‘Then it should not be difficult to keep them in order.’
‘They work in subtle ways. They arouse the anger of the people through their poetry. They sing songs of their Duchess lying fretting in her cell.’
‘Nonsense! She has her servants and is well looked after in Salisbury. The only restriction is that she cannot leave to go about setting people against me.’
‘They don’t believe this. In the songs she is represented as the poor prisoner. They set her behind prison bars in those songs and you are represented as the tyrant who inflicts humiliation and torment.’
‘Then make songs to tell the truth.’
‘The prisoner is a better subject for pity than the jailer.’
‘A plague on their song-making. Make them aware of the sword.’
‘I have done so, Father, and have brought about a kind of compromise, but always there will be rebellions. Always the poets will sing of the wrongs of their beloved Duchess. Release her. Send her back to Aquitaine.’
‘To conspire with the King of France against me? Never!’
Richard shrugged his shoulders. ‘There will never be peace in Aquitaine while my mother is your prisoner,’ he said.
This was true; and with this uneasy thought Henry went on for his meeting with Louis.
Poor Louis, thought Henry. He was showing his age. He had never been much of a man in Henry’s estimation, but now he was really feeble.
He was clearly surprised that Henry should have come to see him and was very suspicious as to what this could mean. He believed that it had something to do with the betrothal of Richard to Alice, about which he was beginning to think there was clearly some mystery.
Henry had sent Richard back to Aquitaine, for he did not want him to be present during the negotiations with Louis about the marriage, and Richard being such a fine figure of a man would bring home the point that there could not be any reason on his side why the marriage should not take place immediately.
It was disconcerting to find that Louis had assembled a cardinal and some of his leading bishops. Clearly they were going to attempt to force him to agree to the celebration of the marriage without delay.
He was in a very delicate position and he needed every bit of astuteness to avoid the issue. Of one thing he was certain: he was not going to let Alice go.
He embraced Louis as king to king and then did homage as Duke of Normandy to his vassal lord.
They talked sadly of their lost grandson and immediately after that the subject of Alice and Richard was raised and everyone waited to hear Henry’s objections to the match.
Objections? The tawny eyebrows were raised, the nostrils flared. The lion was benevolent in his surprise. But of course the marriage would take place. Were not Richard and Alice betrothed?
‘There has been much delay,’ Louis reminded him.
‘My dear brother,’ answered Henry with a smile, ‘the Princess Alice is young still. As for my son he has his Dukedom of Aquitaine to protect. He has scarcely been in England for some time.’
‘But he is of age to be a husband and the Princess is no longer a child.’
‘There is truth in that and the marriage must take place,’ answered Henry.
The company was so taken aback for they had been expecting there would be some hint of the King’s objection. Their prepared arguments had no point now as they had intended to stress the advantages of the match and to listen to the King’s objections to it.
‘Then it would seem,’ said Louis, ‘that we are in agreement on this matter.’
Henry bowed his head.
‘The question now is when can the marriage take place?’
‘That,’ Henry agreed, ‘is the only question. I will suggest that as I am to have the honour of your company for some days, we discuss together the most appropriate time.’
The Cardinal and the Bishops retired. It seemed to them that there had been no need for them to have come. The marriage was to take place at a suitable time. The King of England had raised none of the objections they expected; and it was true that Richard was busy protecting his dukedom.
At the very earliest moment the King would recall Richard from Aquitaine, the marriage would take place and everyone would be satisfied. It was only necessary now for the two kings to agree on a date.
Henry was pleased with himself. He had come through the first part of the ordeal. Before the Cardinal and the Bishops he had promised that Richard and Alice should marry. But it would not be the first time he had broken a promise. All he had to do was stave off the arrangement of an actual date.
Alone with Louis he expressed great concern for the French King’s looks.
‘It has been an anxious time for you, doubtless,’ he said.
‘A king’s lot is always an anxious one,’ replied Louis.
‘Ah, you speak truth, brother. And it is for each of us to remember this and do all in his power to help the other. It is a sad thing when kings war together. The crown is a sacred thing – no matter whose crown – and dishonour to one is a dishonour to all.’
‘I can agree with you on that.’
‘The health of your son gives you some concern, I believe.’
Louis nodded sadly.
‘As you know full well, I have suffered great anxiety through my children,’ said Henry.
‘There is the conflict between you and their mother. That is at the root of it.’
‘She is a perfidious woman, Louis. We both have reason to remember that.’
‘Yet she can be faithful. She is to her sons, I believe.’
‘Only because in supporting them she betrays her husband. She betrayed you once, Louis. Strange that you, the King of France, and I the King of England should both have suffered at her hands.’
‘Release her, Henry. It is not good for royalty to be imprisoned.’
‘I would I could. But how could I trust her? She it was who raised my sons against me. We have our troubles, you and I. Perhaps God is punishing us.’
‘For our sins – doubtless.’
‘Of which I have committed many and you a few, Louis.’
‘I wonder. I still hear the cries of innocent people in the cities and hamlets my soldiers have pillaged.’
‘There is one way to shut out those cries. You did it once and I doubt not your sins were forgiven you. But since then perhaps there have been others.’
‘I doubt it not.’
‘Have you ever thought, Louis, of going on another crusade?’
Louis was astonished but Henry realised he had struck the right note. Louis could not have many years to live and he had always been a very religious man. He would see as sin that which to Henry was an everyday occurrence. Henry doubted Louis had ever been an unfaithful husband. He had always tried to be just. He was weak of course but the best way to save Alice was to get at her father through religion.
It was a brilliant stroke because Henry had to come away from this meeting with no definite date arranged for the wedding of Richard and Alice.
‘I myself have often thought that I would go on a crusade.’
‘You, Henry! I am surprised. I did not think you would be concerned with such matters.’
‘It is true I have had my lands to protect and to hold. You are less harried in that direction than I am. But I have often thought of getting together an army and marching to the Holy Land in this most righteous cause.’
‘And what of your dominions?’
‘I have sons.’
‘You would give young Henry the power he craves?’
‘It is his due,’ said Henry.
Louis looked at him squarely. His plans were falling into shape. He had supported young Henry against his father. It was Louis’s belief that the King should give his son more power. It had been the reason for the war between them. Henry had won that round; but if he really went on a crusade and left young Henry to govern, with Louis’s daughter Marguerite beside him, that would please Louis very much.