Praise for The Illuminator
“A bold first novel, blending a sweeping portrayal of the distant past with intricate family drama. Set in late fourteenth-century England and mixing historical and fictional characters, the novel immerses us in an era of ferocious political and religious rivalries and the stirrings of protest.… Apart from the rich period atmosphere, the story is ample in romance, mystery, and adventure; its characters are full of life and energy. Some of its themes … are timeless.”
—The Boston Globe
“A remarkable debut novel.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“An absorbing, expertly told tale, plainly and forthrightly written and embroidered with plenty of homespun detail.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“At the center of this remarkable first novel is the story of the gradual adoption of the English language by the Norman ruling classes of England in the fourteenth century.… Vantrease, a former librarian, depicts this complex period with imagination and care, realistically presenting actual historical figures like Wycliffe and Julian of Norwich while avoiding formulaic devices of fiction.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“A richly detailed story.… [Vantrease’s] details and deft storytelling create a luminescent and very readable portrait of a dark time in history.”
—Booklist
“Reading The Illuminator is a bit like standing in The Cloisters in New York gazing at the Unicorn Tapestries … Brenda Rickman Vantrease has written a debut novel of fourteenth-century England—just as colorfully written as the tapestries are strikingly embroidered.”
—The Tennessean
“Lovely in the way it re-creates a long-ago era.… If you liked The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant’s bestseller about Florence on the eve of the Renaissance, you’ll love The Illuminator.… Vantrease’s book tells a good tale and gives a sense of the backdrop for two major historical events that occurred much later, the Reformation and Henry VIII’s split with the Catholic Church.”
—GoodHousekeeping.com
“A fabulous historical work of fiction that brings to life a pivotal moment in the history of England.… The prime characters enable the reader to grasp the nuances of the age as duty comes before love and conflict resolution means the strong do more than just survive; they take what they want, including an unprotected widow who must use her wit to elude suitors who see her estate up for grabs. Brenda Rickman Vantrease illuminates the medieval era with a deep tale.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Vantrease has joined the ranks of writers who have the gift of weaving stories that blend history with fiction. … This book rings with authenticity.”
—Nashville City Paper
“A novel with something for every reader. It has young love, older love, political plot and intrigue, and religious and philosophical conflict presented as grand adventure. All of these elements are woven within the wonderfully rich context of fourteenth-century England. Each detail is telling, pitch perfect, important. The relationships are complex, engrossing. Vantrease’s feel for time and place is natural. This book absolutely glows.”
—Frances Sherwood, author of The Book of Splendor
and Everything You’ve Heard Is True
“In her elegant novel, The Illuminator, Brenda Rickman Vantrease breathes light into the dark corners of feudal England, laying bare the consequences of political and spiritual oppression, and illuminating the power of both love and the written word to save.”
—Charmaine Craig, author of The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy
“A very absorbing and masterfully written novel that twines two stories together—a personal one of life on a manor in 1379 and a political one about the undercurrents that led, eventually, to the Reformation But people do not read novels to learn about social history, they read them because they meet characters they care about and whose problems they worry about. Impressive new talent Brenda Rickman Vantrease has created a cast of characters that stand out as individuals you want to follow. For those of you who remember, and have missed her, it was like finding a new book by the late Anya Seton. It especially reminded me of her masterpiece Katherine.”
—Margaret George, author of The Autobiography of Henry VIII
and Mary Called Magdalene
“The Illuminator is a rich and original debut novel. Brenda Rickman Vantrease writes with a strong voice, imaginative scope, and an audacious reach about complex characters during a fascinating historical period. Throughout The Illuminator, Vantrease’s intelligence, imagination, and love of language shines through. This gripping story—both entertaining and thought provoking—leaves you stimulated by this visit to a new world and eagerly awaiting Vantease’s next book.”
—Valerie Miner, author of The Low Road and Abundant Light
“Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s The Illuminator is one of the most engaging books I’ve had the pleasure to read in many years. Extraordinary characters of an extraordinary period in history are portrayed with passion that only an accomplished writer can deliver. Even reluctant readers will be compelled to stay with the residents of Blackingham Manor as they survive—if that can be the word—the brutal class system of fourteenth-century England. This is simply a wonderful book.”
—Terry Kay, author of To Dance with the White Dog
and The Valley of Light
“A wonderful novel—a tumultuous panorama of Wycliffe’s and Chaucer’s England, with an absolutely compelling and irresistible heroine. This is historical fiction in the grand epic manner, beautifully felt and written.”
—Max Byrd, author of Grant and Shooting the Sun
THE
ILLUMINATOR
BRENDA RICKMAN
VANTREASE
ST. MARTIN’S GRIFFIN
NEW YORK
THE ILLUMINATOR. Copyright © 2005 by Brenda Rickman Vantrease. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Design by Kathryn Parise
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vantrease, Brenda Rickman.
