The Disorderly Knights Read online

  ACCLAIM FOR

  Dorothy Dunnett’s

  LYMOND CHRONICLES

  “Dorothy Dunnett is one of the greatest talespinners since Dumas … breathlessly exciting.”

  —Cleveland Plain Dealer

  “Dunnett is a name to conjure with. Her work exemplifies the best the genre can offer. It combines the accuracy of exhaustive historical research with a gripping story to give the reader a visceral as well as cerebral understanding of an epoch.”

  —Christian Science Monitor

  “Dorothy Dunnett is a storyteller who could teach Scheherazade a thing or two about suspense, pace and invention.”

  —The New York Times

  “Dunnett evokes the sixteenth century with an amazing richness of allusion and scholarship, while keeping a firm control on an intricately twisting narrative. She has another more unusual quality … an ability to check, her imagination with irony, to mix high romance with wit.”

  —Sunday Times (London)

  “First-rate … suspenseful.… Her hero, in his rococo fashion, is as polished and perceptive as Lord Peter Wimsey and as resourceful as James Bond.”

  —The New York Times Book Review

  “A masterpiece of historical fiction, a pyrotechnic blend of passionate scholarship and high-speed storytelling soaked with the scents and colors and sounds and combustible emotions of sixteenth-century feudal Scotland.”

  —Washington Post Book World

  “With shrewd psychological insight and a rare gift of narrative and descriptive power, Dorothy Dunnett reveals the color, wit, lushness … and turbulent intensity of one of Europe’s greatest eras.”

  —Raleigh News and Observer

  “Detailed research, baroque imagination, staggering dramatic twists, multilingual literary allusion and scenes that can be very funny.”

  —The Times (London)

  “Ingenious and exceptional … its effect brilliant, its pace swift and colorful and its multi-linear plot spirited and absorbing.”

  —Boston Herald

  “A lively, busy narrative that features an energetic hero in whom we find Ivanhoe’s temperate nationalism, D’Artagnan’s fine swordsmanship, and James Bond’s unchivalrous way with women.”

  —The New Yorker

  Dorothy Dunnett

  The

  DISORDERLY

  KNIGHTS

  Dorothy Dunnett was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. She is the author of the Francis Crawford of Lymond novels; the House of Niccolò novels; seven mysteries; King Hereafter, an epic novel about Macbeth; and the text of The Scottish Highlands, a book of photographs by David Paterson, on which she collaborated with her husband, Sir Alastair Dunnett. In 1992, Queen Elizabeth appointed her an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. She died in 2001.

  BOOKS BY

  Dorothy Dunnett

  THE LYMOND CHRONICLES

  The Game of Kings

  Queens’ Play

  The Disorderly Knights

  Pawn in Frankincense

  The Ringed Castle

  Checkmate

  King Hereafter

  Dolly and the Singing Bird (Rum Affair)

  Dolly and the Cookie Bird (Ibiza Surprise)

  Dolly and the Doctor Bird (Operation Nassau)

  Dolly and the Starry Bird (Roman Nights)

  Dolly and the Nanny Bird (Split Code)

  Dolly and the Bird of Paradise (Tropical Issue)

  Moroccan Traffic

  THE HOUSE OF NICCOLÒ

  Niccolò Rising

  The Spring of the Ram

  Race of Scorpions

  Scales of Gold

  The Unicorn Hunt

  To Lie with Lions

  The Scottish Highlands

  (in collaboration with Alastair Dunnett)

  FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, JUNE 1997

  Copyright © 1966 by Dorothy Dunnett

  Copyright renewed 1994 by Dorothy Dunnett

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American

  Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage

  Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally

  published in Great Britain in hardcover by Cassell & Company Ltd.,

  London, and in the United States in hardcover by

  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, in 1966.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Dunnett, Dorothy.

