The Lion of Justice - Plaidy Jean (список книг txt) 📗

‘So you will not forbid this?’

‘Nay, my love. Rather do I applaud it. But remember the child. In no way must we imperil that.’

‘You are so good to me, so kind.’ she said and there were tears in her eyes.

It was one of those occasions when he wondered what she would feel when she discovered the truth about him, which he supposed she would in due course. When he began bringing his illegitimate children to Court and bestowing favours on them, which indeed he must, he hoped she would not be too badly hurt. It might well be that by that time she would have more understanding of the world. But it was disconcerting when she showed so clearly that she looked upon him as a knight of shining purity. He supposed he was growing fond of her.

He was more at ease talking of affairs of state.

‘Matilda,’ he said, ‘if ever I should have to go out of the country I should make you my Regent and for this reason you must know how I govern and what is happening in the realm.’

She looked apprehensive and he knew it was not because she was afraid of the task but because he would have to go on some expedition which might be perilous.

‘Why should you have to go?’

‘Perhaps to Normandy.’ he said. ‘My brother Robert is claiming England.’

‘But he is the Duke of Normandy and Normandy is in pawn to England.’

‘The debt has been settled. He has married and the lady’s dowry has paid his debt. Moreover she is with child. Men become ambitious for their children.’

‘He has laid claim to the throne then?’

‘Ay and he has many supporters—not only in Normandy but here. Ranulf Flambard has escaped from the White Tower. He is in Normandy now. It is men such as he that I fear rather than my brother. Robert is too lazy to carry through any enterprise with success. But when he is backed by men like Ranulf we must take the threat very seriously indeed.’

‘You think they will attempt invasion?’

‘I do. Many Normans over here who support Robert’s claim have already crossed the sea. But I have set a fleet to guard the Channel ports so that they can be prevented from landing.’

‘That is important,’ said Matilda. ‘If Harold Godwin had guarded his ports your father would never have landed so comfortably in England and it may well have been that the battle had gone a different way.’

‘In which case I should not be King of England, so let us rejoice in that lack of foresight.’

‘And profit by it,’ said Matilda.

‘You will see that is what I intend to do. But, Matilda, I am surrounded by traitors. Ranulf Flambard should never have been allowed to escape. I could have used that man. I could have had him killed in prison. But I thought after a while to make use of his cleverness. I am disturbed that he thought there would be more advantages in serving my brother than myself.’

‘Could it have been that he knew you were a King who would rule your subjects and Robert is a Duke who would be ruled by his?’

He looked at her quizzically. ‘God has given me a clever wife. We’ll stand together against them. My Queen, I thank God for you.’

This was the peak of her happiness. Not only did she love and was loved, not only was her body fruitful but the years of study had given her an agile mind and she could bring to her husband many gifts which more than made up for her lack of dowry. He talked to her earnestly of his hopes.

I have made promises which I shall endeavour to carry out...if it is possible. It was necessary to make those promises. But I intend to bring law back to this country. I shall punish severely those who steal. We are plagued by those who clip coins and so debase the currency. I mean to bring back my father’s laws. In his day men could travel without the fear of robbery and violence. That changed under Rufus. I will bring that back. The feudal barons must be made to understand that I will not have them roaming the country taking what they will and submitting to indignities the wives and daughters of peaceful citizens. I shall curb their power.’

‘The people will love you for it.’

‘They must, Matilda. I must make them see that I intend to prosper the country as my father did. They never loved him. He was a harsh man, but they came to respect him. And when Rufus reigned after him they appreciated him the more. I intend that they shall feel towards me as they did to my father.’

‘But you would wish them to love you?’

‘If that is possible. But I intend to make this country rich and, by God, I’ll do it. And I must make the people understand this. I have to bring the barons to order. You know that a band of them will set out together to plunder a market or a fair and will terrify the simple people who are enjoying these worthy pursuits. Some of them waylay merchants and kidnap them and hold them to ransom so that their family must squander their hard earned money on their release. They are cruel. They torture their victims. They raid a man’s house and rape his woman under his very eyes. This I will stop and the people will see what my intentions are.’

Matilda’s eyes were shining. ‘You will be a great king, Henry.’

He smiled at her ruefully. ‘If the people will let me.’

‘The forestry laws are said to be the most harsh.’

Henry’s lips hardened. He was not going to change those. His father had instituted them and the people had had to accept them. No, he would not give up his forests. The hunt was the breath of life to him as it had been to all his family. He and his brothers had been brought up to it; it was the greatest of pleasures—though perhaps women enchanted him slightly more, but not much; to ride through the forests, dogs in pursuit, the sight of a deer alert suddenly, and to see the graceful creature bound off; the smell of the forests; the excitement of the chase. No, not one of the harsh forestry laws should be lifted. They had perforce to accept them in his father’s day and they should accept them now.

But he did not tell Matilda this. Like that other overwhelming passion it must remain one of those secrets which she would certainly discover in time—but not yet.

For the time it pleased him that she should live in this dream of perfection, which showed how fond he was of her.

A messenger had arrived and was brought to the King.

His face darkened as he read the message.

‘Henry...’ began Matilda.

He looked at her and a savage anger darkened his face. ‘The fleet which was protecting our shores has gone to Normandy. This can mean one thing. They have deserted me and instead of stopping Robert’s landing they will help it.’

* * * * *

These were trying weeks for Henry. Rumours were in circulation. He had been a member of the hunting party in which Rufus had died; he had already shown marked favour to the Clare family; their kinsman Walter Tyrrell had left the country. Could it have been that there had been a plot and that Henry, who had everything to gain, was at the heart of it?

Henry ignored these suggestions. He knew that what the people of England wanted was a good steady king who would amend the state of anarchy which had risen during the reign of Rufus. So he concentrated on letting the people know what reforms he intended to make, and he set about making them.

Henry had not been nicknamed Beauclerc for nothing. He was possessed of an energy and efficiency which was similar to that which had made the Conqueror such a brilliant administrator. The Saxon part of the community were of the opinion that he would make a better ruler than his brother Robert who had already proved himself to be feckless; but there were many Norman barons in the country who deplored the fact that Henry, having been born and bred in England, was removing the Norman influence, and these powerful Norman barons were giving their support to Robert.

One of the chief of these was Robert of Belleme—a man whose reputation was perhaps more evil than that of any other throughout England and Normandy. Henry’s father had told him of the stories he had heard in his childhood of this wicked family who had terrorized the countryside. Nurses would warn him if he did not behave as they considered he should: ‘If you are not good the Bellemes will get you.’ They tortured for sport and the entertainment they offered their guests at a banquet was the death agony of some poor prisoner. They would waylay travellers and take them to their dungeons. Men would be submitted to the slow death, women to all manner of indignities before suffering the same fate. The Conqueror had when a boy met a member of this family and had looked him straight in the face and in such a manner that the brute had quailed before him and turned away muttering that the boy and his heirs would bring disaster to the Bellemes.