The Revolt of the Eaglets Read online

  So, when he rode through Aquitaine trying to rouse men to his banner in order to preserve his inheritance from his avaricious father, the knights of Aquitaine were not eager to join him.

  News was brought to him that his father, having assured himself that England was safe, was on his way to Aquitaine to settle matters there. Richard realised that he was very like his brothers in that while his father was at a distance he could rage against him but the thought of coming face to face with him in battle struck terror into his heart. The old King’s reputation could not be forgotten. All men were aware of it and the sturdiest quailed before it. He had that rare quality possessed by his grandfather and great-grandfather which had often resulted in their winning a battle before it had started simply by filling their enemies’ hearts with fear and the certainty that they could not win against such a man.

  Richard now surveyed his company. He could see the fear in their faces. He suspected that if they knew that his father was marching on them many would in sheer terror desert.

  He called a messenger to him and told him to ride with all speed to the army of the King of France which he believed was in Normandy. ‘Take these notes,’ he said, ‘and give one to each of my two brothers and one to the King of France.’

  He watched the messenger ride away. He felt safe now. They would not let him be defeated. They would send help.

  His father had still not come but he was approaching. Richard watched for the messenger’s return. With him must come aid. Perhaps his brothers themselves. If they had taken Rouen they would be flushed with victory and that would be the best news he could receive, for it would mean that they had defeated his father and the myth of his invincibility would have been exploded.

  But no soldiers came, and the messenger returned.

  ‘Alas, brother,’ wrote Henry, ‘we were not successful at Rouen, but were forced to fly before our father’s troops. Now there is a truce and we wait to discuss terms with him. But one condition he has laid down is that we must send no aid to you.’

  Richard clenched his fists in quiet rage. In some measure he possessed the Angevin temper but instead of being hot like his father’s it was cold. Richard would never lie on the floor and gnaw the rushes; he would never grow scarlet so that men believed he might drop to the ground in a fit. He grew pale; the blue eyes were like steel; but his anger was none the less fierce because it was cold.

  He felt that anger now. For here he was a boy in age, with a small army, and he must stand alone against the greatest general of the age – his own father.

  He himself might do it. His followers never would.

  He knew he had no alternative but to retreat before his father. When he discussed the state of affairs with his most skilled knights they agreed with him.

  ‘The men would never stand and fight your father’s armies,’ they said. ‘They would tremble with fear at the prospect and desert before your father arrived.’

  It was true. There was nothing to do but retreat.

  What bitter humiliation! Henry marched through Aquitaine, extorting obedience from all. Richard marched south but he could not go on marching for ever. His men were deserting him. Soon there would be but a handful of them left.

  At length he realised that he could retreat no more. He must face his father.

  The meeting took place and when Richard looked into that strong face with its curly hair – a little greying now – clipped square on the forehead, the flaring nostrils, the leonine aspect, his emotions were mixed. The hatred was there; fear too; and he knew why men quailed before his father.

  He knelt and put his face on the ground in a sudden access of wretchedness. He was beaten and he knew that he was too young as yet to stand up and face this man. He had been guilty of great folly and, although he hated his father more fiercely than he could ever hate anyone else, he must respect him.

  Henry watched him in silence. My son, he thought. This handsome boy is my son Richard, the betrothed of Alice.

  He felt a sudden tenderness for him – perhaps because he was his son, perhaps because he had taken his bride from him.

  ‘Rise, Richard,’ he said.

  And when the boy stood so that they were face to face – and Richard must look down on him for he was several inches taller than his father – he put his arms about him and embraced him.

  ‘It is a sad thing,’ he said, ‘when a son takes up arms against his own father.’

  Richard said nothing. A slightly sullen expression touched his lips.

  ‘Sad,’ went on the King, ‘and useless. You are a good fighter, they tell me, Richard. But there is more to battle than brandishing a lance, my boy. There’s subtlety and strategy. A good general knows when he should retreat and when he should advance. Well, let us say this: You knew when to retreat did you not, and when to show humility? Suffice it that you have been a worthy general. Now we will talk.’

  He put his arm through Richard’s and they walked together.

  ‘I like not these quarrels,’ said the King. ‘Your brothers have come to their senses. I shall see them ere long. We are to have a meeting and it might be well if you joined us. I have much to say to you all, for I am not of a mind to endure these family quarrels.’

  ‘We are men,’ said Richard. ‘And men cannot be treated as boys.’

  ‘Both boys and men are given the treatment they warrant. Remember that and we shall understand each other. Now, my son, know this. There is now peace in Aquitaine. You are its Duke but the titles my sons hold, they hold under me. Remember that and we shall remain at peace.’

  The King ordered that a banquet should be prepared and at table he kept his son beside him; and all noticed that he showed a certain fondness for him and that Richard was subdued though seeming sullen.

  The next day the King sent for his son.

