The Outlandish Companion

by Diana Gabaldon

  Bouton? Well, I looked down, and there he was. I have several dogs myself; Tippy, the smallest and oldest, always goes to my office with me when I work, and guards me faithfully until I go down to bed at three A.M. He lies on the floor near my feet, straight as a compass needle, pink nose on his paws, and a long, fluffy tail laid out behind him.

  So as Mother Hildegarde sat down to play her harpsichord, I looked down, and there was Bouton, stretched out faithfully like a compass needle on the floor at her feet. Given Mother Hildegarde’s occupation, it seemed only natural for her dog to accompany her on her rounds through the Hôpital—it was his own notion to leap up on the patients’ beds and instigate his own form of diagnosis.9

  Mr. Willoughby’s knowledge of acupuncture—in fact, Mr. Willoughby’s presence itself—was a matter of sheer necessity; I had to find a way of getting Jamie Fraser across the ocean without having him die of seasickness.

  Other bits and pieces of medical lore, conditions, diseases, and cures, were given to me by acquaintances (for instance, the picturesque loa-loa worm that Claire encounters in Voyager was suggested to me via E-mail by a reader who had noticed that I was writing scenes set in the West Indies), or picked out of the ragbag of memory. The vivid description of death caused by a strangulated hernia was taken (not verbatim, just the notion of it) from a brief excerpt from the writings of Albert Schweitzer, which I encountered in a course in German reading that I took in graduate school (lo these many years ago). I had to translate the passage in which Dr. Schweitzer described the pitiful death of one such patient, and it stuck in my mind. Things do, I’m afraid.

  1Though I did once read a book with a time-traveling heroine who listened to motivational business tapes in her own time, and then ended up with a successful business designing silk lingerie for eleventh-century Viking raiders. Neither Claire nor I have that much imagination, I’m afraid.

  2This very equitable division of labor has undergone drastic readjustments with the advent of reliable birth control, but since birth control was not very dependable in the eighteenth century, we really needn’t worry about a discussion of gender roles here. In the eighteenth century, women still took care of children and men killed things, the end.

  3I do have a Ph.D. in ecology, and when I taught, my students did usually call me “Doctor”—partially out of respect, no doubt, but mostly because they couldn’t pronounce my last name and were too shy to use my first one. My father-in-law called me “Dr. poo” for a while after I got my degree, but eventually stopped.

  4I know that not all nurses these days dress in white, nor are they women. I’m speaking generally here of nurses in the twentieth century, for the sake of the point.

  5It is quite possibly not coincidental that Ishmael (Voyager) asks Claire whether she “still bleeds,” explaining that only old women can work real magic—nor is it coincidental that the Tuscaroran seer, Nayawenne, told Claire that she would achieve her full power “when your hair is white (Drums).

  On the other hand, it was purely coincidental that Geillis Duncan’s hair should have been a blonde so pale as to be “almost white, the color of heavy cream.” Or at least I think it was.

  6We discover new refinements and explanations of the Gabaldon Theory as the novels continue. Stay tuned for further developments!

  7Alexander Fleming—a Scot, by coincidence—discovered penicillin in 1929. However, folk remedies involving molds (mostly of bread) are known from as far back as 3000 B.C. (There are in fact hundreds of species of Penicillium, which grow on substrates from bread to cheeses to rotting melon.)

  8Coincidentally, the course also exposed me to numbers of nursing students, giving me an appreciation for the mixture of matter-of-factness and dedication so common among them. I still recall one male nursing student I’ll call Wally, from my days at Philadelphia Community College.

  My students at PCC were a good deal older than those at the university; most had chosen nursing as a career after several years spent earning a living in other occupations. Watty had been a truck driver, between stints spent in jail for gang and drug-related activities, and was now, at the age of thirty-five, determined to turn his life around and become a nurse. He was one of the best and most attentive students, always asking questions, taking extensive notes, and admonishing the rowdier students to “Shut up and listen to the Doctah!”

  All the students were required to take both my class in human anatomy and physiology, and another in “hands-on” clinical nursing, which covered common bedside procedures, among other things. One morning, Wally marched into my class, hair standing on end, his glasses glittering with fury. What happened? I asked, afraid that there might have been some trouble with the law or his former associates.

