in dispute
S
between nobles or kings always have the
greater concentration of castles within their
boundaries.There are several common types
of castle, reflecting the needs of their owners, S
Plan at
and the main purpose to which they are put. AA

The circular donjon at

Conisbrough has large
buttresses, which show
clearly on the section
and floor plans.
 CHAPTER 2: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

Plan of the Tower of London. 1

4
1 Legge’s Mount 14 Byward Tower
5 2 Brass mount 15 Bell Tower
The outer curtain 3
6 3 Devereux Tower 16 Queen’s House
wall was added in the 2
later 13th century. 7 4 Flint Tower 17 Bloody Tower
8 5 Bowyer Tower 18 St. Thomas’s Tower
10 6 Brick Tower 19 Wakefield Tower
moat 11 7 Martin Tower 20 Site of Great Hall
24
9 8 Chapel of St. Peter 21 Roman town wall
ad Vincula 22 Lanthorn Tower
12
9 Beauchamp Tower 23 Cradle Tower
13 Tower
Green 10 Waterloo Barracks 24 Constable Tower
14 25 11 Museum 25 Broad Arrow Tower
16 White Tower 12 Lion Tower 26 Salt Tower
17 (donjon) 13 Middle Tower 27 Well Tower
19 21
Riv 20
26 N Concentric castle—Tower of London
er Tha 18
22
me
s Wharf
William the Conqueror of Normandy began
23 the castle in 1066.Within ten years, work
started on the huge donjon, known as the
0 25 100 150 200 ft White Tower, because of the whitewash used
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 m to protect it from the weather.
With King Edward I’s moat, 160 feet
This aerial view clearly wide, and an outer circuit of walls
shows the Tower of (1275–85), the Tower of London is one of
London’s concentric the most powerful castles in Europe. It has
rings of defense. housed the royal mint and the royal zoo.

13
29 Curtain wall castle—Ludlow
11
10
15 14 12 In a curtain wall castle, the wooden palisades
16 enclosing baileys are replaced by stone
8
9
27 walls—the “curtain.” Some do not have a
keep and make up for the lack of a great
17
20 7
6
3
tower by making the single ring of defensive
19 18 26
5
28
curtain wall as impressive as possible.The
21 22 walls have strong mural (wall) towers that jut
25
3
4 castle yard or
24
out, allowing archers inside to shoot along
outer court the wall face at attackers.
2
original donjon Ludlow castle, sited near the Welsh border,
1
23 is one of a line of Norman castles built to Above: Ludlow’s
Plan of Ludlow Castle pacify the countryside and hold back the unusual circular
unconquered Welsh. Begun around 1085, the Norman chapel sits in
inner bailey is separated by a rock-cut ditch the inner bailey. The
and protected by a curtain wall. donjon, one of the first
1 Mortimer’s Tower 15 Council room stone-built keeps in
2 Magazine / ice house 16 Prince Arthur’s Tower
3 Moat 17 Kitchens
England, was originally
4 Bridge (originally a 18 Original chapel, later a the gatehouse on the
drawbridge) prison early curtain walls
5 Buildings of Sir Henry 19 Well (85 feet deep)
Sydney 20 Lion’s Den Tower around the inner bailey.
6 Porter’s lodge 21 Norman Tower
7 Staircase to keep 22 The ‘Black Hole’
8 Norman chapel 23 Stables
9 Site of chapel choir 24 Main gateway
10 Apartments occupied by 25 Offices (fire watch)
sons of Edward IV 26 Barracks
11 General room 27 Beacon Tower
12 Armory 28 Iron palisades across
13 Watch tower outer court
14 State apartments 29 Sallyport
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

A Castle Under Siege

Open conflict—expensive in men and horses—is avoided whenever possible. But if
a lord shelters in his castle, the invaders must inevitably lay siege to it. Attackers
have tools and tactics to employ… and defenders have their countermeasures.

asier options to a possibly bloody assault Taking a castle

E are usually exercised first. Surrounding
the castle and starving the garrison into
Fortresses are attacked in several ways. One
of the most effective is to dig a mine
surrender sometimes works. Bribes can underneath the walls for the attackers to
bring a lord’s castles into the hands of emerge inside the castle. More commonly,
another noble. If these tactics fail, the use the mine is dug under a wall or tower and
of sheer terror by physical demonstration wooden props used to shore it up as it is
before the walls of a fortress—with the dug. Smeared with fat and set alight, the
assistance of captives or the heads of slain props collapse and bring down the wall.
Timber hoardings opponents—can be enough to persuade The defenders set out bowls of water and
built out from the defenders to give up. watch for telltale signs of vibration, but
battlements allow
defenders to stand
in front of the wall face
and fire down at
attackers through
slots in the
floor. Below: The torsion
catapult’s twisted ropes
fling up a throwing arm
inserted into them to
release a missile.

Above: The ballista’s

bow arm shoots a large
Above: Machicolated bolt. The screw is used
parapets are formed by to wind the slider back
projecting the when the bowstring is
battlements forward engaged on the trigger.
and supporting them on
stone corbels, creating
slots between them for
dropping offensive
material. Right: The trebuchet
has a throwing arm
swung up by pulling
down the other end
with ropes or, as here, a
box filled with earth or
stones.

30
mines are very difficult to stop. Effective
measures include digging a countermine
to break into the enemy workings, or
erecting a makeshift palisade built behind the
threatened wall. A moat filled with water
is the best deterrent to mining.
Sometimes a trench is dug up to the walls,
protected with timbers, so men with picks
can prize stones from the wall. Battering rams
and drills are used to dig into it.These are
countered by lowering sack cloth to deaden
the blows. Rams shelter under sheds covered
with wet hides to protect against fire arrows
and other combustible materials thrown
down from the walls.
The medieval armory is comprised of
several engines for hurling rocks and large
arrows. If a direct assault is required, the
simplest means are ladders, but this is
extremely hazardous—the defenders
try to push ladders away with forked
poles, and assailants can only arrive
singly at the wall-top.
Far more powerful is the siege
tower, or belfry. Huge wooden
structures higher than the
battlements act like gantries.
Wheeled up to the walls, men
in larger groups can attack the
defenders.There might be a
ram or shed at the tower’s
base or a catapult at the top.
Cumbersome and vulnerable
to fire, towers too are covered
in hides. Sometimes they sink
into hidden pits the
defenders dig under the
cover of night.

A castle under attack

A battering ram, slung under a
mobile shed, is hitting the wall,
where defenders have lowered a pad to
muffle the blows. They also hurl down
barrels of burning oil, but wet hides help to
dampen down the flames. Some attackers
scale ladders, but arriving at the top singly, Soldiers attack across the
they are easily beaten back. A mobile siege tower’s lowered drawbridge, and
tower has been moved over a specially built a catapult on the top level shoots
causeway of earth and stones across the ditch. large stones into the castle.

31
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Building a Castle
The construction of a castle requires planning and the
gathering of numbers of men and materials. But the first task
is to choose a suitable site.

election of a castle’s site is the lord’s Timber and stone

S decision, advised by his senior knights
and his architect—usually the master
The carpenters are kept busy because wood
is used everywhere. Shuttering for molding
stonemason.Wherever possible, natural concrete, roofs, beams, and flooring, doors,
features of the landscape are used to their window shutters, and room paneling—all are
advantage, such as hilltops, cliffs, or mountain made from wood. So is the scaffolding. Holes
crags. A rock foundation is always best, for it in the walls, called putlog holes, are left for
Below: Builders of the deters enemies from mining underneath. the insertion of scaffolding beams and below
14th century at work. In Rivers not only offer the opportunity of a battlements for wooden hoarding.
the foreground, two moat, again deterring mining, they are also a The castle’s defensive walls, towers, and
masons prepare stone lifeline during sieges and an obstacle to the keep are constructed with rubble faced
using T-squares, ruler, enemies in themselves. If there is good with dressed stone, or ashlar.The bonding
and adzes, while a pasture or woodland nearby, even better. mortar is made from sand, lime, and water,
laborer mixes a load of Architectural or engineering plans for the lime is sometimes prepared on-site by
lime mortar. castles are rare and the masons simply work burning limestone. Iron is needed for nails
from their own measurements. Freemasons and tools, some of which are of steel. Plaster
are put to work cutting squared ashlar, is used for interiors.
moldings, and stone tracery. Roughmasons Workmen’s tools differ little from those in
lay the stone, while layers build walls and use today. A block-and-tackle or a treadmill-
hewers work in the quarries. driven windlass hoists stone and timber.
The construction requires a long list of Timber piles are driven into the ground
other workers—miners, hodmen (stone with a ram, or a raft of timbers is
carriers), carpenters, woodcutters, constructed on soft ground.
hammerers, levelers, foundation workers, A large castle could take between two and
well-diggers, fencing workers, lime-burners ten years to build, and often was extended
(for making mortar), mortar-makers, porters, over the centuries.
smiths, plasterers, glassmakers, ditchers,
carters, carriers, barrow-men, water-carriers, Inside the keep
and pickaxe-men. On a large castle there All castles have one basic element—the hall.
might be as many as 3,000 workmen. This is a large room with a lofty ceiling,
sometimes on the first floor, but more
usually raised to the second story for greater
security. Rows of wooden posts or stone
pillars support the timber roof, although
some later castles have vaulted stone ceilings.
The windows are typically small and
unglazed, equipped with wooden shutters
secured by iron bars.
In a first-floor hall the floor is simply
beaten earth, with a stone or plaster
covering. Second-story halls have a
timber floor, supported by wooden
pillars or stone vaulting in the
basement below. Floors are strewn with
 CHAPTER 2: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

rushes sprinkled with sweet-smelling herbs. designed for dismantling so it can be taken
Although the rushes are replaced at intervals along on the frequent trips a lord makes to
and the floor swept, the rushes often smell his other manors. Linen hangings curtain off
badly. One chronicler observes that under the bed, which can be closed at night for
them lies “an ancient collection of beer, privacy as well as protection from drafts.
grease, fragments, bones, spittle, excrement of Chests for garments, a few “perches” or
dogs and cats, and everything that is nasty.” wooden pegs for clothes, and stools make up
The lord and lady’s chamber is called the the remainder of the furnishings. Sometimes
solar. Its principal item of furniture is a great a small anteroom called the wardrobe adjoins
bed with a heavy wooden frame and springs the chamber—a storeroom for cloth, jewels,
made of interlaced ropes or strips of leather, spices, and plates, and where the lady’s
overlaid with a feather mattress, sheets, quilts, dressmaking is done.
fur coverlets, and pillows.The bed is

1
Home in a tower

1. The tower houses the

spiral stairs to all floors.
2
2. An overhanging
wooden defensive
gallery. 3
3. Quarters for men-at-
arms and servants.

