Passage to Pontefract Read online

  The news was carried through the castle.

  The Lady Blanche is dead.

  Chapter III

  THE LOVERS

  When the Black Prince returned to Bordeaux after his victory at Nájara his wife Joan was greatly disturbed by his appearance.

  She knew that that long stay in the heat of Valladolid had affected many of his followers and there had been deaths from dysentery; but the Prince had always been a strong man, one who was able to take the rigours of battle as they came and throw off any ill effects they might leave. She remembered the recent death of Lionel in Italy and this did nothing to ease her anxiety.

  ‘Now you are home I shall look after you,’ she announced. ‘There shall be no more going off to battle until you are well.’

  The Prince smiled at her fondly. Joan had never behaved in a royal manner. She was a woman who would go her own way. It was a relief to know that she was there and that he could comfortably allow her to tell him what must be done until he was ready to go off again.

  He should retire to his bed, said Joan. No, she would hear no protests. She knew the very posset to cure him. At least they must be thankful that this wretched matter was at an end. It had been a folly from the start to finish.

  His servants smiled to see the great Black Prince ordered by his wife but they knew his nature. If he had made up his mind at that moment to leave the castle and take up arms no one – not even the masterful Joan – would have been able to stop him.

  ‘You should have been a commander in my armies, Jeanette,’ he told her fondly.

  ‘My lord, I am the commander in our castle.’

  That made him smile.

  ‘I am happy to be home with you and the children,’ he told her.

  ‘Then you must prove your words by not going off again to fight senseless battles for ungrateful people.’

  ‘A waste, Jeanette … a waste of blood and money …’

  ‘And squandering of health. But enough of that. I’ll soon have you well again.’

  She kept him to his bed and none might see him without her permission. The Prince was happy to lie back comfortably and allow her to rule him. The comfort of his bed, the assurance of her devotion, these were what he needed.

  A ruler must have his failures, and what seemed the greatest triumph could in time be seen to have been an empty victory. So with Nájara.

  Joan was right. If she had her way, there would be no battles. She would say: ‘You are the King’s eldest son. One day England will be yours and our little Edward will follow you. Be content with that. In any case it is one man’s work to govern England.’

  His mother had felt the same, only she did not say it as forcefully as Joan did. He was sure that John’s wife Blanche would have agreed with them. It was a woman’s outlook.

  There were times like this when he wondered whether they were right. How far had they advanced with the war in France? How much nearer to the French crown was his father than when the whole matter had started?

  No farther after years of struggle, bloodshed and squandering of treasure! And if this ambition had never come to his father, if he had never decided that he had a claim to the crown of France …

  This was no way for a soldier to think, particularly one who was reckoned to be the greatest soldier in Christendom. Jeanette’s influence, he thought wryly.

  And there she was standing by his bed with yet another of her potions.

  ‘I believe you are a witch,’ he said. ‘You want to keep me to my bed so that I can never leave you.’

  Joan laughed. She had the gayest laughter he had ever heard.

  ‘You put ideas into my head, my Prince. Ever since the day I forced you to marry me I have been wondering how I could keep you at my side.’

  ‘Jeanette,’ he said softly. ‘Oh Jeanette, did you have to use much force?’

  ‘You know full well,’ she retorted. ‘We could have been married years ago but for you.’

  ‘You were dallying with Salisbury and Holland then.’

  ‘Only in the hope of arousing some jealousy in your sluggish breast.’

  ‘Was that indeed the truth?’

  ‘You know it. You were for me and I for you but I could not ask you, could I? Some foolish law says that it is the man who must ask for the hand of the lady not she for his. It is a law that should be changed. When you are King, my love, that must be your first consideration.’

  ‘I doubt my parliament would be much impressed with my rule. Moreover there are women who decide to take matters into their own hands no matter what the custom.’

  ‘Some have that wit and boldness.’

  ‘Like my own Jeanette.’

  ‘You were cruel to attempt to persuade me to take that man de Brocas.’

  ‘I never meant you to.’

  ‘In your cowardly way you forced me to tell you I would marry no one but the greatest knight in the world and there was no doubt who that was, was there? My lord, I know your courage is great on the battlefield but you were a coward in very truth when it came to the lists of love.’

  ‘My Jeanette, I never thought you would look my way.’

  ‘As my eyes were fixed in your direction for many years that is a poor excuse. But no matter, thanks to your resourceful wife the matter was solved, though belatedly, and now you have at last – through none of your own effort – been brought to where you belong … and that, my lord, is in my care.’

  ‘God bless you, Jeanette,’ he said. ‘Often I thank Him for you.’

  ‘And I thank Him for you,’ she replied more soberly. She went on briskly, ‘The task of the moment is to have you well again and I warn you, my Prince, that you are not leaving this roof until you are.’

  ‘I would I could stay with you every day of my life.’

  ‘Untrue,’ she said. ‘You are a soldier … the greatest in the world they tell me. You long to lead your men into battle. It is in your blood. But not when you are sick. That is when I take command.’

