The Archer's Gold: Medieval Military fiction: A Novel about Wars, Knights, Pirates, and Crusaders in The Years of the Feudal Middle Ages of William Marshall ... (The Company of English Archers Book 7) by Martin Archer Page B
Authors: Martin Archer
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supporters in Cornwall. The earl impoverished himself to do it, don't you know." Such ox shite. We just took it without paying a penny.
"Yes, I can see that now. God is with me."
King John seems fascinated by what he hears and sees God's hand in everything that happens. He spends more than an hour asking me all kinds of questions about William and Cornwall.
What happened when the French knights killed Lord Edmund's wife and daughters; FitzCount's challenge to William and his just death; why Cornwall is so poor that it can't even support priests and the earl must go to the Holy Land to earn the coins to buy food for his men. And many other such things like that.
I made much about Cornwall being so poor that I have to use traveling Bodmin Monastery monks instead of priests in its few parishes and even the Romans didn't build a road to it . I did it deliberately - I don't want the king to even think about giving someone a fief in Cornwall. He's already got the revenues from the tin mines and that's enough.
Then our conversation becomes more down to earth and gets beyond "God's Will" and into more practical matters.
The king wants to know how much money I am saving by using monks instead of priests in Cornwall's parishes and letting them and the common folk in the hundreds do their own justice since there are no priests and manors .
I tell him it's not much that I save by letting the monks and hundreds do the justice - it's that we have no choice but to use them because my parishes are so poor that they don't have enough coins and extra food to support priests and manors.
Of course the people in the parishes don't have extra crops and livestock to give to the church; they sell it all to us so we can feed ourselves and our men - and they don't have any coins for the church because they use the coins we pay them to pay their taxes and rents and buy their rakes and seeds and such. But I'm certainly not going to tell him the truth, am I?
"Monks require less food from the parishes than the priests, Sire, and they have their own food at Bodmin which owns just about all of Cornwall's good lands." And it has franklins on its lands because it no longer has serfs and slaves - William and I saw to that, didn't we?
What I don't tell the king is that it isn't the shortage of coins that causes us to use the Bodmin monks - it's that they treat the common folk better and demand less from them, probably because they can go back to Bodmin to eat and enjoy themselves among their friends.
The only time the king surprises me is when he asks whether it was on Cyprus or in front of Constantinople's walls when we first began to realize that the Earl of Cornwall enjoys God's special protection just as he does.
"I believe it was at Constantinople, Your Majesty."
It's all ox shite, of course, but the king seems to believe God wanted him to be king and for things in Devon to turn out as they did for the barons who opposed him.
Then the king asked what I think the king wanted to know most - where William is and how much help can he provide when the king and his army return to France next month to once again campaign against the French?
"I'm not sure where the Earl of Cornwall is, Your Majesty; he may already be on his way to the Holy Land, but I'm not entirely sure. As you know, he's often away on God's business because it's the only way he can feed his family and his men since Cornwall is so poor it can't even support knights and priests."
"But one thing I do know for sure, Your Majesty. I know the Earl of Cornwall is one of your most loyal supporters and will do everything he can to help you in France. He hates the French you know."
I know William's not in Cornwall; he's almost certainly
"Yes, I can see that now. God is with me."
King John seems fascinated by what he hears and sees God's hand in everything that happens. He spends more than an hour asking me all kinds of questions about William and Cornwall.
What happened when the French knights killed Lord Edmund's wife and daughters; FitzCount's challenge to William and his just death; why Cornwall is so poor that it can't even support priests and the earl must go to the Holy Land to earn the coins to buy food for his men. And many other such things like that.
I made much about Cornwall being so poor that I have to use traveling Bodmin Monastery monks instead of priests in its few parishes and even the Romans didn't build a road to it . I did it deliberately - I don't want the king to even think about giving someone a fief in Cornwall. He's already got the revenues from the tin mines and that's enough.
Then our conversation becomes more down to earth and gets beyond "God's Will" and into more practical matters.
The king wants to know how much money I am saving by using monks instead of priests in Cornwall's parishes and letting them and the common folk in the hundreds do their own justice since there are no priests and manors .
I tell him it's not much that I save by letting the monks and hundreds do the justice - it's that we have no choice but to use them because my parishes are so poor that they don't have enough coins and extra food to support priests and manors.
Of course the people in the parishes don't have extra crops and livestock to give to the church; they sell it all to us so we can feed ourselves and our men - and they don't have any coins for the church because they use the coins we pay them to pay their taxes and rents and buy their rakes and seeds and such. But I'm certainly not going to tell him the truth, am I?
"Monks require less food from the parishes than the priests, Sire, and they have their own food at Bodmin which owns just about all of Cornwall's good lands." And it has franklins on its lands because it no longer has serfs and slaves - William and I saw to that, didn't we?
What I don't tell the king is that it isn't the shortage of coins that causes us to use the Bodmin monks - it's that they treat the common folk better and demand less from them, probably because they can go back to Bodmin to eat and enjoy themselves among their friends.
The only time the king surprises me is when he asks whether it was on Cyprus or in front of Constantinople's walls when we first began to realize that the Earl of Cornwall enjoys God's special protection just as he does.
"I believe it was at Constantinople, Your Majesty."
It's all ox shite, of course, but the king seems to believe God wanted him to be king and for things in Devon to turn out as they did for the barons who opposed him.
Then the king asked what I think the king wanted to know most - where William is and how much help can he provide when the king and his army return to France next month to once again campaign against the French?
"I'm not sure where the Earl of Cornwall is, Your Majesty; he may already be on his way to the Holy Land, but I'm not entirely sure. As you know, he's often away on God's business because it's the only way he can feed his family and his men since Cornwall is so poor it can't even support knights and priests."
"But one thing I do know for sure, Your Majesty. I know the Earl of Cornwall is one of your most loyal supporters and will do everything he can to help you in France. He hates the French you know."
I know William's not in Cornwall; he's almost certainly
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