4. The lord and lady’s

private quarters. Behind
the curtain is their
latrine (5), which
empties into the moat
below.
5
6. Centerpiece of the 4
keep is the great hall,
where important guests
are welcomed and main
meals are taken. 6

7. The entrance hall.

Above: Forms of timber
scaffolding used by 8. A large kitchen 7
castle builders. provides all food.
Horizontal beams are 8
inserted into “putlog” 9. Provisions are stored
holes left in the walls by deep in the cellars of
stonemasons. the tower. This is where
the vital water-well is.

10. The dank dungeon.

10 9
33
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES
 CHAPTER 2: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

Jobs in the Castle

In medieval society there are two classes—people with status, and those with
none. While the lord and members of his entourage may have status, to function
they need the support of the many laborers and peasants.

he first impression of a castle is of the draw off the liquor), and cupbearers, who
T lord and his knights and men-at-arms
riding helter-skelter over the drawbridge and
serve the drink.
The bottler runs the milkmaids and butter
under the portcullis of the gateway, but churners in the “bottlery,” or buttery. In the
beneath them a startling number of skilled kitchens, there are several cooks working
craftsmen and laborers inhabit the various under instruction from the head cook, while
structures around the baileys. the lowliest workers, called scullions, scour
Among those with status, the three most and wash the dirty pots, pans, and the lord’s
important functionaries are the steward, fine pewter, silver or gold plates.There are
marshal, and bailiff.The steward, or seneschal, many other people involved in keeping the
is responsible for the manor’s estates and the lord’s table supplied—bakers, poulterers,
castle’s domestic administration. He directs fruiterers, and slaughterers.
the household servants and supervises events Chamber maids look after the private
in the great hall. apartments and while ladies-in-waiting
The marshal is in charge of the attend to the lady’s personal needs, the lord
household’s horses and wagons, as well as has several young page boys at his command.
acting as the transportation captain. Under These are usually of noble birth, sent from
him work the farriers, grooms, carters, their homes and given into his care until
blacksmiths, and clerks. Farriers shoe horses, they are old enough to become squires.
while grooms feed and care for the horses. The role of minstrels should not be
Carters bring wood and stone to the overlooked.While playing musical
castle. Blacksmiths forge and sharpen tools instruments and singing ballads provides
and weapons, maintain armor, and make all entertainment, roving minstrels also act as
the metal items needed, such as door hinges news-bearers and—through learning the old
and defensive window grills. Clerks keep the stories as part of their ballads—they are the
accounts, pay the wages, and are responsible historians of the Middle Ages.
for checking goods in and out.
The bailiff supervises the manor’s serfs and
peasants, He allots them jobs and ensures that Other medieval jobs
they have the right tools for the job.When a This list suggests how many tasks need to
tool breaks or becomes blunt, he organizes be fulfilled in and around a castle.
the blacksmiths to repair or sharpen it. He
also supervises any building repairs. almoner (ensures the poor receive alms);
atilliator (crossbow maker); barber (also
The domestics acts as a surgeon, dentist, and blood-letter);
Attached to the functions of the kitchens, board-hewer (joist and floorboard
and reporting to the steward, the butler cares carpenter); carders (worker who brushes
for the lord’s cellar. He is in charge of the cloth after weaving); dyer; ewerer (brings
large butts (barrels) and little butts (bottles) of heated water for the nobles’ baths);
wine, cider, and ale.The butler also has a haywards (gardener who tends hedges);
large staff under him, consisting of brewers, laundresses; messengers; musicians;
tapsters (those who “tap” the large butts to spinsters (women who spin yarn for
cloth); tanners (workers who cure
While the aristocrats an army of lowly leather); soap makers; candle makers;
enjoy their leisure (here workers keeps a castle painters; plasterers; weavers.
on a hunt in the spring), in working order.

35
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The Noble Family

Ownership of land, either by force or as the king’s gift, is what sets a noble apart
from other lesser men. For the lord of a manor, the question of receiving land and
assets from his father and passing them onto his son is an important one.

Wealthy lords have

calendar books created
for them, called Books
of Hours, beautifully
illustrated with scenes
representing the he estates of an earl, a count, a baron, or for the eldest son to inherit all his father’s
months of the year. This
is a scene from a
T a distinguished knight are his by the
right of the king, but a good marriage
estates, which leaves his younger brothers
with few options.
French book made for settlement can add considerably to his At the age of seven, a younger brother
the Duc de Berry. holdings. It is technically impossible for might be sent to serve as a page in another
women to inherit land (although there are noble’s castle (see page 40), and may never see
notable exceptions to this rule), but on their his home again.When he is in his early 20s,
marriage, the father will endower her, either if a second son is lucky enough to make a
Above right: While an with money or by giving her new husband good marriage, he might receive land from
eldest son can expect to access to some of his land as a holding. In his father-in-law, effectively becoming his
inherit his father’s principle, this should be returned to the lord feudal knight.
estates and position, if the married daughter dies or is divorced Many second and third sons seek a patron,
younger sons have little by her husband—but many small-scale wars a powerful noble who will take them into
alternative but to have occurred when the husband refuses to his retinue, where they can seek their
become a page and return it. fortunes as warriors, probably overseas by
then squire with warring in France or in the Crusades. For
another lord, become a The problems of inheritance sons who cannot inherit, the only other
monk, or take holy Of course, on his death, the lord wants to option is to take holy orders and become a
orders and become a hand on all his assets to his son to keep churchman.
priest. Some young men everything in the family. If he has no sons, As for the daughters, failure to find a
prefer to take up arms the family property passes to the closest suitable husband—or, more likely, have one
and join a crusade to relatives, particularly surviving brothers. But found for them—will almost certainly result
recover the Holy Land in a noble family where there are several in their being sent away to become a nun in
from the Muslims. sons, life can become difficult. It is normal a convent.
36
 CHAPTER 2: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

The lord and lady’s banquet

The noble family usually eats three meals a
day. A small breakfast of bread and cheese at
sunrise is followed in the late morning or
about noon by the main meal of two to
three courses.These consist mainly of meats
and pastries, bread, wine, or ale, fruits,
cheeses, and nuts. Since they are considered
more as common fare for peasants,
vegetables do not figure much in a noble’s
meal.
Before sunset a light supper is served of a
meat stew, bread, and cheese, accompanied
by song and music played by minstrels. A
wandering troubador might entertain with
some yarns, and acrobats or contortionists are
a popular diversion.
When a lord is in residence, he is
frequently obliged to entertain traveling
Above: Unlike the serfs Center left: Eating guests, other nobles, high-level clergy,
and peasants, nobles implements. perhaps even the king, all of whom are
have some leisure time. Forks are almost accompanied by their extensive retinues.The
Hunting with falcons is unknown (although used feast is the centerpiece of the
a favorite recreation. in Italy during the 15th entertainment and a great contrast
century, they only reach to the everyday meals.
northern Europe in the The guests can look forward
1600s). Most food is to consuming quantities of
eaten by cutting and beef, mutton, poultry, game
spearing it on a dagger, or birds, pork, venison (in
a special dining knife. season), fish, eggs of all
Spoons are so precious kinds—everything presented
that they are made to fold in a variety of ways—
up for carrying around. cheeses, bread, and all
washed down with
Right: A minstrel and a gallons of wine, ale, cider,
jester. and mead.

The big blow-out

Some feasts are truly vast in scope. In
1467, the Archbishop of York fed 6,000
guests on: 104 roasted oxen, 6 bulls, 1,000
sheep, 304 calves, 2,000 pigs, 1,000 capon
chickens, 400 swans, 104 peacocks, 2,000
geese, 1,500 deer, more than 13,000 other
birds (such as starlings, vultures, seagulls,
herons, storks, cormorants, and cranes),
1,500 venison pies, 608 pikes, 12
porpoises and seals, finished with 13,000
bowls of jello, cold baked tarts, custards,
and spiced fruits. In addition, a large
quantity of alcoholic drink was consumed.

37
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Men-at-Arms
When a peasant family has too many sons to support, there is little choice for the
uneducated boys but to seek service in the armed retinue of their lord or one of his
lesser knights. The more adventurous might look to a mercenary life.

he number of military personnel

T defending a castle varies enormously,
depending on the size of the castle.Three
knights and ten men-at-arms represents a
very small garrison. At the other end of the
For men-at-arms, scale a royal castle might have as many as 100
guarding castle walls men-at-arms, 20 or more knights, and a
and gatehouse duties variety of lesser men, all serving under the
are tedious. Trudging constable.The constable is in charge of the
along as protective retinue when the king or the noble lord is
escorts for an important absent.
person can be quite
difficult. A life on foot
A knight taking service is expected to come
equipped with his own mounts, saddlery,
weapons, and armor, but the peasant has no
such resources and must look to his lord to
supply his needs.This means he is never
likely to have a horse and will go into battle
on foot as an infantryman.
His level of protection and armament
depends on the lord’s financial status. Usually
this is not a complete suit of armor, but
comprises at least a helmet, a body defense
in the form of a mail shirt, fabric armor, or a
metal or leather breastplate, as well as a
weapon such as a spear, pike, ax, or crossbow.
Among the English armies, one of the most
fearsome weapons is the Welsh longbow.
The lowliest level of men-at-arms are
employed as security men in basic garrison
duties.These include castle wall sentry duty,
guard duty on the castle’s gates, at the town
gates, and the collecting of taxes from
merchants entering or leaving the lord’s
domain.The more presentable man-at-arms
may find himself in the retinue
accompanying his lord when traveling, or
seconded to the protection squad for a
bishop journeying around his diocese.

