The Star of Lancaster Read online

  ‘Oh Mary, I am beginning to think you are more fortunate than I. I do believe God is giving you a chance to lead a very worthy life.’

  ‘You mean go into a convent? Become a nun?’

  ‘I see you are full of joy at the thought.’

  ‘No, Eleanor. That is not entirely true. I do think the nuns are good and I should like to be as they are . . .’

  ‘Well then, sister, is that not what I said?’

  ‘But there are other joys in the world. When I play with little Anne I think how fortunate you are to have her and then there is the new one who is coming. I do love the peace of the convent but I should love to be a mother too . . . to have babies like Anne.’

  ‘What nonsense!’ said Eleanor sharply. ‘Having a baby is by no means pleasant I can assure you.’

  ‘I know it is an ordeal but the reward is great. Sometimes I think the most wonderful thing in the world must be to have a child.’

  ‘You are speaking of matters of which you know nothing,’ said Eleanor sharply. ‘I think you should begin to consider going into the convent. I could speak to the Abbess.’

  ‘Eleanor, have you already spoken to the Abbess ?’

  ‘We have talked of your future, of course.’

  ‘And our mother?’

  ‘She has not given an opinion but I am sure that she would be happy for you to take up the holy life.’

  ‘I think she would respect my wishes in that,’ said Mary with spirit.

  Eleanor opened her eyes very wide. ‘But is that not what we all wish to do?’ she demanded.

  ‘If that is so,’ replied Mary gravely, ‘it is for me to decide and I have some time yet to think about my future.’

  ‘Of a certainty you have,’ retorted Eleanor. ‘But I think you would be very happy to feel you had settled it.’

  Mary was silent. Eleanor would be very happy, she was sure, if it was settled that her young sister should become a nun.

  Thomas Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, rode out to Pleshy to say good-bye to his wife before he left for France. He was not displeased to be going for he was of an adventurous nature and had the Plantagenet desire to do battle. He was fresh from the triumph he had enjoyed when just before Christmas he had captured eight Spanish ships off Brest. Egotistical, impulsive, inclined to recklessness, Thomas yearned to be in the centre of events.

  Eleanor understood well. She shared his ambitions. She greeted him warmly and immediately commanded that the finest dinner should be served and the minstrels give of their best. She had always insisted that they should have the newest songs from Court and as they were not far from London and Westminster she usually succeeded in her endeavours.

  Eleanor had married into royalty and she could not forget it nor allow anyone else to.

  It was a good marriage from the point of view of both husband and wife. Thomas enjoyed her ambition and approval in all his endeavours and it gratified him that she should be so conscious of the royalty he had bestowed on her.

  In their apartments he told her of his successes at sea – avoiding that part in which the squadron of which he had been in charge had been scattered by a storm.

  ‘I am going out to aid the Duke of Brittany,’ he explained. ‘He is handing over the castle of Brest to us for as long as the war shall last. But the French will take it unless I get there in time to hold it.’

  ‘You will do that,’ she said. ‘I trust Richard is grateful for all you do for him.’

  ‘Grateful! He takes everything as his right and knows little of affairs. He’s nothing but a boy. A boy King of England!’

  ‘There should have been a Regency,’ said Eleanor.

  ‘Ah my dear, you speak truth there.’

  ‘Though Lancaster would have been in command you may be sure.’

  ‘He would have tried to be. I should have stopped that.’

  Eleanor nodded sagely. There was little love between the two brothers. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster was as ambitious as his brother. Both bitterly resented the fact that they had not been the eldest of Edward’s sons. It would have been different if the Black Prince had lived. He would have stepped naturally onto the throne and there would have been no question of his right to be there. But his son, this young boy – delicate and effeminate – was quite unsuited to the destiny thrust upon him; and it was particularly galling that it should be so when Edward the Third had had other sons than the Black Prince. John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock believed that they were more suited to take the crown. As for the third brother, Edmund of Langley, he was not ambitious, preferring to live quietly in the country. But John and Thomas were constantly jostling for power and it was galling to both of them to have to accept their puny nephew as their King.

