Epitaph for Three Women (18 page)

They were wistful. It had not been like a royal household. How pleasant it would have been to contemplate the arrival of more little ones who would be delivered to their care.

Dame Alice wondered whether she should warn the Queen that people were whispering about her and Owen Tudor.

Eleanor Cobham picked up the news. She prided herself on having what she called ‘her ear to the ground’.

She was greatly amused and lost no time in telling her lover of the rumours she had heard.

‘The Queen has a lover, eh?’ said Gloucester. ‘Well, are you surprised? Did you imagine the dear creature was living the life of a nun down there in the country? How did you think she spent her days?’

‘She was devoted to her son. But now he has gone she is following her own inclination it seems.’

‘I hope it is a worthy inclination.’

‘I have heard it is some humble squire. A Welshman at that.’

‘Is that so? Lucky squire! Katherine must be very loving to have chosen someone from the stables.’

‘They say they are deeply in love. That the Queen has always lived most virtuously before.’

Humphrey was thoughtful.

‘It is at such times that there is danger,’ he said. ‘She must not be allowed to forget that she is the Queen.’

It was a somewhat delicate subject. Eleanor had never suggested that Humphrey marry her, but he did wonder whether it was in her mind. He wondered how he would act if she started to bargain for marriage. Therefore he did not wish to discuss this passion of the Queen’s too closely. It could open up that other subject.

But he did think that the Queen’s future was a matter he should take up with the Council and he would do so without delay.

He must tread very carefully where his own affairs were concerned. As though to remind him of this there was more news of Jacqueline. Burgundy had defeated her completely and she had realised that she had no chance against him. She had signed a treaty at Delft in which she submitted to Philip’s wishes. She recognised him as her heir and co-Regent of her territories. By this she did not lose everything. But she had to promise that she would never marry without his consent for the form of marriage she had gone through with Gloucester was declared null and void. She renounced him utterly and accepted the fact that she had never been married to him.

The realisation had come to Katherine that she was to have a child. At first she was overwhelmed with joy. This seemed the perfect outcome of her love for Owen. Then she began to consider what this would mean.

She was a King’s widow. Where could she go while her child was born? Some women might be in a position to hide themselves away for a few months. It was difficult with a queen.

Moreover she was unmarried. Would it be possible for her and Owen to go through a ceremony of marriage? Why not? Her priest could marry them. This must be so now that there was to be a child. She would marry Owen and then proclaim to the world what she had done. The Council couldn’t stop her once the ceremony was over. Moreover what affair was it of any but herself and Owen? They had their work to do governing the country. What could the marriage of a late King’s widow mean to them? They could now concern themselves with the young King. They had taken him from her.

No, she was of no importance. She had been once, of course; and they had made full use of her to help bring about the peace between England and France. That was over. Henry was dead and she had been free for six years.

She was longing to tell Owen. How delighted he would be … and yet afraid. Only for her, of course. That was why he felt fear, as she did for him. For themselves each was ready to face whatever storm they had to, for the sake of what they had been to one another.

He came to her during the afternoon. Those who lived close to her could not help but know of the relationship between them, for it had been impossible to keep it secret from them. So Owen came and went frequently to her apartment and they were used to seeing him there.

She clung to him and then she told him. He was silent and she dared not look into his face.

When she did she saw that he was overjoyed and yet fearful, as she had known he would be, but the wonder of it was too great at the moment for him to give full vent to his fears.

‘Our child,’ he could only murmur. ‘Oh Katherine … my Queen … to think that you and I are to have a child.’

Then he was all concern for her. She must take care of herself. She would have to have special attendants … He stopped, remembering. Then he looked at her, fear uppermost now. ‘Katherine … how … ?’

‘I shall arrange it,’ she said. ‘I have faithful friends who will help me.’

He took her hand and kissed it. ‘We should marry,’ he said, ‘for the sake of the child.’

She nodded.

‘I could find a priest who would do it,’ she said. ‘And we will … simply … and speedily.’

‘Before the child …’

‘Oh yes, before the child is born. Owen, I shall send for Dame Alice and for Joan. They have been unhappy since Henry was taken from us. They will help me.’

‘A child,’ he said in a bewildered voice. ‘Our child. Oh Katherine … how happy you have made me. Shall we have a girl, or perhaps a boy?’

