The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [192]
Richard agreed that we must do that.
As for myself, I was in a state of bemused delight. I could hardly believe it was true. After years of resignation to quiet living in Salisbury or Winchester or some such place . . . I was to be free.
Henry was ready to go ahead with his suggestion. Aquitaine was to be returned to me just as I had given it to Richard. Geoffrey was to go back to his dominions, and John would go to Ireland where he was the King.
I think it was clear to Henry that I was going to insist on this before I agreed to anything. Richard was to be the next King of England. He was the eldest son now, and the people would never accept either of the others.
Richard would suit England better than he did Aquitaine; and in his heart Henry must know that. Henry loved England, although he spent so little time there, but that was only because the other dominions were where trouble was always breaking out.
While we were at Winchester we were disturbed by the visit of Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Henry would have wished that he was anywhere but in England, especially when he was aware of what had brought the Patriarch. Saladin was on the point of taking Jerusalem. King Baldwin was dying and Queen Sybil was pleading for help from the whole of Christendom. Her son was an infant. Prompt action must be taken.
Henry, who was always anxious to appear to his subjects as a deeply religious man, listened sympathetically and declared that he would raise money without delay.
But it was not money that Heraclius wanted. He wanted crusaders.
Henry said: Yes, he could see that, but he himself was in no position to go and fight in the Holy Land.
Heraclius was desperate and did not mince words. He reminded Henry that when he had done penance at the tomb of Thomas Becket he had promised to undertake a crusade to the Holy Land.
Henry was always upset by references to Becket. It was astonishing how that man still haunted him. I was sure he thought of him often. There would be constant reminders . . . places they had visited together in the days when Becket was Chancellor, before his disastrous elevation to the archbishopric . . . the conversations they had had. There must have been thousands of memories.
“I said I would go when the time was ripe,” he declared. “And when the time is ripe, I will. That time is not yet.”
“This is the time,” declared Heraclius. “The heathen is at the very heart of the Holy Land.”
“I could not leave my dominions now,” said the King and added: “This is too important a decision for me to make alone. I must leave it to my ministers.”
Heraclius was shocked that he could rely on others to decide for him. Had he not taken an oath?
Henry could have retorted that the decision would not depend on them; he would follow their advice, yes, because their advice would be what he had commanded them to give him.
In spite of Heraclius’s disappointment Henry called together a council headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who obediently rose and announced: “My lord King, your duty lies in your own dominions.”
Heraclius could be very disturbing. Perhaps he guessed Henry’s men were merely obeying his orders. He said he would call on another Archbishop, one whose blood had stained the stone of his own cathedral. He would remember that the King had made an oath to go to Jerusalem.
“When it was in his power to do so,” the Archbishop reminded the vehement Patriarch. “The King has his duties here, and God will agree that it is his duty to remain in his own dominions.”
Henry rose and then said that he believed his council spoke good sense, and although in his heart he would be in the Holy Land, he must perforce think first of his duty. He would give money to the cause and he would help any of his subjects who wished to join the Crusade.
How fiery and how venomous these good men can become when they are flouted and prevented from carrying out their good works.
“You and your family,” cried Heraclius, “came from the Devil and to the Devil you will return. No good will come to you, Henry Plantagenet. You have