The Vanishing Witch (67 page)

The two children who came
between Jan and Godwin in Greetwell and were seen by Nonie are also well-known Lincoln ghosts. The pair are said to haunt the river Witham. When she is first seen, the little girl appears alone, staring frantically into the water. She vanishes but reappears, further down the river, this time walking happily hand in hand with a younger boy. It is believed the girl jumped into the river in a desperate
effort to rescue her little brother, who had fallen in, and both drowned.

Peasants’ Revolt –
A shortage of tenants and workers in the years after the Black Death led landowners to try to cut their costs and solve their massive debt problems by raising rents, taxes and tolls while keeping wages at pre-plague levels. They also tried to re-impose forced labour on men and women who were descended
from serfs or villeins. This led to a series of violent uprisings by the poorer classes right across Europe, and violence against people and property erupted in one town after another as the fire of rebellion spread. Chief among the rebels in Lincoln were tenants of the estates of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. The imposition of a new poll tax proved to be the match that lit the flame of revolution
in England. Many people initially tried to get out of paying by not recording members of their household or servants.

Sir Robert Hale, prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and owner of several wealthy estates, was appointed as overseer at the Exchequer; when examining the registration returns he discovered that between 20 and 50 per cent of the population who should have been paying
the poll tax were not recorded. Realising the local bailiffs were massively under-recording, he appointed commissioners to go out with sergeants-at-arms to check. There was outrage that some of the commissioners subjected young girls to crude and violent physical examinations to find out if they were virgins. As these rumours spread, men who could do so were forced to pay the tax for their young daughters
or sisters even though they were not fifteen, rather than subject them to this violation, which, of course, was exactly what the commissioners wanted. This added to the fury of the populace.

The massacre of the Flemish merchants and the sacking of the Savoy Palace, belonging to John of Gaunt, were among the most widely recorded incidents of the rebellion in London. At the Savoy, one of the rebels
was thrown onto the fire by his own comrades and burned alive for suspected looting. By mistake, several barrels of gunpowder were also thrown onto the fire, causing an explosion that trapped thirty rebels in the wine cellar. Their cries for help could still be heard a week later. They finally died, still trapped beneath the rubble.

In order to impose order on the streets and to identify and
punish the rebels, a Commission of Array was set up in Lincoln, consisting of wealthy landowners and nobility, all of whom were to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

• A poll tax was imposed of 12
  d
  for every man and woman over the age of fifteen. Two-thirds to be paid by the end of December, the rest by June.
  

• Only a fraction of the revenue anticipated had been collected. The records were checked and it was found there had been widespread evasion of the registration for the poll tax.
  

• Commissioners with sergeants-at-arms were sent out to inspect returns and check households; the date for final payment was brought forward from June to 21 April.
  

• Royal commissioners arrived in the town of Brentwood in Essex to enforce poll tax collection. But the citizens refused to pay the tax and chased the commissioners out when they tried to arrest ringleaders. Over the next
  few days disturbances broke out throughout Essex and Kent.
  

• Violence erupted in Essex and Kent. There were attacks on property, particularly abbeys and buildings belonging to anyone connected with the legal profession.
  Rebels from Kent occupied the city of Canterbury.
  

• Fourteen-year-old King Richard II arrived in London, having travelled by barge from Windsor, as Kent and Essex
  rebels marched on the city.
  

• The rebels and the city fathers met for discussions at Blackheath. King Richard and his household took refuge in the Tower of London.
  

• A meeting between King Richard and the rebels at Greenwich was aborted at the last moment, when Richard’s advisers forced him to turn back, fearing for his safety.
  
• The Savoy Palace owned by John of Gaunt was destroyed.
  

• At Mile End Richard negotiated with the rebels and agreed to their demands, but inadvertently encouraged the hunting down of ‘traitors to the people’, which resulted in the rebels executing some of his closest advisers, including Archbishop Sudbury and Robert Hale, and the massacre of the Flemish merchants.
  
• Violent rebellion broke out in Norfolk.
  

• King Richard and Wat Tyler
  met at Smithfield, but Tyler was killed and the rebels were led into a trap. Law and order was restored in London and the rebels were escorted from the city.
  
• The prior of Bury St Edmunds was murdered and the archives of Cambridge University were destroyed.
  

• Violence increased in St Albans, and the Suffolk rebels took Ipswich.
  

• Judge Edmund Walsingham was murdered at Ely. Peterborough
  Abbey was attacked, and the Earl of Kent was sent to round up the rebels in Kent.
  

• Rebels attempted to march from London via Lincoln to attack York. They were stopped by townspeople when they tried to cross the river Ouse at Huntingdon. Norwich was attacked by the rebels.
  

• Commissioners were sent into East Anglia to rout the rebels.
  

• John of Gaunt took refuge in Scotland.
  

• Rebellion broke out in Scarborough.
  

• Bishop Despenser routed the rebels at North Walsham in Norfolk.
  

• Richard II cancelled all of the charters freeing the villeins, which he had granted on 14 June, and reinstated the rights of the lords and landowners.
  

• Orders were given for Commissions of Array to be established to organise the King’s faithful subjects to resist
  the rebels.
  

• One of the rebel leaders, John Ball, was executed at St Albans. Between July and November, when the amnesty was finally signed, hundreds of Englishmen were arrested on the say-so of neighbours, chance remarks overheard in inns, or servants taking revenge on masters.
  

• A Commission of Array in Lincolnshire was ordered to send evidence of rebel crimes to Chancery.
  The ex-mayor and MP Hugh de Garwell was named but later pardoned on payment of a fine, on the grounds that he hadn’t killed anyone.
  

