Chapter 11

After my messengers left for Lancaster and York, Lt. Bayard entered, bowing as he approached, wondering why the King was in the gallery while I was holding court. I had wondered the same thing before the King explained that he was interested in watching me work to see how I managed so quickly to transform a foreign population into productive, loyal English citizens.

“Good morning, Lieutenant. I believe I might owe you a great deal of thanks for your handiwork yesterday. Should I assume that you had a hand in filling out the Honor Guard greeting the King yesterday, and also in preparing the excellent dinner last night?”

“The Honor Guard was a simple matter,” he chuckled noting the King’s look of surprise. “The majority of citizens of Rouen now prefer you to the previous Duke and they wanted to make sure you made a favorable impression on the King during his visit. Dinner was a little trickier, but four of the local Bishops were persuaded to donate a sizeable portion of their own dinner hoping to make a favorable impression on you, especially knowing you would probably be choosing a new Archbishop soon.”

Even the King laughed, understanding all too well the political machinations that went on in private. “I know I promised that you would be a member of the castle guard, but I have a proposal for you. Would you consider taking the position of mayor instead? You seem to be doing a lot of the job already and you would have an even better knowledge of what’s going on locally. You will still have access to talk to me any time you need and are still allowed to communicate with King Philip if you feel I have broken any of my promises. Besides, it would mean a much larger salary, as well as a larger house and a lot more status for your family.”

He thought for several moments before accepting the position.

“I guess then congratulations are in order Mayor Bayard. As your first official duty I would like to hear any insight you might have into the Bishops who remain in town and whom you feel would make the better Archbishop.”

“Bishop Languet was favored by the previous archbishop and was originally next in line to assume the position, but Bishop Clairvaux seems to be the most popular among the residents of the city. Both made a generous donation to your dinner last night,” he chuckled.

“Then let us start with Bishop Clairvaux and see if he is amenable to the changes and conditions I will require,” I commented to the guards at the door. One of them ducked out and quickly returned.

“His Excellency Bishop Clairvaux of Rouen,” the guard announced when they returned. The startled Bishop genuflected to the King who acknowledged the act before pointing him in my direction. “How may I be of service to my Duke?” he asked as he rose.

“The first thing you can do is to stop acting disingenuous and stop pretending false modesty. All the city’s Bishops are here and know I need to appoint a new Archbishop. You will find that absolute honesty works much better with me than false modesty and political airs. I am much more liable to trust a man who openly disagrees with me over one who tells me what he thinks I want to hear. I believe the new Mayor here can attest to that,” I offered, motioning to Bayard.

“Considering that I tried to kill him in Paris and am not only still alive, but am now the Mayor of Rouen, I think I would have to agree,” Bayard said, chuckling.

“You may consider your appointment as mayor to be your punishment,” I teased, only partly kidding. Everyone knew of my distaste for dealing with the myriad of daily details of the lives of my subjects. While I really did want to know if they had a problem, my goal was to eliminate as many problems as possible before they happened and to have a layer of people between me and my subjects who would deal with problems before they got to the point where I had to become involved.

“I will keep that in mind in the future, Your Grace,” the Bishop answered, nodding his assent.

“I’ll be blunt,” I told him. “As I’m sure you have ascertained already, I have no intention of doing away with the Catholic Church in Normandy, but I will require a couple of concessions. First, the Anglican Church will obviously be brought here. The two cathedrals in Rouen whose Bishops took their valuables to help finance the revolt against me will be confiscated and turned over to the Anglican Church for their use. I assume the new Archbishop will move into the main cathedral, and I expect him to choose one additional cathedral to turn over to the Anglican Church. The new Archbishop will be allowed to remove any items with religious significance from all three cathedrals before then. The same thing will happen to the other cathedrals in Normandy, and the areas we are annexing from those that supported the rebellion.

“Secondly, I expect a spirit of cooperation between the two churches. There is a large Jewish population here and they seem well tolerated. I expect the same tolerance of the Anglican Church. If there is contention between the two churches, I will be forced to choose between them, and you will not like my choice.

