Historical setting: 602 C.E. Returning to the cottage in the Vosges
We leave Luxeuil in the donkey cart with a Luxeuil bird in a box, so we can message Gabe and the others back there. Greg is walking a fast pace just ahead of the cart. I have this letter with me to carry to the Bishop of Metz regarding Greg finding placement in Metz as an écuyer. It was prepared by the overseer of gifts, but this letter was surely read and sealed by the Father. Yet somehow, the seal was set askew so that the letter isn’t closed from my reading because I think the Father wanted me to know what was being said.
It describes an issue of a “commoner” seeking placement for one of his twin sons at the monastery though bringing no other gift than his regular sack of grain.
Reading the letter, I’m reminded that our farm is on the King’s hunting grounds and is not our land but under the authority of the King of Burgundy who sanctioned the monastery. Our family obligation is to the monastery and we already gave our tithe of grain. That is noted in the letter, so at least I’m not portrayed as a hapless beggar. But we do seem to be begging, asking a place for our son. The recommendation is that Gregory, brother to the one seeking placement as a novice monk, be accepted as an apprentice to the bishop’s guard.
“Gregory’s exceptional literacy and his valor, though a commoner himself, would make his service of such value to be worthy of a gift to the community of Luxeuil and thus account for the training of the novice, Gabriel, Gregory’s brother.”
We arrive home and I think Ana is relieved to see I only left one son behind. Greg is brimming with the wonderful news that all their literacy and learning of psalms and gospels is valued outside of our household. He was so proud in watching Gabe’s testing and he tells every detail of the encounter with the teacher who recognized Gabe’s ability, which he also knows to be his own ability.
Simon and Hannah, Haberd and Brandell, listening here are rapt in this story of Gabe’s success. I surely don’t have to prod these children to their lessons anymore. They understand now how it serves them. All this, just as I’m wondering how such education could ever be any use at all for a family of commoners.
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 
Always on the homepage is a way to catch up with the story. Thanks for taking peek at it.
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I haven’t been following the story, but at a glance it seems to be well written and the illustrations, in particular, are charming. Godspeed ✨️
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