The Butchers Funeral: A Medieval Murder

by C. M. Harald

  Their gossip had been about the latest exploits of Herry Webb, who was supposedly having a tryst with a washer woman at the river while stringing along a girl who worked for his father. There were other women as well as Herry was popular with the women for his charming smooth talk, youthful looks and fashionable clothes. Webb had just finished his apprenticeship, and being a weaver like his father, he was well off, not only able to afford the latest fashions, but in many cases he could make them as well. It was only a matter of time before he would set out on his own as he was driven and clearly wanted to do things differently to his father. The two men had been known to clash on where to sell their wares, with the father preferring to sell to the monastery while the son argued that they should sell in London for the better prices available there. Herry was determined to prove his father wrong, and as soon as he had the money, he would set up his own business. Of course, women loved this ambition, along with the fashionable bright colours and long shoes Herry wore. He had his pick of the women, but had not yet settled on one, preferring to sample the many.

  They were midway though sharing some freshly baked rolls, ones that Law had chosen as his favourites, when they were interrupted. There was a commotion just across from them by the blacksmith and they noticed a fat old merchant was shouting and a child had started running.

  'What's Mark gone and done now?' Judd said, recognising the runner.

  Law did not know the boy, he looked quite a few years younger than himself. Besides, having only recently moved to the city, Law did not know everyone as well as Judd, who had been here many more years.

  'Stop thief!' The merchant shouted.

  'Oh damn them to hell.' Judd groaned as he climbed out of the pen, 'Hue and cry. Law, we need to catch Mark now or we'll be for it.'

  Law had heard of the hue and cry, but had never seen one happen. Mostly people ignored crimes, but when someone cried out, and in such a public place, there was no way to ignore what was going on. Law knew that this approach was one of the few ways to keep crime under control, but he did not like the idea that everyone could be punished if the community failed to stop the criminal. As the crime appeared to be theft, the punishments for the criminal, or those failing to stop him, could be quite severe. Law did not take too long to think about it, yet Judd already had a good head-start on him and others were also joining the chase. Not only did they need to catch the criminal, but Law was not going to let Judd earn bragging rights by beating him. Law leapt out of the pen, if he did not hurry he would lose sight of the boy and would end up chasing Judd, or worse, the crowd.

  The boy was heading to the nearby corner of the marketplace, no doubt hoping to lose himself quickly in the alleys and narrow passageways around the edge. If he had a chance to drop the stolen items, the thief might get away with it as there would be no evidence to prove his guilt. Already Law was gaining on his slightly older friend and pushing past the bustle of the leading edges of the pursuing crowd. Most of the bystanders were quick enough to get out of the way, but the thief still ran into an old woman at the butcher's shop. The thief fell to the ground, but was quickly recovered, losing little of his lead. Law saw the old woman, the thief had run into, hit the butcher's counter as she went down. The butcher was nowhere in sight, but Law was briefly bemused when he saw Donald Alvin rushing to the corner of the shop with a small phial in hand. He put it out of his mind, clearly the surgeon was going to help the old woman.

  As they left the market, only Judd and Law were able to see where the thief was going, the rest of the crowd was chasing Law and he had almost caught up with his friend. They entered a maze of alleys, running through waste accumulating a foot deep in places. Even thought they were closing on the boy, Law still lost sight of him a couple of times and had to trust the Judd could either see him, or knew where they were going. The crowd was left far behind, although he could hear their shouting as they blindly continued their pursuit.

  Law was beginning to tire, not used to this pace, however, the boy was also clearly faltering. Law finally caught up with Judd, who was red in the face from the pace and splattered up one side with something unmentionable that he had slipped in. As they turned another corner they caught up with the boy, Judd threw his arms out and pushed the boy off balance so that he fell into the middle of the narrow alley. Law seized the opportunity and dived onto the boy, who squealed as he was hit by the weight of his assailant. There was a brief struggle, but the thief was no match for Law, and soon they were both breathing heavily on the floor.

  'Mark you stupid fool!' Judd forced out as he caught his breath, 'What have you gone and done? You'll hang!'

  The boy started to sob, 'Let me go, no-one knows you've caught me.'

  Judd looked as if he was considering it when several red-faced men came puffing around the corner.

  'You've got him!' One of the men exclaimed.

  'What did he take? Search him.' A stall-keeper demanded excitedly.

  'Go and get the constable.' Another of the growing crowd suggested as someone from the back ran off to fetch the official.

  'Search the boy!' A short bearded man at the front demanded.

  Judd started to pat down the boy as Law climbed off him. The boy struggled, but Judd stilled him with a quick stinging slap to the cheek. In no time he found something.

  'Nice new comb.' Judd said as he retrieved the stolen comb, waving it in the air and passing it to Law.

  'Bet that was stolen.' Said a voice from the crowd.

  'Was my dead mum's,' Protested the boy, 'Kept it to help me remember her.'

