Prince Edward's Warrant

by Mel Starr

  Lord Gilbert agreed that I could take with me to London Arthur Wagge, a groom of Bampton Castle who has proven useful to me in Lord Gilbert’s service. Dealing with miscreants does not trouble Arthur. He outweighs most men by two stone, possesses arms as thick as most men’s legs, and although no longer young, can with a scowl convince rogues to give up their felonies when I command them to do so.

  The journey from Bampton to London may be completed in three days, but not if a cold rain pours down upon a traveler as he ascends the Chiltern Hills and a child requires a surgeon’s care. So it was that darkness overtook us before we reached London and we spent Monday night at the Priory of St. Bartholomew.

  The delay disappointed me. The sooner I gained Prince Edward’s presence and prescribed some physics for his ailments, the sooner I could return to Bampton. And I had found Sir Giles an uncongenial travel companion. My rank was beneath him, and he felt it undignified that his prince would send him to bring me to London. A man of lesser station could have done so. This he remarked upon often. Sir Giles talked much on the journey but said little.

  As we passed through Stokenchurch a child of no more than three years stumbled in a muddy rut in the road before our party. Rather than drawing upon the reins Sir Giles, with a curse, spurred his beast – to leap over the boy, so he later said. The animal’s iron-shod hoof struck the lad’s arm. I wonder if Sir Giles would have behaved so had he known in how few hours he would greet St. Peter?

  I halted my palfrey and dismounted to comfort the howling child. The lad’s cries drew his parents and siblings from their house. Indeed, half of the homes in the village emptied, their occupants pressing about me, curious as to what harm I had done to the child. Had not Arthur’s thick arms, neck, and chest been behind me I believe the boy’s father would have thrashed me before I was able to explain what had occurred.

  When the crowd quieted I told the babe’s parents of the reason for his wails, and explained that I was a surgeon and could deal with the injured arm. Each time I touched the appendage the lad howled anew, but I was able to satisfy myself that there was no broken bone. There was, however, a laceration and red bruise, which would soon darken to purple.

  The cut must be closed. My instruments sack was slung across my palfrey’s rump, behind the saddle. I unfastened it and withdrew from a small box my finest needle and a spool of silken thread. Had I more time, and was I dealing with an adult, I would have asked for a cup of ale and into it poured a mix of crushed hemp seeds and powdered lettuce sap. An hour or so after drinking this concoction a man would feel less pain as I closed his wound.

  But Sir Giles sat scowling upon his horse, impatient to be away, and I was uncertain how a child might cope with crushed hemp seeds and powdered lettuce sap.

  I instructed the lad’s father to hold his child tightly, and told the mother to grasp the lad’s arm and under no circumstances allow it to move. The parents seemed reluctant to do this until I spoke firmly to them about the calamity which might come to their child if his cut was not closed properly.

  Tenants on a manor such as Stokenchurch will have no wine. I asked for a volunteer to seek the manor house, explain the need, and return with a cup of wine. A village matron bustled off and I set to work threading my needle.

  I took six sutures and with each the babe wailed anew. When I was satisfied that the cut was closed well I took the cup of wine, which had appeared at my elbow while I attended the wound, and bathed the laceration. The lad bawled again as the wine stung his wound. I would have spared him this, but wounds bathed in wine heal more readily than those not so washed. No man knows why.

  Generally I follow the practice of Henri de Mondeville, who taught that wounds left dry and uncovered heal best, but in the case of a child I thought it likely the lad would pluck at the wound and sutures if my work was left open. I asked the lad’s mother for an old kirtle or chemise. She produced one which seemed clean, and I tore it to strips with which I bound the cut.

  I told the child’s father that he could sever the stitches with his dagger and pull the threads free on All Saints’ Day. The fellow nodded and thanked me for my service to his child. I decided as I mounted my beast that when I returned to Bampton, in but two or three days, I hoped, I would travel this way to learn how the little lad fared. This episode is why we came to the Aldersgate too late to enter the city and waited the night at the priory.

