Plot Summary

"Crispin:  The Cross of Lead" is about a young boy of 13 years old who is called "Asta's son."  At the beginning of the story, his birth name is unknown-- in fact, Asta's son believes that he has no real name or identity.  When his mother dies, Asta's son is informed that he must pay a death tax:  the selling of his oxen.  If Asta's son sells his oxen, he will starve to death.  Because of this, Asta's son runs off into the woods.  When he returns, he finds his house being burned to the ground and discovers that he has been declared a "wolf's head" (meaning he is deemed no longer human and anyone may kill him and receive a reward for doing so) by John Aycliffe, the village steward.   He has been accused of a crime he did not commit and so he seeks the counsel of his trusted priest, Father Quinell.  Father Quinell informs Asta's son that he was secretly baptized with the name "Crispin" as a child and hints that there is a secret regarding the identity of his father.  Before he can tell Crispin about his father's identity, however, Father Quinell is viciously murdered.

Crispin flees his village of Stromford, taking only his mother's lead cross with him, and ends up in an abandoned village.  This story takes place shortly after the plague (or "The Great Mortality") hit England, and this village is a product of its destruction.  However, as Crispin wanders the deserted village, he hears a male voice singing inside a church.  He comes upon a large, red-bearded man named Bear.  The man named Bear decides to claim Crispin as his servant, but later ends up treating Crispin more as a son and teaches him how to be his own person.   Bear is a juggler by profession and so he and Crispin travel around England to perform.  Their end destination is Great Wexly, where Bear has some important (and confidential) business to conduct.  They stay at the Green Man Tavern which is run by Widow Daventry, an old friend of Bear's.  All this time, as Crispin and Bear have been traveling, John Aycliffe has been chasing after Crispin to kill him.  Bear cannot understand why someone would desire to kill a peasant boy so much, until Crispin shows Bear his mother's lead cross.  There is writing on the cross that Crispin has never been able to read, since he is illiterate.  Bear will not tell Crispin what the words on the cross say, but after this he strives to protect Crispin even more from his pursuers.

Bear has a meeting one day in Great Wexly, and as he leaves for the meeting he warns Crispin to stay inside the Green Man Tavern and hide out.   After he leaves,  Crispin sees a one-eyed man who had been tailing them since the first city they performed in, pointing after Bear.  Crispin runs to warn Bear about this, but as he arrives at the meeting place, he finds John  Aycliffe and his soldiers have already arrived.  Bear is taken prisoner and Crispin knows that he has been taken as "bait" to lure Crispin back into John  Aycliffe's hands. 

Back at the tavern, Widow Daventry reveals what Bear has told her about Crispin's true identity, and then Crispin realizes why John  Aycliffe has been pursuing him and wants him out of the picture.  Widow Daventry arranges for a man to come help Crispin escape from Great Wexly, but Crispin instead resolves to save Bear, who he has come to see as a father figure.  Inside the Lord's house where Bear has been taken prisoner, Crispin encounters John  Aycliffe.  He strikes a deal with  John  Aycliffe:  that if he lets Crispin and Bear go free,  Crispin will surrender his mother's lead cross to Aycliffe and run away, never to be seen again.  Aycliffe agrees to the negotiation and lets Crispin and Bear leave the Lord's house.  However, as they approach the town walls, Aycliffe goes back on his deal and informs all of his soldiers that Crispin is a wolf's head and therefore anyone is alllowed to kill him now.  A battle ensues between between John Aycliffe and Bear (who is still protecting Crispin no matter what), resulting in Aycliffe's death.  Crispin and Bear leave the city, leaving behind the cross of lead on Aycliffe's dead body.

This story, written by Avi, can be classified as historical fiction.  It follows one of the characteristics of historical fiction laid out in Literature and the Child:  it does not focus on facts, but uses them to recreate a time and place (Galda 255).  While the characters and the plot are not factual, the story takes place in an actual village that existed in England.  This story also illustrates the events preceding The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and portrays a realistic view of how peasants lived in that time period.  The story also hints at the "Great Mortality" which is commonly referred to as "The Black Death."  This plague hit England in the years around 1348-1350. This event was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history and Avi illustrates its repercussions in this tale. 

Textual Elements

The setting, 14th century England, is vital to this story as it details a true time in history.  The setting of this story affects everything, including the themes (which will be discussed in the following paragraphs) and even the language that the story is told in.  The author uses many nuances from Old English, including interjections such as "By the bowels of Christ!" (Avi 7) and question formations such as "Why do they taunt me so?" (Avi 11) that would seem so out of place if spoken in modern times.  In many books, the setting may not play such an integral part in shaping the plot of the story.  However, because of the author's purpose in writing this kind of book-- to share what life was like for certain people in medieval times-- the setting is essential and must stand out so that the reader can feel as though they have fallen back in time and can experience the culture of the time. 

