top of the pile of wood and tied to an upright beam that stood in the middle of the pile. He was now bound hand and foot. The bands were so tight that his extremities were already beginning to turn purple and they ached. His hands were tied above his head so that the ropes would not inadvertently burn and allow him to escape the flames.
A man came forward and placed a lighted torch to the bottom of the pile. The flames started small, but quickly spread along the bottom pieces of wood.
His mind was racing. How had his life come to this point? The heat was now becoming unbearable on his feet and the pain brought his mind back to the present. He could smell an awful odor and realized that it was his shoes.
Chapter One
1434
Stamford, England
The weather was unusually cold today for mid-April. Thick clouds had persisted for several days and a light rain had fallen off and on. The sun had not actually been visible for weeks and clouds such as these could make a person feel trapped beneath a huge blanket of goose down. The rain at times was more of a mist than an actual rain. Several minutes in it without covering rendered a person thoroughly drenched.
The wind came from the northeast across the flat fens. With nothing to stand in its way, the wind seemed to cut clear to the bone, passing through coats and trousers as though they weren’t there. The weather was certainly cold enough for snow and it did seem at times that a late snow might fall.
Most of the streets in the centre of the towne of Stamford were paved with stone, streets away from the centre and roads outside the towne wall were dirt. This persistent wet weather caused the dirt roads to turn to sludge that clung to everything. Boots and trousers were always covered in it, oxen and wagons often got trapped by its sticky fingers.
Stamford sits in the very most southern border of the county Lincolnshire. With possibly as many as 4000 inhabitants (no one seemed quite certain how many people lived there since an official count hadn't been taken since the Domesday book), Stamford was one of the most influential townes in the Midlands. People had been settled in this place since the Romans had ruled this land. And now Stamford was enjoying prominence as a market place. Stamford was also a great place of much religious activity. Although the towne was without a cathedral, the centre of towne boasted great churches such as St. Mary’s, All Saints’, St. George’s, St. John’s, and St. Michael’s. A number of friary’s, nunnery’s and churches, such as St. Martin’s stood without the walls of the towne.
The most prominent structure within the towne walls were the remains of the ancient Norman Castle. No longer occupied, nor needed because of the relative safety that the towne enjoyed, it stood empty, except for the occasional visit by young boys who fancied themselves as heroic knights. Running down into the now-empty moat, over which the draw bridge once stood, they would enter through the main gate of the castle and storm its inner courtyard. There they would do fierce, hand-to-hand battle with an unseen enemy. The young boys fought hard and always drove the imaginary occupants of the castle through the remains of the great hall and up the stairs of the outer castle walls. There the enemy often fell over the side of castle walls to an imaginary death and the besiegers became the occupiers.
The walls of the castle were now crumbling in places. The walls that for centuries had stood immovable against formidable foes were now yielding to more patient adversaries, the combination of time and weather.
In addition to a bustling trade with neighboring townes, Stamford benefited from a healthy trade within its walls. Its streets were constantly busy with the noise of vendors selling their wares from make shift stalls that were erected in the four separate squares. Farmers from without the walls sold vegetables, corn, wheat, and eggs. Tradesman sold cloth, candles, cooking wares, and glass wares. Bakers sold breads, and cakes.
For all of this activity though, Stamford was most widely known for its wool trade. Great numbers of sheep occupied the surrounding countryside and Stamford’s wool and cloth was shipped all over the known world. The centre of the wool trade was Calais, France, under the English Crown since taken from the French in the Hundred Years’