THE SCENE: A resourceful Saxon named Eopa concocted a bold plan to kill the British King Aurelius… in exchange for thousand pounds of silver.
THE TEXT: “I am familiar with the habits of the people. And I have some knowledge of medical practice. If only you will fulfill what you promise, then I will disguise myself as a Christian and a Briton, I will gain admittance to the King’s presence by pretending to be a doctor, and I will mix for him a potion which will kill him. To enable me to gain an audience more readily I will pretend that I am a monk, as devout as can be and learned in all dogma.” As soon as he had made this suggestion, Paschent came to an agreement with him, confirming on oath what he had already promised. Eopa thereupon shaved off his beard, had his head tonsured, took the habit of a monk and set off for Winchester with a load of pots which he had filled with medicines. As soon as he arrived in the town, he offered his service to the King’s retainers, who received him warmly. No one could have been more welcome than a doctor. Eopa was told to come in and they led him to the King. He promised that he would restore the King to health, if only the latter would swallow his medicines. Eopa was ordered to prepare a draught immediately. He mixed a poison and gave it to the King. Aurelius took it and drained it at a gulp; then he was told by the accursed Ambro to snuggle down under the bed-covering and to go to sleep: this so that the noisome poison could work the more efficaciously. The King immediately obeyed the advice of the man who had betrayed him, and dropped off to sleep, imagining that he was about to recover his health. The poison ran quickly through his veins and the pores of his body; and thus death, which has the trick of sparing no man, came to him while he slept. Meanwhile the accursed traitor slipped away in the crowd and was nowhere to be found in the court.
– Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, 12th Century AD
[Image Credit: Monk Contemplating a Skull by Thomas Couture]
