Plantagenet 1 - The Plantagenet Prelude (14 page)

She was passionately in love, recklessly so. Perhaps one or two people were aware of their relationship, but she did not care.

What if his wife discovered? Eleonore shrugged her shoulders. She knew that this was not the first time Raymond had broken his marriage vows. How could he have known that Eleonore was the one woman in the world for him if he had not had experience with many others? And if Louis discovered what was happening? She snapped her fingers. Let him discover; let him learn that there were real men in the world.

So they met and Eleonore assured herself that everything she had suffered on the road to Antioch had been worthwhile.

He told her he adored her; he could not imagine what his life had been without her. Dull, uninspired, scarcely worth the effort of living.

As they lay in the arbour guarded by Raymond’s servants, the Prince talked to her of his plans to keep her beside him.

‘Louis must be persuaded to stay here,’ he said.

‘He will never do that. He is quite stubborn. He has a fixed idea that he must go to the Holy Land to redeem his sins. He still dreams about Vitry-the-Burned. He will never give up the idea.’

‘Let me tell you of my plans. You will understand readily, I know. I would rather talk to you before I attempt to put my ideas before the King. Perhaps you will be able to make him see reason. We are harassed here continually. We are surrounded by the infidel. The French settlement here is so small that although it consists of brave men it is not enough to hold the land. If we are not stronger, in time we will be overrun by the Saracens. Aleppo is but a short distance from Antioch and here the enemy has his headquarters. Only by strengthening our holdings here and taking these menacing cities can we assure the Christian influence on this territory, and if we were to lose the one way to the Holy Land it would be closed to Christians.’

‘And you suggest that Louis stays here, that you and he march on the Saracens in Aleppo?’

‘That would be wise. Louis should have taken Constantinople. He could have done it and I believe some of your bishops advised it.’

‘But that was in the hands of Manuel.’

‘The treacherous Greek! He is no friend to us.’

‘You think that he gave false information to Conrad?’

‘I am sure of it. Thus the Germans were almost destroyed.’

‘Then your enemy is as much Manuel the Greek Emperor as the Saracens.’

‘I would like to see him destroyed. You know that the rulers of Antioch are his vassals. I must accept him as my suzerain or he could bring forces superior to anything I could raise and take Antioch out of my hands. I want that man destroyed. I want to make this strip of Mediterranean coast safe for Christians, and free passage to the Holy Land assured for Christian pilgrims.’

‘And you think Louis could help you succeed in this?’

‘He has an army.’

‘Very much depleted.’

‘But fine soldiers. The fact that there is a French army on this soil has put heart into Christians throughout the territory and fear into the infidels. Louis was ambushed but he had before that won a great victory. If he had tried to take Constantinople he could have done so.’

‘And what can I do?’

‘Louis sets great store by you. Everyone talks of his devotion. If you could persuade him to join with me, to postpone his journey to the Holy City, to do the work which is at hand, he would be doing greater service to God than in any other way.’

‘And to us,’ said Eleonore, ‘for we should be together. I would ride with the army. I would be in camp with you.’

Raymond was not sure of that but he remained silent.

‘Speak to Louis,’ he said. ‘Sound him. But do not let him know that I have confided in you.’

She would do it, she promised. She was ready to do anything Raymond suggested; and since the project meant that they would not have to part, she could throw herself wholeheartedly into the project.

She could scarcely endure to have Louis near her. She was constantly comparing him with Raymond. There could not have been two men more unlike. Why did Louis the Fat, King of France, have such a son? Any of his brothers would have been more worthy to be King. One of his brothers, Robert, Count of Dreux, had great ambitions, she had heard. Henry, the next in age to Louis, was the Archbishop of Rheims so he would no doubt be content with his lot. There was another Philip to replace the one who had been killed by the pig, and Peter. Any of those would have made a better king than Louis. A king whose heart was in the Church was no man to rule a country. Louis had nothing but his piety to recommend him and what a bore that was!

She had held herself aloof from him and was glad that when he was occupied in State affairs he had little desire for physical contact. What a man to have married such a woman as she was! Although she had always known how unsuited they were, she had realised this more fully since her liaison with Raymond. There was a man who was indeed a man. Ruler, lover, everything that she could desire.

She was going to work for him with all her power.

Louis came to their apartment in the beautiful palace which Raymond had put at their disposal, his brow furrowed, clearly thoughtful.

What was disturbing him, she wondered? Some ritual in one of the church processions? He could be enthusiastic enough about them. He was becoming obsessed by religion.

‘Louis,’ she said, ‘how beautiful it is here! How peaceful! Yet at any moment this lovely country could be overrun by infidels.’

He was silent and she went on: ‘It is a pity that such a spot cannot be made safe for Christians.’

