Crowner Royal (Crowner John Mysteries) Read online

  Professor Bernard Knight, CBE, became a Home Office pathologist in 1965 and was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine, in 1980. During his forty-year career with the Home Office, he performed over 25,000 autopsies and was involved in many high profile cases.

  Bernard Knight is the author of twenty-three novels, a biography and numerous popular and academic non-fiction books. Crowner Royal is the thirteenth novel in the Crowner John Series.

  You are welcome to visit his website at

  www.bernardknight.homestead.com

  Also by Bernard Knight

  The Manor of Death

  The Noble Outlaw

  The Elixir of Death

  Figure of Hate

  The Witch Hunter

  Fear in the Forest

  The Grim Reaper

  The Tinner’s Corpse

  The Awful Secret

  The Poisoned Chalice

  Crowner’s Quest

  The Sanctuary Seeker

  CROWNER

  ROYAL

  Bernard Knight

  LONDON • NEW YORK • TORONTO • SYDNEY

  First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2009

  This edition published by Pocket Books, 2009

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

  A CBS COMPANY

  Copyright © Bernard Knight, 2009

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

  No reproduction without permission.

  ® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

  Pocket Books & Design is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  The right of Bernard Knight to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

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  A CIP catalogue record for this book is

  available from the British Library

  ISBN: 9781847372970

  eBook ISBN: 9781847399816

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,

  places and incidents are either a product of the author’s

  imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd,

  Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Cox & Wyman,

  Reading, Berkshire RG1 8EX

  CONTENTS

  Author’s Note

  Maps

  Glossary

  CHAPTER ONE: In which Crowner John loses a corpse

  CHAPTER TWO: In which Crowner John disagrees with a sheriff

  CHAPTER THREE: In which the coroner meets an old comrade

  CHAPTER FOUR: In which Crowner John takes a ride into the country

  CHAPTER FIVE: In which Crowner John receives a welcome visitor

  CHAPTER SIX: In which Crowner John comes across a corpse

  CHAPTER SEVEN: In which Crowner John comes under suspicion

  CHAPTER EIGHT: In which the coroner goes back to the Tower

  CHAPTER NINE: In which Crowner John visits a brothel

  CHAPTER TEN: In which a lady calls upon Crowner John

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: In which Crowner John suffers a blow

  CHAPTER TWELVE: In which Crowner John goes to a feast

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: In which Crowner John rides west

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: In which Crowner John returns to Westminster

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: In which Crowner John goes hunting

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: In which Crowner John draws his dagger

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  In the twelfth century, the vital Exchequer of the Royal Council (the Curia Regis), which governed England, gradually moved from the old Saxon capital of Winchester to London. It was housed in the Palace of Westminster, which was also the main residence of the king – though when in England, the kings (especially Henry II and John) spent much of their time away from Westminster, progressing around the countryside with their huge court retinues.

  William the Conqueror had first resided in the Great Tower (later known as the ‘Tower of London’), which he built to dominate the city, but he later moved into Edward the Confessor’s old palace at Westminster, depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry – though like most monarchs until John, he spent little time in England. His son William Rufus began rebuilding the palace and his huge Westminster Hall, dating from 1097–9, was the largest in Europe and is still in use today. For centuries, the rest of the palace grew piecemeal around it, several times being devastated by fire, which eventually caused Henry VIII to abandon it as a royal residence and move to the nearby Palace of Lesser Hall. The present huge edifice which houses Parliament, was the result of almost total rebuilding after the fire of 1834, Westminster Hall being virtually the sole survivor of the Norman structure, together with the crypt of St Stephen’s Chapel, which was the first home of the House of Commons.

  The palace was only yards from the Confessor’s great abbey, between it and the river. In those days, before the Thames was confined within embankments, it was much wider and shallower, being fordable at low tide just above the palace at Horseferry. The whole area was marshy, often flooded, so Westminster was built on a gravel bank, known as Thorney Island because it was covered in brambles. A number of streams drained the marshes, such as the Tyburn, which formed the southern boundary of the Westminster settlement.

  A small town grew up around the abbey and palace, which was less than two miles from the walled city of London. From Westminster, a country road passed through the village of Charing and along the Strand, past the New Temple of the Knights Templar to Ludgate, just across the Holbourn stream, later called the Fleet.

  The exact topography of Westminster in the twelfth century is not precisely known, but archaeologists are still discovering traces, such as those found between 1991 and 1998 during excavations for the extension of the Jubilee Underground line. In addition to the many clerks, court officials and tradesmen who lived there, some of the Ministers of State had town houses, though others lived in the palace itself.

