Richard II Part 6

One would have supposed, however, from the arrangements which Prince Edward made in entering the city, that the person whom all this pomp and parade was intended to honor was not himself, but the king his captive; for, instead of riding at the head of the procession in triumph, with the King of France and his son following as captives in his train, he gave the king the place of honor, while he himself took the station of one of his attendants. The king was mounted on a white charger very splendidly caparisoned, while Prince Edward rode a small black horse by his side. The procession moved in this way through the princ.i.p.al streets of the city to a palace on the banks of the river at the West End, which had been fitted up in the most complete and sumptuous manner for the king's reception. Soon after this, the King of England, Prince Edward's father, came to pay his captive cousin a visit, and, though he retained him as a captive, he treated him in other respects with every mark of consideration and honor.

The King of France and his son remained captives in England for some time. The king and the queen treated them with great consideration.

They often visited King John at his palace, and they invited him to the most sumptuous entertainments and celebrations made expressly to do him honor.

In the mean time, the war between England and France still went on.

Many battles were fought, and many towns and castles were besieged and taken. But, after all, no great progress was made on either side, and at length, when both parties had become wearied and exhausted in the struggle, a peace was concluded, and King John, having paid a suitable ransom for himself and for those who were with him, was allowed to return home. He had been in captivity for about five years.

The conduct of Prince Edward at the battles of Crecy and of Poictiers, in both which contests the English fought against an immense superiority of numbers, and the great eclat of such an achievement as capturing the French king, and conducting him a prisoner to London, joined to the n.o.ble generosity which he displayed in his treatment of his prisoners, made his name celebrated throughout the world. Every body was sounding the praises of the Black Prince, the heir apparent to the English throne, and antic.i.p.ating the greatness and glory to which England would attain when he should become king.

This was an event which might occur at any time, for King Edward his father was drawing gradually into the later years of life, and he himself was now nearly forty years of age.

CHAPTER V.

CHILDHOOD OF RICHARD.

A.D. 1366-1370

Prince Edward becomes Prince of Aquitaine.--Various calls made upon him.--Don Pedro.--Edward's plans and arrangements.--Lord D'Albret.--Lord D'Albret offers a thousand men.--King Edward offers his aid.--John of Gaunt.--Why the princess wishes to have Edward's departure postponed.--Prince Edward's letter to Lord D'Albret.--Lord D'Albret is very angry.--His determination.--Lord D'Albret's letter to the prince.--Edward in want of money.--Don Pedro pledges his three daughters.--The baptism of the young Prince Richard.--Richard receives a visit from his uncle John.--Richard at Bordeaux.--Don Pedro's troubles and perplexities.--King Charles determines to call Prince Edward to account.--The commissioners arrive, and are received by the prince.--The lawyer reads the letter.--The prince is very much displeased.--He dismisses the commissioners.--Indignation of the prince.--He wishes to arrest the commissioners.--The commissioners seized and imprisoned.--Death of Richard's brother.--The prince determines to go to England.--Prince Edward's farewell speech.--He sails for England.--Little Richard at sea.--Pleasant and prosperous voyage.--Portrait of Edward III.--Richard's first entrance into England.

The child of Edward the Black Prince, who afterward became Richard the Second, king of England, was born at Bordeaux, in the southwestern part of France, in the year 1367, in the midst of a scene of great military bustle and excitement. The circ.u.mstances were these.

When peace was finally made between England and France, after the wars described in the last chapter were over, one of the results of the treaty which was made was that certain provinces in the southwestern part of France were ceded to England, and formed into a princ.i.p.ality called Aquitaine, and this princ.i.p.ality was placed under the dominion of the Black Prince. The t.i.tle of the prince was thenceforth not only Prince of Wales, but also Prince of Aquitaine. The city of Bordeaux, near the mouth of the Garonne, as shown by the map,[E] was the chief city of Aquitaine. There the prince established his court, and reigned, as it were, for several years in great splendor. The fame which he had acquired attracted to his court a great number of knights and n.o.bles from all lands, and whenever a great personage had any wrongs, real or imaginary, to be redressed, or any political end to gain which required the force of arms, he was very likely to come to the Prince of Aquitaine, in order, if possible, to secure his aid.

Prince Edward was rather pleased than otherwise with these applications, for he loved war much better than peace, and, though he evinced a great deal of moderation and generosity in his conduct in the treatment of his vanquished enemies, he was none the less really excited and pleased with the glory and renown which his victories gained him.

[Footnote E: See map on page 110.]

About six months before Richard was born, while Edward was living with the princess, his wife, in Bordeaux, he received an application for aid from a certain Don Pedro, who claimed to be King of Navarre in Spain, but who had been expelled from his kingdom by his brother.