  Thomas was a man who brooded on his wrongs; he could never forget nor forgive a slight; and when John of Gaunt had put forward his own son Henry of Bolingbroke for the Order of the Garter and their late father Edward the Third had bestowed it on him, Thomas had been consumed by hatred of his brother – for there had been two candidates for the Order, Thomas himself and Henry of Bolingbroke and to get it for his son, John of Gaunt had had to push aside his brother.

  No, that was something which would never be forgiven. ‘Well, my dear,’ he said, ‘my stay here is a brief one. By the time I return our little one will be born.’

  ‘You shall have news as soon as the child arrives,’ Eleanor promised. ‘How I hope that this time it will be a boy!’

  ‘If not, there is plenty of time for us. Take care of yourself, my dear. And Mary . . . has she given any indication yet?’

  ‘I am hopeful that she will soon do so. She is happy in the convent. But the Abbess thinks she should wait awhile and not make a hasty decision.’

  ‘The Abbess should be about her own business.’

  ‘It may be that she would consider Mary’s taking her vows as her business.’

  ‘Once she has taken them, yes. The girl must be persuaded.’

  ‘I am doing my best. She is young yet, and if we can only persuade her before . . .’

  Eleanor frowned and Thomas said: ‘You are thinking of fortune hunters. My dear wife, none could marry her without consulting us.’

  ‘You have forgotten your brother. He is her guardian.’

  ‘He is occupied with other matters. He spends a great deal of time with his mistress. I wonder what it is this Catherine Swynford has to cast such a spell on him. There is no doubt that he is bewitched by the woman.’

  ‘You think she is a witch . . .’

  Thomas shrugged his shoulders. ‘If she had been she would have made him marry her doubtless. He knew her when Blanche died. But he married Constanza, did he not?’

  ‘Because he hoped for the crown of Castile.’

  ‘Yes, John has matters to occupy him. I doubt he gives much thought to little Mary de Bohun.’

  ‘Then it is really just a matter of persuading Mary.’

  ‘The day will come,’ prophesied Thomas, ‘when she enters her convent and then everything will be ours, my dear.’

  His eyes glistened at the thought. So did Eleanor’s.

  She would persuade Mary in time. She had always persuaded Mary.

  Thomas left for France. Mary returned to her lessons at the convent. She had become very much aware of everything around her, and she was beginning to believe that the peace of the convent would be very desirable.

  John of Gaunt had come to Arundel Castle where he was being entertained by his good friends, the Earl and Countess.

  John had recently returned from Scotland where he had negotiated peace with the Scots and he had taken with him his eldest son Henry of Bolingbroke. Henry was some fourteen years of age, a good-looking sturdy boy and his father was proud of him.

  Soon, he had thought, I must find a suitable bride for him. It would be someone who could bring him wealth. That was necessary. The richer a man was the more power he had. His brother Thomas had done very well for himself with the Bohun heiress. Tho
se Bohun girls would be two of the richest in the kingdom. It was small wonder that Thomas had become very smug since his marriage.

  John was very well aware of the extent of the Bohun fortune, the younger girl being his ward. The King had bestowed this gift on him – for gift it was, as the wardship carried with it a grant of five thousand marks and Richard had given it to him as compensation for some payments which were due to him. Thomas had been displeased about that. John smiled grimly at the memory of Thomas’s disquiet. No doubt he did not want his brother to know too much about the de Bohun inheritance. Moreover it gave John a command over Mary’s future.

  As he rode up the high circular knoll on which the castle stood, his thoughts were on his brother and he wondered what mischief he was concocting now. Across the drawbridge under the portcullis into the castle he went where the Earl was waiting to greet him. John of Gaunt was the most powerful man in the land – under the King; and Richard as yet was but a boy.

