But when she was gone her son Almeric would take his sister to Wales, and there her dear Demoiselle would become the wife of a man who loved her and would cherish her.
So many terrible things had happened to her family that she feared the worst. Perhaps she should have expected violent happenings when she married the great Simon de Montfort. But she would never regret that. How often had she said to herself, looking back on all the tragedies which had followed that reckless marriage: And I would do it all over again.
Simon de Montfort was a name which would be remembered with respect for ever. A strange man, a good man, a man of ideals, he had had her support even though he had stood against her own brother, King Henry. Poor Henry, she had loved him too. He had always been so kind, so eager for them all to love him, but he had ruled badly; his extravagance and that of his Queen had almost brought back the dreadful days of King John; and Simon had had to do what he did even though he believed that civil war was one of the greatest disasters which could befall a country; and when a woman’s husband was fighting against her brother that was indeed a tragedy. She recalled that time when her brother Henry and her nephew Edward had been brought to Kenilworth as her husband’s prisoners and put in her care. She had treated them with respect; she had wanted to shake her brother and say: ‘Why cannot you see what you are doing? Simon is right.’ Simon would have ruled wisely. It was Simon who had inaugurated the first parliament. Simon wanted a peaceful prosperous country. Henry might say he wanted this too and so he did, but Henry also wanted money … money and lands so that he could satisfy the demands of his rapacious wife. Yet she had loved them both – Henry, her brother, Eleanor of Provence, her sister-in-law. They had ruled badly; they had been her husband’s deadly enemies; yet she had loved them all.
What a difficult problem life set, with war in the country and war in the family! Violence had bred violence. What they did to her husband and her son Henry at Evesham would haunt her for as long as she lived. She had nightmares about Evesham. That beloved body to be so treated! It was no wonder that her sons Guy and Simon had done what they did. They had revered their father. They had wanted revenge.
And it had ended thus with the proud de Montforts in exile. Guy, a fugitive wanted for the murder of Henry of Cornwall which he with his brother Simon had committed in a church at Viterbo. It was a murder which had shocked the world because Henry of Cornwall had been killed while in prayer before an altar, and after he had been stabbed to death his body had been obscenely treated as Simon de Montfort’s had after Evesham. It was meant to be a grand revenge for what had happened to their father. Poor Guy! Poor Simon! They had chosen the wrong victim in one noted for his bravery and goodness; they should never have mutilated his dead body, and now young Simon was dead but none would ever forget the murder at Viterbo and she often wondered about what would happen to Guy in the end.
So many promising children and they had come to this! She called to her daughter and took pleasure in looking at her. She was tall, graceful, a Plantagenet. Llewellyn would surely be pleased with his bride.
‘My child,’ she said, ‘it will not be long now.’
The Demoiselle bent over her mother and asked if she would take a cooling beverage.
‘I am sinking fast, daughter,’ she said. ‘Nay, do not grieve. This is the end of my life – and it has been a rich one – but it is the beginning of yours. You will go happily to Llewellyn.’
‘Yes, Mother, I shall go happily to him.’
‘It was long ago when you saw him.’
‘Yes, but we both knew then … I am sure he has not changed and I know that I have not.’
‘Be happy, my child. When I was very young and scarcely out of the nursery they married me to an old man. When he died I thought I should never marry again. There was talk of going into a convent. Then your father came. To marry in love is the best thing that can happen to a woman.’
‘You and my father faced terrible odds.’
The dying woman smiled. ‘A mésalliance. A king’s daughter and an adventurer, they said. Perhaps they are the best sort of marriages because the people who make them must want desperately to do so to defy everyone about them.’
‘You and my father wanted to marry very much, I know.’
‘Ah yes. What days they were! The excitement … the intrigue! I suppose I was one to flourish on intrigue. Now I look for peace. That is something we all come to. I want only to know that you are settled and on your way to Wales. Then I could die happy.’
‘I should never leave you, dear Mother.’
‘Bless you, but I shall not detain you long. When the ship comes for you you must go. Almeric shall take you. I have much to say to Almeric.’
‘Shall I send him to you, Mother?’
‘Yes, my child. Tell him to come.’
Almeric de Montfort sat by his mother’s bedside and asked himself how long she could live, and wondered what future there was for him and his sister in Wales.
He loved his mother; he had revered his father. It was a source of anger that the great man of his times – as he believed his father to have been – should have died ignobly. It was not so much that he had been killed in battle. That was an honourable way for a man to die. But what they had done to his body afterwards … How dared they! So to humiliate the remains of the great Simon de Montfort! And then they wondered why his brothers had done the same to Henry of Cornwall.
‘Are you there, Almeric, my son?’ asked the dying Countess.
‘I am here, Mother.’
‘You must leave for Wales as soon as the ship comes.’
‘We shall not leave you, Mother.’
‘’Twould be better for you to leave without delay.’
‘Do not fret about the matter. Rest assured all will be well.’
‘Take care of your sister.’
‘Trust me, dear Mother, to do that.’
She closed her eyes as though in relief.
She was right. They should leave as soon as the ship came. Messengers could be arriving at any moment to tell them they should set out. His sister would never agree to leave her mother though – nor would he.
Ever since Evesham the family fortunes had been in decline. Oh how foolish of Guy and Simon to commit a murder which shocked the world! Guy had always been violent and he had hated his cousin Edward; he used to say Edward had everything in his favour. Perhaps in those days in the royal schoolroom they had all been a little envious of Edward. The Golden Boy, the King’s son, the heir to the throne. The one who gave himself airs and tried to rule them all – taller than any of them, the one who was selected for attention and homage even in those days. Guy had hated him and tried to turn them all against him. Henry of Cornwall had been one of those boys – the eldest – and he had been Edward’s staunch ally. Henry the noble boy, who led Edward along the path of virtue. Edward the future King, Henry the saint. It was small wonder that they had made Henry their victim. Almeric could imagine the vicious joy with which Guy had mutilated Henry’s body.
Oh it was a foolish thing to have done. It had set the whole world against them. It had brought disrepute on the great de Montfort name. Now when people mentioned it they spoke of the murder rather than the great good which their father Simon de Montfort had brought to England.
Almeric would never forget that time when he had been accused with his brothers of the murder. This was a great trial to him for not only had he been educated in the Church but he was innocent of the crime. It was easy for him to be arrested as he had been working in the university of Padua at the time. Thank God he had been able to prove that he had been nowhere near Viterbo when the murder had been committed and had in fact been desperately ill with a fever.