THE RACONTEUR’S REVENGE

Even to this day, many people around the world are intrigued by the British Monarchy and their way of life and not just todays’ monarchy but those in years gone by and… in particular, Tudor England during the turbulent reigns’ of both Henry the eighth and his daughter, Elizabeth the first. These two monarchs are possibly the most talked about royals of all time with countless plays being performed and films being made about their lives and times on the throne of England.

Thankfully for those of us, who have an interest in the life and times these two monarchs, just about everything there was to know about them has been documented time and again and will remain in the annals of history for all time and for all to see including the great divide between the rich and the poor

in Tudor times in England.

In Tudor times, rich people lived in comfort and built fabulous house with stained glass windows and they filled these house with fine furniture and put portraits on their walls. They wore splendid clothes and footwear and the things they left behind, tell us a great deal about them.

The poor on the other hand, well actually we know very little about the poor in Tudor times, other than they were harshly treated and badly beaten if they were found begging. The rich were so offended by beggars that a new law was passed, outlawing begging and so the poor were left starving and hunger and plague took its’ toll on many lives during Tudor times. It is said that more people died from hunger and plague in Tudor times in Britain than in the second world war, however, it was the turbulent religious aspect of this reign, which left its’ mark on the common people. Many were terrified of causing displeasure by going against Queen Elizabeth’s “teachings”.

The rich lived in luxury, ignoring the poor but this did not create the divide one might expect. It was not to be expected that those who were looked down upon would look up to their “betters” or that there should be an overwhelming desire to please those who looked down upon them but that’s how it was for many and as a result a kid of religious mania ensued. There were those who sided with Elizabeth in her views and then there were those who wished to remain as Catholics and live at peace with their fellow men.

Wednesbury in the Tudor times of the 14th century.

Whilst the town of Wednesbury was still a farming community, local people began to mine their own coal and iron, but by these Tudor times, when local landowner William Paget was one of the most prominent men of the kingdom, pottery, metalwork and textiles were made. In the 17th century Wednesbury pottery - 'Wedgbury ware' - was being sold as far afield as Worcester, while white clay from Monway Field was used to make tobacco pipes for that famous import of the Tudor Times.

However, this working wealth was only to be found in the town. There were no wealthy farmers as the landowners who owned the farms would reap the harvests and pay the working farmers a mere pittance. The town and the surrounding villages were full of starving families, too afraid to beg for fear of the severe punishments handed out. It was not unusual to be beaten or stoned to death for begging, such was the intolerance of the rich towards this crime.

There was also the fear and dread of being found to be ungodly, another crime, punishable this time, by death. This story is about the poor people and their fear of religious “mistakes” during the reign of Elizabeth 1.

THE RACONTEUR’S REVENGE

This story of Edna and Jean Claude is based on a story that was gifted to me when I won a Raconteurs competition some years ago and which I have re-written. If you are of a nervous disposition, you might want to sleep with your light on after reading this!

Edna lived in a village, twenty miles from the town of Wednesbury and Edna was one who looked to the good book, the bible, to keep her on the side of the right and mighty. She also harboured the belief that she would be saved, if she identified any non- believers. She was in fact… a religious zealot who had no friends. Most people thought she was just a crazy woman with a bible who spouted threats of fire and brimstone to all who didn’t act as she did, but there were also those who were afraid of her because they knew that her kind of evil usually brought tragedy, and they were right.

Jean Claude was a young storyteller and without doubt, was now the most popular young man in the village, especially with the children. No one actually knew where Jean Claude had come from, or why he had such a strange name. He spoke with an accent and had just appeared one day on his travels but when asked of his background and where he had come from well he would start to tell them a story and they would become so engrossed that they never did get to find out.

Jean Claude could keep the children mesmerised with his wonderful tales and the children would sit at his feet for hours.

Edna on the other hand, tried to tell the children and their parents about her “good book” the bible but they didn’t want to hear her tales of fire and brimstone and damnation and how everything that they did was wrong so when they saw her coming, they would go in the other direction and hide away from her. This made Edna furious, especially because the children would run to Jean Claude when they saw him sit under the huge oak tree in the centre of the village green. They would gather around him and listen intently to his stories.

Edna was fiercely jealous of Jean Claude and began to cast aspersions about him and claimed that his intentions were evil; she called him the Devil’s spawn. She accused him of filling the children’s heads with wickedness and warned the townspeople that they would regret not sending him on his way. She kept up her rants to any who would listen and although most people didn’t, there were those who were afraid of being seen to be ungodly, by ignoring Edna’s warnings. As a result of this, tragedy ensued.

One young farmer’s wife in the village felt sorry for Jean Claude because he had no real home and she allowed him to use a disused barn on the edge of their farm and she would occasionally give him food.

