Passage to Pontefract (41 page)

‘Never mind … never mind now,’ said Richard. ‘You must get away from here.’

‘Abroad. It is the only way. They are bent on bloodshed, Richard, depend upon it. They want scapegoats and they will choose those from your friends.’

‘Then, my dearest, go from here with all speed. You must have money.’

‘If I can get to the river I shall take boat to the Low Countries.’

‘Go, go!’ cried Richard. ‘I beg of you. My heart goes with you.’

They gave him food and money, and did what they could to make sure he escaped undetected.

Anne was sad, looking fearfully into the future. Of only one thing could she be certain: there would be no more jolly parties for four in the royal apartments.

It was good news that Robert had escaped to Flanders. But that was not the end of the matter.

The situation had not been eased. Robert might have dodged his fate but the others remained. There was the King to be faced and he must know the truth.

Gloucester and his friends planned together.

With a gleam in his eyes Gloucester expressed the opinion that Richard was unfit to rule and should be deposed.

Arundel agreed with him.

But there was caution among the rest. Henry of Bolingbroke had begun to make his presence felt. He said little, but his eyes were watchful.

He waited for the lords to say what he knew they would. The deposition of the King was too drastic.

Gloucester tried to contain his temper. They were thinking – and of course they were right – that if Richard were deposed, John of Gaunt occupied in Castile and Edmund Duke of York too lazy to want the crown, to whom would it fall but Gloucester?

Henry of Bolingbroke was not sure that would suit him now. Richard was a weak King but his father would not wish to see his Uncle Gloucester replace Richard. Who could say what the outcome would be in Castile and if John of Gaunt had to return once more, he was the eldest living son of Edward the Third; he was the one who would be next in line. Of course there was Lionel’s daughter, but she could surely be dealt with.

And if by some glorious turn of fate John of Gaunt became King, his eldest son would follow him.

No, this was surely not the moment to depose Richard. Even so Bolingbroke was on the side of the lords who had been raising their voices to save the King from his evil advisers; and he was with those who prepared to present an ultimatum to the King.

It was Christmas Day – a most uneasy one for Richard and Anne. In spite of the usual merriment, rumours had persisted; and the streets of London were filled not with merry makers but with those who whispered together and asked what would happen next. Even the mummers had lost their zest and there was no seasonal joy in the singing of the carols.

Richard, dressed with his usual splendour, glittering with jewels, was startled when the five lords burst in on him.

They joined arms – a gesture of their solidarity – as they marched towards him, each wearing the colours of their families. Gloucester, Arundel, Warwick and the two younger men, Mowbray and Bolingbroke.

‘What means this?’ stammered Richard.

Gloucester was the spokesman.

‘My lord,’ he said, ‘we have in our possession letters in your hand, captured at Radcot. These show that you sanctioned the raising of an army to make war within this realm. You have suggested that help might be procured from the King of France for which you would barter England’s possessions in that land.’

Richard felt sick with fear. They had the better of him now.

‘How dare you break thus into my presence … arm in arm as to come against me?’ he demanded.

‘My lord,’ said Bolingbroke. ‘Come to the window. Look below. See the forces gathered there.’

‘You have raised an army against me!’

‘We have raised an army, my lord, for your preservation and that of your realm.’

Gloucester came and stood beside them at the window.

‘There below you see men determined to fight for the right,’ he said, ‘but this is not a tenth of those that have risen to destroy those false traitors who have given you such ill counsel.’

Richard was trembling. ‘What would you have of me?’ he asked in a low voice.

‘That you come to Westminster that you may hear in Parliament the accusations which shall be brought against those who have put this realm in danger by their wicked counsel.’

He knew that he was beaten. There was a cold rage in his heart against those five who had dared march towards him arms linked to show they stood firmly together against him.

I will have vengeance on them … every one of them, he promised himself. But there was nothing he could do now but obey.

‘I will come to the Parliament,’ he said.

That was triumph for his accusers. How he hated them. Particularly when they left Bolingbroke and Mowbray to guard him and kept their soldiers stationed outside the Tower.

He sat with his head buried in his hands. Bolingbroke was with him.

A curse on you, Cousin, he thought. This is what I would expect of John of Gaunt’s son.

He clenched his fists.

‘By St John the Baptist,’ he cried suddenly, ‘why should I submit to this? Why should I be forced to betray my friends … those who have served me well … Who are these men to tell me what I must do? Am I not the King?’

Bolingbroke spoke very quietly. ‘Richard, Cousin … I do not speak thus for lack of respect but to remind you of the kinship between us. You have come very near to losing your throne.’

