Then another incident occurred which set the people murmuring against him once again.
There were two squires, Robert Hauley and John Shakyl, who had leaped into prominence after the battle of Nájara. These two had captured an important nobleman, the Count of Denia, and, after the custom of the day, hoped to make a handsome sum from the adventure. It was, after all, one of the reasons why so many knights went to war and one of the most valuable perquisites of battle was what could be obtained from ransoms. And naturally the higher the rank of the captive, the greater the reward to be expected …
The Count had been released when his son was delivered to the two squires as a hostage; and as all that had happened ten years ago, the boy had now become a young man while the Count was still trying to raise the ransom money.
That autumn a representative of the Count had come to England with part of the ransom in the hope that this would be acceptable and his son released. The two squires, however, having kept their hostage for ten years were not going to accept less than their demand and they refused to parley with him.
It was at this point that the government stepped in and Hauley and Shakyl were ordered to surrender their hostage to the Council. After having waited ten years when they lived in expectation of a very large sum of money, the two squires, rather naturally, refused. As this was construed as contempt of the government and they were accused of making a private prison of their house, they were ordered to be sent to the Tower.
When they knew that they were to be arrested, they told their hostage, Alfonso, what was happening. He was a young man of aristocratic lineage, for Count Denia, who was also the Marquess of Villena, was related to the royal family of Castile – a fact which he never forgot and which the two squires had always respected. Alfonso had always been treated well by them and he had long since ceased to regard himself as a prisoner. He was simply a companion of the young men awaiting the day when he would return to his family.
Robert Hauley put it to him succinctly.
‘Your father will not be released from the need to pay the ransom money. He will just have to pay it to the government instead of to us. Do you think this is fair? All these years you have lived with us and we have become friends. You bear us no grudge. Your father was taken in war and according to custom and on account of his rank we should have had a reward for giving him up.’
Young Alfonso saw the point of this. It was true he had not been unhappy. He had grown fond of both Robert Hauley and John Shakyl, and it seemed to him that if people in very high places were coming into the matter a higher ransom could be demanded.
‘Very soon,’ said Robert, ‘they will come to take us. We shall go to the Tower and you will be the prisoner of the government.’
‘I would prefer to be yours,’ answered Alfonso.
‘Well, I have a plan,’ said Robert, who was the more adventurous of the two squires. ‘We shall be taken to the Tower, but why should you not come with us?’
‘How could that be?’ demanded John Shakyl.
‘We shall tell them that Alfonso has gone. He has escaped. They will think we have hidden him. No matter. Alfonso will come with us to the Tower … as our serving man.’
John Shakyl burst into laughter. ‘What a plan! To deceive them right under their very own noses!’
‘Well, Alfonso, we cannot do it without your consent of course. What say you?’
‘Will they allow you to take a servant with you?’
‘It is the custom. After all we have committed no real crime and we are of good family. They must treat us well.’
‘I agree,’ cried Alfonso. ‘It is a matter of honour. It was you two who captured my father and the ransom should be yours.’
‘I knew you would see it that way, Alfonso,’ cried Robert. ‘Now we will prepare. You will have to adopt a slightly less haughty manner now, you know. You are not of the royal house, remember, but a humble serving man.’
To the two men and the young Alfonso the whole matter was something of a joke; and in due course they were lodged in the Tower where, as Robert had said they would be, they were treated well; but they refused to say anything about the whereabouts of their hostage.
The weeks began to pass. Alfonso enjoyed playing the part of the servant and the whole affair was an amusing adventure. But they were growing restive; and their success so far in deceiving the authorities made them grow bolder and they planned their escape. It was not so difficult. It was not as though they were regarded as important prisoners. A little wine with something in it which could be smuggled into the Tower by a bribe or two and keys taken from the pockets of a guard who had passed into a drunken stupor, and they were free.
They were detected as they passed out of the Tower and the hue and cry went up. They had not planned it that way and it was necessary to decide quickly what should be done. Robert, the most resourceful of the trio, said they must go into Sanctuary at once, otherwise they would be captured and they could be sure that if they were it would not be so easy for them to escape again.
So they went with all haste to Westminster and took sanctuary in the Abbey.
To Sir Alan Buxhull, the Constable of the Tower, who had come to his position through John of Gaunt of whom he was a staunch supporter, it was a reflection on his custodianship that prisoners could escape so easily and he determined to bring them back to the Tower; and even when he heard that they were in the Abbey he decided to follow them there and he set out with Sir Ralf Ferrers, another of John of Gaunt’s men, and armed guards from the Tower.
In the Abbey he talked to them urging them to come out of Sanctuary. Shakyl eventually did emerge because he felt that their case was hopeless, and Sir Alan Buxhull had convinced him that if he would give himself up, he would merely go back to his comfortable room in the Tower and there would be no recriminations.
Robert Hauley was not so easily taken in. He was determined not to come out of Sanctuary and he said so.
‘You cannot harm me here,’ he said. ‘I claim the sanctuary of God’s House.’
‘You are resisting the command of the King and his ministers,’ cried Buxhull.
‘They have been too avaricious and unjust,’ retorted Hauley. ‘We have held the hostage for nigh on ten years. Now you would take him from us.’
The Constable’s patience was running out. He would not be denied. He called to his men. ‘Seize him.’
Hauley attempted to fly before his pursuers and in doing so, ran into the Chapel where Mass was being celebrated.
There was confusion among the startled monks as Robert Hauley ran among them followed by the armed guards. Then one of the guards ran his sword through Hauley’s body and the squire fell dying on the altar steps.
There was a hushed silence in the Abbey then. The monks were staring at the blood-stained body in horror. This was the violation of Sanctuary. The Abbey had been desecrated by murder, and the murderers were the King’s servants.
The matter could not be hushed up, even when it was discovered that the serving man was the son of the Count of Denia.
He was now in the hands of the Government and John Shakyl was released from the Tower for it was hoped that the entire matter would be forgotten.
But it was not forgotten. The Bishop of London was horrified. This was more than a murder of a squire who had defied the Government. He could see in this an attempt to curtail the sanctity of the Church.
Sanctuary had been abused and therefore the laws of the Church had been violated.
There had to be scapegoats.
Sir Alan Buxhull had had no right to bring his armed guards into the Abbey. He and Sir Ralf Ferrers were the offenders. They should be deprived of their posts and made to answer for what they had done.