“Third, I expect all clergy in Normandy to stay out of politics and to concentrate on the needs of their parishioners. Any member of the clergy who has an issue is free to discuss it with me, but I will have the final word. Any Bishop insisting on involving himself in matters of state will find himself removed from his office and removed from Normandy. Any Bishop who is also currently a noble will have to choose between remaining a Bishop and remaining a noble. Bishops will no longer have estates other than the church building and their home.

“Any member of the clergy within the boundaries of the new Normandy who was involved in the attack is to be removed from their religious office immediately for whatever reason sounds good. My keeping priests and Bishops in prison or executing them wouldn’t look good for either the new Archbishop or me.

“Finally, I have a program in Lancaster and York that has caught on and is quickly becoming very popular there among the population.” I explained the program and the conditions that needed to be met for a man to take a second wife. I also explained that I expected every member of the clergy in Normandy to have at least one wife within six months.

“But I am married to the Church and am not allowed to have a wife,” he protested.

“The Catholic Bishops who went to England sent a letter to the Cardinal they report to and explained my requirement that they take a wife in order to be allowed to continue as Bishops in Lancaster and York. After that, it wasn’t an issue,” I told him.

“It’s still against my personal beliefs,” he protested.

“Just think,” I started, preparing delicately to drop a figurative load of manure in his lap. I’d gained an insight from one of his parishioners, a young woman who had taken me aside to speak with me. “If you were to marry, then the young woman working as your housekeeper who is unmarried and pregnant could have a father for her child when it’s born. That would be a very compassionate act so her child isn’t born a bastard,” I explained, purposely avoiding actual mention of him being the father.

Bishop Clairvaux fidgeted nervously and considered my words carefully. “What if the other Bishops refuse to go along with it?” he asked thoughtfully.

“Then the new Archbishop will simply replace them with someone willing to accept my conditions. All five of the Bishops who went to England grudgingly accepted the conditions and had no problems afterward,” I told him.

“I accept your conditions,” he finally agreed, defeated. I motioned a page over, wrote, and signed the decree appointing him Archbishop. I gave him a separate letter authorizing the removal of any religious artifacts from the three cathedrals in Rouen that would be turned over to the Anglican Church, and another decree for him to release to the public outlining the requirements for a man to take a second wife.

The guards ushered in the other Bishops, and I thanked them for attending me this morning. Then I announced my choice for the new Archbishop of Rouen. I also covered the points I’d covered with him and thanked those who had donated to our dinner last night before sending them on their way.

The King had been watching the interaction between Bayard and I closely since finding out he was the previously unnamed soldier who bounced his crossbow bolt off my chest. He approached us as everyone was leaving. “I am constantly amazed at your uncanny ability to pick people you can trust and at how quickly recent enemies become staunch supporters,” he commented, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Once I realized Duke Miller was a man of his word it was easy to support him. Like him, I’d rather work with someone I might disagree with, but know will be honest about everything with me. Besides, as he informed me, he was the only thing standing between the agreed-upon terms of surrender and a group of Barons who would have gladly raped, pillaged, and burned their way from Paris back to Rouen. Now, in the short time I’ve known him, I’ve seen how much he cares about the welfare of his men and his subjects, and I truly appreciate the ability to work with him and help make the lives of so many people better. Rouen is now even bigger than Paris, making it the largest city in Europe. Soon it will be an even wealthier commercial hub than it is now. I’ve seen the rough sketches he’s made, and they would increase the size of the city tenfold,” Bayard explained.

The King asked to see my sketches and we pored over them for the remainder of the morning. The first project was raising the battlements, filling in the crenulations to seven feet high, and leaving only arrow loops. Since our archers were our main fighting force, that gave us more of an advantage while better protecting our troops from enemy archers.

The gatehouses would be enlarged enough to put up two sets of gates. The outer gate would be right behind the drawbridge, and the inner gate would be the current heavy wood gates. Between the two gates would be a covered murder hole with arrow loops to allow men in the gatehouse to rain arrows down on anyone below trying to break down the gate. The arrow loops could also be used to pour boiling water down into the passageway, an idea I’d picked up from a castle during my wanderings in Scotland. The gatehouse for the bridge over the Seine would include a drawbridge. Currently, a portion of the bridge made of heavy wood planks was manually set in place and removed every day. The opening in the bridge allowed boats to pass under the bridge, continuing upriver if the boat’s draft was shallow enough. It also provided a defensive measure against an invader trying to use the bridge. The drawbridge would make the job of raising and lowering part of the bridge faster and easier and would allow the bridge to be raised occasionally during the day to let boats leave. Currently the boats have to sail under the bridge before dawn or after sunset.

