‘Please distribute that among the poor of your parish, Brother Athelstan.’ He gestured at the coroner. ‘Sir John, you have done my master a great service – it shall not be forgotten. Now, it’s best if you go.’
Within the hour Cranston and Athelstan had left the Tower and joined the noisy, colourful throng on the approaches to the bridge.
‘Athelstan!’ Cranston paused and pointed to the severed heads displayed above the gatehouse.
‘Do you ever despair at the sheer, squalid wickedness, the weariness and waste of it all?’
‘Isaiah, twenty-six,’ Athelstan replied. ‘God’s promise that one day he will wipe away the tears from every eye. I truly believe that, Sir John. In the end, time will run backwards and full justice will be done.’ Athelstan closed his eyes. He shivered as he recalled that beautiful young woman falling against the coming night, tumbling into the hands of God and those other souls cruelly snatched from life and dispatched to judgement.
‘I must not despair,’ he whispered. He opened his eyes and tugged at Cranston’s cloak. ‘For the moment, Sir John, let me wipe away a few tears and what better place than the Holy Lamb of God!’
Author’s Note
The Straw Men is, of course, a work of fiction, though the main threads of my story have a firm historical basis.
John of Gaunt was the magnificent medieval prince as described in these pages. Like his brother, the Black Prince, he was a savage and ruthless soldier. The Siege of Limoges would, today, be regarded as a serious war crime. Gaunt lived in great splendour at the Palace of the Savoy (the site of the modern hotel). Of course when the Peasant’s Revolt broke out and the rebels invaded London, they burnt this marvellous edifice to the ground. Gaunt was also a sinister figure, abrogating powers to himself above and beyond what Parliament decreed. He never entertained aspirations for the English throne, though his son, Henry of Lancaster, deposed Richard II in 1399, and so began that long and bloody conflict between the Houses of York and Lancaster.
The leaders of the Peasant’s Revolt, Grindcobbe et al, are as I describe in this novel. God rest their souls but, within a year, all of them were dead, either executed or killed in the savage repression which followed the Revolt. It is interesting to note that when the Revolt did break out in the summer of 1381, London Bridge was stormed and taken by force. In addition, the peasant rebels laid siege to the Tower of London. Unable to storm it, they gained, as described in this novel, admission through a traitor who let them in by a postern gate. Once in, they ransacked the royal apartments and executed leading ministers including the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Tower is as described in this novel. Many people think this great fortress was built to defend London. It wasn’t. The Tower was always held by royal favourites and its main function was to serve as a royal palace as well as overawe the turbulent Londoners. Of course, some of the buildings described in my novel, such as the guest house and royal apartments, have long gone. The escapes mentioned in the novel did occur, the most successful being that of Roger Mortimer whom Edward II imprisoned there.
The Tower menagerie did house a great polar bear, though I have changed the dates. In his excellent book The Tower Menagerie (2004. London: Pocket Books), Daniel Hahn points out that a polar bear was swimming in the moat as early as Henry III’s reign in 1252!
The story that John of Gaunt may have been a changeling is based on Thomas of Walsingham’s The St Albans Chronicle, Volume I (2003. Edited by J. Taylor et al. Oxford: Clarendon), page sixty-one. This story did seep out and was used by Gaunt’s enemies.
Finally the mummers and London’s underworld are, I believe, a fair reflection of the vividly turbulent London society though which Athelstan and his good friend Sir John Cranston moved and worked.
Next in The Brother Athelstan Mysteries:
Candle Flame
An exceptional tale of mystery and the underworld from a master of the genre, perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, S G MacLean and C. J. Sansom.
Find out more
First published in Great Britain and the USA in 2012 by Severn House Publishers Ltd
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Canelo
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
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Copyright © Paul Doherty, 2012
The moral right of Paul Doherty to be identified as the creator 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.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781800321458
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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