  The disorderly knights / Dorothy Dunnett.

  p. cm.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-76230-6

  I. Title.

  PR6054.U56D57 1997

  823′.914—dc21 96-45599

  Random House Web address: http://www.randomhouse.com/

  v3.1_r1

  In affectionate memory

  of my grandparents Annie and Martin Halliday

  and of my father, Alexander Halliday,

  who was born in Valetta, Malta

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Author

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Foreword

  Author’s Note

  Leading Characters

  Map

  Part One

  THE SALTIRE AND SUPPORTERS

  I: Mother’s Baking (Catslack, October 1548)

  II: Hough Isa (Crailing, May 1549)

  III: Joleta (Flaw Valleys, May 1551)

  Part Two

  THE EIGHT-POINTED CROSS

  I: Sailing Orders (Mediterranean, June/July 1551)

  II: The Tongue of Gabriel (Maltese Archipelago, July 1551)

  III: The Voice of the Prophet (Maltese Archipelago, July 1551)

  IV: The Rape of Galatian (Mdina and Gozo, July 1551)

  V: Hospitallers (Birgu, August 1551)

  VI: God Proposes (Tripoli, August 1551)

  VII: But Allâh Disposes (Tripoli, August 1551)

  VIII: Fried Chicken (The Yoke of the Lord) (Tripoli, August 1551)

  IX: The Invalid Cross (Tripoli, August 1551)

  X: Hospitality (Malta, August 1551)

  Part Three

  THE DOUBLE CROSS

  I: Nettles in Winter (Boghall Castle, October 1551)

  II: The Widdershins Wooing (Midculter Castle, the Same Day)

  III: The Conscience of Philippa (London, October/November 1551)

  IV: The Axe Is Fashioned (St Mary’s, Autumn 1551)

  V: The Hand of Gabriel (St Mary’s and Djerba, 1551/2)

  VI: The Hand on the Axe (St Mary’s, 1551/2)

  VII: The Lusty May (Dumbarton, April/May 1552)

  VIII: The Hot Trodd (The Scottish Border, May 1552)

  IX: Terzetto, Played Without Rests (Flaw Valleys, June 1552)

  X: The Hadden Stank (March Meeting, June/July 1552: Algiers, August 1552)

  XI: The Crown and the Anchor (Falkland Palace and the Kyles of Bute, August 1552)

  XII: The Crown and the Anchorite (Falkland Palace, August 1552)

  XIII: The Axe Is Turned on Itself (Midculter, Flaw Valleys, Boghall, September 1552)

  XIV: The Axe Falls (St Mary’s, September 1552)

  XV: Death of an Illuision (St Mary’s, September 1552)

  XVI: Jerott Chooses His Cross (The Scottish Lowlands, September/October 1552)

  XVII: Gabriel’s Trump (Edinburgh, October 4th, 1552)

  THE LYMOND CHRONICLES

  FOREWORD BY Dorothy Dunnett

  When, a generation ago, I sat down before an old Olivetti typewriter, ran through a sheet of paper, and typed a title, The Game of Kings, I had no notion of changing the course of my life. I wished to explore, within several books, the nature and experiences of a clas
sical hero: a gifted leader whose star-crossed career, disturbing, hilarious, dangerous, I could follow in finest detail for ten years. And I wished to set him in the age of the Renaissance.

  Francis Crawford of Lymond in reality did not exist, and his family, his enemies and his lovers are merely fictitious. The countries in which he practices his arts, and for whom he fights, are, however, real enough. In pursuit of a personal quest, he finds his way—or is driven—across the known world, from the palaces of the Tudor kings and queens of England to the brilliant court of Henry II and Catherine de Medici in France.

  His home, however, is Scotland, where Mary Queen of Scots is a vulnerable child in a country ruled by her mother. It becomes apparent in the course of the story that Lymond, the most articulate and charismatic of men, is vulnerable too, not least because of his feeling for Scotland, and for his estranged family.

  The Game of Kings was my first novel. As Lymond developed in wisdom, so did I. We introduced one another to the world of sixteenth-century Europe, and while he cannot change history, the wars and events which embroil him are real. After the last book of the six had been published, it was hard to accept that nothing more about Francis Crawford could be written, without disturbing the shape and theme of his story. But there was, as it happened, something that could be done: a little manicuring to repair the defects of the original edition as it was rushed out on both sides of the Atlantic. And so here is Lymond returned, in a freshened text which presents him as I first envisaged him, to a different world.

