Lady Elizabeth Hawkwood

When little Elizabeth was just five years old, her mother and baby brother died in childbirth. The baby was born much too early; the cause of what Lord Hamilton swore was 'an unfortunate accident,' what the midwife called 'a nasty fall,' but what the small girl saw as a 'violent push.' Now wifeless and with no male heirs to inherit his estate, Lord Hamilton became more violent, more restless, and less concerned about his estate, much less his daughter. Little Elizabeth was sent to be educated and cared for by the nuns at St. Nicholas' Priory in Ector. The Hamilton estate was placed in the hands of Lord Hamilton's trusted steward, Henry Currie. And James Hamilton sought refuge in sailing the seas - from the far east to the newley discovered lands.

A bright child with an iquisitive mind, Elizabeth was very observant and quick to learn. Although it was not deemed proper for young ladies to learn anything other than music, sewing, and prayers, Elizabeth did learn to read and write had a most insatiable thirst for reading and learning. She was especially interested in the Bible and information on medicine, herbs, and healing. She also developed a hunger for knowledge of God and formed a close relationship with her Heavenly Father. Her study of the Bible and other Christian texts and her close prayer life with God also gave her an understanding of the Holy Spirit, which was beyond what the clergy and the nuns at St. Nicholas practiced. Many times, she was caught in the convent library and was severely punished for reading the books.

At the age of ten, Elizabeth's only close friend, Sarah, became violently ill. The physicians and the clergy had no idea the cause of the malady or how to cure it. Moved with compassion for her friend, Elizabeth began to search the books in the library. The books were sneaked to her room and read at night by the light of candles she was able to take from candlesticks and sconces around the convent during the day. Sneaking out to the wooded area near the convent, Elizabeth was able to identify several plants that some of the books said would help her ill friend. It took several tries and a few more trips to the woods, but, after a few days and much prayer, Sara was remarkably recovered.

Of course, Sarah was grateful to be well and the clergy and physicians seemed somewhat confused - maybe jealous - and, soon, rumors began to surface that this young bright, inquisitive child was not intelligent at all but was, most likely, influenced by the devil himself. A witch to be tried and burned at the stake was hard to prove and would not be an easy "political" endeavor involving the daughter of such a rich and powerful man. It was eventually decided a hearing was definitely the best way to decide Elizabeth's fate; but the girl said nothing - only prayed much and sought God's guidance. The night before the hearing with the Archbishop, who had traveled many miles to St. Nicholas', the clergy were witness to a divine visit of shocking proportions during their private evening meal. The hearing was promptly cancelled and rumors were immediately put to rest.

Recognizing that Elizabeth was a special person, close to God and full of compassion and good works, she was allowed by the church to read and study and more freely pursue her experiments with herbs and plants and medicines. There were, however, those teachers and clergy that resented a young woman learning such things. They resolved that the best way to deter her inquisitiveness was to keep her extremely busy honing "womanly" skills of sewing and embroidery. From this, Elizabeth became a very skilled seamstress, working extremely hard and fast in order to make time to address those studies that fascinated her so much more.

One September afternoon shortly before her fifteenth birthday and while collecting herbs in the woods, she discovered an encampment. As she warily watched from a distance, she noticed that there were four men who appeared to be of noble dress and speech. There were horses, too. Big horses like the one she had seen being ridden by the knight, which had accompanied the Archbishop. A small pavilion had been pitched and one of the men lying under it appeared to be ill.

Unafraid and driven by compassion, Elizabeth boldly walked into the camp, greeted the men and inquired of their companion. Indeed, their companion was very ill and they awaited his death. Elizabeth walked over to the man and set her basket of herbs on the ground. She touched his face, which burned with fever. She looked into his eyes and then, to the men's surprise and shock, she began to examine his body - even looking into his mouth!

She knelt by the young man and prayed. Then, as she continued her prayers, she fetched a cup of hot water from the pot by the fire. She dug into the basket and brought out some leaves and twigs and put them into the cup and stirred it with a twig. After a while, she tasted the brew, deemed it satisfactory, and raised her patient's head and began to pour the warm liquid into his mouth. At first he choked but finally began to swallow. She took part of the cloth that lined her basket and soaked in the cool water that one of the men had brought from the nearby spring. Using the cool damp cloth, she bathed the man's face and body. She made him another cup of tea to drink and then bathed his face and body again with the cool wet cloth.

