The Fletchers

John Carter

36, hired man to the Fletchers since 7 March 1354: holds the plough and works Agnes Fletcher's fifteen acres for his keep and a share of the corn at Michaelmas. From Kingsley.

House: The Fletchers
Born: about 1317
Age: 36
Pastime: fishing

Who they are

A grown man of thirty-six who owns no land and works another's for his bread. Steady at the plough from first light to dark, and he knows it.
Slow to forgive and quick to feel slighted. He marks who looks down on a hired man, though the list has run shorter than he expected here.
Not ungenerous with his hands: wove hurdles for the Coopers on 13 March to square their help at the sowing, and would rather pay a debt than owe one.
Notices what's short in a house before what's in it: the seed, the coin, the hay.

Their life so far

Born at Kingsley about 1318, son of Henry and Agnes. His mother and his brother Walter died before 1352. His father Henry, 69, lives at Kingsley still.
7 March 1354: came to Ambermead as the Fletchers' hired man, for his keep and a share of the corn, since there was no man in the house to hold the plough and no coin for a wage.
8–12 March 1354: ploughing and sowing the widow's barley strips, firewood, her ewes on the common.
13 March 1354: two hurdles for the Coopers, to pay back Henry's hand at the sowing.
14 March 1354: his father Henry walked over from Kingsley for the day and slept by the Fletchers' hearth.
Mid- to late March 1354: at the plough on the widow's strips with Agnes driving; kept his word to Peter and called at the mill (20 March); Stephen and Joan Brewer, Young Adam and Henry Cooper at the Fletchers' barley beside him.
31 March 1354: Alice Warrener died, and he was on the lord's land that afternoon. He hardly knew her; the widow had carried her pots all winter, and he had no word for that.
2 April 1354: went next door to Cecily Cooper about the bait.
30 March 1354: Stephen and Joan worked the Fletchers' barley with him, Joan talking as if he'd always been there, and at the inn nobody's look went sideways.
30 March 1354: Most days he brings fish from the lake for the widow's board, a pike when he can, and she heard him out on the plough.
30 March 1354: Her five sheep have no hay ground, and even Alan Shepherd still waits on the lord for his.
30 March 1354: Henry Cooper has given the Fletchers more mornings than two hurdles cover; the spade lent next door is a small thing on their side.

Pastimes

The lake, Sundays and middays. Nothing his first weeks; since then roach and perch, a tench, and a fat pike out of the fog on 22 March, all for the widow's board. On 2 April he stepped next door and asked Cecily Cooper how she sets her bait, as he'd meant to; she knows her roach and her worms.

How they talk

Short and flat. Says less than he thinks, and what he does say is plain.
Gives a thing its due and no more: "That'll do." "Near enough." A grumble, when it comes, is about the ground or the weather, never the house.
With Kit: a job to keep her busy. "Count the furrows."
Called: John Carter; "the Fletchers' man" at the inn; "the widow's ploughman" behind his back.
Swears: "Christ's wounds," low, at a stone under the share.

What he thought lately

Court sits Tuesday. When the steward asks about the coneys I'll say yes and name the fine myself. Our Lady, let it be a small one, with the slate owing as it is. Two said they'd come to the fallow and neither did. The share ran well enough alone. A bream or two at dusk, and the board will have them.
26 June

Went over the fire with Agnes, hand in hand. She's the mistress of the holding and I'm the hired man. By rights I'll watch my step. Our Lady, let the hall go light with me.
23 June

Plough all morning, wood after dinner, and the lake at dusk for nothing. My arms are heavy as wet sacks. Bed's the only thing I caught.
21 June

Peter bristled over his grinding at the fallow. I let it lie. A man's mill is his to defend. Roach and perch at dusk, small ones, but the board will have them.
18 June

Agnes fears what the steward will do once the smith's name and mine are read off the roll. By rights I'd own the coneys before I'd lie to him. A fine is a fine, and a lie is a worse debt.
15 June

Overheard

28 June, evening at the home · Agnes Fletcher and John Carter

Agnes: Have you heard what the warrener means to say at the court? Adam Fisher and you, both put to the lord for the coneys. My hands are not steady over it.

John: I heard it from Roger's own mouth at the lake. Two coneys, taken before light. I was there and I won't deny it. Adam was there too, and he's no thief by nature.

Agnes: What will the lord do with you? Will it be a fine? The rye is down to a few bushels and I can't spare a penny toward a fine.

John: Maybe a fine, maybe worse if the steward is hard. I'll go before the court and ask for mercy and say what I did. Pray for a light word, Agnes, as I'll pray to Our Lady.

27 June, midday at the fallow field · Adam Brewer and John Carter

Adam: God speed the plough, John. That's the third furrow you've turned since I came up the bank, and the team's still fresh enough to fight the share.

John: Reins are steady. Lady Mary keep the stone off the next one, or we'll lose a morning to the smith.

Adam: Joan says you were at the bench on Sunday, sitting by the Coopers. I'd have liked to see that. Did Henry let you wear it a bit?

John: I sat at the end, by the door, where a hired man sits. Nobody moved. I'd call that a start, not a welcome. I mean to keep turning up until the hall stops marking me out, come court day too, and hold my tongue over the fines, whatever I think of them.

In the books

23 June 1354 John Carter and Agnes Fletcher leapt the Midsummer fire hand in hand.
10 June 1354 The manor court sat in the hall. Before it: Adam Fisher and John Carter, taken in the lord's wood by night; Beatrice Shepherd against Stephen Brewer, beasts in the corn; Henry Cooper against Thomas atte Well, beasts in the corn. The steward has put it all to the lord.
22 May 1354 Roger Warrener, the lord's warrener, came on Adam Fisher and John Carter at the warren before light, with two coneys out of the lord's warren. They must answer for it at the manor court.

The daily round (13 more)

19 June John Carter took a pike from the lake.
24 May John Carter brought home a good string of fish from the lake.
20 May John Carter lent the Millers a hand of rushes for the floor.
7 May John Carter took a pike from the lake.
1 May John Carter and Agnes Fletcher danced together most of the afternoon.
10 April John Carter lent the Fishers a hand of rushes for the floor.
9 April John Carter called on the Millers.
8 April Henry of Kingsley, John Carter's father, came over for the day and slept by the Fletchers' hearth.
6 April Agnes Fletcher let her ask of the lord drop, John Carter having been taken on.
28 March John Carter lent the Coopers a spade.
14 March Henry of Kingsley, John Carter's father, came over for the day and slept by the Fletchers' hearth.
13 March John Carter made the Coopers a pair of hurdles, in return for their kindness.
7 March With no man in the house to hold the plough and no coin for a wage, the Fletchers took on John Carter, 36, of Kingsley, to hold the plough and work the land, for his keep and a share of the corn at Michaelmas.