At the "Sign of the Golden Fleece"

by Emma Leslie

"You have proved yourself wary and careful at York House and other places, but you will need to exercise the same discretion, as my commissioner, to enquire into the condition, revenue, and inmates of the smaller convents and monasteries of the diocese of Oxford. I appoint you to this post as Cardinal Legate," said Wolsey, in answer to the look of dumb amazement with which Miles received his master's news. He could not thank him, for he did not know what to think of such an offer, except that he was wholly unfitted for it, both on account of his youth, and also because he had had no previous training in such work. He, however, managed to say this, after a pause, during which the Cardinal had looked at him with an amused smile.

"As to experience—who has ever dared to interfere with these dirty nests of unclean birds?" said Wolsey. "But if ever the Church is to be reformed, the revenue that now goes to keep a lot of lazy men and women in dirt and idleness, must be used for the founding of schools and colleges. If you are in doubt as to whether these places are as I have described them, read Erasmus's 'Colloquies.' He will tell you something of what a monastic life is in reality, and he ought to know, for he took the vows and spent six years of his life in a monastery, and Erasmus is not a man to speak untruly."

"I have heard, too, that the father of Erasmus was a monk," Miles ventured to say.

"Aye, he was; he had left his girl-wife before our Erasmus was born, to go to Rome in search of learning, and before he got back he heard a false report of the death of his wife; and he went to a monastery to bury his sorrow, and only found out that he had been deceived, and that his wife and son were living, when it was too late. You may judge therefore how Erasmus likes these lazy hooded crows, whom he makes us laugh at, though it is no laughing matter for the Church to have these 'Colloquies' and the praise of folly so widely read as they are, unless she means to set about the cleansing of her houses; and therefore do I send you on this errand, for I know you to be one who has the reform of the Church at heart, though you may not have set about providing a remedy in the wisest fashion. Nov, however, I give you the authority to work for the purification of the Church; and the first step must be in the monasteries and convents, for these are the hot-beds of corruption. Now, having told you so much, I will prepare you for a surprise that may meet you at the outset of your work. I have reason to believe that Mistress Cicely Guildford has been removed from the Franciscan Convent of Greenwich to a smaller house of the same community at Oxford, and it will be the duty of you and your colleague to secure the names of all the inmates of the house, and, wherever it is possible, reduce the number of the inmates by sending back to their friends all who are not fully professed nuns, whether they wish it or not; and if any of those who have taken the vows desire to return to the world, encourage them to do so; and carefully note whether they have given wealth to the community, and in such cases tell them the half of what has been so given shall be returned, unless it has been otherwise disposed of. In this way make as many reductions in each house as you possibly can, and I need not tell you that I shall be glad to hear that Mistress Cicely is your wife."

The Cardinal rarely waited for anyone to speak to him when he was issuing orders, but in this case Miles did not know what to say. The news that this was to be for the rescue of Cicely banished from his mind any reluctance that he might otherwise have felt in undertaking such a task. That he was to have a colleague was also a relief to his mind; and, when later in the day he was introduced to an elderly, benevolent-looking man, Miles was glad that he had not expressed to his master all the reluctance he actually felt in undertaking such a responsible post.

With this grave, elderly man to guide and direct his movements while he acted as secretary and kept the Cardinal informed of all that took place, was a very different matter than being such a missionary himself.

Miles' first care was to write a letter to his sister, and ask her to meet him in Oxford. He had heard that her health had greatly improved during the last year, so that he hoped it would not be impossible for Margery to travel with her maid and one or two of the servants to the principal hostelry in Oxford, whither a messenger had been despatched to secure accommodation for the Cardinal's two commissioners and their servants.

In an ordinary way the monasteries themselves would entertain them in no grudging fashion, but it was scarcely to be expected that such an enquiry as they were about to make would be welcomed by any of the convents, and it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that the commissioners might meet with hard treatment if they accepted the hospitality usually offered to such guests. The Cardinal had therefore bidden both his commissioners to avoid either eating or drinking at these places, and to pay for their lodging, as other travellers did, at the best hostelry they could find.

"If aught of harm befell either of you, I should be compelled to make close enquiry, and this I do not want to do, because if it is possible I want a reform of these religious houses before the people know anything of what is going on. Therefore, I say to you once more, Master Miles: be silent and wary, watchful and quick to take any advantage that may offer, but do nothing to cause an outcry, or draw the attention of people to what you are doing, or my projects may be thwarted, and your hopes blighted so far as Mistress Cicely is concerned."

Saying this, the Cardinal left him to make the final arrangements for their journey, which was a much more elaborate business than when he came up from Oxford as the messenger of Master John Clark, Professor of Cardinal College.