‘That is what Gloucester wants. My uncle … and my enemy.’

Bolingbroke did not deny that. ‘I have urged him to curb his rashness,’ he said. ‘Richard, if you do not do what is asked of you they will depose you. They will set up a new king in your place.’

‘Gloucester? He is not next in line.’

‘Gloucester is here and Gloucester is strong. Listen, Richard, you must do as they wish, if you would keep your crown.’

He looked into Bolingbroke’s glowing eyes. There were thoughts there which he could not read. But he knew Bolingbroke was right.

How long that night was! Richard saw clearly now what lay before him. He would have to betray his friends or lose his crown. That was the choice.

He could not lose his crown. It was a cruel and bitter choice.

The five who were known as the Lords Appellant and the Parliament known as the Merciless Parliament had forced this on him.

He vowed vengeance on the five – but he gave way.

They were terrible days that followed. The King’s favourites were all declared traitors and condemned to death. Robert was safe and Suffolk managed to escape in the disguise of a Flemish poulterer; Neville was not condemned to death as he was an archbishop but he was outlawed and all his goods confiscated; Tresilian suffered the fearful death meted out to traitors and was hanged, drawn and quartered. His terrible fate did not arouse much sympathy throughout the country as his cruelty to the peasants was remembered.

When Simon Burley was arrested there was great sorrow in the royal household.

‘Simon!’ cried Richard to Anne. ‘What has he ever done?’

Anne was stunned. She had grown very fond of Simon Burley! He it was who had come to Prague to negotiate for her marriage; she had liked him from the moment she had seen him. He had talked so appealingly of Richard and had made her look forward to seeing her new home. He had been one of their dear friends.

‘I’ll not allow them to harm Simon,’ cried Richard.

‘We must try to stop them,’ Anne agreed. ‘Oh Richard, we can do something.’

‘Arundel always hated him. And it seems to me that on the strength of his victory at sea, Arundel feels he should rule the country.’

‘It is Gloucester I fear most.’

‘My own uncle,’ cried Richard bitterly. ‘I tell you this, Anne, it would do me much good to see his head on a lance.’

‘Hush,’ cautioned Anne. ‘People listen. What can we do about Simon?’

‘I shall tell Parliament that I’ll not have him harmed. He has been my friend since childhood.’

It was all rather ineffectual talk, Anne knew; but it soothed Richard so it achieved some purpose and he needed soothing at this time.

Simon was accused of misusing power and of promoting a corrupt Court about the young King; he had raised his income in a few years from twenty to three thousand marks; it was even said that he was planning to sell Dover to the French.

It was no use protesting that this was nonsense. They were bent on his destruction.

When Gloucester with Arundel came to the Tower to see the King, both he and Anne declared their wish that Simon Burley should be pardoned.

Anne went on her knees before Arundel and cried: ‘My lord, listen to me. This man has done no harm. Or if he has it was done in innocence. He is a good man. He is my friend … mine and the King’s. I implore you to set him free.’

Arundel was an arrogant man. He did not seem to realise that it was the Queen who knelt before him – or if he did, he enjoyed her humility.

He said: ‘I have no intention of freeing Simon Burley, Madam. He must take the consequences of his actions.’

‘It is unjust. It is cruel …’ cried Anne.

She caught at his robes but he walked on and she fell to one side.

It was unheard-of arrogance to treat the Queen so.

Richard went to the Queen and helped her to her feet.

‘These men shall learn that I am the King,’ he muttered.

His uncle Gloucester said in a loud voice: ‘It is because we wish you to remain King that we bring these charges and are determined to see them carried out.’

There it was again, the threat. He could almost hear his great-grandfather’s cries coming all the way from Berkeley Castle.

‘We cannot spare Simon Burley,’ said Gloucester firmly. ‘Your cousin Bolingbroke has soft feeling for him too. But though he has made himself our ally I could not spare this man for him.’

A further insult, thought Richard. Not even for Henry of Bolingbroke when the Queen had gone on her knees to him!

‘So you have sentenced him to the traitor’s death!’ cried Richard.

‘He is a traitor,’ retorted Gloucester.

The traitor’s death. Hanged, drawn and quartered – that venerable old friend to be so treated!

‘That,’ said Richard determinedly, ‘is something I shall not allow.’

Gloucester shrugged his shoulders. The point was that the man was removed from the sphere of influence. How he went was not all that important. It might be advisable to give way on this point. Let Burley go by way of the axe.

He died on Tower Hill, that dear old friend.

The King and Queen were plunged into melancholy. There was nothing to be done now but mourn, and, thought the King, plan vengeance.

