The Heretic's Apprentice Read online

  He caught himself up abruptly there. In the flush of recollection of the past he had lost sight for a while of the present. He came back to it with a sudden recoil into gravity. This boy had departed with a single companion, and with a single companion he now returned.

  ‘Do you tell me,’ Cadfael asked soberly, ‘that it’s William of Lythwood you’ve brought home in a coffin?’

  ‘It is,’ said Elave. ‘He died at Valognes, before we could reach Barfleur. He’d kept money by to pay his score if it happened, and get us both home. He’d been ill since we started north through France, sometimes we had to halt a month or more along the way till he could go again. He knew he was for dying, he made no great trouble about it. And the monks were good to us. I write a good hand, I worked when I could. We did what we wanted to do.’ He told it quite simply and tranquilly; having been so long with a master content in himself and his faith, and unafraid of his end, the boy had grown into the same practical and cheerful acceptance. ‘I have messages to deliver for him to his kin. And I’m charged to ask a bed for him here.’

  ‘Here in abbey ground?’ asked Cadfael.

  ‘Yes. I’ve asked to be heard tomorrow at chapter. He was a good patron to this house for all his life, the lord abbot will remember that.’

  ‘It’s a different abbot we have now, but Prior Robert will know, and many others among us. And Abbot Radulfus will listen, you need not fear a refusal from him. William will have witnesses enough. But I’m sorry he could not come home alive to tell us of it.’ He eyed the lanky young man before him with considered respect. ‘You’ve done well by him, and a hard road you must have had of it, these last miles. You must have been barely a grown man when he took you off overseas.’

  ‘I was nearly nineteen,’ said Elave, smiling. ‘Nineteen and hardy enough, strong as a horse I was. I’m twenty-six now, I can make my own way.’ He was studying Cadfael as intently as he was being studied. ‘I remember you, Brother. You were the one who soldiered in the east once, years ago.’

  ‘So I did,’ acknowledged Cadfael, almost fondly. Confronted with this young traveller from places once well known, and sharp with memories for him, he felt the old longings quickening again within him, and the old ghosts stirring. ‘When you have time, you and I could have things to talk about. But not now! If you’re not worn out with journeying, you should be, and there’ll be a moment or two to spare tomorrow. Better go and get your sleep now. I’m bound for Compline.’

  ‘It’s true,’ owned Elave, heaving a long, fulfilled sigh at having reached the end of his charge. ‘I’m main glad to be here, and have done with what I promised him. I’ll bid you goodnight, then, Brother, and thanks.’

  Cadfael watched him cross the width of the court to the steps of the guest-hall, a tough, durable young man who had packed into seven years more journeying than most men saw in a lifetime. No one else within these walls could follow in spirit where he had been, no one but Cadfael. The old appetite stirred ravenously, after contented years of stability and peace.

  ‘Would you have known him again?’ asked Edmund, emerging at Cadfael’s shoulder. ‘He came one or twice on his master’s errands, I remember, but between eighteen or so and his middle twenties a man can change past recognition, especially a man who’s made his way to the ends of the earth and back. I wonder sometimes, Cadfael, I even glimpse sometimes, what I may have missed.’

  ‘And do you thank your father for giving you to God,’ wondered Cadfael, ‘or wish he’d left you your chances among men?’ They had been friends long enough and closely enough to permit such a question.

  Brother Edmund smiled his quiet, composed smile. ‘You at least can question no one’s act but your own. I am of a past order, Cadfael, there’ll be no more of me, not under Radulfus, at any rate. Come to Compline, and pray for the constancy we promised.’

  *

  The young man Elave was admitted to chapter next morning, as soon as the immediate household affairs had been dealt with.

  The numbers at chapter were swelled that day by the visiting clerics. Canon Gerbert, his mission necessarily delayed for a while, could not but turn his frustrated energies to meddling in whatever came to hand, and sat enthroned beside Abbot Radulfus throughout the session, and the bishop’s deacon, committed to faithful attendance on this formidable prelate, hovered anxiously at his elbow. This Serlo was, as Hugh had said, a meek little fellow with a soft, round, ingenuous face, much in awe of Gerbert. He might have been in his forties, smooth-cheeked and pink and wholesome, with a thin, greying ring of fair hair, erased here and there by incipient baldness. No doubt he had suffered from his over-powering companion along the road, and was intent simply on completing his errand as soon and as peaceably as possible. It might seem a very long way to Chester, if he was instructed to go so far.

