the long eastern route home. And this apparently had been his downfall.
‘… he wanted to travel in secret,’ Walter droned on, ‘and so, unwisely as it turned out, the King dismissed all but a handful of his men, and travelled in disguise as a Templar knight, north from the Adriatic coast towards Saxony. He didn’t get very far. It seems he was betrayed, or discovered somehow in a, um, a brothel – I fear His Highness has little talent for acting the part of a lesser mortal – and taken by Duke Leopold’s men. At that point we lost track of him and as of now we have no idea where he is. Our spies have, however, intercepted a copy of a letter dated last month from the Emperor to King Philip of France boasting of Richard’s capture.’
Walter rummaged in a stack of documents on the table in front of him and pulled out a curled parchment. He then began to read:
‘Because our Imperial Majesty has no doubt that your Royal Highness will take pleasure in all those providences of God which exalt us and our Empire, we have thought it proper to inform you of what happened to Richard, King of England, the enemy of our Empire and the disturber of our Kingdom as he was crossing the seas on his way back to his dominions …’
The letter proceeded to recount what Walter had just told us about Richard’s journey and ended:
‘Our dearly beloved cousin Leopold, Duke of Austria, captured the king in a disreputable house near Vienna. He is now in our power. We know this news will bring you great happiness.’
‘I’ll wager it will!’ exclaimed Hugh de Puiset, a small, shrill, bouncy man, who seemed rather too excitable to be a bishop.‘He must be the happiest man in Christendom! And you will note that there is no acknowledgement, no mention at all in the letter that the Germans are breaking the Truce of God that protects all Christian knights who fought in Outremer. We must complain to His Holiness the Pope at once: the person of a knight taking part in a holy pilgrimage, or returning from one, and all his lands and property are sacrosanct! This is an outrage! Both Emperor Henry and Duke Leopold must be excommunicated at once!’
I thought of the Templars’ threat to Robin, and wondered how much an Emperor would care about being excommunicated; if Robin, a mere earl, could safely ignore it, was it much of a sanction for a great European monarch?
‘Well, yes, of course,’ said Walter slowly. ‘Excommunication – certainly, we are already working on His Holiness to achieve that. But will that threat alone bring King Richard safely back to us? I very much doubt it.’
‘The real problem is Philip of France,’ said Robin. Everyone in the room stared at him. It seemed an odd thing to say. But Walter de Coutances was smiling and nodding at my master, who continued talking into the amazed silence: ‘Both Henry and Leopold need silver, some would say they need it very badly. But King Philip’s treasury is well stocked; what Philip wants is land. He wants Normandy – in truth, he wants all of King Richard’s possessions on that side of the Channel. And this is his best chance to get it. Philip may well attempt to buy Richard from the Germans and then force our King to give up his lands across the sea.’
There was a pause while we digested Robin’s words.
‘Richard would never willingly cede any of his patrimony.Not a single acre. Never, not while he draws breath,’ said his mother stoutly.
‘And what of Prince John?’ asked Robin. ‘If Richard were dead, would he cede Normandy to Philip in exchange for the English crown?’
There was an uncomfortable silence, which no one appeared to want to break. John, too, was the son of Eleanor, and no one wished to offend her with a candid expression of their opinion of him.
‘Where is the Prince now, by the way?’ said Robin. He seemed to want to make a point of some sort.
The silence in that royal chamber was like a physical presence; an uncanny emptiness of
‘… he wanted to travel in secret,’ Walter droned on, ‘and so, unwisely as it turned out, the King dismissed all but a handful of his men, and travelled in disguise as a Templar knight, north from the Adriatic coast towards Saxony. He didn’t get very far. It seems he was betrayed, or discovered somehow in a, um, a brothel – I fear His Highness has little talent for acting the part of a lesser mortal – and taken by Duke Leopold’s men. At that point we lost track of him and as of now we have no idea where he is. Our spies have, however, intercepted a copy of a letter dated last month from the Emperor to King Philip of France boasting of Richard’s capture.’
Walter rummaged in a stack of documents on the table in front of him and pulled out a curled parchment. He then began to read:
‘Because our Imperial Majesty has no doubt that your Royal Highness will take pleasure in all those providences of God which exalt us and our Empire, we have thought it proper to inform you of what happened to Richard, King of England, the enemy of our Empire and the disturber of our Kingdom as he was crossing the seas on his way back to his dominions …’
The letter proceeded to recount what Walter had just told us about Richard’s journey and ended:
‘Our dearly beloved cousin Leopold, Duke of Austria, captured the king in a disreputable house near Vienna. He is now in our power. We know this news will bring you great happiness.’
‘I’ll wager it will!’ exclaimed Hugh de Puiset, a small, shrill, bouncy man, who seemed rather too excitable to be a bishop.‘He must be the happiest man in Christendom! And you will note that there is no acknowledgement, no mention at all in the letter that the Germans are breaking the Truce of God that protects all Christian knights who fought in Outremer. We must complain to His Holiness the Pope at once: the person of a knight taking part in a holy pilgrimage, or returning from one, and all his lands and property are sacrosanct! This is an outrage! Both Emperor Henry and Duke Leopold must be excommunicated at once!’
I thought of the Templars’ threat to Robin, and wondered how much an Emperor would care about being excommunicated; if Robin, a mere earl, could safely ignore it, was it much of a sanction for a great European monarch?
‘Well, yes, of course,’ said Walter slowly. ‘Excommunication – certainly, we are already working on His Holiness to achieve that. But will that threat alone bring King Richard safely back to us? I very much doubt it.’
‘The real problem is Philip of France,’ said Robin. Everyone in the room stared at him. It seemed an odd thing to say. But Walter de Coutances was smiling and nodding at my master, who continued talking into the amazed silence: ‘Both Henry and Leopold need silver, some would say they need it very badly. But King Philip’s treasury is well stocked; what Philip wants is land. He wants Normandy – in truth, he wants all of King Richard’s possessions on that side of the Channel. And this is his best chance to get it. Philip may well attempt to buy Richard from the Germans and then force our King to give up his lands across the sea.’
There was a pause while we digested Robin’s words.
‘Richard would never willingly cede any of his patrimony.Not a single acre. Never, not while he draws breath,’ said his mother stoutly.
‘And what of Prince John?’ asked Robin. ‘If Richard were dead, would he cede Normandy to Philip in exchange for the English crown?’
There was an uncomfortable silence, which no one appeared to want to break. John, too, was the son of Eleanor, and no one wished to offend her with a candid expression of their opinion of him.
‘Where is the Prince now, by the way?’ said Robin. He seemed to want to make a point of some sort.
The silence in that royal chamber was like a physical presence; an uncanny emptiness of
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