The Devil's Whore s01e03 Episode Script

Have you considered, John? Aye.
Your answer? No.
Why, pray? You would have me sit as a judge at the King's trial.
Others have already agreed.
By whose authority will he be tried? By that of Parliament.
Oliver! This is your Parliament, since you purged it.
Is that not the truth? Aye, sir, for you are Honest John Lilburne.
Let a new Parliament be freely elected, let that Parliament call for the King We waste our breath together, sir.
Then answer me this one thing - if it happen that Charles Stuart be found innocent of the crime will you let him be set free? England will be never be at peace till this matter of the King be settled once for all.
Fare you well.
WAILING Just one more time.
You're nearly there.
Again.
And breath and push Hard, hard! Push, Angelica, push! Yes, yes! CRIES OU Ssh! Ssh! APPLAUSE The court commands the charge be read.
My Lord, in behalf of the Commons of England and of all the people thereof Hold a little.
In behalf of the Commons of England and of all the people thereof, I do accuse Charles Stuart, here present, as a tyrant, traitor and murderer, public and implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England and man of blood! LAUGHS God save the King! God save the King! -God save the King! -Sir we would have your answer.
I would know by what lawful authority I am called hither.
Remember, I am your King.
We are satisfied of our own authority.
It is not your self-satisfaction that should decide the matter.
I know as much law as any one of you.
Show me one precedent in history for these proceedings.
It is not for a prisoner to require.
Sir, I am not an ordinary prisoner.
SHOUTING Make them be quiet! Clear the court! A boy.
He came too early into the world - no air in his lungs.
Now the law can hang me.
Ask Elizabeth to fetch me my wedding dress and then you can go home, Saxby.
I have no home, if you be hanged.
Then wander the world, for hanged I must be.
You're guilty! Murderer! SHOUTING King of Blood! There's blood on your hands! In the name of the people of England Not a half! Not a quarter of the people of England! Oliver Cromwell is a traitor! Oliver Cromwell is a traitor! Away! The prisoner, having refused to give his answer to the charges, The prisoner may speak.
I must tell you all this many a day, all things have been taken away from me but that which I call more dear to me than my life my conscience and my honour.
If I had more respect to my life than the peace of the kingdom I should've made a defence for myself that might leastwise have delayed the ugly sentence which I believe you will pass on me.
I know it is in vain to dispute with you.
I cannot deny the power you have.
I have nothing more to say.
Sir, there is a bond made between a king and his people.
A bond of protection due from the sovereign and subjection due from the people.
When this bond is once broken farewell sovereignty.
Charles Stuart, as a tyrant, traitor, murderer and a public enemy, shall be put to death by the severing of his head from his body.
Why is it so still? They kill the King today.
Where are your friends today, madam? Here before me, sirrah - ready to pull at my legs and hasten my death.
Where's the hangman? Elizabeth, tell your mother when you see her that my thoughts have never strayed from her, that my love will be the same to the last.
Will you tell her? Sweetheart, I fear you will forget this.
I shall never forget it whilst I live.
Child they will cut off my head and perhaps make you King.
But mark what I say You must not be a king so long as your brothers do live.
I'll be torn in pieces first.
It is very low.
It can be no higher, sir.
Remember.
You die a thief, a murderess and a whore.
Will you at last admit your guilt and beg forgiveness? No, I will beg nothing from you, nor any man.
Men have accused me, men have judged me .
.
and now men will kill me.
Men have sought to silence me all my days.
But, before I am cut off, hear me.
You're the thief, sir, for that you've stolen this world.
You're the murderer, for that you've killed its dreams.
And you, sir, are the whore, for you sold your soul for a bag of gold.
Very pretty gallows speech.
Where is the hangman? BANGING ON DOOR Make haste, sir - my master has bought a window at Whitehall.
On another day, I could have wished her your slowest death.
Hangman, I forgive you.
But today, hurry, sir.
No more words, madam? Where is Colonel Rainsborough today, hmm? What? You cannot speak? Are her ankles not pretty? Let me pull on her legs! No.
For pity's sake! We lose time, sir.
Hangman, do not bring her down until she be dead.
We must leave now, sir.
On, sir.
Edward! Stay for the sign.
GASPS Breathe! Order! Stand back! GASPING He just scare speak a crown well about anything now, but he will lay his hand upon his breast.
