The Heart of the Lion (44 page)

The crusade swallowed up great wealth. More was constantly demanded. If he were to serve his master well he must see that taxes were levied and paid; it was ironical that the people of England should not blame their King whose activities made it necessary that the money should be raised but his Chancellor whose duty it was to see that the money was collected.

There was murmuring all over the land about the upstart Norman, the nobody who dressed as richly as a king and travelled in great state wherever he went. When he went about the country and rested at religious houses as became a man of the church, for besides being the King’s Chancellor he was also the Bishop of Ely, there were complaints that to house him and his splendid retinue cost them several months’ revenue.

Longchamp heard the sly allusions to his humble origins and this only made him the more extravagant; he was determined to show them that however he had begun he had climbed to the pinnacle of success at this time. He insisted that his servants kneel when serving him, a fact which was noted and circulated throughout the kingdom. The arrogance of the man was unendurable. The King himself could not live more regally.

It was inevitable that his enemies should see that the King heard of his growing unpopularity. Queen Eleanor had become disturbed and when in Sicily had advised her son to send Walter de Coutances, the Archbishop of Rouen, over to England, ostensibly to assist Longchamp in the Regency, but in fact to watch events carefully and if Longchamp became too unpopular, and that might cause the people to rise against him, to take over the reins from him.

Longchamp was suspicious of the Archbishop. He misconstrued the reason for his coming, and had an idea that he was doubtless hoping to attain the See of Canterbury which was vacant. As he himself had his eye on this prime plum of the Church he was antagonistic towards the Archbishop.

But his real enemy was Prince John. Longchamp smiled to himself to imagine John’s wrath when he heard of how the Chancellor roamed the country in as royal a fashion as any king. He did not fear him. What was the Prince but a lecherous profligate? He had no stability. The people would never support him. King Richard was however inclined to be lenient regarding his brother’s peccadilloes. ‘John would never succeed in taking a kingdom,’ he had once said. ‘And if by some strange chance he did he would never hold it. He is not of the stuff of which conquerors are made.’

Richard had communicated that contempt to Longchamp, so when he heard that John was fulminating about him the Bishop merely shrugged his shoulders and ignored him.

It was at this time that he became concerned with the affair of Gerard de Camville who was the sheriff of Lincoln. He believed that man to be a troublemaker because he was friendly with Prince John and he suspected him of urging that the Prince rise against the Chancellor. Gerard de Camville had in fact sworn allegiance to John as though he were already King or at least heir to the throne. Longchamp was determined that the next King would be Arthur of Brittany, which would suit him very well. If Richard died while the boy was a minor then he, Longchamp, would continue as Regent until Arthur was of such an age to govern. He would bring him to England and have him educated there under his guidance. It would be an excellent arrangement. The fact was, though, that Richard was by no means old, had married the Princess of Navarre and might well have heirs which would put Arthur out of the running. But with Richard’s son being brought up by the Chancellor or – failing a son of Richard’s his nephew Arthur – the prospect was good, although there was one who could put it in jeopardy: John.

Therefore it was disconcerting to have men like Gerard de Camville swearing allegiance to the Prince and when it was brought to his notice that de Camville had sheltered robbers in his castle and allowed them to go free even though they had taken the goods of a band of travellers passing near Lincoln, this seemed too good an opportunity to miss. The late King’s laws against robbery had been very severe and Richard had not altered them. It had been made clear that if the country was to be safe for travellers, drastic penalties should be meted out to offenders. This had been proved over more than a hundred years. William the Conqueror had made England law-abiding and the people had seen that it was to their advantage. Only during the reign of weak Stephen had it lapsed, and then robber barons had waylaid travellers, to rob, torture and kill them. No one wanted a return to that.

So Longchamp had a very good reason to reprimand Gerard de Camville.

He sent for Gerard, who refused to come himself and sent a messenger in his place. This was an insult in itself.

Longchamp demanded: ‘Where is your master?’

‘He has other business to occupy him, my lord,’ was the answer.

‘I summoned him here,’ replied Longchamp, ‘and when I summon a man if he is wise he comes.’

‘My lord bids me ask you to state your business to me and he has furnished me with some answers for he guesses you wish to speak to him concerning the guests he recently entertained at his castle.’

‘These men were robbers. They should have been dealt with by the law.’

‘The men they robbed were Jews, my lord.’

‘What of this?’

‘The people do not love the Jews. Nor does the King. Many were killed at his coronation.’

‘Go and tell your master that he has offended against the laws of this land and he is summoned to the courts.’

‘My lord answers only to one master during the absence of the King. He is the liegeman of Prince John.’

‘Pray go and tell your master that he is summoned to the courts and it will go ill with him if he does not obey this summons.’

It was this matter which was giving Longchamp anxious thoughts on this summer’s morning of the year 1191.

When Gerard de Camville asked for an audience with Prince John he was received at once.

‘This insolent Norman flouts you, my lord,’ cried Gerard. ‘I have told him that I obey only one liege lord: my Prince. His answer is that that will not serve. He ignores you, my lord and your authority.’

