The Revolt of the Eaglets Page 20

  ‘We must swear that we are friends and neither will do anything that could be harmful to the other,’ said Henry. ‘Let us take an oath on this. Let us show the world that this enterprise is the most important event that has ever befallen either of us.’

  Louis was agreeable. ‘The world should know it,’ he said.

  ‘And now we must plan our exercise. It needs much thought. The equipping of armies to undertake such an enterprise is a major matter. Dismiss your priests when they have heard what we intend to do, for I cannot tarry with you long and we have much to plan.’

  Louis could think of nothing but the proposed expedition. He had once before gone on such a journey. It had been a failure, but that was due to the fact that Eleanor had accompanied him. God had been displeased then, and looking back Louis was not surprised. At that time Louis had been so enamoured of Eleanor that he had allowed her too much freedom. And how she had rewarded him – by entering into an incestuous relationship with her uncle and, so it was said, taking a Saracen as her lover! It was at that time that she had begun asking for a divorce. Oh, yes, it had been a disaster and he could see that Eleanor with the fine clothes she had taken with her for the trip had turned it from a holy enterprise into a worldly display of splendour and immorality.

  This would be different. Two ageing and serious men bent on serving God and so earning the redemption of their sins.

  He could think of nothing but the means he would use to raise the money, what equipment he would need, whom he would take with him.

  Henry shared his excitement and the rest of the time they spent together was given over to making these arrangements.

  Henry said farewell to his dear brother with whom he had sworn oaths of friendship. It was true he had promised that the marriage between Richard and Alice should take place but the vital point had been eluded. No date had been given.

  As for going on a crusade Henry laughed at the idea. Louis was a fool. Did he think Henry would hand over his realm to inexperienced boys? Louis was unworldly, he did not understand what power meant to a man like Henry. Nor did he understand the determination to keep to himself the woman who pleased him more than any other.

  Chapter XI

  THE LADY OF GODSTOW

  In the convent of Godstow, Rosamund knew that her end was near. It was just a little more than a year since she had arrived at the convent where she had been received with pleasure by the nuns. It was not only that the King had endowed the convent with gifts since she had come, which had made her popular; her gentle nature very soon made her beloved by all.

  There was none more devout than Rosamund. She spent long hours in meditation and penance; so deeply concerned was she with her sins, which seemed to her to have been of such magnitude that no matter if she lived for twenty years she could never wipe them out, even if she passed those years in extreme piety.

  Sometimes she talked of this to the nuns who sought to comfort her.

  ‘I know that it was wrong. I should never have agreed to become the King’s mistress. I loved him and could deny him nothing. I cannot describe to you the charm of Henry Plantagenet.’

  ‘Others have sinned in like fashion, my daughter,’ the Abbess reminded her. ‘They have sought and found forgiveness as you are doing.’

  But Rosamund was too heavily weighed down by her conception of sin to be comforted. If she had been seduced against her will, it would have been different; if she had given way to save her family from the King’s displeasure there would have been some hope for her soul.

  ‘But no,’ she said. ‘He came to my father’s castle and was entertained there. We took one look at each other and the temptation was born. I remember well how I returned to my bedchamber and my heart beat as it never did before. I loosened my hair so that it fell about my shoulders and I put on my most becoming robe. I waited for the summons and when it came most willingly I went.’

  ‘You were but a child.’

  ‘A child who knew the difference between good and evil.’

  She could not excuse herself. She wept often; she sewed garments for the poor until there were deep shadows under her once beautiful eyes. And each day she grew more pale and wan.

  Occasionally she heard news of what was happening in the world outside Godstow. It was said that there would soon be a royal wedding for Prince Richard and the Princess Alice of France.

  Poor Alice! What would her life be? How could she go to her bridegroom when she had already borne the King a child? Few knew of that, and Rosamund hoped never would. One day would Alice feel the heavy weight of her sins as insupportable as Rosamund now found hers?

  And the King? How would he feel about letting Alice go? Yet he had let Rosamund go and surely he had once loved her even as he now loved Alice.

  It was a sad and sorry world and Rosamund was convinced that her sins were too great for heavenly forgiveness.

  She was no longer a young woman so perhaps the King had tired of her for that reason. She would soon have seen forty winters. So many years it had been since the King had first sent for her. Yet she remembered that occasion in every detail and with her was the certain knowledge that if she were young again and the King was there, everything would have happened as it had before.

  That was what made her feel so doomed.

  The Abbess remonstrated with her. Should she not work a little in the gardens? That would give her a little fresh air, and she loved the plants.

  ‘I love the gardens,’ answered Rosamund. ‘To tend the flowers would give me the utmost pleasure. From now on I want to turn my back on everything that pleases me. I have had pleasure enough in my life. It is now time for me to endure the pain.’

  Confined in her cell she would spend long hours on her knees, the hairy garment she wore tormenting her soft skin. And at length there came a day when the Abbess despaired of her life, so much had she neglected her health and so deeply enamoured did she seem of death.

