Richard II Part 16

Sir Ralph was extremely concerned to hear of the occurrence, and he told the archer who killed the squire that he had done very wrong.

"But, my lord," said the archer, "I could not have done otherwise; for the man was coming up to us with his sword drawn in his hand, and we were obliged either to kill him or to be killed ourselves."

The archers, moreover, told Sir Ralph that the squires were in the service of Sir John Holland. Now Sir John Holland was a half brother of the king, being the child of his mother, the Princess of Wales, by a former husband. When Sir Ralph heard this, he was still more alarmed than before. He told the archers who killed the squire that they must go and hide themselves somewhere until the affair could be arranged.

"I will negotiate with Lord Holland for your pardon," said he, "either through my father or in some other way. But, in the mean time, you must keep yourselves closely concealed."

The Earl of Stafford, Lord Ralph Stafford's father, was a n.o.bleman of the very highest rank, and of great influence.

It is a curious indication of the ideas that prevailed in those days, and of the relations that subsisted between the n.o.bles and their dependants, that the slaughter of a man in an affray of this kind was a matter to be _arranged_ between the masters respectively of the men engaged in it.

The archers went away to hide themselves until Lord Ralph could arrange the matter.

In the mean time, the squire who had escaped in the fray hurried home and related the matter to Lord Holland. Lord Holland was greatly enraged. He uttered dreadful imprecations against Lord Ralph Stafford and against Sir Miles, whom he seemed to consider responsible for the death of his squire, and declared that he would not sleep until he had had his revenge. So he mounted his horse, and, taking some trusty attendants with him, rode into Beverley, and asked where Sir Miles's lodgings were. While he was going toward the place, breathing fury and death, suddenly, in a narrow lane, he came upon Lord Ralph, who was then going to find him, in order to arrange about the murder. It was now, however, late in the evening, and so dark that the parties did not at first know each other.

"Who comes here?" said Lord Holland, when he saw Sir Ralph approaching.

"I am Stafford," replied Sir Ralph.

"You are the very man I want to see," said Lord Holland. "One of your servants has killed my squire--the one that I loved so much."

As he said this, he brought down so heavy a blow upon Sir Ralph's head as to fell him from his horse to the ground. He then rode on. The attendants hurried to the spot and raised Sir Ralph up. They found him faint and bleeding, and in a few moments he died.

As soon as this fact was ascertained, one of the men rode on after Lord Holland, and, coming up to him, said,

"My lord, you have killed Lord Stafford."

"Very well," said Lord Holland; "I am glad of it. I would rather it would be a man of his rank than any body else, for so I am the more completely revenged for the death of my squire."

As fast as the tidings of these events spread, they produced universal excitement. The Earl of Stafford, the father of Sir Ralph, was plunged into the most inconsolable grief at the death of his son. The earl was one of the most powerful n.o.bles in the army, and, if he had undertaken to avenge himself on Lord Holland, the whole expedition would perhaps have been broken up into confusion. On the king's solemn a.s.surance that Holland would be punished, he was appeased for the time; but then the Princess of Wales, Richard's mother, who was Lord Holland's mother too, was thrown into the greatest state of anxiety and distress. She implored Richard to save his brother's life. All the other n.o.bles and knights took sides too in the quarrel, and for a time it seemed that the dissension would never be healed. Lord Holland, in the mean while, fled to the church at Beverley, and took sanctuary there. By the laws and customs of the time, they could not touch him until he came voluntarily out.

Richard resisted all the entreaties of his mother to spare the murderer's life until he found that her anxiety and distress were preying upon her health so much that he feared that she would die. At last, to save his mother's life, he promised that Holland should be spared. But it was too late. His mother fell into a decline, and at length died, as it was said, of a broken heart. What a dreadful death!

that of a mother worn out by the agony of long-continued and apparently fruitless efforts to prevent one of her children from being the executioner of another for the crime of murder.

Besides these fierce, deadly contests among the knights and n.o.bles, the ladies of the court had their feuds and quarrels too. They were often divided into cliques and parties, and were full of envyings, jealousies, and resentments against each other. One of the most serious of these difficulties was occasioned by a marriage of the Duke of Lancaster, which took place toward the close of his life. This was his third marriage, he having been successively married to two ladies of high rank before. The lady whom he now married was of a comparatively humble station in life. She was the daughter of a foreign knight. Her name, originally, was Catharine de Rouet. She had been, in her early life, a maiden in attendance on the d.u.c.h.ess of Lancaster, the duke's second wife. While she was in his family the duke formed a guilty intimacy with her, which was continued for a long time. They had three children. The duke provided well for these children, and gave them a good education. After a time, the duke, becoming tired of her, arranged for her to be married to a certain knight named Swinton, and she lived with this knight for some time, until at length he died, and Catharine became a widow.

The d.u.c.h.ess of Lancaster died also, and then the duke became for the second time a widower, and he now conceived the idea of making Catharine Swinton his wife. His motive for this was not his love for _her_, for that, it is said, had pa.s.sed away, but his regard for the children, who, on the marriage of their mother to the father of the children, would be legitimatized, and would thus become ent.i.tled to many legal rights and privileges from which they would otherwise be debarred. The other ladies of the court, however, particularly the wives of the other dukes--the Duke of Lancaster's brothers--were greatly incensed when they heard of this proposed marriage, and they did all they possibly could do to prevent it. All was, however, of no avail, for the Duke of Lancaster was not a man to be easily thwarted in any determination that he might take into his head. So he was married, and the poor despised Catharine was made the first d.u.c.h.ess in the realm, and became ent.i.tled to take precedence of all the other d.u.c.h.esses.