  It was the Countess who had brought up the subject of the de Bohun girls. She was their aunt and she was very interested in their future because she had heard a rumour that the younger was thinking of going into a convent.

  They had eaten dinner and the minstrels were playing in the gallery; much good wine had been drunk and the conversation was of a desultory nature.

  ‘You are my niece’s guardian, my lord Lancaster,’ said the Countess. ‘I doubt not you would have been informed if Mary had made her decision to take the veil.’

  ‘I have heard nothing of it,’ replied John. ‘And I think the girl is too young to make such a decision.’

  ‘I doubt not,’ put in the Earl, ‘that she is being gently persuaded that the convent life is for her.’

  ‘Persuaded!’ cried the Countess.

  ‘Well,’ said the Earl, ‘look what Buckingham would gain by such a measure. Not a half of the de Bohun estates but the whole would fall to Eleanor. She is a lady with her wits about her, so I have heard. And Thomas has a nose for money. But, my lord Lancaster, she would need your consent.’

  ‘I should not give it unless it was the girl’s own wish,’ John replied.

  ‘I am glad to hear you say that,’ said the Countess. ‘She is ten years old. Girls of that age can be filled with ideals. They can make a decision before they understand what it is all about, particularly if they are discreetly jostled into it.’

  ‘I shall go and visit her,’ said John. ‘I shall see for myself what it is all about.’

  ‘I believe Eleanor is a very forceful young woman,’ explained the Countess. ‘When she sets her mind to something she works hard to get it. Mary is gentle – the beauty of the family. Such a pretty little thing. I confess I should hate to see her shut away with the Poor Clares. And think of all that money!’

  ‘I am thinking of it,’ said John. ‘That is why I shall go to see her.’

  ‘It would be easier if it were not known that you were sounding her,’ said the Countess. ‘I have an idea. Would you like to hear it?’

  ‘We are all ears,’ said the Earl. ‘Is that not so, my lord Lancaster?’

  John nodded, smiling.

  ‘Why should I not ask Mary to Arundel? That will arouse little comment. I shall tell her we all want to see our nieces. There is no reason why I should not bring her to see her Uncle Richard. I will ride to Pleshy and bring her back with me. We shall have some merriment here in Arundel and we shall see whether Mary really wishes to give up the world for the veil. What think you of this plan?’

  ‘It seems to me fair enough,’ said her husband. ‘What think you, my lord?’

  John was thoughtful. An idea had come to him. He did not speak for a moment, and the Countess prompted: ‘Well, my lord Lancaster?’

  ‘I like this plan,’ he said. ‘It would be a weight off my mind to know that she was not being forced into the life. I wish to see the girl . . . away from her sister and the influence of Thomas. I want to judge for myself what is best for her.’

  ‘Then I will go to Pleshy and when Mary is here, my lord, I will send you word.’

  John was smiling. He liked the idea. He liked it very much.

  Eleanor received her aunt with a certain gracious dignity.

  She gives herself airs since she married into royalty, thought the Countess, smiling inwardly. She did not like Eleanor. The girl was too proud, too ambitious. Mary was quite different, charming and pretty. The Countess was glad young Mary had managed to acquire all the good looks.

  ‘My dear Eleanor,’ she cried, ‘it is long since I saw you. Marriage suits you, my dear. One baby in the nursery and another on the way. I’ll vow Thomas wants a boy this time.’

  ‘We are hoping for a boy,’ replied Eleanor.

  ‘Is there news of Thomas?’

  ‘None. You know how difficult it is to get news from France.’

  ‘Doubtless the child will be born by the time he returns. A reward for his services to the King.’

  ‘He is not likely to get any other.’

  ‘Oh come, Richard is grateful to his uncles.’

  ‘Not to Thomas.’

  The Countess laughed lightly. ‘It is a pleasure to see you so contented with your marriage. And Mary, how is she?’

  ‘She is devoted to the nuns. It was so fortunate that the convent is so close to the castle. It means that we have her with us and she can at the same time indulge in her pleasure to be within the convent.’