  She was unable to rise from her pallet and when the nuns brought certain comforts to her cell she scorned them. They sought to wrap her in warm covering but she spurned it; she had grown so thin that she was not recognisable as the beautiful penitent who had entered the convent only a year before.

  ‘Rest easy, my daughter,’ said the Abbess. ‘Your sins will be forgiven for you have truly repented.’

  Rosamund shook her head and the tears fell down her sunken cheeks.

  ‘Nay,’ she said. ‘Do you know the big tree in the gardens … my favourite tree?’

  The Abbess nodded.

  ‘When that turns to stone you will know that I have been received into Heaven.’

  ‘You have shown true repentance, and God is good.’

  But Rosamund could not believe that her sins were forgiven, for she only had to think of Henry Plantagenet and she knew that were he to come to her and insist on her going to him she would be unable to prevent herself doing so. How could one be forgiven a sin when in one’s heart one knew that should the temptation occur again, there would be no resisting it?

  The nuns wept for her when she was dead. She had been a good and gracious lady; and much good had come to Godstow because it had sheltered her.

  The King came to the convent. He was deeply distressed. His dear Rosamund, dead! Fair Rosamund. The Rose of the World who through him had become the Rose of Unchastity.

  ‘She was a good woman,’ he said, ‘and dearly I loved her. If she sinned it was in loving me. She was my comfort when I needed comfort. She gave me solace which as King I needed. Because of her I was a better man than I would otherwise have been.’

  He wished her to be buried with some pomp. Let her coffin be placed in the gardens of the convent she loved so well. The grave would not be closed. A tabernacle should be built above the coffin; then an altar should be created and the coffin placed on it. The coffin should be covered by a pall of silk; tapers should be kept constantly burning at either end and banners should wave above it.

  Thus it would be seen that t
his was a shrine to one who had been highly valued by the King, and he had decided that one day a suitable monument should be built beneath which she would be buried.

  Until that time let her lie in state and let the nuns of Godstow keep the tapers burning and pray constantly for the salvation of the soul of one whom the King had loved dearly.

  Chapter XII

  THE COURT OF FRANCE

  Philip, son of the King of France, was leading a hunting party into the forest. He was not a very happy nor a very popular boy. From an early age he had been aware of his importance as the King’s only son and there had been much fussing over his health. Now that he was fourteen years of age – soon to be fifteen – he was spoilt, peevish and arrogant. He despised his father but naturally he must accept the fact that he was the King; his mother, who attempted to restrain his selfishness, often angered him and he had more than once warned her to take care, for one day he would be the King and then she would have to obey him.

  He was sickly and caught cold easily and when he was not feeling well – which was often – he would be irritable. He had few real friends and his attendants counted themselves lucky when their duties did not bring them too close to him.

  At this time he was more arrogant than ever because his father had told him that he was arranging for his coronation.

  ‘You see, my son, I am no longer a young man,’ Louis explained. ‘I waited a long time for a son and married three wives to get you.’

  ‘I know this,’ said Philip impatiently. ‘All know it.’

  ‘It meant great rejoicing when you came. I had the bells ringing throughout France.’

  Philip inclined his head. He was not averse to hearing the often repeated tale of his much heralded arrival into the world.

  The thought of the coronation delighted him. Then he would be King of France beside his father; and the old man was ageing fast. It could not be long before he was sole ruler of the country.

  The more he thought of this the more impatient he became; and on this day when he rode out with his band of huntsmen he was thinking of the great day ahead in the Cathedral at Rheims. He was already putting on the airs of a king, seeing himself in his coronation robes, the crown on his head. King of France, what a glorious title!

  They had sighted the deer and he wished his to be the arrow that killed it. There would be feasting that night and he would be at the head of the table. There was extra deference for him now that his coronation was in sight, and he was not so much the sickly boy to be cherished, as the future monarch to be placated. He liked the change.

  He spurred his horse and immediately those knights whom his father had commanded to guard him came level with him.

  He gave an angry glance to right and left.

  ‘Keep off my tail,’ he growled, and they immediately fell back; he spurred on his horse and took great delight in leaving them behind.

  On and on he galloped. He was sure the deer had gone this way. He wanted to be the one who cornered the animal. When he had killed it he would shout to the others and they would come hurrying up at his command and compliment him on the finest buck that had ever fallen to arrow. It would have to be because the King-to-be had shot it and even if it was the veriest baby of a deer they would have to see it as the finest. That was the joy of being a king. His father was a foolish old man. He talked about honesty and turning from flattery, and how a king’s best and staunchest friends were often those who criticised him. No one was going to criticise Philip II of France.

  He galloped on through the forest, leaving the others far behind. This was unfamiliar country to him, but he knew the direction in which he had come. Where was the deer? He drew up and looked about him. There was no sign of it.

  He shouted and listened for an answer. None came. His attendants had obeyed his order to get off his tail, and he must have left the party far behind him.

