by D. N. Carter
Paul felt her hands tighten around his. Her pale blue eyes looked almost grey and were full of emotion. Emotion Paul had not expected to see let alone sense an overpowering feeling of warmth from her. He shook his head, lost for words.
“There is so much of my father I know nothing of…and only now beginning to learn. I fear at times I do not even know him…or who I am,” Paul heard himself almost blurt out.
Suddenly Stephanie pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Paul froze caught off guard and not sure what to do. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. As she did, he could not help but feel her bosom press against his chest. Her perfume filled his nostrils with the light scent he knew he would not forget again.
“Then let me teach you some facts about your father,” she whispered close to his face.
A knock on the door caused her to pull away quickly. She coughed and looked at him.
“Enter,” she said aloud.
“Sorry My Lady. I was asked to enquire what meal ye would for wish this eve?” Brother Matthew asked, looking in suspiciously.
“I shall leave you…erm…My Lady…is that correct?” Paul asked as he stepped closer to the door.
“Please tell Alisha my offer still stands, for this journey will drag and she will need proper rest,” Princess Stephanie said, smiling as Paul stepped down from the caravan, Brother Matthew looking at him hard as he passed him.
“Thank you…My Lady…and I shall.”
Paul looked back briefly as he walked away, rain just beginning to fall as the wind picked up. Tenno and Taqi were busy securing items alongside their caravan and tying ropes from it to nearby trees. Theodoric was un-harnessing Adrastos to move into the sheltered tree line along with their other horse. Adrastos neighed, shaking his head up and down vigorously. Paul ran over to help him.
“Theo, let me do this,” Paul said loudly as lightning flashed shortly followed by a loud boom. Adrastos bucked momentarily until Paul grabbed the bit and calmed him down.
“You do indeed have a way with this horse,” Theodoric shouted as more lightning flashed out. “This storm will be a belter. You should have taken Stephanie’s offer for the night.”
“Really? Tell me, Theo…just how well do you know her and how well did my father?” Paul asked as he unbuckled Adrastos completely.
“Why…what has she said?”
“Only that she knew my father very well. Oh and the little aside fact that she was once prepared to give up a kingdom for him!” Paul exclaimed and stared at Theodoric and raised his eyebrows questioningly.
“Oh…,” Theodoric simply answered as Paul led Adrastos under cover.
Port of La Rochelle, France, Melissae Inn, spring 1191
“This Paul makes me a little annoyed with him,” Sarah interrupted shaking her head disapprovingly.
“Why so?” Ayleth asked, surprised.
“Well, looking at Princess what’s her name…and he has only been married five minutes,” Sarah answered, still shaking her head.
“It does not mean he has been unfaithful…or will be!” Miriam stated.
“Don’t tell me, this princess will turn out to be his mother?” Simon remarked, tutting as he spoke.
The old man looked at him in silence but then smiled.
“Simon, I think you are wasted as a fisherman,” he politely remarked.
“No! She is not is she?” Sarah asked.
“Sorry to interrupt, but this Guy de Lusignan you mention. I…in fact both of us, have served under him. We know he still lives also,” the Hospitaller commented.
“Yes, he is still alive to this day. And of course it goes without saying you must have served under him, for he became the King of Jerusalem no less,” the old man explained.
“Though king by rightful means is questionable!” the Templar retorted.
“Why say you such?” Gabirol asked.
“Why? Perhaps the old man is better suited to answer that for I bet he knows more than I why.”
“I know both sides of King Guy’s rise to the throne. From my own personal view and understanding I can tell you that he is much maligned in error,” the old man started to explain, when the farrier put his hand up. All looked at him as the old man nodded at him.
“Before I forget…you mentioned that Paul’s father, Philip, introduced Saladin himself to Princess Stephanie. How so…was Philip working for him or similar?”
“No he was not working for him,” the old man answered.
“But let me guess…you will of course explain that too later!” Simon remarked.
