God and My Right by Alfred Duggan

Author:Alfred Duggan [Duggan, Alfred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2012-07-18T23:00:00+00:00

In the autumn of 1163 the King toured the English midlands, before going oversea to keep Christmas in Rouen. Every day he rode forty or sixty miles, and wherever he passed he did strict and bloody justice. That was what the country expected from a King, and he enjoyed the esteem which it brought him; but his courtiers did not share his passion for order, and in his loneliness he thought with regret of his late Chancellor. Thomas had basely deserted him, and at Woodstock he had dared to speak openly in opposition. But he was the only colleague who had ever seen the importance of Henry’s work, who made the dull business of day-to-day administration an exciting and romantic sport. In addition he had been a good companion out hawking, and as Henry hawked in the watermeadows outside Northampton, where he would sleep that night, he missed him continuously.

But a chance incident reminded him that he had a serious quarrel with the Archbishop. He noticed a new peregrine among the royal birds, and asked the cadger about it. At the answer, that she was one of the forfeited chattels of Canon Philip de Brois, his mind was flooded with his grievance.

The sheriff of Bedford was convinced that Canon Philip de Brois had committed murder. He had done his duty in bringing the culprit to trial, and judgement and hanging should have followed immediately; for in practice no prisoner was acquitted if the sheriff considered him guilty. But the Archbishop of Canterbury had intervened, on the irrelevant ground that the prisoner, a clerk, was within the jurisdiction of the Church courts. The end of the matter was that Philip got away oversea, and though the King had seized his chattels there was still a murder unavenged, a blemish on the King’s Peace.

Thomas was using his own judgement: that was the root of the trouble. It was a new experience for Henry, who had never been thwarted save by open foes against whom he could ride in arms. In the old days Thomas had never disagreed with him; they had talked things over, and perhaps in the end the Chancellor had persuaded the King; but it had always been done delicately, and the policy announced had been what the King of England had decided of his own free will. Now the Archbishop of Canterbury seemed to be claiming that he alone ruled certain aspects of English life; and his knowledge of the Law sometimes made it possible for him to assert this claim successfully. All the same, Thomas had been a most stimulating companion; it was unfortunate that his exaggerated sense of duty made him stay most of the year in his own city. They would soon be good friends again if only he would travel with the court, as the King’s adviser should.

At that moment there was a stir among the sportsmen, and the sergeants of the escort shortened their reins. A strange band of horse was approaching.

‘Talk of the

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