  He rode on. The forest had become more dense. He pulled up and called again. There was no answer. He listened for the sound of horses’ hoofs, but there was only the faint sighing of wind in the thick August leaves and the crackle of undergrowth as some small animal scuttled along.

  There was something sinister about the forest when one was alone. The tall dignified trees implied they would bow to no one and that a king was of no more importance to them than a woodcutter. Overhead through their leaves he could see the hot summer sky.

  He was a little tired and thirsty. His throat craved cool soothing liquid. Perhaps there was a woodcutter’s hut nearby where he could ask refreshment. He liked the idea. Those stories – and there were many of them – in which some great personage visited a humble cottage and was given refreshment and treated as an ordinary traveller and then suddenly announced, ‘I am your King’ – or some such phrase, greatly appealed to him.

  He rode on. He was getting deeper and deeper into the forest and he was not sure what direction he should take. He tried calling again but when he raised his voice it cracked and the words were a mere croak.

  He began to feel a little dizzy.

  As he could not sit steadily on his horse, he dismounted, loosely tied it to a tree and lay down on the grass. He felt better lying down. He must have dozed a little for he awoke suddenly and his horse was no longer there.

  Could someone have stolen it? Could it have broken loose? Or was he dreaming?

  He staggered to his feet. There was no doubt that the horse had disappeared.

  It could not be far off. He called it by name. There was no answering whinny, and suddenly the realisation came to him that he was lost in the forest.

  He looked up at the sky. There was a touch of evening in the air. He must have dozed longer than he thought. Night would soon be on him.

  The thought frightened him. It was alarming to be lost by day, but by night it was terrifying.

  The trees took on odd shapes. They seemed to come alive and their branches swayed towards him like avenging arms. He stood up and tottered uncertainly forward. Bracken caught at his garments as though it were trying to hold him back. The light was quickly fading. The breeze had now dropped and there was an unearthly stillness about him.

  Night was almost upon him.

  The members of his party would be anxious because he was lost. They would tell his father and the poor old man would be frantic. Search parties would be sent out to comb the forest … every part would be searched. They must soon find him. His father would be angry with his guards. Serve them right! But they would say that he had been left unattended at his own command and his father, always lenient, always wanting to be just, would believe them.

  ‘Come and find me,’ he called out.

  There was no answer, only a flurry in the branches as some startled creature, alarmed by the noise, made off.

  He was frightened, for it was now dark. Would they never find him? His body was burning; the fever was on him. He knew it well for it was an old enemy. With it came delirium.

  He thought he had died and had gone to hell. This was hell. There were devils all about him and they were trying to catch him and carry him off to eternal damnation.

  ‘Let me alone!’ he cried. ‘I am the King of France. My coronation is to be soon and then you will see.’

  It was as though he heard mocking laughter which implied: Where you are there is no difference between a king and the humblest serf.

  It could not be so. Kings endowed abbeys; they went on pilgrimages; they fought crusades. Humble serfs could not do that. That must bring the rich and noble some merit.

  But he had never done these things. And here he was lost in the forest with death beckoning him. Where was his father? Where were his guards? Where even was his horse, for he would have given him some comfort?

  He tripped and fell; the grass seemed damp as he lay for a while. It seeped through his clothes and he started to shiver.

  ‘Mother of Mary, help me,’ he prayed.

  He felt the tears on his cheeks. He was not the future King of France now; he was m
erely a very frightened boy.

  He rose again unsteadily and stumbled forward. Was he dreaming or were the trees less thick? He was not sure but the thought comforted him. He wanted to get out of the forest, for the forest was evil.

  His clothes were wet, or was that the sweat now the fever had passed a little? He was cold now, shivering, with cold as well as fear.

  He would die if they did not find him. When he was ill the King his father would send for the best physicians in the country to attend to him; prayers would be said throughout the country. But now he was alone and none knew of his dire need.

  ‘Only God can help me now,’ he muttered. ‘Oh, God, forgive me my sins. Give me a chance to redeem my soul.’

  This was one of the rare occasions when he experienced humility.

  As though in answer to his prayer he saw through the trees a small clearing in the forest and a dim light. His heart leaped in joy. ‘Thank you, God,’ he whispered. ‘You have heard my prayer.’

  He stumbled towards the light. It came from a cottage which was little more than a hut. He managed to reach the door and beat on it with his fist and as it opened he fell at the feet of an old man.

  ‘Help …’ murmured Philip.

  The old man knelt down and looked at him. Then he dragged him into the cottage.

  Philip lay on the floor and the old man put warm soup to his lips. He could see by the manner in which he was dressed that he was a nobleman.

  ‘My lord, you are ill. Your clothes are damp. You should rest in my humble cottage until you are well.’

  Philip allowed his cloak to be taken from him. He felt better, partly because of the soup but mainly because of the human company.

  ‘Tell … the King,’ he stammered.

  ‘My lord.’

  ‘I am the King’s son,’ he said.

  ‘My lord. Is it so then?’

  The old man knelt.

  It was the old story in which he had wanted to play a part but how different this was from what he had imagined.