The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [238]
I could see that the peace to which I had looked forward was not to be mine. I had to rouse myself. I had to forget my age. I could see the Plantagenet Empire slipping away. John would have to grow up quickly. He had so much to learn.
In the meantime I sent for Mercadier, the chief of the mercenaries, who was always eager to serve if the price was good.
I had remonstrated with him about his actions when Richard had died. He had seized Bertrand de Gurdun and had him flayed alive. So Richard’s last benevolent act came to nothing. I hoped the boy knew that Richard had had nothing to do with his death and that if the King had lived he would not have suffered that terrible end.
But Mercadier, for all his cruelty, was one of the best soldiers of his day, and fighting was his business. He gathered together his army of mercenaries and I went with the army for I was determined that what had been lost must be won back without delay.
Arthur was only a boy and Constance a woman, but after Geoffrey’s death she had married a Poitevin nobleman, Guy de Thouars, and together they were not to be thought of lightly, particularly as they had the help—though intermittently—of Philip Augustus.
Mercadier soon put them to flight.
John brought out an army and took Le Mans. Alas, he did not capture Arthur as he had hoped to, and the boy escaped and put himself under the protection of Philip Augustus.
I was so tired. I kept telling myself that a woman of my age should be at peace, not in the midst of conflict, but there was so much at stake, and who would act if I did not? There was one thing I could do. I had done it before and it had been successful. I must show myself to my people.
I returned to Fontevrault and gathered together a retinue of bishops and nobles; and then I began a tour of my estates.
I did not this time attempt to promote my son John as I had Richard. I just wanted to show myself as their own Duchess, the one whom they had always loved and only rejected because of husbands brought in to govern them.
I was no longer the beautiful young woman, but they seemed to respect my age. They cheered me and extolled me because I was so old; and though exhausting, it was well worthwhile. They were as loyal to the old woman as they had been to the young.
Brittany might be lost to us but at least I had saved my native country.
Having now established the fact that I was the ruler, I must perform the painful duty of doing homage for my land to my suzerain. It was unfortunate that he should be the King of France.
In Tours we came face to face. He received me with courtesy and spoke of Richard with emotion. He had loved him, I know, while he had worked to destroy him. I had seen such emotion once between Henry and Becket.
We looked at each other steadily and with respect. I knew that he would be a formidable enemy, and John would be no match for him. It was for this reason that I was undergoing this humiliating ceremony. My lands belonged to me, I was telling him, not to my son John . . . although, of course, he would be my heir. But old as I was, I was very much alive.
I believed there was something which was of the utmost importance. That was an alliance between our countries, and what could bring that about better than a marriage?
Philip Augustus had a son; my daughter Eleanor had a daughter. There should be a marriage between them, and to bring this about would be my next task.
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There was no one else I could trust to do this. I must see my granddaughter and assure myself that she was prepared for what lay ahead. I must bring her to her bridegroom.
To undertake the journey to Castile was a little daunting, but I knew it must be done, so, having assured myself that Philip Augustus saw the advantage of this alliance and was agreeable to it, I immediately set about making my preparations.
My pleasure at the prospect of seeing my daughter outweighed my apprehension at the thought