Sarah leaned over and hit Simon several times on his right forearm as he tried to pull away. Without saying a word she sat herself down and simply looked back at the old man and sighed followed by a smile.
“Simon, I shall indeed explain later,” the old man stated as Simon nudged Gabirol. “For now I shall simply say that in Saladin’s early life, Philip had cause to deal with him as did Firgany. They developed a friendship…a friendship some say profoundly changed and shaped Saladin’s character, for he went from being a reckless and foolishly naive man to a wise and reasoned pious man almost overnight. The cynics claimed it was a false image he wished to portray but I can assure you the change was genuine,” the old man explained as Gabirol wrote as fast as he could.
“Well he certainly kicked our arses,” the Templar remarked, which made Simon laugh out loud. “Sorry for my choice of words.”
“I am sure we here have heard worse. But as you mentioned King Guy, let me explain that Princess Stephanie had arranged to meet Guy de Lusignan at Tarsus along with many other Frankish troops to continue their journey along the King’s Highway, especially as the continued breaking of truces was occurring on both sides. Guy himself was actually a Poitevin knight, the son of Hugh the Eighth of the Lusignan dynasty. As I just mentioned, he was to become in time the king of the Crusader state of Jerusalem from 1186 to the present by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem. When he was en route to meet up with Princess Stephanie, he was only just then on his way to the Holy Land where his brother Amalric was already prominent. Guy would eventually be hastily married to Sibylla in 1180 to prevent a political incident within the kingdom, more of which I shall also explain later,” the old man said and looked at Simon with a smile. “As Baldwin’s health deteriorated, Guy was appointed regent of Jerusalem. It was at Sibylla’s succession to the throne in 1186 that she gave the crown to Guy as her king-consort. But as most of you around this table will know, Guy’s reign was marked by increased hostilities with the Ayyubids ruled by Saladin. As already explained, Guy was a son of Lord Hugh the Eighth of Lusignan, in Poitou, at that time a part of the French duchy of Aquitaine, held by Queen Eleanor of England, her third son Richard, and her husband the English King Henry the Second. In 1168 Guy and his brothers ambushed and killed Patrick of Salisbury, First Earl of Salisbury, who was returning from a pilgrimage. As a consequence they were banished from Poitou by their overlord, Richard I, then acting Duke of Aquitaine. So it was that in 1179, Guy set out for Outremer with many other French Crusaders and why the joining up en route with Princess Stephanie. But know this, that earlier in 1174, his older brother Amalric had married the daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin and entered court circles. Amalric had also obtained the patronage of King Baldwin the Fourth and of his mother Agnes of Courtenay, who held the county of Jaffa and Ascalon and was married to Reginald of Sidon. He was appointed Agnes’s Constable in Jaffa, and later Constable of the Kingdom. There were persistent rumours, hostile rumours at that, alleging he was Agnes’s lover. We now know that his promotions were aimed at weaning him away from the political influence of the Ibelin family, who were associated with Raymond the Third of Tripoli, Amalric the First’s cousin and the former bailli or regent. Amalric of Lusignan’s success had facilitated Guy’s social and political advancement when he arrived. Raymond of Tripoli and his ally Bohemond the Third of Antioch were preparing to invade the kingdom to force the king
to give his older sister Sibylla in marriage to Baldwin of Ibelin, Amalric’s father-in-law. But instead Guy and Sibylla were hastily married at Eastertide, in April 1180, to prevent this coup. By his marriage Guy also became Count of Jaffa and Ascalon in April 1180, and bailli (Bailiff) of Jerusalem. He and Sibylla had two daughters, Alix and Maria. Sibylla already had one child, a son from her first marriage to William of Montferrat,” the old man detailed.
“My Lord they all seem to have many marriages and different children by different fathers out there,” Sarah interrupted, shaking her head.
