Queen Of Four Kingdoms, The (13 page)

Yolande cannot blame the king. He is not in his right mind again, but to her shame and forcibly suppressed anger, not one of the royal dukes, not even her own husband, says a word or makes a move to support Valentina’s plea.
They are afraid,
thinks Yolande,
afraid of their rebellious cousin of Burgundy.
Each of them knows that Jean, if alienated, is quite capable of giving his duchy’s mighty support to the English, who they know are waiting for an opportunity to launch another invasion.
How typical of men
, she seethes as she makes her way home,
to choose the lesser of two evils
. Perhaps it is the wiser choice, but it makes her boil with anger.

Later, in her disappointment and anguish for Valentina, Yolande dares to voice her distress to Louis.

‘Beloved husband, was not Valentina brave today in front of the king and the court? Do you think Charles understood what has happened or was he merely trying to console a grieving widow? Why did none of you support her plea for vengeance? Is this only a woman’s desire, to avenge her slain husband? Do you not feel that your cousin Jean of Burgundy should be apprehended? Interrogated at least?’ she asks apprehensively.

‘Madame,’ he replies – always a bad start – ‘this affair is the business of
my
family!’

‘My lord,’ she replies, piqued, ‘am I now no longer of your family? May I not have an opinion when I see wrongdoing among them?’

Louis says nothing, but he gives her one of those chilling looks from his blue eyes turned to ice, and leaves the room. Her heart is beating so fast she has to sit, as she feels the sun of his approval fade from her and the realisation dawns that Louis will not take a stand against his vile cousin.

To make matters worse, this murderer, this so-called ‘fearless’ duke, although now banished from Paris, has gathered about him a large number of grandees and supporters and has returned to the capital. He is even planning to make a solemn entry into the city in tremendous style, ostensibly to pay official court to the king.

Yolande is bewildered. Why does not
one
of the royal family try to stop him? A solemn entry is the greatest honour a king can bestow on an important visitor, even if he is a cousin. Charles VI is unwell and must be excused, and it is left to his eleven-year-old dauphin, together with his father’s uncles and cousins, her husband among them, formally to receive that odious murderer. Happily Yolande herself is not obliged to attend court to watch this degrading spectacle.

When Louis comes home, he has mellowed enough to tell her, ‘My dear, it will astonish you even more to hear that Jean was dressed most extravagantly for his entrance at court, and that the Parisians – no doubt urged on and paid by Burgundy’s own men – shouted the royal salutation of welcome as he passed: “Noël! A tyrant has been slain! Welcome the slayer!”’

And yet she still cannot read her husband’s intentions. By now she knows better than to react angrily to anything he tells her about his family, but there is something she needs to know. She asks him softly:

‘My dearest, word has reached me that the Parisians have been told that Louis d’Orléans was plotting to take the crown from his enfeebled older brother, and that therefore he was guilty of treason! Is there any truth in that at all?’

‘No, my clever wife, and your face tells me how the entire episode troubles you,’ he says, annoyingly perceptive. ‘You wonder why I have not done more – no, do not stop me: I can read it in your eyes – to avenge the foul murder of our cousin Louis d’Orléans, whom we loved. But I am looking at the bigger problem facing France. We have it on good authority that the English stand poised to invade us once again. If we princes of the blood unite against the mightiest of us in terms of men and wealth – namely Burgundy – we will have civil war. Not only is that a catastrophe for France, but it opens the door even wider for England to march in again.’

Louis is thinking with cool reason; but she is Spanish, hotblooded and angry, but she knows he is right. The more she hears of Burgundy’s manipulations, the more she realizes how his power has grown in direct proportion to the horror of his crime.

While the Royal Council debates their next move, it does not surprise Yolande to hear that Jean-sans-Peur has mobilized his Burgundian army and is heading for Paris. He can only have it in mind to take the king’s place at the head of his council, which governs the country.