  Kennington Palace is south of the Thames, so to reach Prince Edward’s home we had to cross London to approach the south bank across London Bridge. We had passed the Goldsmiths’ Hall and turned on to Cheapside when a gathering mob of London’s inhabitants began to impede our progress.

  “Hanging today,” Sir Giles said.

  He was correct. We spurred our beasts through the crowd, receiving black looks as we did so, and came to the Standard as a noose was being draped around the neck of a lad of perhaps sixteen years.

  “Wonder what ’e done?” Arthur said above the clamor.

  “Apprentice to a mercer what stole a bolt of silk from ’is master,” an obliging onlooker replied.

  The lad stood in a cart as the noose was placed about his neck, and when the hangman was satisfied, he slapped the rump of the runcie which then drew the cart from under the apprentice.

  He was a slight lad. The taut hempen rope did not break his neck, so he kicked as the tightening noose slowly strangled him. After a few moments the constables relented and allowed the boy’s friends to rush to him and pull upon his ankles to end sooner his agony.

  “Welcome to London,” Arthur said grimly.

  We were welcomed again after crossing London Bridge. Winchester geese accosted us as we entered Southwark, rightly identifying us as travelers upon the road. Sir Giles forgot his impatience and would have dallied with one of these strumpets but I told the knight that whatever he chose to do, I would journey on to Kennington Palace, the ramparts being now visible above the trees to the southwest.

  Sir Giles scowled and apparently decided that if he was to escort a man to Prince Edward he should probably enter the prince’s presence with the man he had been assigned to accompany.

  Chapter 2

  Our horses clattered across the wooden bridge which gave access to Kennington Palace, and grooms from the marshalsea took the beasts in hand. We entered the hall from the porch, between the babewyns. We were in time for dinner.

  I was assigned a place beside William Blackwater, and his disdain was immediately made clear. He slid sideways upon our bench to avoid brushing my elbow.

  Between the first and second removes I attempted to begin a conversation. I reminded Blackwater of our previous meeting, at Limoges, and our surgery upon the wounded when the city wall was finally breached. I should say “my surgery,” for he had contrived to be otherwise engaged when gore was splashed about the tent where the wounded were brought.

  “I know who you are,” the physician said, “and I know why you are here. What do you know of men’s humors and their treatment?”

  “Very little,” I admitted. “But Prince Edward has called for me and I must come at his bidding. If he asks me that question I will answer truthfully.”

  “His ailment requires treatment from a skilled physician,” Blackwater continued, “not some mechanic who repairs what is broken, which a man’s body will do without a surgeon’s attention.”

  “Indeed,” I replied. “If you were to slash your arm with an accidental thrust of your dagger, the cut may repair itself. No need to call upon me to stitch the wound closed.”

  The physician made no reply, but turned his attention to the second remove. I did likewise, for roasted goose in gaunceli and let lardes was served. As I consumed my portion I glanced to the high table where the prince, Lady Joan, and Edward’s household knights and their ladies enjoyed the roasted goose and additional dainties which we lesser folk did without. I looked in the other direction and saw Arthur, with other grooms, consuming long worts of pork. He was stuffing his mouth enthusiastical
ly, unaware, or uncaring, of the fare consumed at the higher end of his table.

  ’Twas while I chewed my roasted goose that I glanced again to Prince Edward. He had been sallow complected, with sunken cheeks, at Limoges. He was now even more so. As I watched, he picked from his trencher a pale piece of flesh and gnawed listlessly upon it, occasionally watching others of his retinue as they enjoyed their fare.

  Blackwater evidently saw my gaze linger upon the high table. “Boiled rooster,” he said. “Of course, you would know nothing of the reason for such a diet.”

  I did not answer or act as if I wished an explanation, as I felt certain the physician would supply one. He did.

  “The prince’s complexio is out of balance, about which you surgeons know nothing.”