Bowmen
Those who show sufficient skill in their aim
receive some training with the crossbow.This
easily learned weapon fires a short arrow with
sufficient power to injure or kill a knight in
38
 CHAPTER 2: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

wars.The head of a
mercenary band is called a
captain, and it is his job to
recruit skilled fighters, seek
out contracts and levels of
pay, and make sure his men
receive their pay and
agreed amounts of booty
after a victory.
The majority of
mercenaries are
crossbowmen, although
several gangs of English
freebooters rove around
Europe selling their services
to the highest bidder who
desires the power of the
longbow in his army. The
numerous small southern
German states are the
source of many mercenary
bands, called landsknechts,
and the same term is
applied to Europe’s most
feared men-at-arms, the
Swiss pikemen (seen below).
plate armor at up to 200 yards. Crossbows French and English Switzerland’s mountainous terrain
are easier to aim than longbows because the men-at-arms clash in supports fewer farms than anywhere else,
crossbowman does not have to use a hand to one of the many battles which means the young men must move
hold the string back while aiming. of the Hundred Years away as soldiers to earn a living.Their
By contrast, learning to fire the longbow War as France tries to ferocious battles for freedom against the
with skill takes a long time, and many take back land seized Habsburgs of Austria have taught the Swiss
longbowmen start their training as by the English crown. soldier all the skills needed to become the
adolescents.The bow also takes great most professional mercenary in the business
strength in the pulling arm to draw back the of warfare.
drawstring.
However, the longbow, because of its
rapidity of fire, is a superior weapon to the
crossbow, the machine gun of its age. An
archer can shoot 10–12 arrows a minute
across a range of up to 200 yards. Compared
to this even the superior Genoese composite
crossbow—made of wood, horn, sinew, and
glue—is no match for the English weapon.
In a battle, when massed archers fire, their
arrows fall from the sky with deadly
accuracy like a hail storm, cutting down the
enemy as a scythe reaps wheat.

Soldiers for hire

With the scutage tax (see page 41), European
kings are relying more and more on
mercenary corps to supply fighting men for
39
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Right: A page spends

most of his time riding
horses and
strengthening his body
with exercises and
wrestling. He learns
how to fight with a
lance, mounted on
horseback, by “tilting”
against a quintain. This
is a heavy, human-
shaped dummy with a
shield hung on a
wooden beam, which is
free to swivel around a
vertical pole. The page
aims to hit the shield in
its center. When hit, the
quintain spins and agile
riding is needed to
avoid being struck by
the returning dummy
and falling from the
horse.

Training for knighthood

The Road to Chivalry In a period when all education is run by
In medieval society, the best way for a man to gain priests and monks of the Church, the sons of
advancement is to become a knight. It is not a way of life to knights are brought up according to the
which many are suited—the training is long and hard, but the code of chivalry.To qualify as a knight, a boy
successful attain high status, and possibly great wealth. is sent at the age of seven to serve as a page
in a great lord’s household. His new master
becomes his feudal superior. As well as acting
he knightly code of chivalry grew as his lord’s servant, the page is put through
T during the 12th century, when knights
bearing the cross of Christ went to the Holy
his paces in swordsmanship and horse-riding.
At the age of 14 he becomes a squire and
Above: Land to protect pilgrims from the Muslim does chores and runs errands for a particular
A knight is captured. Saracens who attacked them. Chivalry, or knight in the lord’s retinue.
Unlike men-at-arms, it chevalerie (which derives from cheval, the Since skill and prowess in battle is the
is rare for knights to be French word for horse) is the name given to ultimate aim, in a well organized household
killed in battle—they the idealized qualities of knighthood— the military training pages and squires
are worth more alive as religious devotion, honesty, courtesy, and undergo is intensive.When there are no
captives, to be impeccable behavior toward women. Failure battles to be fought, the jousting tournament
ransomed by their lord to adhere to the code can lead to public is a celebration and test of a knight’s skill (see
or relatives in return for humiliation and loss of social status. pages 42–43).
their freedom. However, many young, landless knights go
on crusade in the East, which is considered Becoming a knight
to be a holy undertaking. But in reality they At the age of about 21, a squire who has
hope to grab land for themselves as a reward shown his mettle may qualify as a knight and
from the prince in command and rapidly swears an oath of allegiance to his feudal lord
make themselves a fortune—they do not and loyalty to the code of chivalry. His lord
always stick to the code of chivalry. then presents him with a knightly sword.
40
 CHAPTER 2: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

A knight’s military service

His military duties involve a certain period
of service each year, and a knight is expected
to be prepared to serve at all times.This
involves attending his lord in person,
equipped with a lavish kit of horse, armor,
and weapons—although wealthier knights
are often required to bring a retinue of foot
soldiers or cavalry as well.
Military duty is usually restricted to set
periods of six or eight weeks. If service
beyond this is required, the knights are paid
for their time. A knight who owns land, serfs,
and tenant peasants can avoid direct military
duty.With sufficient revenues from his fiefs,
he can pay a tax called scutage (from the
Latin scutum, a shield).This money is used by
his overlord for the hire of experienced
mercenary knights and infantry.
For about seven years
from the age of 14 a
squire attends his The dubbing ceremony
knight. His duties On the evening before the ceremony, the squire—let’s call him
include dressing the Rolf—is ritually cleansed in a bath of rose water, and then stays all
knight in the morning, night in prayer alone in the local church. At dawn the priest hears
serving his meals, the squire’s confession before taking Mass.The ceremony takes
Pages and squires also caring for the knight’s place in front of family, nobility, and a congregation of well-
receive some education. horse, and cleaning his wishers.The priest consecrates the blade with which Rolf will be
The chaplain—or more armor and dubbed a knight. “Bless this sword, that thy servant may
likely local monks— weapons. henceforward defend churches, widows,
teach rudimentary orphans, and all those who serve God,
reading and writing, against the cruelty of heretics and
some Latin and French. infidels….” Rolf then kneels
It is the lady’s before his lord, who taps him
responsibility to oversee lightly on each shoulder
the young men’s with the sword and
education in the courtly proclaims him a knight
skills of manners and with the words
dancing, and how to “Arise Sir Rolf.”
behave in the king’s In addition to his
court. sword, Rolf is
presented with
spurs, which are
In return for his oath, the knight is attached to his heels.
guaranteed a secure place within the power With this, the new
pyramid of the feudal system. If he proves his knight raises his
prowess in battle, his lord might grant him a sword to
fief. In this way a knight becomes a land- acknowledge the
holder in his own right, and may pass the honor before
estate on to his elder son through inheritance. returning it to
Younger sons either take service with other its scabbard.
knights of ranking or enter the Church—
there is no option of going into a trade.
41
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Jousting—the Sport of Knights

Jousts are a great spectacle for everyone. They give superiors a chance to assess
the fitness and skills of knights, who sharpen their fighting abilities and
show off their courage—especially to the admiring ladies.

n the past, tournaments were a bloody

I business.The loss of life among the
participants was so great that the Church
forbade the burial of those killed in
tournaments, claiming that “Those who fall
in tourneys will go to Hell.”
The first written rules governing the sport
were written in 1066 by a Frenchman
named Geoffroi de Purelli (who was killed
in the very first tournament held under his
rules). It is now customary for the knights to
use blunted weapons and obey the stricter
rules that were established in 1292, in the
three types of tournament.

The Mêlée
Also called the “tourney proper,” this is the
form of sport evolved from the brutal battles
of the early days. It involves several knights
contesting as every man for himself. At the The knight’s warhorse
sound of a trumpet call, they all charge into In war and at the tournament, a knight
the arena and attempt to unhorse each other rides a very powerful, highly spirited
until the last mounted knight is declared the warhorse called a dextrarius or destrier.The
winner. Cheating—where several knights name comes from the way the knight’s
gang up on an individual—is common, squire leads the horse—since he always
although as soon as their victim is unhorsed walks on the left side of the horse’s head,
the survivors turn on each other again. he holds the animal with his right hand,
and dexter is the Latin for right.
The Joust Destriers are so expensive for
Jousting is a contest between two individuals knights to purchase that many
armed with lances, who ride toward each lords offer them instead of pay.
other on either side of a low, central Their replacement cost is the
partition.The rules are simple. A knight reason they are protected from
scores points for making a clean strike with harm during jousting contests.
his lance on the center, or “boss,” of his When preparing for a
opponent’s shield. More points are scored if mounted charge in battle, the knight
the opponent’s lance is shattered or if he is rides to the front on a palfrey.This is a
unhorsed by the strike. A combatant is lighter, short-legged, long-bodied horse that
automatically disqualified if he strikes either walks at a gentle amble and is also suitable
his opponent or his opponent’s horse for women to ride. In this way, his destrier
anywhere on the body. A European knight is allowed the maximum time to rest before
Although the lances are round-ended mounted on his the heavily armored knight mounts, ready
wooden weapons, injury to the jousters is destrier, or warhorse, for the charge. In either case, the squire is
common.The central divider is a measure to goes into battle during responsible for looking after the spare horse
reduce injury to the horses—considered the Crusades. for his master.
much more valuable than the men.
42
Above: Two combatants The Practice tournament
in the joust meet on the Rather more of a sideshow, there is little
“field of honor.” ceremony and there are few rules in a
Practice tournament.The two main events
are riding at a quintain (see page 40) or
Center: A knight “riding at the rings,” in which the knight
prepares for a charges at a ring suspended on a cord and
tournament and attempts to carry it off on the tip of his
receives his “insignia” lance.
from his lady love.
The code of honor
Winning knights are awarded customary
“golden rings” along with kisses in a formal
and elaborate prize-giving ceremony by the
ladies of the court, who are central to the
whole ideal of knighthood. Chivalrous and
romantic conduct are important aspects of
the tournament.
Right: A medieval A combatant knight selects a beautiful
illustration shows lady—preferably married to a husband of
knights ganging up in a higher rank than his own, through which he
mêlée. The beautiful might gain a future advantage.The lady
ladies of the court gives the knight her “honor,” a scarf perhaps,
watch and argue among or maybe her handkerchief, for him to wear
themselves over in the joust. If he fights successfully, the
whether the knight knight expects to receive his reward—a
carrying their “honor” courtly kiss.
will win.

43
CHAPTER 3

The Power of the Church

Father of the Community
While the kings and powerful nobles The major orders
might control, or even own, the lives of The bishop is the administer a part of the also grant God’s
ordinary folk, they have no hold over a senior minister of the diocese for the bishop. forgiveness or
medieval person’s soul—that is in the Church. He may ordain In turn, an archdeacon absolution for sins
hands of the Church. lesser ministers and is senior to the dean, committed. Priests may
confirm people who the cleric who is put in give a final blessing to
have been baptized by charge of the care and the dying—this is
n many respects, the great churchmen a priest. His area of repair of a cathedral. called extreme unction.
I wield as much power as any noble. Like
the feudal system, the Roman Catholic
authority is called a
diocese. Bishops are
A priest is the
ordained minister of the
Priests are usually
appointed by a bishop
Church has a complex hierarchy that orders granted a cathedra or Church. He can give the to care for a local
the spiritual life of every person, and in throne to sit on, and so Holy Sacrament to his community called a
many cases their daily toil. their church buildings congregation at mass, parish. Beneath the
The pope is head of the Church, God’s are called cathedrals. baptize newborn priest comes the
representative on Earth. Among his many Bishops are supported infants, marry people, deacon, a cleric with a
functions, the pope has the power to make a by one or more hear confessions, and special responsibility for
deceased person whose virtue and holiness archdeacons, who hand out punishments the collection and
has been proven into a saint, through the rite have the authority to called penances. He can distribution of alms—
of canonization.
Beneath the pope, cardinals act as the
pope’s advisors.They take their name from
cardo, the Latin for “hinge,” which explains
their function, ensuring that the pope’s
wishes are communicated throughout
Christendom. It is from among the cardinals
that a new pope is elected on the death of
the previous one, and only cardinals may
vote in the ballot.
Next in the chain of command come the
archbisops, also known as metropolitans,
archbishops are appointed by the pope to
have authority over a wide territory of
several dioceses—the territorial
administrative units of the Church, also
called sees or bishoprics.