“So it would seem…but there were many who claimed that Agnes advised her son to marry Sibylla to Guy, and that Amalric had brought Guy to Jerusalem specifically for that purpose. However, this is not strictly accurate given the speed with which the marriage was arranged, as Guy had already been in the kingdom when the decision was made for quite some time. With the new King of France, Philip the Second, the chief hope of external aid was Baldwin’s first cousin Henry the Second, who owed the Pope a penitential pilgrimage on account of the Thomas Becket affair. Guy was a vassal of Richard of Poitou and Henry the Second, and as a formerly rebellious vassal, it was in their interests to keep him overseas,” the old man explained, when he noticed Ayleth looking puzzled.
“Sorry, I do not understand what the Becket affair means,” she explained partly embarrassed.
“Then let me explain briefly. Thomas Becket, but now known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London, and also as Thomas à Becket, was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He bravely, though some say foolishly, engaged in open and direct conflict with Henry the Second of England over the rights and privileges of the Church and was subsequently murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after his death, he was canonised by Pope Alexander the Third. Becket was born about 1118 in Cheapside, London, on the twenty-first of December, which was the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle. He was the son of Gilbert Beket and Gilbert’s wife Matilda. Gilbert’s father was from Thierville in the lordship of Brionne in Normandy, and was a small landowner as well as a petty knight. Matilda was also of Norman ancestry and her family originated near Caen. Gilbert was related to Theobald of Bec, whose family also was from Thierville. Gilbert began his life as a textile merchant, and believe it or not Firgany’s own father had dealt with him many times and they did good business together,” the old man explained carefully.
“My Lord…just goes to show how we are all somehow intricately connected or linked!” the farrier remarked.
“You have no idea just how much,” the old man replied and paused for a moment before continuing. “By the 1120s he was living in London and was a property owner, living on the rental income from those properties. He also served as the sheriff of the city. He is now buried in Old St Paul’s Cathedral. One of Becket’s father’s rich friends, Richer de L’Aigle, often invited Thomas to his estates in Sussex where Becket was taught hunting and hawking. Becket learned much from Richer. Richer was later a signatory at the Constitutions of Clarendon against Thomas. Beginning when he was ten, Becket was sent as a student to Merton Priory in England and later attended a grammar school in London, perhaps the one at St Paul’s Cathedral. He did not study any subjects beyond the trivium and quadrivium at these schools. Later, he spent about a year in Paris when he was twenty. He did not, however, study canon or civil law at this time and his Latin skill always remained somewhat rudimentary. After Becket began his schooling, Gilbert Beket suffered financial reverses, and the younger Becket was forced to earn a living as a clerk. Gilbert first secured a place for his son in the business of a relative, Osbert Huitdeniers, and then later Becket acquired a position in the household of Theobald of Bec, by now the Archbishop of Canterbury. Theobald entrusted him with several important missions to Rome and also sent him to Bologna and Auxerre to study canon law. Theobald in 1154 named Becket Archdeacon of Canterbury, and other ecclesiastical offices included a number of benefices, prebends at Lincoln Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral, and the office of Provost of Beverley. His efficiency in those posts led to Theobald recommending him to King Henry the Second for the vacant post of Lord Chancellor, to which Becket was appointed in January 1155. As Chancellor, Becket enforced the king’s traditional sources of revenue that were exacted from all landowners, including churches and bishoprics. But not from the Templars! King Henry even sent his son Henry to live in Becket’s household, it being the custom then for noble children to be fostered out to other noble houses. The younger Henry was reported to have said Becket showed him more fatherly love in a day than his father did for his entire life. An emotional attachment to Becket as a foster-father may have been one of the reasons the younger Henry would turn against his father. Becket was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, several months after the death of Theobald. His election was confirmed on 23 May 1162 by a royal council of bishops and noblemen. Henry may have hoped that Becket would continue to put the royal government first, rather than that of the Church.” The old man paused as Ayleth yawned and the wealthy tailor closed his eyes. He paused long enough for Gabirol to catch up with his writing before continuing when he nodded.
