Passage to Pontefract (18 page)

‘The old days … I think of them constantly. Do you know, Edward, sometimes I lie abed and I think I am young again … on the field. I’ll never forget Crécy. Oh what joy you gave me then.’

‘Past glories, my lord. They are behind us. What is to be done now? That is what I have come to ask. There are stories of bribery and corruption throughout the Court. Your leman Alice Perrers has dared to appear on the bench at Westminster and tell the judges how to act, which depends on what bribe she has received from the prisoner or his friends.’

‘Alice is a clever minx,’ said the King fondly.

‘My lord, think back, think to those days when you were a lion among your people. You would never have allowed such anomalies then. For God’s sake, Father, stop it before it is too late!’

‘If you have come here to try to persuade me to give up my only comfort in life you must go away, Edward.’

‘Your comfort! The whole country is appalled by your lechery.’

‘How dare you speak to me thus. I am your King!’

‘I will say what I feel. I am the heir to the throne and I will not see it sent tottering by imbecility and lechery.’

‘You must leave me, Edward. I had thought you had come to comfort me.’

‘There is only one comfort for you … so you have told me. This harlot is the one who knows how to provide it. What a confession for a great King to make! To think that you … you were once held up to me as a shining example of all that was great and noble in kingship … to think that you have come to this!’

The King was in tears. Poor senile old man! And the pain in the Prince’s body was beginning to throb, and torture him unbearably.

‘You must see John,’ muttered the King. ‘He will talk to you.’

The Prince shouted for his servants.

‘Take me to my apartments,’ he said. And he was thinking: No, I will not see John. I will see those who will help me to stifle John’s ambitions.

The Prince summoned Sir Peter de la Mare, the Speaker of the House of Commons, to his apartments in the palace and as soon as he arrived he came immediately to the point.

‘I have travelled from the country at great discomfort,’ said the Prince, ‘because I am suffering much disquiet at the manner in which the affairs of this country are being conducted. I am convinced that there are a few good men who deplore this state of affairs even as I do.’

‘That is so, my lord.’

‘You need not hesitate to speak frankly to me because what you have to say might be disloyal to members of my family,’ went on the Prince. ‘Speak freely. Nothing you say shall be held against you and it would seem to me that on certain matters men such as you think as I do. But let us say this: It grows late but it may not be too late.’

‘Since you ask me, my lord Prince, to speak frankly, so will I do. The country is being ruined and the chief enemy is the King’s mistress. She has introduced bribery and corruption into the Court. She is an evil woman and no good can come to this country while she remains at the King’s side.’

‘And the Duke of Lancaster?’

De la Mare hesitated. It was one thing to speak against the King’s mistress but to speak against his son was quite different.

‘Come,’ said the Prince, ‘I have asked you to speak frankly.’

‘The Duke of Lancaster has become the friend of Alice Perrers, my lord, for the purpose I am sure of gaining influence with the King.’

The Prince nodded. ‘I see that we understand each other. My lord, we must act with speed. Would you be prepared to do so?’

‘With you behind me, my lord, yes, I would.’

‘Then you must move Parliament to act.’

‘That would not be difficult. The country is restive on account of excessive taxation and when it is considered that much of what is taken from them is bestowed on Alice Perrers, they are ready to revolt.’

‘Then go to it!’ said the Prince. ‘I see no reason why Alice Perrers should not be dismissed.’

‘There is Latimer, the King’s Chamberlain. He works closely for your brother. He is also responsible for the growth of bribery about the Court. I fear that nothing much can be done while he holds his position.’

‘Then Latimer must be deprived of his office. Summon the Parliament and attend to these matters.’

‘It means that we are going against John of Gaunt.’

‘It means that you are standing with the Black Prince.’

‘When they know that you are with them, my lord, methinks that will decide them.’

Sir Peter de la Mare left the Prince and went with all haste to his home that he might prepare his speech to the House of Commons.

The Prince lay on his bed. The pain had returned in full force. He was even more tormented by his thoughts.

Conflict in the family. It was always unwise, and now that the country was so weak it was a danger.

He had always known John was ambitious. What did he want?

The crown! Of course he wanted a crown. He had married Constanza of Castile for one and it was hardly likely that he would ever get it. No, his eyes were on the crown of England. And that was going to be planted firmly on the head of little Richard.

