maidservant at Trosky castle, of Trosky
“I haul water and scrub the lord's trenchers. If I keep quiet and save every penny, my mother might rest easy.”
Things Joan had written, latest first, with the glosses of her neighbours.
the eve of Whitsun, at Compline
Two more groschen behind the loose stone in the stable. Joan Stone let me have a heel of bread, and a carter dropped a coin in the mud. I only need a little more and the priest will say the Latin over my mother's bones. Let the others fight over worldly things.
Nota scribaeShe spoke so quietly I had to ask her to say the amount thrice.
the Monday after Ascension, at Vespers
Margery is wailing again about the padded jacket she pawned to Gilbert down in the settlement. She fears Tobias the clerk will return from Prague and check the ledgers. I wish she would just scrub the floor. We have our eternal souls to worry about, not winter gear.
the third day of Easter week, at None
Alice and Matilda are at it again over a heavy kitchen cleaver. The noise of Alice chopping meat makes my head wince. The lye soap is eating my knuckles raw, but I offer my suffering to the Lord. Better my hands bleed than my mother stays in that muddy ditch.
If Alice was not as stubborn as a mule, I would have the cleaver I need for the cabbage.
I am quartering mutton for the lord's table. Go use a knife, Matilda.
Nota scribaeShe crossed herself three times while dictating this.
the feast of Saint Gregory, at Prime
The soldiers on the roads make everything dearer, and there are fewer scraps from the upper tables. The rope at the bailey well bit deep into my palms this morning. Still, a penny saved is a step closer to twenty-two groschen. The gravedigger promised he would not raise his price.
Come to the lower kitchen later, I saved you some pottage. You cannot haul water on an empty stomach.
the morrow of Candlemas, at Sext
The ground is frozen hard. When I look out past the village, I think of my mother Margaret wrapped in that ragged blanket in the cold earth without the church's blessing. I will save the coin. I will not stop hauling water until she rests in consecrated ground.
Pray for her soul, I beg you.
Nota scribaeThe girl wept silently the entire time she spoke, staring firmly at the floor stones.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
Eat the bread, girl. You look like a ghost carrying those heavy oak buckets across the yard.