The illuminator / Brenda Rickman Vantrease.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-33191-6 (hc)
ISBN 0-312-33192-4 (pbk)
EAN 978-0-312-33192-4
1. Bible—Translating—Great Britain—Fiction. 2. Illumination of books and manuscripts—Fiction. 3. Inheritance and succession—Fiction. 4. Scribes—Fiction. 5. Widows—Fiction. 6. Great Britain—History—14th century—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3622.A675 145 2005
813'.6—dc22 2004030095
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
For Barney and Arlene
THE
ILLUMINATOR
PROLOGUE
OXFORD, ENGLAND
1379
John Wycliffe put down his pen and rubbed tired eyes. The candle burned low, spitting tendrils of smoke. It would burn only minutes longer, and it was the last. Only the middle of the month, and he’d exhausted his allotment. As master of Balliol College, Oxford University, he was afforded what would be adequate for most clerics—for most, who worked by day and slept by night. But Wycliffe scarcely slept during the nighttime hours. Purpose drove him from his bed early and kept him from it late.
The orange glow from the charcoal brazier did little to dispel the twilight thickening in the corners of his Spartan chambers. The candle sputtered and guttered out. The girl would be here soon. He co
uld send her to the chandler, paying out of his own purse. He would not call attention to his work by begging more from the bursar or borrowing from colleagues.
At least the chargirl’s delay gave him a much-needed respite. The muscles in his hand ached from holding the quills. His head hurt from squinting in the dim light, and his body was stiff from hours bent over his desk. Even his spirit was fatigued. As always, when he grew tired, he began to question his mission. Could it be pride, intellectual arrogance, and not God, that called him to such a gargantuan task? Or had he simply been pushed down this treacherous path by the machinations of the duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt? The duke was on his way to gaining a kingdom and had no wish to share its wealth with a greedy Church. But it was no sin, Wycliffe reasoned, to accept the patronage of such a man, not when together they could break the tyranny of the priests and bishops and archbishops. John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster, would do it to serve himself. But John Wycliffe would do it to save the soul of England.
King Edward’s death had been a blessing, in spite of the political struggle now going on between the boy king’s uncles. Too much lasciviousness had swirled around Edward; the taint of sin corrupted his court. He had consorted openly with his mistress. It was rumored Alice Perrers was a great beauty, but Wycliffe thought her the devil’s tool. What black arts had the scheming baggage practiced to gain the soul of a king? At least with Edward’s death, Alice Perrers was gone from the cesspool that had been his court. John of Gaunt was now regent. And John of Gaunt was on his side.
For now.
Wycliffe pushed his chair away from the desk. He faced the window that looked out over Oxford. From below, he heard revelers, students with too much ale already in their bellies and now in pursuit of more, though where they got the money for an endless supply was a mystery to him. He guessed they drank the cheapest, the last pouring, though it would take more of that than a fat man’s belly could hold to produce such an excess of exuberance. For a moment, he almost envied them their innocence, their wanton joy, their singular lack of purpose.
The girl should be here soon. She was already an hour late. He judged this by the deep indigo reflected in the window—a glazed window to honor his station. He could have translated two whole pages from the Vulgate in that time—two more pages to add to the packet going to East Anglia on the morrow. He was pleased with the work the illuminator had done for him. Not too ornate, yet beautiful, worthy of the text. How he loathed the profane antics of beast and bird and fool inserted for amusement in the marginalia, the ostentatious colors, the lavishness that the Paris Guild produced. This illuminator worked cheaper than the Paris masters, too. And the duke said he could be trusted to be discreet.
Voices drifted up from below, laughter, a snatch of song, then receded. Surely the girl would not be much longer. He must finish more of the translation tonight. He was halfway through the Book of John. Shadows flickered around the room. His eyelids drooped.
Jesus had faced down the temple priests. Wycliffe could face down a pope. Or two.
The coals shifted in the brazier, whispered to him. Souls perish while you dawdle.
He dozed before the glowing embers.
Joan knew that she was late as she rushed up the stairs to Master Wycliffe’s chamber. She hoped that he was so busily engaged with his writing that he would not notice, but she had seen no candle glow from his window. Sometimes, he hardly noticed she was there as she collected his soiled linen, swept his floor, emptied his chamber pot. Wouldn’t it just be her luck that today he would be in one of his rare moods, asking about her family, how they spent their Sundays, if any of them could read?
It wasn’t that she resented his curiosity—in spite of his abrupt manner, he had kind eyes, and when he called her “child” he reminded her of her father who had died last year—but today, she didn’t want to talk to him. She was sure to cry and besides, he would not approve, she thought, as she fingered the relic hanging from a ribbon attached to a hemp string. It girdled her waist like a rosary.
She smoothed her unbound hair beneath its shabby linen cap, took a deep breath, and knocked lightly on the oaken door. When she heard no response, she rapped again, louder, cleared her throat. “Master Wycliffe, it’s me, Joan. I’ve come to clean your lodgings.”
She tried the handle on the door, and finding it unbarred, opened it just a crack.