  He was correct concerning my knowledge of boiled roosters. Physicians hold that the qualities of heat and cold, wet and dry, determine a man’s health, and that these four are influenced by the stars and planets, especially upon the day a man is born, and also by his diet.

  I hold with St. Augustine, who wrote that astrology strikes at the root of human responsibility. It says, “It wasn’t my fault – Venus caused it, or Saturn or Mars.” The creator of the sky and stars is to be blamed for my decisions and errors and sins. And Prince Edward’s illness. But I held my tongue.

  “M’lord prince is a man of courage,” the physician said. “This is an attribute of hot, thin blood, as in youth. As a man grows older his blood cools. This, with the moistness of males, may cause the humors to be unbalanced. Prince Edward suffers from too much black bile.”

  “So he must gnaw upon a boiled fowl while we consume roasted goose and let lardes?” I said.

  “Rooster flesh is dry and hot,” Blackwater said. “Especially one which crows little and is chased about to tire it before it is slaughtered. Physicians know that such a fowl is recommended for men of old age, in winter, and in northern climes.”

  I did not think Prince Edward, being forty-two, would appreciate being prescribed a diet suitable for the elderly.

  “And under no circumstance must he consume fresh fruits or vegetables. Such must be cooked, and even then consumed in small amounts.”

  “Has this treatment improved the prince’s health?” I voiced the question in innocence. Blackwater did not take it so.

  “It did,” he growled. “After Limoges his complexio began to improve. He attributed this to the herbs you suggested, but anyone who has studied Galen and Averroes would know that the improvement could not be due to such herbs. They have little effect upon the humors.”

  “So the prince continues to dine upon boiled roosters and yet grows weaker?”

  “He would not but for the sea voyage which cooled his blood and made his humors more moist. This is why he must consume foods hot and dry to restore the balance.”

  “And yet he sent for me.”

  “He is so ill he grows impatient for a cure, even when he knows I do what is best for him. He has suffered for so long he will seek succor even from charlatans. Grasping at straws.”

  When a man is ill to death he will grasp at anything, or chew upon anything, I suppose. Even a tough old rooster. I glanced again at Prince Edward and watched him tear a piece of flesh from the carcass and chew the tasteless mouthful.

  The third remove was aloes of beef, cyueles, and apple fritters, which Blackwater found so pleasing that he left off berating my profession and concentrated on adding to his already substantial belly. I did likewise. Although surprisingly, despite my Kate’s cookery, my paunch as yet shows little sign of her skill. Consuming such fare is more gratifying than conversation with a man who knows all that is worth knowing and is willing to share his wisdom with the ignorant. And of many things medical I am ignorant. No man can know everything, regardless of what a sophist may claim, but any man may know more. A man knows much who knows how little he knows.

  If Prince Edward did not enjoy his dinner, others at the high table did. Sir Giles seemed especially delighted, laughing and exchanging apparent witticisms with his table companions. I saw a valet refill his wine cup several times, which likely added to his mirth.

  The clatter of a wine cup falling to the floor interrupted the background chatter which had accompanied the meal. I looked up to see who had dropped his cup, and saw Sir Giles rise slowly from his bench. His wine cup lay upon the tiles before the high table.

  The hall fell silent. All turned to Sir Giles and watched transfixed as he stood, swayed, sank to his bench, and then fell back from it to disappear behind the high table. Lady Joan shrieked, and Prince Edward kicked back his chair and went to aid Sir Giles. I thought to do likewise, but decided ’twould be best to wait. The prince would call Dr. Blackwater, or me, or both of us as he saw fit.

  I watched as the prince disappeared from view behind the high table. He quickly reappeared and called another knight to assist him. Together they bent over the stricken man and disappeared again as Sir Giles was laid out upon the tiles behind the high table.

  A moment later Prince Edward stood, looked to me and Blackwater, and motioned vigorously for us to approach. Or for one of us to approach. Because we stood together it was impossible to know which he desired to tend the fallen man.