The final change to the current wall would be to add a few more towers and make sure the new and existing towers had a place for a small fire. Not only would it help keep the guards warmer in inclement weather, but the fire could be used to light arrows to use against siege towers. We would cut wood blocks to fit most of the arrow loops in the towers. Each tower would have two or three arrow loops filled with a piece of glass in the removable block, allowing the guards to look out without letting cold air into the tower. Removing the wood during an attack was simple, and they could easily be tossed out of the way.

The biggest project would be a second wall along the top of the first row of hills outside of town, with a second moat at the base of those hills, one also serving as an irrigation canal for the surrounding farmland. It would provide water for an ambitious and extensive network of underground canals. A few of the canals would bring water into the city to public wells so people didn’t have to go more than a quarter mile to get water. A much more extensive network would run from the north of the city towards the river. These canals would be underground, having grated openings in front of every fifth house to allow for the disposal of waste that would be carried away to the river. When it rained, the sluices at the north of the city could be fully lowered to allow rainwater to run off through the system. One of the engineers I had brought back from Barcelona gave me the idea. He learned about it by studying the way the Romans had built their cities.

When the new part of the city outside the current walls grew enough, anyone in the old part of the city who lived in a wooden building or one with a thatch roof would move while we rebuilt their home or business until every building in Rouen was built from stone. I wanted nothing inside the city that could be set afire either by accident or by an outside attack.

The King was curious about what appeared to be underground rooms inside the walls, and I explained about the ice room we built in Lancaster to store frozen meat. He noticed that a couple of the underground water canals didn’t connect to any of the others and correctly surmised that they were secret exits from the city. I hoped to run them far enough away from the city to be able to get troops behind an enemy if we were besieged.

Breaking for lunch when one of the servants announced it was ready, Grace, Rachel, Antoinette, and the Queen were missing. Gisela assured us they were fine, an assurance echoed by the rest of my wives. They had gone off to explore a bit and Gisela volunteered to go find them as she hurried out of the room.

We were well into lunch before they returned, and I could see immediately that they’d been up to something. As hard as they tried to hide it, I could see the mischievous look in their eyes and was afraid the four “exploring” women had been exploring each other since Rachel had the mellow demeanor she got after a good bout of sex. God, I hoped the King didn’t figure it out, too.

Fortunately, a page rushed in announcing that King Philip would arrive shortly. One of the scouts to the south had ridden in at full speed to let us know he would be here before midafternoon. I sent the page to find Bayard to let him know, and to ask Bayard to ride out to meet King Philip so he’d be informed about everything by the time he got here. That way, he’d get a full report about what had happened from someone he trusted and would have a better idea of what he was riding into.

Their procession was a regal one. Half of the troops were French, and half were mine. The French flag and the English flag were carried side by side, followed by King Philip’s personal banner and my personal banner.

Word spread throughout the city and a few thousand people lined the route to the castle to greet their former Monarch when he arrived. We met him in the courtyard before retiring to my private study. Antoinette gave her uncle a warm hug and assured him that she had been treated well, and then rejoined my wives. King Philip thanked me for sending “Mayor” Bayard out to meet him and obviously found great humor in my earlier comment that it was Bayard’s punishment for trying to put a hole in me.

For the most part Bayard and I stayed out of the talks between the Monarchs, only adding our thoughts when specifically asked. We sent a page to invite Bayard’s wife to join us for dinner since he would probably be here at least that long. The women, including Bayard’s wife, checked on us shortly before dinner to see how the talks were progressing. Antoinette protested when she learned that she would return home, suggesting instead that her hand be given in marriage to the new Duke of Normandy to strengthen the bond between the French and the English.

To emphasize her point she came over, and in a scandalous display, sat on my lap, kissing me very affectionately before cuddling against me like any one of my wives did frequently in private. King Philip looked to King Edward who looked to me for an answer. “I think the women have already decided the matter for us,” I answered after noting the knowing grins from the Queen and my wives. The comment broke the sober and slightly tense atmosphere that had permeated the room all afternoon.

