The Lion and the Leopard
Page 31
Death passed through Greece and Italy in the guise of a miasma so noxious it caused wine to spoil, crops to wilt and fruit to rot. The sun was obliterated, as were the moon and stars, and only a gray creeping fog showed on the horizon.
Again taking to the sea, Death sailed for Venice and Genoa, where he was driven off by volleys of burning arrows. Thwarted, he turned against those on shipboard. Like a prostitute plying her trade, he lay with each sailor, cabin boy and captain. Soon galleys, manned by spectral crews, haunted the European shorelines, wandering hither and yon at the whim of the changing tides.
Pausing at Calais, Death gazed across the Channel toward England. England, arrogant and seemingly invincible, as sweet to look upon as Satan before his fall. England, protected by turbulent waters and sweeping winds. Proud, impregnable England, with her white cliffs and prosperous towns, sharp-eyed yeomen and bright-cheeked maids.
On the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, Death docked at the port of Melcombe, and it soon became apparent that the English would succumb as easily as the Chinese, Italians and French—as easily as any man. Through Southampton, Dorset, Bristol, Devon, Somerset and other sea counties, Death passed, smiting all he touched. Bells tolled ceaselessly and graveyards became so full that bell-ringers had to dump the overflow in communal pits.
Rather than administer last rites, priests fled for the countryside, as did every city dweller strong enough to travel. Aristocratic ladies, seated inside swaying coaches, shared the roads with merchants, knights on palfreys, villeins carrying their babes in panniers slung across their backs—and Death.
On All Saints Day, 1348, Death reached London.
With nearly seventy thousand people, London's crowded conditions made it as vulnerable as rotten fruit clinging to a branch. Death shook the tree and London fell. People began to die. Scattered cases were reported among the whores of Southwark, the criminals in Newgate, the skinners along Peltry Street, and the grocers and apothecaries of Bucklersbury.
Citing the increase in plague, King Edward III prorogued parliament and soon the nobility began deserting London.
But not soon enough.
London, 1349
A dense mantle of fog hung over London as Matthew Hart and his family made their way along Fleet Street.
Matthew eyed his mother, who rode several yards ahead, her scarlet cloak spilling over her palfrey's rump like a pool of blood.
Nay, not blood, Matthew corrected himself. 'Tis simply a red cloth.
But logic did little to soothe his anxiety. He peered off to his right, where the sprawling Convent of White Friars struggled through the mist. The convent, which housed the royal and ecclesiastical councils, was normally overflowing with clerks and petitioners and His Grace's retainers. This morning, however, a single Carmelite, pulling his cowl closer around his face as if it might somehow protect him from contamination, scurried, crab-like, past the limestone cloisters.
Matthew found the stillness even more discomforting than the lack of people. London usually reverberated with ringing church bells and mongers hawking their second-hand clothing. Merchants begged business from their stalls; vendors peddled their homemade medicines, soaps, perfumes, nuts, quinces and pears. But not today.
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Mary Ellen Johnson’s writing career was sparked by her passion for Medieval England. Her first novel, The Lion and the Leopard, which took place during the doomed reign of Edward II, was followed by The Landlord’s Black-Eyed Daughter, a historical novel based on the Alfred Noyes poem, “The Highwayman.” (Published under the pseudonym, Mary Ellen Dennis.) Landlord was chosen as one of the top 100 historical romances of 2013.
In 1992, Mary Ellen’s life took a 20 year detour when she became involved in a local murder. Later she championed the fifteen-year-old, Jacob Ind, who killed his abusive parents and chronicled that event in The Murder of Jacob. As the Executive Director of the Pendulum Foundation, a non-profit that serves kids serving life in prison. she has been featured in Rolling Stone, on the documentaries, PBS Frontline’s When Kids Get Life and Lost for Life, as well as countless radio, TV and print outlets around the world.
As Mary Ellen’s goal of sentencing reform nears its successful completion, she has happily returned her attention to her first love, novel writing, and her favorite time period. Her five book series, Knights of England, will follow the fortunes of the characters (and their progeny) introduced in The Lion and the Leopard through the Black Death, the reign of that most gloriously medieval of monarchs, Edward III, the Peasants Revolt of 1381 (with issues of class and inequality that remain relevant) and ending with the tragic death—or was it murder??—of Richard II. A tumultuous and exciting century as seen through the eyes of characters, both historical and fictional, who Mary Ellen hopes you will find as engaging, frustrating, complex and unforgettable as she does!