While Louis and Yolande sit at breakfast in their town palace overlooking the Seine, busy with river traffic, they are joined by Louis’ uncles of Berry and Bourbon. There is tension in the air, the sense of a storm coming, so that it hardly comes as a shock when Louis says, in heavy tones: ‘My dear family, it is time to take an important decision. The royal family must abandon the capital. It is clear that the Parisians prefer to oblige the wishes of Jean of Burgundy rather than those of their monarch. Our only option is to leave – do you agree?’ All murmur their assent. ‘You, my darling wife, will travel with the dauphin and the queen – and try and talk some sense into her. Now that her great protector Louis d’Orléans is no longer there for her, I notice that more and more she looks for a strong replacement and begins to take the side of our cousin of Burgundy who, she imagines, will protect her. Without cousin Louis to guide and comfort her, she appears totally lost. I fear she will indeed gravitate towards the strongest of us to safeguard her future. If only she could be made to see he will merely use her for his own advancement. Do what you can to persuade her to stay loyal to her husband and his late brother – she has such a high regard for you, my darling wife.’

The carriage is too small for Isabeau and Yolande to sit side by side, and she finds it impossible to speak privately, let alone charm or persuade the queen not to turn to Burgundy for support. It looks as if it will be a long, tiresome journey, but fortunately the dauphin is a splendid young man, interested in everything. Yolande can see he is registering the miserable state of the crops in the fields, and the meagre-looking livestock. When they arrive at Tours, the queen, the dauphin and Yolande install themselves with the court in the royal castle. Yolande watches the queen scanning the crowd of servants noticing her relief when she sees Odette de Champdivers among the royal household. Odette’s inclusion has been secretly arranged by her patroness for everyone’s benefit, but especially the king’s. Yolande has never admitted her part in this unusual arrangement to Louis. She does not want to keep secrets from her husband, but there are some things about women that men cannot understand or appreciate. It is better so.

With the king and queen no longer in Paris, they are not obliged to receive the murderous Duke of Burgundy. If they did, it would only serve to give the people of Paris, and the country, the impression that they accept him and condone his shocking crime. Jean-sans-Peur makes another triumphant entry into Paris, and will wait there, like a patient predator, for the eventual return of the king and the court.

F
or the past eight weeks that Yolande has been with the court at Tours, she has been trying to conceal her third pregnancy, which is now in its sixth month. Already three months ago she removed the little bag of feathers that ladies wear under their dresses in front to give them that fashionable rounded look, but now she is beginning to appear larger than when she does wear the bag. She wants to help Louis, but after a month spent at Tours listening to the endless negotiations between the king’s staff and the couriers relaying the Duke of Burgundy’s terms from Paris, she tells him she needs to return to Angers, to her little ones, to await the birth.

When she leaves Tours in December on the Loire, the weather is still not really cold, and as yet there has not been a frost. The river journey is a pleasant change from the atmosphere of uncertain confusion that she has left behind. She is enveloped in furs and the warmth coming from the braziers inside the barge while the boatmen sing merrily. After two days they leave the Loire and she rides sedately home to Angers.

Her reception is predictably welcoming; despite the cold, the village girls, dressed in their finery, perform a short dance, recite a poem they have written themselves and present their duchess with a small basket of dried flowers and holly. Yolande extends the traditional formal greeting to the dignitaries, and is overjoyed to see her dear Juana there to receive her, her arms open wide to enfold her in a loving embrace. Ajax, Hector and Calypso bound up and she has to be stern so they do not jump on her stomach. Calypso is pregnant as well – perhaps they will give birth at the same time! As she enters the great doors of the castle, she makes her way down the line of servants, the women bobbing, the men bowing, hats in hand. She has a word with each, remembering every name, making a comment here and there, and their faces beam with pleasure at having their duchess home.

It is too cold outside for the children, who are waiting by the fire in the Great Hall. They rush to hug her around the knees, almost knocking her over. ‘Come, my darlings, come and sit with me in my room and tell me all that has happened since I left.’

‘Maman, you are so big!’ says Louis, eyes wide, and when she tells him there is a baby in her tummy for him and Marie to play with, he jumps up and down and rolls on the fur rug like one of her wolfhounds. Yolande marvels at how her golden-haired children have grown, and at the progress they have made.

The
levrettes
are waiting in her little sitting room next to her bedroom, bottoms wriggling with pleasure and excitement. The room is warm, with a good fire and the delicious smell of roasting chestnuts. Her children fill her with delight and she listens to their stories while Juana prepares her for bed.

