The Tournament of Blood

by Michael Jecks

  THE TOURNAMENT OF BLOOD

  Also by Michael Jecks

  The Leper’s Return

  Squire Throwleigh’s Heir

  Belladonna at Belstone

  The Traitor of St. Giles

  The Boy Bishop’s Glovemaker

  The Sticklepath Strangler

  The Devil’s Acolyte

  The Oath

  King’s Gold

  Templar’s Acre

  City of Fiends

  First published in 2001 by Headline Books Publishing

  This edition published in Great Britain in 2013 by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

  A CBS COMPANY

  Copyright © 2012 by Michael Jecks

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

  No reproduction without permission.

  All rights reserved.

  The right of Michael Jecks to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

  1st Floor

  222 Gray’s Inn Road

  London

  WC1X 8HB

  www.simonandschuster.co.uk

  Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney

  Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi

  A CIP catalogue copy for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978-1-47112-627-7

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-47112-628-4

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  For

  Katie Marjorie Bond Jecks,

  with all a father’s love.

  Glossary

  Aketon

  A long-sleeved garment, of fustian or similar thick cloth, often padded with wool and sewn like a quilt, which was worn over the shirt but beneath the mail to protect a man-at-arms.

  À outrance

  Fighting under conditions of war. In a tournament this meant using weapons of war: sharp sword, sharp lance, dagger and all other equipment including full armour.

  À plaisance

  Fighting for show or entertainment. When demonstrating their speed and prowess, knights often used bated, or blunted, weapons to reduce the danger of bloodshed.

  Banneret

  A knight who was entitled to command other knights and men-at-arms under his own banner; also a title of knighthood conferred by the King for valour on the battlefield.

  Béhourd

  This was a limited hastilude between squires or training knights, occasionally an impromptu response to a celebration. Sometimes events had the knights wearing cuir bouilli and fighting with whalebone swords, such as at the ‘Joust of Peace’ at Windsor in 1278.

  Ber frois

  The grandstands built to accommodate ladies, nobles and the wealthier classes. They would have surrounded the main fighting area, forming an oblong so that knights could run courses against each other directly in front of the spectators.

  Coat armour

  Over the pair of plates a knight would wear a decorative tunic upon which he would have his heraldic symbols, his ‘arms’. From this the tunic came to be called coat armour. It didn’t offer protection from attack, it only emphasised the nobility of the wearer. Also called gypon.

  Collée

  This was the term given to the light blow from the hand, according to the Ordène de Chevalerie and other contemporary books dealing with knighthood. The collée was given by the man who had girded the new knight with his sword, and commonly it was given by the fellow’s lord. It was only rarely given by the King himself except after a battle or tournament, at which times it was worthwhile making knights to reward them. The Church tried to take over the dubbing of knights, just as they took on the responsibility of crowning kings, in an attempt to demonstrate that priests were superior to warriors, but they did not succeed.

  Commencailles

  The initial stage of a mêlée or medley in which a few knights selected for their skill would display their abilities in preliminary skirmishes before the main fight.

  Course

  One run through the lists, so one attempt to hit an opposing knight.

  Cuir Bouilli

  Leather boiled, shaped and hardened to form a solid, but light covering, used to protect both men and horses.

  Diseur

  Just as with any sport, rules were invented and must be monitored by professional judges. These referees were called diseurs.

  À l’estoc

  Literally ‘at the point’ of a sword. Estoc was sometimes used to mean a vicious thrust into the chest cavity, under the ribs and leading upwards into heart and lungs: a killing blow.

  Gypon

  See Coat armour above.

  Harbinger

  The members of a household sent on before the Lord’s arrival in a new location to prepare the way for him, ensuring that rooms were available at inns en route and finally making the destination ready. Often a rich man like Lord Hugh would have harbingers for his servants as well.

  Hastilude

  Literally ‘spear-play’ from the Latin hastiludium: this word was the common term for a joust in the 1300s. I’ve used ‘tournament’ and ‘joust’ in the story because they are better understood by readers in the 2000s.

  Hauberk

  The name given to the coat of mail worn over the aketon but beneath the pair of plates.

  Heralds

  Heralds grew to importance largely through tournaments, because it was they, the experts in reading heraldic insignia, who must confirm a man’s lineage to ensure he was entitled to participate, and call out his name as the knight rode into the lists to joust. Afterwards it was the heralds who proclaimed the honour and prowess of the winners.

  Heraldry

  As warfare and the mêlée required ever stronger armour and men’s faces became concealed, knights resorted to symbols painted upon shields, pennons and banners so that their footsoldiers and friends could recognise them. This was the basis of heraldry, which developed into a systematic means of displaying a man’s heredity.

