Queen Of Four Kingdoms, The (16 page)

In the morning, she finds him awake and refreshed beside her, looking at her in a way she knows so well.

‘Come home to Tarascon, my love,’ she whispers, her finger tracing new scars on his chest and arms. ‘Tell me everything so that we can plot and plan, and take comfort in our good health and renew our energy to fight again. At least I am to be paid a considerable sum in token compensation for the loss of my father’s throne, and that may help your attempt to secure yours in Naples for our son.’ A year earlier she would never have believed she could utter such words! Naples! That curse on the family of Anjou and on her marriage! But Louis’ tired, aged face makes her suffer for his loss, and instinctively her heart goes out to him.

Tarascon, she knows, cannot be a refuge for him to recover from his campaigning for long. She is conscious of the gravity of the situation at the council in Paris and wrote him nothing of the troubles the country was facing. He had battles enough of his own to fight in Naples. Why burden him with those at home. Although he is still banished from the capital, Burgundy has used his popularity with the Parisians – and, no doubt, some hefty bribes – to sway them to his will from his camp outside the city. As a result, the people have refused to allow entry to the king’s supporters – the combined armies of Berry and Orléans – as well as Armagnac and his terrifying troops from Gascony. She watches as his eyes stray somewhere far away – perhaps to Paris – or even Naples.

‘I am afraid there is more, and it is worse,’ sighs Yolande. ‘Jean-sans-Peur has gathered a loyalist army from his own region of Burgundy and advanced with them towards Paris. By some miracle, a clash between the two factions has been avoided, but for how long?’ Louis’ lined face distorts in anguish, and then turns red with anger.

‘How can they all be so utterly stupid!’ he exclaims, jumping up. ‘Surely the nobles realize the futility of these petty squabbles for supremacy at court. Fighting a civil war between their own territories, French against French, can only benefit our enemy the English!’ He is shouting now, and she tries to calm him by massaging his shoulders as he slumps down in his chair.

‘Where is my wise uncle of Berry? What has got into the head of Armagnac? Is Bourbon blind?’ and with those words, he jumps up again and strides down the Great Hall and back, heels and spurs scraping and clinking as he stamps his fury into the stone.

‘Yes, I see,’ he starts again, more slowly. ‘They are trying to protect the king in Paris, trying to keep Burgundy away from him and the queen. But this is sheer madness; even in Naples I heard that the English are planning a new campaign. What defence measures have been taken to protect the north if the armies of the royal dukes are gathered around Paris?’

Yolande takes a deep breath: ‘I am afraid the situation is even more serious, my love,’ she replies sadly. ‘
Both
factions have been trying to enlist the support of the English, sending them couriers – with incentives. Your agents and my own have confirmed it to me,’ she almost whispers.

Silence. Then:

‘I have no choice,’ he says decisively. ‘I must leave for Paris and see what I can do to drive some sense into my family.’

Yolande has feared this response, but she insists that Louis remain with them for a week to rest – he still looks less than his usual self and she thinks it will cheer him to enjoy the children a little. More than that, though, she cannot do. Once again it seems she is destined to be without her beloved husband by her side.

L
ouis has been gone some weeks, and his frequent letters have not enlightened Yolande more than to confirm the preparations being made by the English to launch a new offensive across the Channel. On Louis’ instructions, she has remained in Provence with her family; safer in the south, at least for the time being. Who knows what this new offensive may mean?

Today, to her delighted surprise, Louis has arrived at Tarascon and promises to remain with them for some months! The children rush about, overexcited and out of control – and she can see how pleased Louis is with his little ones. When he returned from Marseilles he had hardly time to kiss them before leaving for Paris.

It is Juana who comes to tell her how the master is impressed by what she has done in his absence. How he marvelled at all the improvements, and especially at the account books.

‘Madame,’ she bursts out, ‘he is overwhelmed by how well you have administered his estates and has nothing but praise for you.’

Yolande is quietly delighted, but waits to hear it from him. That night, in his arms, he tells her, and shows her, himself.

The next day, he praises Yolande in front of the assembled household staff.

