Crispin

Crispin Jeopardy

Crispin Jeopardy II







Summary/Theme/Characters

Ch. 1: The story takes place in England in 1377
AD. It is about a boy who’s mother just died.
He is very religious (probably Catholic or
Church of England). He and the priest wrap his
mother’s body in a gray shroud. They call the
boy, “Asta’s Son.” They carry her to her grave
and bury her there. As he is leaving, John
Aycliffe (the steward of the manner and a very
mean man) is outside of the cemetery walls.
John tells him that he has to give the ox over to
the manner house to serve as a death tax for his
mother. It upsets the boy, so he runs away into
the nearby forest and trips and hits his head
against a rock. He passes out.


Ch. 2: He wakes up to nighttime in the woods.
He is scared, because he has heard that only
outlaws, hungry wolves, and the Devil and his
minions are out at night. He sees a light and
starts to crawl to it. He sees that it is really John
Aycliffe who is holding a torch walking with
another man. The man gives a letter to John.
While they are talking, the boy moves closer to
hear. They are speaking of a great danger to all
of them. While they are talking, John sees the
boy and draws his sword and begins to run after
him through the woods. The boy becomes
caught in briers, John gets closer and swings his
sword, misses, but cuts him lose from the briers.
Asta’s Son keeps running until he falls off of a
small cliff—he was not hurt. He sees he has
now escaped from Aycliffe. He convinces
himself that God is punishing him. The chapter
ends with him praying.
Ch. 3: He says that he was born in 1363. His
mother had always called him, “Son.” Everyone
in the village had always called him, “Asta’s
Son.” This is because his father had died from
the plague. Your importance and rank, and
name came from the father. Since he had no
father, he existed in shadow with no name. His
mother never remarried. He had no friends. He
lived the live of a shunned, forever cast aside.
His mother and he were both serfs, bound to
Furnival (the Lord of Stromford Village). He
had never seen his Lord, because he was always
fighting wars in France. They lived the poorest
lives. The only time they ate meat was at
Christmas time—occasionally. He believed he
would always live like that until Gabriel
announced the end of time.
Ch. 4: He wakes up in the morning after he has
escaped from John. He heads towards his house,
thinking that the best course of action would be
to act like nothing happened (John always beat
him anyway). When he gets to his house, he
finds the Bailiff and the Reeve with axes and
pikes. The boy watches from afar, as the two
men cut his house down and burn it. The boy
decides he needs to climb up on a rock so he can
see the whole town. He describes the whole
town: the two roads that run through it, the
Manner House, the homes, etc. He says that
everything belongs to Lord Furnival. John
always told him that the people belong to Lord
Furnival as well.
Ch. 5: He is still on the rock, looking at the
village. The town appears normal. He then sees
John and the stranger from the night before
riding their horses to the church. He then hears
the church bells ringing frantically. The whole
village gathers in front of the church. John, the
stranger, and Father Quinel (the boy’s only
friend) all address the group. Father Quinel
brings everyone into the church. The boy says
that he wanted to go and see what it was all
about, but he was scared.
Ch. 6: The people come out of the church and
go back to their homes. The boy decides that he
wants to go and talk with Father Quinel, but as
he looks around he sees the Bailiff come out of
the Manner house with a group of men from the
village (all armed). He realizes that they are a
search party looking for him. He decides that he
will have to visit the priest that night to talk to
him, because that is the only person he trusts.
Right now he must hide from the search party.
Ch. 7: He spends all day hiding from the search
party. He finds out that they are really looking
for him when he overhears, Luke and Matthew
talking as he hid in a tree. Matthew asks Luke if
he thinks that the boy actually stole money from
the Manner House. The boy realizes that this is
what John has told everyone in the village.
Neither Luke nor Matthew believe that he stole
the money, but they have to look for him.
Asta’s Son is hiding all night. After a long
while, he creeps towards the church so he can
talk with Father Quinel.
Are they
going to kill
the boy?
27
-53 Ch.8: He arrives at Father Quinel’s home. He
tells him that he must go to the church, that way
if someone finds them, he can claim sanctuary.
He describes the church (Virgin Mary, Christ on
the cross). The Father gives him some bread to
eat. The boy explains that he didn’t steal any
money and the Father believes him. The person
that Aycliffe met with is named, Sir Richard Du
Brey. Sir Du Brey told the Father that Lord
Fernival was ill and expected to die, he had
returned from the war. The Father tells the boy
that John A. had declared him a “Wolf’s Head,”
which means that he is considered not human.
So, anyone can kill him whenever he is spotted.
The boy asked why. The Father looked stressed.
The boy asked him if it was about his mother.
The Father then tells him that he must leave
now. The Father tells him that the boy was
baptized in a secret ceremony and the name he
was given was, Crispin. Crispin begins to ask
the Father if it has anything to do with his father,
and the Father tells him that he must leave and
go to another town. Father Quinel tells him that
if he can stay there for a year and a day, he will
gain his freedom. He could become a Lord or
King. Crispin doesn’t understand. He tells him
to meet him at Goodwife Peregrine’s (the oldest
person in the village) home the next night
—
ready to leave. He said he would then tell
Crispin about his father. The Father asks him if
he can read or write like his mother could.
Crispin cannot read or write, and did not know
that his mother could. Father Quinel gives
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