The Canterbury Murders (24 page)

Epilogue

Late December 1203

John was sitting alone in the hall of the royal townhouse on Stour Street, in his hand a letter he had just received from the prior of St. Gervais in Rouen. Slowly his chin sunk onto his chest as the parchment dropped from his hand and fluttered to the floor. Arthur was dead, having finally succumbed to an intermittent fever that had been oppressing him for some weeks. The letter had been written on the twenty-third of December, John’s natal day, the thirty-seventh anniversary of his birth, and informed him that his nephew had died that very day. What a heavenly irony God had given him; never again would he celebrate the day of his birth without remembering it coincided with the death of his brother’s son, a death he had caused through his own violent temper.

He stared into the fire blazing in the hearth and wished, with all his heart, that he could recall the moment when he had struck Arthur. How rightly anger was numbered amongst the seven deadly sins; through it his father had caused the murder of Thomas Becket, and now he had, by the same instrument, killed his own blood kin. Henry had paid for his crime in public penance, but that was a luxury denied to John for, except for Briouze, no one knew the truth. Taking hold of the jewel-encrusted crucifix that he now wore constantly around his neck, he raised it to his lips and kissed it. He would have to atone for his terrible crime some day, he knew, but, please God, not until after he had secured Normandy.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The setting for
The Canterbury Murders
is an authentic one. Just before the season of Christ’s Mass in 1203, John and Isabella, along with William Marshal, left Rouen to go to Canterbury from whence, in the new year, they travelled to Oxford to attend the convocation of English nobles that the king had called to garner support for the defence of Normandy. Also, Nicolaa de la Haye is an historical figure and was hereditary castellan of Lincoln castle during this period, and her husband, Gerard Camville, sheriff of Lincoln. It might also interest the reader to learn that a servant by the name of Aquarius is recorded in the annals as having been John’s bath attendant.

The historical mystery of Arthur of Brittany’s disappearance has never been solved. It is generally accepted that he was murdered by John during an argument between them, and behind closed doors, at Rouen castle in April of 1203, but this has not been proven. In
The Canterbury Murders,
I offer an alternative, but still hypothetical, solution, one that was suggested to me by John’s treatment of William de Briouze a few years later when the baron fell out of royal favour. Briouze was exiled and it is recorded by Roger of Wendover, a contemporary chronicler, that after this event Briouze’s wife, Matilda, publically accused John of murdering his nephew. The king promptly imprisoned her and her son and starved them to death.

For details of the characters and period, I am much indebted to the following:

John, King of England
by John T. Appleby (Alfred A. Knopf)

King John
by W. L. Warren (University of California Press)

William Marshal
by Sidney Painter (University of Toronto Press)

Medieval Lincoln
by J. W. F. Hill (Cambridge University Press)

Maureen Ash
was born in London, England, and has had a lifelong interest in British medieval history. Visits to castle ruins and old churches have provided the inspiration for her novels. She enjoys Celtic music, browsing in bookstores and Belgian chocolate.