The Queen From Provence - Plaidy Jean. Страница 42

Only the barons knew how unpopular the King was becoming – and the Queen was more so. They were biding their time.

Henry in desperate straits sought about for means of getting money in addition to taxation and he hit upon the particularly unpleasant habit of asking for presents from everyone who came for an audience, and this was even more to be deplored when if the gifts were not costly enough he complained and asked for them to be exchanged.

It was a greater act of charity to give money and goods to their King, he told the people, than to beggars who waited for them at church doors with their begging cups.

During this time Eleanor was pregnant again and gave birth to another son, christened John – an unfortunate name and so it proved, because it was not long before little John followed his brother Richard to the tomb.

Two little boys and both dead! The Queen was very depressed and needed costly presents to raise her spirits. These must be provided by any means and as she was inordinately fond of fine garments and rich jewels these were procured for her.

Richard remonstrated with his brother but not as firmly as he had once done. He was to a certain extent under the influence of his wife who herself was persuaded in the way she should think by the Queen. Eleanor and Sanchia were constantly together and as their mother was also at Court with many of her friends there was a Provencal coterie at the head of which was the Queen.

The barons were watchful. Their moment would come as it had in the last reign and when it did they would be ready.

Richard at length did persuade the King that his extravagance to foreigners was becoming an issue of complaint with many of the leading barons and that he should curb his expenditure. Henry decided to cut short the allowances for the royal servants and not to eat in his royal castles and palaces but in the homes of his friends. He would travel from castle to castle with the Queen and often Edward and many of his foreign friends, and there expect to be feasted in royal manner at the expense of others.

The King’s attempt at economy was regarded as a joke by all those who were not obliged to feel the force of it. What was becoming clearer and clearer was that with each day the King and Queen – particularly the Queen – added to their list of enemies.

‘It was a bad day for the royal house,’ said Henry, ‘when father allowed them to force him to sign Magna Carta.’

Magna Carta! It was talked of constantly. People in the streets of London spoke of it without knowing exactly what it set out. All they knew was that it was the Charter to preserve the liberty of the people and curb the power of Kings.

There was great excitement in the royal apartments when news came that a fire had broken out in the Pope’s palace and destroyed the contents of one of the rooms, for in this room was the original of Magna Carta.

‘Praise be to God,’ said Eleanor, ‘that infamous document is destroyed. Now we have done with it.’

The King immediately levied a tax on the Londoners for harbouring, as he said, a man whom he had sent into exile.

Richard came with all haste to Westminster.

‘This must be stopped,’ he said. ‘The people are all quoting Magna Carta.’

‘But Magna Carta has been burned,’ cried Eleanor. ‘It no longer exists. I see the hand of God in this.’

‘You are mistaken,’ explained Richard. ‘The principal document has been destroyed. But there are copies and these are safe in England. Once a King has signed away his rights it is unlikely that they will ever be regained. The fact of the fire has no bearing on this. The Charter remains.’

‘It is time the people were taught a lesson,’ said Eleanor.

Richard frowned. Once he would have been firmly on the side of the barons. He realised with a sudden horror that there might come a time when it would be necessary to take sides.

‘Henry,’ begged Richard, ‘I pray you explain to the Queen. I have never seen the people in such a mood as they are now. It is unwise … unhealthy … and unsafe for us all.’

The Queen listened and shrugged her shoulders. The people of England, she declared, were so ungrateful. They had a King who would be good to them if they would but mend their ways. They had a Queen who had given them the finest family of children ever seen.

‘They should rejoice in Edward,’ she said. ‘He grows every day. He is taller than all his companions, our dear, dear Longshanks. Do you know Burnell is constantly reminding me of how he always said Edward would outgrow his childish ailments. He is saying I told you so to me. But I like him for it. He is a good man. He loves Edward as his son.’

Richard said: ‘I pray you go carefully that there may be a kingdom for Edward to rule when his time comes … which I trust will be many years yet.’

‘You are in a serious mood today, brother,’ said the Queen.

‘Some of us must be serious at some time,’ replied Richard.

And he began to ask himself whether he would always be able to stand beside the King.

THE SAD LITTLE BRIDE

There were several boys in the royal nursery, but Edward was the leading spirit and always had been. He was eleven years old, very tall for his age and, although his hair had darkened a little it was still very fair. His cousin, Henry, although four years older was of a more gentle nature. Henry was also handsome, but less so than Edward as he was less tall. Henry was a good friend and cousin and they shared most things.

In the royal nurseries were also the de Montfort cousins. Their father, Simon de Montfort, and their mother, Edward’s Aunt Eleanor, were in Gascony where Simon had undertaken the government at the King’s request. After Henry’s outburst about Simon’s seduction of his sister he had been ashamed of himself for so blatantly lying and in giving him the governorship of Gascony (a turbulent province which he had been unable to manage) he was getting rid of him and at the same time offering him the olive branch. So with their parents away the de Montfort children were the wards of the King.

The de Montfort boys – Henry who was a year older than Edward, Simon who was two years younger and Guy four years younger – were a wild element in the establishment, always urging their cousins on to disobedience. The eldest of the group, Henry, son of Richard of Cornwall, was a restraining influence and as he was the senior by three years (Henry de Montfort being next in seniority) his influence was great.

Then there were the two girls, Margaret who was a year younger than Edward and Beatrice three years younger than Margaret. Then came Edmund the youngest of all – five years old and only rarely in the company of the others.

Margaret – although at this time she knew nothing of it – had at the age of two been betrothed to the son of King Alexander of Scotland who was a year younger than herself.

There had been and still was an uneasy situation between England and Scotland and at the first sign of disaster the Scots were ready to overrun the border. The suggested marriage had therefore been of great importance to Henry and even after the formal betrothal there had been a further outbreak of trouble and in the settlement of this it had been agreed that the marriage should take place as soon as the children were old enough.

As she played with her little sister Beatrice and her brother Edmund – for it often happened that Edward excluded them from the manly games he played with his companions and even kind cousin Henry of Cornwall could find no place for them – Margaret had no idea that change was so near to her and that the happy life in the royal nurseries was coming to a close for her.