  'Ah lad, that's why it looks so new ain't it.' It was the man at the front again.

  'It was her's.'

  'Nothing else though.' Judd interrupted the pleas of innocence that continued to come from the boy. He was surprised that the victim had made such a fuss about having a comb stolen. It was a nice comb, but not the kind he expected a wealthy merchant to have, 'What else did you take boy? No way that rich guy would make sure a fuss about a simple comb.'

  'Nothing Judd, honest nothing.'

  'Look around!' Shouted one of the crowd, 'He must have dropped whatever it was when he was running.'

  'What we looking for?'

  'Dunno stupid. Something that merchant would have made all this fuss about.'

  The crowd of pursuers started looking around the alleyway with several of them retrace the chase. Nevertheless, enough stayed close enough to Mark that he could not attempt to get away.

  As the search continued, Eric Constable arrived on the scene. He inspected Mark and the comb before turning to Judd and Law.

  'Right everybody. You're looking for a purse. The merchant has told me how much was in it, so if you help yourself to any, I'll know you did it.' Several people groaned at not being allowed to liberate a few coins that a rich merchant could surely spare as a reward.

  'Good work you two lads.' Constable had turned back to Judd and Law, 'As good as caught 'im in the act. Now if we can just find the purse, we'll have enough evidence to take the boy to court.'

  'You mean the comb's not enough?' Law asked.

  'It's enough to get 'im time in stocks or something'

  'Letting him off lightly.' Someone mumbled.

  'You mind your business Jones,' Constable responded to the interruption, 'If he had been caught with the purse in his possession, we would have been executing him before the week was out. As he didn't have it on him, we'll have to wait until the visit of the next court.'

  'Don't we have to find the purse then?' Law asked. Having recently moved to the city, he was not quite clear on how things worked.

  'He'll get a lesser punishment for stealing the comb.'

  'It was my mum's!' Mark shouted again.

  'Easy way to check that out is to have a word around the market and find out who's missing a comb from their stall.' The constable challenged. The thief glared at him.

  'So if we find the purse, he'll get a more severe punishment?' Law asked.

 
'That's right. Doesn't take the theft of much coin to lead to the death penalty.' Constable ignored the pleas of innocence from the boy.

  'And if we return the purse to the merchant, there will be no demands that the community pays a penalty.' Judd added.

  'I've found it.' One of the city folk ran around the corner waving the purse, which he handed to Constable.

  'Good timing, we were about to take the boy to the gaol.' Constable said, 'Now Thomas, you better not have helped yourself to any of the coin. I'll know, you know.'

  'Full of coins, but I've not taken any, weighs a lot.' Thomas replied, passing the purse to the constable, 'Found it a couple of alleys back, on the street by the chandler's house. Hidden behind a bush, must have thrown it in there when he turned into that street.'

  'That's good work, but I'll be counting these later Thomas.' Constable passed the purse to Judd, who bounced it up and down gauging the weight.

  'It's a small fortune here. Mark, you're going to hang for this.' Judd said to the boy.

  'Pass it over here.' Law wanted to feel how heavy the purse was.

  'It wasn't me. You can't prove it.' Mark complained.

  'Wrong boy. The merchant will give witness, so will Thomas, while Judd and Law here will have their chase to tell of too.' Constable said.

  'But I didn't take the purse.' Mark again complained weakly. He knew he did not have a chance.

  'The merchant will say you did. It's been found, and that's all the court will need.' Constable was happy, the problem had been resolved. He would return the purse to the merchant in full expectation of receiving a reward which he would keep for himself. The boy would be held in a cell, in the rundown excuse for a gaol, that the city had. They would just have to await the arrival of the court and then there would be an execution. All in all, a good day's work.

  Chapter 7 - The Trial

  Law knew that the gaol was overcrowded with both the thief and the surgeon being held. The place was usually empty. He was aware that the conditions would be poor, with little consideration towards comfort and well-being. There would be straw on the floor, no bed or chairs, nor would the cell be designed for anything but a temporary stay. The food was a basic gruel, with prisoners dependent on friends to bring anything extra that was needed. It was much the same with items of comfort as well. Of course Mark had been there several weeks longer than the surgeon, but being used to a harsh life on the streets, he was able to cope with the poor quality rations, even though he had no friends who could bring him anything more. When the surgeon arrived, the elder man had immediately taken pity on Mark and was prepared to share from his own resources. Donald Alvin's reputation was such that a great many people in the city felt they owed him something, and paid the debt with food and other goods that would help him pass the time.