  ‘Go now and join your brothers at the Court of the King of France,’ he told him. ‘You will say that you have decided that there shall be no more strife in Aquitaine, and that you, like them, are now aware of the folly of your ways. Like them, you are at peace with your father. We shall all meet soon and then I shall tell you what my proposals are.’

  Richard took his farewell of his father and rode towards the French border.

  Henry was thoughtful. He could not contemplate Richard without thinking of Alice. The boy had said nothing of his bride. Did he never think of her?

  Henry thought of her constantly.

  In Salisbury Castle, the Queen received news of her sons. She had been more than a year in captivity and her first humiliated rage had passed. She had become accustomed to her imprisonment which was not by any means rigorous. At first she had thought that Henry would attempt to murder her. Perhaps he would. He wanted to be rid of her. Or did he? Was that just a sop to Rosamund? He could not marry Rosamund. The people would never accept it. But being Henry of course he might attempt what others would be afraid to do.

  All her hopes were in her sons. If they could win their battle against their father, their first duty would be to free her. She could trust them to do that. What a great day that would be when the tables were turned, when Henry was the prisoner of his wife and sons. How she would taunt him!

  But it was not yet. There was still fire in the old lion. Old lion. She had to remember that he was twelve years younger than she was!

  She went to the topmost point of the keep and looked out across the moat. She was allowed the freedom of the castle but if she attempted to cross the drawbridge she would be stopped by guards. At first she had planned escape, but nothing had come of it. She was too well guarded. Bribery was useless. All her guards knew that if she were allowed to escape, Henry’s fury would be unleashed and the greatest punishment would be inflicted on them.

  She had always been an intriguer and now her chief pleasure was in following her bent. How strange that she, the adventuress who had travelled to the Holy Land, who had taken her lovers, who had divorced the King of France that she might marry Henry Plantagenet,
should now be a prisoner, confined to one small space, looking out day after day on the same horizons!

  She would outwit him though. In time she would be the victor. This thought kept her spirits up. Every day when she awoke she thought: This could be the day. Today a messenger may come riding from my sons … from Henry or from Richard … with the good news. Perhaps they would send her his head to gloat over. No, not that. She did not want him dead. She knew that the world must be a duller place for her without him. It had always been so. Nothing had ever excited her quite so much as her tussles with him. She thought of the days of their passion. She had never really had a lover to compare with him. There was a power about him and it was this which appealed to her. She had believed in the first days of their marriage that she would love him with a deep abiding passion all her days. The passion had remained but it had become a passion of hatred.

  She remembered her anger when she had first become aware of his infidelities. That was when he had introduced his bastard Geoffrey into her nurseries. The son of one of his light o’ loves to be brought up with the royal children! And that same Geoffrey was fighting with him now, ever-faithful to him, and it was said that he loved him dearly. ‘Bastards can be faithful,’ she had said. ‘They have to be grateful. They have no rights. It is different with those who have just claim to lands and titles.’

  Let him drool over his bastard! It was his legitimate sons to whom he would have to answer.

  ‘Oh, God,’ she prayed, ‘deliver him into their hands.’

  She had her spies. They came to the castle on various pretexts and found the moment to speak to the Queen.

  Some of her attendants had friends who gave them news. She had with her some of the women from her native Aquitaine and they spoke the Provençal language. They would sing the news to her in this language as though it were a song. Perhaps there was no need for this, but it appealed to her sense of intrigue, and enlivened the days of captivity.

  How delighted she had been when she heard that Richard was holding Aquitaine and that he was rousing the knights of that fair land against his father.

  Then came the news of the siege of Rouen. How like Louis! she thought.

  She talked to her women of the old days when Louis had turned away from a fight because he had no stomach for it.

  ‘He could have faced the King of England, fought with him. But he had to run away. He was always more of a monk than a man. Though in the early days of our marriage I made almost a man of him. And my sons … Henry and Geoffrey? What of them? They should have stayed to fight. But to give in, to call a truce … and then be content to listen to his terms. And what will those terms be, I ask you? Henry Plantagenet will never take his hands from land or castle. Once his greedy claws have seized it, he will never let it go. My son Richard had more spirit than his brother. You may depend upon it, he will never give in.’

  But he did give in. She pictured his cold anger when he realised that he was no match for his father. The people of Aquitaine had not trusted so young a boy and they feared the rage of Henry Plantagenet. So the war in Aquitaine had petered out even as it had outside Rouen.

  ‘It would seem he has but to appear and people are afraid of him. Why should they be?’ she asked, but she knew. He had a quality which she would never forget. She wished that he would come to see her in this prison in which he had placed her. How she would have enjoyed a verbal battle with him.

  She railed against fate. He was too strong, he still retained the vigours of youth; and the boys were too young. In time it would not be so and as they matured so would he grow old. She must wait till the years clouded the lion’s eyes; then his cubs would savage him.

  If she could but be there with them, to advise them, perhaps to cajole Louis. Could she do that now? How she longed to be free!

  She was excited by an unexpected piece of news.

  It was given to her in a song. A great king loved a young girl … a very young girl … who was betrothed to his son.