Aye and he'll elevate his eyes.
He'll call God to record.
He will weep, he will howl, he will repent.
Even while he doth smite you under the fifth rib! Comrades, what did the army fight for, eh? To make Oliver absolute lord and ruler over Ireland CROWD SHOUTS As he is now, over England.
England's new chains, England's new chains! Read it and weep! Gentlemen.
Edward.
The republic fights for its first breaths while Honest John incites the army to mutiny against me.
Is this how he sees me now Edward? As a tyrant? You may speak openly.
Master Thurloe serves the nation.
Freeborn John thinks he may have seen your hand at work in the murder of Thomas Rainsborough.
Do the Leveller regiments talk of that? In secret.
For there is hardly a one now in England does not fear the General.
And you? Did you see my hand in it? No.
Then will you come with me? To Ireland.
To kill Papists? To make certain that no Scottish or French armies will ever find friends there.
My army is brave but they will see sights in Ireland that they never thought to see.
I need eyes with me there, who have seen those sights before.
Your army is owed its wages.
As we take the land from the Papists, we will sell it to Protestants and pay the army its wages.
And what of the Papists? When last they arose they killed mothers and ate their babies, sir.
They are beyond humanity, Edward.
Come with me.
The man who stood so close to Thomas Rainsborough, must now stand close to me.
Come, sir.
Will you be Colonel Sexby? Brighten your sword, Colonel Sexby.
The Lord has work for us both.
You must first to Burford, Edward.
The Leveller regiments have arrested their officers and refuse to march for Ireland.
Honest John has his mutiny.
Mutiny? These are brave and honest men, sir.
I know them.
Go to them as from me.
Let them lay down their arms and release their officers.
Tell them Old Noll will come to them in person and all their grievances will be heard, upon my word.
What are your plans, madam? To live the life you gave me.
What will you do? I go to Ireland.
I have an officer's wages.
They are yours.
How?! Be my wife.
I promised the best man in England I would protect you.
Be my wife, in outward show only and my promise is kept.
A woman cannot survive alone.
No, Sexby I mean to shift for myself now.
There are Diggers at Fanshawe House.
I mean to join them.
The Diggers follow Thomas' dreams - Land a commonwealth, property levelled and every man's conscience his own.
The Diggers will not take you in if you be unmarried.
Consider.
I do not ask for love.
I do not ask for a marriage bed.
I ask only that you let me serve you.
Would you have me write you letters? Sexby Why have you done this? Duty, madam.
A promise given.
Freeborn John writes us this message from the Tower.
"If Cromwell is allowed to go on as he is, "he will make himself King and there will be nothing "but cutting of throats, year" Make way for Colonel Sexby! This you may not do and still be soldiers.
Untie your officers.
This defiance cannot go on.
Give them their weapons and their horses.
Be not afraid of them hereafter.
One greater than them comes to listen to you.
The General himself.
Now hear me.
Throw your weapons up here.
Do it now.
Nay! Never! Come now.
Let none say you drew your weapons at Old Noll.
When you speak, he will listen.
When he speaks, you will listen.
He will give you orders and you will obey them.
There will be no reprisals.
This he has promised me and I promise you the same.
In the name of Thomas Rainsborough.
Rainsborough! Rainsborough! General! You thought to mutiny? You thought to imprison your officers? You thought to give orders to the Army Council? Show me the ringleaders.
They will face a court martial immediately.
Sir! Your part is played, Colonel.
Fire! You kept no covenant with us.
Is there is anyone who will not willingly submit to my will and accept my pardon? Do you wish to resign your commission, Edward? Ireland is our back door.
It must be bolted.
We march for Ireland.
Why keep that one? Why this one? Thomas Rainsborough lies there.
Should be at the head of England.
What's your business here, madam? I come to dig, if you will let me.
Your name? Sexby.
Mistress Sexby.
Your husband? Gone from me.
Dead? Not dead.
Gone to Ireland.
Come with me, Mistress Sexby.
Mistress Sexby wishes to live among us.
Her husband is fighting in Ireland.
You are welcome, Mistress Sexby.
Those who work, eat.
We share all.
Your story is written in your hands.
I think you were not born to this work.
My name is Christian.
Tell me about the man in the earth whose grave you tend.
I never knew him but by report.
He raised up the common man.
