The House of Shadows

both of them and swept through the door. Matthias of Evesham patted Athelstan’s and Cranston’s shoulders as he passed.
    For a while, the friar just sat staring at the wall.
    ‘Do you know, Sir John, one of the great differences between good and evil is that good is so necessary and evil isn’t. Look at those assassins. When did they make the decision to rob and kill their friends? An afternoon? An evening over their cups? And when they did, they planted an evil, a malevolent shrub which took root and spread out to blight so many lives. Yet it was so unnecessary. They never got the treasure, and within a few years they were all rich, powerful knights of the shire.’ He crossed himself quickly. ‘All those hideous deaths for nothing.’
    ‘Come on, Brother.’ Cranston rose to his feet. ‘I’ll treat you to a pie and a blackjack of London ale in the Lamb of God, and we’ll take those two beautiful women for company.’
    ‘Why, Sir John, are you leading me into temptation?’
    ‘No, Brother, just delivering you from evil.’



Author’s Note

    The character of John of Gaunt is, I believe, accurately depicted in this novel. A man of great cunning, Gaunt was regent of the kingdom during the 1380s. The repressive policies of his government did eventually lead to a great revolt and the rebels burned down his beautiful palace at Savoy . A Crusade under Lord Peter of Cyprus did sail into the Mediterranean and meet with varying success, and although the great robbery is a matter of fiction, such outrageous crimes were not uncommon in medieval London . Many of the street scenes and the infringements of the law described in the novel spring directly from primary sources. The role of the Night in Jerusalem characterises the activity of many London taverns, which were often the centre of a great deal of law-breaking. Little wonder that, until the late twentieth century, the taverns, inns and pubs of England were constantly under the close scrutiny of magistrates. The Misericord reflects the myriad confidence tricksters who through the centuries have made London their home, whilst the bounty hunter (true historical characters like Giles of Spain) was as common in medieval England as in the Wild West.
    One final note, about John of Gaunt’s declaration about sea voyages along the west coast of Africa . In the nineteenth century, British troops entered the West African kingdom of the Ashanti and found a jug which had actually been made in London during the fourteenth century (it can still be viewed in the excellent London Museum ). How it got there, of course, is a matter of speculation!