The Fletchers

Agnes Fletcher

25, a widow from Norton, head of the Fletchers since 20 October 1353: 15 acres of the empty land, five sheep, a pig and eight hens, no ox and no cow, a few pence put by and five shillings and tenpence owed the steward; her daughter Christina (5), called Kit, and since 7 March a hired man, John Carter of Kingsley, to hold the plough.

House: The Fletchers
Born: about 1328
Age: 25
Daughter: Christina Fletcher
Pastime: stargazing

Who they are

Came to Ambermead in the rain on 20 October 1353 with Kit and what they could carry, and took up 15 acres of the land that has stood empty since the pestilence. Five months on she knows every door, and Alice Warrener was her first real friend here, till the fever took her on 31 March 1354.
A widow since the pestilence took her husband at Norton, the year Kit was born. She kept herself and the girl alone after, and still isn't used to being given things unasked. She pays a kindness back fast, and then lets it be: a neighbor's hand isn't a debt at the steward's.
Wary of strangers: she watches a new face a good while before she gives it more than good day. Kindly once she's sure, and then she'll give away the last of the pottage, or sit up all night with someone else's coughing child, as she did with Amice Warrener in November.
Strong in the arm and quick at the small work of a holding: hens, the pig, the garden, firewood, the spindle in every spare minute. Her hands are raw by evening from the axe and the wet wood.
Has driven the steward's team on her own strips since mid-March, after a winter dreading it. Nobody on the headland laughed, and she's still a little surprised by that.
Says her prayers short and practical, to Our Lady, mostly for Kit and the weather on the barley.

Their life so far

Born about 1329, at the turn of the year. Married at Norton; her husband died in the pestilence of 1349, the year Kit was born.
Her mother Maud is living at Norton. Her elder sister Emma lives at Long Marston, married since December. Her father Nicholas, her sister Beatrice and her brother Richard are dead.
13 October 1353: word came to Ambermead that she and Kit meant to take up one of the empty holdings.
20 October 1353: came from Norton with Kit and took up 15 acres of the vacant land, with six sheep, a pig and six hens.
30 October 1353: saw the steward about hiring a plough team; the old terms stand for another year.
Martinmas 1353: sold two of the sheep, the fodder not being enough for six.
November 1353: lent the Coopers her kneading trough; sat up with little Amice Warrener through her cough while Alice lay hurt from the bough.
2 December 1353: John of Brookfield, an archer home from the French war with nothing left of his pay, slept by her hearth. Kit stared at him all morning.
December 1353: Henry Cooper, then Elena (the smith, as she was then) and Robert Fowler came with their axes and split her firewood unasked. She lent the Coopers a ladder and the Smiths rushes for their floor.
19 December 1353: word came by a carter that Emma had married at Long Marston.
Christmas and after: took pottage up to Alice at the Warreners again and again; Alice hemmed her a coif from her bed and asked nothing back.
2 January 1354: took the Smiths a peck of meal, to square Elena's kindness. 3 January: cut firewood for the Brewers, as promised to Stephen.
6 January 1354: saw the steward about the hire of his ox team at Epiphany; the old terms stand.
January 1354: the sheep pawed the snow for grass all month, and there was no hay to give them.
5 February 1354: went to the steward herself for a hand at the plough; he put it to the lord. 7–8 February: helped the atte Wells with their firewood.
February 1354: took the Brewers' alms at the church door before the whole parish, for Kit's bread, and it stung her. At Candlemas she thought of her mother at Norton carrying her candle.
Late February 1354: sowed barley on her own strips, on stubble no plough had turned; gave the Brewers two days at their sowing (25–26 February) for theirs at hers.
3 March 1354: a day at the Millers' sowing, for theirs. 4 March: took pottage to Joan at the Brewers, coughing herself. Coughed at the axe and the seed bag through early March, and feared most for Kit if she were laid down.
7 March 1354: with no man in the house to hold the plough and no coin for a wage, took on John Carter, 36, of Kingsley, for his keep and a share of the corn at Michaelmas. His father Henry came over for the day on 14 March and slept by her hearth.
14 March 1354 on: drove the steward's team on her own strips, day after day, with John Carter at the plough.
18 and 21 March 1354: gave the Coopers her days at their sowing; the inn, Henry and the mill have all given her days at hers through Lent. 20 March: called on the Millers, as she'd told Peter she would.
24 March 1354: Young Adam and Henry Cooper at her barley; a woman chapman at the inn that night told her Northshire lets its empty holdings to strangers too, and some go home again by Martinmas.
31 March 1354: Alice Warrener died of a fever. The first door in Ambermead that opened to her.
28 March 1354: She put off going up to Alice all through the fever, and got there with pottage only on 28 March.
28 March 1354: Stephen, Joan, Young Adam and Henry all came into her barley, and she owes days she can't square.
28 March 1354: John Carter said he'd sooner hold the plough himself; she took it kindly, and wonders if he means more by it.
28 March 1354: Not a wisp of hay at home, and she fears the common's green won't hold the sheep till the hay's cut.
7 April 1354: Agnes kept meaning to go up to Alice, who hemmed her a coif from her bed and asked nothing back. Alice died first.
7 April 1354: Agnes wants Kit kept out of Jack's way, and means to ask Meg and Amy to take her along to the well.
7 April 1354: Ewes, the lord's wage and the lake all fall on her one pair of feet, and a wage like that buys Kit no cow.
7 April 1354: John Carter sowed her barley through the cold; she thinks him worth keeping, and has let go the hand she asked of the lord.
23 May 1354: Agnes puts pennies by in a box at the hearth, saving toward a cow for Kit by Michaelmas.
23 May 1354: She'll keep her hand off every match until she sees a man who'll take Kit as his own.
23 May 1354: Adam Fisher mended their mattock and asked nothing for it, and she won't forget it.
23 May 1354: She fears the rye won't stretch past harvest, even with the pottage this thin.
4 June 1354: Can't make the poaching fit the steady John Carter; he would carry a load alone and keep his trouble to himself.
4 June 1354: The rye is far down, so the pottage stays thin and she keeps a hard hand on the ladle to reach harvest.
4 June 1354: Means to send Kit to the well only with Amy, holding her wrist the whole way, and to take no match until a steady man will own Kit.
4 June 1354: Is learning the night sky with Roger's help; the stars let her stop adding up the rye for a while.