  Author’s Note

  As with the two previous books in this series, The Disorderly Knights is based on fact. The attacks on Malta, Gozo and Tripoli took place in 1551 broadly as related, including the perfidy of the Grand Master, the trick by which Mdina was saved, the weakness of the Governor of Gozo, and the attempt by the Calabrian recruits to blow up the citadel of Tripoli, together with the part played by the French Ambassador in saving the garrison.

  In the last part of the book, the feud between the Scotts and the Kerrs and its climax is authentic also, as was the betrayal of Paris by Cormac O’Connor. The rest is conjecture.

  LEADING CHARACTERS

  All of the following are recorded in history save for the characters distinguished by an asterisk.

  Members of the Noble Order of Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta:

  JUAN DE HOMEDÈS, Grand Master of the Order, 1536–53

  NICHOLAS DURAND DE VILLEGAGNON, Knight of the Order

  *GRAHAM REID MALETT, (Gabriel) Grand Cross of Grace and Hon. Bailiff of the Order

  LEONE STROZZI, Prior of Capua and Commander of the King of France’s Mediterranean fleet

  FRANCIS OF LORRAINE, Grand Prior in France of the Order, and brother of the Scottish Queen Dowager

  *JEROTT BLYTH, of Scotland and Nantes, Knight of the Order

  GALATIAN DE CÉSEL, Knight of the Order and Governor of Gozo

  NICHOLAS UPTON, Turcopilier or Officer of the English Tongue within the Order

  SERVING BROTHER DES ROCHES, of the Châtelet, Tripoli

  MICHEL DE SEURRE, Sieur de Lumigny, Knight of the Order

  BAILIFF GEORGE ADORNE, Knight of the Order and Governor of Mdina

  MARSHAL GASPARD DE VALLIER, Knight of the Order and Governor of Tripoli

  SIR JAMES SANDILANDS OF CALDER, Preceptor-General of the House of Torphichen of the Order in Scotland

  Other French, or in the French Service:

  ANNE DE MONTMORENCY, Marshal, Grand Master and Constable of France

  PIERO STROZZI, Seigneur de Belleville, Count de Languillara, Florentine colonel of infantry under the King of France and brother of Leone Strozzi

  GABRIEL DE LUETZ, Baron et Seigneur d’Aramon et de Valabrègues, French Ambassador to Turkey

  HENRI CLEUTIN, Seigneur d’Oisel et de Villeparisis, French Ambassador and Lieutenant-General to the King of France in Scotland

  NICOLAS DE NICOLAY, Sieur d’Arfeville et de Bel Air, cosmographer to the King of France

  Irish:

  CORMAC O’CONNOR, heir to Brian Faly O’Connor, rebel Irish chieftain against England

  *OONAGH O’DWYER, his former mistress

  GEORGE PARIS, an agent between Ireland and France

  Scots, or Closely Connected with the Scots:

  *FRANCIS CRAWFORD OF LYMOND, Comte de Sevigny

  *RICHARD CRAWFORD, third Baron Culter, his brother

  *SYBILLA, the Dowager Lady Culter, his mother

  *MARIOTTA, Richard’s Irish-born wife

  *KEVIN CRAWFORD, Master of Culter, Richard’s infant son

  SIR WALTER SCOTT OF BUCCLEUCH, Warden of the Middle Marches and Justiciar of Liddesdale

  SIR WILLIAM SCOTT OF KINCURD, Younger of Buccleuch, his heir

  JANET BEATON, Lady of Buccleuch, his wife

  GRIZEL BEATON, Lady (Younger) of Buccleuch, sister to Janet Beaton and wife to Will Scott

  ROBERT BEATON OF CREICH, Captain of Falkland, their brother

  MARY OF GUISE, Queen Mother of Scotland, and mother of the child Mary, Queen of Scots

  SIR PETER CRANSTON OF CRANSTONE Border landowner, neighbour of the Kerrs and the Scotts

  *JOLETA REID MALETT, sister to Sir Graham Reid Malett

  *EVANGELISTA DONATI OF VENICE, Joleta’s governess and duenna

  SIR THOMAS ERSKINE, Master of Erskine, Chief Scots Privy Councillor and Special Ambassador

  MARGARET ERSKINE, née Fleming, his wife

  JENNY, LADY FLEMING, mother to Margaret Erskine, and former mistress to the King of France

