Lady Margaret's Challenge by Victoria Sportelli

Author:Victoria Sportelli
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781952849053
Publisher: Victoria Sportelli
Published: 2020-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

20

An Execution

Two days later the town’s carpenters completed the gallows. The lumber had been stored on the beams of a stable, and some pieces had rotted from rain dripping through the thatched roof. Rotten boards had been replaced with new, green ones. The old gray structure look pock-marked. The men had cut four new foot treads as well as the cross beam that held the noose. The platform also looked mottled, but not the trap door.

Wednesday, after Leoma had been called on by the head priest of Church of the Blessed Mary, Margaret and Leoma had used their time sewing. Thursday afternoon the women were sitting before the fireplace in the inn’s great room with their work in their laps. Father Simeon arrived for the second time that day. He stood before the pair.

“Leoma, I would speak with you.”

Leoma dropped her chin and shook her head. She hugged her brother’s shirt to her chest.

“I want you to change your mind, child. I ask this for your own good.”

Again, Leoma shook her head.

“Father, may I help you?”

Father Simeon frowned at Margaret’s interference, then shrugged his approval. “Convince her to marry the man before they hang him. She can be a wife and a widow the same day. If she is with child, the babe will not be a bastard.”

“Father Simeon, please join us, I want you to hear what I tell her.” After Father dragged a stool to the fireplace and sat so he could see both girls in profile, Margaret began with a question. “Leoma, why is Gytha the richest woman in our village?

After a long silence, Leoma whispered, “Because she makes ale.”

“True, but that is only part of the reason. She is rich because she is a widow.” When Leoma did not speak, Margaret continued. “Think on this, Leoma. When you are a daughter, you are your father’s property. He decides whom you will wed, hands you to your husband, and you are then his property. The children you birth are his; you have no rights, no wealth. Even your dowry is his. When he dies…”

“Go no further!”

“Father, when she arrives at home, one of the other women will tell her why saying no to you was unwise. If you permit me to finish, I believe she will recognize the right in what you propose.” Both discomfited and unhappy, Father Simeon gestured Margaret to continue. “Leoma, when a husband dies, all he possesses becomes his widows’s property, land, house, coin, children. She is then free to live her life as she desires, even live where she wishes. When you are a widow, no one can gainsay you. You make all decisions, rule your children, and do all a man may do. Widows may even go to court to sue for redress. When her eldest son reaches eighteen, he receives two-thirds of what was his father’s wealth. His mother gets one-third plus all the wealth she has made since her husband’s death. If a widow weds again, all she has still remains hers, hers for life.

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