Godiva (11 page)

Finally, at last, after hours, when the sun was slanting westward behind a wash of stubborn clouds, the feast ended, the final benedictions were bestowed, and those who did not reside in the manor house were gently expelled from it, carrying baskets of decorated boiled eggs.

Now at last they would be relatively private with the king and hear from his own lips his excuse for his presence.

They set Leofric's high-backed chair on the south side of the fire for him. Godiva ordered the steward to bring oil lamps on stands and an extra cushion for His Majesty's feet near the fire.

Edward watched her, his blue eyes glittery below greying brows, his chin resting on one gloved hand, saying nothing. When the pillow arrived, she asked permission to place it; he nodded, still watching her intensely as she knelt gracefully and lifted each of his booted feet, then resettled each on the cushion. Smiling as if this was the greatest of privileges, she settled on the stool beside him. She was dressed entirely in bright blue and rose, with gold embroidery on everything to catch the light. Certain outfits, she knew, made her look beautiful, but in this one, she looked pretty, with an air of innocence.

“Your Majesty,” she said. “We have been honored by your visit on such a joyful day.”

“It is a very comfortable cushion,” Edward said, no longer looking at her. To Leofric, he said, “I have come to speak to you about Coventry.”

After the slightest pause, Leofric said, “Very well,” and waited for His Majesty to elucidate.

“It appears to be a small but very promising town.”

“Yes, it is,” said Leofric. “Godiva knows this well. Lady, would you sing praises of the town for His Majesty?” As if sharing a private jest, he added drily to the king, “She is very fond of Coventry.”

“It is ever my pleasure to trumpet our strengths. Where we sit now,” the lady recited, “is almost the exact center of the kingdom.”

“This I know already,” said Edward, and then added, to Leofric: “The town farthest from any invader, no matter where they land.”

Leofric deliberately turned to his wife. “An accurate assessment, Godiva?”

“Yes,” the countess said serenely. “But let us assume there will be no more invaders, Your Majesty. Let us assume the kingdom will thrive and trade will expand. When that happens, Coventry will grow to be a lively trading hub, precisely for its location. It is on the trade route for both iron and salt. The soil nearby, as you must have noticed as you rode here, is loamy, and the land directly around the town has been reclaimed for grazing—we are able to support tremendous herds of livestock. The wool production in the immediate area must be measured, for surely it excels any other hundred in England. There is a natural abundance of forest game; there are springs and streams abounding, and wells are easy to dig. The town will be healthy and self-sustaining. It is remarkable to me that there have been no larger settlements here since Canute destroyed the nunnery.”

“I find that remarkable as well,” said Edward, speaking only to Leofric, as if Leofric were the one speaking to him. “When first I heard about the hamlet, it surprised me that there was not already a well-established manor here.”

“We are working on that,” Godiva said pleasantly, as if he were not ignoring her. “And of course, with the blessing of Leofric's purse, the monastery shall blossom, so this shall be not only a spiritual city, but a center of learning as well.”

“Yes, I had the same thought,” said Edward—to Leofric. “Nothing encourages stable industry like the founding of a minster.”

“They have the means here to outshine even Leominster Abbey,” said Leofric, putting a proud hand on Godiva's veiled shoulder. “I think before my life is out, Coventry shall rival Winchester.”

“I think so too,” said Edward. “That is why I want it.”

There was a silence.

“Pardon, sire?” said Leofric.

“I have come,” said Edward, “to take possession of the town of Coventry.”

CHAPTER 11

W
ould Your Majesty,” Godiva asked, “care to explain by what rights he feels entitled to Coventry?”

“Given the facts your harlot wife has just laid out so boastfully,” Edward said to Leofric, turning his shoulder slightly away from Godiva, “if ever a town is destined for historical and strategic value, 'tis this one. Therefore it should be held by the crown. I require it for my own estates.”

After the word
harlot,
the veins on Leofric's neck suddenly stood out, but he returned Edward's look calmly, as if nothing troubled him, and for several heartbeats said nothing. And then: “Are you, then, sire, requesting me to offer you Coventry?”

“I am informing you that you will give it to me.”

Leofric, furious, looked almost amused. “Are you indeed?”

“Indeed,” said Edward without amusement. “Mother Edgiva is agitating for me to repeal the heregeld. If I do that, I must do it carefully. I have determined that each of the great earls shall yield me a concession, something that attenuates my loss of revenue from the heregeld and further, gives me more security, not less. Once that has been accomplished to my satisfaction, I shall repeal the heregeld.”

“That is an outrageous concession,” said Leofric quietly. Godiva began to worry about those veins on his neck. They were purple, and nearly casting shadows.

“Each of you shall make a concession to me, and I shall make a concession to the kingdom. If I repeal the heregeld simply because you demand it of me, then my power is diminished by repealing it. This way, it is not.”

“You would claim a township from every earl in England?”

“Only the three of you. And you know why.”