This the other d.u.c.h.esses could not endure. They could not bear it, they said, and they _would_ not bear it. They declared that they would not go into any place where this woman, as they called her, was to be.

As might have been expected, an interminable amount of quarreling and ill-will grew out of this affair.

About the time of this marriage of the duke, the king himself was married a second time, as will be related in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE LITTLE QUEEN.

A.D. 1395-1396

Some account of Isabella of France, the little queen.--Richard opens negotiations with the King of France.--A grand emba.s.sage sent to France.--Their reception.--Interview of the emba.s.sadors with little Isabella.--The negotiations go on satisfactorily.--The marriage ceremony is performed by proxy.--Richard makes arrangements to go and receive his bride.--Grand preparations for the expedition.--The meeting on the French frontier.--The pavilions.--Precautions to guard against violence or treachery.--Ceremonious interviews.--Grand entertainment.--Richard receives his bride.--The palanquin.--Excitement in London.--Reception of the little queen.--The little queen's mode of life in England.

King Richard's second wife was called the little queen, because she was so young and small when she was married. She was only about nine years old at that time. The story of this case will show a little how the marriages of kings and princesses in those days were managed.

It was not long after the death of good Queen Anne before some of Richard's courtiers and counselors began to advise him to be married again. He replied, as men always do in such cases, that he did not know where to find a wife. The choice was indeed not very large, being restricted by etiquette to the royal families of England and of the neighboring countries. Several princesses were proposed one after another, but Richard did not seem to like any of them. Among other ladies, one of his cousins was proposed to him, a daughter of the Duke of Gloucester. But Richard said no; she was too nearly related to him.

At last he took it into his head that he should like to marry little Isabella, the Princess of France, then about nine years old. The idea of his being married to Isabella was calculated to surprise people for two reasons: first, because Isabella was so small, and, secondly, because the King of France, her father, was Richard's greatest and most implacable enemy. France and England had been on bad terms with each other not only during the whole of Richard's reign, but through a great number of reigns preceding; and now, just before the period when this marriage was proposed, the two nations had been engaged in a long and sanguinary war. But Richard said that he was going to make peace, and that this marriage was to be the means of confirming it.

"But she is altogether too young for your majesty," said Richard's counselors. "She is a mere child."

"True," said the king; "but that is an objection which will grow less and less every year. Besides, I am in no haste. I am young enough myself to wait till she grows up, and, in the mean time, I can have her trained and educated to suit me exactly."

So, after a great deal of debate among the king's counselors and in Parliament, it was finally decided to send a grand emba.s.sage to Paris to propose to the King of France that he should give his little daughter Isabella in marriage to Richard, King of England.

This emba.s.sage consisted of an archbishop, two earls, and twenty knights, attended each by two squires, making forty squires in all, and five hundred hors.e.m.e.n. The party proceeded from London to Dover, then crossed to Calais, which was at this time an English possession, and thence proceeded to Paris.

When they arrived at Paris they entered the city with great pomp and parade, being received with great honor by the French king, and they were lodged sumptuously in quarters provided for them.

The emba.s.sadors were also very honorably received at court. The king invited them to dine with him, and entertained them handsomely, but many objections were made to the proposed marriage.

"How can we," said the French counselors, "give a Princess of France in marriage to our worst and bitterest enemy?"

To this the emba.s.sadors replied that the marriage would establish and confirm a permanent peace between the two countries.

Then there was another objection. Isabella was already engaged. She had been betrothed some time before to the son of a duke of one of the neighboring countries. But the emba.s.sadors said that they thought this could be arranged.

While these negotiations were going on, the emba.s.sadors asked permission to see the princess. This at first the king and queen, Isabella's father and mother, declined. They said that she was only eight or nine years old, and that such a child would not know at all how to conduct at such an interview.

However, the interview was granted at last. The emba.s.sadors were conducted to an apartment in the palace of the Louvre, where the princess and her parents were ready to receive them. On coming into the presence of the child, the chief emba.s.sador advanced to her, and, kneeling down before her, he said,

"Madam, if it please G.o.d, you shall be our lady and queen."

The princess looked at him attentively while he said this. She was a very beautiful child, with a gentle and thoughtful expression of countenance, and large dark eyes, full of meaning.

She replied to the emba.s.sador of her own accord in a clear, childish voice,

"Sir, if it please G.o.d and my lord and father that I be Queen of England, I should be well pleased, for I have been told that there I shall be a great lady."

Isabella then took the kneeling emba.s.sador by the hand and lifted him up. She then led him to her mother.

The emba.s.sadors were extremely pleased with the appearance and behavior of the princess, and were more than ever desirous of succeeding in their mission. But, after some farther negotiations, they received for their answer that the French court were disposed to entertain favorably the proposal which Richard made, but that nothing could be determined upon the subject at that time.

"We must wait," said the king, "until we can see what arrangement can be made in regard to the princess's present engagement, and then, if King Richard will send to us again, next spring we will give a final answer."

So slow are the movements and operations in such a case as this among the great, that the emba.s.sadors were occupied three weeks in Paris in advancing the business to this point. They were, however, well satisfied with what they had done, and at length took their leave, and returned to London in high spirits with their success, and reported the result to King Richard. He himself was well satisfied too.