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02-02-08

12M

p3

Lady Jane and the Black Knight

by

John Maynard

BOOK ONE - THE HOMECOMING

   During Mav of the Year 1193, a Knight of the Realm, Sir Brian de Ville, returned to England after an absence of nearly three years. He had joined the army of King Richard I, who was also known as “The Lionheart”, in the Summer of 1190, on his crusade to The Holy Land.

    Arriving at his family home, situated near the East Coast fishing village of Whitescar in the County of North Yorkshire, Sir Brian is shocked to find Raeburn Castle has been attacked. All his family and some of the household servants have been brutally murdered and left where they fell. Only his betrothed,  Lady Jane Fitzwilliam is missing. She has in fact been kidnapped and is being held prisoner by an imposter called Pacques Dumont, who claims to be a Norman landowner, Sir Roger Leclerc. He and his band of henchmen occupy Helmslow Castle, which lies some fifty miles South  West of Raeburn Castle.

    However, the finding and rescuing of  Lady Jane, will not prove to be an easy task for Sir Brian, who swears an oath of revenge, while becoming known as, the Black Knight.

    During the next two months or so, Sir Brian will pursue various false trails, until finding out where Lady Jane is being held. Having rescued a teenage girl call  Anna Sawdon, whose hamlet has also been attacked and destroyed and who now rides with him. Sir Brian challenges Pacques Dumont to a duel to the death. While being a coward, the latter sends his champion Knight, Sir Oswald Bartlett to fight in his place.

    The clash of arms outside Helmslow Castle, results in Sir Brian emerging victorious, although he is badly wounded. After his recovery in August, followed by the rescue of  Lady Jane, she, Anna Sawdon and himself return to Raeburn Castle and begin to rebuild their lives anew.

 

BOOK TWO - LADY OF RAEBURN CASTLE

   This second book covering the life of Sir Brian de Ville at Raeburn Castle, begins in late August 1193 and deals with a time span of approximately twenty-two years. September will see Sir Brian and Lady Jane Fitzwilliam joined together in marriage. Also in this month, the Carpenter family, who live near the village of Helmslow, which lies some fifty miles to the South West. pay a visit to the Castle.

 

    Early April 1194, an Anna Sawdon gives birth to a son, while in June 1195, two friends of Sir Brian’s from the Crusade appear at the Castle. This will be followed in February 1196 by the birth of Sir Brian’s first daughter Charlotte. While in September 1197, Harriet Blackwell has a rather nasty accident when out riding. During the first week of June 1198, Sir Brian and Lady Jane’s second daughter is born and named Matilda. Only ten months later in April 1199, all England is shocked to learn of the death of King Richard the Lionheart, who is now succeeded as Monarch by his younger brother Prince John.

    Rachel, Sir Brian’s third daughter is born in July 1200, and in May of the following year, a fishing boat from Whitescar is lost at sea with all hands. Sir Brian and Lady Jane’s last daughter, Mary, is born in  November 1202 and in May 1203 a kitchen fire at the Castle causes some damage. September of this same year sees Sir Brian and Lady Jane celebrate ten years of marriage

    All the de Ville family make a trip to York in August 1204 and pay the Moorcroft family a visit. While in the Spring of 1205, a pack of wolves cause a nuisance at Raeburn Castle for a short time.

    Misty weather in October and November 1206, results in a bad winter that year. While in 1207, Sir Brian is forty years old. Harriet Blackwell finally gets married to a shoemaker from the local village of  Whitescar in August 1208. In the coming winter a blizzard hits the area, claiming numerous lives.

    During the Summer of 1210, strange lights are seen in the sky over Raeburn Castle and Whitescar. While in Februarv 1211, Sir Clifford Fitzwilliam passes away. Between May and October 1212, the weather is so hot and dry there gives a shortage of water. Sadly in the Autumn of 1213, Sir Brian’s warhorse, Goliath, dies of old age. The following year in November, sees the death of Lady Dorothy Fitzwilliam and in 1215, King John will sign the Magna Carta.

 

BOOK THREE - LIFE’S MELLOW YEARS

   This third and final narrative concerning Sir Brian de Ville, along with his family and friends who live at Raeburn Castle, some four miles from Whitescar, a fishing village on the East Coast of  North Yorkshire, begins in September 1215 and ends with the death of Sir Brian in December 1238, at the age of seventy-one.

    King John died during October 1216 and was succeeded by the first of the Plantagenet’s, the nine year old boy, King Henry III.

    Charlotte de Ville, the eldest of Sir Brian and Lady Jane’s four daughters, gets married in May 1217. While in August 1218, a travelling fair visits Whitescar. A year later sees a new change of Government and in September 1220, Sir Brian’s second daughter Matilda is joined in marriage.

    Rodney Sawdon is finally recognised as the rightful heir of Raeburn Castle in April 1221. One year later, Sir Brian’s third daughter Rachel also walks down the aisle.

    During May 1223, Anna Sawdon now forty-nine years old, makes friends with an elderly Knight who wants to marry her. In September 1224 Rodney himself falls in love.  The last of the de Ville daughters, Mary, has a surprise for her parents in 1225, while during the following May, foxes run amok in the countryside around Raebum Castle and in the Castle itself.

    November 1227 sees Sir Brian celebrating his sixtieth Birthday. While the following year in October, there is a brutal murder committed on the main road leading from Whitescar up North.

     Only a few months later in March 1229, after a severe winter, the East Coast of North Yorkshire, including Whitescar, suffer a great flood, although the water does not reach as far as Raeburn Castle.

    During the Spring of 1230, Arthur Blackwell decides to leave and see how life is in other places.

    September 1231 sees the death of Eli Coburn the Blacksmith, while during 1232 the young King Henry III, after ten years of tutelage, was eager to enjoy the realities of power.

    A plague of rats brought disease and death to Whitescar and the surrounding area in June 1233, and in 1234 a Civil War threatened the Country. In November 1235, Lady Jane de Ville now, sixty-five years old, was struck down by a mysterious illness from which she was very lucky to recover. During the year 1236, King Henry III married Eleanor of Provence.

    By November 1237, Sir Brian de Ville was quite an old man of seventy, who now liked to sit and reminisce. However, he would live on at Raeburn Castle until his death in December 1238….