The Spider's Web

‘Eber had one blessing — he was a generous man. There he departed from the virtues and his life was one long trail of vices. Why do you think that his wife left his bed chamber?’

‘I have asked her and she would only say that it was mutually agreed.’

Father Gormán sniffed sceptically.

‘I tried to persuade her to divorce him under the law. But she is a proud woman as befits her station as a princess of her people.’

‘Why would you want to persuade her to divorce Eber?’ asked Fidelma.

‘Because he was a man not fitted to marriage.’

‘Cranat did not think so, or so she told me. Can you be more explicit?’

‘All I can tell you was that Eber was …’ he shuddered and genuflected, ‘forgive me, he was sexually perverse.’

‘In what way?’ Fidelma pressed.

‘Do you mean that he preferred to lie with boys or young men rather than women?’ hazarded Eadulf, suddenly seeing a reason why Móen might have killed him. ‘Was Eber sexually abusing Móen?’

Father Gormán held up both his hands and his face showed his horror.

‘No, not that! No, Eber liked the opposite gender well enough … perhaps too well.’

‘Ah, I see. And Cranat knew of this?’

‘Everyone knew of it. Cranat was the last to know. He had always been like it since he came to the age of puberty. His sisters knew well enough and it was Teafa who finally had to tell Cranat. Cranat told me so. That was when she decided to vacate the marital bed.’

‘Why didn’t Cranat leave him?’

‘Because of her daughter, Crón. Because of the shame it wouldbring. And there was the fact that Cranat, while a princess of her people, had no money or land to call her own. She married Eber for his money. He married her for her lineage and family connections. Perhaps that is not a good basis on which to form a marriage.’

‘I see. But surely, under the law, Cranat was entitled to be rid of him? If Cranat had divorced Eber on the grounds you state then she was entitled to take out of her marriage all that she had brought into it. If this was nothing, then, further, she was automatically entitled, at separation, to one-ninth of the increase of her husband’s wealth during marriage. Even if she had no property at the time of her marriage, surely one-ninth of the wealth generated by Eber during the twenty or so years of Cranat’s marriage to him would be enough to allow her to live well.’

Father Gormán had a slightly bitter note in his voice.

‘That it would. That it would. I could have helped her. But she chose to remain.’

Fidelma regarded him thoughtfully.

‘You obviously have great feeling for Cranat,’ she observed quietly.

Father Gormán flushed abruptly.

‘There is nothing amiss in wishing to correct a grievous wrong.’

‘Nothing at all,’ Fidelma assured him. ‘But this matter would not have endeared you to Eber. I hear, however, that you believe that Móen should be punished to the point whereby his own life is taken in forfeit.’

‘Isn’t the word of God explicit? If a man destroys the eye of another, they shall destroy his eye. I believe in the full measure of retribution as it is taught by our Faith and Rome.’

Fidelma shook her head.

‘Extreme justice is often unjust.’

Father Gormán’s eyes narrowed.

‘That smacks of the wisdom of Pelagius.’

‘Is it wrong to quote the words of a wise man?’

‘The churches of Ireland are filled with Pelagian heresy,’ sneered the priest.

‘Was Pelagius such a heretic?’ questioned Fidelma mildly.

Father Gormán nearly choked with indignation.

‘You doubt it? Do you not know your history?’

‘I know that Pope Zosimus pronounced him innocent of heresy in spite of pressure from Augustine of Hippo who persuaded the Emperor Honorius to issue an imperial decree condemning him.’

‘But Pope Zosimus did eventually declare him guilty of heresy.’

‘After coming under pressure from the emperor. I hardly call that a theological decision. Ironic he should be condemned for his treatise De Libero Arbitrio — On Free Will.’

‘So you support a heretic, like most of your Columban breed?’ Father Gormán was openly offensive.

‘We do not shut our minds to reason, as Rome commands of its adherents,’ Fidelma snapped back. ‘After all, what does heresy really mean? It is simply the Greek word for making a choice. It is in our nature to make a free choice therefore we are all heretics.’

‘Pelagius was full of Irish porridge! He was rightly condemned for refusing to see the truth of Augustine’s doctrine on the Fall of Man and Original Sin!’

‘Should not Augustine have been condemned for refusing to see the truth of Pelagius’ doctrine on free will?’ returned Fidelma hotly.

‘You are not only impertinent but in peril of your soul.’ Father Gormán was red in the face and angry.

Fidelma was not flustered.

‘Let us consider the facts,’ she rejoined quietly. ‘The original sin was Adam’s and Adam and his descendants were punished by God for that sin. Is that correct?’

‘It was a curse that had been passed on to all mankind until the sacrifice of the Christ redeemed the world,’ agreed the priest, his temper simmering.

‘But Adam disobeyed God?’

‘That is so.’

‘Yet, it is taught, God is omnipotent and He created Adam.’

‘Man was given free will and Adam, in defying God, fell from grace.’

‘This is where Pelagius asked the question: before Adam’s fall, could he choose between good and evil?’

‘We are told that he had God’s commands to guide him. God told him what he should do. But the woman tempted him.’

‘Ah yes. The woman.’ The emphasis was softly made. Brother Eadulf stirred uncomfortably. He wished Fidelma would not chance the Fates by her arguments. He glanced towards her but she was leaning forward, enjoying the confrontation of intellects. ‘God was omnipotent and created Adam and Eve. Surely God’s will was enough to guide them?’

‘Man had free will.’

‘So Adam’s will, the will of the woman,’ again the gentle emphasis, ‘was more powerful than God’s will?’

Father Gormán was outraged.

‘No, of course not. God was omnipotent … But He had allowed man to be free.’

‘Then the logical course of thought is that God, being omnipotent, and thus able to prevent sin, refused to do so. Being omnipotent, He knew what Adam would do. Under our law, God was then an accessary before the fact!’

‘That is blasphemy,’ gasped Father Gormán.

‘There is more, Gormán,’ continued Fidelma ruthlessly, ‘for if we are to be logical, we can argue that God acquiesced in Adam’s sin.’

‘Sacrilege!’ gasped the priest in horror.

‘Come, be logical.’ Fidelma was quite unperturbed at his reaction. ‘God was omniscient and He created Adam. If He was omniscient then He knew Adam would sin. And if the human race was cursed because of Adam’s sin, then God knew theywould be cursed. He then created people to suffer by unnumbered millions.’