Mathilde 01 - The Cup of Ghosts
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I walked out into the weak sunlight. Ap Ythel’s men were formed in an arc facing the church. I sat down on a wooden bench and looked at Sandewic’s Cup of Ghosts. I waited for a while in the cold until the door opened, and Demontaigu came out and handed me the empty goblet.
‘He drank.’ Demontaigu stared at me strangely. ‘He’s dead.’
‘Then God speed him,’ I replied.
Five days later I gathered with my mistress in the central courtyard of Westminster Palace. The French were leaving, but because of the weather, they would not trust themselves to the river but were to ride down to Queenshithe where their war cog was moored. There were farewells and presents, assurances of friendship, kisses of peace; my mistress even made a speech. Marigny, who’d been watching me all the time, pushed his horse closer and leaned down, green eyes bright, red hair peeping out from under his beaver hat.
‘Mathilde,’ he whispered, taking advantage of the noise in the courtyard.
‘Why yes, my lord?’
He pushed his horse a little closer, crossing his arms over the horn of his saddle.
‘Very sharp,’ he whispered. ‘We certainly underestimated you.’
‘My lord, you and Sir John Casales are paying me the same compliment!’
‘Casales is dead.’
‘God’s judgement on his crimes.’ I gestured at the palace buildings around us. ‘My lord the king has decided to call a parliament to treat with his earls.’
‘This thing between us, Mathilde.’ Marigny fluttered gloved fingers. ‘A l’outrance!’
‘My lord.’ I blinked prettily and did a mock curtsy. ‘I would have it no other way. As you say, à l’outrance, usque ad mortem.’ I straightened up. ‘To the death!’
Author’s Note
Medieval medicine was not as limited as some of the popular histories would have us believe. Women did play a prominent role as physicians, apothecaries and leeches. (Mathilde is based on a true character, Mathilda of Westminster.) Women’s contribution to medieval medicine was only seriously checked when that great misogynist Henry VIII passed an Act of Parliament in 1519. As Kate Campbell Hurd-Mead writes in her History of Women in Medicine, ‘In the Middle Ages women doctors continued to practise in the midst of wars and epidemics as they always had, for the simple reason that they were needed.’
The events described in this novel are based on the politics of the period. Isabella appears to have had a most unhappy relationship with both her father and her three brothers. She never attended any of their funerals, and as this series will demonstrate, where she could she did terrible damage to her own family. When I studied Isabella for my doctorate at Oxford I received the distinct impression that she was a very beautiful, highly intelligent, strong-willed and manipulative woman. She was one of the few monarchs before 1603 who realised that any war against Scotland was destructive for both countries and of profit to no one.
The events of 1307 are as I have described them. Wenlock, Pourte and Sandewic died within twelve months of Edward II’s succession, and their characters, as depicted here, are based on primary sources. Baquelle, according to the London Chronicle, was crushed to death during Edward II’s coronation which in turn was a disastrous event, poorly organised, the fury of the earls so intense that a clash of arms was only narrowly averted. Edward’s II’s character, and that of Gaveston, is also based on primary sources. Edward’s love for Peter was so deep, that when his favourite was later executed, the Church had to order the king to have his body buried. Gaveston’s mother is, in many sources, described as a witch, but that was a common allegation against women whom men feared or resented.
The events of 1307-08 are also faithfully reflected in the primary sources. There is no doubt that Edward II and Philip were involved in some subtle game over the destruction of the Templars (which occurred as I have described it) and the marriage of Isabella. Edward II put up stiff resistance to French demands, then suddenly did a volte-face. My explanation, as contained in this novel, is a strong possibility. Philip entertained the idea of becoming a new Charlemagne. He must have recalled French intervention in English affairs during the minority of Henry III. He and his coven of ministers, all of whom died violent, mysterious deaths, were certainly a group of sinister men playing for the very highest stakes.
Paul C. Doherty