Eight days later John Plantagenet was dead.
Epilogue Two
Paris—January 1986
Judy was wearing a 1920s dress sewn with thousands of reflecting beads, her red hair brushed into a glossy cap over her forehead as she mingled with the guests. The paintings looked good. She was pleased with the exhibition, even more pleased with the catalogue, which under George Chippen’s tender nursing had already gone into two reprints before preview day. There had been a huge demand for Tim Heacham’s final piece of work.
Behind her Pete Leveson was supervising the champagne. She smiled at him over her shoulder. They had been married three days before.
Catching her eye, he put down the bottle he was holding and reached out for her hand. “Happy?”
She nodded.
“There’s a huge crowd. I can’t believe we asked this many.”
“I don’t care how many come. Just as long as everyone enjoys themselves.”
Behind them, in the doorway, Bet Gunning flourished her invitation and took a glass of champagne from the nearest tray. Threading her way toward them, she smiled at Pete. “So are you going to write this exhibition up for me as well?”
“Try to stop me.” Pete stepped forward and gave her a kiss. “Aren’t Nick and Jo with you?”
Bet took a sip of champagne. “They changed their plans,” she said. “When they got back from the States on Wednesday they decided to go straight on to Hay-on-Wye” She glanced at Pete with a sudden glimmer of malicious humor. “Perhaps I owe you this one, Peter. I think they’ve gone to get married.”
“I see.” Pete chuckled. “And the story comes full circle.”
“As good stories always must.” Bet smiled. “I for one will drink to them.”
“And to the baby.” Judy lifted her glass innocently.
“What baby?” Bet swung around on her. “Jo is supposed to be writing a book!”
“I’m sure the two are not mutually exclusive,” Judy purred. “It’s due at the beginning of May. Nick called us from New York to tell us.”
“And being the sweet, charitable girl she is,” Pete said softly, “Judy couldn’t help but start wondering.”
“Wondering?” Bet echoed. She looked at Judy suspiciously.
Judy smiled. “The way I see it, there are two candidates for paternity. Nick or King John.”
Bet took a sip from her glass. “For that matter, dear old Tim and the handsome Earl of Clare could also put in a claim, I suspect,” she said softly.
Judy raised an eyebrow. “So—” She whistled through her teeth.
“And you’ve both forgotten William de Braose himself,” Pete put in.
They all looked at each other in silence for a moment. Then Pete raised his glass. “Well, here’s to Jo, God bless her,” he said. “To her safe confinement and to the total discretion of the press!”
Historical Note
King John and Matilda de Braose were real, but their personal relationship, if any, is a matter purely of surmise. That she goaded him about the murder of his nephew and, on more than one occasion, provoked him to outbursts of fury, is recorded. Matilda’s affair with Richard de Clare is purely imaginary, as is my speculation as to the possible illegitimacy of any of her children.
The circumstances surrounding the death of young William and Matilda are mysterious, but the chronicles are more or less unanimous in saying that John deliberately had them starved to death, either at Corfe or at Windsor Castle.
The king’s actions have never been satisfactorily explained, even though his patience must have been considerably strained by William’s behavior. The viciousness of his treatment of Matilda and Will caused such an outcry at the time, when cruelty and revenge were commonplace, that the king himself felt it necessary later to issue a statement explaining the course of events leading up to the outlawry of William senior. The death of the two hostages he could not or would not explain, but his statement was signed by various friends of Matilda and relatives, including Adam de Porter, Earl Ferrers, and the Earl of Clare himself.
There were two generally accepted reasons put forward to explain John’s behavior: one, that Matilda had unforgivably taunted the king about the murder of Arthur of Brittany, and the other that John had decided anyway to make an example of a rich and powerful baron and selected the brash upstart William for the role. It is possible that when he had eventually to carry out the sentence of death against the hostages he could not bring himself openly to order execution.
For whatever reason, the downfall of the de Braose family, if it was intended to intimidate other powerful nobles, succeeded in achieving the opposite effect. It scandalized the country and the signatories of John’s statement were among those who, four years later, signed Magna Carta, with its famous clause 39, which stated:
No man shall be taken, imprisoned, outlawed,
banished or in any way destroyed, nor will we
proceed against or prosecute him, except by
the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land
William de Braose died in exile in France on 9 August 1211. His funeral service was conducted by Stephen Langton and he was buried in the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris.