  JOHN THOMPSON, (Jockie, Tamsín) sea rover

  HOUGH ISA, a friendly lady open to barter

  English:

  *KATE SOMERVILLE, mistress of Flaw Valleys

  *PHILIPPA, her daughter

  *CHEESE-WAME HENDERSON, their servant

  Turks, or in Turkish Pay:

  DRAGUT RAIS, Anatolian corsair in Turkish service

  SAL AH RAIS, corsair in Turkish service and joint lieutenant with Dragut

  SINAN PASHA OF SMYRNA, General in command of Sultan Suleiman’s expedition

  THE AGA MORAT, Lord of Tagiura and ally of the Sultan Suleiman

  *SALABLANCA, a Moor from Spain enslaved by the Knights

  *GÜZEL, companion to Dragut Rais

  *KEDI, a nurse

  Heralds:

  WILLIAM FLOWER, Chester Herald (England)

  ADAM MACCULLO, Bute Herald (Scotland)

  ROBBIE FORMAN, Ross Herald (Scotland)

  Part One

  THE SALTIRE AND

  SUPPORTERS

  I: Mother’s Baking (Catslack, October 1548)

  II: Hough Isa (Crailing, May 1549)

  III: Joleta (Flaw Valleys, May 1551)

  I

  Mother’s Baking

  (Catslack, October 1548)

  ON the day that his grannie was killed by the English, Sir William Scott the Younger of Buccleuch was at Melrose Abbey, marrying his aunt.

  News of the English attack came towards the end of the ceremony when, by good fortune, young Scott and his aunt Grizel were by all accounts man and wife. There was no bother over priorities. As the congregation hustled out of the church, led by bridegroom and father, and spurred off on the heels of the messenger, the new-made bride and her sister watched them go.

  ‘I’m daft,’ said Grizel Beaton to Janet Beaton, straightening her headdress where her bridegroom’s helmet had knocked it cockeyed. ‘And after five years of it with Will’s father, you should think shame to allow your own sister to marry a Scott. I’ve wed his two empty boots.’

  ‘That you havena,’ said Janet, Lady of Buccleuch, lowering her voice not at all in the presence of two hundred twittering Scott relations as they gazed after their vanishing husbands. ‘They aye remember their boots. It’s their empty nightgowns that get fair monotonous.’

  Being a Beaton, Will Scott’s new wife was riled, but by no means overcome. The war between England and Scotland was in its eighth y
ear and there had been no raid for ten days: it had seemed possible to get married in peace. Creich, her home, was too far away. So Grizel Beaton had chosen to marry at Melrose, with the tarred canvas among the roof beams patching the holes from the last English raid, and the pillars chipped with arquebus shot.

  Duly packed like broccoli into lawn, buckram and plush and ropes of misshapen pearls, she had enjoyed the wedding, and even the cautious clash of plate armour underwriting the hymns. Lord Grey of Wilton with an English army was occupying Roxburgh only twelve miles away, and had twice emerged to plunder and burn the district since October began. If the wedding was wanted at Melrose—and Buccleuch, as Hereditary Bailie of the Abbey lands, had fewer objections than usual to any idea not his own—then the congregation had to come armed, that was all. The Scotts and their allies, the twenty polite Frenchmen from Edinburgh, the Italian commander with the lame leg, had left their men at arms outside with their horses, the plumed helmets lashed to the saddlebows; and if there were a few vacant seats where a man from Hawick or Bedrule had ducked too late ten days before, no one mentioned it.

  For a while, standing next to her jingling bridegroom, her gaze averted from his carroty hair, Grizel had thought the other absentees had escaped his attention. Then, as alto and counter-tenor rang from pillar to pillar, the red head on one side of her leaned towards the unkempt grey one on the other and hissed, ‘Da! Where are the Crawfords?’

  And Buccleuch, the bride saw out of the tail of her eye, sank his head into his shoulders like a bear in its ruff, and said nothing. For by ‘the Crawfords’, Sir William Scott meant not Lord Culter and his wife Mariotta, or even Sybilla, their remarkable mother; but the only man in Scotland Will Scott had ever obeyed without arguing: Francis Crawford of Lymond.