  It had been several weeks since the thief was caught and a few days since the surgeon was detained. Justice had not yet been done and the prisoners were awaiting the arrival of the sheriff so that the trials could be conducted. As the thief had not been caught outright with the purse, he could not be executed without a trial; while the surgeon claimed he was innocent of murder and no-one was present when the murder took place. Law felt guilty for his part in their detention, as well as a little bit about their conditions they were being held in. He had been the one who had caught the thief; he had been the one who put the surgeon in the way of harm. He understood that the thief was a homeless young boy who had survived by turning to crime. There was no one to look after the boy, who had clearly had to survive on his own wits for quite some time. Law knew that this would mean that the boy had to steal food to survive and if he were put in the same position he was certain that he would have done the same. That they had caught Mark with a comb, and it looked like the purse of money had been stolen by him as well, well, there was clearly a bit more to survival than just stealing food. Law could understand several reasons why someone would steal. What would the boy do on days when there was no market? What would the boy do if he became too ill to steal food? Clearly he needed to steal other things to make sure that he had enough to survive from week to week. Law knew that if he had been in the same position he would have stolen without much thought about the right and wrong of it. Likewise, if the opportunity to snatch a purse had arisen he would have taken it, anything to improve his chances of survival.

  Law's guilt over the surgeon was far worse than his guilt over the thief. He had spent the last few days, since Donald Alvin's capture, overwhelmed by his sense of responsibility for the surgeon's predicament. It was his fault that the surgeon was accused. He had been the one that had beaten Perry the Carniter, him and Judd. They had only meant to hock him, beat him up and extract some money, but it had all gone wrong with Perry falling on his own knife, mortally injuring himself. All of this could have been avoided if they had not attacked Perry, but they had burned for revenge for his insult directed at Dye Butcher. The fatal injury, accident or not, was not the primary guilt in Law's mind, rather the setting up of the surgeon was what burned his conscience. That had been completely wrong and something that Judd had done on his own initiative, but Law had failed to contradict him. The morning after the hocking, Judd had rounded up a small group from the tavern, claiming that they had seen the carniter being attacked on the road. No doubt Judd thought that this would get them off the hook, fully expecting to find the corpse of the carniter, apparently dead after a robbery. The group had set out in search of the carniter and his attackers. Judd had led them to the spot only to find Donald Alvin, the surgeon, tending to the carniter who had clearly survived the night.

  Law had not been among the group that found the carniter and surgeon, but Judd had later told him of his own panic, on the spot accusing the surgeon of torture and magic. The group had quickly fallen for this and the timely death of the carniter had further convinced them. The cauterised knife wound had been clear evidence of torture for those gathered and Judd managed to further convince them of the prolonged torture of Perry. Judd had put forward the idea that Alvin was primarily motivated by the suffering of his victim and not a simple theft.

  When the surgeon was searched cash, potions, and the cauterising irons were found. It was not hard for Judd to convince his fellows of the foul torture that had been perpetrated, despite Alvin's pleas that he was innocent of any harmful actions. Deep down everyone knew that Alvin was an outsider, a travelling barber surgeon, not one of them like Judd. The word of an outsider did not have the same value as one of their own. Furthermore, there had already been rumours about the surgeon's involvement in the death of the butcher, adding to the picture of guilt that the group was forming about the surgeon. Ultimately they had caught him at the scene of the torture, and murder, of the carniter. His guilt was obvious.

  The surgeon had not prevented their attempts to detain him despite his protestations of innocence. He had been roughly handled, punched, kicked, his nose broken and dragged back to the city. The captors were intent on taking an early helping of revenge and once Law found out about the capture, he had hurried there, worried that there would be a summary execution. Perry's corpse had also been bought back from the road, along with Alvin's possessions and equipment, and was currently laid on the back of cart, he feet sticking out of the back.

  The constable arrived quickly, taking control of the gathering in the marketplace. He calmed down the more excitable people present, while taking their prisoner into custody, as much for the surgeon's own protection as for the needs of the law.

  Events moved so quickly that Law was barely able to keep up. As Alvin was dragged off to the gaol by the constable, Law caught up with his best friend, Judd, who discretely and firmly, got the story straight with him. Law went along with it, swept along in the heat of the moment. He felt so guilty now.

  Law had not been looking forward to this day, yet he knew it was coming. The court passed the sentence the previous day and it was not merciful. The judgement had been quick passed, the evidence and the testimon
ies convincing those on the jury. The boy, Mark, had tried to defend himself, but his word counted for nothing and the evidence was clear. The thief had not been caught with the purse in his possession, but it had been found nearby, along the route of the chase. Besides he did have the stolen comb in his possession and the sheriff, who was only present at this trial as he had to represent the presence of the king in the later trial of the surgeon, was convinced that the value of that alone was enough to bring about a death sentence, a valuation backed up by the trader it had been stolen from.

  The boy had been consigned to the gaol for the night and the execution was to take place around midday. Law tormented himself with the conviction that his own testimony had played a major part in this judgement. It was he who chased down the thief, it was he who captured him. While he had not found the purse, he had found the comb. The boy would be executed and Law had played a significant part in this, having been a witness at the trial.