A Room Full of Bones: A Ruth Galloway Investigation

rather like a cathedral itself. A cathedral of food; that’s Ruth’s kind of worship.
    ‘We know a fair amount thanks to Prior Hugh. He wasthe prior when Augustine was bishop. The prior would have been responsible for the day-to-day running of the cathedral and Hugh left an incredibly detailed account of his work – how many candles were used, what the monks ate, how much was given in alms – all that sort of thing. But he was also a chronicler and he wrote about prominent figures of the times, principally Bishop Augustine.’
    ‘Do we know anything about Augustine’s childhood?’
    ‘Well he … I’m going to call him “he” if that’s OK, it’ll take some time to get used to the other … he came from a relatively humble background. The Smiths weren’t nobility then. They made their money in the 1500s, they were one of the families that got rich from the dissolution of the monasteries, but in the 1300s they were just ordinary craftsmen, guild workers. Augustine’s father was a stonemason. Augustine was an only child, something that was quite unusual then, though he may have had siblings who died in infancy. Now I’m wondering whether there was a son who died and that Augustine in some way assumed his identity.’
    ‘We’ll never know I suppose.’
    ‘I suppose not. Hugh writes a lot about Augustine’s holiness but there are no physical descriptions, no clues about his sexual inclinations.’
    ‘Sounds as if Prior Hugh was quite a fan.’
    ‘He’s almost Augustine’s hagiographer. I think he really felt that Augustine was a saint. There’s a lot about his good works, his visions, his battles with the devil.’
    ‘His battles with the devil?’
    ‘According to Hugh, Bishop Augustine was constantlytormented by the devil. Sometimes in the morning he was black and blue after having tussled with the devil all night. Augustine used to have terrible dreams apparently. His housekeeper used to hear him crying out with pain but no one was allowed to enter his private apartments.’
    ‘Perhaps that was because they would find out his secret,’ suggests Ruth.
    ‘Maybe. Prior Hugh also says that Augustine refused to have a body servant. He sees it as evidence of Augustine’s humility but, of course, there could have been another reason.’
    ‘Is there anything else about Augustine’s private life?’
    ‘Not really. In his will he left money to pay for masses for his soul, nothing else. Prior Hugh mostly writes about Augustine’s spiritual life – the torments, the visions – it’s all quite apocalyptic at times.’
    ‘I heard something about a great snake,’ says Ruth.
    ‘Well, his statue in the cathedral shows Bishop Augustine with his foot on a snake. It was thought to represent the devil, and during one of Augustine’s many exorcisms Hugh reports seeing a huge snake, a “mighty worm”, appear in the sky. Hugh thought it was the devil being vanquished.’
    ‘Have you met Ted from the Field Team? He says there was a curse on the coffin. Whoever opened it would be destroyed by the great serpent.’
    Janet nods. ‘That’s in Hugh’s account. It was always believed that Augustine was buried in the cathedral and there’s a stone with an inscription saying “vex not my bones” and a warning about the snake. But when theyexcavated in the 1830s they found that the vault was empty. No bones at all.’
    ‘Because Augustine was buried in the other church? St Mary’s Outside the Walls?’
    ‘It’s possible. There was a family connection with St Mary’s. Augustine was christened there and it’s thought that his parents were buried in the graveyard. Of course, he might have left instructions to be buried there for precisely this reason, to prevent his body being examined after death.’
    ‘When did Augustine die?’
    ‘In 1362, the year that the great spire was destroyed by fire. Prior Hugh, of course, thought that was another omen. The devil getting his revenge. In fact, the cathedral was in for a rough few years. There was the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 and Augustine’s successor, Bishop Henry Despenser, the so-called “fighting bishop”, led the troops against the peasants.’
    ‘Very charitable.’
    ‘Bishops weren’t necessarily very charitable or even very religious in those days. They were usually the younger sons of great noblemen, only interested in power or money. That’s what makes Bishop Augustine so interesting. He was genuinely spiritual. Of course, we can laugh