'The Town House' (1) - Martin Reed's Tale Quiz

Answer: the serfs rose up against their masters

According to the opening paragraph of the book, men from Kent actually marched to London to speak to the King, and were fooled by promises; freedom was not to come for a long time, "So, when I was born in the autumn of that year, I was born a serf, as much the property of my Lord Bowdegrave as the horse he rode, and of less value; for his horse had an Arab strain, far more rare and precious than my Saxon peasant blood."

Answer: that Kate was too puny to be a smith's wife

Walter's main worry was the old custom of jus primae noctis which gave the lord of the manor the right to take a bride's maidenhood. In preparation for the possibility, Walter did it first, to save his love any pain, and suggested that Kate not beautify herself for the meeting. Lord Bowdegrave decreed that such a delicate specimen would not breed strong sons to become smiths, and pronounced instead that Kate move to his other manor at Abhurst.

Answer: twenty-one pence

Three geese had been bought for the bride-price, at two pence each, and an argument ensued over the way to fairly divide the remaining money as the geese were to be left with Walter's father. However, as Walter left, he remembered how he was leaving his father to an uncertain old age without a working son, and how he had been taught his trade, so he forgave him the unfair sharing of the money.

Answer: there were ghosts haunting the parh

The description the old woman gave them indicated that the ghosts were Roman soldiers, and when they stopped for the night, it was in an abandoned Roman villa, complete with a well - "This was a basin of that same white stone as made the pillars and shaped something like a church font, but one side was higher than the others and had a horse's head carved upon it, the water ran in a clear steady trickle out of the horse's mouth, into the basin."

Answer: dinners, and dole at Christmas and Whitsun

Kate found work in a bake-house and it was her money that fed the pair of them, while Martin paid the rent on a straw-pallet in a packed stable loft from the money he had taken from his home at Rede.

Answer: Squatters Row

Finding his money slowly dwindling away, Martin was delighted to hear about Squatters Row, but when he saw it he knew he had reached the very bottom level of society. Determined not to sink as low, he built a front wall and roof on two of the large buttresses, even allowing a hole in the roof so Kate could build a fire.

Answer: special alms for new mothers regardless of marital status

Leaving their Squatters Row hut every day, Martin and Kate never discovered the free gifts which were handed out by the monks in the Abbey, but when Kate fell pregnant with Stephen she could not work past her seventh month. Learning of the alms, she queued with the others, and when the child was born was told of the Trimble.

This included warm clothing, shoes and plentiful good food for a period of time. The clothing and shoes from the Trimble the family received when Robin was born was sold, but Kate made good use of the first handout.

Answer: half pay

Through a sad twist of fate, Martin was just one of many men who had served their time, and expected to become a journeyman. In his case, however, the Guild did not need to make up an excuse to refuse him his status as he was a foreigner - he had not been born in the area in which he completed his apprenticeship.

Answer: True

It was a time of plenty for the small family. Travelling about the countryside meant that Martin had access to better provisions, and such occasions as the time when he fetched a couple of sewing needles for a farmer's wife and was paid a goose for his trouble.

Answer: right

Brother Sebastian fixed Martin's shoe so he could walk properly again, but the rolling gait he adopted was to prevent his getting a job where his skills could earn a living for him and his family. He was to become one of those who waited at the alms gate along with his neighbours.

Answer: a friar

The couple had not actually got married because they were afraid of being found out and sent back to Lord Bowdegrave at Rede. Once the year and a day in the walled town had gone past (and the law of freedom fulfilled) they had been living as man and wife for that time, and were unable to come forward to get married.

When the friar came to Squatters Row, they saw a chance to get married, and asked the friar to officiate. Unfortunately an accident was to befall the cleric before he was able to perform the ceremony.

Answer: that every citizen who earned over a certain amount had to give alms to a certain percentage

The Abbey had had two easy-going cellarers in succession, so the townspeople were not used to these rules being enforced. People today could identify with the corn monopoly rule, but maybe not the dung. When the Abbey did not enforce this rule, anyone could collect the dung from their animals and use it on their gardens or fields; stables and smithies made a good sideline out of the sale of such. With the law in place again, it meant that every single bit of dung dropped in the town belonged to the Abbey and to use it was a punishable offence, unless one paid the cellarer for it first. What had been a nice little earner for the very poor (in collecting it) and the Guilds (the businesses) was now a criminal offence.

Answer: Martin

Stung by the fact that the Guilds had ruined him, Martin could not sympathise with the richer townsfolk, but he could feel sympathy for the monks at the Abbey. They had provided alms for Kate in her pregnancy, and for himself in his lameness. They provided the Trimble for his family twice, and in all fairness.

In addition to this they cared for him after he had been attacked and kept his shoe in good working order so he could walk more easily.

Answer: No

A travelling man and his bear came to Squatters Row while Martin was incarcerated in the Abbey, and took a fancy both to Kate and to the roofed area of the hut. In a tussle with him a fire was started and Kate perished along with the two children, while Pert Tom burned himself saving Owd Muscovy, his bear.

His burnt hands were enough to convince the residents of Squatters Row of his story of trying to save Kate and the boys, and later to give him a warm home with Martin just outside the town.

Answer: the Abbot

After informing the monks of the planned uprising, Martin was placed in a cell for safe-keeping while word was sent out to the Knights who protected the Abbey. The rebellion was quashed and as a reward, the Abbot gave Martin the land and some money. Unfortunately, when he got back to Squatters Row he found the burnt shell of his little hut, and his family all dead.