The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [185]
There was one man whom he had wronged and whom the King valued. He desperately wanted to see that man.
William Marshal was in Aquitaine and could come to him quickly. After he had sent for him, Henry dispatched a messenger to his father begging him to come to him.
After two attempts on his life, the King was wary. His attitude had changed. He was no longer deluding himself about his eldest son. Henry had exposed himself too obviously for further deceit to succeed. This time the King listened to his advisers, who were sure that this was another attempt to do that in which he had twice failed.
William Marshal did go to Henry’s bedside, but by his time the fever had taken a firmer hold on him.
I did hear later what he said to William. William had been a friend of his childhood; they had been close until the Count of Flanders had sown suspicion in Henry’s mind about Marshal and Marguerite. He told William that he knew his end was near. He had been possessed by devils and feared eternal damnation. He blamed his ancestress, the witch. “We Plantagenets are the Devil’s spawn,” he said. “We came from the Devil and we shall go back to the Devil.” William begged him to repent of his sins.
He was happier when a messenger came back with a ring from his father. The King did not trust him sufficiently to come himself but he was still his father and he did want his son to know that in spite of everything he still cared for him. They told me how Henry’s ring had comforted him.
William Marshal had arranged for the Bishop of Cahors to come to the house where Henry was staying. He begged William to remain with him. By his bed was a crusader’s cross which he had stolen from one of the tombs. He swore that if he lived he would take the cross to Jerusalem and place it on the Holy Sepulcher. He had written to his father. He had lied to him so many times; he had cheated and betrayed him. He wanted as many wrongs put right as there possibly could be. Would the King restore what he had stolen as far as he could? Would he look after Marguerite? He sent a message to me, too. He thought of me often. He had longed to see me, and he had begged the King to be more tender toward me.
Henry implored William Marshal to take the cross and if ever he went to Jerusalem to place it on the shrine in the name of the young King Henry.
He ordered that a bed of ashes be prepared, with a stone for a pillow; he wanted to wear a hairshirt. Then he declared himself the most wicked of sinners. He lay on his bed of discomfort for several hours, and it seemed that there he found a certain peace.
His repentance was complete.
And thus he died.
I would think of him as I had seen him in my dream. My poor, foolish son. I hope he found more contentment in death than he had in life.
Last Days at Chinon
HENRY MOURNED DEEPLY. HE had so loved his eldest son. I knew he would be thinking of that handsome boy; he would be remembering all the glorious plans he had made for him; all had come to nothing.
And on his deathbed, with his sins heavy upon him, he had thought of his mother.
I was sure Henry wondered why my children loved me so much more than they loved him. But he did remember young Henry’s words. Richard had reviled him for his treatment of me: Henry on his deathbed had pleaded that I be treated with more kindness. Henry could not ignore one of his son’s last requests, so I received a visit from the Archdeacon of Wells.
He respectfully told me that he had come on the King’s behalf and that I was to prepare to leave Salisbury for Winchester. This I should be happy to do, I told him. I preferred Winchester.
“The King wishes me to say that much will depend on your behavior at Winchester. The King thinks that it would be well for you to be with your daughter, the Duchess of Saxony, at the time of her confinement.”
My heart leaped with joy. To be with my dear daughter. I could hardly contain