In the meantime he discussed the possibility of his remarriage with William Marshal.
‘Richard did well by marrying Berengaria of Navarre,’ he said. ‘Navarre has been a good friend to our house. I would wish to preserve that friendship.’
William Marshal agreed that it was wise to do so.
‘But Navarre is threatened by Castile and Aragon because they are allies of the King of France. Now I have thought what a good policy it would be to use Portugal as an ally, which could be achieved.’
‘I see,’ said William Marshal, ‘you are thinking of the Portuguese King’s daughter. She is marriageable. It is an excellent idea. We should send envoys at once to Portugal.’
‘Let it be done without delay,’ said John.
So it was; and when he was alone he laughed heartily to consider the excitement in the Portuguese Court at the prospect of alliance with the King of England who owned large dominions on the Continent.
‘No, my Princess of Portugal,’ he whispered. ‘I am not for you, and you are not for me. There is only one who will do for me. Isabella.’
Chapter V
ISABELLA
It was some years before John had seen her in the forest that Isabella had become betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan. She would never forget the day when her parents had sent for her and explained that a husband had been found for her, and his family wanted her to go to them that she might be educated in the manner expected of a Lusignan and grow to love her husband before she became his wife.
At that time Isabella had known very little of the world outside the Angoumois over which her parents ruled. In some measure she ruled them. That she was beautiful in no ordinary way had quickly become obvious to her. She heard it whispered; she saw it in people’s eyes when they looked at her; in fact she was always a little shocked if people failed to react to her beauty which they did only on rare occasions. Perhaps some old bishop would look upon her just as though she were an ordinary child. Poor old thing, she would think, I suppose he’s half blind.
She never lost a chance of looking at her reflection. It delighted her even when she was very young. Those beautiful long eyes with the thick black lashes; eyes that were of a blue so deep that it was almost violet; her thick dark hair was a cloud about the perfect oval of her face. She had been born a beauty and would remain one to the end of her days.
It was natural that there should be a certain imperiousness about her. Her mother used to say to her: ‘Never forget that you are descended from the kings of France and the French Court is the most elegant and most intellectual in the world.’
Naturally her mother would think so because she was the daughter of Peter de Courtenay, who was a young son of King Louis VI of France. Isabella knew that her mother considered herself of higher social standing than her father. He, however, being Count of Angoulême, was a man of influence and because she was their only child she was of great importance to them.
When she was very young Isabella learned that they had hoped for a son; she was very glad that they were unable to get one because she knew that if they had she would have been of less importance to them, and one thing Isabella hated was not to be the centre of attraction.
She believed that at the Court of Angoulême she was the most important figure even though she was only a little girl. Her mother watched over her with the greatest care; her father gave instructions to her attendants and governesses that she was never to be left alone. That was a nuisance, but because it meant they were so anxious for her she accepted it and would have been put out to see it slackened.
She worked hard in the schoolroom because she had a natural aptitude for learning and she liked everyone to know how clever she was. She wanted to be first in everything. There was no doubt that she was the most beautiful child any of them had ever seen; but she wanted also to be the cleverest. True, she had to work a little harder to achieve that, but she was purposeful and made a point of getting what she wanted.
There was a great deal of talk about Richard Cœur de Lion, who was Duke of Aquitaine of which the Angoumois was a part. She learned that Richard was a great fighter. He had left his country to go to the Holy Land in an effort to restore Jerusalem to the Christians and the world seemed to think he was some sort of hero saint. Not so her father. He hated Richard.
Isabella used to listen to the talk between her father and mother, for she was allowed to go into their bedchamber in the morning and sit on the bed while they gloated on their beautiful child. This appealed to her greatly; she lapped up their admiration but at the same time she liked to keep her ears open for interesting gossip and they were not entirely discreet before her, thinking her too young to understand. But although she was young she could always store up these comments and brood over them later and ask naïve questions which very often gave her the answer she needed.
Isabella liked to know what was going on.
According to her father, Richard was an arrogant overlord, and a king who left his kingdom to go to another land to fight – even in a holy cause – was not a good one and a bad king was not a good duke. Therefore, Aquitaine was ill-governed and the Count of Angoulême was not going to swear allegiance to such a man. He preferred to do so to the King of France.
Of course the Countess was in agreement with her husband. She was always ready to lean towards what was French, which was natural enough since that was the country of her birth.
There was always a great deal of talk about the Lusignans, an important family who lived in Poitou which bordered on the Angoumois. At one time this family had been bitter enemies of the dukes of Normandy but they were great crusaders, and in the Holy Land they had come into contact with Richard Cœur de Lion. In a common interest, the enmity had disappeared and during the Holy War Guy de Lusignan and Richard Cœur de Lion had become such close friends that Richard had supported Guy’s claim to the crown of Jerusalem – when it should be regained – against the King of France who had supported Conrad de Montferrat. Guy and Richard had fought side by side, and as a result their friendship had strengthened and this had extended to the whole family. Thus the Lusignans of Angoulême were supporting a different side from their close neighbour in the perennial quarrel between the kings of France and England. There was another reason for rivalry and disagreement between them. Both families coveted the rich territory know as La Marche which lay to the east of the Angoumois.
Richard had been secretly pleased that the desire to possess La Marche kept those two powerful families suspicious of each other and therefore turned their thoughts from planning forays into neighbouring Anjou.
When Richard had died, Hugh de Lusignan, the eldest son of the House, had with great temerity managed to capture Queen Eleanor while she was out riding one day and with even greater daring had declared to her his intentions of keeping her prisoner until she gave him La Marche.
With Richard dead and all her tact and skill needed to put John on the throne, Eleanor had given way and had bought her freedom for the surrender of La Marche.
The Count of Angoulême was angry that Hugh de Lusignan had that which he had coveted; he had to be placated and the Lusignans had had the clever notion that the best way of settling their differences was by a marriage contract.
Hugh was in his twenties – a young man of pride and strength, worthy to be the head of his house. The Count of Angoulême had a daughter. She was not yet twelve years old, it was true, but her lack of years could soon be remedied. With every passing week she grew nearer to maturity and it was only a matter of waiting a year or so before she would be ready for matrimony.