by Jean Plaidy
What a glorious battle there had been then and how she had enjoyed it; it had pleased her to see the rage which possessed him because in some way it weakened him. When his temper was out of control and he kicked inanimate objects, when he lay on the floor and rolled about in an agony of rage and tore the dirty rushes with his teeth, he betrayed himself. That magnificent power and strength which were normally his were lost somehow in the man who might control armies but was not in command of his own nature.
She could not stop thinking of him and oddly enough her hatred of him absorbed her as once her love of him had done. Once she would have done everything in her power to advance him; now she would employ the same energy to destroying him.
How she loved this city. Her city! And he, Henry, was Duke of Aquitaine, but he should not remain so. That title was for her beloved son Richard; and when Richard became Duke of Aquitaine he should be so in truth. Henry was quite content to bestow titles on his sons as long as it was understood that no power went with them. His was to be the governing hand, as young Henry – proud to be called a king – was realising.
But it would not always be so. Already the people of Aquitaine were getting an inkling of the relationship between the King and the Queen; and there was no doubt where their loyalty lay. They demonstrated whenever she rode out that they regarded her as their Duchess and they would never submit to the fiery arrogant Angevin who regarded himself as the conqueror of Europe. No, they loved their Duchess Eleanor, the lady of song and learning, the adventurous Queen whose conduct had often scandalised the world, but even these scandals had only endeared her to her own people of the South.
Often she went up to the ramparts of the castle and surveyed with pride and emotion the city below her. She would gaze at the beautiful Notre Dame la Grande, and the baptistery of Saint Jean and feel young again. She remembered too when the magnificent Cathedral of Saint Pierre had been built. There were so many memories here of other days; and looking back did she regret the passing of her youth?
How could she, when the years had brought her her beloved sons? And chief of these was Richard.
She had always loved beauty in the human form and in her eyes her son was her ideal. Some might say he lacked the regular-featured handsome good looks of his elder brother Henry, but the strength of his character showed in his face, and although Eleanor loved all her children and determined to bind them to her, Richard was the one who had the cream of her devotion.
Richard was tall, his limbs were long and he was noted for the long reach of his arms. His hair was neither red nor yellow but of a colour in between, and his eyes were blue. From an early age he had shown great daring and such a strength of purpose that once he had made up his mind to complete a task he never swerved until it was done. In horsemanship, archery and all other sports he excelled, and what so enchanted the Queen was that he was equally skilled in verse making; he could sing and play the lute with the best of her troubadours. Now that she felt this fierce hatred for her husband she concentrated her love on her children and Richard especially.
He returned her love. To her he confided his ambitions. He enjoyed hearing of her adventures in the Holy Land and she loved to tell them, dramatising them, setting them to verse and glorifying them by song. They were romanticised and made enchanting stories and she and the lovers she had taken during that wild adventure were the heroine and heroes of a story as entertaining and romantic as that of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
‘Oh what a beautiful city this is,’ she would say. ‘My city that shall be yours, Richard. This city on a hill. Did you know that Marcus Aurelius built an amphitheatre here to hold twenty-two thousand spectators? The Saracens were routed here when they swept across France. Standing here on these ramparts you can sense it all, can you not?’
And Richard would understand as once she had thought his father would have done. For in the early days of their marriage Henry had loved literature and works of the imagination. But he had coarsened; his love of power and his lechery had done that.
‘When he enters a town,’ said Eleanor to her sons, ‘he does not see the magnificent facade of a cathedral; he does not hear the melodious ring of bells. He looks over the women and decides which he shall take to his bed to make sport with, not caring whether she be willing or not.’
‘Let us hope he does not come to Poitiers,’ said Richard.
‘We will do our best to keep him away.’
‘Why, my mother, even you could not do that.’
‘Think you not? What if I were to make the people here dislike him so that they refused to have him?’
‘That would be the very greatest inducement for him to come. He would ride into the town with his knights and soldiers in such force that none would dare stand against him.’
‘You are right, my son. Even so, I do not intend that my subjects should be kept in ignorance of the kind of man he is.’
‘Let us not think of him,’ said Richard. ‘We are happy without him.’
And so they were.
‘Let us plan a masque for tomorrow,’ she said. ‘Could you write some special verses for the occasion? What think you?’
He thought it was an excellent idea and he would set about the task at once.
So life flowed on pleasantly in Poitiers. There was many a masque, many a banquet; with her were her sons Richard and Geoffrey and even the latter was something of a troubadour; there was Marguerite, daughter of Louis and wife to young Henry, who was still in her care. Richard’s betrothed Alice, another daughter of Louis but half-sister to Marguerite, for Marguerite was the daughter of Louis’s second wife and Alice of his third, was being brought up at the English Court. Since Eleanor could not be a happy wife she could at least be a contented mother. Her sons loved her and so did her daughters. Even those whom she had deserted still had an affection for her.
