Shakespeare's Kings (38 page)

This
represented
something
of
an
achievement,
because
Parliament was
still
keeping
him
on
a
strict
financial
rein.
Almost
continuously since
his
accession,
Henry
had
been
obliged
to
rely
on
loans
from
the wealthier
of
his
subjects
(among
them
the
future
Mayor
of
London Richard
Whittington
who,
with
his
cat,
has
somewhat
surprisingly passed
into
legend);
he
had
already
made
dramatic
reductions
in
the expenses
of
the
court,
and
was
forever
on
the
lookout
for
further economies.
One
of
the
steady
drains
on
his
exchequer
was
the
continued presence
in
England
of
Richard's
widow,
Queen
Isabelle.
Though
she was
still
only
eleven,
her
household
had
cost
him
nearly
£3,000
during the
first
year
of
his
reign,
and
once
it
was
clear
that
she
was
not
to become
his
daughter-in-law
he
was
anxious
to
return
her
as
soon
as possible
to
her
family.
There
were,
however,
problems.
One
was
that her
dowry
-
which
Charles
VI
expected
her
to
bring
back
to
France
-had
already
been
completely
spent;
another,
that
a
Queen
of
England and
a
Princess
of
France
could
not
simply
be
shipped
back
home.
She must
travel
in
the
full
panoply
of
state
-
and
that
would
itself
be
an expensive
business.
Negotiations,
which
began
in
early
1401,
continued for
nearly
five
months;
a
final
agreement
was
not
reached
until
27
May. On
28
June
Isabelle
called
on
the
King
to
take
her
leave
-
an
embarrassing occasion
for
both
of
them,
since
she
had
been
genuinely
attached
to her
husband
and
doubtl
ess
believed
Henry
to
be
his
murderer
-
and then
set
off
for
Dover.

In
the
circumstances,
the
long
procession
that
wound
its
way
through the
London
streets
was
muted
and
solemn;
but
it
cannot
have
failed
to impress.
The
Queen's
immediate
entourage
consisted
of
the
Duchess of
Ireland
-
widow
of
Robert
de
Vere
-
Henry's
mother-in-law
the Countess
of
Hereford,
the
Bishops
of
Hereford
and
Durham,
the
Earls of
Worcester
and
Somerset,
four
other
lords,
six
knights
and
Isabelle's chamberlain,
confessor
and
secretary.
With
them
went
a
vast
number of
ladies,
damsels
and
squires,
many
of
whom
were
attended
by
their personal
troops
of
yeomen,
maids
and
grooms.
The
majority
doubdess rode
their
own
horses;
the
court
nevertheless
provided
another
ninety-four.
The
mourning
clothes
worn
by
Isabelle
and
her
attendants
had been
made
specially
for
the
occasion;
a
full
service
of
silver
accompanied them,
together
with
several
suites
of
fine
furniture.
Further
loans, amounting
to
a
total
of
£8,000,
had
been
raised
to
cover
all
this expenditure,
and
to
provide
the
Queen
herself
with
enough
money
to bestow
appropriate
presents
on
all
those
who
had
served
her.
The journey
from
London
to
Calais
took
a
full
month:
not
till
31
July
was she
formally
handed
over
to
a
reception
committee
headed
by
Waleran of
Luxemburg,
Count
of
Saint-Pol.
¹
In
1406
she
was
married
again,

1.
Married to a half-sister of Richard II, the Count of St Pol later declared a personal war - which was conseque
ntly
not covered by the existing truce - with Henry IV, to avenge his half-brother-in-law. He took a fleet to the mouth of the Garonne in an attempt to seize the ships carrying wine to England, and in
1403
made several raids on the English coast and the Isle of Wight.

this
time
to
her
cousin,
the
fourteen-year-old
Count
of
Angouleme, who
in
the
following
year
succeeded
his
murdered
father
-
the
King's brother
-
as
Duke
of
Orleans.
Two
years
after
that,
in
1409,
she
died in
childbirth.
She
was
just
nineteen.

At
the
time
of
Isabelle's
departure
Henry
IV
had
been
seven
years
a widower.
With
four
sons
by
Mary
Bohun,
he
had
assured
the
succession; but
he
was
still
only
thirty-four,
and
for
some
time
he
had
been considering
remarriage.
His
opportunity
had
come
with
the
death
in November
1399
of
the
elderly
Duke
of
Brittany,
John
IV,
who
left
his young
wife
Joan
-
the
daughter
of
Charles
II,
King
of
Navarre
¹
-
as regent
for
his
young
son.
Henry
had
met
her,
if
at
all,
only
briefly;
but discreet
negotiations
began
as
soon
as
the
fixed
period
of
mourning
for the
Duke
was
over,
and
on
3
April
1402,
in
the
absence
of
both
parties, a
proxy
wedding
took
place
at
Eltham.
It
was
almost
another
year before
the
two
were
able
to
meet
as
husband
and
wife:
after
a
five-day crossing
in
the
teeth
of
a
heavy
gale,
Joan's
ship
failed
to
reach
Southampton
and
landed
instead
at
Falmouth
on
19
January
1403,
Henry riding
the
ninety-odd
miles
to
Exeter
to
meet
his
bride.
A
second ceremony
was
held
at
Winchester
on
7
February,
and
on
the
26th
Joan was
crowned
at
Westminster.
Five
months
later
the
Duke
of
Burgundy compelled
her
to
resign
the
regency
and
to
surrender
her
sons
to
his custody,
so
if
Henry
had
had
designs
on
Brittany,
he
was
disappointed; but
the
marriage,
though
it
remained
childless
and
produced,
in
the number
of
Joan's
foreign
attendants,
something
else
for
Parliament
to grumble
about,
seems
on
the
basis
of
the
meagre
evidence
available
to have
been
a
happy
one,
with
Henry
a
faithful,
generous
and
considerate husband.