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Lion Hudson - Mel Starr

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116 pages

English

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'Mel Starr's writing is superb. And the stories themselves are captivating. Highly recommended.' Davis Bunn, internationally bestselling authorTo bring justice, Master Hugh must foil the corrupt power of great menMany medieval scholars discontinued their university studies before completing their degree. Some lacked funds; others became bored with a scholar's life. Occasionally these young men formed lawless bands, robbing and raping and creating chaos. They were called goliards.In Deeds of Darkness Master Hugh learns that the Bampton coroner, an old friend, has been slain while traveling to Oxford. As he seeks the killer (or killers) he discovers a band of goliards in the area between Oxford and Bampton. But how to apprehend these youths? They have protectors far above Hugh's station. He must deal with the claims of justice on the one hand and the power of great men to protect their henchmen on the other.

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Publié par	Lion Hudson
Date de parution	18 août 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781782642466
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0450€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Deeds of Darkness

The chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon
The Unquiet Bones
A Corpse at St Andrew’s Chapel
A Trail of Ink
Unhallowed Ground
The Tainted Coin
Rest Not in Peace
The Abbot’s Agreement
Ashes to Ashes
Lucifer’s Harvest
Deeds of Darkness

Text copyright © 2017 Mel Starr This edition copyright © 2017 Lion Hudson
The right of Mel Starr to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
All the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Published by Lion Fiction an imprint of Lion Hudson IP Ltd Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road Oxford OX2 8DR, England www.lionhudson.com/fiction
ISBN 978 1 78264 245 9 e-ISBN 978 1 78264 246 6
First edition 2017
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

For Charis, Meleah, and Elijah

“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of Darkness, but expose them.”
Ephesians 5:11

Table of Contents Title page Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Glossary Map of Bampton to Oxford Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Afterword Prince Edward's Warrant Author photo

Acknowledgments
S everal years ago, when Dan Runyon, Professor of English at Spring Arbor University, learned that I had written an as yet unpublished medieval mystery, he invited me to speak to his fiction-writing class about the trials of a rookie writer seeking a publisher. He sent sample chapters of Master Hugh’s first chronicle, The Unquiet Bones , to his friend Tony Collins. Thanks, Dan.
Thanks to Tony Collins and all those at Lion Hudson who saw Master Hugh’s potential.
Dr. John Blair, of Queen’s College, Oxford, has written several papers about Bampton history. These have been invaluable in creating an accurate time and place for Master Hugh. Tony and Lis Page have also been a great source of information about Bampton. I owe them much. Sadly, Tony died of cancer in March 2015. He is greatly missed.
Ms. Malgorzata Deron, of Poznan, Poland, offered to update and maintain my website. She has done an excellent job, managing to find time in addition to her duties as Professor of Linguistics. To see her work, visit www.melstarr.net .