  “What HAPPENED?” he demanded rhetorically. “You want to know what HAPPENED? We just come from the Clinical Nursing final, that’s what!”

  The Clinical Nursing final was a hands-on exam, in which each student demonstrated expertise in bedside routines such as bathing dressing etc., using a lifelike dummy as a subject. It was a very important exam, since all students were required to pass this course in order to stay in the nursing program.

  “8 cont.”“I did it perfectly!“ Wally declared, breathing heavily through bared teeth. ”I washed her face and her hands, I combed her hair, I took her vitals, I checked for bedsores—and I kept talkin’ to the dummy all the time, callin’ it “Mrs. Johnson,” sayin’ “Now, we’ll just take a look here, Mrs. Johnson, ”just like we’re sposed to. I did it all just exactly right, right up till I gave Mrs. Johnson the bedpan!”

  He turned to face the class, fists raised in outraged protest to the universe.

  “Lookit me!” he yelled. “I’m thirty-five years old! I been divorced three times, I got a wife and two kids! I been in jail, I been in gangs, I lived through stuff would kill most people! And now I’m about to fail my course and ruin my life because I FORGOT TO WIPE A GODDAMN DUMMY’S ASS!!”

  9I was therefore pleased—though not surprised—to read, a couple of years ago, of studies being done in which dogs were trained to sniff patients, in order to aid in the detection and diagnosis of certain conditions.

  PART THREE

  FAMILY TREES

  Author’s Note: I am indebted to the Editor of The Baronage Press1 for great assistance in the research and preparation of the material on the history of the Randall, Beauchamp, and Fraser families, and particularly for the elegant depictions of the arms of these families.

  Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp

  BEAUCHAMP2

  he Domesday book, compiled some twenty years after Duke William’s conquest of England, shows Hugh de Beauchamp to have been well rewarded for his loyalty. Walter, believed to have been his third son, although not so proved conclusively, held Elmley Castle in Gloucestershire and was granted further lands and offices by Henry I, which he was able to pass on to his son William. In the conflict between King Stephen and the Empress Maud, William took Maud’s part and suffered the loss of Worcester Castle and much else, but all his honors and estates were restored by Henry II, so that he was able subsequently to bequeath to his son, another William, the office of sheriff in Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire.

  The second William died early, leaving his son Walter still a minor. Walter was briefly succeeded by his elder son, Walcheline, who died in the same year as his father, and then by Walcheline’s only son, William, husband of Isabel, sister and heiress of William Mauduit, Earl of Warwick. The eldest son of this alliance, William, the first Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, founded one of the most powerful English families of the High Middle Ages. The third son, Walter, a crusader, married Alice de Tony, and his third son and eventual heir, Giles, had a son, John, whose elder son, William, was sheriff of Worcestershire and of Gloucestershire. William’s son John was elevated to the peerage in 1447 as Lord Beauchamp of Powick.

  The brother of William, sheriff of Worcestershire and of Gloucestershire, was Walter, whose elder s
on, William, married Elizabeth de Braybrooke, heiress to the St. Amand barony, and was subsequently summoned to Parliament in her right as Baron de St. Amand. Their son Richard was attainted in the first year of the reign of Richard III, but was restored immediately Henry VII became king. He had no children other than his illegitimate son, Anthony St. Amand, and as no other heirs were known, the barony of St. Amand has been judged extinct, but his will shows that he bequeathed a cup to his “niece Leverseye,” a girl who is assumed to have been his wife’s niece but, it has always been accepted, might have been the child of an unknown sister of his own.

  It was not until quite recently, when Dr. Quentin L. Beauchamp, the noted historian and archaeologist, examined some old documents found in Warwick Castle, that the existence of Richard’s full sister Isabel was revealed, and the consequences of her daughter Leverseye’s only child’s marriage to the son of Richard’s illegitimate Anthony were recognized as continuing the ancient barony. The full facts about the scandal that persuaded the family to keep that marriage secret, and to attempt to eliminate the evidence for the existence of Isabel and Leverseye, have yet to be published by Dr. Beauchamp, but the preparation for his claim to be recognized as Lord St. Amand is currently in the hands of a well-known firm of peerage lawyers, and doubtless the details of the scandal, rumored to be associated with the involvement of Isabel’s husband, a close companion of Henry VII, with the death of the Princes in the Tower “after” the death of Richard III, will doubtless soon be released.

