The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [29]
He told Louis quite frankly that he had no desire to join in a campaign against Toulouse.
“And why not?” asked Louis.
“Because, sire, I consider it would be doomed to failure and even if you succeeded in winning Toulouse, it would soon be taken back. The people of Toulouse are content with the way things are.”
“But,” I said, “Toulouse belongs to me. It is part of my inheritance.”
Thibault bowed. “I crave my lady’s pardon. I thought it was sold to the present family by your grandfather when he went to the Holy Land.”
“It belongs to me,” I said stubbornly.
Thibault inclined his head once more and made no further comment.
Louis said: “I shall expect you with your company. We leave a week from today.”
Thibault replied: “My lord, I think I could not expect my men to follow me in such a cause.”
“I shall expect you,” said Louis.
Thibault then retired.
“A contentious fellow,” I said. “He forgets you are his liege lord.”
I could not believe that he would dare disobey Louis’s summons but he did, and on the day we left he simply did not arrive.
Louis said: “Perhaps one could not expect him to join in a fight for which he has no heart.”
“Vassals obey their liege lords,” I said. “If they do not, it should be the worse for them.”
“When this campaign is over, you will not expect me to wage war on Champagne, I hope,” said Louis, a little testily.
“We can do without the help of Thibault of Champagne,” I said.
It was thrilling to ride off with pennons flowing in the wind. There is something magnificent about an army on the march.
I did not intend to accompany Louis into battle. I was going to my beloved Poitiers, there to await the triumphant return of his army.
We said goodbye to Louis, and Petronilla and I with our little company rode on to Poitiers, which would always be home to me.
Such memories came back. It had changed little. The people would always be the same. They had no great interest in conquests; they did not care that we were now bound to France by marriage. It was only when their easy way of life was threatened that they could be roused to anger.
Petronilla indulged in memories of the past as we rode through the forest, hunting, hawking. Our evenings were spent in singing and reading poetry, and each day we watched for Louis’s victorious armies.
Alas it did not happen that way. Why had I ever thought that Louis could be a conqueror? He and his army arrived in Poitiers just as they had left Paris. They were an army in retreat.
Louis explained to me. “They were prepared for us . . . waiting for us.”
“And you turned back.”
“There was nothing else to do. The army would have been cut into pieces. Alphonse-Jourdain had his men everywhere. They were on the castle battlements . . . arrows ready. Our men would have been mown down if they had attempted to advance.”
“So you just turned and came away?”
“It was the only thing to do, unless I wanted to see my army destroyed.”
Why had I thought he would make a soldier! There was nothing to be done but disband the army.
Louis remained at Poitiers with a small company and, despairing of him, I said: “We could at least make a tour of my cities in Aquitaine.”
So, although the expedition was a failure in one way, in another it was a success. I loved Aquitaine. Never could any other country have the same place in my heart; and to be with my own pleasure-loving people was a great joy.
In the various castles we were lavishly entertained. I loved to sit in the great halls listening to the songsters, watching the dancers and remembering the past. I could almost see my grandfather seated there, putting out a hand now and then to caress his beloved Dangerosa. How different from the Court in the Cit Palace in Paris presided over by a puritan!
Louis was with us, aloof, uneasy, shuddering at the implications in some of the songs. I felt more frustrated than ever. I longed for a dashing lover who would carry me off and force me