Glossary
Ague: term used in the medieval period for any illness marked by sweating, fever, and recurring chills.
Ambler: an easy-riding horse, because it moved both right legs together, then both left legs.
Bailiff: a lord’s chief manorial representative. He oversaw all operations, collected rents and fines, and enforced labor service. Not a popular fellow.
Balloc broth: a spiced broth, used most often in preparation of pike or eels.
Blancmange: literally, “white food.” A mixture of rice, almonds, lard, salt, and perhaps sugar and ginger, cooked to softness and ground to a smooth paste.
Braes: medieval underpants.
Bruit: a sauce of white wine, breadcrumbs, onions, and spices.
Burgher: a merchant of a town – a burgh.
Candlemas: February 2. Marked the purification of Mary. Women traditionally paraded to the village church carrying lighted candles. Tillage of fields resumed this day.
Capon: a castrated male chicken.
Chamberlain: the keeper of a lord’s chamber, wardrobe, and personal items.
Chauces: tight-fitting trousers, often particolored, having different colors for each leg.
Chrisom: a white cloth placed on an infant at baptism as a symbol of innocence.
Churching: four to six weeks after childbirth a mother processed to the church with other women, carrying a lighted candle. She met the priest at the church door, was sprinkled with holy water, then was led into the church for mass. Thus a ritual purification after childbirth.
Compline: the seventh and last of the monastic canonical hours, observed at sunset.
Copperas: iron sulfate.
Cordwainer: a dealer in leather and leather goods imported from Cordova, Spain.
Corn: a kernel of any grain. Maize – American corn – was unknown in Europe at the time.
Cotehardie: the primary medieval outer garment. Women’s were floor-length, men’s ranged from the thigh- to ankle- length.
Cotter: a poor villager, usually holding five acres or less. He had to labor for wealthier villagers to make ends meet.
Cresset: a bowl of oil with a floating wick used for lighting.
Daub: a clay and plaster mix, reinforced with straw and horsehair, used to plaster the exterior of a house.
Demesne: land directly exploited by a lord, and worked by his villeins, as opposed to land a lord might rent to tenants.
Dexter: the right hand or right direction.
Dibble stick: a stick used to penetrate soil in planting peas and beans.
Dredge: mixed grains planted together in a field – often barley and oats.
Easter Sepulcher: a niche in the wall of a church or chapel where the host and a cross were placed on Good Friday and removed on Easter Sunday morning. Often closed with a velvet curtain.
Egg leach: a thickened custard, enriched with almonds, spices, and flour.
Farthing: a small coin worth one-fourth of a penny.
Fast day: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Not the fasting of modern usage, when no food is consumed, but days upon which no meat, eggs, or animal products were consumed. Fish was on the menu for those who could afford it.
Fee (knight’s): a death duty, or inheritance tax. Magna Carta specified 100 shillings for a knight to possess a deceased father’s lands. Also referred to the number of men at arms a knight was to provide in time of war.
Gathering: eight leaves of parchment, made by folding a prepared hide three times.
Gentleman: a nobleman. The term had nothing to do with character or behavior.
God’s sib: a woman who attended another woman while she was in labor, from which comes the word “gossip.”
Goliard: a student who preferred wine, women, and song – and often crime – to study.
Groat: a coin worth four pence.
Groom: a lower-rank servant to a lord. Often a youth, occasionally assistant to a valet, and ranking above a page.
Haberdasher: a merchant who sold household and personal items such as pins, buckles, hats, and purses.
Hallmote: the manorial court. Royal courts judged tenants accused of murder or felony. Otherwise manor courts had jurisdiction over legal matters concerning villagers. Villeins accused of homicide might also be tried in a manor court.
Hamsoken: breaking and entering.
Hippocras: spiced wine. Sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg were often in the mix. Usually served at the end of a meal.
Hocktide: the Sunday after Easter. A time of paying rents and taxes, therefore getting out of hock.
Hosteller: also called the guest master. The monastic official in charge of providing for abbey guests.
King’s Eyre: a royal circuit court, generally presided over by a traveling judge.
Kirtle: the basic medieval undershirt.
Kyrtyn: a spiced cream sauce of flour, ginger, cinnamon, and saffron beaten into cream and boiled, then poured over fish or chicken.
Leach Lombard: a dish of ground pork, eggs, raisins, currants, and dates, with spices added. The mixture was boiled in a sack until set, then sliced for serving.
Liripipe: a fashionably long tail attached to a man’s cap and worn wrapped about the head.
Lych gate: a roofed gate to a churchyard under which the deceased rested during the initial part of a burial service.
Manchets: bread made from wheat flour, salt, sugar, and yeast and generally baked into balls.
Marshalsea: the stables and associated accoutrements.
Martinmas: November 11. The traditional date to slaughter animals for winter food.
Maslin: bread made from a mixture of grains, commonly wheat and rye or barley and rye.
Michaelmas Term: the academic term from September to Christmas.
Midsummer’s day: June 24.
Noble: the first English gold coin produced in quantity, in 1344. Its value was six shillings and eight pence, or eighty pence – one-third of a pound.
Novice: a probationary member of a monastic community. The novice’s period of instruction and testing usually lasted for one year.
Page: a young male servant, often a youth learning the arts of chivalry before becoming a squire.
Palfrey: a riding horse with a comfortable gait.
Particolored: of differing colors – often used to describe chauces when each leg is of a different color.
Pork in egurdouce: pork served with a syrup made of ground almonds, currants, dates, wine vinegar, sugar or honey, and spices.
Pottage of whelks: whelks boiled and served in a stock of almond milk, breadcrumbs, and spices.
Reeve: the most important manorial official, although he did not outrank the bailiff. Elected by tenants from among themselves, often the best husbandman. He was responsible for fields, buildings, and enforcing labor service.
Remove: a dinner course.
Rogation Sunday: five weeks after Easter. A time of asking God to bless the new growing season, accompanied by a parade around the village. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after Rogation Sunday were called “gang days.”
Runcie: a common horse of a lower grade than a palfrey, often used as a cart horse.
Sacrist: the m