‘There, you see,’ said Henry.
‘There could be dissension in the country,’ said Hubert, ‘but you will see that if the English came against them, they would join ranks and stand against us.’
‘Hubert is determined to kill the enterprise before it begins,’ said Richard.
‘Nay, my lord,’ protested Hubert, ‘I am as eager as you to bring back what is ours by right. I merely say that the time is not yet.’
Henry looked sullenly at his Justiciar and many noted it.
‘The time will be when I say,’ said Henry.
Hubert was silent. He did not want an argument at the table.
Later he contrived to be alone with the King and raised the matter of taking the war into France during the year which was about to begin.
‘I would beg of you to consider, my lord, the low state of the treasury, which is the main reason why an expedition to France would not be wise.’
‘I will raise the money,’ declared Henry.
‘More taxes! That would not please the people.’
‘I shall not wait on people’s pleasure.’
‘It would be wise to.’
‘Listen to me, Hubert. When I say I shall go to war I mean I shall do so.’
Hubert bowed his head.
No good purpose could be served by a quarrel. He would have to try to find other means of preventing the King from attempting to go to war until he was well equipped to do so.
This proved to be impossible. Henry had made up his mind.
He was going to take an expedition into France at Michaelmas and no matter how Hubert tried to dissuade him he would not listen.
Hubert was in despair. He asked himself again and again how they could equip an army without money; how could they even procure the ships to transport that army overseas. Henry was childish, completely unable to grasp practical details. When Hubert tried to explain and Henry showed signs of losing his temper, Hubert was uneasily reminded of the King’s father.
There was nothing he could do but stop pointing out the inadvisability of continuing with the preparations, yet they went on apace.
Henry would have to learn by his own bitter experience, Hubert realised, and it was going to be a costly matter.
In due course they were ready to sail for France and Henry at the head of a large army rode down to Portsmouth, Hubert beside him, and that hardened warrior, the Earl of Chester, was at the other side of the King.
Henry glowed with pride. This was how a king should be, at the head of his troops going into battle. He felt noble and brave. He wanted to impress his brother who had already been engaged in battle and who thought he had inherited some special quality from his uncle Coeur de Lion as well as his name.
But when they reached Portsmouth it was realised that there were not enough ships to take the soldiers across the sea, and Henry fell into a violent rage.
‘Why so? Why so?’ he kept shouting. ‘Where are the ships? Why is it that there are but half of what we need?’
‘My lord,’ began Hubert, ‘I warned you that we would need a great many ships. The cost of supplying them was so great that your treasury could not meet it.’
Henry turned white with rage. ‘So it is you who have done this. You would teach me a lesson, is that it? You would let me bring my troops here to find that there is not enough transport for them. You traitor … you old, sly traitor. I believe you are in the pay of the Queen of France. Is that it?’
There was a shocked silence among the beholders. Hubert was suddenly afraid. The Earl of Chester was thinking that the end of the Justiciar’s rule must be in sight.
‘You jest, my lord,’ began Hubert. ‘You never had a more loyal subject than I. And you will remember I persuaded you to wait until you were properly equipped …’
This was adding fuel to the fires of rage.
With a gesture worthy of his father, Henry drew his sword and would have run it through his Justiciar if the Earl of Chester had not seized Hubert and dragged him away.
‘My lord,’ said Chester, placing himself between Hubert and Henry, ‘you do not mean to kill the Justiciar.’
Henry glowered at them all and Chester thought: Is he going to be such another as his father?
Chester wanted to see Hubert’s decline but not in this manner. If he were not careful this Henry would soon be emulating that other of his name who had done penance at Canterbury for the murder of Thomas à Becket. They did not want Hubert to be made into a martyr.
‘He has deliberately done this,’ spluttered Henry.
‘Nay, my lord,’ said Chester. ‘He but warned you that the enterprise will be costly and so shall it be. We need more ships, but the way to get them is not by thrusting your sword through the heart of your Justiciar.’
Henry regarded Chester steadily. He was not sure what to do. His anger had cooled. He knew he had acted foolishly for Hubert had truly warned him that it would be too expensive to provide all the ships they needed; and he was really angry with him because he had been proved to be right.
Chester went on: ‘Should we not use what ships there are and then when we have transported all they can carry they can return for the rest?’
‘It would seem there is nothing else to be done,’ said Henry sullenly.
He did not look for Hubert. He had slipped away; he would tactfully keep out of the King’s sight for a while, and when they met the incident would appear to be forgotten.
But it would never be. There had been too many to witness it; and in the thoughts of many was the notion that this was the beginning of the end for Hubert de Burgh.
It was as Hubert had thought it would be. They met again in France and there the King behaved as though that scene had never occurred.
Hubert thought: The thought of war has gone to his head like too strong wine. He is a boy in truth. But I should act more warily in future.
Henry knew in his heart that he had behaved foolishly and in an ungrateful manner. If the Earl of Chester had not stopped him in time he would have killed Hubert. It was a most unwise thing to do – and he regretted it; but this made a rift between him and Hubert; he could not feel the same towards his Justiciar again, for he could not forgive him for having made him act so foolishly.
The many enemies of Hubert had exalted in that display of royal anger and ingratitude. This was the beginning of the end for Hubert de Burgh, they thought. Metaphorically they began to sharpen their knives.
Nor was it in Hubert’s favour that his warning had proved to be right.
The expedition to France was quickly proved to be a failure, and an extremely costly one.
The English returned, chastened with the knowledge that conquest was not going to be easy.
Hubert had been right. It had taken place too soon.
The King was fully aware that he had turned his back on Hubert’s wisdom, but his knowledge did not make him love Hubert the more.
Chapter XIII
THE LOVE MATCH
Among those who lost their lives in that ill-conceived campaign was Gilbert, the seventh Earl of Clare and husband of William Marshal’s sister Isabella who had made such an impression on the King’s brother, Richard of Cornwall, when he had met her at Marlborough.
Isabella was in the castle near Gloucester when she heard the news of his death. Gilbert had been a good husband and she had been a worthy wife, bringing him rich estates and during the years of their marriage six children – three sons and three daughters.
Her father, the great William Marshal, who had been responsible for putting the young King on the throne and until his death in 1219 had, with Hubert de Burgh, Justiciar, governed the realm, had arranged her marriage with Gilbert when he had taken him prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, Gilbert at that time having been fighting on the side of the French. As a prisoner Gilbert could scarcely refuse to accept her father’s terms among which was the condition that he should marry his daughter.