‘There is no safety on the road to Jerusalem. That is why a crusade such as ours is fraught with danger.’

‘Then we should make that road safe, Louis.’

‘No,’ said Louis, ‘we should go on to Jerusalem.’

‘But what if this coast were to fall into the hands of the infidel?’

‘The glory would be great for those who tried to wrest it from his hands.’

‘Should not a Christian do the work that is at hand?’

‘He should indeed and our duty is to march on to Jerusalem.’ Louis’s eyes were fanatical. ‘I see us driving the Saracen from the Holy City and making it a stronghold for Christianity for evermore.’

‘That would come later,’ said Eleonore. ‘First should you not make it possible for armies and pilgrims to come this way?’

‘We were brought here by the grace of God.’

‘And given refuge by the grace of the Prince of Antioch.’

‘Whatever has happened, whatever will happen in the future, our duty lies clear before us. We must march on to Jerusalem.’

Having gleaned through Eleonore that Louis was disinclined to accept his schemes, Raymond had no alternative but to call together an assembly to which he invited Louis and his chief advisers.

He laid his schemes before them and spoke passionately of the need to establish a firmer stronghold on the road to the Holy City. He pointed out the proximity of Aleppo, of the numerous infidels who lurked on the route. The way must be made safe and the Holy City must be restored to Christianity, and until that could be done war must be made on the Saracen. Christians must band together.

The very thought of aggressive war roused a passionate revulsion in Louis. Never as long as he lived would he forget the screams of those dying in the burning church of Vitry.

He would not, he declared, make war until war was made on him.

In vain did Raymond put his case. He could see that he was swaying the priests and the nobles; but Louis remained adamant and the King’s consent was essential to the plan.

In the summer house Raymond discussed the position with Eleonore. ‘Louis is no soldier,’ he said. ‘It is disastrous that he should command an army. He does not understand that it is far more important to make this land Christian, to strengthen our hold on it, than to make a futile pilgrimage to the Holy City.’

‘He is concerned only with obtaining forgiveness of his sins.’

‘What sins could such a man have committed?’

Eleonore laughed. ‘He is a monk in his outlook. He should never have been taken from the Church. And to think that they gave me to such a man.’

‘I wonder he wished to marry.’

‘I think he did not, but when he saw me he was reconciled.’

‘I can understand how you charmed even him. But reconciled! What shame! And you … the Queen of love and song.’

‘As I say he should have been a monk. Reluctantly he went to war and there was this unfortunate incident at Vitry. As if such things do not occur in every war. I would I were free of him. Since you and I became lovers I have realised more and more how distasteful he is to me.’

Raymond embraced her, but his mind was busy.

Louis had married her because even he had seen that union with Aquitaine was desirable for France. Eleonore must have been the richest heiress in Europe. And although Louis had been given the title of Duke of Aquitaine, Eleonore was still the ruler of that rich land.

Suppose she were free of Louis? Suppose she remained in Antioch? What if he could arrange another marriage for her? Whom could she marry? It was impossible. But why not a divorce from Louis? Some excuse could be found. A close blood tie! That was the usual grounds and so easy to find because the families of most people in their position had been connected with each other at some time if one went back far enough.

His mind was busy as he made love with Eleonore.

It was essential for Raymond to fight this war. He must subdue the infidel; he must escape from the intolerable position of remaining a vassal of the Greek Emperor. Here was his great hope and Louis … ineffectual, monk-like Louis stood in his way. How delighted he was that Louis’s wife was unfaithful to him and with himself - her uncle. How easy it was to understand the simple fellow. A man who hated war and thought little of the profit it could bring his crown! A man who could reproach himself because his soldiers had killed a few women and children! A man who found little pleasure in the act of love and who had only been induced to indulge in it because he hoped to get children and because he had a voluptuous temptress of a wife!

Raymond laughed and set about planning how he could get the better of this king whose refusal to fall in with his plans made it impossible for him to carry them out.

They talked earnestly together … he and Eleonore. They must find a means of keeping her in Antioch.

He understood her far better than she understood him. He knew that her passion for him was as superficial as his for her. She did not know this. Eleonore, the romantic Queen of the Troubadours, was enamoured of love itself and she saw it as supreme. He did not tell her that since he had been the means of freeing her from irksome convention, she would break away from an accepted mode of behaviour, and nothing would restrain her. But he knew this to be so.

It would not be long before she took another lover.

They parted tenderly. They would not emerge from the arbour together. She should go first.

As she did so she saw a figure detach itself from the bushes. She pretended not to notice but walked on. The man who had emerged from the shadow followed her.

Before she reached the palace she turned and came face to face with him. She laughed derisively.