Right: The Church’s power is symbolized in the act

of coronation, a ceremony during which archbishops
crown a monarch, in this case King Henry II of
Castile, Spain in 1369.

Opposite: Despite ordering the lives of nobles and

commoners alike, there are times when people
resent the Church’s power. This manuscript
illustration shows the pope, bishops, and clerics
defending their “fortress of faith” against heretics
and “unbelievers.”

44
 CHAPTER 3: THE POWER OF THE CHURCH

charity for the poor of The minor orders

the parish. His Highest of the minor In the next rank, special incantations to conduct readings of the
assistant is called a orders is that of the exorcists are expel the spirits. Bible during services.
sub-deacon, the acolyte, who has responsible for the In the third rank The lowliest cleric is the
lowest of the major responsibility for a casting out of evil from comes the reader, also doorkeeper, whose
orders and a stepping church or cathedral’s people possessed by called the lector from functions are to head
stone to promotion candles and assists Satan and his demons. the Latin word meaning processions and look
within the Church the priest in This exorcism, as it is to read. His principal after the fabric of a
hierarchy. preparations for mass. called, uses prayer and responsibility is to church’s building.

45
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The Abiding Faith

Even among the aristocracy, few people are able to write or read. Only those who
enter the ministry of the Church receive any education. As a result, the monasteries
and great cathedrals are the main centers of learning.

Everyone is a sinner
Confessing sins to a priest and making
atonement through a punishment, or
penance, is essential if the person is not to
accumulate so much evil that they will be
sent to Hell at the end of their lives. Sins are Far left: Sunday
graded in evilness and divided between two sermons can carry on
different forms. too long for simple
Mortal sins—those that directly offend peasant folk, who soon
God—are hard to pardon, while venial lose track of what their
sins—acts that offend against other people— priest is trying to tell
are graded according to their severity.Those them.
who die unrepentant of a mortal sin will
certainly go straight to Hell for all eternity,
but the majority of venial sinners who die
before paying for their sins are sent to
purgatory, where they are cleansed through
suffering before their admission to Heaven.
Sins also have a second form. A sin of
ven if a peasant were capable of reading commission is a wrong act and a sin of
E the Bible, he would not understand a
word of it, for it is written in Latin.While a
omission is not doing something that should
be done. Even “wrong thoughts” are
noble lord might understand some of the considered to be sinful. In return for the
spoken Latin, very few peasants can.This priest offering God’s forgiveness through
means that senior priests and clerics are the absolution, the sinner must accept a
only interpreters of God’s word. punishment or penance.
In the parish of Ludford, almost everyone
attends the Sunday services, and punishments Punishment for sinning
are handed out to those who fail to show A penance might be as mild as being made
up, and to the “slug-a-beds” who arrive late. to help clean up the churchyard, but it
As usual, the priest thunders from his could be as severe as spending a whole
pulpit, delivering a blistering sermon on the day going without food, painfully
nature of mankind’s evil. Few of his
parishioners are in any doubt as to the
dreadful fate that awaits them in the afterlife
if they sin (see page 57) because he explains
in graphic detail the horrors of Hell.

46
 CHAPTER 3: THE POWER OF THE CHURCH

kneeling or lying prostrate on the cold, hard, The Church’s indulgence

stone floor of a church in prayer. There is another way to cut down the time a
Nobles, too, must do penance for their soul might have to spend in purgatory, by
sins, although to avoid the humiliation of a buying an “indulgence.” An indulgence offers
punishment witnessed by commoners, the the recipient the extra chance to pay his debt
wealthy lord is more likely to make while alive, usually in the form of giving a
atonement by paying for a new chapel or part of his wealth to the Church treasury.
making a grant of money to a religious order. Unfortunately, this has led to numerous
“professional pardoners” selling indulgences
Pilgrims’ progress on a large scale for their own profit—a
A popular form of penance is to go on a practice which will surely send themselves
pilgrimage to visit a holy shrine.The object into the despair of purgatory one day.
of the pilgrim’s veneration may be the tomb
of a saint, a place noted for miracles of healing, Seeking sanctuary
or a gem-studded box called a reliquary, Through the rules of sanctuary, the Roman
containing a piece of the True Cross of Christ, Catholic Church offers a safe refuge for
or the bone or personal possession of a saint— those fleeing from justice or persecution.
a “relic.” Although simony, the trade in Any who seek refuge within the precincts of
religious artifacts, is outlawed, such is their a church building designated as sanctuary
power that it remains a big business, and may remain there for 30 to 40 days.When
objects said to possess fabulous powers are the time has expired, they are allowed to go Archbishop of
being uncovered all over Europe. into exile without harm.Violation of Canterbury, Thomas
For some, a pilgrimage might mean little sanctuary is punishable by excommunication. Becket, is assassinated
more than a day’s walking to enjoy the In some cases, there is a stone seat within in the cathedral by
company of others on an important day, but a church, called the frith-stool, on which the knights of King Henry II
others take the journey more seriously as a seeker of sanctuary has to sit in order to in 1170. Later made a
form of atonement for some terrible sin they establish his claim to protection. More saint, his tomb has
committed. Still others make it a way of life, commonly, there is a large ring-knocker on made Canterbury one of
journeying from shrine to shrine in a way of the church door, the grasping of which gives Christendom’s great
life similar to that of a monk or hermit. the right of asylum. pilgrimage centers.
There are many small holy shrines, but the
three great places of western Christianity are Below: Pilgrims on a
Rome, Compostela, and Canterbury. In road in southern Europe
Rome, pilgrims can visit many holy sites are relieved to at last
including the burial places of the Apostles see the shrine that is
and many other martyrs. A prayer offered to the object of their long
St.Vitus will result in a third of a lifetime’s and weary journey.
sins being pardoned, while the pilgrim who
looks on the handkerchief of St.Veronica—
which bears the imprint of Christ’s face—
can wipe out up to 3,000 years of purgatory.

47
LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Prayer and Toil—the Monastery

At its best, the monastery represents the core of medieval Christian culture. Places of prayer and
religious contemplation, monasteries are also farms, craft centers, libraries, colleges, and hospitals.

here
T are several
different orders of Above: Monks devote
monastic houses, with themselves to a life of
varying rules, but the basis of their way of life religious contemplation,
follows the ideals of St. Benedict. He founded but the hours spent in
the first western monastery at Cassino, Italy, prayer after a long day’s
in 529. Monks devote their whole life to work can send even the
God and retire inside the monastery precincts most devout to sleep in
under vows of poverty, chastity, and the church pews.
unquestioning obedience to a superior.

A monk’s day
Life in a monastery is organized around an
unchanging cycle in which attending divine
service occupies at least five out of every 24 Left: The contemplative
hours.The bell rings out at midnight in life in monasteries has
summer, in some orders two hours later led to an outpouring of
during the winter, summoning the monks to religious literary work.
Matins (from the Latin word for morning). Books are painstakingly
This service lasts about an hour, after which copied out by hand.
they can return to sleeping until 6 a.m., Here Eadwine the
when it is time to return to the church for Scribe works on a
the half-hour service called Prime. psalter (book of prayer).

48
 CHAPTER 3: THE POWER OF THE CHURCH

A brief breakfast of homemade bread and Although meat is available, it is forbidden

ale gives the sustenance needed for work or on certain days of the year, called fast days,
study. Many monks toil in the monastery and since fasting days take up almost half of
fields, often aided in heavier tasks by the the year, meat is not often eaten. As they take
village serfs offering work instead of the their meals, the monks listen in silence to
obligatory church tithe (see page 15). Some readings from the Scriptures.
monks, skilled in writing and art, copy out After the meal, rest is allowed until 2 p.m.,
sacred texts in the library and illustrate them, when the service of Nones (the
while others tend to livestock, the cooking, commencement of the ninth hour of the
and the sick and elderly infirm. day) is held.This is followed by further work
Work ceases at 9 a.m. for Mass, after until 6 p.m.—broken by Vespers (from the
While peasants struggle which matters of monastery business are Latin for evening) at 4 p.m.—when a light
to keep warm in the discussed in the monks’ chapter house before supper is served in the refectory, followed by
harsh winter, some a second Mass at 11 a.m.This is followed at the day’s last service of Compline at 7 p.m.
monks live a life of midday by the main meal of soup, bread, Shortly after its completion, the monks retire
comparative comfort. vegetables, fruit, and cheese taken in the to their dormitory to sleep, still dressed in
dining room, called the refectory. their habits.