These were Marie and Alix, the two she had borne Louis when she was his wife. She had loved them dearly when they were babies but she had been too adventurous a woman to devote herself to children. Marie and Alix were married now – Marie to the Count of Champagne and Alix to the Count of Blois – but they had inherited her love of literature and consequently they could best satisfy this at the court of Poitiers and whenever it was possible they visited her.
What joy it was to have her attendants hurry to her to tell her that they had arrived and then to go down to the courtyard to drink the welcoming cup with them. She believed that they bore her no rancour for her desertion of them. They, like her other children, enjoyed hearing stories of her wildly adventurous life. Marie was perhaps the more attractive of the sisters. She was beautiful and had a spontaneous wit which enchanted everyone including her mother. Marie wrote exquisite poetry herself and it gave Eleanor great pleasure to see the affection between the two most loved of her children, Marie and Richard.
It was into this happy court that the messengers came from England with the news that Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, had been murdered in his Cathedral.
Eleanor’s eyes shone with excitement. ‘Murdered!’ she cried. ‘And by the King’s knights! We have no doubt who is the true murderer.’
Richard and Geoffrey stared at her in horror. How wise they were! she thought. Wise enough to know the importance of this news!
‘The whole of Christendom will rise in horror against the one responsible for this crime,’ prophesied Eleanor. ‘They will all cry shame on the murderer of such a man.’
She laughed aloud. She could not stop herself.
It was going to be amusing watching the effect of this deed, for she knew it would be great. It would reverberate throughout the world and could bring no good to the man she hated.
Now was the time for his enemies to rise up against him.
She looked at her sons and said slowly: ‘The time will be soon at hand when you should claim what is due to you. The time is ripe for action.’
Chapter II
PRINCESS ALICE
The fir
st shock was over. Henry emerged from his chamber of mourning and laughed at his fears. Was he not capable of holding what he had won? Was he going to be afraid of what penance the Pope might try to extract under threat of excommunication?
He was named as the murderer of Thomas à Becket and because people were becoming more and more convinced that Thomas was a saint they were regarding him in horror.
He would maintain the fact that he had never meant his knights to murder Thomas, meanwhile there was the business of being King to be attended to.
Now more than ever he needed to show the world that he was ready for any who should come against him.
Duke Conan of Brittany had died suddenly and it was evident that there might be trouble there, for Conan had been holding Brittany for Henry’s son, young Geoffrey, who as a boy not yet thirteen years old was not capable of governing himself.
No sooner had Henry heard that certain Breton nobles were stating their refusal to do homage to him than he set himself at the head of a troop of soldiers and marched on Brittany. He felt better immediately. Whatever the outcome of Becket’s death he was still the King of England and surely not even the Pope would dare attack him.
With his usual skill in a short time he made those Bretons realise that he was their master. His son, Geoffrey, was as yet too young to take up his role as ruler but his father would hold the land for him until he was of age.
That lesson accomplished he was ready for whatever might come. He was seriously thinking of Ireland. This was the answer. He would not brood in one of his castles waiting for excommunication; he would go into action and add to his possessions, thus making himself more powerful than ever.
It was while he was settling affairs in Brittany that he received a message from Count Humbert of Maurienne who asked if the King would receive him as he had a proposition to lay before him.
Knowing that Count Humbert was a widower with two daughters Henry guessed what might well be the nature of his business and when he considered the Count’s possessions, Henry was not displeased.
He received him with honour and begged him to state his business.
‘As you know, my lord King,’ said Humbert, ‘I have no son but two daughters, and it would be a great honour to me if you would accept the elder as a bride for your youngest son.’
Henry pretended to be taken aback. In reality he was far from it. He had already thought very seriously of what Humbert could bring into the family. This was very important. His daughters, Matilda and Eleanor, were both suitably placed – Matilda to the Duke of Saxony, Eleanor to the King of Castile; as for Joanna, she was a child yet, being only six years old; and daughters were little problem. They could usually be married advantageously. It was not always easy with sons, for their father was expected to provide them with lands. Young Henry would be King of England – he was already crowned – and as the King of England would have Normandy and Anjou; Richard would have Aquitaine and he had provided Brittany for Geoffrey. But what of baby John? His patrimony had always been an anxiety. When he had been born Henry had looked at his little face and thought: Another son, what land shall I give him? He had nicknamed him then Jean Sans Terre; and the name had clung. He was often called John Lackland.
Here was an opportunity to provide him with territory to rule over. For the chance of marrying his daughter to the son of the King of England – albeit that son had three brothers older than himself and therefore one might say had no chance of reaching the throne – a mere Count of Maurienne would be ready to give a good deal.
