Michael Jecks - The King of Thieves

The Cardinal nodded, blank surprise on his face. ‘But why should you seek to have him harmed? Who could think such a thing?’

‘There are many, Cardinal. It is a pity, however. It would have been so pleasant to have King Edward here, and to make him squirm as he paid me homage. And especially if he had brought that arch-schemer and thief, Despenser with him. Or, better, the foul Bishop of Exeter. He is a man I would like to see punished for his treatment of my sister.’

‘He has mistreated her?’

‘It is Walter of Exeter, who sought to deprive my sister of her lands, her money, and even the comfort of her household. Stapledon persuaded the King to remove her children so that the evil French mother couldn’t teach the Princes and Princesses treason against their father. Can you conceive of such a mind? That he could think such treachery would be possible from her?’

‘Shocking,’ Cardinal Thomas agreed. He found such allegations easy to believe.

The King clapped his hands. ‘Very good. And now, I would like to hear from the Procureur what he has learned about the dead man in my castle. I am not so rich in my population that I can afford to lose the occasional visitor. Where is the man?’

Langdon, Kent

‘I hope I find you well, Sir Baldwin?’

It was good to note the quick shock on his face, Despenser thought. Always he tried to instil respect for his position and authority, but to see a man like this knight, a renegade who had once been a Knight Templar, cringe even slightly was satisfying indeed.

The other, the little Bailiff, looked as though he’d bitten into a sloe, his mouth was so puckered. It made him look like an old man with an arse for a mouth. Fool! He had plainly heard about Despenser’s purchase of the lease on his house. ‘Bailiff. How is your lovely wife?’

‘She is well, we thank you,’ Baldwin said quickly, stepping between them. ‘Sir Hugh, I hope the King is recovered?’

‘He is greatly improved, I think. He is in with the Abbot just now.’

‘That will give him much comfort, I am sure.’

‘And you, Sir Baldwin. What are you doing here?’

‘We were summoned. Originally we were to guard the King on his way to Paris — but now I understand that he has decided not to go.’

‘Quite so. And yet there is a fresh embassy to go in his place.’

‘Yes,’ Baldwin said, but did not elaborate. He wished to see whether the Despenser had any other snippets which could be useful.

‘So you will return home soon, then, I imagine?’ Despenser said.

Simon caught his glance, and looked away, jaw clenched.

‘I will have to come to Devon to see the lands which I own, I suppose,’ Sir Hugh went on languidly. ‘I may ask you to put me up in my new house, Bailiff. You will not mind leaving it for a week or more, will you? And now I must be off. I have much work to do in the King’s service.’

He marched off, gathering up two henchmen as he went. One was chewing at a straw. He had thin, sandy hair over a circular, freckled face, and he stared impassively at Simon from pale blue eyes. As Despenser passed him, he smiled and nodded, as though content that his original opinion had been confirmed. Then he slowly turned and followed the man.

‘I will have his head one day, if he so much as looks at my wife,’ Simon hissed through gritted teeth.

‘Enough, Simon. Think of better thoughts. Such as, returning home to see your wife yourself.’

Louvre, Paris

Procureur Jean stared at the ground before him as he approached the King. The tiles were beautiful, he thought. And as many before him had done, he wondered next how many had found these lovely tiles to be the last sight they enjoyed. For the King was known to be ruthless.

Still, he was meant to be fair as well. He wasn’t as cruel as his father had been. In God’s name, Philippe IV had been very harsh!

‘My Lord King?’

‘You have been investigating the death of the man, have you not?’

‘Yes, my Lord. I am trying to learn what I may, but it is not easy. No one admits to knowing him,’ de Poissy said. Over behind the King to the right, he saw the castellan, and locked eyes with him for a moment or two. ‘It would be a great deal more easy if I could learn who was his friend and who was his enemy. Motives tend to flow from such understandings.’

‘I see. Could you please try to hurry yourself? I have a Prince coming to visit me before long. It would be pleasing to me to know that there was no murderer wandering my palaces with an insatiable urge to kill.’

There were some sycophantic chuckles at that, and Jean felt himself bridle. It was normal, of course, for the Lords about the King to enjoy the discomfiture of any other man, but he did not see why he should be held responsible personally.

‘But of course, my Liege,’ he said.

Fairness, justice and equity had nothing to do with the King’s court, of course. This was a warlord’s hall. The King was the supreme baron in the land. And here he held supreme power. None could gainsay him; none could talk back. In Christ’s name, a man couldn’t even meet the King’s eye unless he wished to have his head taken off. And right now, although Jean was a knight in his own right, he did not wish to call too much additional attention to himself.

‘There is another thing, Procureur. There have been some thefts from guests of mine here within the Louvre,’ the King continued, and now his eyes were moving over the assembled audience. ‘I would like them stopped. I believe the good Cardinal here told you?’

‘Yes, my Liege.’

‘Then try to learn who is responsible. There is a space on my gallows for this man. I will not have a thief in my house at the time of my sister’s visit with her son.’

‘I shall do all I can, your Royal Highness.’

So saying, Jean bowed his way from the presence, while the Dukes and Counts and others simpered and smiled, and when he reached the door and had backed out through it, and the door had closed before him, he knew only pleasure that he had endured another audience.

He took his sword back from the door-keeper, and thrust it into his sheath — for no one might approach the King with a sword without his express permission — and left the great hall.

Outside, he breathed in the rich air, filled with the odours of woodsmoke, charcoal, horse dung, blood and human excrement. This was a great castle, the Louvre. The work went on, through every day. The braziers were lighted for the smiths, and even now grooms and scavengers were collecting the piles of horse droppings in their hands and transporting it to barrows ready to be wheeled out to the dung heaps. The garderobes were being cleaned, too. As they did every day, serfs were gathering up shovel-loads of human waste from beneath the chutes, and dumping it into buckets to be carried to the middens. Little was left to waste even in the King’s household.

The Procureur had been about to return to his office, but standing here now, he watched as servants, visitors of different degrees, and traders entered by the main gateway.

It was interesting, he noted. Some would pass in front of him here, others head over to the right of the gate, while the senior people, those who had important business for the King or his representatives, would be taken by a servant up to the main entrance of the castle itself.

He was still smarting from the embarrassment of the attack on him in the street. It was so careless of him, not to have realised earlier that he was being followed. Had it not been for his interest in the fellows on the street, he would very likely now be dead. And that was something which Jean took very seriously.

Jean had been born to lowly stock. He was the son of a serf, but he had managed to educate himself, thanks to the help of an accommodating priest. And seeing his potential, the priest had himself recommended that Jean should be permitted to have an education. Not only had that fired his imagination and enthusiasm for learning, to his astonishment, he found that he was good at it, too. He had rapidly risen and been sent to the university here in Paris, where he soon realised that he was better at the reasoning than at the simple arts of debate. He enjoyed applying logic to complex conundra, and gained a reputation for aiding others with strange little perplexities. After some while he had come to the notice of the City’s mayor, and then his career had begun.