An ordered life
The superior of a monastery or an abbey is
called the abbot.The abbot is supported by
his next in command, the prior. Below these
two are the “obedientaries,” monks with
specific duties.The most senior obedientaries
are shown in this “family tree.”
Abbot Prior

Cellarer or bursar Sacrist or sacristan Cantor or precentor Refectorian Kitchener Novice master
responsible for all cares for the monastery’s directs the monks in in charge of the in charge of cooking for responsible for the
the monastery’s food church and everything their singing and dining room (called the monks, guests, and behavior and training
and drink necessary for services religious chanting frater or refectory) monastery dependents of new monks, called
such as sick villagers novices

Sub-cellarer Granatorius Subsacrist Matricularius Church Revestiarius Infirmarian Almoner

keeper of the secretary master of works treasurer looks after the choir’s looks after sick monks; distributes alms to the
grain and repairs vestments, linen for also responsible for the poor and destitute,
the altars, and quarterly “bloodletting” usually gifts of food
church hangings and drink

49
Another random document with
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had lost their nervous facility of expression, and rarely looked
otherwise than cold and grey and thoughtful.
Tom arrived next morning, talkative, restless, and irresponsible; but
although he frankly avowed himself as much in love as ever, he
hastened to add that he would not mention it any oftener than he
could help. For several days Lee neglected the other guests and
devoted herself to her old friends. The last three had certainly
brought the breezes of the Pacific with them, and they talked
California until Lady Mary, who had joined them several times,
declared she could stand it no longer.
“I’ll go with you gladly if Mrs. Montgomery will take me; and I intend
to make love to her, you may be sure,” she said to Lee, “but I really
can’t stand feeling so out of it. And besides you are all so intimate
and happy together, it’s almost a sin to intrude. You’re looking much
brighter since they came.”
“It has done me good to see them again, and it’s made me want to
go back more than ever.”
“I can understand. But it’s a pity Cecil can’t go with you. He’s looking
rather glum. Is that what’s the matter with him?”
“I am not sure,” said Lee uneasily. “I’m going to have a talk with him
on Sunday. I did say something about it on Monday night, but of
course—well——”
“It’s hard to persuade an English husband that he’s got to conform
to the American habit of matrimonial vacations and plenty of them.”
Lady Mary laughed. “Speaking of vacations, Mr. Pix is taking rather a
long one, but I believe he returns on Monday. I can’t quite make
out, but I fancy the men have rather snubbed him—as much as they
decently can. He must feel frightfully out of it. I only hope he won’t
lose his temper. He’s got a nasty one, and if he let it go he’s
underbred enough to shriek out anything. I saw with my own eyes
that Lord Barnstaple avoided playing with him the night before he
left. Of course Lord Barnstaple carried it off as he does everything,
but I think the man noticed it all the same.”
“Then I wish he had pride enough to keep out of the house, but of
course he hasn’t.”
“Your Californians now are so different. They are quite comme il faut
——”
“Mary Gifford, you are really intolerably rude!”
“Upon my word I don’t mean to be. And as you know, I want to
marry one.” She paused a moment, then raised her cold blue eyes to
Lee’s. “I too have a will of my own,” she announced, “and when I
make up my mind to do a thing I do it. I am going to marry Mr.
Montgomery, and whether you go back to California or not I am
going with my future mother-in-law.”
“Of course I shall go; and it is seldom that a woman—particularly a
beauty—fails to get a man if she makes up her mind to it. He is
interested; there’s that much gained.”
 CHAPTER XIX
MRS. MONTGOMERY arrived the next day without Tiny, whose
children were ailing. As the following day was Sunday, and as Mrs.
Montgomery would hardly let Lee out of her sight, the definite
understanding with Cecil had to be postponed. She had seen
practically nothing of him since Tuesday. Mr. Geary and Mr. Brannan
laughed at the bare idea of tramping about all day carrying a heavy
gun, nor did they, nor Coralie, fancy the idea of luncheon on the
moor. They wanted Lee to themselves, and they had a little picnic
every day. Mrs. Montgomery was too old for picnics, and Lady Mary
announced her intention of taking the good lady on her own hands.
Before sunset she had bewildered and fascinated her victim, and by
noon the next day had received the desired invitation.
“I wish I could have had the bringing up of her,” said Mrs.
Montgomery earnestly to Lee. “She’s really very peculiar, and has
shockingly bad manners, but with it all she is high-bred; it’s really
very strange. With us it’s either one thing or the other. And she’s so
sweet. I’m sure if I scold her a little after a while she won’t mind it a
bit.”
“I’m sure she’ll take it like an angel,” said Lee, who had told Mary
what she was to expect, and could still hear that young lady’s loud
delighted laugh. “And be sure you’re good to her. She’s very much
alone in the world.”
Lee’s conscience hurt her less at this deliberate scheming than it
might have done a few weeks since, for she had by this time
convinced herself that Mary was really in love with Randolph; and
she was certainly a wife of whom any man might be proud.
On Tuesday evening as Lee and her friends were descending the fell
—on whose broad summit they had laughed the afternoon away,
and Lee had been petted and flattered to her heart’s content—she
paused suddenly and put her hand above her eyes. Far away,
walking slowly along the ridge of hillocks that formed the
southeastern edge of the moor, was a man whose carriage, even at
that distance, was familiar. She stared hard. It was certainly Cecil.
He was alone, and, undoubtedly, thinking. She made up her mind in
an instant.
“I see Cecil,” she said. “I’m going to bring him home. You go on to
the Abbey.” And she hurried away.
Doubtless he had been there for some time, and had sought the
solitude deliberately: the men were shooting miles away; apparently
even sport had failed him. She made tight little fists of her hands.
Her morbidity had not outlasted the night of her momentous
interview with her husband, but her old friends had both satisfied
her longings for previous conditions, and rooted her desire for a few
months’ freedom. It was true that, with the exception at Randolph,
they bored her a little at times, but the fact remained that they
symbolised the freest and most brilliant part of her life, and that
they were in delightful accord with the lighter side of her nature.
Cecil, outlined against the sky over there in the purple, alone, and,
beyond a doubt, perturbed and unhappy, made her feel as cruel and
selfish as she could feel in her present mood. She rebelled against
the serious conversation before her, and wondered if she had slipped
from her heights forever. They had been very pleasant.
Cecil saw her coming and met her half-way. She smiled brilliantly,
slipped her hand in his, and kissed him.
“You are thinking it over,” she said, with the directness that he liked.
“I have been thinking about a good many things. I have been
wondering how I could have lived with you for three years and
known you so little. I hardly knew you the other night at all, and I
never believed that you would care to leave me.”
“Cecil! You are so serious. You take things so tragically. I can’t look
at it as you do, because I have seen women going to Europe all my
life without their husbands. One would think I was wanting to get a
divorce!”
“Are you trying to make me feel that I am making an ass of myself?
I think you know that I have my own ideas about most things, and
that I am not in the least ashamed of them. I married you to live
with you, to keep you here beside me so long as we both lived. I
have no understanding of and no patience with any other sort of
marriage. And I think you knew when you accepted me that I had
not the making of an American husband in me.”
“I never deluded myself for a moment. And you must admit that I
have been English enough! Believe me when I say that a brief
relapse on my part is necessary——”
“I cannot understand your having a ‘relapse’ unless you are tired of
me.”
“I am not in the least tired of you; no one could ever tire of you. It is
all so subtle——”
“Don’t talk verbiage, please. There are no subtleties that can’t be
turned into black and white if you choose to do it. I can quite
understand your being homesick for California, and I’ve fully
intended to take you back some day. But you might wait. I have kept
you pretty hard at the grind, and if it were not for all the political
work I’ve got to do this autumn and winter, I’d take you over to the
Continent for a few months. And after a year or two we shall do a
great deal of travelling, I hope: I want more and more to study the
colonies.”
“That is one reason I thought it best to go now—you are going to be
so busy you won’t miss me at all. When you’re travelling about,
speaking here and speaking there, you’ll be surrounded by men all
the time. You won’t need me in the least.”
“It is always the greatest possible pleasure to me to know that you
are where I can see you at any moment, and that you have no
interests apart from my own.”
“That is just the point. I should like a few trifling ones for a time. If
you want it in plain English, here it is—I want to be an Individual for
just one year. I made a great effort to surrender all I had to you,
and you must admit that I was a success. But reaction is bound to
come sooner or later, and that is what is the matter with me.”
Cecil stood still and looked at her. “Oh,” he remarked. “That is it?
Why didn’t you say so at once? I ought to have expected it, I
suppose. I saw what you were before I married you—about the
worst spoiled woman I had ever met in my life. But you had brains
and character, and you loved me. I hoped for everything.”
“And you can’t be so ungrateful as to say that you have been
disappointed.”
“No. I certainly have not been—up to a week ago: I thought you the
most perfect woman God ever made.”
Lee flushed with pleasure and took his hand again.
“I wouldn’t make you unhappy for the world,” she said. “Only I
thought I could show you that it was for the best. We are what we
are. Brain and will and love can do a great deal, an immense
amount, but it can’t make us quite over. We bolt our original self
under and he gnaws at the lock and gets out sooner or later. The
best way is to give him his head for a little and then he will go back
and be quiet for a long time again. But——” she hesitated for so
long a time that Cecil, who had been ramming his stick into the
ground, turned and looked at her. “If I can’t make you agree with
me,” she said, “I won’t go.”
“But you would stay unwillingly.”
“Oh, I do want to go!”
“Then go, by all means,” he said.
 CHAPTER XX
DURING the following week Lee was not so absorbed in her friends
that she would have been oblivious to a certain discomposure of the
Abbey’s atmosphere, even had Mary Gifford not called her attention
to it. Some of the guests had given place to others, but the Pixes,
Lady Mary, and the Californians still remained. Of course they were
all scattered during the day, but the evenings were spent in the
great drawing-room and adjoining boudoirs and billiard-room, and it
was obvious to the most indifferent that there was a discord in the
usual harmony of the Abbey at this season. Lady Barnstaple’s
temper had never been more uncertain, but no one minded that:
Emmy was always sure to be amusing, whether deliberately or
otherwise; that was her rôle. Nor was any one particularly disturbed
by the increased acidity of Lord Barnstaple’s remarks; for when a
man is clever he must be given his head, as Captain Monmouth had
remarked shortly before he left; “and some pills are really cannon
balls,” he had added darkly.
Mr. Pix was the disturbing element. He had managed to keep an
effective shade over the light of his commonness in London, for he
did not go out too much and was oftener in Paris. Moreover, Victoria,
who was painfully irreproachable, had provided a sort of family
reputation on which he travelled. But in the fierce and unremitting
light of a house-party he revealed himself, and it was evident that he