After several hours, the fever had cooled and her patient slept deeply. Elizabeth informed his companions that there would be no burial and that he would recover. She also told them she would be back on the morrow and left a cup of herb tea for the patient. Elizabeth told no one, not even Sarah, of the young men that camped in the woods. But the next morning, she was back to check on her patient, who was awake and lucid but still very weak. She mixed and measured and brewed and poured, then laughed at the face he made as he drank down all the tea she presented to him.

As the man recovered, Elizabeth learned that these four men had just returned from Spain only to find their home, Bowhill House³, had been destroyed. Although the country was finally at peace, they now had nothing but their armor, their horses, and their honor. It was their hope to gain merit at the king's tournament planned for just after the new year in celebration of a new baby expected by the Enligh king and his bride. A good show at tournament would increase their purse and, perhaps, give these young men a chance to recover their titles and lands. Unfortunately, the contest was several months away and, for now, they had nowhere else to go. So, the four camped in these woods, hunted, and braced for winter while they trained.

Elizabeth visited the camp nearly every day, sometimes two or three times a day, to visit with her new secret friends and was fascinated by the stories they told of the battles. The young men continued to train for contest as William's health improved. As, as her patient recovered and began to gain more strenth, the young men gained the young lady's favor - and her heart.

The young men had no silver or gold but they wished to pay her for her kindness. Elizabeth refused payment saying she could not accept credit for what God had done. But they did give her what she loved most - learning. Elizabeth watched and learned. She learned to shoot a bow and arrow. Then she learned to make bows and arrows. Her grateful patient insisted on presenting her with a dagger as a prize for excellent shooting.

On the morning of her fifteenth birthday, she was summoned to the priory office where she was met by the Archbishop, the prioress, and a solicitor. Word had just reached the Archbishop that the father Elizabeth had not seen in ten years had perished at sea. Now, it seemed that Lord Hamilton's entire estate belonged to his only heir - Elizabeth Hamilton. Oh, but since she was just a young unmarried girl, it would be wise of her to relinquish all claims to such responsibility to the care and supervision of the church. After all, they reasoned, she had been raised by the church and, with no father to arrange payment for her care, nor a proper marriage and certainly no prospects for a husband, it would now become the duty of the church to care for her during the remaining years of her life. Thus, the solicitor placed a stack of papers on the table in front of her and pointed, as the Archbishop demanded she make her mark upon them. Elizabeth was shocked; but, being very much aware that her father's large estate was now hers, she dared not sign her home away! Nor would she so willingly sign away any hope of life and freedom outside the convent and remain a spinster and prisoner dependent upon the mercy of the church.

Quick thinking Elizabeth feigned a spell of swooning and fainting; after all, excused the nuns, this was too much of a shock for such a delicate young lady and business was far beyond her understanding. Elizabeth was allowed to retire to her cot until the morrow, at which time she should be strong enough to pen her name upon the concession papers. Soon, though, Elizabeth escaped her cot and stole to the chapel - and to prayer. She prayed earnestly that God would not purpose her to spend the rest of her life confined here, but still to allow her to be a blessing to others and to be of benefit to Him. She prayed she would not be alone in her life - that God would send her a husband, a good and honorable man, so she could raise a family. She prayed that God would allow her to return to her home. She prayed that she would do much good for God and her fellow man.

Now, as she prayed, the Lord spoke to her and showed her the camp in the woods near the convent. He told her to go to the young men and tell them this trouble. At a little past midnight, Elizabeth quietly slipped to the woods and into the camp. Randall sat near the fire and was the only one awake. He stood and came to Elizabeth when he saw her. She sat with him near the fire and began to tell her story of the mother who died, of living in the convent and being persecuted for her relationship with God and her hunger for knowledge, of her father who was now dead, and of the Archbishop's visit earlier that day. She told him about her hope and prayer of some day leaving the convent, being married to a honorable man and having many children, to be back in the home where she was born, and to make a difference to others and to help ease their suffering.

As he listed to Elizabeth, Randall recalled a vision he had seen just a few weeks earlier. He thought it was just a dream caused by the fever, but he thought about often was reminded of it whenever he prayed. Now, hearing this young woman's story and plea, meaning was given to the vision, an answer was given to his prayers, and a confirmation was given for what God had purposed in his life.