He fought for his liberty against the richand mighty.
Truly, I wish he was here.
Wishing will not bring him.
Nay but he should be here, for we are living in the best and last of days.
Our last days are near? Christ is ready to walk the earth again.
Do you not feel his love all around you? Christ Jesus has come to me.
Tell us what you saw, Jocelyn.
He came down last night and lay by me in my bed.
told me he would come soon and rain upon the earth 10,000 years.
PEOPLE SHOU Shall we pray, Mistress Sexby? Oh, mighty God, who throughout the mouths of babes and sucklings have ordained strength and make of infants to glorify thy name with their innocence.
Inspire us with thy grace RUMBLING Another sign.
PEOPLE SHOUT IN PANIC SCREAMING WOMEN SCREAM SHOUTING AND SCREAMING Come.
We begin again.
Colonel, did your party reach Wexford? We were held a while at Arklow, General.
It must be removed from our path.
It is done.
The garrison fled.
What's left has been driven into a bog.
There they wait for you.
Is this the flower of all their army? Bring them out.
They are stuck fast.
How many are they? Twelve.
Twelve bullets then.
We're short on powder and shot.
Make ready the cannon! Are you ready to surrender, sir? Resist and you will blow you all to atoms.
I cannot.
Surrender and you live.
Resist and your entire garrison will be put to the sword - man and boy.
I may not.
He has orders.
He will not defend the town purposefully but needs to make a show of a fight before he surrenders.
Purposeful or no, they will die, all of them.
I'll drag no prisoners across this benighted land.
Wake me when the walls are breached.
Prepare to die.
Ready? Ready! Fire the cannon! THUDDING AND SCREAMING Edward! I hate to see any man's resting place neglected.
Let me help you.
Harry Fanshawe.
I wonder what he was? Your words moved me, sir.
When you said these days were like the days of Christ on earth.
Full of love.
I feel that love in these good people's hearts.
They are good people.
But they know not the intenseness of the times.
But I believe that you do.
I believe that you taste the rare and beautiful air that we breathe.
I have a sin to confess.
I am no priest, sir.
When I thought I heard you say that your husband was dead my heart was glad.
He livesstill.
Though he be far away.
Goodnight.
Both your husbands are dead, madam.
And lie here at my feet.
I will tell no other.
For truly I think this the bravest and best thing that any woman ever did.
How do you know me? My mother worked in your kitchens.
They hanged me as The Devil's Whore.
Then I love the Devil's whore, for truly I could never love my lady Angelica Fanshawe.
She is far above me.
Though I would give my life for her.
Be not so eager to give your life, Christian.
You may not be given another, as I was.
LOW RUMBLING ROARING VOICES AND SCREAMING Come.
The owner of the land will never let us be.
Master Joliffe is not the true owner of the land.
We are the owners of the land for we work the land and we make it fruitful.
Master Joliffe? Aye, given it by Parliament.
These things began when she came.
You think I brought these things upon you? The Devil's work began when you came among us, with his mark upon your neck.
That is all.
HUM OF CONVERSATION They are frightened.
I will leave tomorrow.
I will follow you.
I will follow you to the end of the earth.
Christian? It is our desire, madam, that you leave us.
MURMURS OF AGREEMEN You have your wish, even though this life here began to light a candle of hope in my heart.
We will not have fornicators! I saw them.
-She saw nothing.
The child imagines things.
-I see the Devil at her side.
Aye.
She gave Satan her baby.
In God's name, will you make an end of this.
No, sir, we will make an end of you and this woman, for if we do not, our enemies will call us polygamists and drive us off! Your enemies mean to drive you off in any case, Maddy, and not for a kiss in the night.
Because you tell them to love their fellow men more than money or land! Was it not love that brought you together? Then No more, madam.
You must both be gone tomorrow.
I will be gone.
Fear not.
But I leave you with one question.
If all on earth are equal, why do the women work in the fields during the day and make the men's dinners at night? Sometimes we see what's not there.
We see demons of our own conjuring.
I demand the release of my husband, John Lilburne! Why do you sit here with your bellies full -while famine grips the city?! -No women in this chamber! Why is the Army forced to Ireland!? We have no fights in Ireland! Get you home and wash dishes.
They are sold to feed my children! Leave her.
John will have a fair trial, on my word.
