Hush House

Hush House on an overcast day

Hush House is one of the nine libraries of the Watchman's Tree, located in the Cornish village of Brancrug. The building served as a home for a variety of groups and societies, both from the visible and invisible world for more than a millenium, but always with certain influence from the occult and the Hours.

History

Dawn Period

Hush House began as a temple for the Sisterhood of the Knot, the church of Our Lady Beneath, possibly in the 3th century. In 599 AD the Ligeian Rowena brought the bones of St Columba from the Scottish island Iona to Brancrug, and founded an abbey there. This first abbey was called the Abbey of the White Crow, or the Abbey of the Black Dove, and served as a safehaven for criminals and nonvirgins.

At some point, the Chorates of the Thunderskin trespassed in the inner chambers and spied on "the Mysteries". The higher initiates of the abbey voted to blind and expel the Chorates, and to forbid the rites of the Thunderskin on Brancurg.

In the 9th century, during the reign of Egbert of Wessex (802-839) the Abbey was subjected to at least two Danish raids. On the first, the viking mercenaries were quartered and one of their number, Toke, had his eyes pecked out by "thorn-beaked crows". Toke repented, joining the Abbey under the name Thomas and rose in time to be Abbot. The mercenaries later returned, lead by Thomas' old "sword-brother" Trygve, Thomas forsook his monastic oath to defend the Abbey killing Trygve at the cost of his own life.

Solar Gothic Period

In the 11th century the abbey became known as St Brandan's Abbey. Abbot Thomas was one of the first abbots of St Brandan's. He was also an abbot of the previous abbey, the Black Dove, which might suggest there was some kind of interm period.

In 1066 after the Norman invasion of England, Brian of Brittany is named Earl of Cornwall. The sons of the previous king of England mounts raids against Cornwall and in response Brian funds the construction of fortification at St Brandan's. As a thanks, St Brandan's gives shelter at the abbey to a yew tree that flowers in the colours of the Calyptra.

Sometime during the 13th century, Eva Marshal (1203–1246) sought help from St Brandan's to rid her of her husband, Black William. The nuns helped Eva by conjuring a shapeshifting undergoer to make it look like William was unfaithful together with the wife of the Prince of Wales. As a result, William is hanged and as a thanks, either Eva Marshal or her daughter, Eva de Braose, donates a large sum to St Brandan's.

In 1349 the then abbess of St Brandan's, Abbess Nonna, dies after taking part in an unsanctioned ritual to the Thunderskin together with two other nuns. Her death is labeled as a murder and the two other nuns are trialed and executed. After this, only male novices were permitted to the abbey.

In 1450, Abbot Geffrey recorded a prophetic dream of the the Twins. In the following day, the jewish physician Natan arrived at Bancrug after being exiled from Regensburg. Abbot Geffrey granted him sanctuary, but the brothers of the abbey wouldn't permit a jewish family in abbey grounds, instead, the Barber's Tower was built to house them.

In 1536 the Abbey would be investigated by John Tregonwell and dissoluted by Henry VIII.

Baronial Period

After the dissolution of St Brandan's Abbey in 1536, Henry VIII granted Hendrik Dewulf Brancurg Isle, the title of Baron and rights sicut regale—"like a king", the quasi-independence traditionally accorded to Marcher Lords. He evicted the descendants of Natan of Regensburg from the Barber's Tower and expanded Hush House to support sufficient staff and appointed his quartermaster, Ernestine Peterhans, as seneschal, this was deemed a controversial decision due to her gender.

In 1549, during the Prayer Book Rebellion, Red William, an initate of the Thunderskin, lead a revolt against Hendrik and cursed his heirs, proclaiming "There will be no seventh of his line". The rebellion was violently supressed by Hendrik and various villagers were imprisoned in the House, but Red William himself may have been freed and granted residence in the caves below the house to serve as Hendrik's prophet.

Thomas Dewulf became 2nd Baron Bancrug after his father Hendrik. His nickname "Baron Silence of Castle Silence" would later originate the name "Hush House". In 1576 he restored the Watchman's Tower and added an observatory at its top which allowed him to observe the Great Comet of 1577.