  Dr. Beauchamp’s sole heir is his niece, Claire Randall, who will be recognized by the Committee for Privileges in the House of Lords as heir presumptive to the title.

  RANDALL (IN SUSSEX)3

  The origins of the Randall family are neither so well known nor so distinguished as those of the Beauchamps. In recent years some of the more imaginative historians have claimed that Randall is but Randolph, and that the origins lie in Scotland with the Randolphs, anciently Earls of Moray, while others write of Rannulf the clerk of Wilkingeston (Wigston) at the end of the twelfth century, whose name was taken as a surname by his great-grandson Adam in 1309. The family continued on the same lands and in the same house until, in 1436, Richard Randolff (also Randull) migrated to Leicester and faded from the records.

  Subsequently the name spread wide, many of its owners claiming minor gentility and adopting arms. Most of these arms featured three, four, or five mullets, reminiscent of the arms of the great warrior Freskin, who freed Moray from the threat of the Vikings and whose province passed to the Randolphs. One may assume that the adoption of their mullets was specifically to suggest that origin. Other Randall families took cushions instead of mullets, as three cushions were featured in the Randolph of Moray arms. Yet others, curiously, took martlets (a little bird with no beak and no feet, a notable feature of the Beauchamp of St. Amand arms), one of these being formally granted by the English heralds in 1573 (when the falsification of pedigrees and forgery of armorial histories were so widespread that Queen Elizabeth suggested that if a newly appointed King of Arms was as dishonest as his predecessor it would be no bad thing if he be hanged).

  The Sussex Randalls emerged from comparative obscurity in the late seventeenth century when Sir Denys Randall was knighted, bought an attractive estate on the South Downs to rear yet more of the sheep that had made his money, and then was awarded a baronetcy by that impecunious monarch George I. (A baronetcy is not an hereditary knighthood, but in many ways its descent behaves as if it is. It was introduced as a title of honor and then degraded by the many kings who treated it as a source of revenue, and who even threatened to inflict fines on candidates who refused the award of the honor.) The subsequent descent of the Sussex Randalls was set out as a neatly illuminated parchment by Dr. Q. L. Beauchamp when his niece Claire married Franklin Wolverton Randall, heir presumptive to the baronetcy held by his fifth cousin, Sir Alexander Randall. (The Tatler noted at the time of the wedding the pleasing coincidence of martlets appearing in the arms of both bride and groom.)

  FRASER OF LOVAT

  As with many of the ancient families, scribblers down through the centuries have been ever ready to establish invented or speculative origins for the Frasers. Some have stated categorically that the Scottish Frasers have derived their name from La Fresilière in Anjou, France, while others have insisted that the name was accorded on a hot summer day when the King of France, thirsty from hunting, was presented with a plate of succulent strawberries by one of his companions, who was immediately awarded with a coat of arms bearing three fraises and the command to take the name of Fraser as a surname.

  In respect of the heraldic factor it is worth noting that in early heraldry the cinquefoil, sexfoil, and rose are almost indistinguishable, and that only in Scotland has the cinquefoil charge been traditionally recognised as a fraise. And in respect of the Angevin origin, which may perhaps be true, it should be noted also that in the early days of heraldry the cinquefoil, sex-foil, and rose were commonly found among the St. Omer families, when St. Omer was in the Flemish sphere of influence. (Several of the first Fraser Christian names on record—Simon, Bernard, Gilbert, Oliver—are Flemish/Germanic.)

  The first of the Scottish Frasers appeared along the River Tweed during the twelfth century. Their origins before this may be disputed, but not their power in Scotland, for they held the most extensive lands in Peebleshire, their names appeared regularly on the rolls of the royal councils, and they became regular benefactors of the religious foundations at Kelso, Newbattle, and Coldingham. Their continued possession of lands outside Tweeddale is shown in the register of Kelso Abbey, but their first major stronghold was Oliver Castle on the Tweed, perhaps named for Oliver Fraser, whose gift of lands to Newbattle Abbey is noted in its register together with a gift from Adam Fraser, the son of his sister’s marriage to Udard Fraser.