‘As you all know, my wife, the Queen of Sicily, has been acting as my lieutenant general in my absence. No doubt you also know what I did not until my return, and that is how brilliantly and efficiently she has succeeded. I must tell you that I am very proud of what has been achieved on my behalf by all of you, my competent administrators, and by your workforces.’

Yolande never expected public praise! Louis’ surprised delight is infectious, and the children hug her and everyone is kissing everyone else, and tears of joy well up again, even in Tiphane’s tough young face!

What happiness it is to have him back amongst them. When he set sail for Naples, René was just a year old. Now he is a boisterous three. Marie is seven. Louis is nine and Jean Dunois a year older. Although much smaller than the elder boys, Catherine is a year older than Louis, her betrothed. The nursery is a lively place where Yolande has made sure that the children are unaware of the conflict within the two branches of their family. Even the older ones were told only that their father was away fighting somewhere; they know from children’s tales that that is what knights are supposed to do; fight in battles and tournaments. They race their ponies, play ball, and hide-and-seek – with prizes that Tiphane and Juana somehow produce for them all. Or they steal into the kitchen and raid the freshly baked biscuits they smell from afar, a furious cook chasing after them. How the rest of them laugh!

Louis has ordered a tree house built, and then a walkway to the next tree and another house in that too. Yolande trembles that the younger ones will fall, but Louis just laughs and says, ‘It’s good for them, toughens them up.’ He says the same when they fall off their ponies or hurt themselves in their mock battles and tourneys – which sometimes turn earnest, especially with their neighbourhood companions. In the evenings, the children perform plays Yolande makes up for them during the day, and Tiphane, Juana and the maids make costumes for them from old clothes. The plays often have a princess who needs to be rescued, a bad knight with followers and a good knight – in white – with fewer followers, but who has to win. Yolande insists that good always wins over evil.

After dinner in the evenings, the children sit with their father by the fire and he recounts the details of his battles around Naples and on the peninsula, which thrill them. He spares no details – the horrible food (to encourage them to eat whatever is put before them), the dirt, the wounds, the lack of sleep, the discomfort – and he recalls great acts of courage and unselfishness by knights and soldiers alike, and some amazing rescues and happy endings.

How Louis loves to describe the city of Naples and its surroundings; the volcano Vesuvius and what happens when it erupts, fire bursting from its centre, red-hot boulders flying out into the sky, and thick lava, like glowing golden-fired tomato sauce, sliding down the mountain, covering everything in its path. They sit open-mouthed, and all swear they will climb Vesuvius one day.

‘On the docks, brought on ships from Arabia, I have seen camels with one hump and with two, looking like this and he draws them for the rapt children – ‘and giraffes with extraordinary long necks, and a tame lion,’ he tells his enthralled audience, his eyes rolling, and he draws those animals for them too.

Sometimes Louis shows the children his suits of armour, his lances, his swords, his shields and the armour for his horses. Their faces glow at the telling, and Yolande can see they think their father the most thrilling man alive.

A
fter years of hearing their threats, the time has come when the English really are on the march. Louis must leave the relaxed, easy life of Provence, heading north again to prepare to defend his duchy of Anjou. He leaves Yolande expecting a child she is sure was conceived in Marseilles out of sympathy for their shared loss – his of Naples and hers of Aragon.

Louis knows the time has come to make a momentous decision, one he has always sworn he would never take. It is finally clear to him that as a family they cannot stand aside another day and watch their evil, bullying cousin of Burgundy incite insurrection against the king, and in his own capital of Paris. The Dukes of Anjou, Berry and Bourbon band together, and with force of arms take over the main strategic posts in the city and quell the rebellion, forcing the Duke of Burgundy to flee to Flanders.

That the English dare to threaten Anjou, Louis’ own province, is for him the final indignity. Without hesitation, he informs Yolande that he will come to the aid of his lawful king – thereby joining forces with the Armagnacs.

Having gathered his Angevin army when Louis arrives in Bourges, he writes to Yolande:

My dearest, imagine what I discovered as I entered my uncle’s capital. The dauphin, a bright lad if ever I saw one, has instigated a peace process, which is being negotiated as I write!

