CHAPTER XXXIX
A CONQUEROR IN IMAGINATION
When King John died at Newark, and when the boy Henry was crowned atGloucester, Louis of France and the Anglo-Norman barons were stillbefore Dover. But Hugh de Burgh held out gallantly; and Louis, wearyingof an enterprise in which there was no prospect of success, swallowedthe vow he had made never to move from before the castle till he hadtaken it and hanged the garrison, and resolved on withdrawing from thesiege, and employing his energies to consolidate the conquests he hadalready achieved in England. Accordingly, he returned to London, whichwas still devoted to his cause, and on the 6th of November tookpossession of the Tower, which, doubtless, he considered a strongholdwhich would stand him in good stead, in case of the citizens becomingrefractory, and requiring to be kept down with the strong hand.
So far the French prince, notwithstanding his check at Dover, saw noreason to despair of ultimate triumph over the obstacles which barredhis way to the throne, and, looking upon young Henry’s coronation as afarce, he was already a conqueror in imagination. Moreover, he dailyshowed himself more and more indifferent to the opinions of hisAnglo-Norman allies, bestowing all his confidence on the lords andknights who had accompanied him from France, and not scrupling to makeRobert Fitzwalter and his confederates feel the full humiliation oftheir position. It is difficult to guess whether or not Fitzwalterbelieved the story which was current as to the death of his daughter,Maude the Fair, by the poisoned egg. But even if so, his conscience mustsometimes have reproached him when he reflected that, in order togratify his revenge for a private wrong, he had played a part similar tothat of Count Julian of Spain, when, five hundred years earlier, he, inorder to avenge the wrongs of his daughter, Caba, had invited the Moorsto seize the kingdom of Roderick, overthrew the monarchy of the Goths,and placed his native land and its inhabitants at the mercy of foreigninvaders. Probably, however, Fitzwalter seldom thought either of CountJulian’s country or of his own, but gave his whole attention to his ownsafety and his own interests, and troubled himself very lightly with themisery which he had been the means of bringing on England and onEnglishmen.
At all events, when Louis, having taken possession of the Tower, againmarched from the capital to pursue his career of conquest, Fitzwalteraccompanied the French prince, and aided him in his various enterprises.His position, indeed, and that of the other Anglo-Normans who aided theforeigners to ravage the country, even if they were destitute ofpatriotism, could hardly have been very pleasant; for at that time thereexisted no love between the barons of England and the warriors ofFrance; and it appears that the continental adventurers were in thehabit of assuming airs of superiority, and treating the islanders withsomething very like contempt, vapouring about their own prowess,repeating the wretched joke about Englishmen being born with tails likehorses as a punishment for somebody having cut off the tail of Thomas àBecket’s horse, and describing the islanders, without distinction ofrace, as “English tails.”
Now it must have been sufficiently mortifying to Fitzwalter, and DeQuency, and De Roos to be supposed to have tails like horses, andperhaps still more mortifying to them as Normans to be treated asEnglish. Nevertheless, they bore all taunts and insults as best theycould, and fought side by side with their laughing allies--no doubtvaliantly and well. First they besieged and took the castle of Hertford,and then the great castle of Berkhampstead, a place renowned in thehistory of the Norman Conquest. Elated by his successes, Louis proceededto St. Albans, and threatened to burn the magnificent abbey which Offa,the Saxon king, had founded and dedicated to the proto-martyr ofBritain, if the abbot did not come and do him homage. Trembling for theedifice, and trembling for his own safety, the abbot, nevertheless,declined to do what, as an Englishman, he could not do with honour.However, the holy man offered a large sum of money as a bribe, andLouis, having accepted the abbot’s gold instead of his homage, passedon. But ere this a serious misunderstanding had broken out in his camp,and threatened mischievous consequences. When Berkhampstead was taken bythe French, Fitzwalter suggested that the castle, on which he pretendedto have an hereditary claim, should be committed to his custody. Louisthereupon consulted the French knights who were with him whether or nothe should do as Fitzwalter wished.
“No,” answered they, scornfully. “How can any confidence be placed inEnglish tails, who are traitors to their own sovereign?”
Louis returned to Fitzwalter.
“You must wait patiently till the kingdom is conquered,” said he, “and Iwill then give every man what he has a right to possess.”
Fitzwalter remonstrated, but Louis curtly refused to listen longer tothe proposal; and the Anglo-Norman baron grew purple with rage. Aviolent quarrel ensued; and it looked as if the French prince was aboutto lose an adherent whose value in calm moments he could hardly fail torecognise. Fitzwalter, however, had linked himself too firmly with theFrenchman to have it in his power to break his chains, and the matterwas accommodated. But the friends of the Anglo-Norman baron, exposed tofrequent insults of the kind, grew sullen and discontented; and Louisbegan to perceive that it would not be prudent to rely too far on thefidelity of men born on English ground, and to concert measures forsurrounding himself with a force of foreigners sufficient to render himindependent of aid from the natives. With this view he consented to atruce with the Protector from Christmas to Easter, and resolved toemploy the interval in a voyage to France, and to make a great attemptto persuade his crafty sire to furnish a force formidable enough tooverawe all his enemies, and to terminate his successes as a conquerorwith a crowning triumph.
Accordingly, Louis, having appointed the Lord De Coucy as his lieutenantin England, set out for the coast of Sussex to embark at Shoreham forthe Continent, dreading no interruption. This time he found himselfwrong in his calculations. There was a serious obstacle in the way, inthe shape of a small but very formidable body of men, headed by awarrior in his teens, wearing a long white jacket, and wielding a veryformidable battle-axe, who rushed to the assault with very littlerespect for persons--whether royal or knightly--under a white silkenbanner on which figured a fierce raven with open beak, and spread wings,and outstretched neck.
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