  Into this augmented and august assembly Elave came when he was bidden, refreshed and bright with the relief of reaching his goal and shedding his burden of responsibility. His face was open and confident, even joyful. He had no reason to expect anything but acceptance.

  ‘My lord,’ said Elave, ‘I have brought back from the Holy Land the body of my master, William of Lythwood, who was well known in this town, and has been in his time a benefactor to the abbey and the church. Sir, you will not have known him, for he left on his pilgrimage seven years ago, but there are brothers here who will remember his gifts and charities, and bear witness for him. It was his wish to be buried in the cemetery here at the abbey, and I ask for him, with all respect, his funeral and grave within these walls.’

  Probably he had rehearsed that speech many times, Cadfael thought, and shaped and reshaped it doubtfully, for he did not seem like a man of many or ready words, unless, perhaps, he was roused in defence of something he valued. However that might be, he delivered it from the heart. He had a pleasant voice, pitched agreeably low, and travel had taught him how to bear himself among men of all kinds and all fortunes.

  Radulfus nodded acknowledgement, and turned to Prior Robert. ‘You were here, Robert, seven years ago and more, as I was not. Tell me of this man as you remember him. He was a merchant of Shrewsbury?’

  ‘A much respected merchant,’ said the prior readily. ‘He kept a flock folded and grazed on the Welsh side of the town, and acted as agent for a number of other sheep-farmers of the middle kind, to sell their dips together to the best advantage. He also had a workshop preparing vellum from the skins. Of good repute, very fine white vellum. We have bought from him in the past. So do other monastic houses. His nephews have the business now. Their family house is near Saint Alkmund’s church in the town.’

  ‘And he has been a patron of our house?’

  Brother Benedict the sacristan detailed the many gifts William had made over the years, both to the choir and the parish of Holy Cross. ‘He was a close friend of Abbot Heribert, who died here among us three years ago.’ Heribert, too gentle and mild for the taste of Bishop Henry of Winchester, then papal legate, had been demoted to give place to Radulfus, and had ended his days quite happily as a simple choir-monk, without regrets.

  ‘William also gave freely in winter for the poor,’ added Brother Oswald the almoner.

  ‘It seems that William has well deserved to have what he asks,’ said the abbot and looked up encouragingly at his petitioner. ‘I understand you went with him on pilgrimage. You have done well by your master, I commend your loyalty, and I trust the journey has done great good to you, living, as to your master, who died still a pilgrim. There could be no more blessed death. Leave us now. I will speak with you again very soon.’

  Elave made him a deep reverence, and went out from the chapter-house with a buoyant step, like a man going to a festival.

  *

  Canon Gerbert had refrained from comment while the petitioner was present, but he cleared his throat vociferously as soon as Elave had vanished, and said with weighty gravity: ‘My lord abbot, it is a great privilege to be buried within the walls. It must not be granted lightly. Is it
certain that this is a fit case for such an honour? There must be many men, above the rank of merchant, who would wish to achieve such a resting-place. It behoves your house to consider very gravely before admitting anyone, however charitable, who may fall short of worthiness.’

  ‘I have never held,’ said Radulfus, unperturbed, ‘that rank or trade is valued before God. We have heard an impressive list of this man’s gifts to our church, let alone those to his fellow-men. And bear in mind that he undertook, and accomplished, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, an act of devotion that testifies to his quality and courage.’

  It was characteristic of Serlo, that harmless and guileless soul – so Cadfael thought long afterwards, when the dust had settled – to speak up with the best of intentions at the wrong moment, and in disastrously wrong words.

  ‘So good counsel prevailed,’ he said, beaming. ‘A timely word of admonishment and warning has had this blessed effect. Truly a priest should never be silent when he hears doctrine misread. His words may turn a soul astray into the right path.’

