Candace ROBB - A Gift of Sanctuary

Taking Owen into Wales has been quite a journey for me, but I found some expert guides who were wonderfully generous with their time. I wish to thank in particular Jeff Davies, Fiona Kelleghan, Nona Rees, Compton Reeves, and the staff of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. I also wish to thank my colleagues on the Internet discussion lists Mediev-l, Chaucer, and H-Albion who were ever ready with advice and suggestions.

Heartfelt thanks to Joyce Gibb for sharing the results of her own research, and for taking time out for long conversations and careful readings; to Lynne Drew for making the long journey out to St Davids and for an inspired edit; to Evan Marshall for a thoughtful edit; to Christie Andersen for proofreading; and to Charlie Robb for maps, photos, travel arrangements and all the myriad assignments he cheerfully accepts throughout the year.

a Goddes half: for Gods sake (middle English)

amobr: a payment, originally to guarantee virginity, payable to a womans lord at marriage

bourdon: a pilgrims staff

butt: a mark or mound for archery practice

certes: certainly, to be sure (middle English)

destrier: a knights war horse

escheat: the reversion of property to a lord on the owners dying without legal heirs one convicted of treason or felony could not pass on his property, hence had no legal heirs

gentilesse: graciousness, with an air of nobility (middle English)

the Law of Hywel Dda: the native law of Wales is known as Hywels Law; it is said that in the tenth century Hywel Dda convened a representative assembly at Whitland, which revised and published the law

littera marachi: letter of the March, an official safe-conduct issued by a lord, acknowledging the man as his own and asking for his judicial immunity to be respected in other lordships

the Marches/Marcher lords: the borders of the kingdom and the lords to whom the King granted jurisdiction over them

mazer: a large wooden cup or bowl, often highly decorated

murder hole: an opening in the floor above, from which something such as hot oil can be dropped on intruders

murrain: literally, a parasitic disease among cattle, but often generalised to any widespread disease among livestock

no fors: does not matter (middle English)

receiver: officer who receives money due; treasurer

redemptio vitae: money in exchange for ones life in a criminal case; the amount varies according to the discretion of the lord and the gravity of the offence

scrip: a small bag, wallet, or satchel

solar: private room on upper level of house

spital: early English word for hospital, later spitalhouse and hospital

tourn: a Marcher lords great court

trencher: a thick slice of brown bread a few days old with a slight hollow in the centre, used as a platter

truck: trade

tun: wooden barrel; bows and arrow sheaves were stowed in wooden tuns for transport

vicar: as a modern vicar is the deputy of the rector, so a vicar choral was a cleric in holy orders acting as the deputy of a canon attached to the cathedral; for a modest annual salary the vicar choral performed his canons duties, attending the various services of the church and singing the liturgy

vintaine: a company of twenty soldiers

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y, and sometimes w. As a vowel, w is pronounced like oo, either short (look) or long (loon). As a consonant before a y, it retains some of its vocalic nature: wee or ooee.

Consonants: no j, k or z, nor is there a soft c (as in cease)

dd: as in teethe, not teeth

f: sounds like a v, as in of

ff: sounds like an f, as in off

ll: sounds like a strongly aspirated hl, or even chl

rh: an aspirated r, or hr

Pulling the hood of his cloak over his comb- and trinket-twisted hair and fastening it against the wind, the old man rode out on to the sands. He was about to nudge his steed to a gallop when the beast shied. Gods grace was upon the man who lay there, that the horse had brought his hoofs down on the bare sand and not on the prostrate form. The old man dismounted to examine this booty of the sea, discovered it was blood, not seaweed that darkened the young mans hair. He glanced round, wary of trespassing on anothers battle ground, but the mist and blowing sand prevented him from seeing far. The roar of the breakers muted the sound of any who might share the beach with him.

The old man crouched beside the one sprawled on his back in the sand and studied him. One blood-encrusted hand still held a dagger. Blood darkened the edge of the mans sleeve anothers blood, for the stains higher up were spatters. A deep thrust into the gut or the chest might cause such a flood. The white-haired man guessed that someone had died this day, at this mans hands. It had not been an easy victory; a bruise on this ones throat already darkened and he bled freely from an almost severed ear. It might well be beyond Brother Samsons skill to repair the latter.

But God had crossed their paths today for a reason. The horse was to carry the wounded man to safety. And the dead man? There was no time to look for him. The man here before him might bleed to death while Dafydd or his retainers searched the sands and the caves, or the others friends might fall upon them. And for all this, he might find no other. No. A search was a waste. Better to attend the living one to whom he had been led.

Grunting as his legs protested straightening, Dafydd whistled for his horse. As the beast crowded near, the white-haired man praised God that his was a short, sturdy Welsh horse and not a destrier. He rearranged the wrapped harp slung beside his saddle, then crouching once more, found the centre of the wounded mans weight and heaved him across his shoulder, eased up, and slid the man across the horses wide back. Taking the reins in hand, the old man nodded to his horse, and the two figures headed down Whitesands towards St Patricks Chapel and the track up on to St Davids Head. The beasts gait grew jerky as he climbed the rocks above the breakers. The injured man moaned, Tangwystl.

Ah. So they had not fought over smuggled treasures, but the love of a woman. Tangwystl. The white-haired man smiled and softly began to sing: