Lionheart

when he found her cavorting in the stables with several of his grooms.’

With a smile on her face, the young girl interrupted the Abbess.

‘All of his grooms, Reverend Mother. But I am trying to give up such base pleasures to find the more gentle love of God.’

The novice patted the Duke on the cheek, then backed away to sit at her Abbess’s feet.

Hildegard put her hand on the novice’s shoulder.

‘You see, Richard, it is possible to control the most powerful of our feelings. Our teaching here emphasizes honesty and truth above all other things. We must be truthful about our demons, otherwise we can’t learn to control them… But enough kirsch, and enough talk.’ She suddenly gestured to the novice that she wanted to leave. ‘We must go to our beds.’

After she had gone, the Duke shot questions at Father Alun like an archer in battle.

‘Has she always been like this?’

‘As far as I know, yes. But I think she was making a point with the young novice.’

‘Astonishing! What do the Church and the Emperor make of her?’

‘I am told she is the same with them. But her knowledge is beyond equal, even among the most learned men in Christendom. Some say she’s a witch, but many more revere her as a living saint. Either way, no one dares threaten her or challenge her.

‘She has had visions since childhood, and the Church has lost count of the number of cures and miracles that have been ascribed to her. Besides her music and poetry, she has written leading texts on theology, healing and the natural world – and in her own alphabet, which she devised so that her nuns could have their own private manuscripts. Wise men come from all over Europe to seek her advice and hear her pronouncements. She has travelled as far as Milan and Vienna, preaching against corruption in the Church and calling for reform. When they held the Synod of Trier thirty years ago, she sent a simple message: “Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greening. Now, think.”

‘Because it didn’t include God in its litany of wonder, the assembly of the great and the good of the Church at the Synod thought it was blasphemous. But Pope Alexander raised his hand to stop them and repeated her word: think. He said, “Do as she asks before you speak.” They did; and no one spoke. When I heard that story as a young monk, it changed the way I saw the world, and still does. She teaches us that God is everywhere, not just in Heaven. By “greening” she means nature as the pagans saw it, as in their Green Man of legend in England.’

Father Alun continued for some time. We all listened intently, including the Duke. I had never seen him so still and so quiet before.

Later that night, as Father Alun, Negu and I walked to our cells, he grasped my arm and said that what we had just talked about was important. He insisted that I remember it.

‘Think back to what I said about Earl Harold’s family. One day, tonight’s conversation will make more sense to you, so you must remember it.’

‘Another riddle for me, Father?’

‘No, just another observation for the future.’

We spent almost three weeks at Rupertsberg. The Duke went hunting almost every day, but we spent every evening and several afternoons listening to Hildegard talking about the mysteries of life – not just on the earth we know, but elsewhere. She talked about worlds above and beneath ours, and about phenomena that were both real and surreal. She asked us provocative questions about the stars and what was in the heavens, and about good and evil and the nature of men’s souls. Usually we had to seek guidance from Father Alun about what exactly she had said or meant. Sometimes he helped explain things, but on other occasions he admitted that he was as baffled as we were.

Most importantly, Duke Richard was like a man transformed. He hung on every word Hildegard uttered, especially when she talked about honour and chivalry. The turning point came when she talked about a man from the past she particularly admired.

‘Have you heard of Pierre Abelard?’

The Duke knew the name because his mother, Eleanor, also worshipped the man’s memory. But he confessed that he had never taken much notice when she talked about him. She had become wistful, almost tearful, when speaking of him.

‘Abelard was the most important philosopher of the last hundred years, and a great influence on me. Had we been contemporaries, and had I not taken my vows to Christ, I would have gone in search of him and married him. He challenged the Church and all modern thinkers to base their views on questions and answers, on logic and thought, rather than rely on blind dogma. He was hounded for his radical views by the Church hierarchy, but young people came from the far corners of Europe to listen to him. I was one of them. I heard him speak in Paris, when I was not much more than a girl. I was so moved by what he said about the power of the human spirit, I cried all the way home to the Rhine. After that, I knew that I had to devote myself to God’s greatest creation – the human imagination.’

The Duke had heard a different story about Abelard.

‘Did he not seduce the lady Heloise, a deed for which he was castrated?’

‘Indeed, he was a human creature, weak like the rest of us. Heloise may well have been his intellectual equal, but their affair meant that she had to leave Paris and become a nun. Now, the story of their tragic love affair has become an inspiration to young knights and their ladies all over Europe. But his most important legacy is his insistence on the importance of our ability to think, as well as our ability to act.’

The ancient nun then beckoned Duke Richard to kneel before her. With her sitting slightly slouched in her chair and him kneeling upright, their eyes were level. She stared at him intently, placed her hands on either side of his head and gripped him firmly. She began to sway, with his head in her hands, and brought his head close to hers, so that their noses were almost touching.

‘If you take anything from here, young Lionheart, take this thought: Your mind is much more powerful than your sword arm. That is why, when soldiers fight wars, they win land and riches. But when thinkers fight wars, they win men’s minds. You can’t change the world with land and wealth, but you can with men’s minds.’

Hildegard’s words had a profound effect on the Duke and influenced the rest of his life.

I was also moved by them. I had come so far already, but Rupertsberg seemed like only the beginning of our journey.

When Negu began to whisper in my ear on the eve of our departure from Rupertsberg, I was not surprised by what she had to say.

‘Please don’t be upset, but I want to stay here with Mother Hildegard and the nuns. I am so happy, and my voice is improving all the time.’

I had become very fond of Negu, but I knew that my journey was only just beginning and that she was still searching for her own identity.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m sure I want to stay, yes.’

‘And to become a nun?’

‘I don’t know. But here, I’m a woman, respected for what I am, rather than being viewed as a body to be desired by men.’

‘I hope I haven’t treated you as merely a body—’

‘No, of course not. You have changed my life, and I will always be grateful to you. But now I can live my life through me, rather than through you. Do you understand that?’

‘I do… but I’ll miss you.’

‘And I’ll miss you. Always. Come back here, and tell me all about your adventures with the Lionheart.’

Alun had been right about Negu; she had taught me the importance of love and companionship, and how a woman’s view of the world can be so different from a man’s. I had lived the life of a soldier and, other than my mother, had not treated women with much respect – and certainly not as equals. Now, at last, I understood the folly of my ways.