***
Giles, Bishop of Hereford, returned from exile in France in 1213, ostensibly ready to make his peace with the king, but when John showed no signs of returning to him the confiscated de Braose lands, Giles sent his brother Reginald to the Marches, and eventually the castles of Abergavenny, White Castle, Skenfrith, Brecknock, Hay, Radnor, Builth, and Blaen Llynfi were recaptured by the de Braose family with the help of the Welsh. Reginald’s wife, Gratia de Burgh, had two children, William and Matilda, and died young. He then married Gwladys, a daughter of Llewelyn, allying himself to the Welsh, who supported the de Braoses in their efforts to regain their lands. Painscastle returned to the Welsh and was held by Gwallter, the son of Einion Clud.
Giles died in 1215 and the following year the new king, Henry III, at last recognized Reginald as inheritor of the de Braose estates.
Margaret and Mattie were released unharmed. Mattie returned to her father, Richard de Clare, who until his death held the wardship of her eldest son, John, although her sons were technically kept hostages until January 1218. John later married Margaret, another daughter of Llewelyn, and challenged his uncle Reginald’s right to the family estates.
Richard de Clare died in the autumn of 1217.
Matilda’s eldest daughter, the young Matilda, died on 29 December 1211 at Llanbadarn Fawr and was buried, as she wished, next to her husband at Strata Florida.
Of Isobel Mortimer little is known. Her husband, Roger, died in June 1214 and was succeeded by his son, Hugh.
Margaret de Lacy was still living in 1255. She had three children, Egidia, Katherine, and Gilbert.
Three carucates of land in the Royal Forest of Aconbury were cleared at Margaret de Lacy’s order, and there was founded, sometime before 1218, a rich Augustinian convent and chantry chapel to commemorate, in perpetuity, the souls of Margaret’s parents and her brother Will.
All that remains today of the priory on John’s gift of land is a small, redundant, haunted church, locked and used as a store.
Principal Dates
(Dates in italics are approximate)
1154 Accession of King Henry II
1160 Birth of Matilda de St. Valerie
1174 Marriage of Matilda
1175 Massacre of Abergavenny
1176 Birth of William de Braose the Younger (Will)
1176 Betrothal of Prince John to Isabella of Gloucester
1177 Birth of Giles
1178 Birth of Matilda the Younger (Tilda)
1179 Birth of Reginald
1182 Fall of Abergavenny
1182 Birth of Margaret
1184 Birth of Isobel
1188 Summons to the Third Crusade
1188 Betrothal of Mattie to Gruffydd ap Rhys
1189 Marriage of Mattie to Gruffydd
r />
1189 Death of Henry II. Accession of Richard I
1189 Wedding of Prince John
1189 Prince John visits the West
1191 William seizes Elfael and builds Castel Mallt (Painscastle)
1192–99 William Sheriff of Herefordshire
1195 Siege of Painscastle
1196 William itinerant justice for Staffordshire; gains co-rights in Barnstaple and Totnes
1197 Year of Pest and Plague. Death of Trehearne Vaughan
1198 Second Siege of Painscastle
1199 Death of Richard I
1199 William one of John’s supporters at his coronation
1200 William succeeds to the Honor of Limerick
1200 John grants William the right to take land from the Welsh
1203 William becomes Lord of Gower
1203 William in attendance on John in Normandy at time of Prince Arthur’s death
1205 William becomes Lord of the Three Castles
1207 First signs of William’s impending fall from grace
1208 23 March. John’s conflict with Rome over appointment of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury leads to interdict of Pope Innocent III
1208 The de Braoses flee to Ireland
1209–10 William back in Wales
1210 Spring. King John arrives in Ireland
1210 Matilda flees to Scotland
1211 Death of Matilda and Will
1211 9 August. William dies in Corbeil. Buried in Paris by exiled Archbishop Langton
1215 Magna Carta
1216 10 October. The authorization of a grant of land at Aconbury to Margaret de Lacy is one of the last pieces of business John transacts
1216 18 October. King John dies
Note on Names
The name of de Braose is variously spelled in the chronicles and subsequent history books as de Briouse, de Breos, and de Briouze as well as de Braose.
Matilda was as frequently referred to as Maude or Maud (the names having the same derivation as Matilda), quite apart from her nicknames in local history and folklore as Moll Walbee, Malld Walbri, and Mallt or Mawd.
Margaret, her daughter, is in some records referred to as Marjorie.
Acknowledgments
I should like to thank all the people who have gone to such endless trouble to help me with the research for this book, particularly Professor Ann Matonis for her translations into Middle and Modern Welsh (for any mistakes in the transcriptions of which I must take the blame). I should also like to thank Dr. Brian Taylor, Dr. Michael Siddons, and Dr. Brian Blandford for their advice on matters medical, heraldic, and musical; my father, who has driven so many miles to double check on locations in the Welsh hills; and Carole Blake, for all her help and encouragement. And finally I must make special mention of Jean Walter, without whose meticulous typing this book might never have been finished!