‘By God’s eyes, ’tis so,’ cried John. ‘We’ll show the knave. I’ll drive him from his office. You will see. I am the King’s brother. I am in fact the rightful King, for you know full well my father wanted me to have this kingdom.’

Gerard was silent. He was with John at the moment but one must be careful not to utter treason. There were too many who could overhear a carelessly spoken word.

‘As your liegeman,’ said Gerard, ‘I maintain that it is only in your courts that I can be tried.’

‘Leave this to me,’ said John. He was excited, seeing here a chance for open conflict with Longchamp. He wanted to think what trouble could grow out of this incident.

He whipped himself up to a fury. It was an indulgence he could never resist. Anger stimulated him. He liked to feel it rising within him to such heights that he had to let it out. Now he felt he could indulge in righteous anger.

‘Am I a king’s son or am I not?’ he demanded.

‘You are indeed, my Prince,’ answered Gerard, soothingly. ‘Any who denied it would lie in his throat.’

‘And one denies it. This low-born peasant, this serf who gives himself the airs of a King. Would I had him here, Gerard! What would I do with him? No torture would be too severe. It would please me greatly to listen to his screams for mercy.’

‘He is indeed an arrogant upstart, my Prince.’

‘Aye, and living like a king. His servants . . .
English
servants mark you! . . . kneeling before him when he eats. I should like to make him kneel . . . kneel to the humblest man I could find. That would amuse me. Strip him of his silks and jewels and have him mother naked in the streets and the lash descending on his peasant’s back till the blood flowed.’

Gerard was wondering what reasonable action the Prince would take.

He said cautiously: ‘That will come, my lord Prince, but first it will be necessary to warn him.’

John scowled. Warn him! He didn’t want him warned. He wanted him to go on making such mistakes that the whole country would rise against him.

‘I shall take up arms against him,’ growled John, ‘and there’ll be many to follow me. The people hate him, Gerard . . . even as I do.’

He shouted to a messenger. ‘Come hither. Go at once to upstart Chancellor William de Longchamp and tell him this from me. He is to stop persecuting Gerard de Camville. If he does not he will wish he had never been born, for I shall come against him in battle with such forces that will drive him out of this land.’

When Longchamp received this message he knew that he must take speedy action. Only by force could he reason with John. It was deplorable. The King would be displeased; but Longchamp could see nothing for it. He could not allow John to dictate to him.

He summoned the leading ministers, but before they arrived news was brought to him that the castellans of Tickhill and Nottingham had handed the castles to John.

Longchamp was horrified.

‘There must have been threats,’ he said. ‘These men would never have given up their trusts otherwise. They have been holding the castles in the King’s name and now to hand them over to his brother is an act of treason against Richard.’

‘And Richard,’ his ministers reminding him, ‘being far away . . .’

‘Aye, ’tis a sorry state of affairs, for as Regent I must do as the King would do. I see that Prince John has his eyes on the crown, and that I must hold at all costs for my master.’

‘This will mean open friction with the Prince,’ Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen, warned him.

‘If that is so then it must be. John should never have been allowed to come back into the country. The King forbade him to for three years.’

‘But the King later gave permission for both John and his base-born brother Geoffrey to return.’

‘So ’twas said. I cannot believe the King would have been so unaware of their trouble-making propensities to allow it. We must take bold action. It is the only course when dealing with men such as Prince John. I am going to summon him to appear before courts to investigate the manner of his return to England when the King banished him for three years. If the King indeed gave him leave to come back, it must be proved.’

The Archbishop of Rouen agreed that while such action was taking place it might give those who were seeking rebellion time to brood on what this would mean and it was a way of reminding people that although the Prince, as the King’s brother, was becoming a powerful force in the land he like everyone else was a subject of King Richard and must obey his laws.

‘My lord Archbishop,’ said Longchamp, ‘only you are of sufficient rank to take the summons to Prince John.’

The Archbishop nodded ruefully. He could imagine the Prince’s wrath when he realised he was summoned to appear before the courts.

It was as he anticipated. He had never seen such fury except in the old King Henry II. The Prince’s skin was livid, his eyes ablaze with fury; he foamed at the lips and clenched and unclenched his hands.

‘By God’s eyes,’ he shouted, ‘if I but had that devil here. He’d never limp again. I’d slit that big belly right up . . . I, with my own knife. He’d not die easy . . .’

The Archbishop allowed him to go on and his very calmness cooled John’s temper. The Archbishop showed no fear; he stood rather like someone who was patiently waiting for the storm to be over.

It irritated John for it spoilt the excitement his fury always gave him. He liked to see people cringe before him. This calm dignified man in his robes of office, which must always inspire a certain respect, disconcerted him.

He stopped suddenly and looked full at the Archbishop.

‘And what say you, my lord, to see a Prince so treated?’

‘I say this,’ answered the Archbishop: ‘You should offer to meet Longchamp and find a solution to your differences.’

‘Do you think there will ever be any solution?’

‘We must pray for peace, my lord, until the return of our sovereign lord the King.’

Sovereign lord the King! Where was Richard now? Why was there no news? He was in constant danger. Why was God so perverse that he continued to protect him from that poisoned arrow?