  His childlike gratification faded slowly into the heavy silence he had provoked. He looked about him without immediate understanding, and gradually perceived how most eyes avoided him, looking studiously far into the distance or down into folded hands, while Abbot Radulfus viewed him steadily and hard but without expression, and Canon Gerbert turned on him a cold, transfixing glare. The beaming smile faded sickly from Serlo’s round and innocent face. ‘To pay good heed to stricture and obey instruction atones for all errors,’ he ventured, trying to edge away whatever in his words had caused this consternation, and failing. His voice ebbed feebly into silence.

  ‘What doctrine,’ demanded Gerbert with black deliberation, ‘had this man misread? What occasion had his priest had to admonish him? Are you saying that he was ordered to go on pilgrimage, to purge some mortal error?’

  ‘No, no, not ordered,’ said Serlo faintly. ‘It was suggested to him that his soul would benefit by such a reparation.’

  ‘Reparation for what gross offence?’ pursued the canon relentlessly.

  ‘Oh, none, none that did harm to any, no act of violence or dishonesty. It is long past,’ said Serlo gallantly, digging in his heels with unaccustomed bravery to retrieve what he had launched. ‘It was nine years ago, when Archbishop William of Corbeil, of blessed memory, sent out a preaching mission to many of the towns in England. As papal legate he was concerned for the wellbeing of the Church, and thought fit to use preaching canons from his own house at St. Osyth’s. I was sent to attend on the reverend Father who came into our diocese, and I was with him when he preached here at the High Cross. William of Lythwood entertained us to supper afterwards, and there was much earnest talk. He was not contumacious, he did but enquire and question, and in all solemnity. A courteous, hospitable man. But even in thought – for want of proper instruction…’

  ‘What you are saying,’ pronounced Gerbert menacingly, ‘is that a man who was reproved for heretical views is now asking for burial within these walls.’

  ‘Oh, I would not say heretical,’ babbled Serlo in haste. ‘Misguided views, perhaps, but I would not say heretical. There was no complaint ever made of him to the bishop. And you have seen that he did as he was counselled, for two years later he set out on this pilgrimage.’

  ‘Many men undertake pilgrimages for their own pleasure,’ said Gerbert grimly, ‘rather than for the proper purpose. Some even for trade, like hucksters. The act is no absolution for error, it is the sincere intent that delivers.’

  ‘We have no reason,’ Abbot Radulfus pointed out drily, ‘to conclude that William’s intent was less than sincere. These are judgements which are out of our hands, we should have the humility to acknowledge as much.’

  ‘Nevertheless, we have a duty under God, and cannot evade it. What proof have we that the man ever changed those suspect beliefs he held? We have not examined as to what they were, how grave, and whether they were ever repented and discarded. Because there is here in England a healthy and vigorous Church, we must not think that the peril of false belief belongs only to the past. Have you not heard that there are loose preachers abroad in France who draw the credulous after them, reviling their own priests as greedy and corrupt, and the rites of the Church as meaningless? In the south the abbot of Clairvaux is grown much concerned about such false prophets.’

  ‘Though the abbot of Clairvaux has himself warned,’ interjected Radulfus briskly, ‘that the failure of the priesthood to set an example of piety and simplicity helps to turn people to these dissenting sects. The Church has a duty also to purge its own shortcomings.’

  Cadfael listened, as all the brothers were listening, with pricked ears and alert eyes, hoping that this sudden squall would slacken and blow over just as nimbly. Radulfus would not allow any prelate to usurp his authority in his own chapter-house, but not even he could forbid an envoy of the archbishop to assert his rights of speech and judgement in a matter of doctrine. The very mention of Bernard of Clairvaux, the apostle of austerity, was a reminder of the rising influence of the Cistercians, to which order Archbishop Theobald was sympathetically inclined. And though Bernard might put in a word for popular criticism of the worldliness of many high churchmen, and yearn for a return to the poverty and simplicity of the Apostles, by all accounts he would have small mercy on anyone who diverged from the strictly orthodox where dogma was concerned. Radulfus might sidestep one citation of Bernard by countering with another, but he was quick to change the subject before he risked losing the exchange.

