The Cloistered Lady: A historical novel set in Medieval France (The Medieval Ladies Series Book 2) by Mooney Coirle

Author:Mooney, Coirle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2022-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

At Fontevrault, preparations for Christmas involved fasting for the entire month beforehand. One dark morning, Alice and I walked to breakfast as usual, our cold feet crunching on the clotted snow. At the fountain, we lined up to wash our hands in the freezing water. The abbess and nuns droned a lengthy grace, during which we noted the absence of milk and porridge from the boards. We were then told that we’d be expected to dine on just bread and water till Christmas eve! I took the news badly, and even Alice thought the restrictions unduly harsh at a time of year when we needed more nourishment to keep warm. Our only meat, consisting of fish on Fridays, was to be replaced with nettle, or turnip soup. A sting, indeed. I worried that the poor diet would ruin my health.

Unfortunately, my reserve of pheasant ran out around this time, so apart from some nuts and the odd pot of honey, we’d nothing to supplement our diet and often went to bed with growling stomachs. Huddled under our sheepskin, we reminisced about the winter feasts and entertainments at Poitiers, only serving to madden ourselves into even greater hunger.

Alice said she felt purified after the month’s fasting, but I didn’t share her feelings. She told me to consider our good fortune, as, due to the war, half of France was starving. She suggested that, when we went hungry, we were in sympathy with our fellow pilgrims, fellow sufferers. Every night, we prayed fervently to God to preserve us all, but especially to preserve Eleanor. Since Marie’s visit, a terrible fear pervaded us over the sinister fact that no one had set eyes on Eleanor for months.

Not until Christmas eve did the sanctions lift, with dairy reappearing on the boards at breakfast, to our great relief. After, gifts of food and other items sent by generous patrons were dispersed among us. We rejected most of the non-edible, or ornamental items, in favour of the edible, but we did procure some precious beeswax candles to brighten up our apartment. I managed to stow away some cakes of soap and a sage and salt mixture for cleaning my teeth (Alice’s were already blackened beyond repair). That afternoon, Marguerite and Alice amused themselves by making decorations from leftover wool. When it grew too dark to see, they sat up eating ginger cake, listening to myself and Claudine’s chatter.

Claudine was a good-natured little thing, though Alice disapproved of the way she gossiped. In fact, she blamed me for encouraging her, for I was the elder, better educated of the two. Alice couldn’t understand my curiosity. She said Mama had been the same, always wanting to know everything that was going on.

‘I’d just finished making up Lady Mary’s bed,’ said Claudine, ‘so I said to her, I’ve just got two more beds to do now, Lady Sarah’s and Gertrude’s, and I’m off on my holidays. Well, Lady Mary’s face darkened so and she said to Lady Agnes,

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