Thomas Arundel was made Archbishop of York in Neville’s place and the government was carried on in Richard’s name.

  Chapter XIII  

TRAGEDY AT SHEEN

A
s she sat stitching at one of her gowns in the manor of Kettlethorpe, Catherine Swynford was brooding as she often did on that period in her life which on looking back seemed so brief and so glorious.

She had been exalted then; not because she had been admired by the son of a King but because she had loved and been loved. She had believed then – and again but briefly – that the love she and John of Gaunt had borne each other was rare in the history of the world. There had been times when she had deluded herself into believing that it would go on for ever. She should have been wiser. It was true that the convent-bred girl had become the wife of an obscure knight and had lived largely away from great events. And then she had seen him. He had seemed to her like a god. John of Gaunt, the most notorious man in England, and he had been her lover.

All was over. But she would never forget; and there could never be any real contentment for her because always her thoughts would be straying back to the past with that infinite longing which would not be subdued. It imbued everything with a gentle melancholy. Yes, she accepted fate but she could never be truly happy again.

He had been good to their children. He had done what he said he would; but the fact remained that they were bastards, though bastards of royal blood. There were plenty of those about. But hers were different, she had always maintained. They had not been begotten in some hurried fumble. They had been conceived in love.

But what was the use? It was over and done.

She would never forget their last night together. There had been that terrible indecision which had obsessed him. But she had known that he would go. He had to go. He loved her, yes, but he was a man with a vision. Ambition there would always be, and he must serve it.

So now there she was, a lady of the manor, well cared for. He had seen to that. Her jewels would keep her for the rest of her life if need be. He would put their sons in high places. Even Thomas, her son by Hugh Swynford, had his niche and was with Henry of Bolingbroke. John, Henry and Thomas Beaufort would be even better provided for. She had no fears on that score.

But none of this could ease her melancholy.

She had her attendants; she lived like a lady in her manor, looking to her household, with plenty to minister to her needs. And here in the country now and then news came from Court of the young King’s conflict with his uncle of Gloucester and she thought: At least John is spared those troubles.

She had heard that the young King had come near to being driven from his throne, but a year had passed since, mercifully, those troubles had blown over and he was now in control.

He had taken firm action; he had reminded those about him that he was twenty-one years old. He would have no more regencies, he said. He would rule himself.

The country had grown quieter and there had been no more disturbing rumours for some time.

So life went on – one day very like another. So will it be until the end of my days, thought Catherine. I shall grow old and if he did come back he would not know me.

But it was not to be so.

One misty November day when she had set aside her needlework because the light was so bad, she was startled by the arrival of visitors.

This was a somewhat rare occurrence and always welcomed. It was stimulating to hear news of the outside world.

She was a good housewife and there were always pies in the larder, for there were many in the household to be fed and she liked to be prepared should any travellers call and there was a constant stream of beggars to come pleading for a bite to eat and she never refused them.

She went down to the courtyard. A man leaped from his horse and as she looked at him she thought she was dreaming.

He stood still gazing at her while she stood as though rooted to the ground.

Then he said: ‘Catherine. You have not changed one small bit.’

He held out his hands and they were in each other’s arms.

So he was back. The world was suddenly gay. It was bleak November but it was spring to her. She was wild with joy. She called throughout the house: ‘Fires must be lighted. Flesh must be roasted. The best … the very best. My lord has come home.

‘I shall die of joy,’ she told him.

‘I too,’ he answered.

He must look at her. He must touch her hair, her soft white skin.

‘So often have I done so in my dreams,’ he said.

Nothing had changed. They were the same passionate lovers as they had been when they had first met. There was so much to know. So much to learn.

They must love and they must talk. He must not go away again.

He would not, he promised her. From now on they would be together always.

‘You do not know how near I came to staying, to abandoning all my hopes of Castile for your sake.’

‘Ah, John, I knew,’ she answered. ‘But I knew too that you would go.’

‘Those lonely years … barren of love!’

‘Perhaps they will come again,’ she said.

He shook his head.

‘I shall never leave you again, Catherine,’ he said solemnly.

‘You will never cease to want a crown,’ she said. ‘I know you well. You love me, but ambition is there. It was born in you. You are the son of your father. He sought the crown of France … hopelessly it seems now, and you will always seek that of Castile.’

He smiled at her. He had much to tell her, then she would understand. He wanted news of their children. His aim was to legitimise them. Yes, he was going to do it one day. Richard would agree. He must tell her that Richard had wished him to come home, had
asked
him to come home.

‘He does not trust my brother Gloucester.’