‘We will be content with what we are given,’ she said. ‘This is like a miracle. They took my son from me … and now you have given me this.’

‘It will not be easy.’

‘Dearest Owen,’ she said, ‘I am no longer young and I am old enough to learn that the best things in life do not often come easily.’

Chapter VIII

ORLÉANS BESIEGED

J
OHN
, Duke of Bedford had returned to France to find the position as indecisive as ever. He must bring this deadlock to an end. It was true that Burgundy having settled his quarrel with Gloucester and Jacqueline to great advantage to himself was more inclined to be friendly. Anne, to whom he was devoted, had a certain influence with him, and John was more hopeful than he had been since the miserable affair of Gloucester’s marriage – or mock marriage – had given him such anxieties.

His great desire was to put an end to the fighting and he wanted to strike one decisive blow which would make it perfectly clear to the French that it was useless to continue with their resistance so that they would resign themselves to English rule and settle down to bring prosperity back to the country.

He knew that it was asking what was almost impossible of a proud people. The Earls of Salisbury and Suffolk on whose counsel he set great store were of the opinion that if they could capture Orléans they could take a very large step towards victory.

Bedford was dubious. Not, he hastened to add, that he questioned the importance of Orléans but he did feel that the taking of it would be a lengthy operation. It would mean keeping a large contingent of men to besiege it. The winter was coming on; who knew how long such a siege would last?

‘The winter is even more cruel for the besieged than for the besiegers,’ Salisbury pointed out.

‘True enough,’ agreed Bedford, ‘and we could bring in supplies for our men. But it would be a mighty task nevertheless.’

‘I believe most fervently that until we take Orléans and get command of the Loire we cannot proceed very far. Orléans is as important on the Loire as Paris or Rouen on the Seine.’

‘And as well defended as those cities.’

‘It could be taken by siege, my lord,’ said Salisbury, ‘and it is essential to our cause.’

John knew that he would be unwise not to listen to the Earl of Salisbury who was one of the most experienced captains of the English army – it might not be too great an exaggeration to say the finest. He had waged successful battles in Champagne, Maine and Normandy and he had been in England recently for the sole purpose of gathering an army to, as he said, bring such a reckoning to the French that they would no longer have the stomach to fight. Enthusiastically he told Bedford of the ease with which he had recruited bowmen to his armies. It had been more difficult to get cavalry and men-at-arms, for they were too comfortable at home to want to go to a country which had for long been suffering the effects of war; but he had had a moderate success and had persuaded more than four hundred men of that kind to accompany him, while he had garnered more than two thousand archers.

He had his eyes on Orléans. The key to the problem, he called it. He was adamant. They must take Orléans …

At length John was convinced and in the misty month of October the siege of Orléans began. Philip of Burgundy sent a small force to help the English and John was grateful for this show of friendship. But the Orléannese were stubborn; they were proud of their city – and justly so. They would make no easy surrender to the English. There was a strong conviction within those walls that this was no ordinary siege. It was not just their city which was at stake. It was the whole of France. A certain fatalism had come to them and this showed itself in a determination to accept any hardship rather than give in.

Orléans was a very fine city, lying on a bend of the River Loire – a city of stone and wood houses with high slate roofs, of towers and steeples, of long winding streets which had changed little since the days when it had been under Roman occupation. Its walls were six feet thick rising high above a moat, and these walls were flanked by towers, thirty-four of them, each of which had five gates and two posterns. All along the walls were parapets with machicolated battlements from which boiling oil or paving stones could be thrown most effectively down upon an invading enemy.

A stone bridge led from the town to the left bank of the Loire. Set on nineteen arches it was more than a bridge; it was the dwelling place of many of the Orléannese for houses lined the bridge on either side. On the eighteenth of the arches a small castle had been built and this was known as Les Tourelles.

The Orléannese were not surprised to find themselves in siege. They had in fact been expecting it to happen for some time. They knew that town after town was falling to the English and it must in time be their turn. For the last three or four years they had been collecting arms and storing them in their Tower of Saint-Samson; they had dug dykes and even built fortifications. They were as prepared as it was possible for them to be for the Earl of Salisbury when he came. So it was no shock when on that September day the Earl reached the town of Janville, which he took with ease, and from there sent a message to the townsfolk of Orléans that he was marching towards their city and that he demanded their surrender.