asked baldly.
“I always felt my father chose the wrong country and I am obsessed with the notion of regaining all that he lost.” He looked into the eyes of both men. “You must be obsessed by a similar curse.”
All their lives they had been ashamed of what their father had lost, and in that moment the secret ambition to regain Normandy and Aquitaine burst into flame. Their victory in Wales had made Henry turn his eyes upon France, but Hubert de Burgh and the Marshal of England were totally against war.
Simon confessed, “Your grandsire, Henry II, served as my role model. He was a mere count, but his ambition rode him relentlessly until he became not only King of England, but ruler of Normandy, the Angevin provinces, and the fair Aquitaine. Although I admire the way he took whatever he wanted, his real genius lay in ruling. He was the great lawmaker. His vision was crystal clear. He transformed the whole judicial system from the superstition and corruption of the dark ages.” He paused, then laughed. “Forgive me, when I get on the subject of Henry II I get carried away.”
“I’ll arrange a pension of four hundred marks if you enter royal service,” Henry offered.
Simon almost choked on his disappointment, but had enough common sense to accept the king’s offer. He would make his own success. “I command a hundred knights—I shall send for them at once.”
“Hold, the Count of Brittany has declared war on France and has asked for my help. Since your men are yet on the continent, I will send you. Because de Burgh and Marshal are against fighting in France, I was going to refuse aid to Brittany. Now by a stroke of good fortune you have provided me with the means of joining the fray. I’ll give you messages for the count.”
Henry had taken fire with the idea and looked to his brother for his support.
“If we are going to do it,” Richard said, nodding in agreement, “now is the time, while there is so much unrest in France.” Richard could be cool, calculating, and close-mouthed, but silently he recognized before him the perfect man to control Gascony. Simon de Montfort’s father had been known as the Scourge. When the war lords descended upon a region, they soon cured its dissension with severe medicine. Their methods might be stern, relentless, even cruel, but they were amazingly effective. Yes, thought Richard, we have much need of a warrior such as Simon de Montfort.
“I’ll order Hubert de Burgh to raise an army whether he likes it or not,” Henry said firmly.
“I’ll rally the barons if you’ll give me command of them,” Richard suggested, with the arrogant confidence of youth.
Simon de Montfort recognized immediately that the King of England was easily led and recklessly impulsive. A war against France to regain Normandy could never succeed unless it was meticulously planned and mounted on a full scale. Simon shrugged. He would wrest personal victory from this campaign regardless of its outcome for Henry III.
8
L a Belle, Eleanor of Provence, landed at Dover with a great train of knights and servants. They had only the clothes on their backs, and even Eleanor’s trousseau consisted of gowns made over from her mother and sisters. And yet the lowliest of these Provençals with patched elbows arrived with such a superior attitude they sneered at everything English from the weather to the culture, or lack of it, as they never tired of pointing out.
Henry rushed to Dover to escort his bride the fifteen miles to Canterbury where they were to be married immediately by the archbishop. The king was enthralled by her ivory skin and dark golden hair. Plantagenets never did things by half, and so completely in character, Henry fell wholly in love with the sophisticated beauty who set about to enslave him and hold him prisoner for the rest of his life.
Though the Provençal court was poor, it was the center of European culture, literature, and music. Eleanor had her own Court of Honor for
“I always felt my father chose the wrong country and I am obsessed with the notion of regaining all that he lost.” He looked into the eyes of both men. “You must be obsessed by a similar curse.”
All their lives they had been ashamed of what their father had lost, and in that moment the secret ambition to regain Normandy and Aquitaine burst into flame. Their victory in Wales had made Henry turn his eyes upon France, but Hubert de Burgh and the Marshal of England were totally against war.
Simon confessed, “Your grandsire, Henry II, served as my role model. He was a mere count, but his ambition rode him relentlessly until he became not only King of England, but ruler of Normandy, the Angevin provinces, and the fair Aquitaine. Although I admire the way he took whatever he wanted, his real genius lay in ruling. He was the great lawmaker. His vision was crystal clear. He transformed the whole judicial system from the superstition and corruption of the dark ages.” He paused, then laughed. “Forgive me, when I get on the subject of Henry II I get carried away.”
“I’ll arrange a pension of four hundred marks if you enter royal service,” Henry offered.
Simon almost choked on his disappointment, but had enough common sense to accept the king’s offer. He would make his own success. “I command a hundred knights—I shall send for them at once.”
“Hold, the Count of Brittany has declared war on France and has asked for my help. Since your men are yet on the continent, I will send you. Because de Burgh and Marshal are against fighting in France, I was going to refuse aid to Brittany. Now by a stroke of good fortune you have provided me with the means of joining the fray. I’ll give you messages for the count.”
Henry had taken fire with the idea and looked to his brother for his support.
“If we are going to do it,” Richard said, nodding in agreement, “now is the time, while there is so much unrest in France.” Richard could be cool, calculating, and close-mouthed, but silently he recognized before him the perfect man to control Gascony. Simon de Montfort’s father had been known as the Scourge. When the war lords descended upon a region, they soon cured its dissension with severe medicine. Their methods might be stern, relentless, even cruel, but they were amazingly effective. Yes, thought Richard, we have much need of a warrior such as Simon de Montfort.
“I’ll order Hubert de Burgh to raise an army whether he likes it or not,” Henry said firmly.
“I’ll rally the barons if you’ll give me command of them,” Richard suggested, with the arrogant confidence of youth.
Simon de Montfort recognized immediately that the King of England was easily led and recklessly impulsive. A war against France to regain Normandy could never succeed unless it was meticulously planned and mounted on a full scale. Simon shrugged. He would wrest personal victory from this campaign regardless of its outcome for Henry III.
8
L a Belle, Eleanor of Provence, landed at Dover with a great train of knights and servants. They had only the clothes on their backs, and even Eleanor’s trousseau consisted of gowns made over from her mother and sisters. And yet the lowliest of these Provençals with patched elbows arrived with such a superior attitude they sneered at everything English from the weather to the culture, or lack of it, as they never tired of pointing out.
Henry rushed to Dover to escort his bride the fifteen miles to Canterbury where they were to be married immediately by the archbishop. The king was enthralled by her ivory skin and dark golden hair. Plantagenets never did things by half, and so completely in character, Henry fell wholly in love with the sophisticated beauty who set about to enslave him and hold him prisoner for the rest of his life.
Though the Provençal court was poor, it was the center of European culture, literature, and music. Eleanor had her own Court of Honor for
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