Oh God, prayed the Prince, let me live long enough to see my son safely come into his own.

Sir Peter de la Mare’s speech caused an uproar in the House of Commons. He was an eloquent man which was why he had risen to his present post and he was expressing sentiments which were applauded by the majority of them – those who were not the close friends and supporters of John of Gaunt.

The Black Prince was behind them. De la Mare had made that clear. The Prince might be a sick man but he was still a power in the land.

His first attack was on the King’s mistress. He wanted her banished from Court. He knew that the House was with him as regarded this woman; there was one other who must be removed – and indeed perhaps impeached – and that was the King’s Chamberlain who was guilty of bribery among other misfeasances. This brought storms of applause.

The Commons was hopeful. The rot was about to be stopped. They all knew that there was one powerful man who might stand in their way. The Duke of Lancaster. But they had the backing of his elder brother. The Black Prince still lived and from his sick bed he was going to bring the country back to reason and prosperity.

Riding to his Palace of the Savoy, thinking of the welcome that awaited him there, John was a happy man. Catherine was installed as his mistress and the governess of his children. There was a nursery full now. Her own four little Beauforts as she called them – she had a daughter Joan as well as the three boys – the most loved of all the children because they were her own. Then there were Philippa and Elizabeth, Blanche’s girls, and of course young Henry, his heir, and the most important of them all in the eyes of the world of course. Constanza’s girl Catherine was with her mother but Swynford’s son and daughter, Thomas and Blanche, had joined them now because Catherine had wanted them there, which was natural. He could never really like them because they were Swynford’s he supposed, but the boy was bright and handsome and the girl attractive as was to be expected of any child of Catherine’s.

He was more satisfied than he had been for some time. His triumph at home had grown since he had overcome his repugnance for Alice Perrers and had shown the King that he was ready to accept her in exchange for his confidence. From then on it had been easy. He had his friends such as Lord Latimer and other influential men in Parliament. If the King were to die and the Prince with him, and Richard became King, it would be his uncle, John of Gaunt, who would be the real ruler.

Success at home had wiped out the sour taste of defeat abroad. He never wanted to go back to Bordeaux as long as he lived.

No, what he wanted was England. He did not now want the crown of Castile, that glittering bauble which had proved to be so unattainable. He wanted what he always had wanted, the crown of England. And with a young boy on the throne and himself guiding the country’s policy he would be its virtual ruler.

Once the King was dead Alice could be dismissed. That would make everything so much easier. And how long could the King live? How long the Black Prince?

As he approached the Savoy Palace he saw a crowd of men watching him and his party.

He heard the shout: ‘John of Gaunt. Down with John of Gaunt. Edward, the Black Prince for ever. Banish Alice Perrers. Impeach Latimer. God bless the Black Prince.’

He spurred his horse. He hoped none of the mob was armed. He galloped past them towards the palace. They made no attempt to follow.

His elation had completely passed. The Black Prince was not dead by any means. He was making his presence felt. And he had come out into the open as the enemy of Alice Perrers and his brother.

There was nothing to be done. He must accept it. There would be revolution otherwise. He by no means shared his brother’s popularity. The people had always been against him – and particularly the people of London. How he hated them – these merchants who believed because they were rich they had a right to say how the country should be ruled.

‘Down with John of Gaunt.’ Those words were like the tolling of a warning bell.

He knew as he rode into the palace that bad news awaited him.

It seemed that the Parliament had prevailed; the people were with them. They were called the Good Parliament and the reason was that they had succeeded in removing Latimer from office and banished Alice Perrers from the Court.

The King might weep senile tears for Alice. He might mourn the loss of Latimer but even in his feeble state he could sense the mood of the people.

‘What have they done to us, John?’ he mourned. ‘They have taken away our friends.’

Yes, thought John, they have shown us that the Black Prince is still alive and that while he continues to live we must do as the people wish.

‘What shall I do without Alice?’ moaned the King.

John wanted to say: Find another whore. But he restrained himself. His strength lay in placating his father and by the look of the old man it seemed as though he would not be long for this land.

Nor would the Black Prince.

It was a waiting game, but waiting was something which ambitious men had to accept.

After his meeting with de la Mare the Black Prince had gone to the palace of Kennington. It was closer to Westminster than Berkhamsted and he was eager to be as near London as possible.