Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess

After the snow clears, Toby arrives at Strandborough Castle. He is met by his older cousin, Simon, who will soon be a knight. The castle’s vast courtyard, known as the Bailey, and its imposing tower, the Keep, impress Toby. Simon shows him to his new quarters, a room he shares with three other pages. They sleep on wooden pallets with straw mattresses, similar to his bed at home. Exhausted from the journey, Toby can barely write in his journal before falling asleep.

Toby wakes and meets a fellow page named Mark, who shares his breakfast with Toby. Later, Simon takes him to the Great Hall, where he is welcomed by his Aunt Elizabeth. She explains that his uncle is away with the King but will return in a few days. Toby is then introduced to his cousins Abigail and Beth. His aunt decides that for his first day, the girls will show him around their home, and his formal training as a page will begin the next day.

Toby learns he must now address his uncle and aunt as “My Lord” and “My Lady.” Overwhelmed by all the new rules and customs of castle life, he writes only a brief entry, predicting he will not have time to write in his journal very often.

Aunt Elizabeth explains Toby’s duties as a page, which include running errands, carrying messages, and learning the proper way to serve food at meals. He is also appointed as her personal page, a role Humphrey warns will bring extra scrutiny. When Toby asks if he can go hunting, his aunt does not answer but instead tells him he will soon begin his formal education with the castle Chaplain. She then dismisses him to explore the castle grounds. An illustration depicts Toby walking behind his aunt and holding the end of her cape so that it doesn’t drag on the ground.

While serving his aunt at dinner, a nervous Toby spills a great deal of food. He observes the castle’s complex servant hierarchy and learns that his aunt’s companion, a woman named Isbel, is of noble birth and has her own maid. When Toby questions this, his aunt sharply rebukes him, explaining that many servants come from good families. He is introduced to the Steward, the head of the household servants; the Butler, whose duty is to care for the castle wines and ales; and the Cellarer, who stores the wine under the Butler’s command.

Toby attends his aunt in the Great Chamber, the room where she and his uncle sleep. During the day, she uses it as an office to receive visitors and manage the household. Toby notes that she is very busy because, when his uncle is away, she does all of his work in addition to her own.

Toby meets the Constable, the man in charge of the castle when the Baron and his wife are away. The Constable greets him with a deep sigh, as if already feeling burdened by the boy’s presence. Toby also meets the Reeve, who manages the manor’s lands and is responsible for collecting rent and taxes from the tenants.

Baron John Burgess returns and gives Toby a warm welcome. When Toby immediately asks for a horse and to join a hunt, his uncle advises him to be patient. The Baron explains that Toby will study archery, swordsmanship, and the rules of chivalry, all necessary skills for becoming a squire and an honorable knight.

The castle Chaplain returns to resume his duties, which include leading daily worship, teaching the pages, and writing letters for Aunt Elizabeth. His return means the pages must now rise an hour earlier for Mass, and their formal schooling is about to begin.

Toby begins his schooling alongside the other pages, Abigail, and Beth. The Chaplain teaches them Latin, Scripture, reading, and arithmetic from morning until dusk. Though Toby is already proficient in English, he is new to Latin and finds the lessons tedious.

School remains dull for Toby. The Chaplain catches him whispering to Mark and beats him with a cane, though Toby does not cry out. Mark later jokes that the Chaplain beats them more often in winter because the exertion warms him up in the cold room.

A squire pulls Toby from his Latin lesson with exciting news: His uncle has ordered a boar hunt for Saturday, and Toby will be allowed to join. He rushes to the stables, where the Sergeant-Farrier, who is in charge of the horses, gives him a fine hunting horse named Prancer. Toby rides her across the meadows, gleefully imagining himself leading the chase. An illustration depicts the different types of horses in the Baron’s stables. These include a large and powerful warhorse known as a destrier, a smaller courser ridden during hunts, a gently hackney ridden by a lady, a palfrey ridden by a knight, and a packhorse carrying a load of luggage.

