The Road To Jerusalem (48 page)

During his time in the base world Arn had managed to commit three grave sins. First, he had killed two drunken peasants; second, drunk himself, he’d had carnal relations with Katarina; and third, he’d had carnal relations with Cecilia.

Of these three sins the first two had been forgiven so easily and simply that Arn himself had wondered about it. But the third sin, which arose because he had carnal relations with Cecilia as well, the woman he loved and wanted to live with as man and wife forever, had been such a grave sin that he had been excommunicated, dragging her to her own ruin. It was incomprehensible. Killing two men was nothing, and having carnal relations with a woman he didn’t love was nothing. But doing the same thing with a woman he loved above all else on earth, as the Holy Scriptures described love—that was the gravest of sins.

They had sent him the text of the law from the archive at Varnhem, and in the text everything stood clear and inexorable. In the archive were kept only such law texts as the church itself had pushed through, of course; everything else, such as single combat, defamation, and monetary fines if one slew someone else’s thralls or stole someone else’s livestock, were of minor interest to the church.

But the law that Arn had broken was something that the church had fought for and ultimately pushed through. In the text of the marriage act for Western Gotaland it said:

If a man lies with his daughter, the case shall be reported in writing and sent to Rome. If father and son own
the same woman, if two brothers own the same woman,
if two brothers’ sons own the same woman, if mother and
daughter own the same man, if two sisters own the same
man, if two sisters’ daughters own the same man, it is an
abomination.

So it was written. The passage was beautifully printed in Latin while the subsequent translation into the vernacular was written in cursive. Arn had no difficulty recognizing the prohibition, for he knew it had been taken from the Pentateuch of Moses in the Holy Scriptures.

But there were all sorts of senseless and peculiar prohibitions to be found in the Holy Scriptures, and everything that Arn thought he knew about how to interpret such things now fell flat on the ground. That it was abomination if someone lay with his daughter was easy to understand. But it was impossible to comprehend how lying with Katarina once when he was drunk could be considered the same as what he and Cecilia had done together out of love—while physically there might be a resemblance, there was none in spirit.

Arn brooded for a long time over God’s law. He tested his theological reasoning on the regulations from the Old Testament, comparing his crime to similar prohibitions such as wearing clothing of a certain color during the month of mourning or having one’s hair cut in a certain way. But it made no difference and all such ruminations were useless because the same prohibition had been written into the laws of Western Gotaland. He remembered well the respect that his kinsmen had displayed when Judge Karle recited the law regarding slander. There was so little room for interpretation that his own father had been prepared to die as prescribed by law.

But according to this law, he had committed a crime that was equivalent to the abomination of lying with his own daughter.

Yet it was God’s holy church that would judge. And among men of God the thoughts and intentions behind a crime were given different consideration than among the West Goths.

No matter how Arn twisted and turned this question, everything finally came down to what Father Henri would decide. For it was clear that Arn would not be judged by any
ting
; he snorted at the thought of how easily he would be able to defend himself either with a sword or a countless number of Folkung oath-swearers.

He would be judged by God’s holy church, and that meant there was at least a reasonable chance of weighing good against evil. So he hovered between hope and despair.

His hope grew even greater when a brother came to fetch him to a meeting with Archbishop Stephan. Arn had no idea that the archbishop was at Varnhem, and at first he thought that it might have something to do with his own case, since the archbishop had once told Arn that he would always have a friend out there in the other world, a friend who would stand by him, and who was none other than the archbishop himself.

Arn hurried to the arcade where he found Father Henri in his usual place, and to his joy also Archbishop Stephan. He fell to his knees at once to kiss the archbishop’s hand and did not take a seat until he was told to do so.

Yet it was not kindness that Arn saw in the archbishop’s eyes as the prelate studied him for a while in silence. And with that, Arn felt the warmth of his hope swiftly cool.

“These are no small lapses that you have managed during your brief time out there in the base world,” the archbishop began at last. He sounded very stern, and Father Henri sitting next to him did not look at Arn but seemed to be examining his own sandals.

