The Noble Outlaw

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-one novels, a biography and numerous popular and academic nonfiction books.
The Noble Outlaw
is the eleventh novel in the Crowner John series, following
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
and
The Sanctuary Seeker
.
 

Also by Bernard Knight

The Sanctuary Seeker
 

Crowner's Quest

The Poisoned Chalice

 
The Awful Secret

 
The Tinner's Corpse

 
The Grim Reaper

 
Fear in the Forest
 

 
The Witch Hunter

Figure of Hate

The Elixir of Death

The Noble Outlaw

Bernard Knight

POCKET BOOKS

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First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2007

This edition published by Pocket Books, 2007
 

An imprint of Simon & Schuster UK Ltd A Viacom company

Copyright © Bernard Knight, 2007

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention No reproduction without permission

® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. MI rights reserved Pocket Books & Design is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster Inc

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
 

ISBN 978-1-4165-2593-6

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. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd

Grangemouth, Stirlingshire

Printed and bound in Great Britain
 

by Cox & Wyman, Reading, Berkshire

Acknowledgements

My sincere thanks go to my publishes, Kate Lyall Grant, and to my editor, Gillian Holmes, for their unfailing help and encouragement.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

When William of Normandy conquered England in 1066, he dispossessed or killed most of the Saxon earls and thegns. He declared himself to be the sole owner of the whole land, but parcelled out a great deal of it to his Norman supporters, as 'tenants-in-chief'. He ensured that these 'honours' that each received were composed of manors scattered about the country, to avoid any baron having a block large enough for him to raise an army, and possibly a rebellion, against the king. However, for several centuries, it was not uncommon for barons and manor lords to seize land belonging to neighbours, if they could get away with it. The court records of those early times are filled with disputes over land - and this story is partly concerned with one such event, albeit fictitious.
 

The manor of Hempston Arundell, near Totnes, is now known as Littlehempston. The 'noble outlaw' of this book was a great-grandson of Roger de Arundell, the founder of the dynasty, who is thought to have come over with the Conqueror and who has many West Country entries in the Domesday Book of 1086 - and who incidentally, is the grandfather, twenty-seven times removed, of the author!
 

All the names of people and places are authentic, the former being either real historical characters or taken from the Exeter Crown Pleas roll of 1238. Unfortunately, history does not record the names of Devon coroners until the thirteenth century, so Sir John de Wolfe is a product of the author's imagination.
 

One of the problems of writing a long series, of which this is the eleventh, is that regular readers will have become familiar with the background to the stories and may become impatient with repeated explanations in every book. However, 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 some medieval terms, especially those relating to the functions of the coroner, one of the oldest legal offices in England.
 

What were to become universities began in England in the twelfth century, starting in a small way as 'schools', usually for young clerics. They were private establishments, unlike the schools attached to cathedrals and religious houses, and they were run by individual masters or groups of teachers, themselves clerics and often canons, teaching a set curriculum. Oxford and later Cambridge became predominant, but other towns including Lincoln, Exeter and Northampton were competitors; by the early thirteenth century, however, these had faded away, even though Exeter had the famous Joseph Iscanus as a poet and teacher.
 

Attempting to use 'olde worlde' dialogue in a historical novel of this period is futile and unrealistic, as in Devon during the late twelfth century most of the people would have spoken Early Middle English, which would be incomprehensible to us today. Some would still have spoken a Celtic tongue, similar to Welsh, Breton and Cornish, the latter surviving in the West Country for many more centuries. The ruling classes would have spoken Norman-French and the clergy used Latin, in which virtually all documents were written.
   

GLOSSARY
 

ABJURING THE REALM
 

A sanctuary seeker, if he confessed his crime to the coroner, could abjure the realm of England, never to return. He had to dress in sackcloth and carry a crude wooden cross, then walk to a port nominated by the coroner and take the first ship abroad. 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', a village celebration where much drinking took place. The words 'wassail' and 'bridal' are derived from this.
 

AMERCEMENTS
 

Arbitrary fines imposed on a person or community by a law officer for some breach of the complex regulations of the law. Where a fine was imposed by a coroner, he would record the amercement, but the collection of the money would normally be ordered by the royal justices when they visited at the Eyre (q.v.).
 

APPROVER
 

A criminal who attempted to save himself by implicating his accomplices. His confession had to be recorded by the coroner.
 

ATTACHMENT
 

An order made by a law officer, including a coroner, to ensure that a person appeared at a court hearing. It resembled a bail bond or surety, distraining upon a person's money or goods, which would be forfeit if he failed to appear.
 

BAILEY
 

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

BAILIFF
 

An overseer of a manor or estate, directing the farming and other work. He would have manor reeves under him and be responsible either directly to his lord or to the steward.
 

BONDSMAN
 

An unfree person in the feudal system. Several categories, including villein, serf, cottar, etc.
 

BURGAGE
 

A plot of land, usually comprising a house and garden, in a town or city. Long and narrow at right angles to the street, it was often the property of a burgess.
 

BURGESS
 

A freeman of substance in a town or borough, usually a merchant or craftsman. A group of burgesses ran the town administration; and in 1195 they elected two portreeves (later a mayor) to lead them in Exeter.
 

CANON
 

A senior priest in a cathedral, deriving his living from the grant of a parish or land providing an income (a prebend). Exeter Cathedral, a secular not a monastic establishment, had twenty-four canons.
 

CHAPTER
 

The administrative body of a cathedral, composed of the canons (prebendaries). They met daily to conduct business in the chapter house, so-called because a chapter of the Gospels or of the Rule of St Benedict was read before each session.
 

COB
 

A plaster made of straw, clay, dung and horsehair which was applied to panels of willow or hazel withies, which filled the spaces between the frames of a house. Small cottages might be constructed entirely of cob.
 

COIF
 

A close-fitting cap or helmet, usually of linen or felt, covering the ears and tied under the chin: worn by men and women.
 

CONSTABLE
 

A senior commander, usually the custodian of a castle, which in Exeter belonged to the king. The word was also used of a watchman who patrolled the streets to keep order.
 

CORONER
 

Though there are a couple of mentions of a coroner in late Saxon times, the officer of coroner really began in September 1194, when the royal justices at their session in Rochester, Kent, proclaimed in a single sentence the launch of the system that has lasted 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.'