Two other pages, Humphrey and Oliver, tease Toby about his participation in the hunt, pretending they have no interest in such an activity. Toby understands they are only making fun of him because they are jealous of the special privilege he receives for being the Baron’s nephew.

Mark teases Toby for shouting hunting calls in his sleep. Later, in their lessons, Mark is punished for being late by having his fingers placed in a pillory. When Toby laughs, the Chaplain forces him to join Mark in the punishment for an hour. That night, Toby is too excited about the hunt to sleep.

The day of the boar hunt begins with a breakfast much grander than usual, with many noble folk from neighboring manors gathered in the Hall. Toby learns the Baron’s hunting hounds wear bells to frighten the dangerous boar. Once the hunt begins, however, Toby is quickly left behind. He hears the horn signal a successful kill in the distance and regrets that he has missed “the best moment” (28). He eventually finds the hunting party in a clearing, but the beast has already been killed and gutted. Disappointed, he gets lost on his way back to the castle and arrives after dark, missing his supper.

With the Chaplain sick, the pages have a day free from lessons. To distract Toby from his disappointment over the hunt, Mark teaches him to walk on stilts. They sneak out of the castle through a small, unused back door and fashion stilts from forked chestnut branches. Toby finds walking on them difficult and ends the day covered in bruises. An illustration depicts the friends playing with their new stilts. Toby has fallen over, and Mark is laughing.

To escape the cold after lessons, Toby goes to the kitchen. The Cook finds him and, refusing to allow idleness, sets him to work copying recipes. Toby uses scraps of old parchment that must first be scraped clean. He is intrigued by some of the strange recipes, like a salad made with cocks’ combs.

Toby returns to the kitchen and watches the Cook make bread. He learns that the Cook uses barm, a form of yeast, which he gets from the village Brewess, who makes ale for the castle. She skims it from the top of the ale she brews.

The Cook shows Toby the baking process and has him taste the three types of bread made at the castle. Toby enjoys the manchet, a fine white bread for the nobility, and the brown cheat bread eaten by the servants. However, he finds the third type, brom-bread, so disgusting that he spits it out, to the amusement of the kitchen staff. He is humiliated to learn this bread is made from bran and fed only to dogs and horses, and he vows never to return to the kitchen. An illustration portrays the bustling kitchen full of servants kneading bread and preparing vegetables and poultry. Another image captures Toby’s look of disgust as he spits out the brom-bread.

Toby is scheduled to start archery practice at the targets, known as the butts. The Constable, who trains the castle guards, is assigned to supervise his first lesson. The Constable protests, but Toby’s uncle insists on the supervision for safety reasons.

At his first archery practice, Toby is given a yew bow as tall as he is, which takes all his strength to string. He quickly realizes his bow from home was just a toy. He quickly realizes that he’s “the poorest archer in the castle” (37).

Toby notes that he hasn’t written in his journal in over a week because his studies and other work have kept him busy during the daytime when there is enough light for him to write. Toby watches the skilled castle archers practice. He is amazed when one man shoots an arrow completely through a tree trunk thicker than his chest, a feat four other archers then repeat. The first archer then demonstrates his speed by shooting 13 arrows in a single minute, a challenge no one else attempts.

As Toby’s archery improves, the Constable gives him a larger, more powerful bow, making him a poor shot once again. While practicing, he shoots 12 arrows; only four hit the target, but one accidentally kills a sparrow in mid-air. The onlookers cheer, and Toby bows, not admitting it was a fluke. An illustration shows Toby struggling to draw a bow while three adult archers look on in varying degrees of amusement and irritation.

As a joke, the Cook roasts the sparrow Toby shot on a skewer and serves it to him at dinner. The Cook calls it “Sparrow à l’Arrow” (39). Though there is very little meat on the bird, Toby finds that it tastes good.