  Joust

  Generally this meant single combat on horse or on foot. Commonly in this period, a joust consisted of: three courses run with the lance, three with swords and three more (if both competitors could still stand!) with axes. More recently, of course, a joust has come to mean hastilude.

  Lists

  Once the mêlée gave way to the rather safer idea of individual knights running courses against each other, it was desirable that the clash should take place before the spectators. There was, after all, little point in a knight displaying brilliant prowess in a field half a mile away where no one could see him. Thus lists were created: an enclosed space in which the fighting took place.

  Mêlée

  Also called a medley, this was a free-for-all: in essence a battle. All weapons were genuine and there were few rules. The thrill for the participants came from booty: seizing another knight’s weapons, horse and armour, as well as taking the man hostage and demanding a ransom. Those who held the field at the end of the day were victors, while the losers must run to the money-lenders.

  Misericorde

  Literally ‘compassion’ or ‘mercy’, this name applied to small shelves for monks to rest on and save their legs during long services, as well as rest homes for monks to recover their health. However, it was also the name of a knight’s dagger used to deliver the coup de grâce to a wounded comrade.

  Pair of plates

  The name given to the stout armour worn over the hauberk. It comprised a heavy
-duty cloth or leather garment which had, on the inner surface, a series of plates stitched or riveted in place. Often the rivet-heads could be seen, shaped like flowers for decoration. Inside, the plates overlapped to give greater protection. The pair of plates was replaced by large individual plates of armour.

  Tenant

  Occasionally a knight wishing to prove his prowess and strength would issue a challenge to all-comers, promising to fight whomsoever took up his challenge. He was the tenant.

  Tilt

  To prevent horses running into each other while charging, a rope was sometimes slung between two posts, a cloth draped over it, and the horses were supposed to run their courses on the right, with the knights holding their lances to threaten the man approaching on their left. In later years (from about 1420) the rope was replaced by a more substantial, low wooden fence.

  Venant

  A man who answered a tenant’s challenge.

  Vespers

  Although this commonly meant the sixth canonical service (now called Evensong), vespers also meant the eve of a festival. As such it came to mean the vigil day before a tournament and was later used as the technical term for practice runs by knights at each other.

  Cast of Characters

  Sir Baldwin de Furnshill

  Once a Knight Templar, Sir Baldwin has returned to his old home in Devon and is Keeper of the King’s Peace. He’s known to be an astute investigator of violent crime.

  Lady Jeanne

  His wife, to whom he has been married only a year. Jeanne is a widow whose first husband treated her cruelly, and now she is learning to enjoy married life for the first time.

  Edgar

  Baldwin’s servant and trusted steward. Edgar was Baldwin’s Sergeant when he was a Knight Templar and is, like his master, a highly experienced fighter, trained with all weapons.

  Simon Puttock

  The Bailiff of Lydford is the Stannary Bailiff, responsible for law and order on Dartmoor under Abbot Champeaux, the Warden of the Stannaries.

  Sir Roger de Gidleigh

  Exeter’s Coroner and for some months a friend of Sir Baldwin.

  Margaret Puttock (Meg)

  Simon’s wife, daughter of a local farmer, whom he married many years before.

  Edith

  Simon and Margaret’s daughter, nearly fourteen years old.

  Hugh

  Hugh has been Simon and Margaret’s servant for many years. Although the previous year he left them to marry, he has now rejoined them.

  Lady Alice

  The teenaged daughter of a neighbour of Sir John’s, orphaned when she was a small child and subsequently taken by Sir John as his ward.

  Squire Andrew

  Sir Edmund’s squire is a battle-hardened older man with the quick reflexes of a professional man-at-arms.

  Sir Peregrine of Barnstaple

  Lord Hugh’s loyal servant. This banneret is as keen as his lord to see how skilled Lord Hugh’s host, his army, is.

  Sir Walter Basset

  Known for his violence in tournaments, Sir Walter of Cornwall is quick to anger and never forgets an insult. In great debt to money-lenders, he is keen to earn money from a tournament.

  Lady Helen

  Sir Walter’s beautiful and loyal wife.

  Wymond Carpenter

  Master-builder and craftsman, Wymond has worked alongside Hal for several years. Morose, and truculent with it, Wymond is disliked by his workers and others.

  Lord Hugh de Courtenay

  This nobleman has decided to patronise a tournament, in order to assess the skills and loyalty of his vassals in the wake of the Battle of Boroughbridge, in which Earl Thomas and his men were killed.

  Sir John de Crukerne

  A knight from West Dorset who is attending the tournament with his son. He is Lady Alice’s legal guardian.