“How will you maintain your hold over these conceded places when you have wrested them from Leofric and the others?” Godiva asked politely.

“This is a matter between your husband and myself,” said Edward dismissively.

“How will you maintain your hold over these conceded places when you have wrested them from myself and the others?” Leofric demanded, not so politely as Godiva had.

“As your lady wife proposed back in Gloucester,” Edward said. “In lieu of a mercenary army paid for by the heregeld, I shall be supported by my lords' own men. By the
fyrd
. As it was in the days before the violence. All of our interests shall be interwoven, and mutual aid of ruler and ruled shall be renewed.”

Leofric considered this. “Being policed by foreign mercenaries is no way for a people to feel secure. But let me understand you: this goal is only attainable if each earl provides you something to your advantage.”

“That is correct.”

“And you have determined that in all Mercia, even more than Chester or Brom Legge, the town of greatest advantage to you, the town I am to
provide
you with, is Coventry.”

“Yes.”

Leofric looked at Godiva. She looked back at him. “I am sorry to inform Your Majesty that shall not pass. I cannot give you Coventry.”

Edward frowned. “Why?”

“Because it is not his to give, Your Majesty,” Godiva said sharply. “It is mine.”

Edward looked between the two of them. Leofric shrugged in a pretense of apology.

“But he is your lord,” Edward said to Godiva with a hint of exasperation, chastising her.

“He is my husband,” she clarified. “In marrying him, I gave up none of my position or estates. Coventry was mine by inheritance, and mine alone it will remain until my death, or until I will it to another. Your claiming Coventry would not constitute a concession on Leofric's part. Only mine.”

Edward received this information and mentally masticated it.

“Very well,” he said, after a moment. “As you are the one so wantonly agitating against the heregeld,
you
shall yield up Coventry to me.”

“What?” said husband and wife together.

Edward took a moment to consider his new angle of attack, then nodded with satisfaction.

“As a show of good faith. To show you understand that when one makes demands, one pays a price for their fulfillment.”

Leofric lowered his eyes, letting Godiva know he would not stop her, whatever she said next.

She was suddenly so flustered she could hardly breathe. She was used to taking others by surprise; she was certainly not used to being confronted, as the king had done twice now. She opened her mouth and found no words. She closed her mouth again. She wished she could freeze time, flee to Leominster, and ask Edgiva's guidance. What might the abbess do, if she were here? Edgiva's method was always to find the solution hidden in the problem. There was no solution hidden in a king's turning tyrant.

Speak through me, sister,
she prayed silently. Then she opened her mouth and let words flow out.

“Your Majesty displays an uncharacteristic lack of wisdom,” she heard herself say. Leofric winced.

“Do I?” Edward asked.

Edgiva. Be Edgiva
. Her hands were clammy. She was sweating in her rosy silk. “It would set an alarming precedent. It is unfortunate enough that you expect a hamlet from each of the great earls, but if you start taking estates from everyone, you will be perceived as worse than your accursed brother, whose shadow you are already struggling to diminish.”

Leofric gave her a warning look. But she knew it was the sort of look Edgiva would have disregarded, so she did too.

“I would not be taking estates away from everyone,” said Edward. “You are right, that is the manner of thing Harthacnut would have done. But I am taking estates only from those very few who pose a threat to me.”

Godiva was amazed. “Am I a threat?”

Edward gave her an annoyed look. “You are capable of stirring my lords to discontent, so yes, you are.”

Edgiva will be so impressed,
she thought. She smiled despite herself.

“I would not be so pleased, Countess. I can take the town by force, of course, but that will be very ugly, so I advise you to yield it up to me freely. Then, once the three earls also yield up certain estates, I will remove the heregeld. But let us begin with the lady's contribution to the effort—”

“No, Your Majesty, if you will excuse me,” said Leofric. “That is an unjust imposition upon my wife. It was Mother Edgiva, not Godiva, who started this.”

Godiva began to protest, but Leofric put a large, heavy hand on her knee, and she stopped.

“My reverend niece has opinions I am not fond of,” said Edward, “but she is not the threat to me your lady wife is.”

I'm more threatening than Edey,
she thought, amazed.

“The abbess,” continued Edward, “does not go about
seducing
recruits to her cause—”

“In the name of all saints, Your Majesty must not speak of my lady in that manner while you are under our roof.”

Edward ignored Leofric and gazed upon the heavily jeweled countess. She stared back defiantly. “If you do not feel compelled to forfeit a tiny hamlet in order to repeal a heinous tax that burdens the entire kingdom,” Edward warned her, “perhaps you need to be reminded how heinous a burden that tax is. To remind you, I shall levy it against Coventry, and only Coventry, immediately, if you do not comply.”

Leofric shifted with impatience on his stool. Now it was Godiva who silenced him with a hand upon the knee. “That is wrong,” she said, and stood up, radiating her sudden rousing awareness that she was capable of causing Edward such worry. She was the secular Edgiva, a fearless woman of power. “As odious a tax as it is, at least it is national, and therefore odious right across the map.”

