The Red Velvet Turnshoe (29 page)

Authors: Cassandra Clark

BOOK: The Red Velvet Turnshoe

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The battlements were wreathed in a sea mist curling like smoke over the grey stones and shrouding the huddled rooves of Scarborough from sight. The visitor, wearing scarlet velvet and a ring with the crossed keys of St Peter embossed on it, had been riding hard from York. Now he strode into the hall, flinging his cloak to a waiting servant, and demanding, ‘Where is he?’

At his voice a tall, languid knight emerged from a chamber off the main hall. ‘Say nothing, your grace.’ He made a perfunctory flourish. ‘We shall continue to hunt these peasants with their seditious writings. Entertain no doubts.’

‘You’ve made a poor showing of it so far,’ the visitor observed mildly.

‘Ever vigilant, your grace. The hounds of God never rest.’

Wine was brought. The two men settled down to discuss recent events in the county in greater detail. Outside came the incessant battering of the sea against the foundations of the castle rock.

Also by Cassandra Clark

Hangman Blind

Glossary

chaperon	fourteenth-century capuchon, a hood or cowl often of fantastic shape
char	covered passenger vehicle giving us the word char-a-banc
Cistercian	monastic order founded in 1098 in Citeaux, France (Roman town Cistercium). Established in England by twelfth-century and became successful international traders in English wool, especially in the Yorkshire abbeys of Fountains, Rievaulx, Jervaulx and Meaux
coif	close-fitting cap for men and women worn at all levels of society, usually ties under the chin
Conversi	lay brothers and sisters who worked the land and tended the animals
Corrodian	lay person living in a monastery in return for services
dagged	sleeves cut in patterns that often trail to the floor. Seen in many illuminated manuscripts
hauberk	shirt of interleaved steel rings
houppeland	long gown with sleeves either buttoned all the way down or just at the neck, has a high neck often with a pie-crust frill, worn by both men and women.
kennet	medieval breed of terrier
kirtle	loose gown or tunic
(k)naker	small drum worn on the belt
liripipe	long point on a hood that could hang down the back or be coiled up round the head like a turban
lymer	medieval stag hound bred to hunt in silence
mazer	hardwood drinking bowl, often ornately carved
palfrey	saddle horse, especially for women
rebec	stringed and bowed musical instrument
reliquary	container for holy relics
sacristan	church official with responsibility for movables such as sacred vessels and vestments
scrip	leather bag worn on the belt used for coins, herbal remedies and so forth
shawm	medieval woodwind instrument like an oboe
vair	squirrel fur, sometimes called miniver

Timeline

1338-1453	Hundred Years’ War between England and France.
1348-9	Black Death kills nearly half the population of Europe.
1377	Richard of Bordeaux (son of the Black Prince and the Fair Maid of Kent) is crowned, aged 10, as King Richard II of England
1378	Papal Schism. Two rival popes, one in Rome, one in Avignon, divide Europe.
1381	Social upheaval and the imposition of the third poll tax leads to the Peoples’ Revolt. It is brutally repressed.
1382	King Richard, now 15, marries Anne, 16, sister of the King of Bohemia. Wyclif’s ‘bible’ appears in English.
1383	The Oxford free-thinkers are outlawed. The pope calls for excommunication. Flanders, essential for England’s wool trade, falls under the control of the count of Mâle in alliance with the duke of Burgundy. The Flemish weavers are put to the sword.
1385	With his uncle, John of Gaunt, Richard leads an expedition into Scotland. In August his mother, Princes Joan of Kent, dies of a broken heart when Richard’s half-brother is accused of murder and Richard is forced to banish him.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Clark. All rights reserved.
For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.minotaurbooks.com

First published in Great Britain by John Murray (Publishers), an Hachette UK Company

eISBN 9781429984508

First eBook Edition : June 2011

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clark, Cassandra.

The red velvet turnshoe / Cassandra Clark.—1st U.S. ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-53736-4

1. Nuns—England—Fiction. 2. Relics—Fiction.

3. Great Britain—History—Richard 11, 1377 – 1399—Fiction.