“Master Wycliffe?”
From the interior gloom, gruffly: “Come in, child. You are late. We waste time.”
“I’m so sorry, Master Wycliffe. But it’s my mother, you see. She’s very ill. And there’s only me to see to the little ones.”
She scurried about the room while he watched, lighting the rush lights, their flames flickering as she opened the window and slung out the contents of his chamber pot. She collected his soiled linen into a bundle, conscious of his eyes on her. She never disturbed the papers on his desk. She had learned that the hard way.
“Shall I replace the candle, sir?”
“Umph. I’ve naught to replace it with. I’ve been waiting for you. So you could fetch more.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll go right away.”
She hoped he would not report her tardiness. Who knew when her mother would be well enough to return to her own work as a charwoman. He turned his chair away from the window to face her, held up his hand in a halting gesture. “Your mother is ill, you say?”
“Her fever is very high.” She blinked back tears, then blurted out her confession. “I’ve been to Saint Anne’s to beg the priest to pray for her.
His mouth pressed into a tight line above the gray hairs of his beard. “The priest’s prayers are no better than yours. Perhaps not as good. Yours may well come from a purer heart.”
He stood up, towering over her, austere in his plain robe and tight woolen cap that scarcely covered the gray hair flowing over his shoulders and mingling with his beard.
“What’s that you have hanging on your belt?” he asked.
“My belt, sir?”
“Beneath your arm. Something that you call attention to in trying to conceal.”
“This, sir?” She held up the item in question. She felt her face flame. Why did his piercing gaze cause her to doubt what had seemed so right less than an hour ago?
“ ’Tis a holy relic,” she said, dropping her head. “The finger bone of Saint Anne. I’m to hold it when I say the Paternoster. The priest gave it to me.”
“I see. And what did you give him?”
“A sixpence, Master Wycliffe.”
“A sixpence,” he sighed, shaking his head, and then repeated, “a sixpence, out of your wages.” He held out his hand. “May I see this holy relic?”
She fumbled with the ribbon attached to her girdle, then handed him ribbon and relic. He examined it, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger.
“It is soft for bone,” he said.
“The priest said that’s because of Saint Anne’s gentleness.”
Wycliffe weighed it in his hand, the scarlet ribbon dripping like blood between his fingers. “It is pig’s cartilage. It will do naught for your ailing mother.”
“Cartilage?” The unfamiliar word twisted in her mouth.
“Gristle. The stuff of a pig’s ear, or tail, or snout.”
Gristle? The priest had given her a pig’s ear to aid her prayers? He’d said he was giving it to her cheap, out of Christian charity. Said it would usually cost much more. Pig’s gristle for her mother? She couldn’t stop the tears then, the tears that had been building up inside her all day. Now what was she to do?
He handed her his clean, ironed kerchief, a kerchief that she recognized from last week’s laundry. “Listen to me, child. You don’t need a saint’s relic. You don’t need a priest. You can pray for your mother. You can confess your sins directly to God. You can pray for your mother in our Lord’s name. Our Father in Heaven will hear you, if your heart is pure. And then, then after you have prayed, go to an apothecary and buy your mother a phys
ick to heal her fever.”
“I have no money for a physick,” she said between sniffs.
“I will redeem the relic from you.”
While she mopped at her eyes with his now soggy kerchief, he went over to the table to retrieve his purse, reached into it and extracted a shilling.
“Here. If there’s aught left after you buy the physick, use it to buy a chicken to make a broth for your mother.”
“Master Wycliffe, how can I thank—”
“You don’t have to thank me, child. Your church at least owes you that much—not to steal from you. I’m only returning what is yours.” He unfastened the object from its cord and patted her hand. “I’ll keep the relic. You take the ribbon.” He smiled, softening his austere features. “It will be pretty in your hair.”
In her relief, she wanted to hug him, but his dignity forbade it. Instead she dropped him a deep curtsy.
“Hurry before the apothecary in King’s Lane shuts her door for the night. Be off with you. I will say a prayer for your mother. And it will cost you nothing.”
It wasn’t until the chambermaid was gone that Wycliffe remembered the candles. He would have to go himself. But the night was still young. He could do several pages before fatigue overtook him and he started to make mistakes. The nap had revived his body, and the circumstance that had just transpired had plumped up his resolve. He carefully locked the door behind him—who knew what prying eyes might be abroad—and hurried down the narrow stairs and out the door in pursuit of light.
ONE
NORWICH, EAST ANGLIA
1379, JUNE
One. Two. Three. How many bells? Half-Tom the dwarf huffed his way to Norwich market, squinting at the sun overhead and counting. Twelve peals called the monks to sext. He pictured them in his mind’s eye— walking in black-robed silence to midday prayers, arms tucked in opposing sleeves, two abreast, one long line, writhing soundlessly through the cloister walk, like the eels that parted the marshy waters of the fens where he lived. He would not trade his own green sanctuary of willow and reed for all their cold and splendid stone.
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