Michael Jecks - The Outlaws of Ennor

Picking up his little bell, he rang it loudly. Soon a novice appeared in the doorway and Cryspyn commanded him to seek David. It would take a while, he reflected as the lad fled to do his bidding, and that was no bad thing. In the meantime, he would have to think about the wiser women in the vill. Usually a Prior had the advantage of a whore or two, but in a place like this, there was no such luck. All he could do was pick on some women who were experienced in the ways of the flesh.

And now Luke’s body had been found.

Another murder. Another sin.

Baldwin found the vessel’s rocking motion a little unsettling. It was a long time since he had been in such a small craft, and there was something about the way that it moved as the oarsman moved, rowing regularly with many a snort, involuntary kick of his heel and shiver, that did not instil confidence.

The great island grew. It was a strange shape, Baldwin thought. There was a large lump on his left, all bounded by sheltered sandy beaches, then a lower, curiously shallow space, before a second, smaller hill on the right. This was very different, a rockier space with plenty of black stone tumbled about the water’s edge.

It was the lower area between the two hills to which the oarsman was conducting Baldwin. This, apparently, was near the place where the body was being kept, and it was here where Baldwin must be disembarked.

‘It’s very difficult, of course,’ Cryspyn had said. Baldwin had been taken to meet him by the novice, and they were walking in the little cloister of the priory on St Nicholas. ‘A priest dying, and the suggestion is that there was some kind of foul play … My God, I wish I had never seen the day … So if you could please go and look into it, Sir Baldwin? There is no one here who is remotely qualified. I certainly couldn’t do it. And there are so many other things for me to see to. My priory may be small, but the trials it can generate …’

‘Of course I shall go there, if you wish it,’ Baldwin said soothingly. ‘Shall I bring a report back to you here?’

‘If it is possible, yes. Poor Luke. Poor unhappy fellow. He was sent here as a punishment, but I doubt whether even Bishop Walter would have been so cruel, had he but realised …’

Baldwin remembered another Luke, but that man had been sent to Ireland, he recalled. ‘You have many pressing troubles, Prior Cryspyn?’

‘I most certainly have. This death is merely the latest one.’ Cryspyn stood and stared at the priory church. ‘I wish God would remove me from this place,’ he said quietly.

‘But it is beautiful, surely?’ Baldwin said, surprised.

‘They say that the most treacherous and deadly things in the world are the most beautiful,’ Cryspyn said.

‘I have heard similar comments,’ Baldwin acknowledged.

‘A woman is always at the root of it,’ the Prior stated.

Baldwin smiled thinly. Such misogyny from a priest was not unusual, but today of all days Baldwin did not wish to hear such a theme. He maintained a dignified silence, thinking to himself how his outspoken wife would respond, were she to hear Cryspyn talk. Jeanne was sometimes roused to anger by men who denigrated women — but only once the perpetrator was gone. She was not foolish enough to embarrass her husband with her disrespectful outbursts.

His smile faded. Baldwin adored his wife, and now he was confronted with the thought of her reaction, should she discover that he had been sleeping with Tedia. He was tempted to speak to the Prior, but instinct told him that this man was not an ideal confidant.

‘Perhaps that is true,’ he ventured.

‘It is! An unattached woman is a sore temptation to any man, God knows, but still worse is a married woman who is dissatisfied with her lot!’

Baldwin felt the prick of guilt again. ‘You mean Tedia?’

‘You know her already, of course. You may feel loyalty to her, for she saved your life, but I see the other side of her. She is a distraction for so many men in the area, and if she wins her divorce from her husband, she will be a still more troublesome source of discontent.’

‘You mean that other men will desire her?’

‘They do so now, and they will in future. You perhaps do not understand how so attractive a young woman can disrupt a community alienated from the mainland. Here, she can wreak terrible damage. She has upset her husband, caused other women to vie with her for the attention of their husbands, and so disturbed a priest that he-’

‘You mean Luke?’

‘Yes. I think he was infatuated with her. I also think it was because he was … desirous of her … that he recommended her to seek divorce, hoping that her affections would be won by the man who showed her the way out of her marriage.’

‘You think he told her how to divorce in order that he might take her for himself?’

‘We have had another priest here recently who also revelled in the carnal desires.’

‘The chaplain from St Mary’s?’

‘Yes. Peter Visconte, the idiot! He thought no one would spot the fact that he’d brought his woman with him. Mabilla was pleasant enough, I admit, and she was content with him as her man; she bore him many children. But that does not make his sins legal. He was ordered back to Bishop Walter’s court and, I believe, moved to a new church in the north-east somewhere.’

‘Luke came here after that?’

‘Yes. He arrived to look after St Elidius. Better for all concerned if he had stayed away. It’s too remote for a man like him.’

‘I once knew a priest called Luke who was sent to Ireland,’ Baldwin remarked.

‘Really? This man came to us from Ireland.’ The Prior was strolling still, but now he stopped and shot a look at Baldwin.

Baldwin was already staring at him. ‘The man I knew was sent to Ireland because of his … over-interested attitude to his flock. The suffragan Bishop of Exeter asked me to investigate the murder of a nun …’

‘It was him,’ the Prior declared. ‘For his crimes, he was sent to Ireland, but even there he betrayed his trust. It was only a short time before he was removed from that church and sent here. It was felt there was little harm he could do. Nobody thought he could be so crass as to persuade a woman to leave her husband! What sort of a priest would make it his job to ask a woman to break her holy vows?’

‘I understand,’ Baldwin said slowly, ‘that her man cannot give her children. Surely there are precedents for divorces under those terms?’

The Prior nodded. ‘Let’s not beat about the bush: he can’t raise his tarse and insert it. She is therefore, not unnaturally, frustrated. In such a position, any woman might be. They are more salacious by nature than we men. We all know that.’

Another discussion Baldwin preferred to avoid. He asked, ‘So what is your concern with this divorce? If her man is prevented from paying her the dues expected from a husband, she is justified in seeking divorce, surely?’

‘Yes, but Luke actively promoted the idea to her. Beforehand she was not content, but realised that it was her lot, and she must be satisfied. She could have remained so. But when Luke persuaded her to ask me for a divorce, I had no choice but to seek advice, and now I have been told to arrange for poor Isok to be diagnosed by any wise women I can find.’

‘Whom will you set to the task?’

‘Ah! Perhaps Brosia. She is more worldly than I could wish, and she would be delighted to make him rise, if only to upset and diminish Tedia in the eyes of all living here. They have ever been enemies, those two. Mariota, too, could help. She is older, and she may know more … um … tricks. ’

‘I cannot imagine,’ Baldwin said. It was a curious case, and the thought of two women manhandling his private parts was oddly repellent.