She had more than one good cause to be grateful to Jean Claude because he saved the life of her sow as it was birthing its young so in fact saved the piglets too. As winter approached, the young farmer’s wife asked her husband to give Jean Claude one of the new piglets. Saying he could fatten it up over the next few weeks and it would see him through the winter. This was a very generous gesture and the farmer at first resisted, until his wife reminded him that Jean Claude had saved the sow and so has saved  the piglets too and that he kept the children out of her hair for hours on end and without payment. The farmer relented and gave Jean Claude the piglet.

Jean Claude was delighted to receive such a gift but didn’t think he would be able to kill the little piglet. He called her Vera, he adored her little face and new it would be unlikely that he could kill her, however he had no idea what lay ahead or how he would be tested. The winter winds grew colder and wilder and brought the first falls of snow, Jean Claude was starving and sometimes would dream of seeing Vera as a bacon sandwich, floating past his eyes. He was driven nearly crazy with hunger.

To try to force back his hunger, Jean Claude walked to the village centre and as the snows had cleared, he headed for the oak tree and sat beneath it. Soon the children came to sit around his feet and he began to tell stories however, he was so weak that he looked dazed and often forgot where he was in the story. Edna watched how the children adored Jean Claude and were mesmerised by him and jealousy and envy burned through her cold hard heart. She went off again to try and convince the townsfolk that they should listen to her and the teachings of the bible but no one was interested.

Edna was incensed.

A couple of hours later, Edna heard one of the mothers calling for her children who had not returned from the storytelling and she saw her chance to finally convince the people about Jean Claude’s wickedness. She immediately started to run around the village telling everyone that the children had disappeared with Jean Claude. Those who had previously refused to listen to her ranting were quick to join her, there were children at stake here, and the crowd grew. A quick search was called for but the children were nowhere to be found.

Edna carried on ranting, I mean what did they know of this man, where had he come from was he hunted from his home town what had he done?

Everyone was starting to believe that something evil had happened and they began to get very worked up. Edna convinced them they should go to Jean Claude’s barn, sure that the children would have been taken there. He’ll have killed them by now she was screaming and the people became even more alarmed.

In the meantime, Jean Claude had gone back to his barn feeling sick and starving and seeing the face of Vera float before him, he rushed to get his sharpest knife and cut her throat before he changed his mind. Now no one had ever shown Jean Claude how to butcher a pig so the blood was everywhere and the little pig was screaming. Eventually it was over and Jean Claude lay exhausted on the floor with bits of Vera lying around his feet. He saw her face and couldn’t stand to look at it so he practically crawled outside to bury her head in the earth. He was lying by the mound of freshly dug earth with the sharp knife he had also used to dig he ground and was covered in blood. With the job done, he started to head back into the barn but before he got the chance to do this, there was Edna at the door of the barn with some of the townspeople who had heard the screams of little Vera the piglet behind her. Edna was screaming that they were too late, showing the people the blood splattered mound and with Jean Claude himself covered in blood, they didn’t take much convincing.

At Edna’s insistence, the people dragged Jean Claude off, not listening to his protests to look in the barn and see the remains of Vera, not hearing anything except Edna’s cries to hang him from his precious story tree.

A couple of the men held him and another put a noose around his neck, Jean Claude was hung from the huge oak tree and as he breathed his last breath and… as his feet twitched for the last time, a cry went up from the edge of the crowd where the young farmer’s wife was running towards them with a child held by each hand. She’d found them wandering in the nearby woods and was taking them home. She stared in disbelief as she took in what had happened and then she turned on Edna. Now the crowd turned on Edna and chased her from the village, she was turned away from every farm and every shop in the area and no one would let her buy food from them. She was forced to leave the village so she would be able to buy food and had to walk for mikes every day to find food.

The townspeople cried and the children were inconsolable.

Jean Claude was buried close to his favourite old oak story tree.

It is said that the ghost of Jean Claude plagued Edna and followed her around until she was so scared that she would lock all her doors and windows and bar her door. One night, she heard a noise outside, she was sitting up in bed, reading her beloved bible, facing the door when suddenly it flew open, and right off its hinges and the remains of Jean Claude stepped inside. He was a ghastly, ghostly sight, dry flaking flesh dropping from his bones and his eyes falling from their sockets. Edna tried to scream but not a sound escaped from her lips. She passed out and when she awoke some hours later, she felt the warm liquid on her chest and looked down to see the blood, again she tried to scream and again no sound came, because now Edna had no tongue, she turned to find her bible at her side and saw that it was opened at the page which said… “Speak ye not ill of others, lest ye have your tongue stilled” Edna never spoke again and lived the rest of her life as an outcast and died a broken and shrivelled up old crone.

A plaque on the oak tree tells the tragic story of Jean Claude’s death and gives the warning;

“Speak ye not ill of others, lest ye have your tongue stilled”.

The Raconteur’s Revenge©  Rona Barbour