Thirty: Of the Priest’s Brother

Before dawn, Robert Hanicotte soothes Guêpe, a prized Arabian, after a nightmare of his priest-brother Matthieu beset by devils that leaves Robert feeling judged and afraid. Outside, plague grief echoes through Avignon. Chafing under Cardinal Pierre Cyriac’s control, Robert longs for beauty, youth, and a life not caged by an aging patron.

With the city thinned by pestilence and shortages, Robert sneaks out for cedar oil for the pope’s feast but finds the market bare. He reflects on better days as Pope Clement’s cubicular and, craving some satisfaction, visits the pope’s second falconer for a hurried tryst before returning to endure the cardinal’s belittling instructions for the evening.

At the Grand Tinel, Robert marvels at the spectacle and notes notable guests: a Valois cousin seated near the pontiff and the young Comte d’Évreux, future king of Navarre. Cardinal Cyriac warns Robert to stay discreet among warrior nobles who would despise his “proclivities.”

Pope Clement addresses the hall, announcing a peace between France and England to unite for a crusade, with ships sailing at Christmas. He then signals a grave turn: plans to recall Sicut Judaeis and sanction violence and dispossession of Jews beginning on St. Martin’s Day, hinting at the word “stag.” As the warriors cheer, Robert is unsettled by the threat to Avignon’s Jews yet feels newly enraptured by Clement’s charisma and the promise of belonging to something grand.