World Without End Page 0,434

complained of money problems."

"He was a hopeless manager."

"He struck me as rather competent."

"He struck a lot of people that way, but he made all the wrong decisions. Right at the start he refused to repair the fulling mill, which would have brought him an income; but he spent money on this palace, which returned him nothing."

"And how have things changed?"

"I've sacked most of the bailiffs and replaced them with younger men who are willing to make changes. I've converted about half the land to grazing, which is easier to manage in these times of labour shortage. The rest I've leased for cash rents with no customary obligations. And we've all benefited from inheritance taxes and from the legacies of people who died without heirs because of the plague. The monastery is now as rich as the nunnery."

"So all the tenants are free?"

"Most. Instead of working one day a week on the demesne farm, and carting the landlord's hay, and folding their sheep on the landlord's field, and all those complicated services, they just pay money. They like it better and it certainly makes our life simpler."

"A lot of landlords - abbots especially - revile that type of tenancy. They say it ruins the peasantry."

Caris shrugged. "What have we lost? The power to impose petty variations, favouring some serfs and persecuting others, keeping them all subservient. Monks and nuns have no business tyrannizing peasants. Farmers know what crops to sow and what they can sell at market. They work better left to themselves."

The bishop looked suspicious. "So you feel the priory can pay for a new tower?"

He had been expecting her to ask him for money, she guessed. "Yes - with some assistance from the town's merchants. And that's where you can help us."

"I thought there must be something."

"I'm not asking you for money. What I want from you is worth more than money."

"I'm intrigued."

"I want to apply to the king for a borough charter." As she said the words, Caris felt her hands begin to shake. She was taken back to the battle she had fought with Godwyn, ten years ago, that had ended in her being accused of witchcraft. The issue then had been the borough charter, and she had nearly died fighting for it. Circumstances now were completely different, but the charter was no less important. She put down her eating knife and clasped her hands together in her lap to keep them still.

"I see," said Henri noncommittally.

Caris swallowed hard and went on. "It's essential for the regeneration of the town's commercial life. For a long time Kingsbridge has been held back by the dead hand of priory rule. Priors are cautious and conservative, and instinctively say no to any change or innovation. Merchants live by change - they're always looking for new ways to make money, or at least the good ones are. If we want the men of Kingsbridge to help pay for our new tower, we must give them the freedom they need to prosper."

"A borough charter."

"The town would have its own court, set its own regulations, and be ruled by a proper guild, rather than the parish guild we have now, which has no real power."

"But would the king grant it?"

"Kings like boroughs, which pay lots of taxes. But, in the past, the prior of Kingsbridge has always opposed a charter."

"You think priors are too conservative."

"Timid."

"Well," said the bishop with a laugh, "timidity is a thing you'll never be accused of."

Caris pressed her point. "I think a charter is essential if we're to build the new tower."

"Yes, I can see that."

"So, do you agree?"

"To the tower, or the charter?"

"They go together."

Henri seemed amused. "Are you making a deal with me, Mother Caris?"

"If you're willing."

"All right. Build me a tower, and I'll help you get a charter."

"No. It has to be the other way around. We need the charter first."

"So I must trust you."

"Is that difficult?"

"To be honest, no."

"Good. Then we're agreed."

"Yes."

Caris leaned forward and looked past Merthin. "Sir Gregory?"

"Yes, Mother Caris?"

She forced herself to be polite to him. "Have you tried this rabbit in sugar gravy? I recommend it."

Gregory accepted the bowl and took some. "Thank you."

Caris said to him: "You will recall that Kingsbridge is not a borough."

"I certainly do." Gregory had used that fact, more than a decade ago, to outmanoeuvre Caris in the royal court in the dispute over the fulling mill.

"The bishop thinks it's time for us to ask the king for