Pastimes

On a clear night she goes out to the edge of the meadow and looks at the stars until the cold drives her in. She knew the Plough and the Seven Sisters by name; Roger Warrener has started showing her the rest of the sky, and she means to learn it properly. Seeing the Plough over the meadow the night after she first drove a team made her laugh out loud.
Spinning at the door while Kit plays in sight. Her thread used to run lumpy; Elena told her why, Henry showed her the twist, and by mid-March on Elena's spare wheel it was running nearer even.

How they talk

Short and careful with people she doesn't know: "Good day." "I'll manage." Answers a question with a question until she's taken someone's measure.
With Kit: patient, low, firm. "Not with your fists. Say it."
When she's at ease she laughs suddenly and says more than she meant to.
To the steward: every number twice, slowly.
Called: "the Norton widow" by the lane; "Agnes" now by Henry and Cecily, everyone at the inn, and the mill.
Swears: "Mother of God," under her breath.

What she thought lately

John says he'll own the coneys to the steward and take the fine before he'd lie. Another coin out of this house, and I'd still sooner have him honest. Our Lady, let the fine be small.
15 June

Elena warned me about the plough in the fallow, and I thought of the coif Alice hemmed me from her bed and asked nothing for. I've not had a friend like that since.
9 June

Stars out and John beside me, and for a while the steward's slate wasn't between us. Then the bin came back to me anyway.
8 June

The lord's ground is proper kept. Mine lies bare, five acres of it. And there I was all afternoon, selling him my back.
28 May

Back sore from the lord's land and the walk to the Millers after, but I kept my word. I looked at the stars a good while tonight, and for that while I'd stopped adding up the rye.
27 May

Overheard

17 June, midday at the fallow field · Adam Brewer and Agnes Fletcher

Adam: Agnes, you've the look of a woman who's been out since before the bell. Is the fallow breaking as hard as it looks, or is it only the team?

Agnes: Both. The ground's hard as a cart-wheel and the lord's bay gelding keeps stopping at the old bank. John says it's sulking. I say it's sensible.

