Michael JECKS - The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker

Jolinde covered his face again. ‘I did. Peter was unhappy about the scheme except I dared him and offered a gamble to tease him. I have money from my father every so often and Peter had none. It was easy to get him to agree.’

‘Tell us what happened, Jolly,’ Baldwin said.

Coroner Roger opened his mouth to tell the Secondary what he thought of him, but as he drew breath he saw Baldwin give him a sharp look and shake of his head. The Coroner was at first irritated to be commanded, but he decided to give the knight the benefit of the doubt. Clearly Sir Baldwin thought there was something more to be learned. Roger haughtily pulled his cloak about him and sank onto a small three-legged stool.

Jolinde hung his head and stared at the ground. ‘You are right. I didn’t need the money. I will be all right because my father is Vincent le Berwe and as his only heir I am secure, but poor Peter wasn’t. He had nothing – no money and no patron, only the pittance he earned from clerking. Still, he would never have thought of stealing from anyone. Peter was always decent. He would no more have thought of stealing than he would of murdering. Yet he wanted desperately to go to University.’

Jolinde broke off and stared at his hands, shaking his head. ‘The morning that we were to deliver the jewels and money to Ralph back in the first week of December, I teased Peter all the way to the Treasury to collect them, pointing out that he was too honest for his own good. If he didn’t learn to relax in front of other people, he’d end up without any possibility of a patron. No one liked a dullard.’

‘Then you pushed him into a challenge that you could fool Ralph?’ Baldwin asked gently.

‘More or less, yes. I bet him that I could take money from Ralph without the glover noticing. Peter refused to accept the bet at first so I told him he was a coward and he would never get himself a patron.’

‘I kept on at him all the way, and then as we waited at Ralph’s door, I said he’d never be able to become a Vicar or Deacon unless he was prepared to take risks. And if he wasn’t even prepared to try this for a laugh, what chance was there for him.’ Jolinde blinked hard as if to keep the tears at bay, and looked up to meet Baldwin’s eye. ‘It was all my fault, Sir Baldwin. I cannot allow Peter to take the blame just because he is dead.

‘We entered and Ralph welcomed us gladly, as he always did. I felt bad, but I wanted the money. We counted out the jewels and money in front of him and then wrote the numbers on a receipt as if they were the same – but they weren’t. We wrote down the quantities which the Treasury had given us. Ralph trusted us and put his mark alongside.

‘Afterwards we went to a tavern. Peter had been silent in Ralph’s shop but in the tavern he asked how I was going to get the money back to Ralph. I… I laughed.’

‘You never intended giving the money back?’ Baldwin asked.

Jolinde had flushed and now he shivered. ‘No. Once we had it, it seemed stupid to think of going back to return it.’

‘I see,’ Baldwin said slowly. He was staring up at the ceiling now, but he gave a gesture indicating Jolinde should continue.

Behind Baldwin, Simon watched Jolinde with interest. It was rare to be given so detailed a confession. Naturally it was due to the fact that Jolinde felt safe – he was protected by Canon Law and would not be hanged for his theft as a common man would. Yet something rang false about his narrative. Simon moved so that he could see Jolinde’s face more clearly.

Jolinde continued, ‘Peter was quite furious. He called me all sorts of names, saying I’d persuaded him to be my accomplice and swore that he’d never touch a penny piece taken from the glover. I passed him my purse, into which I had put all the money and jewels, and told him to take them back. I was confident he wouldn’t, though.’

‘Why?’ Simon snapped.

Jolinde faced him with an expression of faint surprise. ‘Because that would be confessing to theft. How could Peter ever hope to persuade the Bishop to support him in University if he admitted to stealing? As soon as the Dean and Chapter got to hear he’d be out. Even if he wasn’t thrown from the Cathedral, he would hardly be looked at for promotion. No, his only chance lay in keeping his mouth shut. And trusting me to do the same.’

‘So what did you think he would do with the money?’ Baldwin said.

‘Hide it.’ Jolinde’s mouth twisted slightly as he waved a hand, encompassing the ruined walls and holed floor. ‘I thought it must be here somewhere.’

‘It’s not,’ Baldwin said quietly. ‘He took it back, but not immediately. By an evil chance, he took it back later. On the day Ralph was killed. He rewarded Ralph’s murderer.’

‘We have heard,’ Simon said, ‘that you saw Karvinel in the tavern too. Peter turned from him – snubbed him. Do you remember that?’

‘Yes,’ Jolinde said, a faraway look on his face as he recalled the evening. ‘It was the twenty-second, I think. The afternoon of the day the felon was hanged.’

Coroner Roger nodded. ‘I remember. We had been going to hang the bastard as soon as the court had concluded his guilt but we decided to wait. We had no scaffold,’ he added apologetically, as if ashamed that they had taken so long. ‘Peter was there when Hamond swung; he was all right with Karvinel then.’

‘He and Karvinel were talking that morning?’ Simon asked with frank surprise. ‘What happened to change their attitude by the same evening?’

‘You’d have to ask Karvinel,’ said Jolinde. ‘All I know is, he was depressed. And I think he was fearful already that he was possessed. He probably thought the theft proved it,’ he blurted, close to tears.

‘What we do need to ask you is this, though,’ Baldwin said. ‘Bearing in mind you don’t need the money, because as you point out your father is very wealthy, why did you need to rob a man like Ralph?’

‘I wanted the money!’ Jolinde asserted, but Simon saw that he did not meet any of his three interrogators’ eyes as he spoke.

‘That’s rubbish,’ Simon said. ‘You knew you could have whatever you needed. You had enough to be able to feed not only yourself but your friend as well.’

‘But I couldn’t know how long that would last.’

It was Baldwin who now coldly dissected his motives. ‘But you did, didn’t you, Jolinde? I think you knew only too well. You had enough money. There was no need for you to rob Ralph. In fact, I think you were yourself disgusted by what you did, which is why you gave away the tainted money. It was thirty pieces of silver that Judas took, wasn’t it? How much were you paid to ruin Ralph?’

Jolinde was silent, but his eyes closed and tears sprang from beneath his lids as Coroner Roger frowned with incomprehension. ‘What do you mean, Sir Baldwin?’

‘Just this: Jolinde didn’t want the money – he gave it away as soon as he could! No, but he was so desperate to take it that he persuaded his own friend to help him. Why? First, there’s the receipt. It showed Ralph had accepted the Cathedral’s money and gems. In a few days, Ralph would have to present the gloves to the Cathedral so that they could be given to Simon and me, among other people, and as soon as that happened, the Dean or Treasurer would be sure to notice the missing jewels and they would accuse Ralph of stealing them. And how could he defend himself?’

‘You whoreson bastard!’ the Coroner breathed. ‘You’d rob a man and then get him accused of the theft himself?’

‘Ah – no, Coroner, not quite,’ Baldwin murmured. ‘I think this lad had little choice in the matter. Isn’t that correct, Jolinde? No comments? Well, let me say what I guess and you can correct me as you wish.