One of the most important themes in this story is the issue of serfdom and the question of its morality.  In 14th century England, serfdom was highly common.  Serfdom, by definition, was a condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord (www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/535485/serfdom).  Serfdom differed from slavery in that the serfs were bound to a specific plot of land whereas slaves where bought and sold without regards to a plot of land.  The serfs were also allowed to provide for themselves by taking resources from their land, but the vast majority of the products of their land had to go to their landlord.  In this story, the landlord of the village of Stromford was Lord Furnival.  Avi illustrates the harsh life that the peasants had to endure in this system.  For example, there were extensive punishments for even the smallest transgression:  "missing a day of work, speaking harshly of his rule, failing to attend mass-- brought an unforgiving penalty.  It could be a whipping, a clipping of the ear, imprisonment, or a cut-off hand" (Avi 3).  Peasants were also extremely poor and could barely afford to even pay for food:  "at a time when bread cost a quarterpenny a loaf, the value of my mother's daily labor-- by King Edward's royal decree-- was a penny each day, mine but a farthing" (Avi 12).  

The morality of the issue of serfdom was represented by the characters of Crispin and Bear themselves.  Crispin played the role of the peasant who believed that he could never have his own freedom and never be anything but a peasant.  In fact, he declares in the beginning of this story that with all his heart he "believed that we would continue to live the same until Archangel Gabriel announced the end of time" (Avi 13).  Bear, on the other hand, was constantly fighting for the rights of the peasant workers and to help every man to live freely.  Until Crispin met Bear, he had never fathomed another possibility for his own life.  Through Bear's influence, Crispin is able to acquire freedom and a soul-- something he never felt he had before. 

The point of view in this story is seen through the eyes of Crispin.  This has a large influence on the telling of the story, as the eyes of a young, innocent boy cannot comprehend everything that is seen.  Crispin does not understand the dangers that the world can hold at first, though he certainly learns this through his adventures.  This is proven by Crispin's lack of good judgment when John Aycliffe's soliders are hunting for him in Great Wexly.  After seeing the soldiers waiting for Crispin in the city, Bear instructs Crispin to stay inside The Green Man Tavern for safety.  However, Crispin views Bear's orders as restraining and controlling and so he deliberately disobeys and goes out into the city (Avi 158).  An older character may have seen these actions of Bear's as protective and for his own good, but Crispin acts in accordance as a naive child.   

Analysis and Critique

Avi has created a very accurate representation of life in 14th century England.  It is very evident that Avi did a great deal of research on that time period before he began to write this story.  Avi sprinkles his story with vocabulary that was common in that time, not only by using Old English phrases (as previously discussed) but also by dropping in terms like "wolf's head" which was a real old English law that was put in effect for outlaws of that time.  Because of the validity of information that Avi uses in his story, children reading this book not only enjoy a suspenseful story but get a history lesson as well. 

Because the story is told from the perspective of a thirteen year old, the age of the targeted audience of this book, the reader can identify with Crispin a lot more than if he were an older man.  This is very helpful in telling the story because the adolescent reading this story cannot relate very easily to the culture from which Crispin comes from, but can relate to some of the feelings and reactions that Crispin displays. By relating to the character of Crispin, the reader can become more a part of the story and thereby learn more about the historical aspects of the story. 

While the issue of serfdom is not particularly relevent in modern culture, it is still an imporant issue for students to learn about.  One of the key elements in serfdom is the power of the rich and the weakness of the poor.  The gap between the upper class and the lower class is still an issue in today's culture and perhaps by learning about serfdom students can become more understanding and compassionate toward those of a lower class than themselves.  Avi sends out a not-so-hidden message through this story that all men, regardless of wealth, ought to be treated equally.  His message is voiced through the character of Bear, and the effects of unequal treatment are shown in the contrast between the characters of Crispin and John Aycliffe.  

As a work of historical fiction, Avi's story is successful in fulfilling its intended purpose of showing a picture of 14th century England.  Telling the story from the view of the peasants shows a side of the history that may not be so well known.  When students read a textbook about this time period, they are given a great deal of facts and it comes across as impersonal and cold.  However, when students become part of this story, they become a part of that historical period and are able to learn a great deal more than they could ever learn from a textbook. 

Citation

Avi.  Crispin:  The Cross of Lead.  New York:  Hyperion Books for Children, 2002. 

Encyclopedia Britannica.  Web.  13 Dec. 2009.  <www.britannica.com>.

Galda, Lee, Bernice E. Cullinan, and Lawrence R. Sipe.  Literature and the Child.  Belmont, CA:  Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010.  Print.