All of this conversation was coming as a surprise to Henry, who was only there at his mother’s insistence. He had no notion that Dawning Court was delinquent on taxes to the crown. He was further surprised at his mother’s knowledge and low opinion of the king’s movements, but what happened next took him completely by surprise.
Martha looked at her interlocutor seriously for a time before speaking. When she did speak, she ordered all the servants from the room and said nothing further until her command had been obeyed and the door shut behind the last. “There is nothing left,” she confided to the messenger. “The coffers are nearly empty and there is no new income to speak of. I have only managed by cutting expenses and borrowing. These days I can scarcely scrape together enough to pay the interest on the loans I have taken to maintain King John’s misadventures. There is nothing left.” Henry wanted to stop her from saying any more but could only stand there in shock. In these times of feudal strife, such an admission of vulnerability could spell the end of their barony. She must be very desperate indeed.
The messenger was unmoved. He merely raised an eyebrow at the bold declaration. “And the tenants?” he asked, referring to those who farmed their land.
”Three years of crop failures,” she explained. “The meager surplus they produce is what we have been living on. I have had to sell off much of the tenanted land. That left little to go around. My husband won the Dawning fortune through war, but on the Crusades in which my sons serve, all the spoils go to the Church or the king.” She stood up and continued in earnest. “These are tumultuous times. We have very few knights left that are pledged to Dawning Court, and most of those are remnants from my husband’s legacy: knights who only remain with us because their fathers fought beside Braden and who have grown up with a loyalty to our family. And I don’t know how much longer that loyalty will last if we cannot pay them better. We may keep them, but we certainly will not keep their children.” She sighed. “Now King John is demanding more knights from all the nobles in order to lose more land to France. We don’t have any to send, so we pay the scutage tax with money we do not have. His exploits demand heavy taxes of us. We are contributing to the Church and the Crusades, not to mention the cost of sending each of my children into the field to serve.”
“Why does his Majesty think the barons are pressing him with such unprecedented vigor for this Great Charter?” she asked of the messenger, whose countenance had not softened in the least degree. “He heaps burdens on us that are grievous to bear.”
“Lady Dawning,” The messenger resumed in his same haughty tone, “I fear you have spoken very much, and very freely, and I have lost the thread. Which part of what you have said would you have me relate back to our noble king? That the Dawnings believe him to be an inept and unjust ruler? That you are a weak barony on the brink of collapse? Or that you have no intention of paying the required taxes to the crown and are fomenting a rebellion?” He paused for a moment to let his words have the desired effect. Henry for his part was amazed at this messenger’s self-possession. This man conversed with the most powerful people in the land and did not have the faintest air of insecurity. Henry knew much of that came from being on the king’s errand, but a lot of it was presentation. Henry wanted to be more like that.
“Fomenting a rebellion?” Martha Dawning repeated incredulously, clearly not sharing in Henry’s silent admiration of this bearer of bad news. But, Henry admitted to himself, his mother had spoken too freely. What did she expect would come of such admissions? She should have known better.
“Certainly it is not necessary to remind her ladyship that the crown considers any barony supporting such treasonous notions as this ‘Great Charter’ to be in rebellion.”
“I was merely suggesting—” Martha began in a tone of forced calm but was interrupted by the audacious messenger.
“His majesty urges you to remember that the cherished friendship his predecessor shared with your late husband is in no way shared or valued by King John and should not be relied upon to absolve you of your pecuniary obligations.” Martha’s mouth tightened into an angry line as she contemplated the messenger. She could almost hear King John’s ridiculous mouth uttering these very words. Oh, how she longed to have Braden back. These things did not happen when he was here. When he was here, the Dawnings were powerful and everyone, even the king, showed the appropriate respect. “I have not, at this time, pledged my lances to the barons’ cause,” she said. "But you would do well to remind Prince John to remember who his friends are in these tumultuous times. It would seem he has fewer and fewer with each passing day.”
“His Majesty well knows that you have not aligned yourself with the rebels, else it should not be a simple messenger but the king’s own guard standing before you. As you have failed to offer any acceptable reason for failure to pay, and as you have indicated that you are still King John’s loyal subject, His Majesty will expect payment no later than a fortnight from now.”
Martha Dawning looked like she was on the verge of ordering his imprisonment when Henry stepped up beside his mother. “Very well,” he said in a conciliatory tone. “Tell his majesty that he will have his tax,” he assured the messenger. He had no inkling of how they might pay it, but he could see this man was not going to take “no” for an answer.
“Though it be paid in the very bricks from the castle walls,” Martha muttered angrily. The messenger hesitated a moment and then assumed a decidedly different tone.
“Do I have the privilege of addressing Sir Henry Dawning?” he asked diffidently. Henry puffed up slightly.
“I am Henry Dawning,” he replied, not wanting to concede that the messenger had “the privilege” of addressing him.
“His Majesty desires your expertise in London.”