  The lines of descent from Oliver and Adam are uncertain, but the influence of the Frasers exerted from Oliver Castle was continued through Sir Bernard Fraser and Sir Gilbert Fraser, who held in their turn the hereditary office of Sheriff of Tweeddale. Bernard and Gilbert were probably Adam’s brothers, sons of Udard. Bernard was Sheriff of Stirling in 1234, and Laurence, the only known child of his probable brother Adam, was his heir, but as no children of Laurence are recorded as such, this line disappears. The third brother, Gilbert, had four sons, and although from this point the line of descent becomes clearer, the period until Hugh Fraser of Lovat was created Lord Fraser of Lovat in 1464 remains to some extent speculative.

  The ancestry of Jamie Fraser

  Udard Fraser, shown in the charters of Newbattle Abbey to be living in the second half of the twelfth century, married a sister of Oliver Fraser of Oliver Castle, the son of Kylvert Fraser, and had issue Sir Bernard Fraser, Sheriff of Stirling, Adam Fraser, and Sir Gilbert Fraser of Olivercastle, the direct ancestor of the Frasers of Muchalls and the Frasers of Philorth, and probably the direct ancestor of the Frasers of Lovat, of Strichen, of Inverallochy, and others.

  Sir Gilbert was Sheriff of Tweeddale (and described variously as Sheriff of Traquair and Sheriff of Peebles), and died ca. 1263, having had issue John, whose sons were Sir Richard Fraser of Touchfraser and Alexander Fraser of Cornton. (Cornton is in Stirlingshire.) Alexander is claimed as the ancestor of Andrew Fraser of Muchalls, created Lord Fraser 29 June 1633, which title became dormant on the death of Charles, 4th Lord Fraser, 12 October 1716. Although Alexander is traditionally listed as the second son, the royal insistence that the seventeenth-century Lord Fraser should not use a territorial designation—as, for example, Fraser of Lovat—together with the authorized use of the undifferenced arms proclaiming the chiefship of the Fraser Clan, suggest that a good case for seniority had been made and had received royal approval. If this case was valid, then Alexander’s name here should be printed before Richard’s.

  Sir Gilbert’s second son was Sir Simon Fraser of Olivercastle, Knight Banneret, Keeper of the Royal Forest of Ettrick, Sheriff of Traquair and of
Peebles, who died ca. 1280, leaving issue Sir Simon Fraser of Olivercastle, Sheriff of Traquair and of Peebles, Keeper of the Forests of Traquair and Selkirk, who died in 1291, leaving with other issue Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver and Neidpath, Knight Banneret, a renowned warrior who fought for Edward I in Flanders, served with him at the siege of Carlaverock Castle, joined the war against him in 1301, defeated three English divisions near Roslin in three successive actions on the same day in 1303, and saved the lives of Sir William Wallace at the battle of Hopprew and of King Robert Bruce at the battle of Methven. He was captured in 1306, and hanged, drawn, and quartered in London, leaving two coheiress daughters, Margaret, who married Sir Gilbert Hay of Locherwort and was ancestor of the Marquesses of Tweeddale, and Joan, who married Sir Patrick Fleming of Biggar and was ancestor of the Earls of Wigton.

  Sir Gilbert’s fourth son was William, Bishop of St. Andrews, Chancellor of Scotland, who with the Earl of Fife and the Earl of Buchan served as Regent for the North of Scotland and died abroad in 1297.

  Sir Gilbert’s heir, his eldest son, Richard Fraser of Touchfraser, was apparently the father of an only child, Sir Andrew Fraser, younger of Touchfraser, Sheriff of Stirling, who married Beatrix, an heiress from Caithness, probably of the Le Chen of Duffus family, and died before 1306, leaving several sons: Sir Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser, ancestor of the Frasers of Philorth (now of Saltoun), Chamberlain of Scotland, who married Mary, the sister of King Robert Bruce, and was killed at the battle of Dupplin in 1332, Andrew Fraser, who was killed at the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, James Fraser, who was killed at Halidon Hill, and Sir Simon Fraser of Brotherton, Sheriff of Kincardine, ancestor of the Frasers of Lovat.