ST. PETER’S FAIR

Ellis Peters

Table of Contents

Teaser

The Eve of the Fair

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

The First Day of the Fair

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

The Second Day of the Fair

Chapter One

Chapter Two

The Third Day of the Fair

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

After the Fair

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

About the Author

The Eve of the Fair

Chapter One

It began at the normal daily chapter in the Benedictine monastery of SaintPeter and Saint Paul, of Shrewsbury, on the thirtieth day of July, in the yearof Our Lord 1139. That day being the eve of Saint Peter ad Vincula, a festivalof solemn and profitable importance to the house that bore his name, theroutine business of the morning meeting had been devoted wholly to the measuresnecessary to its proper celebration, and lesser matters had to wait.

The house, given its full dedication, had two saints, but Saint Paul tendedto be neglected, sometimes even omitted from official documents, or soabbreviated that he almost vanished. Time is money, and clerks find it tediousto inscribe the entire title, perhaps as many as twenty times in one charter.They had had to amend their ways, however, since Abbot Radulfus had taken overthe rudder of this cloistral vessel, for he was a man who brooked no slipshoddealings, and would have all his crew as meticulous as himself.