Queen Of Four Kingdoms, The (41 page)

‘Well, in that case would you like to stay with me and help me look after my new puppies? I do need your help, you know. I have heard how gentle and kind you are with the dogs at home in Lorraine. Will you help me with mine, and perhaps I will give you one of your own.’

The little girl’s eyes light up. ‘Yes please, Grandmama,’ she says, and Yolande sits her on her knee and begins a story while Isabelle blows her a kiss behind her daughter’s back and slips out of the room. They have said their goodbyes and this is easier for the child. Tiphane will come in a little while and take over from her mistress – ‘Grandmama’ is definitely becoming too old for the nursery.

Later she writes to René in his tower:

The departure of your darling Isabelle and her dazzling court was half happy and half sad, but they left with an air of excited expectancy and all intend to succeed until you arrive. My sadness was tempered by Isabelle giving me the joy of caring for your little Marguerite, and I agree that at five years old she is too young to travel to Naples. At least the thought of my puppies and baby rabbits has consoled her. Trust me – I will make a splendid young lady of your daughter and Tiphane is thrilled to have one of yours, her darling, in the nursery. I am totally devoted already! If only she and I were permitted to visit you!

It is the merchant of Bourges, Jacques Coeur, who has provided armed ships for Isabelle’s journey, and she will be escorted by several more of his galleons. In René’s last coded instruction he appointed Isabelle as his regent in Naples. She will be splendid – but it will not be easy.

The new Queen of Sicily expects her position to be challenged eventually by Yolande’s cousin Alfonso, since none of them knows how long he will be held by the Genoese – they hope at least as long as René is held by Philippe of Burgundy. Yolande admires the extraordinary lengths to which Isabelle has gone to prepare herself for their inevitable conflict. She has sold her jewellery, her silver, even her warmer court clothes to raise money. With her other two children in tow, and her ladies, courtiers and minstrels to give form to her royal entourage, the new Queen of Sicily is determined to succeed in Naples and hold the kingdom for René. Yolande suggested another delicate touch – Isabelle’s minstrels are to double as secret agents. They will become very useful, and she has seen to their instruction in the Italian language as well.

Mother and son are equally anxious about his family undertaking this perilous journey and what they will find there, but do they have a choice? If Isabelle does not go and stake their claim, then the efforts – and deaths – of both of the Louis d’Anjou, father and son, will have been in vain. What is more, René wants his kingdom. It is his rightful inheritance, and Yolande will do everything in her power to support him. To him, his mother has always been infallible – if she agrees to help him, and with Isabelle taking the initiative by sailing to Naples and installing their court, he might just have a chance of succeeding where his brother and father failed. Perhaps even Charles might help him? All these thoughts – no, dreams – he passes to Yolande in their code; what else does he have to do in his tower but dream? How Yolande’s heart goes out to him – and how can he be so sure of his eventual success in Naples, confined as he is in isolation? To get him out of his prison tower must now become her goal – what happens afterwards is in God’s hands.

Six months after Isabelle’s departure for Naples, Pierre de Brézé, who has been negotiating with Philippe of Burgundy to free René, comes to Angers to tell her the outcome. She scans his handsome face – he has matured, and looks more dazzling than ever – to see if his news is good or bad. ‘Madame, after much discussion and many meetings, Duke Philippe has finally agreed to release your son,’ he tells her with a solemn expression despite his honeyed tones. The relief is so intense she can feel tears approaching. But as he continues, she understands his reticence:

‘The duke has made it known that he asks for a great compensation in view of the shame inflicted on his house by yours, my lady. His Highness the Duke will release Duke René immediately for your signed undertaking to give him in return the duchy of Bar, and your granddaughter, the lady Marguerite, for the duke’s eldest son.’

Having held her breath throughout Pierre’s speech, for a moment Yolande looks as if she might faint. After a few seconds, she says quietly, almost as if to herself, ‘So this is how he intends to equal Anjou’s insult for rejecting his sister as the bride of my son! The price of his revenge is to be the hand of my next son’s daughter Marguerite, thus forcing a union of our houses after all!’