“And what will happen to the Count of Eu and his family?” asked King Philip, the concern evident in his voice.

“The men who took part in the attack will probably be executed. Their families will most likely become the personal slaves of Duke Miller,” King Edward answered, nodding in my direction.

“Might I be allowed to ransom his family? The Countess is my wife’s sister,” King Philip explained.

“Perhaps my husband should consider taking the Countess as a second wife to further strengthen the bonds between our two countries,” the Queen blurted out, blushing crimson. The stunned King looked at her as if she’d momentarily lost her mind, but she continued to meet his gaze, almost defiantly, even though she continued to blush.

“My wife has spoken. Does that meet with your approval?” a still surprised King Edward asked, turning back to King Philip. Still stunned himself, King Philip only nodded.

“And perhaps the Count’s daughter would further strengthen the bond by marrying Duke Miller, and the Count’s son might make a good Baron,” the Queen interjected again, apparently having found a new confidence to speak up in public. I had a fairly good idea who had helped her find said confidence.

“Conditional on him swearing an oath of fealty,” King Edward insisted. Again, King Philip nodded his approval.

Finally able to get a word in, I informed them that the Count had been killed after the battle. Trying to escape, he had ignored orders from Rand’s troops to stop, and was brought down by several of the archers.

A scribe was busy writing out each of the terms upon which the two Monarchs had already agreed. They also agreed that both Kings would sign an order authorizing the execution of any nobles who took part in the unsanctioned attack. Both Kings recognized the danger, though, in executing clergy and avoided that quagmire. Once the agreement was finished, both men reviewed it and signed it, placing their personal seals on it. Additionally, they asked me to sign it.

Satisfied, we adjourned for dinner while the scribe wrote out two more copies of the agreement. A messenger was dispatched to Melun to inform Antoinette’s parents of her pending marriage and to invite them to attend. While we ate, the King and Queen talked quietly for quite a while until he was completely assured that she was indeed serious about his taking a second wife.

Antoinette insisted on sitting next to me at dinner, wrapping her leg and foot around mine under the table. The women at the table seemed quite happy throughout dinner, pleased with the way the things they were concerned with had turned out.

After dinner, Bayard and his wife excused themselves explaining they needed to be getting home to their children. The remaining women adjourned to talk about the upcoming marriages while the Kings and I kicked back in my study with a couple of bottles of wine King Philip recommended. They enjoyed a good laugh as King Philip recounted the look of terror in my eyes when he offered his throne to me. “Great, another story about me,” I groaned. King Edward countered with the story about my stealthy crawl through the mud with Jack knowing I was there the whole time. At least he mentioned the shot I made in the dark and rain to take down the guard on the wall of the Manor. I wondered if everyone in England had heard about the crawl through the mud by now.

King Edward apologized to me saying that evidently, his wife had interrupted two of my wives during a private moment earlier this afternoon, but she was now convinced they really did care about each other in private just as much as they appeared to in public.

“I got the feeling earlier that my wives didn’t mind the interruption and may have even enjoyed the audience,” I admitted. I still didn’t tell him I thought that the entire thing had been planned and the Queen and Antoinette might have even joined in the festivities. Evidently, the Queen had also suggested her sister as a third wife to the King during their earlier private conversation.

Our wives finally broke up our quiet soiree (see, I learned another French word) and practically dragged the King and I to our respective bedrooms. I was surprised, a bit, when Antoinette joined us. Nothing was said, but all eleven women looked at me pleadingly, hoping I’d agree to let her join us.

“She can stay on one condition,” I told them. They perked up. “I want the truth about the ‘exploration’ with the Queen today,” I said, looking mainly at Grace and Rachel, but also at everyone else, since I was sure they all knew about it.

In turn, they all looked to Margaret who took my hand and led me to the bed where she started undressing me, quickly getting help from more hands than necessary. Only after I had been stripped and she had my cock in her mouth did she nod to Grace, who then told me what had happened.

The Queen had tried to get them to admit that their apparent friendships were only in public and couldn’t believe it when they promised that they really did care about each other and that there was no animosity towards each other. As far as the issue of my heir, they hoped not to have to deal with it for a very long time. They had agreed on what to do if they did need to decide. They were more concerned with seeing my goals come to fruition than with which of their children succeeded me.