• The appointments of existing commissioners in Lincolnshire were revoked as they couldn’t be trusted. New ones were appointed.
  

Ambry –
In the context of a house or castle, this was a cupboard, which either hung on a wall or stood on the floor in the chamber or hall where the master of the house or his guests slept. Food, such as cold meats, pies and pastries, was placed in the ambry at night, so that the master, mistress or any guests could help themselves to a snack, known as a
reresoper
, without disturbing
the household. This was often necessary to settle the stomach after a night of hard drinking. An ambry can be distinguished from other cupboards used for storage of vessels or linens because it was pierced or had bars at the front, originally covered by cloth, to allow the circulation of air. It was also known as a livery or dole cupboard, because in larger households it contained the amount of food
deemed enough for the guest’s retinue.

Attainder
– means ‘tainted’. A felon found guilty of a capital offence was subject to forfeiture, which meant that all their property and possessions were forfeit to their feudal lord, or to the Crown. But an Act of Attainder could additionally be brought against the felon, so that their descendants, in perpetuity, were never again allowed to enter contracts,
bear a title or own land. In effect, they lost all rights as a free man or woman on the grounds that they had tainted blood. Attainder was usually used by kings to punish nobles found guilty of treason or of the murder of someone close to the King, but could be invoked by men of lower rank who were wealthy enough to pay for the legal procedure.

Beef bonet –
A bonet was a broth thickened with
breadcrumbs or other ingredients, such as ground almonds, cream, curds, honey or egg yolks. Dishes such as ‘hens in bonet’ or ‘beef bonet’ were simple broths of stewed meat, often cooked in blood, thickened with bread and flavoured with spices. They would have been considered nourishing and easily digestible food for invalids.

Bloodstone
– Green jasper or chalcedony containing dark red spots
of iron oxide. It was also known as heliotrope because it was symbolically linked to the sun. In the Middle Ages it was believed that it would instantly stop haemorrhages if the afflicted part was touched with the stone. It also prevented the wearer from being poisoned. The bloodstone was supposed to have the power to turn the sun red and to call down thunder and lightning. It gave the wearer the
gift of second sight, while protecting them from the madness that frequently accompanied such a gift.

Boar –
In Norse tradition the golden boar, associated with Freyr and Freyja, had a mane of fire that could illuminate the darkest night. In Valhalla, each night the gods killed and ate a boar, known as Saehrimnir, which was restored to life each morning. In Europe a ghostly boar was said to run
with the Wild Hunt during storms. The boar was the most frequently sacrificed animal among the Saxons: because of its strength, bravery and fearlessness, it was seen as a fitting gift for the gods. Only the courageous would dare to hunt them. A number of golden boar heads used as amulets or to decorate warriors’ helmets have been found in Saxon hoards in Lincolnshire. In Viking, Celtic and Saxon
cultures the boar symbolised strength and resolution.

Bor –
Dialect form of address used for boys and men by Fenlanders and river-men in some parts of Lincolnshire and East Anglia.

Broggers –
In the wool trade these men bought fleeces and skins directly from the individual farmers and cottagers, then collected them together to sell on as loads to the merchants.

Civey, Civet or Cyve –
A richly
spiced stew made from the meat and blood of any game animal. It could be used to dress the meat of the game animal itself or as a stock or sauce in which to cook other meat, or fish such as haddock.

Consistory Court –
The highest bishop’s court and the busiest, for it oversaw the execution of wills and trusts, resolved tithe and debt disputes and accusations of defamation. It also dealt with
marriage law, including broken contracts and runaway spouses. Mostly it heard the cases in which people were suing each other, rather than answering charges brought by the Church. The judge, known as the Bishop’s Official or Commissarius, was usually a university graduate, tutored in law. Those called to testify were questioned in secret with no opportunity for advocates to cross-examine their opponent’s
witnesses, but they could submit a list of questions and arguments to the Bishop’s Official, which he could put privately to the witnesses, plaintiffs and defendants.

Dauled
– A dialect word meaning the person is tired, weary, or exhausted.

Dwale –
Atropa belladonna
, otherwise known as deadly nightshade. Dwale comes from the French, meaning ‘mourning’. It was thought to be a key ingredient in
witches’ ointments, used to help them to fly or transform into animals, and the ointment might well have caused them to hallucinate that they were flying or transforming. Dwale was widely used in the Middle Ages in sleeping draughts. Chaucer refers to it when he says, ‘There needeth him no dwale.’

In the Parthian Wars, Marcus Antonius’s troops were said to have been killed by dwale being added
to the drinking wells. According to legend, in AD1010, the Scots mixed the juice with food for the invading Danish army; the soldiers became so stupefied that the Scots were easily able to slaughter them.

Fog-head or Fog-breather
– a derogatory name for the English used by people originating from better climates who considered the island to be permanently damp and foggy, which made the English
dour and dull.

Gambeson –
A padded quilted tunic, which was worn under or over armour by knights, or was worn instead of armour by the common foot soldiers. It was also known as the acketon, aketon, hacketon or hauketon. ‘Gamboised’ meant quilted or padded. They could be stuffed with wool, straw, grass or cloth. Such garments were hot and cumbersome, so soldiers usually donned them just before
engaging the enemy in battle, which left them vulnerable if they were unexpectedly ambushed.

Green sickness –
A medieval term for a wasting sickness that was probably severe anaemia. Symptoms might include pallor, dizziness, tiredness, breathlessness, pains, and brittle hair and nails. There are several different types of anaemia, but a common cause in the Middle Ages would have been dietary
deficiency, particularly among the poor and certain religious orders that followed a strict ascetic diet. In the Middle Ages, green sickness was often associated with people who were melancholic, grief-stricken or lovesick.