Noticing the strange look on Randall's face, Elizabeth inquired of the cause. She was awed when he told her of his vision and how God had answered his prayers; she began to weep when he told her how both their dilemmas could be solved. Being of a chivalrous nature, this night Randall escorted Elizabeth back to the edge of the woods on her way back to the convent.

Elizabeth feigned another fainting spell just before the next day's noon meal and was again retired to her cot. But, instead of resting, she slipped downstairs and stealthy entered the priory office. She located the papers form the solicitor and slipped them under her shirt. Then she moved behind the desk to the bookcase, which hid the place where valuables were stored. She pushed the bookcase as she had seen the prioress do when she looked back over her shoulder on the day her father left her at the convent; and, when the bookcase moved, she saw several boxes resting on shelves inside the recess. Careful not to disturb the thick layer of dust and cobwebs that covered the boxes, Elizabeth stood on tipped toes to look. She found the one with the Hamilton crest and EH engraved on top and gingerly lifted it from its resting place. She wrapped it in her scarf, closed the bookcase, and very quietly left the room, and the convent, forever.

As they had agreed the previous night, Elizabeth arrived at the camp with only a small bag of clothes, her pouch, and small casket taken from the priory office. The young men had already broken camp and were ready to travel. Elizabeth was lifted up onto the horse behind George. Edward took the metal box and the roll of papers regarding Elizabeth's heritagae and placed them in a bag over his saddle on the smaller horse. Then, the journey began.

The horse's back became increasingly hard under Elizabeth as the small band of travelers crossed the countryside. They continued north, stopping only at night to rest. Although uncomfortable and inconvenient, this was a new and wonderful experience for a young girl raised in a convent.

After three days the travelers looked down into a valley and saw the town of Ilfracombe where they would make provision for travel by sea. Before they began the decent to the town, Elizabeth reached into her pouch and retrieved several of the gold coins she had put in her leather pouch from her metal box. She handed the coins to Randall, remembering that the men had no silver or gold. Randall took the coins with a look of gratitude and understanding.

Inside the Rose and Crane, they sat on a hewn-log bench at a long table. The one rough bench was now worn smoothe by years of service to the inn's patrons. Domnaill requested food and drink for the group from the old woman in the apron who had greeted whem with a broad, toothless, smile. She gave the squires a sporting look and made a rough remark about four young randies traveling with such a young girl - a remark which sparked a roar of laughter from the other patrons. Randall calmly stood and introduced the young lady to the old woman as his wife... Elizabeth Hawkwood.

On returning to her father's estate - now hers - she was greeted at first by skepticism from Henry Currie. But, after she showed him the contents the box from the convent and the small scar on her arm, he welcomed her home with tears and a hearty hug. The old estate steward had heard of the death of James Hamilton but had no grief over the loss of his foul-tempered master.

After the weary travelers were well fed and rested, Currie and Elizabeth spoke together long into the night. The girl was shocked to learn the vastness of the estate she had inherited and very surprised to learn she had a half brother as Harry told her more of her mother and her mother's past. When Harry told her about her father's indescretion and another half brother, James Hamilton on the Isle of Arran, she received another shock. Another surprise came when Currie told her that the brother everyone had thought stillborn was actually alive and being cared for by another of her mother's trusted ladies. This left such a wonder and longing in Elizabeth's heart that she vowed to find her family. And, although she learned she was actually the granddaughter of the Scottish king, Elizabeth deemed finding her brothers more important than finding a place at court.

During the winter months, Elizabeth insisted that the honorable young men who had escourted her home remain there and train. During this time, she learned much about the estate and the accounting books and Currie's abilities and loyalty. She learned that her father had established trade companies during his travels which brought in much revenue. She learned more about the past of both her parents and as much as she could about her half brothers. But, having grown up alone in a far-away convent, Elizabeth desired, more than anything, to have a family and resolved to find her half brothers. Her desire was confided to Currie, and to Randall, Domnaill, William, and George.

In February, word passed throughout the land that a daughter had been born to the English king. ⁴ A tournament to mark the celebration of the event would be held at Easter. Where better to find long-lost brothers than at a tourney where all good nobles of the kingdom would gather. So, Elizabeth and her protectors began their travels in search of her only family.