Easter Sepulchre , livre ebook

Lion Hudson - Mel Starr

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131 pages

English

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'Sir Hugh is in top form tracking down the wily killer of local clerics while eating his way through a feast of mediaeval dishes. A delightful mystery with an authentic historical touch.' Fiona Veitch Smith, author and scriptwriter'Time-travel from the safety of your armchair - with a murderous twist. Mel Starr's eagerly awaited new Hugh de Singleton medieval mystery doesn't disappoint his fans. Join everyone's favourite physician-cum-bailiff as he endeavours to solve more dire fourteenth-century crimes. ' Toni Mount, author of the Sebastian Foxley murder mystery seriesKeeping watch over the Easter Sepulchre, where the Host and crucifix are stored between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is considered a privilege. So, it is shocking when it is discovered that Odo, the priests clerk, has abandoned his post in the middle of the night.But as the hours pass and Odo is not found, panic rises. At first light Bampton's bailiff, Hugh de Singleton, is roused from his bed.It is Hugh that ingeniously finds the clue that leads all to fear for the life of the missing man The question is, will Hugh be called to investigate another murder, or will he find the man hale and hearty? But if the latter, where has the blood come from?

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Publié par	Lion Hudson
Date de parution	18 septembre 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781782643074
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

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
Prince Edward s Warrant
Without a Trace
The Easter Sepulchre

