Kemp
Page 41
When I first began writing about Martin Kemp, his life and his times, I had not intended to feature so many real people so prominently; but once I placed him in Holland’s company in the first book, it became not only logical to do so, but inevitable, as I found my story increasingly entangled with that knight’s. Sir Hugh Despenser and Countess Margaret of Kent both died at this time. Sigglesthorne and Vise did actually exist, but if their names are passed down to us, it is thanks only to the Papal records of Holland’s petition. I have also found reference to an English spy at the Papal Court in Avignon by the name of Count Niccolino del Fiesco, although I have yet to find either scholarly reference to him or documentary evidence to back up the claim.
There really was a vintner named John Chaucer living on Thames Street, in the Vintry Ward of London, and he did have a son named Geoffrey. Young Geoffrey went on to make a name for himself in his own lifetime scribbling verses, and if it should seem like pure self indulgence to introduce him here, all I can say is that since his path is destined to cross Martin Kemp’s at least twice more, I had to introduce him sooner or later.
Raoul de Brienne, Count of Eu and Constable of France, was another real character, who was indeed sold by Holland to the king, apparently so that the king could persuade him to sell him his estates around Guines in the Pale of Calais; for which crime the count was beheaded by Valois’ son, John II, shortly after his succession in 1350 on the count’s return to France. The story that Sir Otho Holland was brought to the bar of the King’s Bench for allowing the count to be seen at large and armed in Calais is also true. He admitted his culpability, putting himself upon the king’s favour, and was thereupon committed to the custody of the marshal. His name was not struck from the membership of the Order of the Garter, however, so he was most likely forgiven his crime.
But of all the characters whose names I have shamelessly hijacked, none is more fascinating than the villain of the piece, Sir Geoffroi de Chargny (or Charny), governor of Saint-Omer and Sieur de Pierre-Perthuis, Montfort, Savoisy and Licey. None of the characters I have encountered in my studies of the period so far have better illustrated the dichotomy between the chivalric ideals of the nobility and their ignoble behaviour, except perhaps Edward III himself. Described by contemporaries as ‘the perfect knight’, de Chargny is best known to historians as the author of a number of tracts on chivalry; and when John II of France founded the Order of the Star to rival the Order of the Garter, his close friend Sir Geoffroi was one of its founder members. Can this really be the same de Chargny who sought to bribe the governor of Calais into handing the town over to him? The same de Chargny who, quickly paying his ransom to escape English captivity, hunted de Pavia down to a small castle King Edward had given him outside Calais, surprised him in bed with a mistress sent to him from England, and had him cut into pieces in the crowded market place at Saint-Omer? But that, as they say, is another story…
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First published in the United Kingdom in 1997 by Orion
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by
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Copyright © Jonathan Lunn, 1997
The moral right of Jonathan Lunn to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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ISBN 9781788630948
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Endnotes
1.
M. Packe, King Edward III, p.197 (ed. L. C. B. Seaman, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1983) « Back
2.
M. Packe, King Edward III, p.171 « Back
3.
M. Packe, King Edward III, p.152 « Back
4.
M. Packe, King Edward III, pp. 105-123, 170-178 « Back