Barbara Erskine
Llanigon and Great Tey, 1985
Reading Group Guide
1. Joanna is at first skeptical of hypnosis as a means of regression and sets out to write an article debunking it. But after her experience regressing into the life of Matilda, Joanna comes to wholeheartedly believe in hypnosis. Do you believe in hypnosis or past lives? Why or why not? How do your beliefs about hypnosis affect how you read a fictional account like the one in this book?
2. On page 293, Bet Gunning says, “I want to know what it feels like for a twentieth-century woman to go through the time barrier.” Discuss how you would react if you were thrust into the twelfth century. Which aspects of twelfth-century life would you be able to handle, and which do you think you would find more difficult?
3. Richard de Clare is portrayed as a charming and just man, but when Tim is regressed into his life he describes his counterpart as “full of failure and betrayal.” What events in Richard de Clare’s life could be responsible for his anguish?
4. As a child, Tilda is described as cold and indifferent toward her mother. What are some possible reasons for this rejection? As an adult, how does Tilda feel toward her mother?
5. While observing Joanna’s authentic regression, a language expert attempts to rationalize what she is seeing by suggesting that it is “some kind of possession” or “a case of multiple personality” (388). Have you ever encountered something you couldn’t explain, something that appeared to be supernatural in nature? How did you react and why do you think you reacted the way you did?
6. On page 388, Sam says, “people are not reborn without a purpose, Jo. They return to progress or to expiate their sins.” Do you think Joanna was able to complete Matilda’s unfinished business, or will her problems have to be revisited in a future life?
7. Judy uses painting as a constructive way to cope with her strained relationship with Nick and her jealousy of Joanna. Which other characters in the novel have constructive ways of coping with stress? Which characters use destructive methods to escape? What are the constructive ways you cope with stress?
8. Ceecliff is torn between supporting her granddaughter’s decision and doing what she thinks is best for her. How did you react to her decision to let Nick into Joanna’s apartment after being told not to? Would you have made the same decision if you were in her position? How would you have felt if a relative did the same thing to you?
9. Like many siblings, Sam and Nick are extremely competitive with one another, and their rivalry is exacerbated by the unresolved issues in their past lives. In what ways is the relationship between Sam and Nick similar to the relationship between their counterparts, William de Braose and Prince John? In what ways is it different?
10. What role did guilt play in Sam’s dramatic change of heart toward the end of the novel? Were any other characters burdened by guilt? How were they able to find relief?
11. Ann Clements argues that organic farming will lead people back to common sense, health, and sanity. Do you agree with her argument that regression is necessary for progress to be made, or do you support Joanna’s counterargument that “mass produced, mass packaged, and mass managed” (451) is the only path toward progress?
12. Joanna is very amused by the stories of Moll Walbee, the folk tale version of Matilda de Braose. Moll Walbee seems to be an exaggerated version of Matilda; while Matilda was tall, Moll was a giant. Matilda used spells to keep her children safe, and Moll was described as a witch. Consider the other characters in the novel. What would their exaggerated folk tale personas be like? What would your exaggerated folk tale persona be like?
13. Bet is Joanna’s friend, but she is her editor first and foremost. In what ways does Bet act like a friend? In what ways does she act like an editor? Do you think encouraging Joanna to follow Matilda’s story to the end was ethical?
14. Despite the threat of death from the process, Joanna decides to follow Matilda’s life until the very end. What are some possible motivations that led her to this decision? Would you have made the same choice?
15. What do you think would have happened if Joanna had chosen not to follow Matilda’s life all the way to the end? Would she and Nick still end up together?
16. Joanna and Nick have a tumultuous past, but their relationship is slowly repaired over the course of the book. In the end, Joanna chooses to be with Nick despite their problems. How did you react to her decision? What would you have done in Joanna’s place?
About the Author
Barbara Erskine is the author of The Warrior’s Princess as well as Kingdom of Shadows, Encounters, and Child of the Phoenix. Midnight is a Lonely Place and House of Echoes were shortlisted for the W. H. Smith Thumping Good Read award, and they were followed by Distant Voices and On the Edge of Darkness. Erskine’s novels Whispers in the Sand and Hiding from the Light were both Sunday Times top-ten bestsellers. Her novels have been translated into thirty languages. Barbara Erskine has a degree in medieval Scottish history from Edinburgh University. She and her family divide their time between the Welsh borders and their home near the coast of Essex.
Tabl
e of Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
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3
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39
Epilogue One
Epilogue Two
Historical Note
Principal Dates
Note on Names
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
About the Author
Back Cover
Barbara Erskine, Lady of Hay
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