The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [227]
He traveled through Austria and sang outside every castle he could find. I could imagine his strong voice carrying over the air. He sang a song which he loved beyond all others because he and the King had composed it together. No one had sung it but those two. It was in the form of a duet.
Blondel sang this song beneath the walls of castles and one day when he sang he heard a voice taking up the duet. They sang in unison; then each took his part.
There was no doubt that Blondel had found the King.
He came home with speed. One could hardly credit the story, yet it was true. No one knew that song but Blondel and Richard; and Blondel would know the King’s voice anywhere.
Richard was a captive in the tower of Drrenstein Castle. He was in the hands of a bitter enemy but at least we knew he was still alive.
John was furious that Richard had been found. He had been fervently hoping that his brother was dead. He had already gone to Normandy, declaring himself King of England and Duke of Normandy. I was glad the Norman barons rejected him. Then he had gone to Paris and become a close ally of Philip Augustus.
I had to bring Richard home somehow.
Now that the news that he was incarcerated in Drrenstein was broken, he had been taken out of Leopold’s hands and delivered into those of Henry Hohenstaufen, the Holy Roman Emperor.
I knew what would happen next. A ransom would be demanded. How delighted Richard’s enemies must be! It was not so much the King himself whom they hated but the power of the Plantagenets. The Emperor, Philip Augustus, Leopold of Austria and the rest had seen that empire extending over Europe. It had been the realization of Henry’s dream. They wanted to smash it, and they thought to do so by demanding a ransom that would cripple not only England but the French provinces as well.
Richard was taken to Haguenau—no longer the prisoner of the petty Duke of Austria but of the Holy Roman Emperor—and the ransom asked was 100,000 silver marks. Two hundred hostages would have to be submitted until the money was paid, and those hostages must be from the noblest families in England and Normandy.
I could hardly believe it when I heard it. How could we raise such an amount? But we should have to do so. The people were already complaining of the taxation necessary to finance the crusade. How much better it would have been if that money had been used for England’s needs, and Richard had remained at home.
But at least we could now communicate with him. He wrote to me, his beloved mother. What joy it gave me to read his letters! He had seen a draft of that letter which the Emperor had written to the King of France, and he was indignant. There were other matters, too, which annoyed him. He wanted to know why he should be held in captivity like a common thief. He had not taken Jerusalem, and that was held against him. He would have taken it but for the treachery at home in England which had made it necessary for him to return. Philip Augustus had slandered him. This was due to pure jealousy because the King of France had broken his oath and, being unable to endure the hardships of the crusade, had shirked them. He was angry because he, Richard, had been more successful in battle.
This was true, of course, but I thought it wiser to hold back recrimination until after his release.
It was a busy time that followed. I had to think of every means of raising money. And what a difficult task it was! It was not so long since we were making demands for the crusade. Richard was proving an expensive monarch. But it had to be; England was unsafe while Richard was a prisoner. John was not to be trusted, and now that Philip Augustus had become Richard’s vicious enemy we were in danger. I gathered together a council of barons and clergy and we decided on new taxes. We had to ask for a quarter of their income from all