Yolande replies:

Did you not receive my letter about the birth of our daughter on 12 June? What a sweet bundle of joy she is! And once again, such an easy birth. The children are as excited as if they have another litter of puppies – and they have had plenty of those. Marie has taken the baby over and become her nurse, telling both Tiphane and Juana confidently what to do. Didn’t she learn it all with baby René? And little Catherine is her nursery assistant.

On 15 August, another letter arrives, again without mention of baby Yolande. When she opens it, she realizes that her letter to Bourges must have missed him.

My beloved wife, the impossible has happened. I am at Auxerre, where the Dukes of Berry, Bourbon and Burgundy have come to celebrate a Day of Reconciliation and Peace with Charles d’Orléans and his brother.

She cannot tell from his letter if he believes in it or not – or whether he is afraid his letter might be intercepted. The situation is too delicate to take any risks. She prays that this High Mass will have more success than the last.

Since her evenings at Tarascon are mostly spent alone with her books and her dogs for company, Yolande begins to think about the future. There is a situation that keeps troubling her, eating away at her self-assurance. The king’s two elder sons are married to Burgundian princesses. One of his daughters is married to Burgundy’s heir. With Charles VI’s heirs entrenched thoroughly on the side of Burgundy, she knows she must find a way to even out the balance. If she could arrange for one of her children to marry a child of the king’s, that would help – and she sets her mind to thinking about this possibility.

Her concern about the validity of the reconciliation is justified, as Louis’ next letter makes clear. Somehow Jean of Burgundy has managed to keep control of the government
and
the treasury. Any opponents are swiftly removed and replaced with his own choices.

There is only one persistent voice of dissent, and that surprises not only my cousin of Burgundy, but everyone. It comes from the seventeen-year-old dauphin, Burgundy’s son-in-law, who alone has the courage to oppose him.

When Yolande reads these words – written by her famously brave husband – she smiles.
That boy has valour and will make a great king once his mad father dies!

A fast courier arrives:

My darling sweet wife, how could this wonderful news have missed me – another adorable Yolande in our family! I am so very happy to hear of your safe delivery of a healthy child and a second delicious daughter for me to spoil as I do, and will again, her mother. May God bless you both, my darling. Your devoted husband, Louis.

At last he knows. As she sits with her baby on her lap, surrounded by her other children, as well as Jean Dunois and Catherine, Yolande feels blessed indeed. With each new baby in her arms, she tends to forget or ignore the world outside the nursery. But she is brought back to the daily struggle of events in Paris with the next letter from her husband:

We have victory and it belongs wholly to the dauphin, who has stood calmly at the helm within the capital, while the great armies of his kinsmen have been forced by the Parisians to remain outside. To our relief, finally the capital’s citizens, despite their preference for Jean of Burgundy, have opted for peace over conflict. My uncle of Berry and I have been permitted to make our official entry into the capital – not in armour, but wearing the purple robes of celebration. You can imagine how relieved we feel. Now we can plan for the defence of the kingdom, since we hear from many sources that the English are advancing.

Indeed, all France knows that the English, who have considerable forces based in their own territory of Normandy, have begun to plan a move southwards.

I
n January comes more reason to fear the English. This new year of 1413 has seen a vibrant young king mount the throne. He is Henry V, formerly Duke of Lancaster – young, intelligent and, by reputation, confrontational and ruthless. He has failed to extract the concessions he has demanded, and word comes that he has begun preparations to send his main army across the Channel to Normandy and regroup with his troops already there. The situation has developed into a national conflict between two kings – Henry Plantagenet of England and the Valois Charles VI – each of them claiming sovereignty over certain areas of France. When Yolande hears this from Louis in his letters, she trembles, because she knows what it means for their family. For the French to have a chance of defeating the English the royal dukes must be united, and that is impossible if the Anjou family are aligned to Burgundy, England’s ally. Louis has finally understood her initial resistance to the betrothal of their eldest son to a daughter of Jean of Burgundy. At last he can see that they cannot continue with the planned marriage. It is what Yolande wanted from the start, but now? What a cost to their family, to Catherine, whom they have all loved for the past four years. She feels her heart tearing in two.