Adam: You'll get no argument from me on that. Stephen could never get that beast past the bank either. Have you been out at the stars since, or did the plough take the whole of you?

Agnes: Roger showed me Arcturus last night, low over the warren, and the great bird of the north past it. I'd thought the Plough was the whole sky. I mean to know the rest properly before Michaelmas, and I'll not be told I can't.

17 June, midday at the fallow field · Juliana Miller and Agnes Fletcher

Juliana: The plough's dragging on the left side again, Agnes. John Carter's had the team out since first light and the furrows still wander like a drunk man's road. Is the lord's ox going lame, or is it you?

Agnes: Neither, I think. The ground's hard as a threshing floor past the headland, and the wind's been in our faces all morning, so the grist is hard to hold. I've had enough of being told I'm sulking, Juliana. I mean to turn this field right before Michaelmas, and if I'm the one who's wrong then I'll say so at the court myself.

Juliana: Be sure you don't turn it over on the toll alone. Peter's had his hand in my purse all week over the bread sum, and the stones have stood idle since the gale on Tuesday. Nobody wants a plough and a mill both running dry in one summer.

Agnes: No, nobody does. I've decided this much: I'll not go to the steward again over a wage I can't meet. I'll hold the ladle thin, cut what hay the common gives, and drive the strips myself until John's arm gives out. If the village still says I've bitten off more than I can chew by harvest, then they can come and eat the rest of the rye with me.

In the books

5 February 1354 Agnes Fletcher saw the steward about a hand at the plough; he will put it to the lord.
6 January 1354 Agnes Fletcher saw the steward about the hire of his ox team; the old terms stand for another year.
19 December 1353 Word came by a carter on the road that Agnes Fletcher's sister Emma has married at Long Marston.
30 October 1353 Agnes Fletcher saw the steward about hiring a plough team; the old terms stand for another year.
20 October 1353 Agnes Fletcher came from Norton with a daughter, Christina, and took up 15 acres of the vacant land.

The daily round (32 more)

27 May Agnes Fletcher called on the Millers.
25 May Agnes Fletcher went to see Juliana at the Millers.
17 May Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Juliana at the Millers.
10 May Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Robert at the Fishers.
2 May Agnes Fletcher called on the atte Wells.
1 May John Carter and Agnes Fletcher danced together most of the afternoon.
30 April Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Margaret at the Brewers.
22 April Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Alan at the Fishers.
19 April Agnes Fletcher lent the Coopers a spade.
14 April Agnes has seen Kit go to the well with Meg and Amy, and kept Jack off her.
11 April Agnes Fletcher called on the Warreners.
6 April Agnes Fletcher let her ask of the lord drop, John Carter having been taken on.
28 March Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Alice at the Warreners.
27 March Agnes Fletcher took the Brewers a dozen eggs, in return for their kindness.
20 March Agnes Fletcher called on the Millers.
18 March Agnes Fletcher helped the Coopers with their sowing.
5 March Maud Miller took a remedy of herbs to Agnes.
4 March Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Joan at the Brewers.
3 March Agnes Fletcher gave the Millers a day's work at their sowing, in return for their kindness.
26 February Agnes Fletcher gave the Brewers a day's work at their sowing, in return for their kindness.
25 February Agnes Fletcher helped the Brewers with their sowing.
8 February Agnes Fletcher helped the atte Wells with their firewood.
7 February Agnes Fletcher helped the atte Wells with their firewood.
31 January Agnes Fletcher called on the atte Wells.
5 January Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Alice at the Warreners.
2 January Agnes Fletcher took the Smiths a peck of meal, in return for their kindness.
25 December Agnes Fletcher took pottage to Alice at the Warreners.
15 December Agnes Fletcher lent the Smiths a hand of rushes for the floor.
13 December Agnes Fletcher lent the Coopers a ladder.
13 November Agnes Fletcher lent the Coopers their kneading trough.
13 October Word has come that Agnes Fletcher and Christina, from Norton, would take up one of the empty holdings.
7 June Agnes of Thornbury, a minstrel with a fiddle, working the inns between the fairs, and Gilbert of Thornbury, who plays with Agnes, on the pipe, came in from the road and lodged the night at the inn.