  ‘As you say, my general. Tell me what has been happening here in Bordeaux?’

  ‘Pedro’s girls are still here.’

  ‘Constanza and Isabella. What will become of them?’

  ‘Constanza has become a rather ambitious girl for as you know, since the death of her sister Beatrice she has become the elder and the heiress to the throne. Now do not look excited! I have made up my mind that whatever grows out of this, Constanza is going to fight her own battles. Now, a happier subject and one which is really our concern. Your sons are clamouring to see you. “Where is our father?” they constantly ask. When I tell them that you are resting after the battle they cannot believe that you would need to rest. I am going to bring them to see you. Lie still and they shall come to your chamber.’

  ‘Jeanette.’ He caught her hand. ‘I like it not that they should see me thus.’

  ‘They will not know how ill you are. I have promised them they shall come. I will bring them myself.’

  In a few moments she had returned, a boy on either side of her.

  Edward the elder was about six years old, Richard three years younger.

  Edward tore his hand from his mother’s and ran to his father, climbing on to the bed and embracing him.

  ‘My son, my son …’ The Prince looked at the eager little face glowing with health and high spirits. ‘Would you throttle me then?’

  ‘No,’ cried Edward, ‘only love you.’

  ‘And how are you, my son? How have you been faring? Tell me how far can you shoot an arrow … I hear good news from your horsemaster.’

  ‘I am very good, Father. I have to be because I am the son of the Black Prince. That’s you,’ he added almost conspiratorially. ‘And did you know you are the greatest soldier the world has ever known?’

  ‘That’s what they tell you, is it?’

  Edward nodded vigorously and Joan said: ‘Richard is here, too.’

  She brought the younger boy forward. He did not look as robust as his brother alt
hough he was tall for his age – in fact almost as tall as his brother. His long fair curls shaded a face which was almost feminine in its beauty. Young Richard had all the good looks of his Plantagenet ancestors, but he certainly lacked that sturdiness which Edward had undoubtedly inherited.

  There was a reproach in Joan’s voice. She was constantly warning her husband that he paid too much attention to his elder son and she feared that little Richard might notice this. She herself was inclined to lavish more affection on the younger boy, to make up, she told herself, for true mother that she was she must give more care to the weaker of the two. She loved young Edward but as the Prince doted on that boy, she made Richard her favourite.

  Young Edward allowed himself to be put aside with a certain lack of grace while Richard came forward.

  The Prince laid his hand on the fair head and said: ‘Well, my son, and how fare you?’

  ‘Well, my lord, I thank you.’

  Grave, dignified, and with a certain grace, this boy seemed intelligent beyond his years. The Prince knew from his wife that Richard’s prowess was with his books rather than in outdoor exercise. Joan seemed to think that was something to be applauded, but the Prince would have preferred it to be the other way round.

  It was well that Edward was the firstborn. He was going to make a good king. He would be trained for that, just as the King had trained him, so should young Edward be brought up. It was good for a boy who was destined to rule a great kingdom to become aware of it from an early age and prepare himself.

  ‘His tutors give good accounts of him,’ said Joan proudly. ‘I am going to have some of his exercises brought to you.’

  ‘Richard is still on the leading reign,’ said young Edward scornfully.

  ‘So were you when you were a few years younger,’ retorted his mother. ‘Richard sits his horse gracefully as a knight should.’

  ‘I am better …’ began Edward.

  ‘Now,’ said their mother, ‘you may sit on the bed … one on either side and talk to your father for a few moments. Then you shall go to your apartments and tomorrow, if you are good, you may see him again.’

  The Prince was amused at their ready obedience. There was no doubt that Joan ruled the household.

  She herself took them away at the appointed time and, although there were protests from young Edward that he wanted to stay longer, Joan was adamant.

  ‘You must obey your mother,’ said the Prince. Joan was smiling at him, well pleased with the life her boldness in proposing marriage to the Black Prince had brought to them all.

  * * *

  When John of Gaunt reached Bordeaux he too was amazed at the ill health of his brother. He had known that during the campaign for Castile Edward had been afflicted by the malady which had attacked so many men in the army, but he had expected him to throw it off with the ease which seemed natural for one of his strength.

  He wondered whether Joan was thinking, as he was, of Lionel, who had not so long before died of a similar disease. However, within a few weeks, under the assiduous care of Joan, the Prince’s health did begin to improve a little.

  He was delighted to see John; and their younger brother Edmund had also arrived at the castle.

  Edmund of Langley, fifth son of the King, was so called because he had been born in King’s Langley in Hertfordshire. Like his brother he was tall and handsome, and resembled Lionel in temperament inasmuch as he appeared to be devoid of that ambition which the two elder brothers shared, Edward perhaps naturally as he was the eldest son and heir to the throne and John overwhelmingly because he had so narrowly missed all that he most desired.

  It had never worried Edmund that there were several between him and the crown. He did not seek the anxieties of state in any case. He much preferred a life of ease and comfort – good food, good wine and a certain dalliance with the ladies.

