‘Why does she dress as a knight?’
‘Well, partly because Adela does and partly out of convenience. We are a group of brothers-in-arms.’
‘But two of you are women.’
‘It is Adela’s calling. She chooses the way of the warrior. Estrith is not a knight — in fact, she is an ordained sister of the Church and a renowned churchwright.’
‘How interesting. I would like to talk to her about our new cathedral. She and I have a lot in common. I have considered becoming ordained, and I take a particular interest in the building of St Sernin.’
I felt a distinct twinge of jealousy at Bertrand’s thinly disguised fascination for Estrith, especially as his amorous glances towards her seemed to be reciprocated in equal measure. Perhaps his religious purity applied only to drink and excluded the intoxicating effect of women — or perhaps he was simply a charlatan.
My thoughts were interrupted by Bertrand’s question.
‘And what of Adela; surely you don’t permit her to wield arms?’
‘Indeed I do. She is a very accomplished knight.’
‘I have never heard of such a thing! Women are not allowed to enter an order of knights.’
‘That is true in Christendom — although I would allow it — but she was made a knight of Islam in Sicily, as was Sweyn, by a fine man called Ibn Hamed, Emir of Calatafimi.’
The look of horror on Bertrand’s face confirmed my sudden realization that I had made a serious error in mentioning our Muslim affiliations to this Christian dogmatist. Our conversation did not last much longer, and my companion was soon engaging in animated whispers with his father.
After the feast, Count Raymond led us all to the crypt of St Sernin, where he began to lecture us about the sins of Islam and the righteousness of Christianity.
‘Nearly four hundred years ago, the Moors of Spain, those heretics who worship a false god, came within a hair’s breadth of taking this city. We were besieged for three months, a stranglehold only broken when my noble ancestor Odo, Duke of Aquitaine, appeared with his army and defeated the Arabs outside the city walls. Ten years later, the Arab general, Abd al-Rahman, brought an army over the Pyrenees to the west and conquered Bordeaux. Again, Odo ended their marauding at Poitiers and killed al-Rahman on the battlefield, saving Europe from the infidels — ’
Robert, now somewhat inebriated and weary of Raymond’s hectoring, interrupted.
‘So, Raymond, does your history lesson have a point, or may we return to more entertaining matters?’
Visibly irritated by Robert’s sharp question, the Count’s voice rose in annoyance.
‘My point is very simple. The Moors are still in Spain — and, more importantly, their Muslim brothers are lords of the Holy Land. It is an abomination. They should be cleansed like vermin in a granary!’
Such invective was too much for Sweyn, who rounded on the Count, despite the fact that he had no business addressing his superior unless spoken to.
‘My Lord, why is it a problem that Jerusalem is ruled by Arabs? Their prophet, Muhammad, is no different from Christ; we all worship the same God Almighty.’
For Count Raymond, there were at least two heresies in Sweyn’s terse comment. His temper rose and his voice ascended to a yet higher pitch.
‘Prince Edgar, I hear that you let your knights dally with infidels; they would be better off learning manners.’
‘Forgive my young friend, my Lord Count, he was married to a beautiful Muslim girl, who was killed in tragic circumstances.’
‘Pity it was not by my hand; there are no beautiful Muslim girls, only faithless bitches.’
Edwin had grabbed Sweyn before he could make any move towards the Count, and he and Adela started to drag him up the spiral stairs of the crypt. I tried to bring Raymond’s homily to an end.
‘We all need rest… to our beds, Count Raymond — ’
But before I could finish, the Count bellowed.
‘That young knight is not welcome in my city, neither is the she-male who cavorts with Arabs.’
Robert and I helped get Sweyn away before he could do any more damage. We hurried to our camp just outside the city.
At that point, I realized that Estrith and Bertrand had not joined us in the crypt, preferring to seek another form of entertainment rather than suffer Count Raymond’s oration on Christianity.
Duke Robert went to see Count Raymond early the next morning. He made our excuses and we were on the move in an easterly direction by early afternoon. Edwin stayed behind to finalize the sale of St Cirq Lapopie, a task he concluded with little difficulty. We had decided to avoid any further risk of infection with the putrid fever by following the Tarn as far as Florac, traversing the Massif and then heading north along the Valley of the Rhone at Montelimar.
As soon as we had settled into a comfortable pace, I took the opportunity to make a sensitive but necessary enquiry about Estrith’s nocturnal adventure the night before.
I took it as a mark of our friendship that Estrith was able to speak frankly to me.
‘It came as a bit of a shock to hear the Count denouncing the English from his bedchamber; we were in the next chamber, and Bertrand was terrified of him. He had to smuggle me out before his father discovered us. I heard all the details from Adela this morning. He’s a dangerous man.’
‘So, now you’ve bedded a Count; the social standing of your conquests is improving.’
‘As I feared, you don’t approve. You know I can’t resist a sturdily constructed roof — and Bertrand’s a well- put-together structure with strong timbers and a king-post that bears a good load under stress.’
Estrith’s frank architectural analogy made me smile, but I was concerned about her.
‘Estrith, be serious… it’s not that I don’t approve, but I don’t want you to come to any harm. You’ve only just met Bertrand — he could be as dangerous as his father, who’s not only mad, he’s also delusional.’
‘I’m sorry, Edgar, we’ve always been honest with one another. You’re right. It was a bit foolish, but he’s a handsome young brute and… we had had too much wine. In my heart, I cannot believe what we did was wrong. But thank you, I will be more careful.’
I was still concerned about Estrith’s evident fondness for Bertrand; the father’s behaviour made me very wary of the son. Besides which, deep down, I was a little jealous of the young man.
By the time we returned to Normandy, the winter of 1094 beckoned and we decided to stay in Rouen until early the next year. It was a frustrating time for all of us. Although we were privileged to be under the benign eye of Duke Robert, none of us was any nearer to discovering our destiny.
Edwin became older and wiser, Sweyn and Adela honed their fighting skills relentlessly, to the point where it did not seem possible for them to get any better, and I continued to admire Estrith from afar.
Sweyn’s latest accolade was to become the victor ludo-rum in Rouen’s annual test of knightly skills and be all but unbeatable in the joust, while Adela persuaded more and more men to adopt the Mos Militum — so much so that it started to be called ‘Adela’s Code’.
Meanwhile, I was fascinated by Estrith’s new project. She had been sketching it for days and her outline was immediately recognizable, even to a layman, as the timber frame for the roof of a large building. She showed it to me with the glee of a child with a new toy.
‘It’s a cat’s cradle in wood in three ascending layers, closing at the apex, with the whole structure supported by the twenty-four “feet” made of timber. At each of the two tiers above the bottom level there are also twenty- four smaller feet, each one throwing the structure further into the void.’
Estrith explained that not only was the geometry of the roof vital, the precise construction of the joints was also essential to the strength of the structure.
‘It is not just a matter of mortising and tenoning them, it is a matter of the angle at which you cut them! The twenty-four supports, twelve on each side, act like the head of a mason’s hammer, pulling the weight downwards through the wall rather than outwards against it. They are the key to a more elegant roof and much higher walls. I’ve decided to call them “hammer beams”, each of which will sit on a stone corbel projecting from the top of the wall of the building. The roof won’t need any other support.’
I could see the main point: the twelve feet on either side of the structure did not have cross-beams connecting them to the twelve feet on the other side — a feature of all rectangular roofs I had ever seen. As far as I knew, only domed roofs could be constructed without connecting beams, so I remained sceptical.
‘How can it work? How will it take the weight of the laths for the thatch, and the thatch itself?’