  ‘Here is Serlo,’ he said simply, ‘who remembers whatever contention the archbishop’s missioner had with William. He may also recall whatever points of belief had arisen between them.’

  Serlo, by the dubious look on his face, hardly knew whether to be glad of such an opportunity or sorry. He opened his mouth hesitantly, but Radulfus stopped him with a raised hand.

  ‘Wait! It is also only fair that the one man who can truly testify to his master’s mind and observance before death should be present to hear what is said of him, and answer it on his behalf. We have no right to exclude a man from the favour he has asked without a just hearing. Denis, will you go and ask the young man Elave to come back into council?’

  ‘Very gladly,’ said Brother Denis, and went out with such indignant alacrity that it was not difficult to read his mind.

  Elave came back into chapter in all innocence, expecting his formal answer and in no doubt what it would be. His alert step and confident face spoke for him. He had no warning of what was to come, even when the abbot spoke up, choosing his words with careful moderation.

  ‘Young sir, there is here some debate concerning your master’s request. It has been said that before he departed on his pilgrimage be had been in some dispute with a priest sent by the archbishop to preach here in Shrewsbury, and had been reproved for certain beliefs he held, which were not altogether in accord with Church doctrine. It is even suggested that his pilgrimage was enjoined upon him almost as penance. Do you know anything of this? It may well be that it never came to your ears at all.’

  Elave’s level brows, thick and russet, darker than his hair, drew together in doubt and bewilderment, but not yet disquiet.

  ‘I knew he had given much thought to some articles of faith, but no more than that. He wanted his pilgrimage. He was growing old but still hearty, there were others and younger could manage here in his stead. He asked me if I would go with him, and I went. There was never any dispute between him and Father Elias that I know of. Father Elias knew him for a good man.’

  ‘The good who go astray into wrong paths do more harm than the evil, who are our open enemies,’ said Canon Gerbert sharply. ‘It is the enemy within who betrays the fortress.’

  Now that, thought Cadfael, rings true of Church thinking. A Seljuk Turk or a Saracen can cut down Christians in battle or throw stray pilgrims into dungeons, and still be tolerated and respected, even if he’s held to be already damned. But if a Christian
steps a little aside in his beliefs he becomes anathema. He had seen it years ago in the east, in the admittedly beleaguered Christian churches. Hardpressed by enemies, it was on their own they turned most savagely. Here at home he had never before encountered it, but it might yet come to be as common as in Antioch or Alexandria. Not, however, if Radulfus could rein it in.

  ‘His own priest does not seem to have regarded William as an enemy, either within or without,’ said the abbot mildly. ‘But Deacon Serlo here is about to tell us what he recalls of the contention, and it is only just that you should afterwards speak as to your master’s mind before his death, in assurance that he is worthy to be buried here within the precinct.’

  ‘Speak up!’ said Gerbert as Serlo hesitated, dismayed and unhappy at what he had set in motion. ‘And be precise! On what heads was fault found with the man’s beliefs?’

  ‘There were certain small points at issue,’ Serlo said submissively, ‘as I remember it. Two in particular, besides his doubts concerning the baptism of infants. He had difficulty in comprehending the Trinity…’

  Who does not! thought Cadfael. If it were comprehensible, all these interpreters of the good God would be out of an occupation. And every one of those denies the interpretation set up by every other.

  ‘He said if the first was Father, and the second Son, how could they be co-eternal and co-equal? And as to the Spirit, he could not see how it could be equal with either Father or Son if it emanated from them. Moreover, he saw no need for a third, creation, salvation and all things being complete in Father and Son. Thus the third served only to satisfy the vision of those who think in threes, as the song-makers and the soothsayers do, and all those who deal with enchantment.’

  ‘He said that of the Church?’ Gerbert’s countenance was stiff and brow black.

  ‘Not of the Church, no, that I do not believe he ever said. And the Trinity is a most high mystery, many have difficulty with it.’