Uncertain Proof

1327 - Berkeley Castle, England - a small boy witnesses the sight of two horses exiting from the castle and a terrible scream of great pain is heard. Twenty years later horsemen are approaching the house of Monsignor Vecchi, Bishop of Pavia, who is dictating a letter concerning the spread of the Black Death which is now affecting the town of Pavia. His servant Fredo brings in a visitor, Manuel de Fieschi, who is obsessed with his quest to discover the truth of the 'death' of Edward II and asks for Vecchi's help with his quest. Vecchi agrees to help by taking him to the farm of Serena Riccoboni. Vecchi takes one route up the mountain and instructs Fredo to take Fieschi up by a more difficult route. Impatient to get on with his search, Fieschi ignores Fredo's advice as to the safer path and tries to cross a flooded ford over a river. He loses his footing and is drowning when Fredo plunges into the river in order to save him. Upon his arrival at the farm Fieschi is confronted by an angry Serena and tells her he is searching for a particular man, whom he believes to be living on the farm. Fieschi is appalled to discover that the man he seeks lives in an old pig-hut in dreadful discomfort. Eventually the hermit comes out, and now begins an emotional and dramatic encounter. Fieschi accuses the old man of being Edward II, King of England, supposedly killed at Berkeley Castle twenty years earlier. The old man parries every one of Fieschi's accusations, but denies nothing. The thrusts and twists of the argument build, until it is the old man who, having spoken in a calm, serene manner thus far becomes emotional when talking of the murder of a porter at Berkeley. Fieschi has gained no admission of identity from the old man - but the debate has caused him to question his own view of life. Now the old man asks a favour, which is to destroy Fieschi's confidence completely. The film is a semi-factual historical drama based on a letter sent by Manuel de Fieschi to Edward III.