“You know very well,” continued the archbishop in the same stern tone, “that the power of the church must not be intermingled with earthly power. And yet that is just what you have done, and you have now placed me in quite a quandary. With open eyes you did this, and even with some cunning.”

The archbishop paused as if to hear what excuses or explanations the young man might offer. But Arn, who had been completely prepared to take part in a discussion of his carnal sins, now felt utterly bewildered. He didn’t understand what the archbishop was talking about, and he said so, apologizing for his stupidity. The archbishop then heaved a great sigh, but Arn caught the trace of a smile on the face of the venerable man, as if he did indeed believe Arn’s plea of ignorance.

“You can’t have such a short memory that you’ve forgotten that we saw each other not so long ago up in Ostra Aros, can you?” asked the archbishop in a voice that was both agreeable and harsh.

“No, Your Excellency, but I don’t understand how I then should have sinned,” replied Arn uncertainly.

“That’s remarkable!” snorted the archbishop. “You show up with a man in tow who was one of those contenders for the crown who are unfortunately so numerous in this part of the world. You join in his request that I in some way should make haste and practically crown him on the spot. When I then refuse this request, for reasons which you surely knew in advance, what do you do then? You fairly fool the robe off me and leave me standing with my bare rump showing, that’s what you do. And since you are one of us, and will remain so forever, both Father Henri and I have conducted lengthy and sincere deliberations, trying to decide what you were thinking when you acted as you did.”

“I wasn’t thinking about much at all,” Arn replied, since it now began to dawn on him what they were talking about. “As Your Excellency so truly says, I did know that there could be no talk of the church immediately announcing its support of Knut Eriksson. But I found no fault in the fact that Your Excellency himself should present this view of the matter to my friend. And that was what happened.”

“Well, but then, what were you thinking later when you staged the spectacle that caused the stupid crowd outside to believe that I had anointed and crowned the cunning devil?”

“I didn’t understand much of what went on out there,” Arn replied in shame. “We hadn’t talked about what would happen if Your Excellency should refuse to approve Knut Eriksson’s wishes. He thought he was presenting a simple request, and I couldn’t persuade him otherwise, since he felt that he was already king. So I thought that Your Excellency would have to explain the whole matter, just as you did.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” snapped the archbishop, waving his hand impatiently. “You already said that. But now I’m wondering about what happened after I put the scamp in his place!”

“Then he wanted me to ask Your Excellency whether the two of us might have the honor of receiving Holy Communion from Your Excellency in person at the next day’s mass. I found nothing un-Christian in such a request. But I didn’t know that—”

“So the two of you hadn’t talked about that beforehand? You didn’t know a thing about what trickery would follow?” the archbishop interrupted him sternly.

“No, Your Excellency, I didn’t know,” replied Arn, shamefaced. “My friend had not expected that his first request would be refused at once. But the request to receive Holy Communion was not something we had spoken about at all.”

The two older men now looked intently at Arn, who did not avert his eyes or show the least hesitation, since what he’d said was entirely true, as surely as if he were under the oath of confession.

Father Henri cleared his throat lightly and looked up at the archbishop, who met his gaze and nodded in agreement. They had drawn definite conclusions about something they had discussed in advance, that much Arn could see.

“Well, well, my young friend, sometimes you are more than a little childish, I must say,” said the archbishop in a different and much friendlier tone of voice. “You took your sword with you and handed it to me, and you knew that I could do nothing but bless it, and you were both dressed for battle. What was your intention?”

“My sword is sanctified, and I have never broken its oath. I felt pride when I could bear such a sacred sword to Your Excellency. I also thought that you, Your Excellency, would feel the same way, since the sanctification of the sword occurred right here with the Cistercians,” replied Arn.

“And you had no idea how your friend, Knut Eriksson, was going to exploit the occasion?” asked the archbishop with a weary smile, shaking his head at the same time.

