Jean Plaidy - The Prince of Darkness

He realised that there was only one course open to him. He must offer to comply with the barons’ wishes. They would meet the King in a conference and this was to take place on the 15 thJune at a place called Runnymede.

And so in the meadow between Staines and Windsor the parties met. John had brought only a few attendants but the barons had felt it necessary to muster as many supporters as they could. They had their armed knights and the people, knowing their purpose, had joined their ranks as they marched to Runnymede so that it was a multitude which reached the pleasant field.

For twelve days the conference continued. There were adjustments to the clauses and continuous discussion while John looked on and watched his power diminishing.

The Church was to be free to have her rights and liberties unhurt; so were the King’s subjects; widows should not be forced to marry against their will; goods could not be seized for debt if the debtor could discharge the debt; no scutage (a tax demanded for the purpose of supplying funds for war) was to be imposed by the King unless it was agreed by a common council.

In fact no taxation was to be levied without consent of the council. All ancient liberties and customs of cities were to be preserved. There were several clauses pertaining to law. No person was to be kept in prison for a long term without an inquiry into his guilt or innocence.

These were but a few of the clauses to which John was forced to agree and as he read them he saw what he had always regarded as his kingly privileges being whittled away. There would be a new freedom in the land after the signing of Magna Carta and much of the King’s power would be lost to him.

The barons with their leader Robert FitzWalter were not going to allow John to escape.

So he must pen his name to the great charter of Runnymede.

Isabella, having given birth to another daughter, whom she named Eleanor, heard of the momentous events which were shaking the very foundations of the throne.

It had been certain to happen, she knew. John had brought it on himself. He had made so many enemies. Arthur’s disappearance would never be forgotten; and there were so many influential families whose members he had wronged in some way.

She often thought about Matilda FitzWalter with whom he was supposed to be so enamoured and she wondered why he had not forced the girl if he had been as eager as rumour would have it he was. It was strange that he should have had her poisoned because she would not submit. But there were so many odd twists and turns in his nature that one could never be entirely sure of what he was thinking.

He had given her so many shocks recently. First her lover’s body over her bed and then giving little Joanna to Hugh. Then she fell to wondering why Hugh had not married and whether it had anything to do with his devotion to herself. How would he feel about marrying her daughter? But that was far away. Who could be sure what would happen by then?

John had not visited her lately. She supposed he was too preoccupied with the barons and their demands.

Who would have believed at the beginning of his reign that so much could have been lost? Who but John would have lost it?

He was not in good health. She had been aware of that for some time. The anxieties of the last years would have done nothing to alleviate that, and she had always maintained that those fearful rages would kill him one day.

So as she nursed her baby she asked herself what would happen to her when John was dead, for she had a notion that that day might not be far off.

After the signing of the Charter John gave way to his rage, and those about him thought that he would indeed kill himself. He was like a madman; he gnashed his teeth and tore at his clothes; he lay on the floor kicking at furniture and any who came near him; he picked up handfuls of rushes, stuffed them into his mouth and chewed them, seeming to find some relief in this. He muttered to himself and those within earshot listened to the bloodcurdling threats he uttered about what he would do to his enemies. His bouts of rage would subside and then burst out again. The only relief he could get seemed to be through them.

Chains they had put on him, he cried out. These upstarts! They wanted to kill him. They wanted to take his kingdom from him. They had been against him all his life. They would learn one day what happened to his enemies. There would be no mercy … none …

When he grew calmer he decided that he would appeal once more to the Pope. Was he not the fief of the Pope? Had he not surrendered his crown to the Pope and had not the Pope returned it to him? Momentarily he seemed to hear the sighs of his ancestors. The bitter shame of it! But everyone was against me! he cried. Not the Holy Father, though. He would support him. A quick smile touched John’s lips. It was so ironical to think of the Church’s standing with him. In his message to the Pope he mentioned the fact that he was contemplating going on a crusade for of late since he had turned wholeheartedly to the Church he felt his past sins weigh heavily upon him. A mission to the Holy Land alone could rid him of this burden and if he could bring peace to his kingdom he would make his plans.

It was those barons who had brought him to this state – those wicked barons; the Braoses who were determined to have their revenge because that virago of theirs had met her just deserts; Vesci who had made such a fuss because he had admired his wife; and FitzWalter whose silly daughter had refused to submit to her King.

Vesci had told him when the barons were assembled that he was mistaken if he thought he had dishonoured his wife. ‘You slept with a common whore, my lord. You were too drunk to notice she was not my wife.’

‘Liar!’ he had cried and wanted to shout to someone to take the man away and cut out his tongue.

Vesci was bold with the might of the barons behind him.

‘We often laugh at the way in which you were duped, my lord, my wife and I.’

He must have been certain that John would never regain power to have talked like that.

He had tried to think back to that night but he could not remember very clearly and the pleasure he had had from that episode came after when he thought of the haughty Vesci who, as he had thought, had had to give up his wife.

And they had duped him, for deep in his heart he believed this to be so – substituting a common harlot for the lady of the castle; and they had laughed at him. They had cheated him as all the barons had assembled to do.

And strangest of all – his friend was the Pope.

He knew he was right in thinking that the Pope would give him his support. Was he not a fief of the Pope? he kept telling himself. Therefore, the Holy Father would have no wish to see him defeated.

Innocent read the despatches very gravely and came to the conclusion that the barons were seeking to depose John. Why so? Because he had made England a vassal of Rome? The Pope did not wish the King to lose his crown. What if England were plunged into civil war and a new king set up? What of England’s obligations to Rome then?

The Pope sent orders to Stephen Langton to pronounce the sentence of excommunication on the barons.

Langton’s reply was to inform the Pope that he was not fully acquainted with the true state of affairs in England. The King had behaved as a tyrant and the barons were only asking for justice and determined to get it. The case was very different from the manner in which John had presented it.

The Pope was angered by this reply from the Archbishop whose election had created such a storm. He could not understand what was happening. It seemed to him that John had behaved in a most seemly manner. He had become reconciled to the Church; he had reinstated the clergy; he was planning to go on a crusade. And the barons were behaving in a manner to suggest they planned deposing such a king. They should be helping him prepare for the crusade. Christian leaders were needed in the Holy Land. In creating such disturbances now the barons were displeasing God as much as the Saracens did.