The Follies of the King - Plaidy Jean. Страница 24

News came from London. It was known that the favourite had broken his

vows and returned. It was known that he was with the King and that Edward

was with him throughout the days and nights.

Bands of men trained as soldiers marched through the streets of London.

They wanted the favourite to lose his head since he would not lose himself abroad. Isabella was a saint. London loved her as much as they hated Gaveston.

She was the wronged wife, the beautiful Princess who had charmed them, whom they had believed would make a man of their King. And what had happened? He neglected her. He treated her with contempt; he spent his nights in the licentious company of Piers Gaveston whose mother, rumor had it, had been burned as a witch. Gaveston had clearly inherited some of her powers for he had completely bewitched the King. They wanted Gaveston’s blood. They wanted him brought

to London and his head cut off and stuck up on London Bridge.

Worse still the barons were gathering together. It was unthinkable that they should allow Gaveston to flout them. The Archbishop of Canterbury, old Robert de Winchelsey, communicated Gaveston for breaking the oath he had made to

the barons. That frightened Edward but Gaveston shrugged it aside.

‘The old fool,’ he said. ‘It is time he was dead. You should make Walter

Reynolds your Archbishop of Canterbury. Why, there is a man who would work for you.’

‘I will,’ cried Edward, ‘as soon as Winchelsey is dead? and he cannot last much longer.’

‘If only he were in that position now.’ Even Gaveston was a little afraid of excommunication. Edward noticed that his friend’s appetite waned and that he had lost a little of his glowing health.

Isabella knew that the barons were getting together and would march against Edward. Oh God, she thought, if I but had a child, a boy who was heir to the throne! Then I do believe they would be ready to depose Edward and make my son the King and I his mother would be Regent, for the people love me and want to recompense me for the wrongs I have suffered through Edward. It was true.

They were ashamed of their King. That he should marry a Princess and neglect her for a foppish minion was disgraceful. They were ashamed of their English King. Yes, they would be with her and against her husband while he kept

Gaveston at his side.

Oh, for a child! How she yearned for one, prayed for one and exerted every wile she knew to lure Edward to her bed. There was one thing which could bring him there and that was duty and the thought that if she were once impregnated with his seed he could be left in peace.

Meanwhile Gaveston languished, and the King was distraught. If they had

been in London he would have had his physician at his friend’s bedside. He did the next best thing and sent for the finest doctor in the North, William de Bromtoft. Gaveston would recover, Edward was told. He needed rest.

‘I will give him a potion to make him sleep. It is rest he needs more than anything.’

And while Gaveston slept, Edward sat by his bedside until the Queen glided quietly into the bedchamber.

‘How fares he?’ she whispered.

‘He murmurs in his sleep.’

‘He is aware of you here. The doctor said he needs peace and rest. Leave

him, Edward. Let him sleep alone. He will best recover then.’

‘What if he should wake and want me?’

‘Then he will call for you. At this moment he is aware of you and it worries him that he cannot speak with you.’

At length Edward allowed himself to be led away. In his bedchamber the

Queen soothed him with a special posset women made in France to rouse their lovers’ ardour. She took him to her bed and with the help of her ministrations, her prayers and perhaps the posset, that night she became pregnant.

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Gaveston recovered. The spring had come and it could hardly be expected

that the barons would allow him to continue to flout them. The Lords Ordainers, those earls, barons and bishops who had drawn up the Ordinances for the reform of the realm met and sworn to defend them and for this reason, they were ready to march against the King, for by receiving Gaveston and restoring his

possessions Edward

had openly defied them. It was clear that he had to learn his lesson.

Lancaster, with his newly acquired power, was the most important of the

earls. He had his own private army. It was arranged that the earls and barons should organize tournaments in their castles where men prepared for war should muster. When they were ready, they would band together and march north until to where the King and Gaveston were living together. They would take

Gaveston prisoner and if the King objected, there would be nothing left but to take arms against Edward.

It was a dangerous situation and it was hoped that the King realized how

serious.

Edward did. To his great joy, Gaveston had completely recovered and there

was another reason for rejoicing. Isabella was with child.

Edward was delighted. None could say he had not done his duty. Fervently

he prayed that the child would be a boy.

It was May. Isabella had conceived in February and her condition was

beginning to be noticeable. The King with his entourage had come to Newcastle and there it was they heard the news that the hostile barons were approaching.

‘We must leave without delay!’ cried the King. ‘Where can we go? Oh

Perrot, what will happen to you if you fall into their hands?’

‘They will trump up some charge against me doubtless and have my head to

grace the Bridge.’

‘I beg of you, do not talk so. They shall all be hanged before I’d allow it.’

Gaveston said sadly: ‘Little King, would you be able to stop it?’

The Queen burst upon them. She was afraid for the child. She said: ‘Come,

let us not wait here. Let us get away without delay. If we go to Tynemouth we could take ship for Scarborough and that will give us time to think.’

‘Isabella is right,’ said Edward. ‘Let us go, Perrot.’

In due course, they arrived at Tynemouth and there Edward at once ordered

that a boat be made ready for them.

‘We will rest one night and be gone tomorrow. The tide will be right and

carry us to safety.’

Isabella returned to her bedchamber, leaving the friends together.

She wondered what the barons would do to Gaveston when they captured

him, for capture him they would in time.

She thought of his enemies and chiefly of Lancaster. She had quite a fancy for Lancaster and he for her. She had heard that his marriage was not a happy one. Alice de Lacy had brought him his earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury but little happiness. She did not like her husband and made no secret of her feelings.

He shrugged her dislike aside and it was said took many mistresses. He was the most powerful baron in the country and Isabella was attracted by power. She could never love her husband. He was too weak and that streak in his nature which made him the doting slave of Gaveston nauseated her.

Lancaster would lead the barons against Gaveston and because Edward had

allied himself with his friend, that meant against Edward.

What a fool he was, this man to whom they had married her! Could he not

see that he was placing his throne in jeopardy? They were fools? both him and Gaveston. They seemed to be blind to where their folly was leading them. Why could not Gaveston have behaved with decorum? Why did they have to flout

their relationship so it was obvious to all? Why had Gaveston have to display his questionable wit and poke fun at men who were far more powerful than himself?

How had Edward become so utterly his slave?

Never mind. One day it would be different. If this child she carried was a boy?

She slept fitfully that night, for her sleep was troubled by dreams and vague stirrings throughout the castle; and in the morning she understood the reason for these disturbances.