Toby learns his uncle is preparing for a jousting tournament to be held in six weeks on Saint George’s feast day. He accompanies the Baron to the armory, where craftsmen are making adjustments to his helmet. The furnace heat and the constant, deafening noise of hammering are overwhelming.

Beth sews Toby a new shirt from fine Egyptian cotton. However, the new fabric is stiff and chafes his skin. Humphrey and Oliver mock his discomfort, and Toby finds himself wishing he could wear his old, comfortable linen shirt instead.

Toby and Mark team up to play a game of “knights” against Oliver and Humphrey, with Toby riding on Mark’s back. Their team wins when Oliver falls and gets a bloody nose. Toby feels this is fair retribution for Oliver’s earlier teasing about the new shirt.

While writing in his journal late one night, Toby falls asleep. His candle sets the pages on fire, but Humphrey smells the smoke and extinguishes the flames before they can spread. The next morning, the Chaplain beats Toby for his carelessness. In his entry, Toby also complains that, due to the Church’s dietary rules, they must eat fish instead of meat on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Church festivals.

Toby watches his uncle practice for the upcoming jousts. The Baron gallops toward a wooden ring hanging from a tree, trying to catch it on the tip of his lance. He succeeds five out of 11 times, a display of skill that impresses the onlookers.

The jousts are set to begin the next day. The fields surrounding the castle are now covered with the colorful tents of the visiting knights. The castle guards are placing bets on the winners, and Toby fervently hopes his uncle will be victorious.

The tournament begins on the feast day of Saint George. Toby’s uncle defeats his opponent, Lord Sudbury, by unhorsing him three times. However, on the final pass, the force of the impact also knocks the Baron from his horse and twists his helmet so badly that the visor is jammed shut. He is later found in the armory with his head on an anvil while the Smith works to remove the helmet. A series of illustrations depict the Baron and Lord Sudbury charging at one another on their warhorses while a crowd of spectators and musicians looks on. The last image depicts the Baron huddled over an anvil while the amused Smith performs the delicate operation of removing his helm.

Toby finds that each day of the jousts involves “less sport” and “more boring ceremony” (49). He describes the morning ritual: The knights withdraw to their tents to be armed by squires, then return for a long series of bows, speeches, and formal proclamations by the heralds. By the time the two combatants finally face each other, the boy feels the ensuing excitement is over far too quickly compared to the dull preparations.

On the final day of the jousting, Toby is completely exhausted by the ceremonies and his duty to wait on his aunt all day. His ceremonial hose are uncomfortably tight and hot. He learns that a knight named Gilbert, Earl of Hertford, was mortally wounded in a joust, but Mark casually remarks that such deaths are common.

The day is considered an “Egypty day,” one of two days in a month traditionally believed to be unlucky for starting new things. The Chaplain dismisses this as a pagan superstition, and the Baron publicly agrees. Later, however, Toby overhears his uncle quietly ordering a groom to cancel a journey for that day.

During a lesson, Abigail scratches a message on her wax tablet and passes it to him. The Chaplain seizes it and punishes Toby by requiring him to attend pre-dawn prayers for a week. Toby feels this is deeply unjust, as Abigail initiated the disruption but received no punishment.

A great celebration is held for Toby’s cousin Simon, who, at 21, is formally made a knight. After days of fasting and a night-long prayer vigil, Simon is dressed in his armor in the Bailey. Baron John performs the ceremony by striking him with his sword in a blow called the “colee.” Sir Simon then swears a vow of chivalry and rides around the courtyard to cheers from the crowd before a celebratory feast begins. An illustration captures the moment the Baron delivers the colee. Simon’s shield displays the Burgess family crest, which has two ravens on it.

The region is in the grip of a severe heatwave and drought. The river has fallen to its lowest level in memory, and the section of the castle moat typically used for swimming has turned into a pool of green slime. In the Bailey, men have taken advantage of the dry weather by digging a new well.