Pierre looks crestfallen. ‘That is not all, my dear lady. In addition, the Duke of Burgundy demands the sum of three million gold ducats.’

Yolande feels as if her knees are melting as she sinks into a chair. ‘There is not so much money in all France,’ she cries out. ‘Certainly not in my dukedom.’

Pierre advances and gently takes her hand. ‘Madame, my lady, there is still more.’ Her breathing becomes strangled, her other hand at her throat. ‘My lord René was so shaken on hearing the duke’s terms, he declared boldly – and insisted that I tell you – he would rather die in prison than allow you to accept them.’ Pierre looks at her. Quickly he hands her a goblet of water and is on his knees by her chair, his face anxious.

No, she does not faint, but it takes her a few moments to absorb René’s reply. What is he saying? He would rather remain in Burgundy’s prison tower than lose one duchy and bankrupt the other? Rather stay in prison than sail to Naples and take up his throne with his beloved wife and children? The sad empty shell of her begins to swell and fill with pride at the courage of her treasured son. How his father would have admired him for this response.

In her own distress she has forgotten Pierre’s feelings, and how he too must be suffering to bring her such unhappy news. ‘Pierre, dear friend to me and my family – grieve not,’ she says reassuringly. ‘You have not failed in the task I gave you. It was an impossible charge, and I was wrong to hope for a successful outcome from such an intractable foe as Philippe of Burgundy. I will find another way – somehow. For the present, we must all recognize the sacrifice my son is making for his family and our lands.’ She knows there is nothing she can say to cheer Pierre – or herself – but she is grateful to have him near.

Y
olande has spent so much time negotiating with Philippe in René’s cause that she is beginning to know this duke’s heart. His attitude to the Anjou family has nothing to do with the other matter she has been pursuing for so long, the alliance of the French factions against the enemy. She has a feeling Philippe is slowly beginning to understand the need for a united France – and its advantages. Yolande is not surprised he finds excuses to avoid a meeting with her – he senses he might lose the argument regarding René’s release if they come face to face.

To her intense pleasure she is proven right in this side of his character at least – even if it has taken until 1435 for Philippe to be persuaded to withdraw his loyalty from the English and give it back to his rightful king. At last he has agreed to sign a treaty, to signal a peace with Charles VII of France. Although this agreement, the Treaty of Arras, absolves the duke from giving homage to the king, he promises Charles VII his loyalty and will return to Paris to place himself under the king’s jurisdiction.

For his part, Charles is willing to humble himself before Philippe for his involvement in the assassination of his father, and he gives his word that he will punish those responsible. Most significantly, the king renounces his leadership of the Armagnacs, and thereby finally puts an end to the existence of the two factions that have divided France and enabled the English to decimate the country. With Burgundy on side, a united France has a distinct numerical advantage over the enemy. Finally united, the time and the opportunity have come for the French to rid themselves of the English yoke.

But despite such success, how can Yolande not grieve? René has sent a letter that wrenches her heart:

Maman, most stalwart and loving of mothers, I rejoice in my prison tower at the news of the reconciliation of the king with Burgundy, but it has only increased my desperation to be free. The only hope of freedom that the Duke of Burgundy has offered is for me to agree to the marriage of my nine-year-old Yolande with Ferry, the son of my captor Antoine de Vaudémont, who continues to dispute my right to the duchy of Lorraine. If I agree, he will receive a part of our duchy, which he craves as my daughter’s dowry. As if this is not sufficiently unreasonable, I am constrained to pledge a huge ransom, hand over my two sons as hostages and send my daughter to her future mother-in-law. Imagine my frustration when I find myself unable to raise the ransom and I am obliged to remain in Burgundy and my prison tower.

Is there despair for a mother deeper than this? His letter tears at her heart and she resolves to find a way to have her son released, no matter the cost.

Despite her fighting words and strong intentions, not until February 1437, some six years since René was captured, is Yolande able to reduce Philippe’s demands to the still enormous amount of 400,000
écus d’or
. She has spent almost two years exchanging correspondence – nothing she could do or write would make Philippe agree to meet with her. Although a fraction of his original demand, the ransom has almost bankrupted Anjou, but René is finally set free. He writes to his mother at once on his departure from Dijon.