There was also a certain James who claimed to be the King of Majorca, a large island in the Mediterranean Sea, who was in much the same situation in respect to _his_ kingdom. Prince Edward promised to aid Don Pedro in recovering his throne, and he forthwith began to make preparations to this end. He also promised James that, as soon as he had accomplished the work which he had undertaken for Don Pedro, he would fit out an expedition to Majorca, and so restore him too to his kingdom.

The preparations which he made for the expedition into Spain were prosecuted in a very vigorous manner. Don Pedro was dest.i.tute of means as well as of men, and Edward was obliged to raise a large sum of money for the provisioning and paying of his troops. His va.s.sals, the n.o.bles and barons of his princ.i.p.ality, were obliged to furnish the men, it being the custom in those times that each va.s.sal should bring to his lord, in case of war, as many soldiers as could be spared from among his own tenants and retainers--some fifty, some one hundred, and some two hundred, or even more, according to the extent and populousness of their estates. One of the n.o.bles in Prince Edward's service, named Lord D'Albret, had offered to bring a thousand men. The prince had asked him on some public occasion, in presence of other knights and n.o.blemen, how many men he could furnish for the expedition.

"My lord," replied Lord D'Albret, "if you really wish for all the strength that I can furnish, I can bring you a thousand lances, and still have enough at home to guard the country."

The prince was surprised at this answer. He did not know, it seems, how powerful the barons of his princ.i.p.ality were.

"By my head!" said he, addressing Lord D'Albret and speaking in French, which was, of course, the language of Aquitaine, "that will be very handsome."

He then turned to some English n.o.bles who were near, and speaking in English, said it was worth while to rule in a country where one baron could attend his lord with a thousand lances. He was ashamed not to accept this offer, for, according to the ideas of these times, it would not be at all consistent with what was expected of a prince that he should not be able to maintain and pay as many troops as his barons could bring him. So he said hastily, turning to D'Albret, that he engaged them all.

Although, in the end, Don Pedro, if he succeeded in regaining his kingdom, was to refund the expenses of the war, yet, in the first instance, it was necessary for the prince to raise the money, and he soon found that it would be very difficult for him to raise enough. He was unwilling to tax too heavily the subjects of his princ.i.p.ality, and so, after collecting as much as he thought prudent in that way, he sent to England to his father, explaining the nature and design of the proposed expedition, and soliciting his father's approval of it, and, at the same time, asking for aid in the way of funds. King Edward replied, cordially approving of the enterprise. He also promised to send on the prince's brother John, with a body of troops to accompany the expedition. This John was the one who has already been mentioned as born in Ghent, and who was called, on that account, John of Gaunt.

He was also Duke of Lancaster, and is often designated by that name.

Edward was very much attached to his brother John, and was very much pleased to hear that he was coming to join him.

The King of England also, Edward's father, made arrangements for sending to his son a large sum of money. This was of great a.s.sistance to him, but still he had not money enough. So he broke up his plate, both gold and silver, and caused it to be coined, in order to a.s.sist in filling his treasury. Still, notwithstanding all that he could do, he found it difficult to provide sufficient funds for the purchase of the provisions that he required, and for the pay of the men.

It was rather late in the season when the prince first formed the plan of this expedition. He was very anxious to set out as soon as possible, for he had the Pyrenees to cross, in order to pa.s.s from France into Spain, and it would be impossible, he knew, to conduct an army over the mountains after the winter should set in; so he hastened his preparations as much as possible. He was kept in a continued fever by his impatience, and by the various delays and disappointments which were constantly occurring. In the mean while, time moved on, and it began at length to be doubtful whether he should be ready to march before the winter should set in.

To add to his perplexity, his wife begged him to postpone his departure till the spring, in order that he might remain at home with her until after their child should be born. She was dejected in spirits, and seemed particularly sad and sorrowful at the thought of her husband's going away to leave her at such a time. She knew, too, the undaunted recklessness with which he was accustomed to expose himself to danger in his campaigns, and if he went away she could not but think that it was uncertain whether he would ever return.

Finally, the prince concluded to put off his departure until spring.

This determination, however, in some sense increased his perplexities, for now he had a large proportion of his force to maintain and pay through the winter. This made it necessary that he should curtail his plans in some degree, and, among other things, he resolved to notify the Baron D'Albret not to bring his whole complement of one thousand men. It was a great humiliation to him to do this after having formally agreed to engage the men, but he felt compelled, by the necessity of the case, to do so, and he accordingly wrote to the baron the following letter:

"MY LORD D'ALBRET,

"Whereas, out of our liberal bounty, we have retained you, with a thousand lances, to serve under us in the expedition which, through the grace of G.o.d, we intend speedily to undertake and briefly to finish, having duly considered the business, and the costs and expenses we are at, we have resolved that several of our va.s.sals should remain at home in order to guard the territories. For these causes, it has been determined in our council that you shall serve in this expedition with two hundred lances only. You will choose the two hundred out from the rest, and the remainder you will leave at home to follow their usual occupations.

