Prologue- June 1347
Brother Godwin
Brother Godwin, Father Abbot of the Abbey of St. Eadnoth, watched the nobleman go and then looked down at the child sucking his thumb. The Abbot had agreed, against his better judgment, to take in a child just out of swaddling clothes. Other monasteries had schools for children of wealthy families wanting an education for their child and only fifty years earlier poor families had still offered up unwanted children to the cowl. But as the Abbot had explained to the noble that brought the boy, that was no longer approved by the church. The boy, who had been christened Thomas, would be raised in the monastery, safe from the outside world. Nevertheless, the Abbot knew that the world would have plans for this boy that would not include holy orders. However, that was long down the road from now.
Chapter 1- March 1359
"Humanum fuit errare..."
-Saint Augustine of Hippo
A dozen years had passed and hardly anything at the monastery changed over that time. The sun rose as it did each day over the orderly gardens, streamed in the workshops and crept into the scriptorium. The bells rang for Prime the same everyday and the brothers woke up, ready to file into the chapel and sing their devotions. Nothing suggested a child lived within these Abbey walls. Yet young Thomas was still there, asleep for the moment, but not for long.
Brother Polycarp, the Sub-Prior, was awake and his barking tone was the first noise Thomas heard. "GET UP! The bells of Prime are struck!"
Thomas woke up with a start. As someone, hit the end of his cot with a stick making a loud smack. He heard Brother Polycarp walking down the row of cots waking other late sleepers among the novices.
"Get a move on, we have the Archbishop here today, and the Abbot has entrusted me to make everything perfect for his visit!"
Thomas made a small groan. And the Sub-Prior shot him a threatening look. Brother Polycarp had been planning this visit for months. It was his moment to impress. Thomas got off his cot and pulled on his novice's tunic and mantle. He found his sandals under his cot and tied the cincture around his waist as he made his way toward the chapel for Prime.
Everyone of the monks seemed on edge today. The Abbot glared at Thomas as he and the other novices found their place in the chapel. Thomas attempted to smooth his mussed chestnut hair and straighten his black robes. He knew that he needed to help the Abbey look good to prevent being on the bad side of the Abbot and Brother Polycarp, neither of whom seem to approve of children as a general concept. That was not too surprising as the Order generally opposed child oblation. One of the first things he remembered asking a Brother was why there were no other children at the Abbey. "Our Order believes that postulants should be of an age to make an informed decision before entering the monastic way of life." Brother Vicent, who was now the Prior, had said.
"Then Brother, why am I here?"
"For God deemed it so, and it is not for us to question!" Do not question, obey, do not ask why, accept. This was the way to peace and salvation. Obey the Abbot and through that you were obeying God.
But it did not stop Thomas from wondering. Why was he here? Who were his parents? Brother Anthony had been kind to him before he died and he had told Thomas his parents could not care for him and had left him at the chapel as a baby. But Brother Polycarp had said that he was the natural son of a noble and his family paid a pretty sum to keep him out of sight. Thomas didn't know which to believe and both seemed equally likely.
Thomas' mind wandered as he recited the Athanasian Creed, "Quicumque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat catholicam fidem..."He wondered 'why is there lent? If God wants us to suffer and starve ourselves, why did he die on the cross to save us? What was the point of not eating? What would there be to eat at collation?' He knew the answer to that, pottage of bread crumbs, water and leeks, possibly turnips along with fresh herbs, salt, bread and water. His stomach rumbled loudly as they chanted "...quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit, salvus esse non poterit." and several Brothers turned to look at him and the Sub-Prior gave him a disapproving glare.
When Prime was complete Brother Polycarp came up behind Thomas "Remember" he whispered in his ear "do not embarrass me today!"
Thomas nodded. He would try, he never meant to embarrass any of the Brothers, but things just seem to not go his way, especially when they needed to. Once when Thomas had been much younger he had made a game of small round pebbles, rolling them at each other and knocking them out of tiles on the cloister. He had been called away and had not collected them. It just happened that a neighboring Lord, Baron John Cross of Widbury, was visiting that day and he and Abbot were engaged in conversation not seeing the pebbles till they both had slipped and fell. The Prior had given him quite the switching for that.
Another time he had tripped and lost control of a wheelbarrow of horse manure which ended up knocking over the unsuspecting Bishop and spilling the contents all over him and the Abbot. After a particularly hard switching, it was decided that Thomas would be sent out of sight whenever someone important visited the Abbey.
For a while he was sent to Brother Anthony in the dairy. Thomas enjoyed going to the dairy when Brother Anthony was in charge. He would tell Thomas stories about his time before he joined the brotherhood and gave Thomas cream to eat. However, Brother Anthony had died three years ago and now Thomas was sent to muck out stalls, clean the ash house out or worse, clean out the pigeon dropping from the dovecote.