Sir If you take away John's life, I will have yours! Will they hang you today, John? Hang me? Ask my wife if they will hang me! I have spent nine shillings on a new pair of boots! New boots! See? New boots! BOOING John Lilburne.
Where is he? Let me shake his hand.
Do you say you are not John Lilburne? Why should I say I am John Lilburne when 'tis said you will hang him for treason? I say nothing on the matter.
You are charged with being the author of these pamphlets, which urge the Army to seditious mutiny.
How me, sir? For that it says the name "John Lilburne" upon them.
Why, any man may write "John Lilburne.
" Do you deny being the author of these pamphlets? What need I deny it when I have not said that I am John Lilburne? And where is the man can prove a single soldier mutinied on account of these pamphlets, in any case? Where are your witnesses? All in Ireland! APPLAUSE I prithee, let me see the charges and have time to study the case! Sir, you mock this court! No, sir! You mock this court, as you mock justice, as you mock truth and liberty! But they will not be mocked forever, in the name of Almighty God in heaven! THUNDER Ah, now I remember me you! Were not you, sir, and you, sir, and yes, you, sir, all on the King's side when first we began our quarrel? Until, as I remember, until Oliver's Army began to turn the tide when - God's amazement - you found yourselves coming over.
Whereas John Lilburne, wherever he may be, did fight at Kineton and at Newbury and at Marston Field! My bladder is swollen, sir.
May I go out to relieve myself? No, sir.
Then bring me a pot to piss in! LAUGHTER (SIGHS) Sirrahs I am Honest John Lilburne, author of the pamphlets that urge the army to resist an unlawful and barbaric war in Ireland.
And you, my fellow citizens, are the only judges that matter in this place.
You, and you alone, have the decision.
My life is in your hands.
Men of the jury, what is your verdict? We have found John Lilburne not guilty.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE I am glad to see you alive.
"Glad?" Who is he? A friend.
I never misled you, Sexby.
You asked for no love, nor marriage bed, and my heart promised you neither.
Aye, but madam, I never thought you would dishonour me before all eyes.
You are not dishonoured, save your taking part in Irish massacres.
I thought of you every minute.
While you slaughtered other men's wives and children? What now? I am your wife.
I am yours to command.
I do not command.
You must go wherever your heart inclines you.
Then fare you well.
Wait.
I command.
What is your future? More soldiering? I am a spoiled soldier .
.
for which I am glad.
For truly, I have seen my fill of butchering in this vile world.
The world is not vile though some are that are in it.
Even they can be saved by love, I think.
Love? Aye, love.
I think you do not know it.
And I pity you for it.
Did love help the Diggers when the army trampled their fields? No.
What did love do for any man, except make him run like a fool to his destruction? The Diggers had not too much love, sir, but too little.
But there are those who believe that love can save us all.
Ranters? Only their enemies call them that.
They call themselves the High Attainers, and I have made friends amongst them.
Ranters?! Sir, you are drunk.
Madam, do you know where this "love" will bring you? Do you know they have made female adultery a capital offence? If you continue as you are, they will hang you again.
Who will save you? That boy? That "boy", sir, may not know how to split a man open with his sword, but he sees the truth in us.
In who? In me? In me.
In us all.
He sees love shining in our hearts, and he sees what it can do here, on earth.
Sexby, what use to bring down kings or parcel out land, if we do not share all that is in us? Madamdo you lie with him? Like all men, you are a fool when you drink.
Do you lie with him? Have you lain with him? Let me go from here, sir.
Where to? To him? Oh, he "loves" you.
He loves your innards, where the light does shine, whereas I Sexby, I can never love you.
Ever.
I am sorry for you.
I am grateful to you.
But I will never love you.
Why do you stop, sir? The law says you own me.
Live as you please.
You are free.
But there is no freedom.
Except that which comes with money and power.
If you know of any other kind, then you must run after it.
Go.
GO! Where is Christian? She must not escape a third time.
She'll not, sir.
I've led her by the nose like a willing sow.
And she truly believed in the diggers Aye Sir She gave her heart to fools and thieves.
And now? Now she believes the world she longs for is finally at hand.
It is.
Sir, may your victory be the vanguard of ours.
'Your release the harbinger of freedom for all on Earth.
' The perfect freedom of universal love.
(LAUGHS) Universal love? Universal love.
Universal love.
Universal love!