by Robert Irwin
Ripley’s version suggested how good it was that it was an English match and harped on the theme that it was love that held our blessed kingdom together. But it was months later and not until the holding of the parliament at Reading that this story became public. Meanwhile there were more battles and beheadings and the numbers of the restless dead increased. In the wake of a Lancastrian defeat at Hexham, Tiptoft arrived too late to preside over the execution of the Duke of Somerset, but he supervised the beheadings of five lesser lords two days later and then had fourteen more Lancastrians executed at York. Though the days of mercy and pardon for the defeated were now over, Tiptoft had not yet won for himself the title of the ‘Butcher of England’. Henry was thought to be in hiding in the Lake District, while Margaret had fled back to her native Anjou.
Once more Anthony receives a request from the Chronicler of Crowland for more information about these battles and other matters of high politics. Appended to the Chronicler’s enquiries are short notes from the Abbot who has belatedly become aware of the rumours that were circulating about Anthony. With respect to the washing of a leper’s feet, this is not recommended, unless that is, the leper has been first cleansed according to the prescription of Leviticus: ‘Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the field.’ Otherwise there is obviously a risk of contagion. These matters are best left to the priesthood.
With respect to the vision of the Grail, the matter is no better. For the Grail is a sinister mystery and it was an accursed moment when the sun was darkened and Christ on the Cross beheld the vessel that was to catch His blood. Thereafter the Grail, that was the curse of Palestine, became the curse of England, for its manifestation in our country was the beginning of the breaking up of the Fellowship of the Round Table. Some that went on the quest died, some went mad, some renounced their knightly vocation and others disappeared without any report of what became of them and all of this foreshadowed the end of Arthur’s rule. The Grail, a ghostly vessel, waited upon by phantoms, is a damnable mystery. The Abbot demands of Lord Scales to know of what use is a vision of the Grail if it is vouchsafed only to one knight, or at most a handful of knights. Were not salvation potentially open to all, it would be a damnable thing – a thing reserved for an aristocracy of the perfect and denied to the common ruck of men, not to mention fallible womankind. The Grail is a lure, for it is like the device that falconers use when they wish to trap a hawk – a lump of meat attached to a mass of weighted leather decorated with feathers. ‘Beware the lure of the Grail, my Lord Scales.’
Elizabeth’s letter to Anthony arrives a few weeks after her father’s. It too is very short, for she writes that she is too excited to compose her thoughts. She describes Edward’s looks and vigour, as if Anthony were unacquainted with the man. Then she goes on at length about her new wardrobe which Jacquetta is purchasing for her in London. But the real burden of her letter comes at the end. She wants Anthony to know that all the Woodvilles are going to become very rich and that both Rivers and Anthony may expect to be appointed to high office very soon.
Anthony reflects that much of Elizabeth’s allure stems from her belief in her own worth and beauty, her certainty that she deserves wealth and good fortune and her pure delight in the things of this world. She is used to being gazed at and likes to be admired, for she knows that she is beautiful and surely beauty is nothing but the outward expression of goodness?
Chapter Eight: Tiltyard
Though Anthony is now in London, letters from his father keep him abreast of events. Sundays apart, Anthony spends every day at the tiltyard close by Charing Cross. The place is increasingly rundown. Half the staircase to the upper gallery has now collapsed and Sergeant Raker cannot find the funds to repair the steps. Tattered and faded banners hang from the gallery. The armoury, just inside the yard, is stocked with weapons and armour for hire, but most of the pieces are from bygone times. There are conical helmets without visors, partial suits of plate steel, flat-topped great helms, falchions, broadswords and even a few complete hauberks of mail left over from the previous century. When not at work, Raker sits in the armoury brooding over old wars. Anthony of course has no need for hired pieces. His own suit of light steel plate has been made to measure in the latest Italianate fashion with winged poleyns, fluted cuisses and massive pauldrons.
He continues his exercises with the sword, but he now also trains to become a champion jouster. Under the close supervision of Raker, he starts by practising on foot, first hefting a light lance and then steadily taking up heavier lances. It requires extraordinary strength to manage a real tournament lance of pinewood, keeping it erect and then slowly and evenly lowering it, until he can hold it braced by his hand and arm, pressed against his chest and pointing slightly to the right. The weight of the lance must rest on the palm, not the fingers. Then he must learn to repeat this operation more swiftly. Weeks pass before he is able to perform the same feat on horseback. Now things become more difficult, for, once on horse and facing a mounted antagonist, he has to wear full armour with the helm laced to his chest and back. The problem that every would-be jouster faces is that he can see very well through the slit of the helm as long as he leans slightly forward and inclines the head, but the urge to raise one’s head and even close one’s eyes just before the moment of impact is instinctive and hard to fight. The whispering voice conjures up pictures of the opponent’s lance breaking on the helm and piercing the slit of the helm, so that the splinters run deep into his eyeballs, and from that moment on he will be a blind man, no longer a warrior but instead an object of pity, to be led from place to place by servants and children. Scoggin will mercilessly bate his enemy. Again and again Anthony finds that, as he hurtles towards his antagonist, he looks down and, as Raker keeps yelling at him, he has no hope of becoming a champion jouster until he can see exactly where the point of his lance is going at the moment of impact.