'Please, God, not the dovecote Thomas prayed I will do an extra decade of the rosary everyday'. But at the same time, he knew that was not how prayer works, you could not bargain with God.
"Unfortunately the Archbishop will be inspecting all parts of the Abbey, so there's nowhere for us to put you that you would not have the potential to cause trouble." He looked furiously at Thomas, like it was somehow his fault the Archbishop was inspecting the Abbey. 'Did that mean no dovecote!' Thomas wondered, 'I will do that extra decade before bed, I promise'. Then a brilliant idea hit him.
"I could go fishing at the mill pond outside the Abbey walls. That would keep me out of the way."
"By yourself! Don't be silly, you would fall in and then drag mud all through the cloister!" Brother Polycarp snarled. Thomas was about to argue back, but thinking back on his track record, the Sub-Prior might have a point. "You will just have to go about your normal work and stay on your best behavior."
Thomas headed off to the Library for study. Brother Basil, the Master of the Novices, was settling everyone with the work they had been assigned to read. Thomas had been assigned the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo in the original Latin. He sat at a table with the other novices, all of whom were over 16 years of age and began to read from the book. The room was completely silent except for the occasional turning of pages. Thomas had studied Latin since he was 5 years old, nevertheless St. Augustine was not holding his attention. He diligently looked down at the page and read the same line again for the third time: Orbis terrarum liber est, et illi qui non commeant modo unam paginam legunt. -The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. 'Like me trying to read this one page', he thought as his stomach rumbled again.
He must have dozed off because he was standing in the clearing of a forest. The sun shone brightly down into the clearing but the forest itself was dark. He could not make out anything beyond the treeline, but he could tell something was moving. He took a few steps closer and as he did a large grey wolf came out of the forest. It stood there just looking at him. The wolf head came up to his chest, his fur was white on his underside and grew steadily darker coming up his back. His perked ears made the wolf look unworried and curious. And in his mouth the wolf held an arrow between his teeth. Suddenly, the wolf jumped at him. Thomas ducked his head and he could feel a stinging as claws of the wolf scraped his skin.
He was back in the Library, his head on top of St. Augustine's works and Brother Basil was beating him with a switch. "WAKE. UP. YOU. SLOTH-FUL…" each syllable punctuated with a smack of the switch.
"I'm awake," Thomas tried to say between smacks. But it was not his pleas that stopped Brother Basil, instead it was the bells of Terce.
"Get up!" Brother Basil snapped. The other novices were making their escape out of the library ahead of Thomas and Brother Basil. "You are lucky that the Archbishop was not here yet!" Brother Basil hissed in his ear and he pulled him outside.
A quarter hour later the Brothers were still gathered in the Chapel as the mid morning Terce prayers ended. Father Abbot came to the front of the Chapel and looked over the assembled monks. "It is such a great pleasure to welcome to our sanctuary, Your Grace, Archbishop, God does truly bless us with your presence today. We hope we can serve you as we work to serve Christ each day."
"Thank you Father Abbot" The Archbishop said, smoothing the velvet fabric of his purple robes. "I look forward to seeing how your work has served God and the Church."
"Certainly, I thought we would start in the Scriptorium" The abbot said, gesturing toward a side door of the chapel. The Archbishop nodded and followed the Abbot out, with Brother Ploycarp trailing in their wake.
'Good' thought Thomas. He was relieved to know that the Abbot, Archbishop and Brother Ploycarp would be nowhere near the gardens where Thomas was tasked to work till Sext. He followed Brother Ailus, the apothecary and Brother Felix the garden master out to the herb garden. Brother Ailus and Brother Felix were two of the better Brothers to work for. Brother Felix, was almost instantly distracted by a caterpillar. "Not for you, my tiny enemy" Brother Felix said, pulling the tiny creature off one for his precious plants. His apprentice had to remind Brother Felix that he needed to give instructions to the waiting novices. "Oh, yes, let's see here, Brother George and Issac you will be bringing new manure over from the compost behind the stalls. Brother Thomas, you will first weed the herbs here so that the other brothers can spread the manure. When you are done with that, Brother Ailus needs you. Now, Brother Julius…"
Today was turning out to be alright, thought Thomas, I didn't even get stuck with manure! If I can just stay out of trouble for a few more hours, I will be in the clear. He tied up the sleeves of his habit and knelt down to weed the bed. He carefully pinched the nettle stems making sure to only run his hands up the stem and pulled out, root and all, the broad-leaved docks. As he was shaking off the dirt from one of the Dandelions' roots Brother Ailus came by and stopped abruptly in his tracks. "Oh, you're not getting rid of that!"