was aware of the fact; his assumption of ease and of the manner to
which his fellow-guests were born grew more defiant daily, and
there were times when his brow was dark and heavy. Everybody
wondered why he did not leave. He handled his gun clumsily, and
with manifest distaste, and it was plain that he had not so much as
the seedling of the passion for sport. Nevertheless he stuck to it, and
asserted that he longed for October that he might distinguish himself
in the covers.
If the man had succeeded in giving himself an acceptable veneer, or
if he had had the wit to make himself useful financially to the men
with whom he aspired to associate, he would have gone down as
others of his gilded ilk had gone down; but, as it was, every man in
the Abbey longed to kick him, and they snubbed him as pointedly as
in common courtesy to their host they could.
“I am actually uneasy,” said Lady Mary to Lee one evening as they
stood apart for a moment in the drawing-room. The guests looked
unconcerned enough. They were talking and laughing, some
pretending to fight for their favourite tables; while in the billiard-
room across the hall a half-dozen of the younger married women
were romping about the table, shrieking their laughter. But Victoria
Pix, looking less like a marble than usual, stood alone in a doorway
intently regarding her brother, who was also conspicuously alone.
And although Emmy was flitting about as usual, there was an angry
light in her eyes and an ugly compression of her lips.
“I wish it were the last of September,” replied Lee.
“So do I—or that we were in California. I feel as if some one had a
lighted fuse in his hand and was hunting for dynamite. It’s really
terrible to think what might happen if that man lost his temper and
opened his mouth.”
“I don’t want to think of it. And where there are so many people
nothing is really likely to happen; there are so many small
diversions.”
But she broached the subject to Cecil as they were walking along the
corridors to their tower some hours later. Apparently they were the
best of friends again, for Cecil was not the man to do anything by
halves. He had not even returned to the subject; and if he were still
wounded and unquiet he gave no sign.
“I wish that horrid Mr. Pix would go,” said Lee tentatively. “He’s so
out of it, I wonder he doesn’t.”
“I can’t imagine what he came for. I never saw a man look such an
ass on the moors.”
“He must get on your father’s nerves.”
“I fancy he does. I suppose Emmy asked him here. She could hardly
avoid it, she’s so intimate with Miss Pix. By the way, that woman
actually talked at dinner to-night; you may not have noticed, but I
had her on my left; I suppose I’m in Emmy’s bad graces for some
reason or other. But she really seemed bent on making herself
entertaining. She has something in her head, I fancy. If less of it
were snobbery she wouldn’t be half bad.”
“Fancy what you escaped. If you had never come to America they
might have married you to the Pixes.”
“The person has yet to be born who could do my marrying for me,”
said Cecil; and there was no doubt that he knew himself.
 CHAPTER XXI
THE next afternoon as Lee was taking tea with the other guests in
the library she happened to glance out of the window, and saw Lord
Barnstaple returning from the moors, alone. It was an unusual
occurrence, for he was an ardent and vigorous sportsman. Ten
minutes later she became aware that a servant in the corridor was
endeavouring to attract her attention. She went out at once and
closed the door. The servant told her that Lord Barnstaple desired an
interview with her in his own sitting-room; he feared interruptions in
her boudoir.
Lee went rapidly to his rooms, curious and uneasy. She felt very
much like running away, but Lord Barnstaple had been consistently
kind to her, and was justified in demanding what return she could
give him.
He was walking up and down, and his eyebrows were more
perturbed than supercilious.
“I want to know if you will give me a little help,” he said abruptly.
“Of course I will do anything I can.”
“I want that bounder, Pix, put out of this house. I can’t stand him
another day without insulting him, and of course I don’t want to do
that. But he is Emmy’s guest and she can get rid of him—I don’t
care how she does it. Of course I can’t speak to her; she would be in
hysterics before I was half through; and would keep him here to
spite me.”
“And you want me to speak to her?”
“I’m not asking you to undertake a very pleasant task; but you’re the
only person who has the least influence over her, except Cecil—and I
don’t care to speak to him about it.”
“But what am I to say to her? What excuse?”
Lord Barnstaple wheeled about sharply. “Can’t you think of any?” he
asked.
Lee kept her face immobile, but she turned away her eyes.
Lord Barnstaple laughed. “Unless you are blind you can see what is
becoming plain enough,” he said harshly. “I’ve seen him hanging
about for some time, but it never occurred to me that he might be
her lover until lately. I don’t care a hang about her and her lovers,
but she can’t bring that sort to the Abbey.”
“I can tell her that everybody is talking and that the women are
hinting that unless she drops him she’ll be dropped herself.”
“Quite so. You’ll have a nasty scene. It is good of you to undertake it
without making me argue myself hoarse.”
“I am one of you; you must know that I would willingly do anything
for the family interests that I could.”
“You do belong to us,” said Lord Barnstaple with some enthusiasm.
“And that is what Emmy has never done for a moment. By the way,”
he hesitated, “I hate to mention it now, it looks as if I were
hastening to reward you; but the fact is I had made up my mind to
give you my wife’s jewels. They are very fine, and Emmy does not
even know of their existence. I suppose it would have been rather
decent of me to have given them to you long ago: but——”
Lee nodded to him, smiling sympathetically.
“Yes,” he said, “I hated to part with them. But I shan’t mind your
having them. I’ll write to my solicitors at once to send them down;
I’ve got to pass the time somehow. For Heaven’s sake come back
and tell me how she takes it.”
“I don’t suppose I shall be long. I haven’t thanked you. Of course I
shall be delighted to have the jewels.”
“You ought to have the Barnstaple ones, but she’s capable of
outliving the whole of us.”
 CHAPTER XXII
AS Lee walked along the many corridors to her mother-in-law’s
rooms she reflected that she was grateful Lord Barnstaple had not
refrained from mentioning the diamonds: their vision was both
pleasing and sustaining. She was obliged to give serious thought to
the coming interview, but they glittered in the background and
poured their soothing light along her nerves.
Lady Barnstaple had but just risen from her afternoon nap and was
drinking her tea. She looked cross and dishevelled.
“Do sit down,” she said, as Lee picked up a porcelain ornament from
the mantel and examined it. “I hate people to stand round in spots.”
Lee took a chair opposite her mother-in-law. She was the last person
to shirk a responsibility when she faced the point.
“You have seemed very nervous lately,” she said. “Is anything the
matter?”
“Yes, everything is. I wish I could simply hurt some people. I’d go a
long ways aside to do it. What right have these God-Almighty
English to put on such airs, anyhow? One person’s exactly as good
as another. I come from a free country and I like it.”
“I wonder you have deserted it for five-and-twenty years. But it is
still there.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt you’d like to get rid of me. But you won’t. I’ve
worn myself out getting to the top, and on the top I’ll stay. I’d be
just nothing in New York. And Chicago—good Lord!”
“You’ve stepped down two or three rungs, and if you’re not careful
you’ll find yourself at the foot—”
“What do you mean?” screamed Lady Barnstaple. “I’ve half a mind
to throw this teacup at you.”
“Don’t you dare to throw anything at me. I should have a right to
speak even if I did not consider your own interest—which I do;
please believe me. Surely you must know that Mr. Pix has hurt you.”
“I’d like to know why I can’t have a lover as well as anybody else.”
“Do you mean to acknowledge that he is your lover?”
“It’s none of your business whether he is or not! And I’m not going
to be dictated to by you or anybody else.”
Lady Barnstaple was too nervous and too angry to be cowed by the
cold blue blaze before her, but she asserted herself the more
defiantly.
“I have no intention of dictating to you, but it certainly is my
business. And it’s Lord Barnstaple’s and Cecil’s—”
“You shut up your mouth,” screamed Lady Barnstaple; her language
always revealed its pristine simplicity when her nerves were fairly
galloping. “The idea of a brat like you sitting up there and lecturing
me. And what do you know about it, I’d like to know? You’re married
to the salt of the earth and you’re such a fool you’re tired of him
already. If you’d been tied up for twenty years to a cold-blooded
brute like Barnstaple you might—yes, you might have a little more
charity——”
“I am by no means without charity, and I know that you are not
happy. I wish you were; but surely there are better ways of
consoling oneself——”
“Are there? Well, I don’t know anything about them and I guess you
don’t know much more. I was pretty when I married Barnstaple, and
I was really in love with him, if you want to know it. He was such a
real swell, and I was so ambitious, I admired him to death; and he
was so indifferent he fascinated me. But he never even had the
decency to pretend he hadn’t married me for my money. He’s never
so much as crossed my threshold, if you want to know the truth.”
“People say he was in love with his first wife, and took her death
very much to heart. Perhaps that was it.”
“That was just it. He’s got her picture hanging up in his bedroom;
won’t even have it in his sitting-room for fear somebody else might
look at it. I went to see him once out of pure charity, when he was ill
in bed and he shouted at me to get out before I’d crossed the
threshold. But I saw her.”
“I must say I respect him more for being perfectly honest, for not
pretending to love you. After all, it was a square business
transaction: he sold you a good position and a prospective title.
You’ve both got a good deal out of it——”
“I hate him! I hate a good many people in England, but I hate him
the most. I’m biding my time, but when I do strike there won’t be
one ounce of starch left in him. I’d do it this minute if it wasn’t for
Cecil. What right has he got to stick his nose into my affairs and
humiliate the only man that ever really loved me——”
“If you mean Mr. Pix, it seems to me that Lord Barnstaple has
restrained himself as only a gentleman can. He is a very fastidious
man, and you surely cannot be so blind as not to see how an
underbred——”
“Don’t you dare!” shrieked Lady Barnstaple. She sprang to her feet,
overturning the tea-table and ruining her pink velvet carpet. “He’s as
good as anybody, I tell you, and so am I. I’m sick and tired of airs—
that cad’s that’s ruined me and your ridiculous Southern nonsense.
I’m not blind! I can see you look down on me because I ain’t
connected with your old broken aristocracy! What does it amount to,
I’d like to know? There’s only one thing that amounts to anything on
the face of this earth and that’s money. You can turn up your nose at
Chicago but I can tell you Chicago’d turn up its nose at you if it had
ever heard of you. You’re just a nonentity, with all your airs, and all
your eyes too for that matter, and I’m known on two continents. I’m
the Countess of Barnstaple, if I was—but it’s none of yours or
anybody else’s business who I was. I’m somebody now and
somebody I’m going to stay. If I’ve gone down three rungs I’ll climb
up again—I will! I will! I will! And I can’t! I can’t! I can’t! I haven’t a
penny left! Not a penny! Not a penny! I’m going to kill myself——”
Lee jumped up, caught her by the shoulders and literally shook the
hysterics out of her. Then she sat her violently into a chair.
“Now!” she said. “You behave yourself or I’ll shake you again. I’ll
stand none of your nonsense and I have several things to say to you
yet. So keep quiet.”
Lady Barnstaple panted, but she looked cowed. She did not raise her
eyes.
“How long have you been ruined?”
“I don’t know; a long while.”
“And you are spending Mr. Pix’s money?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Do the Abbey lands pay the taxes and other expenses?—and the
