February 2^nd 1101 AD

Disgraced ex-minister, Ranulf Flambard, long-time henchman of the late King William Rufus, (killed by an arrow last August in a hunting accident), broke out of the notorious Thameside Tower on the night of Candelmas and disappeared without trace. Imprisoned by the present king for a string of offences including withholding payments to the church, appropriating lands, intimidation and amassing a private fortune at the expense of the public treasury, he strenuously denied all charges, claiming to have been ‘made a scapegoat.’