“No, Your Excellency, but afterward I did understand—”

“Afterward there was a great commotion all over Svealand!” snapped the archbishop. “The rumors made it look as though I, from my see, had blessed the sword that was supposed to have murdered King Karl Sverkersson, as if I furthermore had blessed Knut Eriksson and practically anointed and crowned him. Since then I haven’t had a peaceful moment, for now all the petty kings and half kings and king pretenders are after me! I’m going to be leaving the country for a while; that’s why I’m here and not for your sake, as you may have thought. However, I believe what you’ve said about everything that happened up in Ostra Aros, and you have my forgiveness.”

Arn fell to his knees before the archbishop and kissed his hand again. He thanked him for showing such forgiving kindness, no matter how undeserved, since ignorance was not a sufficient defense. In a brief moment of happiness Arn imagined that everything was now over, that his sin was not having lain with Cecilia in love but rather that he had sinned by helping Knut Eriksson, who for dishonest purposes had made a fool of the archbishop himself.

But it was not over. When Arn stood up at the archbishop’s kind exhortation and sat down in his place facing the two old friends, he received his judgment.

“Listen to me carefully,” said the archbishop. “Your sins are forgiven with regard to the trick you played on your own archbishop. But you have broken God’s law by having lain with two women who are sisters, and for such a sin, which is abomination, there is no easy grace. It would be normal for us to sentence you to penance for the rest of your life. But we shall show you mercy because we believe that it is the intention of the Lord. Your penance you shall serve for half a lifetime, twenty years, and the same applies to your mistress. You shall serve your penance as a Knight Templar of the Lord, and your name henceforth shall be Arn de Gothia and nothing else. Go now to your penance, and may the Lord guide your steps and your sword, and may His Grace shine upon you. Brother Guilbert will explain everything to you in more detail. I will be leaving now, but we will see each other on the road to Rome, which is where you must go first.”

Arn’s head was spinning. He realized that he had been shown mercy, and yet not. For half a lifetime was longer than he had been alive, and he could not even imagine himself as an old man, at the age of thirty-seven, when his sins would be absolved. He gave Father Henri a look of entreaty though without saying a word, and it seemed as though he could not bring himself to leave before Father Henri had said something to him.

“The road to Jerusalem took many turns in the beginning, my dear, dear Arn,” Father Henri said quietly. “But this was God’s will, of that we are both convinced. Go now in peace!”

When Arn with head bowed and almost staggering had left them, the two men sat there for a long time, becoming entangled in an ever deeper conversation about God’s will. Because it was clear to them both that God’s intention was to send yet another great warrior to His Holy Army.

But what if Knut Eriksson had become king somewhat earlier, and Arn and Cecilia had already been blessed as man and wife? What if Cecilia, who seemed to be as equally good-hearted and childish as Arn, had not visited her sister Katarina? What if Prioress Rikissa had not been of the Sverker clan and had not used her power and great determination to instigate this whole disturbance?

If all this and much else had not happened, God’s Holy Army would have been missing one warrior. On the other hand, the philosopher had already shown that this type of reasoning was never tenable. If this were not so, the archbishop would have been a horse. But God had clearly shown His will, and before His will they must bow.

Brother Guilbert proceeded cautiously with Arn over the next few days as he set about the task of making him understand what now and for a long time to come would be his fate. He did not allow Arn to start talking about his punishment or all that he would have to leave behind; he kept to the practical matters.

Arn would ride with Archbishop Stephan to Rome, but there their ways would part, since the archbishop had things to work out with Pope Alexander
III
, while Arn would report to the castle of the Knights Templar in Rome, which was the largest such castle in the world. That was because it was in Rome that all who sought admittance to the order would be either approved or rejected. Naturally there were many who felt themselves called to fight in God’s Holy Army, not least since they would thereby do penance for all their sins and gain entry to Heaven if they died with sword in hand. Consequently it was only one out of ten aspirants who were accepted after testing.