expenses of the shooting season?”
“They pay next to nothing. The farms are too small. It’s all woods
and moor.”
“Then Mr. Pix is running the Abbey?”
“Yes he is—and he knows it.”
“And you have no sense of responsibility to the man who has given
you the position you were ready to grovel for?”
“He’s a beastly cad.”
“If he were not a gentleman he could have managed you. But that
has nothing to do with it. You have no right to enter a family to
disgrace it. I suppose it’s not possible to make you understand; but
its honour should be your own.”
“I don’t care a hang about any such high-falutin’ nonsense. I
entered this family to get what I wanted, and when it’s got no more
to give me it can be the laughing-stock of England for all I care.”
“I thought you loved Cecil.”
The ugly expression which had been deepening about Lady
Barnstaple’s mouth relaxed for a moment.
“I do; but I can’t help it. He’s got to go with the rest. I don’t know
that I care much, though; you’re enough to make me hate him.
What I hate more than everything else put together is to give up the
Abbey. And you can be sure that after the way Mr. Pix has been
treated——”
“Mr. Pix will leave this house to-night. If you don’t send him I shall.”
“You’re a fool. If you knew which side your bread was buttered on
you’d make such a fuss over him that everybody else would treat
him decently——”
“I have fully identified myself with my husband’s family, if you have
not, and I shall do nothing to add to its dishonour. There are worse
things than giving up the Abbey—which can be rented; it need not
be sold. The Gearys would rent it to-morrow.”
“If you think so much of this family I wonder you can make up your
mind to leave it.”
Lee hesitated a moment. Then she said: “I shall never leave it so
long as it needs me. And it certainly needs somebody just at
present. Mr. Pix must leave; that’s the first point. Lord Barnstaple
and Cecil must be told just so much and no more. Don’t you dare tell
them that Mr. Pix has been running the Abbey. You can have letters
from Chicago to-morrow saying that you are ruined.”
“If Mr. Pix goes I follow. Unless I can keep the Abbey—and if I’ve got
to drop out——”
“You can suit yourself about going or remaining. Only don’t you tell
Lord Barnstaple or anybody else whose money you have been
spending.”
“I’d tell him and everybody else this minute if it weren’t for Cecil.
He’s the only person who’s ever really treated me decently. And as
for the Abbey——”
She paused so long that Lee received a mental telegram of
something still worse to come. As Lady Barnstaple raised her eyes
slowly and looked at her with steady malevolence she felt her
burning cheeks cool.
“He wouldn’t have the Abbey, anyhow, you know,” said Lady
Barnstaple.
“What do you mean?”
“I heard you jabbering with Barnstaple and Cecil not long since
about the Abbey and its traditions, but either they hadn’t told you or
you hadn’t thought it worth remembering—that there is a curse on
all Abbey lands and that it has worked itself out in this family with
beautiful regularity.”
“I never heard of any curse.”
“Well, the priests, or monks, or whatever they were, cursed the
Abbey lands when they were turned out. And this is the way the
curse works.” She paused a moment longer with an evident sense of
the dramatic. “They never descend in the direct line,” she added
with all possible emphasis.
“I am too American for superstition,” but her voice had lost its
vigour.
“That hasn’t very much to do with it. I’m merely mentioning facts. I
haven’t gone into other Abbey family histories very extensively, but I
know this one. Never, not in a single instance, has Maundrell Abbey
descended from father to son.”
Lee looked away from her for the first time. Her eyes blazed no
longer; they looked like cold blue ashes.
“It is time to break the rule,” she said.
“The rule’s not going to be broken. Either the Abbey will go to a
stranger, or Cecil will die before Barnstaple is laid out in the crypt
——”
Lee rose. “It is an interesting superstition, but it will have to wait,”
she said. “I am going now to speak to Mr. Pix—unless you will do it
yourself.”
“I’ll do it myself if you’ll be kind enough to mind your business that
far.”
“Then I shall go and tell Lord Barnstaple that you have consented
——”
“Ah! He sent you, did he? I might have known it.”
Lee bit her lip. “I am sorry—but it doesn’t matter. If to-day is a
sample of your usual performances, you can’t expect him to court
interviews with you.”
“Oh, he’s afraid of me. I could make any man afraid of me, thank
Heaven!”
 CHAPTER XXIII
LEE returned to her father-in-law more slowly than she had
advanced upon the enemy. She longed desperately for Cecil, but he
was the last person in whom she could confide.
Lord Barnstaple opened the door for her.
“How pale you are!” he said. “I suppose I sent you to about the
nastiest interview of your life.”
“Oh. I got the best of her. She was screaming about the room and I
got tired of it and nearly shook the life out of her.”
Lord Barnstaple laughed with genuine delight. “I knew she’d never
get the best of you,” he cried. “I knew you’d trounce her. Well, what
else?”
“She promised to tell Mr. Pix he must go to-night.”
“Ah, you did manage her. How did you do it?”
“I told her I’d tell him if she didn’t.”
“Good! But of course she’ll get back at us. What’s she got up her
sleeve?”
“I don’t think she knows herself. She’s too excited. I think she’s
upset about a good many things. She seems to have been getting
bad news from Chicago this last week or two.”
“Ah!” Lord Barnstaple walked over to the window. He turned about in
a moment.
“I have felt a crash in the air for a long time,” he said pinching his
lips. “But this last year or two her affairs seemed to take a new start,
and of course her fortune was a large one and could stand a good
deal of strain. But if she goes to pieces——” he spread out his
hands.
“If Cecil and I could only live here all the year round we could keep
up the Abbey in a way, particularly if you rented the shootings; but
our six months in town take fully two thousand——”
“There’s no alternative, I’m afraid: we’ll all have to get out.”
“But you wouldn’t sell it?”
“I shall have to talk it over with Cecil. The rental would pay the
expenses of the place; but I can’t live forever, and when I give place
to him the death duties will make a large hole in his private fortune.
I have a good many sins to repent of when my time comes.”
He had turned very pale, and he looked very harassed. Lee did not
fling her arms round his neck as she might once have done, but she
took his hand and patted it.
“You and Cecil and I can always be happy together, even without the
Abbey,” she said. “If Emmy really loses her money she will run away
with Mr. Pix or somebody. We three will live together, and forget all
about her. And we won’t be really poor.”
Lord Barnstaple kissed her and patted her cheek, but his brow did
not clear.
“I am glad Cecil has you,” he said, “the time may come when he will
need you badly. He loves the Abbey—more than I have done, I
suppose, or I should have taken more pains to keep it.”
Lee felt half inclined to tell him of Randolph’s promise; but
sometimes she thought she knew Randolph, and sometimes she was
sure she did not. She had no right to raise hopes, which converse
potentialities so nicely balanced. Then she bethought herself of
Emmy’s last shot, which had passed out of her memory for the
moment. She must speak of it to some one.
“She said something terrible to me just before I left. I’d like to ask
you about it.”
“Do. Why didn’t you give her another shaking?”
“I was knocked out: it took all my energies to keep her from seeing
it. She said that Abbey lands were cursed, and never descended
from father to son.”
Lord Barnstaple dropped her hand and walked to the window again.
“It has been a curious series of coincidences in our case,” he said,
“but as our lands were not cursed more vigorously than the others,
and as a good many of the others have gone scot free or nearly so,
we always hope for better luck next time. There is really no reason
why our luck shouldn’t change any day. The old brutes ought to be
satisfied, particularly as we’ve taken such good care of their bones.”
“Well, if the Abbey has to go, I hope the next people will be haunted
out of it,” said Lee viciously. “I must go and dress for dinner. Don’t
worry; I have a fine piece of property, and it is likely to increase in
value any day.” She felt justified in saying this much.
“You had an air of bringing good luck with you when you came. It
was a fancy, of course, but I remember it impressed me.”
“That is the reason you didn’t scold me for not bringing a million, as
Emmy did?”
“Did she? The little beast! Well, go and dress.”
 CHAPTER XXIV
AS Cecil and Lee were descending the tower stair an hour later he
said to her:
“Don’t look for me to-night when you are ready to come home; I am
coming straight here after dinner. It’s high time I got to work on my
speeches.”
She slipped her hand into his. “Shall I come too and sit with you?”
He returned her pressure and did not answer at once. Then he said:
“No; I think I’d rather you didn’t. If I am to lose you for a year I had
better get used to it as soon as possible.”
She lifted her head to tell him that she had no intention of leaving
him for the present, then felt a perverse desire to torment him a
little longer. She intended to be so charming to him later that she
felt she owed that much to herself. But she was dressed to-night for
his special delectation. If Cecil had a preference in the matter of her
attire it was for transparent white, and she wore a gown of white
embroidered mousseline de soie flecked here and there with blue.
They were still some distance from the door which led into the first
of the corridors, for the stair was winding, worn, and steep, and, in
spite of several little lamps, almost dark. Cecil paused suddenly and
turned to her, plunging his hands into his pockets. She could hardly
see his face, for a slender ray from above lay full across her eyes;
but she had thought, as she had joined him in the sitting-room
above a few moments since, that he had never looked more
handsome. He grew pale in London, but a few days on the moors
always gave him back his tan; and it had also occurred to her that
the past two weeks had given him an added depth of expression,
robbed him of a trifle of that serenity which Circumstance had so
persistently fostered.
“There is something I should like to say,” he began, with manifest
hesitation. “I shouldn’t like you to go on thinking that I have not
appreciated your long and unfailing sacrifice during these three
years. I was too happy to analyse, I suppose, and you seemed
happy too; but of course I can see now that you were making a
deliberate—and noble—attempt—to—to make yourself over, to
suppress an individuality of uncommon strength in order to live up to
a man’s selfish ideal. Of course when I practically suggested it, I
knew what I was talking about, but I was too much of a man to
realise what it meant—and I had not lived with you. I can assure you
that, great as your success was, I have realised, in this past week,
that I had absorbed your real self, that I understood you as no man
who had lived with you and loved you as much as I—no man to
whom you had been so much, could fail to do. I am expressing
myself about as badly as possible, but the idea that you should think
me so utterly selfish and unappreciative after all you have given up
—have given me—has literally tortured me. I don’t wonder you want
a fling. Go and have it, but come back to me as soon as you can.”
She made no reply, for she wanted to say many things at once. But
it is possible that he read something of it in her eyes—at least she
prayed a few hours later that he had—for he caught her hard
against him and kissed her many times. Then he hurried on, as if he
feared she would think he had spoken as a suppliant.
When she joined him in the corridor the Gearys were waiting for
them, and Coralie immediately began to chatter. Her conversation
was like a very light champagne, sparkling but not mounting to the
brain. Lee felt distinctly bored. She would have liked to dine alone
with Cecil and then to spend with him a long evening of mutual
explanation and reminiscence, and many intervals. She answered
Coralie at random, and in a few moments her mind reverted with a
startled leap to the pregnant hours of the afternoon. Could she keep