He narrowed his eyes and studied the Count. ‘Well, my lord Count,’ he said, ‘I believe your daughter to be a comely child in good health and I would welcome her into my family, but I must look to my son’s welfare. What dowry would she bring?’
‘For such a marriage,’ said the Count, ‘I would be prepared to bestow the greater part of my lands. I have as you know, my lord, a younger daughter, and for her I must reserve a little of my territories, but as she could not hope to make such a brilliant marriage as her sister naturally she would have to take a far smaller portion.’
‘There is the County of Belley,’ said Henry. ‘And the valley of Novalesia.’
‘And Rossillon-en-Bugey, my lord. Aix, Aspremont, Rochetta, Mont Major …’ The Count went on counting them off on his fingers.
The King sat nodding. ‘And you have a claim on Grenoble, I believe.’
‘I have, my lord, and that too should pass to my elder daughter.’
‘It seems a fair enough proposition,’ said the King.
‘I should ask that the bridegroom brought five thousand pounds to my family,’ added the Count.
Five thousand pounds! For so much! It was a fair bargain and Henry’s eyes sparkled at the prospect of the lands which would come into the family on the marriage of John to the daughter of Humbert of Maurienne.
‘Of course your son is but a child as yet,’ went on the Count.
‘Almost six years,’ agreed the King, ‘but bright for his age and there is no reason why we should not get them betrothed. We’ll not bed them yet but it is well for them to know that we think of them.’
It was a bargain.
John should be Lackland no longer.
It was this kind of bargaining which pleased the King and made him forget the gathering storm over the death of Becket.
While he was congratulating himself on this match, disturbing news was brought to the castle. Two papal legates had already crossed the borders into France on their way to deliver a message to the King of England from the Pope.
Henry was well aware of what that message would contain. His spies had heard that the Pope wished him to observe his humility which meant of course to do some penance for his share in the murder of Becket. To do this would be to admit publicly his guilt and that was something he was not prepared to do.
He must leave for England at once before the papal legates could reach him. There he would give orders that any messenger from the Pope should on setting foot in England be seized as a spy.
Then he would make plans for his campaign against Ireland. The conquest of that country could not be achieved in a few weeks. It would doubtless be a campaign of some duration and while he was engaged on such an enterprise he could hardly be expected to give his mind to other matters. The longer the lapse of time between the murder and the reckoning the better.
So … to England.
His first visit was to Rosamund, now installed in the royal apartments at Westminster. As ever her beauty surprised him and he marvelled, as he had never ceased to do, that he could have loved her so long. The years had added a serenity to her charms; and he thought how much more attractive she was than a more clever and ambitious woman would have been. Of course he was comparing her with Eleanor.
She was pleased to see him and for the first day and night there was nothing but this delight in each other.
She told him of the fears she had while he had been away. He responded with assurances that in the strategy of war he was always one move ahead of his enemies; and that never had he forgotten her and his joy in returning to England was because he would find her there.
They talked of their boys who were now growing up. Young William would soon be of an age to come to Court.
‘Never fear,’ said Henry, ‘the boys shall be as my legitimate sons, for, Rosamund, in my eyes you are indeed my wife.’
‘But not, my lord, in the eyes of God and the State.’
‘What matters that if you are so in my eyes? I will tell you something that has been in my mind of late. I have no love for the Queen – nor she for me. Why should I not rid myself of her?’
‘How so?’ asked Rosamund with a note of fear in her voice.
‘Why should I not divorce her?’
‘It would never be permitted.’
He was astonished. It was rare for her to suggest that anything he wanted would not be possible.
‘If I willed it, it should be,’ he said a trifle im
patiently.
‘There are the young King and his brothers.’
‘’Tis no affair of theirs. Their position could not be altered.’
‘On what grounds would my lord be given his divorce? If it were consanguinity then would not the young King and his brothers be illegitimate?’
The King sighed. ‘’Tis so,’ he conceded. ‘If it were on grounds of adultery that would not affect my sons. By God’s eyes I doubt I’d have difficulty in proving something against her. Louis could have divorced her for adultery. She took as her lovers her own uncle and a Saracen. Any woman who could do that …’
But for a man to accuse his wife of adultery when he was in bed with his mistress was in a measure ludicrous. Moreover a divorce on such grounds would mean that neither party could marry again. So therefore it was clear that the King was not speaking seriously when he declared he would divorce the Queen.
Rosamund was uneasy. She supposed that there must come a time in the life of any woman in her position when she must ask herself what her future would be. Rosamund was not concerned with her material future. She knew that the King, even if he ceased to be in love with her, would always provide for her and their sons. It was not that which worried her.