“Wha— Why?” Henry stammered. “I mean, why me?”
“His Majesty is assembling a team of learned scholars to decipher a number of scrolls that were returned from the Holy Land.”
“Well, I am not very learned—” Henry started and stopped, flustered. “The King knows who I am?” He asked again.
“You have come very highly recommended for your knowledge of the various tongues of the Middle East.”
“I do know—That is, I—”
“Do I understand you correctly?” Martha interrupted. “That you have come here to extort silver from the blood of the oppressed in one breath and in your next request the assistance of a Dawning?”
“Your husband, and your husband’s father, and his father before him have all paid customs to the sitting king in fine Norman tradition,” the messenger said pointedly, reminding her that she was both a woman and a Saxon and therefore lucky that she was being recognized to hold control of the barony at all. “They would have been proud to serve his Majesty and the Church in such an undertaking and recognized it for the honor it was.” The messenger resumed his same haughty tone when addressing her.
“Very well, then there is no harm in my refusing it,” she said spitefully. Henry turned to her to protest, but she held up a hand to forestall his objection.
“He is still a knight of Dawning Court, and he is much needed here.” She calmly reminded the messenger that though the king may recognize her authority only grudgingly, he had just acknowledged that he did, in fact, recognize it, and a baron had the right to order his—or her—knights wherever and whenever he or she may.
Henry fumed but saw from the steel in his mother’s eyes that now would be a very inopportune time to challenge her authority. Of course he could ignore her and do as he chose, but he carried pride in being the only faithful Dawning male. He turned back to the messenger, trying to make his face stony. He thought he should again step behind his mother to show his full support of her but could not bring himself to do so. Instead he stayed rooted in place between them.
The messenger sighed. “His Majesty has granted through his goodness and generosity that in order to alleviate the hardship of losing the services of Sir Henry, if he would
agree to accompany me on my return trip to London on the morrow, all the arrearages on the Dawning register might be forgiven.”
Martha Dawning’s eyebrows arched skyward in surprise. She considered the messenger, whose contemptuous posture had not altered in the least degree throughout the course of the interview. “Very well,” she said. “I accept your terms and grant Henry leave to do as he may wish. But,” she added, looking at Henry meaningfully, “I leave it up to him to decide whether or not he will attend you.”
Henry could not hide his excitement. His mind was already racing over all he must do to be ready to leave the following day. He feigned a thoughtful posture of consideration and hesitated as long as he could before nodding. “I would be honored to accompany you.” The messenger nodded mutely and withdrew.
Henry rounded on his mother. “Why would you deny me the opportunity to win the king’s good graces?” he demanded. “That is not only good for me, that is good for Dawning Court!” Martha did not respond but chewed her thumbnail thoughtfully.
“That is a disgusting habit,” Henry chided her in annoyance for failing to respond to him. “Mother, what is it?”
“Prince John was willing to give up a large sum of money in order to have you look at some dusty old scrolls. Why would he do that when he needs money so desperately at the moment?”
Henry was insulted. “I’m sorry that you do not value my education as others do,” he said sulkily.
“Oh, that is enough of that,” she waved her hand dismissively. She refused to coddle him on this occasion. “You know perfectly well that I have a great respect for your intellect. So,” she fixed her attention on her son, “what is the one thing that Prince John needs even more than money?”
Henry was still feeling hurt but could not help perking up at the challenge his mother presented to him. “Friends, I suppose,” Henry shrugged. “Respect.”
“Correct,” she agreed.
Henry was suddenly intrigued. “A few years ago when King John was at odds with Pope Innocent III over the new Archbishop of Canterbury—you remember when Archbishop Hubert Walter died,” he reminded his mother.
She looked at him in surprise. “I remember, but why do you? You must have been about fifteen then.” Henry ignored her and continued.
“King John wanted John de Gray in that role to give him more sway with the Church. But the Canterbury Cathedral chapter held a secret election and elected their own candidate for the post. When both candidates appeared in Rome, Innocent disavowed them both and pushed his man, Stephen Langton, into being elected to the position.” Henry began pacing. His feet always seemed to move reflexively when he was excited.
“Yes,” Martha added. “Most of the barons supported John in that. We thought it would increase our clout as well with the Church.”
“Right, but things only escalated when King John reacted by expelling the Canterbury Cathedral chapter. Pope Innocent, not one to bow easily to political pressure, retaliated by placing an interdict on all of England. No marriages, confessions, or the Eucharist could be performed in England.”
“That’s right. And then John closed down all the churches completely and confiscated the churches’ possessions. I even recall them showing up here, but Father Garand would have none of that nonsense. He might have been the one church in all of England that continued an open door service in defiance of both the King and the Pope.” She chuckled to think back on the feisty overweight father literally bullying the king’s men out of his church.
