The Battle of the Queens Read Online Free

himself?
    He was in sight of the castle when he saw a solitary figure riding towards him. As the rider came nearer he realised with great pleasure that it was none other than William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, himself.
    Their horses drew up face to face, and the two men raised their hands in greeting.
    ‘This is good news, William,’ said Hubert, and William acceded the point. ‘He died as he lived,’ went on Hubert, ‘violently. It was inevitable that death would overtake him. Do you think it was poison?’
    ‘Whenever a man or woman dies suddenly it is said to be due to poison.’
    ‘No man could have been more hated.’
    ‘He is gone,’ said William. ‘We need consider him no more. Long live King Henry III.’
    ‘And you think, my lord Earl, that the King will be Henry and not Louis?’
    ‘If we act wisely.’
    ‘Louis is in command of much of the country.’
    ‘Give them a king – a crowned king – and the people will rise against the foreigner. Within a few months we’ll have the French out of the country. None could know better than you, Hubert, how difficult it is to invade a country which is protected by water.’
    ‘Louis is safely landed here …’
    ‘But uneasily. Let the news spread through the land that John is dead, and that we have a new king.’
    ‘A boy of nine.’
    ‘With excellent counsellors, my dear Hubert.’
    ‘Yourself?’
    ‘And the Justiciar.’
    ‘I am to keep hold of that office?’
    ‘Assuredly. Hubert, we are going to make England great, and a land for the English.’
    ‘Pray God it will come to pass.’
    ‘Let us go into the castle. We must make plans. Henry is going to be crowned, even if it is only with his mother’s throat-collar.’

    Before the month was out the young King was crowned. The ceremony was performed by Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester, and the crown used for the purpose was that gold throat-collar which had belonged to his mother.
    After the King had been crowned the Bishops and Barons must pay homage to Henry.
    Eager for action William Marshal, supported by Hubert de Burgh, summoned all loyal barons to Bristol where they would be presented to the new King.
    It was comforting to the Earl to discover that more had assembled than he had dared hope. It seemed that now King John was dead they had no quarrel with the crown. A young monarch was always appealing though a matter for apprehension, for surrounding the immature, there were usually too many ambitious men. But in this case there was a difference. Providence had rid them of the most hated most foolish king that had ever been known – and was ever likely to be – and if his son was a minor he was backed by one of the finest and most noble men England had ever known – a loyal servant to Henry II and Richard, and who had even tried to guide John to reason. That man was William Marshal.
    So they came to Bristol and when they saw the pale boy, who could not have looked more unlike his father, so gentle was he, so eager for their approval, they were ready to swear allegiance to the crown. There was not a man among them who did not deplore the fact that there were French invaders in England; and they wanted to turn them out.
    So they swore allegiance to the new King.

    Henry, with his mother and brothers and sisters, spent Christmas in Bristol. William Marshal was with them and Henry found himself the centre of controversy. All the important men who came to the castle must be received by him and he was never allowed to forget for a moment the terrible responsibilities which had fallen on him.
    Richard envied him while Joan watched him with a kind of awe. She took to calling him King, which in a way he liked, because now that the first shock had subsided and all he had to do at first was listen to the Earl and do what he told him, it was not difficult.
    Their mother was with them more often than she had been and that pleased them. They were all conscious of her beauty and found pleasure in