Cecil ignorant of the disgrace which had threatened him? Had Pix
gone? Would Emmy hold her counsel? She had forgotten to ask Lord
Barnstaple to keep away from her; but such advice was hardly
necessary.
“Where on earth did you disappear to this afternoon?” Coralie was
demanding. “I hunted over the whole Abbey for you and I got lost
and then I tried to talk to that Miss Pix and she asked me all about
divorce in the United States—of all things! I wonder if she’s got a
husband tucked away somewhere—those monumental people are
often bigger fools than they look. I told her that American divorces
were no good in England unless they were obtained on English
statutory grounds—we’d known some one who’d tried it. She looked
as mad as a hornet, just like her brother for a minute. And he fairly
makes me ill, Lee. Just fancy our having such people in the house. I
must say that the English with all their blood——”
“Oh, do keep quiet!” said Lee impatiently. Then she apologised
hurriedly. “I have a good deal to think about just now,” she added.
Coralie was gazing at her with a scarlet face. “Well, I think it’s about
time you came back to California,” she said sarcastically. “Your
manners need brushing up.”
But Lee only shrugged her shoulders and refused to humble herself
further. She was beset with impatience to reach the library and
ascertain if Pix had gone.
He was there. And he was standing apart with his sister. His set thick
profile was turned to the door. He was talking, and it was evident
that his voice was pitched very low.
As the company was passing down the corridor which led to the stair
just beyond the dining-room, Lady Barnstaple’s maid came hastily
from the wing beyond and asked Lee to take her ladyship’s place at
the table.
It seemed to Lee as the dinner progressed that with a few
exceptions every one was in a feverish state of excitement. The
exceptions were the Pixes, who barely made a remark, Cecil, who
seemed as usual and was endeavouring to entertain his neighbour,
and Lord Barnstaple, whose brow was very dark. Mary Gifford’s large
laugh barely gave its echoes time to finish, and the others certainly
talked even louder and faster than usual. Randolph alone was
brilliant and easy, and, to Lee, was manifestly doing what he could
to divert the attention of his neighbours. Before the women rose it
was quite plain that they were really nervous; and that the influence
emanated from Pix. His silence alone would have attracted attention,
for it was his habit to talk incessantly in order to conceal his real
timidity. And he sat staring straight before him, scarcely eating, his
heavy features set in an ugly sneer.
“I’m on the verge of hysterics,” said Mary Gifford to Lee as they
entered the drawing-room. “That man’s working himself up to
something. He’s a coward and his courage takes a lot of screwing,
but he’s getting it to the sticking point as fast as he can, and I met
him coming out of Emmy’s rooms about an hour before dinner. I ran
over to speak to her about something, but I was not admitted. He
looked as if they’d been having a terrible row and he was ready to
murder some one. I’m in a real funk. But if he’s meditating a coup
de théâtre we can baulk him for to-night at least. It’s a lovely night.
Get everybody out-of-doors and then I’ll see that they scatter. I’ll
start a romp the moment the men come out.”
“Good. I’ll send up for shawls at once. I’ll tell Coralie to look after
Lord Barnstaple; she always amuses him. Then—I’ll dispose of Mr.
Pix.”
“Oh, I wish I could be there to see. He’ll sizzle and freeze at once,
poor wretch. Well, let’s get them out. I’ll deposit Mrs. Montgomery in
the Sèvres room, and tell her to look at the crockery and then go to
bed.”
Lee had intended to return with Cecil to the tower and inform him
that his bitter draught was to be sweetened for the present, but Pix
must be dealt with summarily. If she did not get him out of the
house before Lord Barnstaple lost his head there would be
consequences which even her resolute temper, born of the
exigencies of the hour, refused to contemplate.
The women, pleased with the suggestion of a romp on the moor,
strolled, meanwhile, about the lake, looking rather less majestic than
the swans, who occasionally stood on their heads as if disdainful of
the admiration of mere mortals. When the men entered the drawing-
room Lee asked them to go outside immediately, and Coralie placed
her hand in Lord Barnstaple’s arm and marched him off.
Lee went down to the crypt with them, then slipped back into the
shadows and returned to the drawing-room. Pix had greeted her
suggestion with a sneer and a scowl, but it was evident that his
plans had been frustrated, and that he was not a man of ready wit.
He had sat himself doggedly in a chair, obviously to await the return
of Lord Barnstaple and his guests. He sat there alone as Lee re-
entered, looking smaller and commoner than usual in the great
expanse of the ancient room, with its carven roof that had been
blessed and cursed, and the priceless paintings on the panels about
him. The Maundrells of Holbein, and Sir Joshua, and Sir Peter
seemed to have raised their eyebrows with supercilious indignation.
He was in accord with nothing but the electric lights.
As Lee entered he did not rise, but his scowl and his sneer
deepened.
She walked directly up to him, and as he met her eyes he moved
slightly. When Lee concentrated all the forces of a strong will in
those expressive orbs, the weaker nature they bore upon was liable
to an attack of tremulous self-consciousness. She knew the English
character; its upper classes had the arrogance of the immortals;
millions might bury but could never exterminate the servility of the
lower. Let an aristocrat hold a man’s plebeianism hard against his
nostrils and the poor wretch would grovel with the overpowering
consciousness of it. Lee had determined that nothing short of
insolent brutality would dispose of Mr. Pix. And for sheer insolence
the true Californian transcends the earth.
“Why haven’t you gone?” she asked as if she were addressing a
servant.
Pix too had his arrogance, the arrogance of riches. Although he
turned pale, he replied doggedly:
“I’m not ready to go and I don’t go until I am. I don’t know what
you mean.” He spoke grammatically, but his accent was as irritating
as only the underbred accents of England can be.
“You know what I mean. You saw Lady Barnstaple this afternoon.
She told you you must go. We don’t want you here.”
“I’ll stay as long as I——”
“No, my good man, you will not; you will go to-night. I have ordered
the carriage for the eleven-ten train to Leeds, where you can stay
the night. Your man is packing your box.”
“I won’t go,” he growled, but his chest was heaving.
“Oh yes you will, if you have to be assisted into the carriage by two
footmen.”
He pulled himself together, although it was evident that his nerves,
subjected to a long and severe strain, were giving way, and that the
foundations of his insolence were weakened by the position in which
she had placed him. He said quite distinctly:
“And who’s going to feed this crowd?”
“My husband and myself; and I’ll trouble you for your bill.”
“It’s a damned big bill.”
“I think not. I have no concern with what you may have spent
elsewhere. I shall ascertain exactly when my mother-in-law’s original
income ceased and I know quite as well as you do what is spent
here; so be careful you make no mistakes. Now go, my good man,
and see that you make no fuss about it.”
The situation would unquestionably have been saved, for the man
was confounded and humiliated, but at that moment Lord Barnstaple
entered the room.
“My dear child,” he said, “I was a brute to leave this to you. Go out
to the others. I will follow in a moment.”
Lee, who was really enjoying herself, wheeled about with a frown.
“Do go,” she said emphatically. “Do go.”
“And leave you to be insulted by a cur who doesn’t know enough to
stand up in your presence. I am not quite so bad as that.” He turned
to Pix, whose face had become very red; even his eyeballs were
injected.
“I believe you have been told that you cannot stay here,” he said. “I
am sorry to appear rude, but—you must go. There are no
explanations necessary, and I should prefer that you did not reply.
But I insist upon you leaving the house to-night.”
Pix jumped to his feet with hard fists. “Damn you! Damn you!” he
stuttered hysterically, but excitement giving him courage as he went
on: “and what’s going to become of you? Where’ll you and all this
land that makes such a h—l of a difference between you and me be
this time next year? It’ll be mine as it ought to be now! And where’ll
you be? Who’ll be paying for your bread and butter? Who’ll be
paying your gambling debts? They’ve made a nice item in my
expenses, I can tell you! If you’re going to make your wife’s lover
pay your debts of honour—as you swells call them—you might at
least have the decency to win a little mor’n you do.”
He finished and stood panting.
Lord Barnstaple stood like a stone for a moment, then he caught the
man by the collar, jerked him to an open window, and flung him out
as if he had been a rat. He was very strong, as are all Englishmen of
his class who spend two-thirds of their lives in the open air, and his
face was merely a shade paler as he turned to Lee. But she averted
her eyes hastily from his, nevertheless.
“Doubtless that man spoke the truth,” he said calmly, “but she must
corroborate it,” and he went towards the stair beyond the drawing-
room that led to his wife’s apartments.
Lee ran to the window. Pix was sitting up on the walk holding a
handkerchief to his face. No one else was in sight. Presently he got
to his feet and limped into the house. Lee went to the door opposite
the great staircase and saw him toil past: it was evident that he was
quite ready to slink away.
She sat down and put her hand to her eyes. It seemed to her that
they must ache forever with what they had caught sight of in Lord
Barnstaple’s. In that brief glance she had seen the corpse of a
gentleman’s pride.
What would happen! If Emmy lost her courage, or if her better
nature, attenuated as it was, conquered her spite, the situation
might still be saved. Lord Barnstaple would be only too willing to
receive the assurance that the man, insulted to fury, had lied; and,
above all, Cecil need never know. There was no doubt that Lord
Barnstaple’s deserts were largely of his own invoking, but she set
her nails into her palms with a fierce maternal yearning over Cecil.
He was blameless, and he was hers. One way or another he should
be spared.
She waited for Lord Barnstaple’s return until she could wait no
longer. If he were not still with Emmy—and it was not likely that he
would prolong the interview—he must have gone to his rooms by
the upper corridors. She went rapidly out of the drawing-room and
up the stair. She could not be regarded as an intruder and she must
know the worst to-night. What would Lord Barnstaple do if Emmy
had confessed the truth? She tried to persuade herself that she had
not the least idea.
 CHAPTER XXV
HE was sitting at his desk writing; and as he lifted his hand at her
abrupt entrance and laid it on an object beside his papers she
received no shock of surprise. She went forward and lifted his hand
from the revolver.
“Must you?” she asked.
“Of course I must. Do you think I could live with myself another
day?”
“Perhaps no one need ever know.”
“Everybody in England will know before a week is over. She gave me
to understand that people guessed it already.”
“This seems such a terrible alternative to a woman—but——”
“But you have race in you. You understand perfectly. My honour has
been sold, and my pride is dead: there is no place among men for
what is left of me. And to face my son again! Good God!”
“Can nothing be done to keep it from Cecil?”
“Nothing. It is the only heritage I leave him and he’ll have to stand it
as best he can. It won’t kill him, nor his courage; he’s made of
stronger stuff than that. And if I’ve brought the family honour to the
dust, he has it in him to raise it higher than it has ever been. Never
let him forget that. You’ve played your part well all along, but you’ve
a great deal more to do yet. You’ll find that Fate didn’t steer you into
this family to play the pretty rôle of countess——”
“I am equal to my part.”
“Yes: I think you are. Now—I have an hour’s work before me. I can’t
let you go till I have finished. You are a strong creature—but you are
a woman, all the same. You must stay here until I am ready to let
you go.”