There are other things to be mastered on horseback. He needs to ride with his stirrups short, so that he can stand on them. Black Saladin has to be trained to run close to the tilt cloth. Anthony must turn towards his opponent and lead with his right side. Now his leg must support the lance. The lance must not be lowered too soon or too late. Five lances’ length from the opponent is about right. There is a lot for Anthony to master.
But the thing that is most difficult of all is the bellowing of Sergeant Raker, for Raker is an angry man. He hates Anthony’s negligently arrogant manner and the way Anthony assumes that jousting is a sport that he will soon master. When at swordplay Anthony seems to strive for elegance rather than victory. Ever confident, he is careless in defence. Raker calls him a fop and tells him that he lacks the will to win, to maim and to kill and, since Raker shouts this at the top of his voice, it reaches the ears of everyone in the tiltyard. Everything enrages Raker. He cannot remember when he was born, but he thinks that he must be nearly seventy and he hates being so old. He can remember hearing of Hotspur’s death at the Battle of Shrewsbury. He witnessed the execution of Archbishop Scrope and the coronation procession of Henry V. He fought under John of Bedford at Verneuil and he saw Henry VI crowned King of France in Paris. His memories bring him no comfort. He is bitter about the more recent defeats and losses in France. He hated King Henry for his feeble mind and lack of will, but he also despises Edward for his wenching, feasting, hunting and easy pleasures. Raker does not like the favour that the young King shows to other young men. Raker loathes young men, though he feels the same about old men too, despite being old himself. R
aker is pickled in bile, but he knows how to go about his work.
For several months more the royal marriage remains a secret, which Edward enjoys, for he finds this to be the height of romance, but Elizabeth is impatient to be acknowledged Queen and crowned. At last, on the fourteenth of September Edward summons a meeting of his parliament in Reading. The matter could hardly be delayed any longer, for Warwick and Wenlock were about to depart for France on a mission to negotiate a marriage for the King with Bona of Savoy, a union which was intended to consecrate the political and military alliance of England and France. Now Edward tells them that their mission can have no point, for he is already married. He invites his council to rejoice in his happy marital state. Warwick is enraged to hear that his work of patient diplomacy over several years must come to nothing. Others in the council are shocked that the King has chosen to marry a woman who is older than he is and moreover of relatively low birth, though Edward retorts that the daughter of Jacquetta de St Pol and the granddaughter of the Count of St Pol is hardly a woman of low birth. But counsellors are also angry at the furtive way the King has gone about this business. But Hastings, once he has recovered from the shock of the news, sets to smoothing tempers and presenting the union in the best light he can. It is clear to him that the arrangement that he thought he had to divide the Grey estates with Elizabeth must now be null and void, but he is not such a fool as to make a fuss about a small thing like that. Moreover, as the news of the royal wedding spreads throughout Reading and then England, Edward’s critics discover that the royal marriage is widely approved of, since Elizabeth is not French but English and besides she is very beautiful.
As soon as the news reaches London, Anthony finds that he seems popular with people, most of whom he does not remember having met before. A few days later when he visits Ripley in his laboratory, he finds him busy drafting the letters that will present the royal marriage in the best possible light. This Ripley does with enthusiasm. For, ‘It is a marriage founded on love and it is love which exalts a man and a woman and gives them wings that will take them to heaven!’
Now he pushes his papers aside and rises to greet Anthony. There is a flask of wine on the table and Ripley hurries to find Anthony a cup.
He proposes a toast to Elizabeth’s golden destiny and Anthony can hardly refuse this.
‘This was your mother’s work, I am sure,’ Ripley says. ‘You must introduce me to Jacquetta de St Pol.’
Then he shows him a beautiful and intricate device which he says is called an astrolabe. It is capable of performing extraordinary calculations, but alas, he has been unable to discover how it works. Still it is beautiful is it not? He is babbling, but seeing that Anthony has put down his cup and is looking grim, he slows down and finally falls silent. Anthony raises his hand, before speaking, ‘Brother Ripley, I have come to say farewell. I want to have no more to do with you.’
Ripley looks as though he is about to cry, but perhaps that is a pretence.
‘But I am your good friend,’ he says. ‘I am everybody’s friend and most especially yours, my beloved lord. I will only ever have your best interests at heart and I can promise you a golden future. With my help, you will become rich, win renown and triumph over all your enemies.’
But Anthony’s reply is, ‘I already have a golden future, for I am the King’s brother-in-law.’