“The famous transformation of Becket into an ascetic occurred at this time. Becket was ordained a priest on the second of June 1162 at Canterbury, and on the third of June 1162 was consecrated as archbishop by Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester and the other suffragan bishops of Canterbury. But then a rift grew between Henry and Becket as the new archbishop resigned his chancellorship and sought to recover and extend the rights of the archbishopric. This led to a series of conflicts with the king, including that over the jurisdiction of secular courts over English clergymen, which accelerated antipathy between Becket and the king. Attempts by King Henry to influence the other bishops against Becket began in Westminster in October 1163, where the King sought approval of the traditional rights of the royal government in regard to the church. This led to Clarendon, where Becket was officially asked to sign off on the king’s rights or face political repercussions. King Henry the Second presided over the assemblies of most of the higher English clergy at Clarendon Palace on the thirtieth of January 1164. In sixteen constitutions, he sought less clerical independence and a weaker connection with Rome. He employed all his skills to induce their consent and was apparently successful with all but Becket. Finally, even Becket expressed his willingness to agree to the substance of the Constitutions of Clarendon, but he still refused to formally sign the documents. Henry summoned Becket to appear before a great council at Northampton Castle on the eighth of October 1164, to answer allegations of contempt of royal authority and malfeasance in the Chancellor’s office. Convicted on the charges, Becket stormed out of the trial and fled to the Continent. Henry pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of edicts, aimed at all his friends and supporters as well as Becket himself; but King Louis the Seventh of France offered Becket protection. He spent nearly two years in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, until Henry’s threats against the order obliged him to return to Sens. Becket fought back by threatening excommunication and interdict against the king and bishops and the kingdom, but Pope Alexander the Third, though sympathising with him in theory, favoured a more diplomatic approach. Papal legates were sent in 1167 with authority to act as arbitrators. In 1170, Alexander sent delegates to impose a solution to the dispute. At that point, Henry offered a compromise that would allow Thomas to return to England from exile. In June 1170, Roger de Pont L’Évêque, the Archbishop of York, along with Gilbert Foliot, the Bishop of London, and Josceline de Bohon, the Bishop of Salisbury, crowned the heir apparent, Henry the Young King, at York. This was a breach of Canterbury’s privilege of coronation, and in November 1170 Becket excommunicated all three. While the three clergymen fled to the king in Normandy, Becket continued to excommunicate his opponents in the Church, the news of which also reached Henry. Upon hearing reports of Becket’s actions, Henry is said to have uttered word
s that were interpreted by his men as wishing Becket killed. The king’s exact words are in doubt and several versions have been reported. The most commonly quoted, as handed down by oral tradition, is, ‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?’, though another version quotes him as saying ‘What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?’ But whatever Henry said, it was interpreted as a royal command, and four knights, Reginald fitz Urse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, set out to confront the Archbishop of Canterbury. On the twenty-ninth of December 1170 they arrived at Canterbury. According to accounts left by the monk Gervase of Canterbury and eyewitness Edward Grim, they placed their weapons under a tree outside the cathedral and hid their mail armour under cloaks before entering to challenge Becket. The knights informed Becket he was to go to Winchester to give an account of his actions, but Becket refused. It was not until Becket refused their demands to submit to the king’s will that they retrieved their weapons and rushed back inside. Becket, meanwhile, proceeded to the main hall for vespers. The four knights, wielding drawn swords, caught up with him in a spot near a door to the monastic cloister, the stairs into the crypt, and the stairs leading up into the quire of the cathedral, where the monks were chanting vespers. Several accounts of what happened next exist, but of particular note is that of Edward Grim, who was himself wounded in the attack. I have it written somewhere,” the old man explained as he looked through his leather satchel eventually pulling out a small parchment and began reading from it. “…The wicked knight leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of the crown which the unction of sacred chrism had dedicated to God. Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he stood firm and immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and saying in a low voice, ‘For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death’. But the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain, and the brain no less red from the blood, dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who had entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about the pavements, crying to the others, ‘Let us away, knights; this fellow will arise no more.”