Thomas's son, Giles Dewulf, eloped with Hafren Waters, who gave birth to Walter Dewulf, according to family legend, in a cow-byre outside of Kerisham. This was nearly the end of the Dewulf line, but Ernestine Peterhans managed to reconcile a dying Giles with Thomas and convinced him to accept Walter in the household. From Hafren, Walter and his descendants inherited a characteristic pale complexion and, possibly, a sea related curse. Unknown to any at the time, Hafren was a descendant of the Ligeian Rowena and of Ys, both of which were direct causes of this curse.

During his tenure as 3rd Baron, Walter employed the mason and architect Gregory Wheelock to remodel the house, building guest chambers and the Grand Ascent, the stairs connecting the house levels. Besides the Grand Ascent, much of this was lost beneath later work. In 1648, Bryan Dewulf was hanged for treason and witchcraft by the Royalists, after hearing the news of his son, Walter had a fatal heart attack and Musgrave Dewulf inherited the estate.

In 1652, Musgrave caught Ricardo Milagro stealing vegetables from the kitchen garden, he sentenced Ricardo to 7 years of service as the House's gardener, but by the end of the sentence, Ricardo decided to stay in Brancurg. Still in the 50s, Musgrave restored the Winter Tower as a residence for Julian Coseley, who assisted with cataloguing and expansion of the library. The tower became known as the Long Tower. It is rumored that Musgrave died in a secret duel with a "Welsh visitor", possibly the Edge-long Twrog of Meirionnydd.

In 1721, Valentine either fell or leaped from the Gullscry Tower. His son Eales was deemed unfit to inherit the estate due to his madness, and so Eva Dewulf became baroness at the age of 19. She opened Hush House's library to visitors, drawing figures from across Europe and beyond, such as Hokobald of Pocsind and Ehsan Freki. Some of these visitors would be selected by unusual criteria to attend feasts on her Hall of Division.

Eva was betrothed to Abraham Wheelock and a son was born from their relationship. However, in 1725, Abraham left her at the altar. Three days later, he was killed by birds and a forged letter outing him as an Austrian spy was found on his corpse. Later, in 1751, Franklin Bancroft would make a series of visits to Hush House and begin a relationship with Eva. Possibly with the assistance of stolen years supplied by Reckoners, Eva gave birth to Abra, who was adopted by Franklin’s friends and became the sister of the Poet Laureate Robert Southey.

In 1759 Sebastian Dewulf, Eva's nephew and heir, drowned in the Battle of Quiberon Bay. Shortly after Eva drowned herself along with her grandchildren, possibly to escape a family curse. Her act ended the Dewulf line and lead the estate to be abandoned. However, rumor has it that she in fact faked her death in order to bring her grandchildren to Ys and to travel to Port Noon with Bancroft.

After Lady Eva's presumed death, the estate was abandoned, opening the way for smugglers to estabilish themselves in the mines below the House.

Curia Period

In 1785, the Know-adept Ambrose Westcott found The Sun Disfigured, a scroll detailing the scars and weakness of the Sun and how they may be used in preventing its plan to rise humanity to Eternity, hidden away in the Chancel altar built by Abbot Geffrey. During an Obliviate meeting in the Bounds-house Carbonek concerning their pact of non-interference, Westcott proposed this text to be a potential solution to their predicament and asked for help in pursuing it. Most rejected his offer and retreated to Port Noon, but a handful joined him. These scholars acquired the deed to the Dewulf estate, founding the Curia of the Isle with Westcott as the first Librarian. Westcott was seemingly unable to write a History with the scroll, he returned it to the Chancel altar and wrote The Carbonek Schism, hoping that a future Librarian would finish his task.

In 1797, Ambrose Westcott had a lethal apoplexy. Kitty Mazarine succeeded him as second Librarian.

Nocturnal Period

In 1896, the Curia of the Isle made an arrangement with the Nocturnal Branch, they received funding, but also submited to yearly inspections and surrendered a portion of the Isle for the construction of the Curcubit Gaol. George Collers, once Secretary Vigilant of the Curia, became gorvenor of the Brancurg Gaol and Sir David Greene, once a Nocturnal Branch superintendent, became the Eight Librarian.

Sources