  Squire William

  Sir John’s son, whom Sir John would like to see engaged to Alice and who is expecting to be knighted at the tournament.

  Benjamin Dudenay

  A usurer, Benjamin has often helped knights who need to raise money, either to pay ransoms or to buy arms and armour. He also helps men like Lord Hugh to fund the tournament itself.

  Squire Geoffrey

  Alice’s lover who, like William, anticipates being knighted at the tournament.

  Sir Edmund of Gloucester

  This wandering knight is without a lord since Boroughbridge and wishes to impress Lord Hugh with his prowess in the lists.

  Helewisia

  Alice’s maid, a servant from Sir John’s household.

  Herald Odo

  A herald who has returned to England after some years in France and Germany learning new songs and a little about the Continental approach to heraldry and tournaments.

  Sir Richard Prouse

  Grievously wounded many years before in another tournament, Sir Richard is bitter about his hideous scars and disabilities.

  Hal Sachevyll

  A renowned architect of the buildings involved in a tournament, Hal also considers himself an expert on the pageantry associated with these events. Filled with magnificent ideas which would challenge the purse of a king, he often has to scale down his initial concepts to meet the needs of his clients.

  Mark Tyler

  Lord Hugh has one herald who remains with him and who bears the title ‘King Herald’ of his household. Mark is a middle-aged man, sour-natured and jealous of others who might try to take his post.

  Author’s Note

  When one considers the medieval period, one automatically thinks of damsels in distress and knights in armour. The era is filled with tales of knightly chivalry, of errantry, of honourable fights and pageantry. And one of the most potent symbols of that era of glorious chivalry is the joust. One man against another; both keen to show their prowess and courage.

  Hollywood would have us believe that tournaments involved two men riding against each other, both behaving thoroughly courteously, both equal in rank and honour, each one trying to knock his opponent from his horse in as polite a manner as possible. Naturally when one fell, the other would wait until he was on his feet again, and then the two would go at it again, probably stopping for a nice cup of tea to refresh themselves.

  But Hollywood hasn’t quite got it right. In the early days, tournaments were far from civilised, which is why the Church banned them from 1130 at the Council of Clermont.

  Tournaments altered over time. There were several different forms, but all developed from one aim: to teach men to fight in war. The earliest version shows this most clearly, because it was a straightforward battle. Called a mêlée, it involved two groups of armed men meeting between two villages or towns (in other words not in a small field but in a non-specific and large battlefield); they charged and fought just as if they were in a real battle, no holds barred. Participants went at each other hammer and tongs, with three or four against one, while others hid behind trees hoping to ambush the unwary. The most unscrupulous might even wait at a nearby tavern until all the contenders were exhausted, then ride in to take as many prisoners as possible. Competitors wanted to win not because of some abstruse concept such as chivalry – but for hard cash.

  When a knight knocked merry hell out of a competitor in the fight, he could capture the fellow, drag him off the field, and then ransom him. This was how our betters used to behave and was presumably the foundation of the fortunes of several of our leading families. Not only could the knight take a ransom, he could keep his victim’s armour and horse. This at a time when a good warhorse could cost as much as £150. To put this into perspective, the salary of a skilled worker was 3d per day, an unskilled worker 1½d per day; thus the horse was worth 12,000 man-days – well over thirty years – for a skilled worker. It’s no wonder people have estimated the expense of a warhorse to have been roughly the equivalent of a modern battle-tank.

  Naturally, capable knights could make themselves large fortunes. One prime example was William the Marshall, wh
o tended to win rather regularly. He and another enterprising young knight formed an alliance in 1177, travelling across Europe from one tournament to another for ten months, sharing their profits equally. They successfully ransomed over 100 knights in that time. Of course such men didn’t only win short-term money, either. Often they would catch the eye of a wealthy patron, someone who could give them a more secure future.

  This form of limited warfare was conducted under the rules of battle then in force – which more or less suggested it was bad form to execute a prisoner because he was worth more alive – and combatants used real weapons of war. No weapon was banned. Swords and axes were sharpened; maces and clubs, lances and bills were all wielded. Not surprisingly, this resulted in severe injuries and, commonly, death. One of the better-known tournaments was between the British and French at Châlons-sur-Saône in 1273, during which the Count of Châlons caught Edward I about the neck in an attempt to pull him from his horse. Edward apparently deprecated such treatment and lost his temper. So did others. Before long the competitors were joined by their foot-soldiers, and a pitched fight was carried on in earnest. As a result of the deaths and injuries that ensued, this has gone down in history as ‘The Little Battle of Châlons’.