The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [112]
Henry did not hesitate. He went in with his armies and set up his deputies to rule.
This visit to France, this friendship with Louis, was proving very useful to him.
It was I who first talked to him of Toulouse. It had always rankled in my mind that it had passed out of my family’s hands. It had come to us through my grandfather’s wife Philippa, and although my grandfather had sold it to raise money to go on his crusade, I had never felt that that justified our not bringing it back to where it belonged.
To add Toulouse to what he already had was a great temptation to Henry. I knew he was looking ahead a few years to when our son was King of France and almost the whole of that country was in our hands. England and France should be ruled by one king. Together they could stand against the world.
Henry believed he knew Louis. A man of peace would do anything in his power to avoid going to war. Yet even Louis must view with disquiet the prospect of Henry’s acquiring more territory in France.
Louis had added to his stature in a way. He was no longer the tool of Suger and Bernard of Clairvaux; and this had made him more his own man. They were both dead and he had escaped from their influence long enough to have developed a little character of his own.
When Henry demanded the return of Toulouse in my name, Louis must have been overcome with shock. In his simple honest way he would have believed the King of England was his friend. I wondered that he had not yet learned that there is no true friendship between kings; there is only expediency. It was unfortunate that Louis’s sister, Constance, was married to the Count of Toulouse. She was the widow of Eustace, King Stephen’s son, and Louis would naturally feel that he must look after his sister’s interests.
I felt strongly about Toulouse. I always had. I did remember Louis’s abortive attempt to take it. But Louis’s attempts would always end in failure. It would be quite different with Henry. He was enthusiastic for the campaign and set about raising an army. In due course he had with him the most influential barons of England. Becket was there, with equipment and followers more splendid than any. It seemed to me that he fancied himself as a conqueror; he certainly had great energy and the will to succeed. The Scots were there, with the Welsh, and it seemed certain that Henry could not fail to take Toulouse.
Louis, however, made an unpredictable move. He took a few troops with him and went to the aid of his brother-in-law. Consequently when Henry’s army arrived to take possession of the town, Louis was inside it.
Henry was faced with a dilemma. To attack Toulouse meant attacking Louis, and Louis, while Henry was in France, was his feudal lord. I never thought that Henry would be overplagued by such scruples. It may have been that he foresaw that if he made the French King his captive he might be catapulted into a war of gigantic proportions. England was docile at the moment but if anything went wrong there he would have to return at short notice. There were men in Normandy, Anjou and Brittany who would be only too ready to turn against him if they thought they had an opportunity of succeeding. I suppose that on reflection Henry acted in his usually shrewd manner; but the disappointment was intense.
There was nothing more frustrating for an army in perfect order than to come within sight of victory and have it snatched from them because of scruples.
I was amused to hear that there was discord between Becket and the King. Thomas, that holy man, was bent on war. He wanted to cut a fine figure on the battlefield. He wanted to take his splendidly caparisoned equipage into a battle which should have been won before it started.
Becket said the King was acting foolishly.
Henry told Becket to remember to whom he spoke.
Becket, so sure of himself, continued to