  As we hurried to the prince the hall became again filled with conversation as folk asked one another what might have caused Sir Giles to fall violently ill. Blackwater and I pressed through the crowd of knights and their ladies which had gathered about Sir Giles’s prostrate form.

  “He complains that his feet will no longer support him,” Prince Edward said when we drew near, “and his hands grow cold and he can feel nothing.”

  I took Sir Giles’s hand and pinched his arm near to the elbow. “Do you feel that?” I asked.

  “Feel what?” the knight whispered.

  I poked a finger into his ribs and asked again if he felt the jab.

  He saw what I did and so knew what he should feel. “Nay,” he murmured.

  A moment later the knight lifted his head as if to view the world one last time, for he knew, I believe, that he was about to depart it. His head fell back and his breath stopped. I placed a finger to his neck but could detect no pulse. I stood and crossed myself. Noble onlookers did likewise.

  “What has happened?” Prince Edward asked. “He was fit when we sat to dinner.”

  “Poison,” Blackwater exclaimed, “or an excess of black bile. A theriac is needed. I have a supply in my chamber.”

  “His heart has stopped. He can drink nothing,” I said. “Mix your theriac with wine if you wish, but he’ll not drink it.”

  “What is to be done?” Prince Edward asked.

  “When he first fell from his bench, did he complain of a bellyache or any other infirmity?” I asked of the circle of gentlemen and ladies that surrounded me, William Blackwater, Prince Edward, and a corpse.

  All the living shook their heads as I looked about the circle. The sudden death of a companion had brought to each man and woman now present thoughts of their own mortality. Most folk trust that before death comes for them they will have time – days, or at least hours – to amend their ways and seek God’s grace. Such an adjustment of attitude and behavior, men believe, will guarantee heaven even if only after a term in purgatory. And this ordeal may be abbreviated by contributions of land or coin to priests or monks who will pray to the Lord Christ to free them from that malignant place. If such a place there be.

  ’Twas too late for a theriac mixed with wine. Sir Giles Cheyne was beyond all earthly cures. Was the reason for his death mixed with his wine? Like his august companions at the high table I had thought the knight in excellent health when we rode through London in the morning. And what man feeling himself unwell would consider dallying with a prostitute as Sir Giles had but two hours past? No. Whatever slew the man came upon him suddenly. Perhaps after he sat at the high table, which likely meant poison. Or a heart which suddenly failed him. How to know which?

  None of the others who had been p
laced at the high table seemed ill. How could it be that food and wine prepared for all dispatched but one? If Sir Giles was poisoned, the fatal dose must have been added after the food was prepared and presented to him, but before he consumed it. He shared his mess with Sir Humphrey Downey, whose name at the time I did not know. But I recognized him, as he stood behind Prince Edward, as being Sir Giles’s companion at table. The knight showed no sign of illness or discomfort, although he stood close enough to hear the word “poison,” and must surely be considering the meal he had just consumed.

  The only part of the meal which the two men did not share was wine. Each drank from his own cup. I rose to my feet, turned to the table and Sir Giles’s place, and lifted his wine goblet to my nose.

  Some poisons produce an odor, or taste, which makes them less effective as a way to slay a man. Sir Giles had consumed nearly all of his wine, but a trace remained. Try as I might I could detect no aroma unusual to a wine cup.

  Prince Edward saw me hold the goblet under my nose and immediately divined the purpose.

  “You believe poison was mixed with Sir Giles’s wine? How could this be? We have all drunk from the same butt.”

  “But perhaps not from the same ewer,” I replied. I turned to Sir Giles’s dinner companion. “How many times was Sir Giles’s wine replenished?”

  The man frowned in concentration. “Four times, I believe.”

  “And each time was your cup also filled?”

  “Nay. Second time the valet apologized, said his ewer was empty, and that he would return anon with more wine for me.”

  “So the valet emptied his ewer when he poured more wine for Sir Giles then?”

  “Aye.”

  Prince Edward is no dolt. He immediately turned to his marshal and spoke. “Who served us wine? Which valet had the duty? I paid the man no attention.”