The Plantagenet Prelude

He asked the advice of Bernard of Clairvaux who suggested that he take his case immediately to Rome with an account of the wrong done to his sister.

Petronelle was content with her marriage. She glowed with satisfaction. Watching her Eleonore felt a little discontented with her own. True it had brought her the crown of France and she would not have missed that for anything, but she did wish it had brought her a man like Raoul instead of a monk like Louis.

She must get an heir. The country needed an heir and so did she. The purpose of marriage for such as herself was the procreation of children. She could not endure that she should fail in anything.

She was in a mood of discontent when the messenger arrived from Rome.

He brought letters for the King and the Count of Vermandois.

Eleonore made a point of being with Louis when he read his. They were very much to the point. The Pope found that there had been a miscarriage of justice. The Count of Vermandois had put away his true wife on the instigation of the Queen and the bishops and married the Queen’s sister.

The Pope could find no just cause why the marriage of the Count of Vermandois and the sister of the Count of Champagne was not legal. The Count of Vermandois was excommunicated and ordered to put away the woman with whom he was now living and return to his wife.

Eleonore was furious.

‘This is an insult to my sister,’ she cried. ‘Does His Holiness realise that? The sister of the Queen of France..!’

Louis said mildly, ‘My dearest, we should never have allowed Raoul to put away his wife.’

‘His wife! That was no true marriage. They are too closely related.’

The King looked at her sadly.

‘You have allowed your love for your sister to blind you,’ he said. ‘Petronelle should have looked elsewhere for a husband.’

‘He is her husband. She has lived openly with him. Do you realise what this means? Who will want to marry her now?’

‘Many I think would wish for an alliance with the sister of the Queen of France.’

‘I’ll not endure this insolence.’

‘This is the edict of the Pope, my love.’

‘You know who has done this. It is Theobald. He was determined to flout us. I’ll not rest until I have driven him from Champagne.’

‘Champagne is his, my dear. It is independent of France.’

The Queen narrowed her eyes. ‘Louis, sometimes I think you do not love me.’

‘You ca

‘Yet you allow me to be insulted.’

‘Theobald has done only what any brother would have done. He has tried to preserve his sister’s honour.’

‘And what of my sister’s honour?’

‘It was unwise to marry her to my cousin.’

‘Unwise! He had no wife, his marriage to Theobald’s sister being invalid. Why shouldn’t they, who had been lovers, sanctify their union!’

‘Because he already had a wife.’

‘He had not, I tell you. The marriage was illegal. He is married to Petronel a and we are going to teach Theobald a lesson.’

‘How so?’

‘We shall invade his lands. We shall raze his castles to the ground. I tell you we will be revenged on Theobald.’

‘We should have no support.’

‘Then we will do it without support. I have my loyal subjects of Aquitaine. They would follow me wherever I wished to go.’

‘Nay, Eleonore, let us not go rashly into war.’

Her eyes blazed at him. He was a weakling, a monk, and they had married him to her! He had little to give her but her crown.

And he was going to obey her.

She was determined they were going to war. They were going to ravage the lands of Champagne and teach its disobedient Count a lesson. She was frustrated, married to a man who could not satisfy her intense longings. She had her crown from him but had grown accustomed to that now, and she wanted a strong man whom she could find some pleasure in subduing. Louis was too easily managed although in this matter of war he was proving obstinate. It would not be for long; she would make him agree shortly and there was a certain stimulation in urging him. She enjoyed the battle with him while his repulsion to war infuriated her.

Petronelle and Raoul were smugly content with each other; and she was determined that they should remain together. She was not going to give way.

Meanwhile she badgered Louis. Was he a coward? Was he going to allow little rulers of small provinces to outwit him? Would he stand by and see the sister of his wife dishonoured? It was tantamount to dishonouring his wife.

Louis implored her to be patient, and then another matter arose which demanded his attention.

The Archbishopric of Bourges had fallen vacant and Eleonore and Louis had chosen the man who was to fill the post. He was ideal, being a friend of theirs. Then to their consternation a message came from the Pope that he had chosen Pierre de la Châtre for the office.

‘How dare he interfere in matters which concern us and us only!’demanded the Queen.

Louis supported her. He was the King. It was for him to say who should be his Archbishop.

‘Not so,’ retorted the Pope. ‘I have appointed Pierre de la Châtre and none other shall have it.’

Louis, prompted by Eleonore, replied that as long as he lived de la Châtre should not enter Bourges.

Then the Pope made a remark which when reported to Louis raised his anger.

‘The King of France is a child,’ said the Pope. ‘He must get schooling and be kept from bad habits.’

‘You see,’ cried Eleonore when this was reported, ‘they have no respect for you. It is because you allow people to insult you. You have been over-lenient. Look at Theobald of Champagne. If you had marched into his country and laid it waste the Pope would not have spoken to you as though you were a schoolboy.’

Louis was silent for a few moments then he burst out: ‘It would have meant war. Killing brings such suffering to i

‘A fine way for a king to talk,’ commented Eleonore scornfully.

Theobald played right into her hands by supporting the Pope’s choice and letting it be known.

Eleonore was furious. ‘What now?’ she cried. ‘Will you stand by and allow this?’

Louis knew that he could not, and when the Pope excommunicated him he knew that he had to take action.

He prepared to march on Champagne in order to subdue the Count who had dared take sides against his King.

Eleonore rode out of Paris beside her reluctant husband.

There was to be war with Champagne and Louis knew that such conflicts enriched no one but the soldiers who plundered and pillaged while i

The Queen however was adamant and he had after much persuasion agreed that Theobald must be taught a lesson.

It was not a very impressive army that marched into Champagne. Many wandering adventurers joined it, and because it was not very large the King was glad to welcome any who followed him, even though he knew they were out for the spoils which would come their way.

As they marched deeper into the terrain of the man the Queen detested, the rougher elements of the army plundered the villages against the King’s order. Louis heard the cries of protesting villagers who sought to protect their crops, their houses and their family. He saw his rough soldiery ordering the villagers from their houses, ill treating the women, raping, feasting, drinking and acting in a ma

He endeavoured to stop their cruelties; they did not heed him.

Eleonore regarded him with contempt. What sort of a king was he whom men would not obey and who shuddered at the prospect of war? She could only remember that this was the enemy’s country. She exulted over the burning land.

This would teach Theobald what it meant to flout his King because if that King was weak his Queen was not.