  What is clear is the economic and political divide that existed between Westminster and the city, as it does to this day. The former was an administrative and monastic centre, whilst the fiercely independent city was the commercial hub of England, with the competition and jealousies between them never far below the surface. In the Middle Ages, the city was sometimes for, and sometimes against, the reigning monarch, as when they supported King Stephen against Empress Matilda or the barons against King John.

  Relations with government were not always easy: the city demanded the right to appoint its own mayor in 1193, and in 1194 they did not accept the imposition of the coroner system, their two sheriffs carrying out these functions in the city and the county of Middlesex. At a distance of over 800 years, it is unclear how the jurisdiction of the Coroner of the Verge, around which this Crowner John story revolves, clashed with these other entrenched interests, but it seems likely that he did not have an easy time.

  The Coroner of the Verge dealt with all cases within a twelve-mile radius of the court, wherever that might be on its frequent procession around England. Later, this office became known as ‘The Coroner to the Royal Household’, which in very recent times came into the public eye in relation to the controversial inquest into the death of Princess Diana.

  One of the problems of writing a long series of histori
cal novels, of which this is the thirteenth, is that regular readers will have become familiar with the background and the main characters and may become impatient with repeated explanations in each book. On the other hand, new readers need to be ‘brought up to speed’ to appreciate some of the historical aspects, so a Glossary is offered with an explanation of the medieval terms used, especially relating to the functions of the coroner, one of the oldest legal offices in England.

  Any attempt to use ‘olde worlde’ dialogue in a novel of this early period would be as inaccurate as it would be futile, for in the late twelfth century, most people would have spoken Early Middle English, quite incomprehensible to us today. The ruling classes would have used Norman-French, while the language of the Church and virtually all writing was Latin. Few people could read and write, literacy being virtually confined to the few people who were clerics in holy orders. Only a minority of these clerics were ordained (bishops, priests and deacons), most being in ‘minor orders’, unable to celebrate mass, take confessions and give absolutions. These were clerks, lectors, sub-deacons and doorkeepers and there were even more ‘lay brothers’ who performed the menial work of religious institutions.

  All the names of characters in the book are authentic, who are either actual historical persons or taken from the court rolls of the period. The only money in circulation would have been the silver penny, apart from a few foreign gold coins known as ‘bezants’. The average wage of a working man was about two pence per day and coins were cut into halves and quarters for small purchases. A ‘pound’ was 240 pence (100p) and a ‘mark’ 160 pence (66p), but these were nominal accounting terms, not actual currency.

  MAPS

  GLOSSARY

  ABJURING THE REALM

  A criminal or fugitive gaining sanctuary in a church, had forty days grace in which to confess to the coroner and then abjure the realm, that is, leave England, never to return. France was the usual destination, but Wales and Scotland could also be used.

  He had to dress in a sackcloth and carry a crude wooden cross to a port nominated by the coroner. He had to take the first ship to leave for abroad and if none was available, he had to wade out up to his knees in every tide to show his willingness to leave. Many abjurers absconded en route and became outlaws; others were killed by the angry families of their victims.

  ALE

  A weak drink brewed before the advent of hops. The name derived from an ‘ale’ which was a village celebration, where much drinking took place, often held in the churchyard. The words ‘wassail’ and ‘bridal’ derive from this.

  BAILEY

  Originally the defended area around a castle keep, as in ‘motte and bailey’ but later applied to the yard of a dwelling.

  BALDRIC

  A diagonal strap over the right shoulder, joined back and front to the belt, to carry the weight of a sword.

  BARON

  A lord who was a ‘tenant-in-chief,’ holding his land directly from the king, who owned the whole country. A ‘Baron of the Exchequer’ came to mean a judge of the royal courts, not connected with the actual Exchequer.

  BOTTLER

  Servant who attends to the supply of drink, later known as a ‘butler’.

  CANON

  A senior priest in a cathedral, deriving his living from the grant of a parish or land providing an income.

  COIF

  A close fitting helmet of felt or linen, worn by either sex and tied with tapes under the chin.

  COVER-CHIEF

  From the Norman-French ‘couvre-chef’, a linen or silk cloth that covered a lady’s head, the ends hanging down the back and over the bust, usually secured by a head-band. In Saxon times, it was called a ‘head-rail’.

  CURIA REGIS

  The Royal Council, composed of major barons, judges and bishops, who advise the king.

  COB

  A building material made from clay, lime, ferns, dung, etc (also see ‘wattle and daub’)

  COG

  The common sea-going sailing vessel of the Middle Ages, derived from the Viking longship, but much broader and higher, with a single mast and square sail. There was no rudder, but a steering oar on the ‘steerboard’ side.

  CONSTABLE

  Several meanings, either the custodian of a castle, but also applied to a watchman who patrolled the streets.

  CORONER

  Though there are a couple of mentions of a coroner in late Saxon times, the office really began in September 1194, when the royal justices at their session in Rochester, Kent, proclaimed Article Twenty, which in a single sentence launched a system that has survived for over 800 years.

