by Maureen Ash
All of the townsfolk were already gathered and stood in respectful silence as Bishop William mounted the steps that led up to the cross. Before he had time to raise his hands and begin the service, however, there was a great gasp from everyone in the crowd as, one after another, they raised their heads and gazed into the sky above. There, descending slowly from a lofty height, were two ravens and, as the crowd watched with wonder, they alighted on the roof of a nearby building. With bright back eyes they settled down to watch the service.
“Praise be to the Lord,” Bishop William’s voice rang out in jubilant tones, “for St. Dunstan has sent his holy messengers to witness our thanksgiving. God’s mercy is great, as is His love for us. Let us bow our heads in prayer and express our eternal gratitude for delivering us from the machinations of the Devil.”
Epilogue
A special session of the sheriff’s court was held upon Gerard Camville’s return a few days later in order to try the perpetrator of the murders of Emma Ferroner and Gwen Hurdler. Garson was sentenced to death and, because of the sacrilegious nature of his crimes, given the extreme penalty of being enclosed in a wicker cage hung from the battlements and there left exposed, without water or food, in the heat of the summer sun, until he should expire. Three days later his corpse was taken out into the greenwood near Coleby, where his mother had been born and was now buried, and laid to rest alongside her corpse in an unmarked grave.
Nor did the sheriff show any mercy to Aliz and Dern. They were each sentenced to be branded on the cheek with a large capital P—for procurer—so they should forever bear the mark of their corruptness, and were afterwards to have their heads, feet and hands enclosed in stocks in the marketplace so the populace could pelt them with missiles of excrement and rotten food. Although Dern survived the punishment, Aliz did not, her skull crushed by a mouldy cabbage into which a rock had been secreted and thrown, so it was said, by the father of the little girl she had forced into prostitution.
* * *
Robert Ferroner, on having it confirmed that the woman he had scorned so many years before had been ultimately responsible for the death of his beloved Emma, sold his workshop and house and gave the proceeds to the church. Once that was done, he donned a threadbare cloak and broad-brimmed reed hat and left on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to beg forgiveness for the profligacy of his younger days at the place where Jesus had died. He was never seen in Lincoln again.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The setting for A Holy Vengeance is an authentic one. Nicolaa de la Haye was hereditary castellan of Lincoln castle during this period and her husband, Gerard Camville, was sheriff. The personalities they have been given in the story have been formed by conclusions the author has drawn from events during the reigns of King Richard I and King John.
The word witch is derived from the Old English word wicca (for a man) and wicce (for a woman), and denoted a person who had concourse with the Devil and was, therefore, skilled in the art of dark magic and, as a consequence, greatly feared throughout medieval society. Cunning folk, on the other hand, were essentially healers and not regarded as evil, which is borne out by the fact that the word cunning most likely originates in the Old Norse kunnani meaning knowledge. Cunning men and women were accepted without suspicion by the populace as practitioners of the healing arts and were revered due to the fact that they were often the only medical aid available in the many small hamlets throughout Britain and Europe.
In the period in which A Holy Vengeance is set, the difference between witches and cunning folk was clearly recognised. By the time a widespread persecution of witches began in the 16th century, that distinction had become blurred and many innocent women underwent terrible punishments simply because they were conversant with the medicinal properties of various plants and herbs.
For details of medieval Lincoln and the Order of the Knights Templar, I am much indebted to the following:
Medieval Lincoln by J.W.F. Hill (C.U.P.)
Dungeon, Fire and Sword by John J. Robinson (M. Evans & Company)
The Templars by Piers Paul Read (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Maureen Ash was born in London, England, and has had a lifelong interest in British medieval history. Visits to castle ruins and old churches have provided the inspiration for her novels. She enjoys Celtic music, browsing in bookstores and Belgian chocolate.
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