Text copyright 2020 Mel Starr
This edition copyright 2020 Lion Hudson IP Limited
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 Hudson Limited
Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Business Park
Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England
www.lionhudson.com
ISBN 978 1 78264 306 7
e-ISBN 978 1 78264 307 4
First edition 2020
Cover images Trevillion/Isabelle Lafrance
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
For Ana
Our Angel Unaware
Acknowledgments
Several years ago when Dr 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 chapters of Hugh de Singleton s first chronicle, The Unquiet Bones , to his friend Tony Collins at Lion Hudson. Thanks, Dan.
Tony has since retired, but many thanks to him and all those at Lion Hudson who saw Hugh de Singleton s potential.
Dr John Blair, or Queen s College, Oxford, has written several papers about Bampton history. These have been valuable in creating an accurate time and place for Hugh.
In the summer of 1990, Susan and I found a delightful B B in a medieval village north of Lichfield named Mavesyn Ridware. Proprietors Tony and Lis Page became friends, and when they moved to Bampton some years later they invited us to visit them there. Tony and Lis introduced me to Bampton and became a great source of information about the village. Tony died in March 2015 only a few months after being diagnosed with cancer. He is greatly missed.
Glossary
Anchorite: one who lived in seclusion, generally to practice religion alone.
Angelus Bell: rung three times each day - dawn, noon, and dusk - announcing time for the Angelus devotional.
Apple moise: a fruit pottage made with apples, breadcrumbs, honey, almond milk, and spices.
Arbolettys: a cheese and herb custard, made with eggs, milk, butter, parsley, sage, and ginger.
Archdeacon: a priest whose duties involve assisting a bishop in ceremonial functions and administration.
Bailiff: a lord s chief manorial representative. He oversaw all operations, collected rents and fines, and enforced labor service. Not a popular fellow.
Beadle: a manor officer in charge of fences, hedges, enclosures, and curfew. Also called a hayward .
Boon work: the extra hours of labor service villeins owed the lord at harvest and other specific times of the year, beyond normal service, which was called week-work.
Burgher: a town merchant or tradesman.
Candlemas: 2 February. The day marked the purification of Mary. Women traditionally paraded to church carrying lighted candles. Tillage of fields resumed this day.
Capon: a castrated male chicken. They could grow quite fat.
Chauces: tight-fitting trousers, sometimes of different colors for each leg.
Clerk: a scholar assigned to assist a clergyman.
Coppice: the practice of cutting trees so that a thicket of small saplings would grow from the stump. These shoots were used for everything from arrows to rafters, depending on size.
Corn: a kernal of any grain, not the corn (maize) of American usage, which was unknown in Europe at the time.
Coroner: a manor official whose duty was to inquire into any death thought unnatural.
Cotehardie: the primary medieval outer garment. Women s were floor-length, men s ranged from thigh to ankle-length.
Cotter: a poor villager, usually holding five acres or less. He often had to work for wealthier villagers to make ends meet.
Cresset: a bowl filled with oil and a floating wick used for lighting.
Crown: a coin worth five shillings or sixty pence.
Demesne: land directly exploited by a lord and worked by his villeins, as opposed to land a lord might rent to tenants.
Deodand: any object which caused a death. The item was sold and the price awarded to the king.
Dexter: a war horse, larger than pack horses and palfreys. Also the right-hand direction.
Dibble stick: a simple stick used to make holes for the planting of peas and beans.
Dighted crab: crab meat soaked in wine vinegar, made into a paste with sugar and spices, then replaced in the shell and boiled.
Donatist: one who held that sanctity in a priest is necessary for the effective administration of the sacraments.
Easter Sepulchre: a niche in the wall of a church or chapel where the host and a crucifix were placed on Good Friday and removed Easter Sunday morning. Often closed with a velvet curtain.
Eels in bruit: eels cooked in a sauce made of white wine, onions, parsley, sage, breadcrumbs, pepper, and cinnamon.
Farthing: one-fourth of a penny. The smallest silver coin.
Fast day: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Not the fasting of modern usage, but days when no meat, eggs, or animal products are consumed. Fish was consumed by those who could afford it.
Fewterer: the keeper of a lord s hounds.
Fraunt hemelle: an egg, pork and breadcrumb pudding
Garderobe: the toilet.
Gentleman: a nobleman. The term had nothing to do with character or behavior.
Gittern: a small, round-backed type of lute.
Groom: a household servant to a lord, ranking above a page and below a valet.
Hall: the chief room in a castle or manor house.
Heriot: an inheritance tax paid by an heir to a lord, usually the deceased s best animal.
Hypocras: spiced wine. Sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg were often in the mix. Usually served at the end of a meal.
King s Eyre: a royal circuit court presided over by a traveling judge.
Lady: a title of rank for a female. As with gentleman, it had nothing to do with character or behavior.
Lammastide: August 1, when thanks was given for a successful wheat harvest. From Loaf mass .
Leach lombard: a dish of ground pork, eggs, raisins, currants, and dates with spices. The mixture was boiled in a sack until set, then sliced for serving.
Lombard stew: a pottage made with pork, onions, almonds, red wine, and spices.
Lychgate: a roofed gate in a churchyard under which the body of the deceased was rested during the initial part of a burial service.
Marshalsea: the stables and associated accoutrements.
Maslin: bread made with a mixture of grains, commonly wheat and rye or barley and rye.
Matins: the first of the day s eight canonical hours (services). Also called lauds .
Michaelmas: September 29. this feast signaled the end of harvest. Last rents and tithes for the year were due.
Mortrews: boiled pork ground to a paste and mixed with eggs, bread crumbs, and spices, then simmered briefly.
Mortuary: a fee paid to the village priest by the heirs of a deceased parishioner.
New year: take your pick! Most fourteenth century English celebrated 25 March as the beginning of a new year, but some of the wealthy gave New Year s gifts on 1 January.
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.
Passing bell: the ringing of the parish church bell to indicate the death of a villager.
Pax board: a wooden board, frequently painted with sacred scenes, which was passed through the church during a service for all to kiss.
Pears in compost: pears cooked in red wine with dates, sugar, and cinnamon.
Penny: the most common medieval English coin. Twelve pennies equaled a shilling, although there was no coin worth a shilling.
Pomm dorryse: meatballs made of ground pork, eggs, currants, flour, and spices.
Pork in egurdouce: pork served with a syrup of ground almonds, currants, dates, wine vinegar, sugar or honey, and spices.
Porre of peas: a thick pea soup made with onions, spices, and sugar.
Pottage: anything cooked in one pot, from soups and stews to a simple oat porridge.
Pottage wastere: a stew made with whelks, rice flour, ground almonds, and spices.
Pyx: a container for the host - the communion wafers.
Rebec: a fiddle with three strings played with a bow.
Reconquista: the liberation of the Iberian peninsula from Muslim conquerors.
Remove: a dinner course.
Reeve: an important manor official, although he did not outrank the bailiff. Elected by tenants from among themselves, often the best husbandman. He had responsibility for fields, buildings, and enforcing labor service.
Rice moyle: a rice pudding made with almond milk, sugar, and saffron.
Rood screen: an often elaborately carved screen separating the chancel and the nave.
Sackbut: an extended trumpet, like a trombone without a slide.
Scion: a new shoot sprouting from the base of a tree.
Shilling: the value of twelve pence, although there was no one shilling coin. Twenty shillings, or 240 pence, made one pound, although there was no one pound coin, either.
Sinister: the left-hand direction.
Solar: a small room in a castle, more easily heated than the hall, where lords preferred to spend time, especially in winter. Usually on an upper floor.
Sole in cyve: a popular fast day dish amongst the wealthy. Sole was served in a yellow onion sauce made with white wine, breadcrumbs, onions and spices.
Sops in fennel: bread toasted, cubed