Crispin: The Cross of Lead

During the night, Crispin awakens after hearing a sound. Seeing a light nearby, Crispin creeps towards it. He sees Aycliffe holding a torch and talking to Sir Richard du Brey, whom Crispin does not recognize, in a clearing. Du Brey shows a document to Aycliffe, and Crispin hears them discuss some issue or threat that requires Aycliffe to act immediately.

Spotting Crispin, Aycliffe draws his sword and moves to attack him; Crispin narrowly escapes and runs further into the forest. After Crispin tumbles over a small cliff, Aycliffe loses track of him. Lying there during the rest of the night, Crispin feels that God is punishing him for his sins.

Crispin reviews his life so far. As far as Crispin knows, his father died of the bubonic plague before Crispin was born. Throughout his childhood, Crispin’s peers teased him, and he came to feel that he must be exceptionally sinful. During confessional sessions, Father Quinel counselled him to accept his role as a servant of Lord Furnival, who left for war so long ago that Crispin never saw him. Every day, Crispin and his mother worked together in the fields, or else tended to their animals during the winter. Their wages were barely enough to survive, and their lives continued much the same way until Asta died.

After his night in the forest, Crispin wakes to the sound of the church bell. After offering a prayer, he decides to return home. As he approaches the cottage where he lived with Asta, Crispin sees two officials search the house then demolish and burn it.

Crispin returns to the woods and makes his way to a high rock overlooking the village, including Lord Furnival’s manor house, a mill, the church, the villagers’ houses, and farmland. Crispin reflects that Lord Furnival offers the villagers military protection and religious hope in exchange for their work.

Crispin watches as Aycliffe and du Brey ring the church bells to announce an emergency meeting. After the people assemble, Aycliffe, the du Brey, and Father Quinel address them in turn. Then the congregation enters the church, and the bells ring as if for Mass. Crispin hesitates and prays for guidance.

After a while, the meeting ends, and the people disperse. Seeing Aycliffe and the other officials armed with weapons, Crispin concludes that they are hunting him; he will visit the priest that night.

Crispin hides the rest of the day. Once, a pair of men from the village pass near the tree where he is hiding, and he hears them discuss the charges against Crispin: Aycliffe accused Crispin of stealing money from the manor house. The two men complain about Aycliffe’s heavy taxation and strict punishments.

Crispin waits until late that night to sneak into the village.

Crispin visits Father Quinel at his home attached to the church. After Crispin says that he did not steal from Aycliffe, the priest welcomes him into the church and feeds him. When Crispin explains what he saw and heard in the forest in Chapter 2, Father Quinel tells him that du Brey brought news that Lord Furnival has returned from war, but he is ill and will die soon. He adds that Aycliffe has declared Crispin to be a “wolf’s head,” or a person who is condemned to be killed on sight. Father Quinel reveals that Crispin, who was known only as “Asta’s son” up to this point, was named Crispin when he was baptized, but Asta begged the priest to keep it a secret.

At the priest’s urging, Crispin plans to run away from Stromford. Father Quinel suggests that Crispin hide in the forest for one more day then meet him at Goodwife Peregrine’s house the next night, so he can give him supplies for his journey. Before Crispin leaves, Father Quinel gives him Asta’s lead cross. Crispin, who cannot read, is surprised to learn that his mother could read and write and that the words written on the cross are hers. Crispin returns to the forest, wondering at everything he learned.

Crispin spends the next day foraging in the woods and praying. After dark, he returns to the village. Near the church, a boy named Cerdic tells Crispin that Father Quinel is unable to meet him and invites Crispin to follow him out of the city. Rejecting his invitation, Crispin proceeds to Goodwife Peregrine’s house, and Cerdic follows him. Goodwife Peregrine, an elderly woman known for her magic and her service as a midwife, feeds Crispin and gives him some supplies. She advises him to travel south.

Crispin goes to the church, but Father Quinel is not there. Cerdic convinces Crispin to go west. They pass near the manor house and the mill. As they near the boundary of the village, armed men appear and surround Crispin, who realizes that Cerdic led him into a trap.

Crispin hears Aycliffe command the men to kill him. He runs around the mill and finds himself in the ditch that carries water to turn the mill. As the men search for him, Crispin moves upstream toward the river, but when he sees guards at the crossing, he runs back toward Stromford and heads south. At the south boundary of the village, Crispin finds Father Quinel lying dead on the ground, his throat cut. Horrified, Crispin flees.

As Crispin follows the muddy path that leads south of Stromford, he reasons that Father Quinel’s death must have something to do with him. He soon realizes that he left the bag of food from Goodwife Peregrine behind. Exhausted, he falls to the ground in a wooded area but struggles to sleep until he offers a prayer to Saint Giles.

The next morning, Crispin awakens to see Aycliffe, du Brey, and the bailiff pass on the nearby road. Unsure what to do, Crispin spends the next two days wandering in the woods near the road and scavenging for food. When Crispin sees the bailiff heading back to Stromford alone, he wonders where Aycliffe is. Later, Crispin offers a desperate prayer asking God to end his life and take him to heaven.

On the third morning since leaving Stromford, Crispin wakes to a cover of mist. Arriving at a crossroads, he is shocked to see a dead man hanging from a gallows. Terrified, Crispin wonders if the sight is a sign from God. As he reflects, Crispin finds his will to live restored. He decides to follow the sun westward.

As Crispin walks, the mist vanishes. He passes empty fields and wonders why there are no people around. During the afternoon of the next day, Crispin arrives in an abandoned village, where the buildings ae falling into ruin. Crispin realizes that the inhabitants of the village must have died of the plague a few years prior. Remembering Father Quinel’s teachings, Crispin thinks of the plague as a punishment from God. Searching for food, Crispin enters a cottage, where he encounters a decaying corpse. In horror, Crispin decides to leave the village, but as he passes the church, he hears a voice singing these words: “Ah, dear God, how can this be / That all things wear and waste away!” (60).