"Ah, um" Thomas was sure he was about to be in trouble again "Brother Felix said it was a weed and I…"
"Well of course it's a weed!" Brother Ailus exclaimed. Thomas was now thoroughly confused. "It's a very useful weed. Oh and that too!" He picked up the pile of broad-leaved dock. "This has stringent properties and when applied externally, the leaves can be used to treat blisters, burns and scalds. And nettle too! I will get a basket for these, wait here" and he bustled off to his workshop. Thomas was not sure if he was telling the weeds or him to wait, but he was just finishing clearing the bed of dandelions when Brother Ailus can back and began to pack the weeds while muttering things like "... perfect for a digestive tonic…" and "... make this in an infusion…"
"Brother Ailus?" Thomas asked carefully.
"What? Yes?" looking up from his beloved weeds.
"What do you need me to work on now that I have finished the weeding?" Thomas asked, trying not to grin at the joy Brother Ailus had while carefully petting the nettle stems.
"Oh, yes, yes, come…" He brought Thomas over near another novice, Brother Mark. "Oh thank you brother" he said to Mark, "one more basket of sage leaves and then take both to the kitchen please." Brother Mark nodded and continued with his careful harvesting. "Now Brother Thomas, I would like you to harvest a basket of foxglove leaves. Be very careful the leaves are poisonous, do not touch your face and make sure to wash your hands after touching it. But, when used properly, it can save a life."
"Yes, Brother"
"Oh, don't throw that in the compost!" Brother Ailus yelled toward a startled Brother George who had just picked up a pile of weeds. Brother Felix rolled his eyes as Brother Ailus continued, "I use that for treating worms and colic!" Thomas chuckled as Brother Ailus collected another pile of weeds for the herbarium.
Thomas picked the foxgloves leaves being very careful not to touch his face with his hands. He was sitting up to wipe sweat off his brow with the back of his arm when he saw a lay servant in livery carrying a wooden chest. The chest was ornately carved and painted. Thomas had just finished filling his basket and he got up, carrying it toward the edge of the garden to wash his hand and to better look at the chest. He sat the basket down on the path and washed his hand quickly while straining to see the chest. While drying his hands on his robe, he moved closer to the cloister for a better view. The chest was beautifully carved with the figure of a headless man in one panel and another showed a wolf. Other smaller panels were carved in a border around the edge of the chest with bows and arrows. Thomas thought back to his dream in the Library. There had been a wolf and an arrow in that too. But before he could put much thought into it Brother Polycarp came out from the dorter range into the cloister and began to talk to the lay servant. Thomas turned around and walked back to the garden before Brother Polycarp yelled at him for not working. He bent down to pick up his basket of foxglove leaves and it was not there.
I just sat it down here, Thomas thought to himself as he looked around squinting in the noon sun, the garden bed. He saw Brother Mark walking back toward him with two empty baskets. "Brother Mark, did you see a basket of green leaves here?" He asked.
"Yes, Brother, I just collected it and took it with the rest of the sage to the Kitchen, why?" Thomas's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. He had to get that foxglove back before they made coalition. He began to run to the Kitchens and he made his way around the cloister the bells rang for Sext. God will forgive me for missing prayer, but not if someone eats the foxglove he thought, continuing his path to the Kitchens and as he rounded the second corner he ran straight into Brother Basil.
"Where are you going!" Brother Basil demanded.
"I have to get to the Kitchens!" Thomas exclaimed, trying to push past Brother Basil. Brother Basil was having none of it.
"Not today!" he snapped and grabbed Thomas' ear and twisted hard.
"OOOW! No you don't understand, there is fox…"
But Brother Basil was pulling on his ear leading him back down the cloister toward the chapel. "NO! You will be silent! You will go to Sext and be silent and then you will go to collation and eat in silence!"
"But…" Thomas tried again
"NO, Not today Brother Thomas! I don't want to hear any excuses!" and he shoved Thomas into the Chapel.
There was no way out of the chapel without being seen by Brother Basil, the Abbot or the Archbishop. From where they sat each had a view of at least two of the three doors into the chapel. Thomas took a deep breath. No one was going to eat till Sext was over so he had a few minutes to think. Infact, he thought no one was even in the Kitchens right now, everyone in the Abbey was here in the chapel. So after Sext he would have a few minutes while the monks on Kitchen duty returned to make it to the kitchen himself and find the sage before it went out with the bread and salt.
