Some beguines were charged with “Heresy of the Free Spirit,” because they believed in a doctrine similar to that held by Quakers today, which declared that the physical sacraments were not necessary to Christian practice or salvation, and that Christians did not need the mediation of priests. A number of beguines were burned at the stake for this belief, including Marguerite Porete, author
The Beguinage in Bruges, known as the Vineyard, was founded in 1245 by the Countess of Flanders, Margareta of Constantinople. Despite attempts by both Church and Reformation to destroy it, it remained a beguinage until 1927, when it was taken over by Benedictine nuns. Though many of the houses and the gateway have been rebuilt over the years, it is still one of the most peaceful and enchanting corners of Bruges. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and visitors who pass over the bridge and under the word
Beguinages flourished for several centuries in Europe, especially in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Germany, but for years historians claimed that there were never any beguinages in Britain, although many women from England went to join beguinages in France and Belgium. But recent research has revealed a number of tantalising hints that attempts were made to set them up in England during the Middle Ages, but they quickly disappeared within a few years, for reasons which so far have not come to light. This novel is, of course, a fictional portrayal of an attempt to found one such beguinage on English soil.
FLANDERS WAS AT THIS PERIOD RULED by the Counts of Flanders. By 1256 Bruges had already secured the English cloth monopoly, growing prosperous on the cloth it made from English wool, so much so that the city had gained an almost unique autonomy to govern its own affairs. Mathew of Westminster wrote, “All the nations of the world are kept warm by the wool of England made into cloth by the men of Flanders.”
The Counts of Flanders were pledged to the French king, but the powerful Flemish Guilds supported the English throne in order to maintain their supplies of wool, and at the end of the thirteenth century they invited Edward I of England to send an army to help them repel the French. Ties between Flanders and England were further strengthened by Edward III who lived in Ghent, where his fourth son, John of Gaunt, was born in 1340. John of Gaunt’s son became Henry IV of England. Throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries trade between the east coast of England and Flanders was so strong that it would appear that more goods and people travelled to and from Norfolk and Flanders than between Norfolk and London.
THERE WERE A NUMBER OF FAMINES which affected England from 1290 onwards, due to the changing weather conditions. The year 1321-22 was particularly bad in the east of England where extreme suffering was caused by failed grain harvests during which yields fell as much as sixty percent. This was compounded by flooding as well as an outbreak of liver fluke in sheep and cattle murrain.
The 1321 outbreak of cattle murrain was believed to have been anthrax, of which there are three methods of infection. The most common is cutaneous anthrax, which enters through cuts or abrasions on the skin, resulting in painless ulcers with a black necrotic centre. This spoils hides, but is rarely lethal. Inhalation anthrax, where the spores enter the lungs, results in a flulike illness with severe breathing difficulties and was, in those days, often fatal. The third method of infection is intestinal anthrax, which the child Oliver dies from in the novel. It was contracted by eating infected meat, causing severe inflammation of the intestinal tract with bleeding, and usually resulted in rapid death.
FROM THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, even in official documents, people did not use numbers for dates. Instead they referred to the nearest Saint’s Day or festival to date documents or events.
Throughout the Middle Ages the old Julian calendar was in use in Britain and Europe. In 1582 Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar, but Britain, hostile to Rome, refused to follow suit until 1752. As had happened in Europe two centuries before, when Britain switched to the Gregorian calendar there were riots in the streets because the calendar suddenly jumped eleven days forward and people thought their lives had been shortened by eleven days. We now run approximately thirteen days ahead of the old Medieval Calendar, which means that fixed events such as the equinoxes and the longest and shortest days fall on different dates to those they would have done in the Middle Ages.
Although in Roman times Julius Caesar had officially moved the New Year to the first of January, many places on the fringes of the Roman Empire still kept to the old practise of celebrating the New Year from the twenty-fifth of March to the first of April. In England during the Middle Ages, the years continued to be numbered from March 25 (the Incarnation of Jesus) and not from January 1.
ULEWIC-WHICH IN OLD ENGLISH MEANS
Churches and chapels dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michael were often erected on former sacred Celtic sites where the gods of air and earth met. Such sites were also said to be the entrance to the underworld, which is perhaps why old churches with the name of St. Michael have frequently been associated with both black magic and the disappearance of bodies from graves.