“The interdict did not result in a general revolt against King John as the Pope had anticipated, did it?” Henry asked to confirm what he already knew. “In fact, about all that did happen was that the Church lost a lot of money and Innocent realized he was in danger of losing his congregation altogether. He escalated again by excommunicating King John entirely a few years ago. John is now at odds with the barons and the Church in a time when he really needs a friend. He probably feels he will give up less by making conciliatory overtures to the Church than in submitting to the barons’ ‘Great Charter’.”
Martha was nodding, having seen the implications of it all quite a while before hand. “I think you are onto it. Using John’s excommunication as an excuse, Prince Llywelyn of Wales rose up, with Innocent’s blessing, and burned John’s castle at Ystwyth. The Welsh lords chose Llywelyn as their leader instead of Prince John. They recaptured land John had taken from them. Meanwhile King Philip II of France, whom John was preparing to invade when the Welsh uprising took place, allied with Llywelyn.“
“I heard about that,” Henry nodded. “Then John did not exactly make any friends when he hung all of his Welsh hostages. Many of the nobles have sided overtly or secretly with Llywelyn, and John has now led a desperate campaign to reconquer Normandy from France.”
“And he wants me to fund his silly feuds so he can continue behaving like a headstrong jackass and never have to admit he is a fool.” Martha Dawning shook her head in disgust, and Henry looked back to ensure the king’s messenger was nowhere to be seen. People had been hung for uttering less than his mother was saying. “He is currently faced with enemies on every side,” she continued. “He has neither the support of the barons at home nor the Church abroad. He needs friends, and he does not have any.”
“Well, he is really the perfect monarch,” Henry said somewhat quietly, afraid of being overheard. “If he is not hated because of his heavy taxes, he is hated for his excommunication. If he is not hated for that, he is hated for the ridiculous wars he keeps getting embroiled in and losing. And if one does not hate him for all that, he has not a shred of personal character with which to ingratiate himself to his people.” He laughed ruefully. “Oh, how I do miss King Richard.”
“The one thing that Prince John needs more than money is respect. If he can win favor with the Church, he may have an ally against the barons. Given all that, are you quite certain you wish to participate in this venture of his, to be a pawn of the king?” Martha asked her son seriously.
Henry spread his hands in front of him. “I do not see how that changes anything. Like it or not, King John is England. His decisions are often ill-advised, but if he falls, would you have a French Monarch bleeding us dry?” he asked rhetorically. “Furthermore, whatever happens with this venture benefits us. If John stays in power, getting in his good graces can only help us. And if he is dethroned, so much the better to be in the Pope’s favor. And…” he hesitated. “If you spoke candidly to the messenger, we need the financial relief… How did it get to be so bad?” he asked when Martha made no effort to deny her previous assertions of pecuniary hardship.
Martha was rubbing her temples now. “It happened much as I indicated to that insufferable messenger. Richard also took a healthy share when he left,” she continued. “Then outfitting you was costly, of course. About the only child that has not taken a substantial portion of his own inheritance was William.” She trailed off at the mention of her youngest son’s name and then abruptly snapped out of it. “Meanwhile the barons are pressing the king for this ‘Great Charter’ that will limit his official power and are requiring a show of force to make their point.”
Henry shrugged that off. “Why does that matter? Simply ignore them. The nobles of this country are constantly getting crosswise with the king—particularly this king.”
“We cannot afford to be left out of this. This ‘Great Charter’ is possibly the most significant piece of legislation to come under the royal quill in a thousand years.”
“Then it will never be ratified,” Henry dismissed it. “Or it will be so diluted it will not have any actual power. Every few years some radical movement makes its way to London before being put down.”
Martha shook her head. “This one is different. Consider the situation for a moment. John is so desperate for support, he is even willing to swallow his pride and attempt to make amends with the Church rather than submit to this Great Charter. He is overextended, and his opposition is coalescing into one for
ce. I have been around a long time, and I have never seen such a concerted effort from all the nobles. Usually they are fighting amongst themselves, and some use it as a chance to ingratiate themselves with the sitting monarch. But this time it is not like that. Other than those barons near London who directly and regularly benefit from the king’s largess, I have never seen a division so clearly drawn between the nobility and the king. We dare not be left out of this one. But neither can we be seen to be openly supporting it.” She sat back, looking haggard. “And quite frankly, I believe that your father, were he still with us, would be at the forefront of this movement against this incompetent, semi-legitimate king.” Henry did not argue further. He did not fully trust his mother’s instincts over his own, but he knew that argument would be fruitless. She had years of experience in politics that she neither sought nor desired but that had imbued her with a certain stubborn cleverness. She would act as she saw fit.
“Do the others know about this?” Henry asked suddenly. “Our pecuniary situation, I mean.”
She shook her head. “Dawning Court’s reputation depends on its power and prestige, which is diminishing every day with each passing son. If it gets out that we are financially weak also, then we will have a fight at our gates for which we are not prepared.”
The Knights Dawning (The Crusades Series) Page 12