“There are always pockets of the population who are exempted or favored when the tax is levied,” countered Edward. “For example, I favor the Church by assessing estates worth one hundred hides at a single hide. Today, here, I levy the tax and then favor everyone in England with a complete exemption, except the residents of Coventry.”

Godiva felt her face turn red with fury.

“And of course,” he went on, brightening, “the Coventrians shall have to take up the slack for all those who are exempted.” He was pleased with his unexpected discovery of an endgame for a different game of chess. “So rather than two shillings per hide, the hide-rate would become . . . have you a hundredman to do the math? I confess such vast sums defeat me.”

The difference between fury at a man one fears, and fury at a man one frightens, struck Godiva. “If you took,” Godiva hissed, “the value of every object in the town, every coin, every plate, every dog, every head of livestock, every building, every acre of soil, and everything growing in that soil, there would not be enough to meet your demand.”

“Then,” said Edward happily, “I suppose
you
shall have to pay the difference for them.”

Godiva blinked in disbelief at the direction this conversation was going. “I do not have the means,” she said. “And I am sure you know that.”

“That is a problem,” said the king in his grating, nasal voice. Then, brightening: “Now here's a thought. Were Coventry mine, I would exempt the people—my people—from the heregeld.”

“You will not have Coventry,” she said.

“Then you must somehow pay the heregeld,” said King Edward. “Would you like to borrow from the royal coffers?”

“I will pay it for her, sire,” Leofric said loudly, discomfort in his tone. “Given your intention in coming here was to take something of tremendous value from me, be content that you have succeeded.”

“Leofric,” she objected, still glorious with rage, “You should not have to—”

Edward was now ignoring Leofric as steadfastly as he'd ignored Godiva earlier. “You,” he hissed at Godiva, dropping the leonine pretense of pleasantries, “are wanton of spirit, and unsuited to rule a place destined to become one of the greatest cities and trading centers in all of England. There is a monastery here. What kind of reputation will you give it, if you flounce about my kingdom behaving like a harlot?”

The earl said angrily, “She will give it the reputation of a thriving town, and a pious place of worship, and an ably administrated estate. If you do not know that the lady of Mercia is, before all else, renowned for her piety and—”

“Piety?” Edward sniggered.

“I was raised in Leominster Abbey,” Godiva said, as if this proved something. “I am constantly providing jewelry and money and relics to Leominster, and St. Mary's, and a number of others—”

“That does not prove your character,” Edward retorted. “That only proves you can purchase a good report
about
your character.”

“True,” Godiva agreed. “But irrelevant. My means are different from yours, and you may not like them, but they do not defame me. I have never done anything to cause shame or distress to my husband, or my people, or my own soul.”

“I am glad to hear it,” said Edward. “In that case, surely you will find a way to protect your people from the heregeld.”

“I will pay it,” Leofric said.

“No,” Godiva said to Leofric. “You will not. I will not let him use me or mine as a tool to control you. This is between the king and the people of Coventry, for whom I am responsible.”

“As your husband was responsible for the people of Worcester?” Edward said in a cool voice.

Leofric looked ill, and even crossed himself. “Godiva, I will pay the tax. Let this matter go.”

She ignored Leofric and turned on her stool so that she was facing Edward directly. “You risk becoming odious,” she warned.

“No, I do not. I am not threatening to destroy the place. On the contrary, I want to protect it—by putting it under my dominion. Give me the town.”

“No,” she said.

“Then pay the tax,” he said.

“No,” she said.

“Godiva—” Leofric said, sounding unusually anxious.

“No,
” she repeated.

She was radiant; she was in a rhetorical ecstasy like Edgiva's but unshackled from the demureness of a nun's habit. Her cheeks glowed the rose of her tunics. “I will not give you the town, and I will not pay your outrageous abuse of the tax. You were brought—
brought
—to the throne to end the age of tyrants, and to serve the law as we serve you. If you do not treat me as your loyal subject, then why should I treat you as my lord? That reciprocity underlies every stable reign in history. If I give you what you demand now, you will come out of it far worse than I. I will lose a hamlet; you will lose the trust of everyone you rule.”

“Godiva,” Leofric muttered warningly. She ignored him.

“My answer, Your Majesty, for the good of your own rule, is: no. Go home to Winchester and your wife's bed.”

“Your mind never strays from fornication, it seems,” Edward said crossly.

“Try,” she advised, ignoring his cut, “to give us a future king, one to the manner born and raised. Rule your people so wisely that when your son comes to the throne, he will have had the most unexciting maturation of any king of the last century. Do not waste your time playing petty games with minor nobility. Because it is nothing but a game, Your Majesty. What will you do if the tax is not paid? My villagers will not murder your tax collector, they will simply disregard him, and then what? Will you harry Coventry as your brother harried Worcester? Or will you send your collectors into people's homes to take food from their children's mouths? Does that make you a better king than your despised brother?”