Tales From the Long Twelfth Century by Richard Huscroft

Author:Richard Huscroft
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300187250
Publisher: Yale University Press

PART THREE

The Death of an Empire

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE NEPHEW’S TALE

Arthur of Brittany and the Collapse of Angevin Power

LATE ON SATURDAY, the night before Palm Sunday, the courier reached the castle at Rouen with news of the king’s death. Two weeks before, on 26 March 1199, Richard I had been inspecting his siege works at the castle of Châlus-Chabrol near Limoges. It was a routine military operation and Richard was wearing no armour. But a crossbow bolt shot from the battlements of the castle punctured his unprotected shoulder, the wound festered and its poison killed him on 6 April. The courier (his name was Thierry) went straight to William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, and delivered the message. The Marshal was taking off his boots and about to go to bed, but on hearing the news he dressed quickly, left his quarters and went to find the archbishop of Canterbury, who was staying with the monks at the priory of Notre Dame du Pré outside the city walls. At first alarmed by the Marshal’s appearance at such an hour, and then shocked by what he was told, it took Archbishop Hubert a while to compose himself. But soon enough the thoughts of both men turned to the future. The archbishop was gloomy and pessimistic. ‘What solace is there for us now?’ he wondered. ‘None, so help me God! With him gone, I can think of nobody to choose to rescue the realm or come to our aid in anything. The realm is now on the road to destruction, grief and destitution. We can be sure it won’t be very long before we see the French rush upon us to take everything we have, because there will be nobody able to stand in their way.’ The Marshal had no time for such despair and urged on the archbishop the need to choose the next king quickly. ‘My understanding and view of the matter,’ the archbishop replied, ‘and I’m sure of this, is that by right we ought to make Arthur king.’ ‘Oh! My lord,’ warned the Marshal, ‘my feeling is that that would be a bad course to take, and I do not recommend or advise it: Arthur has treacherous advisers about him and he is unapproachable and overbearing. If we call him to our side, he will seek to do us harm and damage, for he does not like those in our realm. My advice is that he should never be king. Instead, consider the claim of earl John: to the best of my knowledge and belief he seems to be the nearest in line to claim the land of his father as well as that of his brother.’ ‘Marshal,’ the archbishop asked, ‘is this what you want?’ ‘Yes, my lord, for that is right, since the son is indisputably closer in the line of inheritance than the nephew is, and it is right that that should be made clear.’ ‘So, Marshal, that is how it shall be. But this much I can

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