"May G.o.d have you under his holy protection.

"Given at Bordeaux, the eighth day of December.

"EDWARD."

This letter was sealed with the great seal of the prince, and sent to D'Albret, who was in his own country, busily engaged in a.s.sembling and equipping his men, and making the other necessary preparations. The baron was exceedingly indignant when he received the letter. In those days, every man that was capable of bearing arms liked much better to be taken into the service of some prince or potentate going to war than to remain at home to cultivate the ground in quiet industry.

D'Albret knew, therefore, very well, that his va.s.sals and retainers would be all greatly disappointed to learn that four fifths of their whole number were, after all, to remain at home, and then, besides this, his own importance in the campaign would be greatly diminished by reducing the force under his command from one thousand to two hundred men. He was extremely angry when he read the letter.

"How is this?" he exclaimed. "My lord the Prince of Wales trifles with me when he orders me to disband eight hundred knights and squires whom, by his command, I have retained, and have diverted from other means of obtaining profit and honor." Then he called for a secretary, and said to him in a rage,

"Write what I shall dictate to you."

The secretary wrote as follows from his master's dictation:

"MY DEAR LORD,

"I am marvelously surprised at the contents of the letter which you have sent me. I do not know and can not imagine what answer I can make. Your present orders will do me a great injury, and subject me to much blame. For all the men-at-arms whom I have retained by your command have already made their preparations for entering your service, and were only waiting your orders to march. By retaining them for your service I have prevented them from seeking honor and profit elsewhere. Some of the knights had actually made engagements to go beyond sea, to Jerusalem, to Constantinople, or to Russia, in order to advance themselves, and now, having relinquished these advantageous prospects in order to join your enterprise, they will be extremely displeased if they are left behind. I am myself equally displeased, and I can not conceive what I have done to deserve such treatment. And I beg you to understand, my lord, that I can not be separated from my men; nor will they consent to be separated from each other. I am convinced that, if I dismiss any of them, they will all go."

The baron added other words of the same tenor, and then, signing and sealing the letter, sent it to the prince. The prince was angry in his turn when he received this letter.

"By my faith," said he, "this man D'Albret is altogether too great a man for my country, when he seeks thus to disobey an order from my council. But let him go where he pleases. We will perform this expedition, if it please G.o.d, without _any_ of his thousand lances."

This case presents a specimen of the perplexities and troubles in which the prince was involved during the winter, while organizing his expedition and preparing to set out in the spring. The want of money was the great difficulty, for there was no lack of men. Don Pedro agreed, it is true, that when he recovered his kingdom he would pay back the advances which Edward had to make, but he was so unprincipled a man that Edward knew very well that he could not trust to his promises unless he gave some security. So Don Pedro agreed to leave his three daughters in Edward's hands as hostages to secure the payment of the money.

The names of the three princesses thus pledged as collateral security for money borrowed were Beatrice, Constance, and Isabel.

At length, on the third day of April, the child was born. The princess was in a monastery at the time, called the monastery of St.

Andrew, whither she had retired for privacy and quiet. Immediately after the event, Prince Edward, having made every thing ready before, gave orders that the expedition should set forward on the road to Spain. He himself was to follow as soon as the baptism of the child should be performed. The day on which the child was born was Wednesday, and Friday was fixed for the baptism. The baptism took place at noon, at a stone font in the church of the monastery. The King of Majorca, whom the prince had promised to restore to his kingdom, was one of the G.o.dfathers. The child was named Richard.

On the Sunday following the prince bade his wife and the little infant farewell, and set out from Bordeaux with great pomp, at the head of an immense cavalcade, and went on to join the expedition which was already on its way to Spain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RICHARD RECEIVING THE VISIT OF HIS UNCLE JOHN.]

The birth of Richard was an event of great importance, for he was not only the son of the Prince of Aquitaine, but he was the grandson of the King of England, and, of course, every one knew that he might one day be the King of England himself. Still, the probability was not very great that this would happen, at least for a long period to come; for, though his father, Prince Edward, was the oldest son of the King of England, he himself was not the oldest son of his father. He had a brother who was some years older than himself, and, of course, there were three lives that must be terminated before his turn should come to reign in England--his grandfather's, his father's, and his brother's.