'In these days when all men are consumed by greed? Is it not said covetousness was never more attacked nor more seductive? His friends will pressure the king for largesse. And who can hold the k-king to account?'
'God. He has placed the welfare of his people in the king's hands.'
'But kings have other p-priorities,' Brother Edwig said. 'Pray do not misunderstand me, I do not criticize King Henry.'
'That would be unwise.'
'I mean k-kings in general. I know how they throw money to the winds. I have seen for myself how it is wasted on armies, for example.' There was an animated light in his eyes that I had never seen before, an eagerness to talk that made him appear at once more human.
'Have you?' I encouraged him. 'How is that, Brother?'
'My father was an army paymaster, sir. I spent my childhood as a camp-follower while I learned his trade. I was with King Henry's army in the war against France twenty years ago.'
'When the Spanish king deceived him, promising support and then abandoning him?'
He nodded. 'And all done for the sake of g-glory and conquest. I saw the armies rampaging through France, I s-spent my childhood looking at dead soldiers laid out in rows in camp, sir, their bodies going green, prisoners hanged at the g-gate. I was at the siege of Therouanne.'
'Warfare is a terrible thing,' I agreed. 'For all that many say it is noble.'
He nodded vigorously. 'And always the priests moved among the wounded, giving unction, trying to mend what man had torn as-s-sunder. I decided then to become a monk, put my f-figuring skills at the service of the Church.' He smiled again and this time it was a smile with life in it, a wry smile. 'People say I am mean, do they not?'
I shrugged.
'To me, every groat that goes to the Ch-Church is won for God from the sinful world. Can you understand that? It goes to support prayer and charity. But for what we give them the p-poor would have nothing. We have to give alms, because of our faith.'
'And for kings it is a choice, one they may choose not to make?'
'Just so. And the payment we receive for Masses for the dead, sir. It is good in God's eyes, it helps the dead in purgatory and brings merit for the giver.'
'Purgatory again. You believe in it?'
He nodded vigorously. 'It is a real place, sir, we disregard it at the peril of many pains to come. And does it not make sense, that God weighs up our merits and sins and casts us in the balance as I balance my accounts?'
'So God is a great figurer?'
He nodded. 'The greatest of all. Purgatory is real; it lies beneath our feet as we stand. Have you not heard of the great volcanoes in Italy, where purgatory's fires spew out on the land?'
'Do you fear it?'
He nodded slowly. 'I believe we should all fear it.' He paused, collecting himself and eyeing me carefully. 'Forgive me, but the Ten Articles do not deny purgatory.'
'No indeed. What you have said is permissible. And interesting. But were you not also implying just now that the king might not act responsibly in his headship of the Church?'
'I told you, sir, I s-spoke only of kings in general, and I said the Church, not the pope. With respect, m-my views are not heretical.'
'All right. Tell me, with your background in the army, would you know how to use a sword?'
'Such as killed the commissioner?'
I raised my eyebrows.
'I guessed that was how it was done when I heard how the body looked on my return from the estates. I saw enough men beheaded when I was young. But I forswore that world as soon as I reached manhood. I had seen more than enough blood by then.'
'The life of a monk has its drawbacks though, does it not? The vow of celibacy, for example, that must be hard.'
His composure faltered. 'W-what do you mean?'