The old woman with the gaping vulva carved above the church door is typical of what in recent years have come to be known as a
Some people argue the origin of these carvings is pagan and that the figure represents a much older Celtic goddess which was later incorporated into the Christian building. Others claim they date from between the eleventh and twelfth centuries and are purely Christian in origin, put there as a warning against lust. The problem with this theory is that many of the figures are hidden on church roofs or places where the ordinary populace would be unable to see the warning. And although some of these carvings may have been moved in later centuries, when the church was altered or repaired, it doesn’t account for all of these hidden carvings.
Black Anu or Black Annis stories are to be found all over England and Ireland. Anu was originally the “mother” form of the triple Celtic goddess, but like Lilith, as Christianity spread, she was transformed into a monster who was said to snatch and eat children. Black Annis is still remembered in the Dane Hills near Leicester where she was said to inhabit a cave called Black Anna’s Bower, which is supposed to be connected by a series of tunnels to Leicester Castle. Black Annis would scuttle back to her lair through these tunnels after prowling the town at night. Black Anna’s Bower has since been destroyed in building work, but the tale lives on. Her name also survives in many landmarks across Britain such as Black Anne Pool in the River Erne in Devon.
Right across Europe the owl was in ancient times sacred to the goddesses symbolising wisdom, and many of the Celtic and tribal goddesses had the power to change themselves into owls; for this reason the owl was never harmed. But when the goddesses themselves were demonised by Christianity, so was their symbol the owl, which became hunted and persecuted as an evil omen, a harbinger of death.
The Owlman was a familiar monster of the Middle Ages, part of the pantheon of strange and dangerous beasts such as the griffin, which had the wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Like the Basilisk, the Owlman was believed to inhabit old church towers.
But unlike the other medieval monsters which have been consigned to ancient myth, the Owlman lives on in the human psyche. In 1995, an American student of marine biology wrote to a newspaper saying that she had witnessed a “vision from hell” near the church in Mawnan, Cornwall, England. “It was the size of a man, with a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes, and pointed ears. It had huge clawed wings and was covered in feathers of silver-grey. The thing had long bird legs which terminated in black claws.”
This was not the first sighting in Cornwall, for in April 1976, two young girls staying on holiday with their family ran screaming to their father claiming they had seen a gigantic feathered bird-man hovering over the church tower. The Owlman was also seen in July of that year by two girls camping in the woods near Mawnan church and in a separate incident by three young French girls who reported their terrifying ordeal to their seaside landlady. The Owlman put in another appearance two years later when he was seen by a young woman, and was eventually seen by a man. However such sightings are explained-hoax, adolescent fantasy, too much cider, or a trick of the light-such reports demonstrate that we today are not so very different from our medieval ancestors, for we share with them the same lusts, ambitions, and hopes. And like them, we are still afraid of the dark.
acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep gratitude to my wonderful editor, Kate Miciak, for her amazing editorial insight and for the suggestions she offered to improve the text of this novel, as well as her unfailing patience throughout the many revisions. I would also like to say a huge thank-you both to my British agent, Victoria Hobbs, and to Kathy Anderson in the States, for their brilliant support and constant encouragement during the entire writing process.
glossary
BID-The old name for a “familiar”-that is, an animal or bird with magical powers kept to do the bidding of its owner. Women who owned a cat or even a chicken were often accused of having a
BLACK BANE-The deadly disease anthrax. It was named black bane because the sores on the animal or human skin develop a black necrotic centre.
BOUGH CAKE-A long stick was threaded with a mixture of dried fruits such as apricots, apples, and plums. The fruit was coated in batter and spit- roasted over an open fire. More batter was spooned over the fruits as they cooked until they were covered in a thick layer. Once cooked, the bough cake was rolled in honey and spices before being served.
BULL OAK-An ancient hollow oak tree. There were several names for different shapes of hollow oaks. A bull oak was one with a hollow reaching to the ground which was large enough for sheep or pigs or even bulls to take shelter in it.
COMMISSARIUS-Within the Church, he was a man who was personally commissioned by a Bishop to exercise spiritual authority within the Bishop’s diocese or See. The Commissarius could preside as a judge in court on behalf of the Bishop.