Ripley pours himself some more wine and drinks deeply before speaking again, ‘It is exactly your prominence and your closeness to the King that puts you in grave danger, since the court is a wilderness full of wolves that slaver and paw the ground as they look on you. The old guard around Edward suspect you Woodvilles for having come over to Edward’s side so recently, while those loyal to the cause of Lancaster scorn your family for having deserted Henry, and everybody hates and envies your fortune in becoming brother-in-law to the King. Edward’s palaces are fair-seeming places of feasting, music, dancing and dalliance, but it is at court that men of rank rise and then fall, to be incarcerated, blinded and murdered. The court is a pit of intrigue, and dukes, lords, bullies and thieves gather from all parts of the kingdom and, drawing their swords, with gleaming teeth and sombre eyes, step down into that pit.’
Anthony snorts, for he has no fear of men with gleaming teeth and swords, since he has a sword too and knows how to use it.
Ripley continues, ‘Since you and your sister have wealth, beauty and rank, you will have to learn how to be hated, for you now have powerful enemies. You must make yourselves enjoy being hated. Even so, though Edward has taken a risk in marrying Elizabeth, he needs her glamour, for glamour is a shimmering kind of enchantment and the kingdom must once more fall under enchantment, as Avalon was once enchanted…’
He has started to babble once more. Anthony turns to leave. Ripley pulls himself together.
‘But my lord, stay a moment. In what possible way can I have offended you?’
Anthony speaks without troubling to turn back to Ripley, ‘I do not care for these foolish and fantastical lies that you have been putting about concerning me… that I have seen the Grail, that I flagellate myself, that I remain a virgin and suchlike nonsense. People will not believe such stuff and they will think that it is I who am responsible for these vainglorious falsehoods. I see well that you believe that somehow you can use me and I do not care to be your cat’s-paw. And now farewell forever.’
Ripley cries after him.
‘Very good, my lord! It is good, it is very good indeed, that you should seek to make your way without me. Well done indeed! But very soon, I promise you, you will find that you will need me. Though I have heard harsh words from you just now, I will hold no grudge and I assure you that I remain your adoring friend and will ever be on hand, ready to help you. Go with God, for in His will is our peace.’
As Anthony walks out of Westminster Palace, he tries to put Ripley out of his mind. Then he remembers that, before he left for this final encounter with Ripley, a letter was put into his hand. He pauses at the postern gate and sits down on a bench to read the letter which is from the Chronicler of Crowland. The Chronicler reports that of late the Abbot has been troubled by expressions of doubt and impiety among some of his younger monks. One particular question has brought the trouble to a head. How could it be possible that Noah’s Ark could have accommodated two of every species of animal, reptile and bird? Things were parlous indeed, for when the Abbot thought about it, he began to have doubts about this himself. However, his previous labours on the chronology of the world had honed his mathematical skills and so he set to performing the necessary calculations. We know from Genesis that the Ark, fashioned from gopher wood, measured three hundred cubits, by thirty cubits, by fifty cubits and the Abbot found that scholars of the Bible reckoned a cubit to be roughly equal to a foot and a half. Having completed his calculations, the Abbot found that the top deck alone would be large enough to accommodate twenty-two tilting grounds – not that Noah and his sons would have had time for jousting, since they would be too busy feeding the animals – and moreover there were three decks, giving a total deck area of over 100,000 square feet, which was more than enough for every species of creature, particularly if one considered that the birds and insects on the top deck would take up very little space and that many reptiles could swim alongside. Moreover, there was no need for all the pairs of animals to be fully grown and so one could imagine Noah welcoming cubs, fawns, kittens, puppies, ponies and other baby creatures onto his Ark. Also, there were not so many species of animals in Biblical times. For example, we know from the New Testament that there were only two types of dog in the time of Jesus (scavenging hounds and house pets), whereas in more recent times many types of dog have been bred, including greyhounds, mastiffs, alaunts harriers, spaniels, terriers, running hounds and various sorts of lapdogs. So back then there would have been plenty of space for, say 35,000 creatures together, with enough fodder for three hundred and sixty-five days and perhaps not much fodder would be needed if, by divine dispensation, the
animals hibernated for the duration of the Deluge. Still the Abbot was dismayed to find that some of the young monks raised further questions regarding the Ark…
The following day Anthony is summoned to Reading to attend the formal proclamation of Elizabeth’s marriage and of her future coronation. On his arrival he is brought directly to the King who embraces him and tells him that he will shortly have good news for him. Then a page is summoned to guide Anthony to the Queen’s private chamber. His sister hugs him and says that she has so much to tell him. Her first meeting with Edward in the wood and then the secret marriage did not happen quite as Ripley’s letters describe them. But first she must show Anthony the jewels that have been purchased for her in Flanders. Also he must look upon the two cloths of gold purchased from Giovanni de Bardi of Florence for two hundred and eighty pounds and the gold plate which she will dine off on the day of her coronation. And here are the silks for her chairs and pillions…
‘We are going to become so rich!’
She is flushed with joy and Anthony must share her delight. She tells him in confidence that Edward is going to appoint him Governor of the Isle of Wight, which is an office of great profit. Her happiness enhances her beauty. It is indeed a kind of magic.