It seems impossible, dearest Maman, that I am out of that wretched tower, and I can imagine how you must have struggled to pay my ransom. Would you believe it, Duke Philippe saw me off as if I have been an honoured guest. I arrived at Dijon on one of my own horses, but for my departure, a splendid mount was waiting for me, a gift from Duke Philippe, who assured me he meant me personally no ill. As if that helps to assuage my years of frustration! My entourage, who have come from Lorraine to escort me home, tell me how well they have been received and how Duke Philippe has stressed he wants no rancour between us following my incarceration. What does he imagine? That I will
thank
him for his hospitality?

René must ride to Lorraine to embrace his son Jean, who is representing him there, and then try at once to raise some of his ransom. Yolande can imagine him free at last – the feeling of the wind on his face; the sensation of a horse under him again; the sight of the countryside covered in fresh snow in the weak winter sunshine – and the thought fills her with contentment. She knows his next stop after Lorraine will be Anjou, then on to her at Saumur.

After what seems like an age of unbearable waiting, the day has come. René has arrived to meet his mother at Saumur. Their embrace is all-enveloping and she disappears into the folds of his huge robes. He holds her in his bear hug for what feels like forever, and though she can hardly breathe, she would happily suffocate with the bliss of having him free.

‘Mother, my dearest madame, the best and most loyal of mothers . . .’ He goes on and on until only her finger on his lips stops the flow. Both their faces are wet with tears, tears of joy and of the sorrow brought by their separation. Eventually they settle by the fire in the pretty yellow sitting room by her bedroom, René jumping up to look at the view once again, or caress another of the wolfhounds, his wonder at his freedom making it impossible for him to sit still.

When he arrived, Tiphane could not stop crying and hugging him and he hugging her. She was unable to speak and he was choking on his own words, laughing and crying at the same time. Yolande’s youngest son Charles, now twenty-one, and grown so tall, has come from Paris to meet his older brother. They embrace in awe at one another and instantly bond, both so alike in many ways.

The most moving reunion is with Marguerite. René stands beaming with delighted surprise at the sight of his lovely eleven-year-old daughter.

‘My, how you have grown, and quite the young lady,’ he says, looking at her and turning her about, then holding up her chin in wonder.

‘Enough, enough, Papa dearest,’ poor Marguerite cries. ‘I am not a filly! You’ll be looking at my teeth next.’

‘Good idea,’ he says, and makes to grasp her, and she escapes with a laughing cry.

Yolande tells Tiphane to remain with them, and they all exchange stories and laugh and cry again, and laugh, and embrace. Yolande sighs, recognizing this as one of her happiest moments, just to have him safely by her and to see his beaming, good-natured, dear, dear face. For lack of exercise, René is considerably stouter, but he looks well and assures her she does also. Of course she notices the changes – yes, at twenty-six he is no longer a lad, and stouter, but agreeably so, and his extra girth suits him too. His red hair is as wild and copious as ever and she smiles to see a little paint under his nails.

Once in Angers, René visits every corner of his province, catching up on developments – planting, building, road construction, river dredging; everything that he has missed in the governing and administration of his territory. He visits every town, every village, discusses with every mayor and foreman the progress or lack of it. What else has he had to think about in his tower for the past three years? Yolande joins him, but then the evenings are theirs. There is so much to discuss and plan, not least the future of his youngest child, Marguerite. How he has enjoyed coming to know her during the past week, the light of Yolande’s life during his absence. Marguerite has shared the nursery and the strict rule of Tiphane just as her own father did and, Yolande believes, has profited as much. As for Tiphane, to have her darling René’s child in her care has been her ultimate happiness.

T
he following year, the constable, Arthur of Richemont, recovers Paris and evacuates the English in orderly fashion with all their possessions. Another triumph for Yolande’s protégé, although the English still occupy Normandy, much of her Guyenne and part of Maine. Furthermore, she notices that the king has taken up her recommendation of Jacques Coeur, which pleases her, and has made him director of the Paris mint.