Michael Jecks - The King of Thieves

‘It is a terrible position I find myself in, my Lord, in truth,’ Stapledon said as he sat, glancing about him.

The room would have served for a King’s private solar. Decorated beautifully, with paintings on one wall depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary with her little baby, and thick, glorious hangings on the others to keep the cold at bay, it was a room in which a man could sit and relax. The cupboard held a wonderful display of plates, some gold, others no doubt gilt, and jugs with jewels and splendid engravings upon them — the rewards due to a man who had accomplished much.

Stapledon was no failure himself, in worldly terms. His own palace at Exeter was also full of the trinkets and toys of a man who had succeeded in his chosen career. Not that his was a career, of course. It was a vocation. Still, Bishop Walter had risen to be the prominent Church leader of the nation, and it was a role he held proudly.

‘You will know that I am experiencing grave problems,’ he began. ‘I have a crucial duty to the King to guard the young Duke. It was my task to bring him here safely, and then to travel with him home again. And meanwhile, I was given the letters for the Queen which would order her to return home too.’

‘It did not work very well, this part of your mission,’ the Cardinal observed.

‘In truth, it did not. You were there when she berated me? How the woman could be so insulting to a man of God, I do not know. I have never sought to harm her, only support her King and the realm.’

The Cardinal nodded, eyes cast down as he listened. ‘You are sure that there is nothing you have done which could have incurred the lady’s wrath?’ he asked coolly.

‘All I have done, I have done to support the King. It is my duty as an English subject.’

‘There is a higher duty, of course, to God Himself.’

‘And I have ever sought guidance from Christ’s vicar on earth,’ Stapledon said.

‘The Pope has made comment?’

‘The Pope has tended to agree with me that there must be some easing of the relations between the French and English Kings. Christianity needs peace between two such powerful nations. How can we ever hope to launch another crusade with France and England at daggers drawn?’

‘Yes. But did the Pope suggest that you should remove, for example, all the lady’s French servants?’

‘That was a sad necessity. Cardinal, you would not expect us to agree to harbour potential spies and assassins in the household of our Queen?’

‘And the removal of her children?’

‘It was thought necessary, both to save her the embarrassment of having to edit her own thoughts before her children so as not to be seen to be treacherous to either her husband or her brother, and to protect the children from any malign influences.’

The Cardinal looked at him with raised eyebrows. That, he thought, was a likely story. ‘For their protection, then. Good. And what of the sequestration of all her belongings? I heard that all her lands have been taken. All her income is removed, and now she travels where her husband permits, pauperised. Is it true that this too was your idea?’

‘Not entirely my idea, no. And yet, there is sense in it,’ the Bishop replied.

‘And yet after all these issues, which I have to admit the Queen does lay at your door — if not at that of Sir Hugh le Despenser — you now wish for me to intercede for you with her? Why now?’

‘The affair has grown greatly more dangerous. Not only is the matter of the Queen’s continued refusal to go home a source of grave concern, now I find,’ and here the Cardinal was delighted to see the Bishop hesitate, glance about him rather wildly, and swallow hard before daring to continue, ‘now, I say, I find myself accused of the murder of a man whom I did not know, and all because I happened to speak with him briefly on the day before his death.’

‘You shouted at him, I heard. Were you not shouting?’

‘Yes, yes, yes, I did shout — I confess it. I was anxious after the dreadful scene with the Queen accusing me so ferociously before King Charles. What else would make me snap so? I had suffered a sore interview with the Queen, and then rode here in the rain, and my humours were all unsettled. I think that any man looking into his heart would agree that my slight rudeness was understandable. But to suggest that I could murder a man like him is ludicrous! How could anyone suspect me of such a foul crime?’

‘ With the greatest of ease ,’ was the response tingling on the tip of his tongue, but the Cardinal merely shook his head sadly. ‘I am so sorry for your predicament, my friend. I shall pray for you, and in the meantime I shall try to use my good offices to secure a less precarious situation for you. I think that the best route would be for me to petition the Queen herself and ask her to see to it that your status is respected. The very last reaction we need is to see you arrested.’

This was clearly one aspect of the matter which had not occurred to the Bishop. He blenched, and the Cardinal had a quick fear that he might vomit all over his floor-coverings, but the concern was short-lived. The Bishop swallowed, brought himself under control, and left a short while later.

Cardinal Thomas stood up respectfully as he walked from the room. It was hard to imagine how a man usually so astute and shrewd in the affairs of state for a not-insignificant country like England, could have so marvellously failed in his latest endeavour.

The Queen, of course, was a vital element of his problem. While she was at loggerheads with him, the Bishop could not hope to find peace. But the Bishop himself was the source of his own downfall. He had harried the poor woman all through her life in England. It was almost certainly true that he had intended to make the realm safer for all — but the Cardinal was no fool, and he knew too that the Bishop was an enormously wealthy man in his own right — although he had not been rich when he was first raised to his Bishopric. All his money had come from the different jobs he had undertaken for the King.

There was the sound of the latch, and he turned and smiled as the door opened. ‘You heard all?’

‘Your Eminence, I am most grateful,’ Queen Isabella said as she entered.

‘I am glad to be of service,’ the Cardinal said, bowing low.

‘I shall be very pleased to compensate you for your trouble when I once again have some funds of my own,’ Isabella said. She beckoned her guard, and in a few moments the Cardinal was alone again.

Foolish woman! Wearing widow’s weeds as though her husband was truly dead was merely an affectation to gain the hearts of strangers. It was a silly demonstration — and yet it might prove effective. It had most certainly proved successful to the French people. They had all taken her to their hearts, much more so than the Cardinal would normally have expected. The sight of a wonderfully attractive woman in her prime of life was always enough to make a Parisian man kiss his fingers in appreciation, but when she was clad all in black, raising her to that level of near-approachability, near-availability … that worked on a man’s heart like an aphrodisiac, the Cardinal thought cynically. Christ Himself alone knew what the English would make of it.

He knew what the English King would make of it, of course!

But that was not his concern right now. At this moment he must concentrate on the situation that was developing.

All was in flux. All was danger. War was brewing — but he did not know between which parties.

Sir Baldwin and Simon spent the morning with the Duke of Aquitaine, and it was some relief to them both when they were able to leave the Duke in the care of his mother, and seek a quiet corner.