A Conspiracy of Wolves

Candace Robb The Owen Archer Series: Book Eleven A CONSPIRACY OF WOLVES 2019

For my readers.

Dramatis Personae

Owen Archer’s and Lucie Wilton’s household

Owen Archer (Captain Archer) – former captain of guard and spy for the Archbishop of York

Lucie Wilton – master apothecary; Owen’s spouse

Gwenllian, Hugh, and Emma – Owen and Lucie’s natural children

Jasper de Melton – Owen and Lucie’s adopted son and Lucie’s apprentice

Dame Philippa – Lucie’s aunt, recently deceased

Kate – Lucie’s housemaid

Lena – the children’s nurse

Alfred and Stephen – former members of archbishop’s guard, Owen’s lieutenants

Tildy – Kate’s sister, formerly Lucie’s housemaid, now wed to the steward of Freythorpe Hadden

The Riverwoman’s household

Magda Digby (aka the Riverwoman) – midwife and healer

Alisoun Ffulford – apprentice to Magda Digby

Rose and Rob – temporary caretakers; Kate’s twin siblings

The Swann household

Bartolf – patriarch, coroner of Galtres

Hoban – merchant, Bartolf’s son

Muriel – Hoban’s spouse

Olyf – Bartolf’s daughter, Adam Tirwhit’s spouse

Joss – servant

Cilla – servant

The Braithwaite household

John and Janet Braithwaite

Paul – son, married to Elaine

Muriel – daughter, Hoban Swann’s spouse

Galbot – Paul Braithwaite’s dog trainer

Alan – servant

Ned – bailiff’s man, temporary servant

The Tirwhit household

Adam Tirwhit – merchant, brother-in-law of Hoban, son-in-law of Bartolf

Olyf – spouse, daughter of Bartolf Swann

Wren – housemaid

The Poole household

Crispin – merchant, former soldier

Euphemia – widow, Crispin’s mother

Eva – servant

Dun – servant

Residents of Galtres

Gerta – daughter of charcoal-burners

Warin – poacher, and his children

Churchmen

Jehannes – Archdeacon of York; Owen’s good friend

Brother Michaelo – former personal secretary to Thoresby

*John Thoresby – former Archbishop of York (deceased)

*Alexander Neville – newly appointed Archbishop of York

Dom Leufrid – secretary to Archbishop Neville

*Abbot William – abbot, St Mary’s Abbey

Brother Oswald – hospitaller, St Mary’s Abbey

York residents

Bess & Tom Merchet – owners of the York Tavern

Old Bede – regular at the York Tavern

Winifrith – Bede’s daughter

George Hempe – city bailiff and merchant, wife Lotta

*Gerard Burnby – coroner for York

Honoria de Staines – owner of a brothel near the Bedern

*John Gisburne – merchant, MP

Royal household

*Geoffrey Chaucer – in York on a mission for Prince Edward; Owen’s friend

Antony of Egypt – member of Prince Edward’s household

* real historical figures

‘Humans are inclined to see our own species as embattled; we are locked in an eternal struggle in which we defend our own “culture” against the elemental, animal forces of “nature.” And for millennia, our fellow apex predator, the wolf, has been forced to serve as a symbolic stand-in for all of nature, red in tooth and claw.’

– Laura D. Gelfand

‘What do folk see when they see a wolf, Bird-eye? The animal? Think again.’

– Magda Digby

1 The Dogs in the Night

York, Autumn 1374