  ‘It was most convenient that you chose to come to Pleshy,’ commented the Countess. ‘It might have been one of your castles or that draughty house that was your father’s in the Dowgate Ward of London.’

  ‘You mean Cole Harbour. Yes, Pleshy is just the right place for Mary, and I am ready to stay here for that reason. I like to see my little sister contented.’

  ‘As she is, I believe.’

  ‘Oh very. People are fortunate when they are almost born with the knowledge of what they want in life.’

  ‘You mean the convent for Mary. I agree with you. It is very fortunate. I look forward to seeing Mary while I am here.’

  ‘Of a certainty you will.’

  I am determined on it, thought the Countess, for it is the object of my visit.

  Later that day she did see Mary.

  She thought: The child is truly a beauty. It would be a pity if she were shut away in a convent just because her greedy sister and her avaricious brother-in-law want her share of the de Bohun fortune.

  She was very cautious, being eager to give no sign to Eleanor that she was in the slightest degree averse to Mary’s future in the convent.

  She mentioned more than once the great admiration she had for the Poor Clares and the wonderful work they were doing.

  Mary spoke glowingly of them and Eleanor purred like a contented cat.

  The Countess said: ‘Your uncle Richard was saying that he should so like to see you. I told him that I would persuade you to come back to Arundel with me for a short visit. He said: I so long to see my dear nieces.’

  ‘I am scarcely in a condition to travel,’ Eleanor pointed out.

  ‘Alas, that is so,’ agreed the Countess. ‘Mary could come though.’

  Mary cried: ‘I should so much like that.’

  Eleanor looked a little taken aback but before she could speak the Countess said firmly: ‘Then so it shall be. We will set out tomorrow.’

  Eleanor said: ‘Mary, you will not wish to leave your studies.’

  ‘But Eleanor, it will only be for a short visit. I long to go.’

  ‘Then you shall, dear niece,’ said the Countess quickly. ‘Later on, when you have the baby, Eleanor, you will come to see your uncle I know.’

  ‘Cannot he come here, my lady?’

  ‘He will, of a certainty he will. But he has asked me so particularly to take you both back with me. He did not think that you would be unfit to travel. Men do not understand these things. I must take one of you back. Mary, we must leave early. It is a long journey and I wish for an early start.’
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  Mary was clearly excited at the prospect of the visit and Eleanor could only shrug her shoulders.

  It would be but for a few days and their aunt was clearly in favour of Mary’s taking the veil. Perhaps she would help to persuade her.

  There was no need to worry.

  It was exciting riding to Arundel with her aunt. Mary had forgotten how beautiful the Sussex countryside was. She could smell the sea and she remembered that the castle was only a short distance from the coast. The Countess had been talking about the pleasures of Arundel and the new dances and songs of which Mary had some knowledge because none could enjoy social life more than Eleanor and Thomas. There were often visitors at Arundel, explained her aunt. It was a great pleasure when they came with news of what was happening in Court. Not that she was ignorant of that, she was quick to add. Your uncle is in constant attendance on the King.

  Mary did notice that, although while they were at Pleshy her aunt had talked a great deal about the Convent of the Poor Clares, stressing the good life led by the nuns, during the journey her conversation had changed considerably; and she seemed to be extolling the pleasures of life outside convent walls.

  As the drawbridge was lowered and they rode under the portcullis and into the courtyard, the Countess said: ‘What joy there is in coming home. I always wonder when I return what will have been happening to the place while I have been away, what visitors we have had or who will be awaiting us. One of the best things in life is coming home.’

  She looked side ways at Mary on whose face was an expression of understanding and shared excitement.

  It will not be the convent life for her! thought the Countess. Lancaster will see to that.

  Into the castle went Mary, to the chamber which had been made ready, there to wash off the stains of the journey and to prepare herself to go down to the great hall where the appetising smells which pervaded the castle proclaimed that food would soon be served.