  She listened. It could not be so.

  Alice!

  Why, she was but a child. But not too young to satisfy his lust.

  So it had come to children! And the betrothed of his son! Richard’s bride!

  What did he plan? To pass the soiled beauty over to Richard when he had finished with her?

  That must not be.

  Then another thought came to her. He wanted a divorce. He had suggested as much.

  Oh, my God, she thought, does he want to marry Alice?

  She had satisfied herself that he would not marry Rosamund. The people would not want her as their Queen and he was king enough to know that he must above all things keep the approval of his people. But Alice, the daughter of the King of France! That was another matter.

  Dallying with Alice! The lecher! She could picture his face clearly; the speculation in the tawny eyes, the nostrils flaring suddenly as they did in moments of intense emotion.

  How much does he want to marry Alice? she wondered. Enough to murder his wife?

  How simple it would be. Who would miss her? Her children? But they were his also and he was the master. What was going on behind the lion’s mask? How safe was she?

  She felt she must act quickly.

  She would get a message to Richard. She had friends enough to be able to do that.

  She was framing it in her mind.

  ‘Demand that the King sends your betrothed to you. It is time you and Alice were married. He must do this. Tell the King of France that you want your bride.’

  She was alert.

  She would have to take very special care now.

  It was the last day of September – mild and misty – when Henry sat at the conference table facing his sons, Henry, Richard and Geoffrey.

  In his heart was triumph tinged with a certain sadness. It was unseemly that a father should be called upon to make peace terms with his sons; on the other hand it was gratifying that he had brought them all to heel – every one of them – Henry, with his grandiose ideas of what belonged to him, because his father had had the magnanimity to allow him to be crowned King; Richard, cold hatred gleaming in his blue eyes, too young and inexperienced to realise how unwise he was to show it; and Geoffrey who seemed still a boy. Fine lads all of them – and all here because they had conspired against their father.

  He could not help being proud of them. They were all good looking. Henry was the most handsome; it had been said of him that he was the most beautiful prince in Christendom; Geoffrey was almost as good looking, taking after his grandfather of Anjou who had borne the same name. Richard was different. None the less good-looking but in a different way. Taller than his brothers and more skilled in equestrian arts; one day when he was more experienced he would be a formidable foe to meet on the battlefield.

  These boys he had sired; the thought filled him with some emotion and the sternness faded from his eyes. All the same he was going to let them know who was the master.

  ‘My sons,’ said Henry, ‘it grieves me that we should be sitting here in this way. I remember well those days when you were in the nurseries of my castles and what joy I took in your growing up. You have been ill-advised and have offended against the laws of God and man in taking up arms against your father. But I do not forget that you are my sons and because of this I will be lenient. First we will make a solemn vow that we all forgive our enemies and restore to their rightful owners those castles which we have taken during the conflict with each other. You may have made promises to my enemies to join with them against me. You must now declare yourselves free from all promises and undertakings.’

  He watched them quietly. Henry and Geoffrey faintly sullen, Richard a little defiant. But all of them – even Richard – knew that they had no alternative but to agree to the King’s terms.

  ‘Henry,’ he went on, ‘you shall have two castles in Normandy and an allowance of £15,000 Angevin money. Richard shall have two in Poitou and half the revenues of that land.’ He turned to Geoffrey. ‘
And you, my son, are soon to marry Conan’s daughter, Constance. You shall now have half the marriage portion and when the ceremony takes place the whole of it.’

  Inwardly the brothers were dismayed because they knew that the castles offered to them were of no strategic importance and in making these gifts their father was in fact taking from them every vestige of that power for which they had been fighting.

  ‘You have a young brother,’ went on the King, his voice softening a little. Young John was the best of the bunch. He had not risen against his father. At eight years old he was an engaging little fellow. Thank God, he had escaped his mother’s influence. ‘He is my son too,’ went on the King. ‘From him I have had no sign of disobedience. I gave him three castles as you know well.’ He permitted his lips to curve in a sardonic smile. Was it not these three castles over which there had been all the trouble? ‘A poor inheritance for the son of a king. Now I shall give him one thousand pounds a year in England and the castles of Marlborough and Nottingham. He shall have two hundred and fifty pounds a year from his Normandy lands and the same amount from his property in Anjou where I shall give him one castle. He shall also have one in Touraine and another in Maine. You would not wish your brother to be a pauper, I know, simply because he had the misfortune – or as it has turned out it may be the good fortune – to be born after yourselves.’

  They were dismayed. The trouble with their father had started because he wished to take from them to give to John – although the cause went deeper than that – and now they were worse off than when they had begun. But they could not protest, they knew. They could see the purpose in his face; and no matter how they might fulminate against him in his absence, face to face with him they knew his strength, and they feared it. He had had no hesitation in putting their mother into prison. They knew full well that any resistance to his wishes and they would end up in similar circumstances. He was, after all, according to his standards, acting very leniently towards them since they had all taken up arms against him.