Thomas took a deep breath, he could fix this. " Confer salutem corporum,
veramque pacem cordium" he repeated. Grant health of body; And-true peace of heart. 'Yes, Lord, please grant health to everyone here, please don't let them eat the foxglove' he prayed 'that would truly give my heart peace.'
As the prayers ended Thomas slipped through the Brothers out the doors knocking over aging Brother Dingad in the process. "Sorry Brother" he called over his shoulder as Brother Dingad grumbled about the impertinence of novices these days. He rounded the corner of the cloister and burst through the Kitchen doors, his sandals sliding on the tiled floor almost losing his balance and running square into Brother Polycarp. He had obviously left Sext early to make sure everything in the kitchen was perfect for the Archbishop.
"Thomas! What in the name of Saint Michael are you doing! Get back to the dining hall this instant!" the Sub-Prior thundered as he went to push Thomas back out the door. But Thomas ducked and ran into the Kitchen frantically looking for the sage and foxglove. He kept running into brothers and he ducked their swats but there were no herbs to be found.
"Where is the sage?!" he asked frantically.
Most of the Brothers were still sputtering and telling him to get out but Brother Bartholomew helpfully said "Everything is on the tables, now go to the dining hall Brother!" And that was what he did. He sprinted out of the kitching into the dining hall followed by Brother Polycarp. The monks were all just being seated at the trestle tables and the Abbot and Archbishop were standing at the High Table saying grace over the meal. Thomas sprinted up the hall slipping out of Brother Polycarps grasp. Brothers gapsted, the Archbishop stopped mid prayer.
"Its poison" he yelled as He ran so fast that his sandals slipped on the tiles and skidded right into the High table knocking it over, sending pottage, water, herb plate and bread flying in the faces of the Abbot and Archbishop. The room was suddenly dead silent as everyone looked in horror at the Archbishop. The Archbishop wiped the pottage off his face and looked down over his velvet robes.
The Abbot began to sputter apologies and Brother Polycarp grabbed Thomas by the ear and began to drag him out of the dining hall. Thomas kept yelling "Don't eat the herbs, it's poisoned!" as Brother Polycarp pushed him out the door.
Half an hour later a Brother Polycarp brought Thomas into the chapter house where a much cleaner Abbot and Archbishop were waiting. The moment he entered the door Father Abbot began to berate Thomas "WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY…" but suddenly he was cut off.
The Archbishop simply raised his hand to silence the Abbot. "I want to know what the novice has to say about this poison." the Sub-Prior and the Abbot both look like they were about to say something, but a look from the Archbishop made them close their mouths. "Go on son" he urged Thomas.
"I was working in the gardens after Terce" began Thomas, "and I was tasked with picking foxglove leaves for Brother Ailus."
The Archbishop put up his hand "I take it that Brother Ailus is the Abbey's apothecary?"
"Yes your grace" the monks and Thomas all said at once. The Archbishop nodded and gestured to Thomas to continue.
"He had instructed me that they were poisonous and I was to wash my hands after picking them. I placed the basket down and went to wash my hands. When I returned the basket was gone. I asked Brother Mark if he had seen the basket and he told me he had taken them to the Kitchens along with the sage, presumably mistaking it for more sage. I tried to get to the Kitchens before Sext, but Brother Basil caught me and made me go to Sext. By the time I got to the Kitchens the herbs for collation had been set on the table…"
"And the rest we know." The Archbishop finished. "Can we have Brother Apothecary brought here please Brother Sub-Prior?"
"Yes your Grace" Brother Polycarp said while glaring at Thomas. He was back in less than a minute with Brother Ailus.
"Good Brother Ailus, did you have this young novice pick foxglove leaves for you?" The Archbishop asked.
"Oh, yes, your grace, you know that an oil of foxglove…"
But the Archbishop wishing to cut off Brother Ailus before he could give a full description of the uses of foxglove said "This young novice claimed that the basket was mistakenly collected by another brother thinking it was sage and brought into the kitchen. Would you be able to identify the foxglove leaves mixed with the sage?"
"Oh, yes, your grace, but I know that did not happen." Brother Ailus said confidently. Thomas' month dropped open and he looked at the Brother with surprise.
"How are you so sure, Brother?" the Abbot asked.
"I know that none of the foxglove made it to the kitchen because I collected the basket of foxglove myself while young Thomas was washing his hands and took it to the herbarium. It is safe there at this very moment."
Thomas covered his face with his hands. He had covered the Archbishop and Abbot in pottage for nothing.
"It is an honest accident," Brother Ailus said, trying to comfort Thomas.
"It always is." The Abbot snorted. "Brother, take Thomas to the novice's dormitory and have him wait there for me." Brother Polycarp grabbed Thomas by the elbow and led him out of the chapter house.