‘Oh John, there will be this strife again. There was a time after you had gone when there was talk of war … war here in England. The barons rising against the King.’

‘I know … I know. Since the time of John such things have been spoken of. Then there was my grandfather. Once a King is deposed, it is remembered. History can repeat itself. Never fear. Richard will stay on the throne. I think he liked me better after I had gone … that is he preferred me to my brother.’

‘And you, John, you dreamed of a crown. You wanted a crown. And Castile …’

‘Good news from Castile, Catherine.’

She could scarcely believe it. Castile was no longer a menace. It had come about as John said, in a most natural way. The happiest way to settle all disputes between countries was through marriage.

‘I fear, Catherine, you will never see my daughters Philippa and Catherine again. Unless of course you travel to Castile and Portugal or they visit us here. Your charges are wives now, my dearest. What think you of that!’

‘It seems to please you so I suppose I must be pleased.’

‘I married Philippa to my ally João of Portugal. A wise move. I was not sure that I could trust him but the alliance put a seal to that.’

‘And Philippa is happy?’

‘Philippa is Queen of Portugal.’

Catherine looked at him a little sadly. ‘You set such store by crowns,’ she said; and she thought of little Philippa and her grief when her mother had died and how she and her sister Elizabeth had been as Catherine’s own children. She had loved them as dearly since they were John’s.

‘Philippa was never so well able to take care of herself as Elizabeth was,’ she said.

John frowned and she wished she had not said that for she knew that he’d never liked Elizabeth’s marriage to the King’s half-brother, wild John Holland.

‘The best news of all is what has happened to my daughter Catherine. She has settled the matter of the Castile succession and settled it most satisfactorily.’

‘Catherine …’

‘Your namesake, my dearest. Constanza is happy with the result and so am I. Let me tell you how it came about. The campaign was dragging on. There was trouble all about us. Constanza and I came near to being poisoned.’

She caught her breath with horror.

‘These things will be,’ he said lightly. ‘The King of Portugal had fallen dangerously ill and it really seemed as though he were on his deathbed. Then we began to suffer the same symptoms. We kept watch and the fates be praised we found the culprit. He was trying to get rid of us.’

‘He was working for Castile?’ asked Catherine.

‘It would seem so. However we had found the root of the trouble and it was amazing how quickly we all recovered. But such incidents sober one. I had come to the conclusion that this battle would never be satisfactorily resolved and it occurred to me that I had a daughter, Juan of Castile had a son. If they married that would settle the matter once and for all.’

‘So much better than those endless wars which give victory to one side and then the other and decide nothing for more than a few weeks.’

‘My wise Catherine. I put out feelers for the match. Juan was not very anxious for it, but we had a stroke of good fortune, for the Duc de Berri was looking for a wife. He wanted a young one and only a lady of nobility would do for such a noble Prince of France. He was a widower and not very young; I had no intention of giving him Catherine but I pretended to consider. And that frightened Juan. He did not want a powerful French claimant for the Castilian throne. He decided he would take Catherine for his little son, Enrique.’

‘And how old is Enrique?’

‘Ten. But Catherine is only fourteen. They are ideally suited.’

Catherine sighed. She herself had made a marriage of convenience with Hugh Swynford and she knew how unsatisfactory such marriages could be.

‘I was very clever, Catherine. I have no intention that Catherine shall lose her right to the throne of Castile. Juan has a second son Fernando and part of the treaty is that Fernando shall remain unmarried until the match has been consummated.’

‘So this matter of Castile is settled and you have ceased to long to be its King?’

‘I have grown older and wiser, sweet Catherine. I tell you truthfully that all through these negotiations I said to myself: If I can settle this matter to the satisfaction of all I shall go home to my Catherine.’

‘And so you did think of me while you made these plans.’

‘All the time I longed for you.’

‘The Duchess?’ she asked quietly.

‘Constanza is pleased that her daughter should be Queen of Castile. She is content, I think. She too is weary of all the conflict.’

‘She knows you have come to me?’

‘She knows it and she makes no protest. She is Castilian at heart. She will never be anything else. She wishes to live with her own people about her. There is no room for me in her life.’

‘As soon as she became your wife she knew of my existence.’

‘I could not keep it from her.’

‘She knew then that your marriage to her was purely for the sake of the crown of Castile.’

‘Marriages such as ours are usually for such reasons.’

‘And she accepts this?’

‘She must. It is life. She does not want me, Catherine. You should have no qualms. Constanza is happy now that Catherine is married to the heir of Castile. Catherine will be Queen of the Asturias. That is all she asks.’

‘And for us …’