Page 162 of The Pillars of the Earth
Waleran took some bread with a pale, long-fingered hand like a claw. “I’ve been wondering how long it would take you to reach that conclusion.”
Of course, Waleran would have worked it all out long before William. He was so superior. William would rather not talk to him. But he wanted the bishop’s opinion on a legal point. “The king has never licensed a market in Kingsbridge, has he?”
“To my certain knowledge, no.”
“Then Philip is breaking the law.”
Waleran shrugged his bony, black-draped shoulders. “For what it’s worth, yes.”
Waleran seemed uninterested but William plowed on. “He ought to be stopped.”
Waleran gave a fastidious smile. “You can’t deal with him the way you deal with a serf who’s married off his daughter without permission.”
William reddened: Waleran was referring to one of the sins he had just confessed. “How can you deal with him, then?”
Waleran considered. “Markets are the king’s prerogative. In more peaceful times he would probably handle this himself.”
William gave a scornful laugh. For all his cleverness, Waleran did not know the king as well as William did. “Even in peacetime he wouldn’t thank me for complaining to him about an unlicensed market.”
“Well, then, his deputy, to deal with local matters, is the sheriff of Storing.”
“What can he do?”
“He could bring a writ against the priory in the county court.”
William shook his head. “That’s the last thing I want. The court would impose a fine, the priory would pay it, and the market would continue. It’s almost like giving a license.”
“The trouble is, there are really no grounds for refusing to let Kingsbridge have a market.”
“Yes, there are!” said William indignantly. “It takes trade away from the market at Shiring.”
“Shiring is a full day’s journey from Kingsbridge.”
“People will walk a long way.”
Waleran shrugged again. William realized he shrugged when he disagreed. Waleran said: “Tradition says a man will spend a third of a day walking to the market, a third of a day at the market, and a third of a day walking home. Therefore, a market serves the people within a third of a day’s journey, which is reckoned to be seven miles. If two markets are more than fourteen miles apart, their catchment areas do not overlap. Shiring is twenty miles from Kingsbridge. According to the rule, Kingsbridge is entitled to a market, and the king should grant it.”
“The king does what he likes,” William blustered, but he was bothered. He had not known about this rule. It put Prior Philip in a stronger position.
Waleran said: “Anyway, we won’t be dealing with the king, we’ll be dealing with the sheriff.” He frowned. “The sheriff could just order the priory to desist from holding an unlicensed market.”
“That’s a waste of time,” William said contemptuously. “Who takes any notice of an order that isn’t backed up by a threat?”
“Philip might.”
William did not believe that. “Why would he?”
A mocking smile played around Waleran’s bloodless lips. “I’m not sure I can explain it to you,” he said. “Philip believes that the law should be king.”
“Stupid idea,” said William impatiently. “The king is king.”
“I said you wouldn’t understand.”
Waleran’s knowing air infuriated William. He got up and went to the window. Looking out, he could see, at the top of the nearby hill, the earthworks where Waleran had started to build a castle four years ago. Waleran had hoped to pay for it out of the income from the Shiring earldom. Philip had frustrated his plans, and now the grass had grown back over the mounds of earth, and brambles filled the dry ditch. William recalled that Waleran had hoped to build with stone from the earl of Shiring’s quarry. Now Philip had the quarry. William mused: “If I had my quarry back, I could use it as a surety, and borrow money to raise an army.”
“Then why don’t you take it back?” said Waleran.
William shook his head. “I tried, once.”