  They said ‘In every county of the King’s realm shall be elected three knights and one clerk, to keep the pleas of the Crown.’

  The reason for the establishment of coroners were mainly financial; the aim was to sweep as much money as possible into the royal Exchequer. Richard the Lion-heart was a spendthrift, using huge sums to finance his expedition to the Third Crusade in 1189 and for his wars against the French. Kidnapped on his way home from Palestine, he was held for well over a year in prisons in Austria and Germany and a huge ransom was needed to free him. To raise this money, his Chief Justiciar, Hubert Walter, who was also Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced many measures to extort money from the population of England.

  Hubert revived the office of coroner, which was intended to raise money by a variety of means, relating to the administration of the law. One of these was the investigation of all deaths which were not obviously natural, as well as into serious assaults, rapes, house fires, discovery of buried treasure, wrecks of the sea and catches of the royal fish (whales and sturgeon). Coroners also took confessions from criminals seeking sanctuary in churches, organised abjurations of the realm (q.v.), attended executions and ordeals (q.v.) and trial by battle.

  As the Normans had inherited a multiple system of county and manorial courts from the Saxons, the coroner also worked to sweep lucrative business into the royal courts. This gave him the title of ‘Keeper of the Pleas of the Crown’, from the original Latin of which (custos placitorum coronas) the word ‘coroner’ is derived.

  It was difficult to find knights willing to take on the job, as it was unpaid and the appointee had to have a large private income of at least twenty pounds a year. This was supposed to make him immune from corruption, which was common amongst the sheriffs. Indeed, another reason for the introduction of coroners was to keep a check on the sheriffs, who were the king’s representatives in each county (‘shire-reeve’).

  CRESPINES

  Nets, sometimes of gold or silver thread, which confined plaited coils of hair worn at the sides of ladies’ heads.

  DESTRIER

  A large war-horse, capable of carrying an armoured knight.

  EXCHEQUER

  The financial organ of English government, where all taxes were received in coin twice-yearly from the sheriffs. The calculations were performed with counters on a large table spread with a chequered cloth to assist accounting, which gave rise to the name.

  FARM

  The taxes from a county, collected in coin on behalf of the sheriff and taken by him personally every six months to the Exchequer in Winchester and later Westminster. The sum to be raised was fixed annually by the Exchequer and if the sheriff could raise more, he could keep the excess, which made the office of sheriff much sought after.

  FLUMMERY

  A blancmange-like soft dessert made by straining boiled oatmeal and flavouring with fruit and honey.

  FRUMENTY

  A dish of wheat boiled in milk with sugar and spices such as cinnamon. Meat such as venison could be added.

  HOSE

  Long stockings, usually single-legged, secured by laces to an underbelt. Worn under the tunic and sometimes having a leather sole in place of a shoe.

  HUNDRED

  An administrative sub-division of a county.

  MARSHALSEA

  Originally the province of the Marshal, who was re
sponsible for all horses and transport for the royal entourage. It was then applied to the marshal’s court, where offences concerning the king’s servants were heard. It contained a prison and the later meaning was confined to this.

  MASLIN BREAD

  A coarse loaf of wheat and rye.

  MAZER

  A drinking vessel originally made from maple wood.

  ORDEAL

  An ancient ritual intended to reveal guilt or innocence. The subject of the enquiry, in the presence of the coroner and a priest, had to submit to painful procedures, such as walking barefoot over nine red-hot ploughshares, taking a stone from the bottom of a vat of boiling water or licking a red-hot iron. If the affected part had healed well after three days he was adjudged innocent. Women were tied up and thrown into deep water – if they floated, they were guilty!

  The ordeal was abolished by the Vatican in 1215.

  OSTLER

  A servant who attends to the care and stabling of horses.

  OUTREMER

  Literally ‘the land beyond the sea’ referring to the Christian kingdoms in and around the Holy Land.

  PALFREY

  A small horse for riding, especially used by ladies.

  PELISSE

  An outer garment worn by both men and women, with a fur lining for winter wear. The fur could be sable, rabbit, cat, marten etc.

  POTAGE

  Soup or stew.

  PRECENTOR

  A senior monk or priest in a cathedral or abbey, who organised the choral services and music as well as the library and archives.

  PRESENTMENT

  At coroner’s inquests, a corpse was presumed to be Norman, unless the locals could prove ‘Englishry’ by presenting evidence of identity by the family. If they could not, a ‘murdrum’ fine was imposed by the coroner, on the assumption that Normans were murdered by the Saxons they had conquered in 1066. Murdrum fines became a cynical device to extort money, persisting for several hundred years after the Conquest, by which time it was virtually impossible to differentiate between the races.