  Being his father’s son, of course, he must indulge in the family occupation which was battle. He accepted that, as he accepted everything else; and because he was the most handsome member of the family – now that Lionel was dead – and was easy-going, never giving himself royal airs, he was immensely popular and often achieved through the loyalty of his followers a success which a sterner leader might have had to work hard to achieve.

  He hoped there would be some good hawking and hunting and that too much time would not be given to the war.

  John discussed with Edmund the state of their elder brother’s health. It seemed a little better, he pointed out, but he knew this form of dysentery. It was weakening the Prince and there were days when he seemed to have a complete relapse. Even Joan’s care was not working as well as it should.

  ‘Consider the position,’ said John. ‘Our father has aged considerably since our mother’s death.’

  ‘He is a changed man,’ agreed Edmund. ‘I wish he would carry on his business with Alice Perrers in a more private manner. He positively flaunts his relationship with the woman and it is not as if she is a high-born lady.’

  ‘The flaunting is part of the price she demands for her favour. She wants the whole of England to know that she is his leman. They say that men of rank are afraid to offend her. But it was not of her I wished to speak. Our father cannot live long. And what think you of our brother’s chance of returning to health?’

  ‘By God’s teeth, brother, what do you suggest?’

  ‘I pray to Him that it will not be so. But if our father dies and Edward were to follow him, this child, his eldest son, would be our King. A boy, nothing more …’

  ‘You are thinking of a Regency.’

  ‘It might come to that.’ John looked searchingly at Edmund. ‘We should have to stand together to protect our brother’s son.’

  ‘He would be our rightful King and we could do no other.’

  ‘We must stand together. But I pray God that it may never come to pass.’

  Edmund avoided meeting his brother’s eyes. A thought flashed into his mind. It was: ‘You mean you pray God that it might.’

  He dismissed it at once. That was unfair. They were a united family. They had been brought up in affection by loving parents. They had always been taught that they must stand together. The family was supreme and if one was in need all the others must go to that one’s aid.

  No, he was misjudging his brother and he was ashamed of himself.

  But they had always known that the most ambitious member of the family was John of Gaunt.

  * * *

  At the Court of the Black Prince there were two young ladies. They were very interested to meet the new arrivals.

  They were beautiful in the exotic way of Spanish ladies – quite different from the pale noble beauty of Blanche or that overwhelming sensual beauty of Catherine Swynford which John even now had been unable to forget.

  They were interesting of course because they were the daughters of Pedro.

  Constanza was the elder of the two girls. She was a determined young woman and it was clear that she was trying to find some champion who would restore the throne of Castile to her for she considered she was the rightful heir.

  John listened attentively to her. Edmund, too, was drawn into their conferences. He was rather attracted by Constanza’s younger sister, Isabella, but of course he could not enter into a light love affair with a girl of such position, so he gave himself up to a little harmless dalliance while John discussed the state of affairs with the elder sister.

  ‘I would gladly marry the man who would win my throne for me,’ said Constanza.

  John watched her thoughtfully. Yes, she was right. She had a claim. There had been an elder sister Beatrice who had gone into a convent and had died there, so that Constanza, now the eldest child of Pedro the Cruel, could claim the throne if she could oust the usurper.

  He wondered whether she would find someone to help her. Some ambitious man might, for the sake of the title of King, he supposed. It would be a good gamble, and a throne was an ever enticing goal.

  While he talked with he
r the children came riding in – sturdy Edward, delicate Richard and with them their two half-brothers, those noisy Holland young men, the result of Joan’s misalliance with Sir Thomas Holland. The elder Holland must be about twenty years old, the other two years younger; but there was no doubt that the little boys looked up to their brothers and the Hollands made the most of it.

  John’s eyes rested on young Edward. A King to be, and another Edward. That seemed to be a name the people loved. Whereas John … They should never have named him John because people still remembered that wicked ancestor of his, the King John who had made the signing of Magna Carta necessary.

  He turned away from the window. He was beginning to think that he would never wear a crown.

  A few days later, news came from England. He could not believe it. Blanche dead … of plague at Bolingbroke, that castle which they had both loved so much since it was the birthplace of their son.

  He was stunned. He thought of her gentleness, her nobility. He was bowed down with grief.

  He must leave at once for England. Edward would understand that he must go.

  That the plague should have struck her down! All that beauty made loathsome by the fearful enemy which stalked the towns and villages of the world in search of victims. Blanche … not beautiful, noble Blanche!

  Downstairs he could hear the sounds of music. The musicians were practising for the evening. Joan was anxious to fill the castle with rejoicing because she was sure that the Black Prince was recovering from his sickness.

  Constanza and Isabella would be there.

  Constanza who wanted a husband to help her gain the throne of Castile.

  That husband would be King of Castile.

  * * *

  Blanche had been buried near the High Altar in St Paul’s, and John had ordered that a magnificent alabaster tomb be erected on which was an effigy of his wife.