‘Papa is coming for Christmas with lots of presents,’ she tells them, ‘and we shall have games and play-acting and gypsies and . . .’ She pauses. ‘The rest is secret!’ How their eyes light up with anticipation. They are laughing, healthy children, full of mischief and merriment. The journey and the pregnancy have tired her and, although almost dropping with fatigue, how good it is to be home. The terrible events in Paris and Tours seem like a distant nightmare. Back in Anjou with her children and Juana, her own rooms welcoming her, her own household surrounding her, it is almost possible to forget the ever-encroaching fear of the invasion and push it out of her mind. Almost, but not quite.

Louis arrives two weeks later, and in time for Christmas, to the children’s exuberant joy. The great fortress resounds with the songs of the visiting troubadours, the musicians Louis has commissioned from Paris, the gypsies and actors as well. There are squeals of delight from the children at their presents, their father’s mimicry and story-telling, followed by rough-and-tumble games.

On 16 January 1409, under the watchful supervision of Juana, Yolande’s second son René is born, mercifully as easily as her first two children. Two weeks later, despite snow so deep that many of their neighbours are unable to attend the baby’s christening, they make merry nonetheless. A pale winter sun shines from a cloudless blue sky on to the sparkling snow as they present their new son to the good Angevins from the town and the countryside after the ceremony. Only the baby’s nose and eyes can be seen from his cocoon of fur, but the visitors are happy just the same. Hot spiced wine is given to all, children as well, and some of the town’s elders and their youngsters have been invited to join them for a celebration in the castle. Louis invents short sketches for the children and Juana make costumes for them to wear as they perform in front of the guests. Louis always takes part himself – he loves to act and the children adore it. His best role is that of a witch, his face blackened by the giggling girls in the kitchen, who also give him a broom to ride, while Yolande’s ladies make him a tall black
henin
to wear on his head, the tip bent forward. He even blackens some of his teeth so they look as if they are missing, to more shrieks from the young ones when he bares them. It is a happy welcome for baby René into the family, and the children’s merry laughter allows Yolande and Louis to forget for a while the troubles facing France.

But following the happy interlude of René’s arrival into the world, reality intrudes. Louis must return to the King’s Council. He has been chosen to act as intermediary between the two camps, the Burgundians in Paris and the king’s party in Tours, until a compromise is reached. Not long afterwards, word comes from Paris that there will be a ‘Ceremony of Reconciliation’ on 9 March, and Yolande wants to attend to support Louis. Six weeks after René’s birth, she sets out to join her husband in Chartres, travelling by road. It is a tiring, slow journey, the horses carrying her litter unable to manage more than a slow walk, but she arrives within two days.

They both know that this ceremony is a farce, but according to the council it is a necessary one. Together in the soaring cathedral of Chartres, with its tall pointed arches resembling praying hands, they witness the sham settlement between the rival royal factions. Burgundy and his followers stand on one side of the aisle, the Orléans supporters on the other. Duke Jean’s mediator asks for – and obtains – a pardon of sorts, and by virtue of this travesty the king and his court can return to Paris. The result? The Duke of Burgundy takes over the government. The remaining wise and helpful Marmosets are banished at once, and he appoints himself guardian of the dauphin, a role that belongs by seniority to the old Duke of Berry. And no one murmurs! Yolande dares not vent her feeling to her husband, but to herself she thinks:
We of Aragon would not have been so spineless!

T
he murder of their beloved Louis d’Orléans has left not only a political tangle, but a domestic one as well. And here, Yolande realizes, she can be of help. As well as Valentina and their children, he has left behind his illegitimate son, the seven-year-old Count Jean de Dunois. Since fathers ‘own’ their illegitimate children and there are no other men left of the Orléans family who could care for him, Yolande has been in contact with his mother, a most pleasant lady, and offered to take her son into her keeping so that he may be brought up according to his position, something his mother could never do. Yolande understands it would be too painful for Valentina to take the child to bring up with her own, and since the boy is the son of their dearly loved cousin, she feels it’s the least she can do for his memory. With Valentina’s consent, it is arranged.