The Throne of Kings

[Desiderata]

I remember it was very late one evening when the King and the Chamberlain both came to the Throne Room. The King had been married for just over a month and the celebrations had lasted 2 weeks, which seemed an inordinately long time to drink and eat. During the whole time, the Chamberlain had watched over the court like an eagle.

“My Lord, thank you for agreeing to meet with me at a time, when I am sure you would rather by elsewhere.” said the Chamberlain softly.

“It’s fine George; but if we can get this over and done with as soon as possible. I have a warm bed waiting for me.” replied the King, yawning and stretching “What is it that demands that we meet at this ungodly time of night?”

“Of course Sire. We have a problem with Lord Gilbert.” announced the Chamberlain.

The King stopped in mid-stretch, his arms still high above his head and looked the Chamberlain straight in the face, “What kind of problem?”

“I have had him watched and I’ve personally observed him during the feasting. At night he had regular meetings with the emissary from Arragon, but during the day they hardly spoke a single word together.” explained the Chamberlain “This led me to wonder why they should act like this. So I did some checking around. Gilbert is badly in debt; he has gambling problem that he tries and fails to keep in check and this is becoming a problem. I’d like to call Hugh, he’s been doing some digging around in his returns and has uncovered something.”

“Hmmm, are you sure that Hugh can be trusted?” asked the King

The Chamberlain lent back in his chair and looked earnestly at the King, “Sire, as you know the Exchequer has grown well with Hugh’s guiding hand and he has shown himself to be a man whose loyalty to you and the Kingdom has become a matter of regard for other nobles.”

“This much is true; your counsel in choosing him for the post was wise old friend. Bring him in.”

The Chamberlain stood and moved over to the door, opening it slightly he whispered to a guard outside and in a short time the Chancellor came in carrying several very large ledgers, which he set down on the table after bowing deeply to the King.

The Chamberlain nodded to the Chancellor and indicated that he should speak.

The Chancellor opened the two ledgers in front of him with a flourish of his hands “My Liege, it would appear as though Lord Gilbert’s returns are mystical indeed. I have here the ledgers of money he has used and money he has received. The latter, his purchase ledger and the former his sales ledger. Now..”

“Hugh, spare me the minutiae of the exact names for this and that and save me from any long convoluted explanation of the monies. My brain is not equipped to deal with that; it was after all, why you were given the job.” cut in the King.

“As you command” the Chancellor bowed, almost scrapping his forehead on the table “But to have some understanding of the problem, a little explanation is required.”

“Oh god I though you might say that. Ok, but keep it simple and above all, short.” The King protested.

“Certainly Sire. As I was saying this red ledger here is for money received from taxes, tributes, etc for the province and this black ledger is for money spent on such things as improvements, wages, bribes to officials and so forth” the Chancellor was beginning to warm to his theme as the Chamberlain cut in.

“You mean we record bribes? Isn’t that, well, a bit bloody stupid?”

A benign smile slinked its way across the Chancellor’s face, “It would be George, if we wrote down ‘bribe to gatekeeper of Florence castle’, but of course we don’t. We record those as campaign expenses or some such. Now my Liege, we know who much money was in the treasurer of each province at the beginning of the year, we know how much money was spent and how much money was received and at the end of the year the books should balance.”

“And do they?” asked the King, clearly bored with the topic already.

“Yes Sire and that’s very unusual.” The Chancellor said with an air of finality.

The King and the Chamberlain looked blankly at each other, clearly bemused and befuddled.

“Why?” they asked in unison.

The Chancellor’s smile now threatened to split his head in two, “My Lords; the borders of our great country are secure, as are the towns within. However, there are many areas within where traders are loath to go. Lawlessness and crime are so high in some areas, that merchants use the services of private armies to protect their stock and wealth. Farmers continually underestimate the amount of stock that they have and how much their crops will yield in any given harvest. Dock workers are often bribed to underwrite the value of items going in and out of ships, to avoid taxes and duties. Traders and artisans are like bloated leeches on the body of the state, sucking money out and producing inferior goods all the time. A prime example Sire, if I may be so bold, is your throne.”

The King immediately sat straighter and the Chamberlain’s eyes nearly landed on his lap he was so surprised by the sheer audacity.

The Chancellor felt sufficiently emboldened to go, “The old Jew has basically screwed you. The Throne would have cost 250 florins had you paid straight away; however, we are committed to a contract that will last in perpetuity and likely as not cost many more times than that. It is symptomatic of corruption across the kingdom Sire and means that provincial ledgers rarely balance one year to the next. So to have a province with returns that do balance, indicates a governor clever enough to be able to take money, but not so clever as to make sure that his tracks are covered.”

The Chamberlain’s face had become crimson and thunderous clouds had gathered over the Kings head. The throne room fell quiet for some minutes, as each were lost in their thoughts; the King no doubt thinking through his best options for removing the embezzling Gilbert and the Chamberlain of various torture methods that could be used on the old jeweler.

“Options?” the King commanded in a voice laden with dread and portent.

It was Hugh D’ Gascoigne who spoke first, quietly and assertively “We have a number of options Sire. We could try the man for treason, have him met an accident, send him on a suicide mission against another country, for example the Almohad or we could bring him here for discussions over the exact nature of his embezzlement. Of course, his tongue would need to be loosened by judicious use of the rack. Each has option has its pros and cons. He is well respected and a trial would be difficult to find a case for treason, but it would send a clear message of the strength of the Crown. An accident would appear too convenient and may cause discontent within his province; his men are very loyal to him. A suicide mission opens the possibility of open conflict against a much stronger army, which we could neither afford to maintain an army required and would impact on our very profitable trade. A discussion here would prompt questions to be asked in the outlying provinces and the governors may decide that their fate would be better served within the purview of another nation Sire.”

“George, what are your thoughts?” the King asked the Chamberlain, who was still busy on devising more methods to exact revenge on Elijah.

The Chamberlain stroked his beard and nodded slowly, “I agree with your options Hugh and thoughts on the possibilities, but there are there are two further options Sire. We could bring him here with his family. Rather than stretch his neck, I have a quiet word in his ear. I will tell him that we know he has embezzled the kingdom and should he take any further stupid actions it will be his daughter that meets her fate and not him. Or we could strip him of his office. That could have the same effect as trying him for treason, except the bugger will still be alive and able to cause problems. I favour bringing him here Sire.”

Hugh D’ Gascoigne listened intently and bowed his head towards the Chamberlain, “Rather as you did with me, but without the threat George?” he said a quiet voice devoid of feeling.

“Correct” said the King with an air of finality “But in your case, you had valuable talents and these have saved your neck. Gilbert has none that I can see. Unfortunately, I was lumbered with him from my Father, who had a very very short list of potential governors. Thankful this list is growing, as we trade there are more people coming to the fore who are more able than others to govern. This is what we shall do. Bring Gilbert here; say that I wish to meet with him in secret to discuss ideas on how we may strengthen our alliance with our southern neighbors. At the same, let it slip to the Spanish emissary that Gilbert has been planning with the Arragonese, discussing how they may increase their holdings in the Catalan region. At the same time, let the emissary know that we are not best pleased with this and our alliance with them remains as strong as ever. Keep only a notional guard around Gilbert when he arrives; remember Gilbert is here to have covert discussions. If I know old Rodriguez, he will have had Gilbert followed and know as much as we do about his intrigue and should take the bait and have the problem removed for us during a hunting trip that Gilbert will take on his fourth day.”

The King stood, “ Now gentleman, if you don’t mind I have a wife to see about an heir. Oh and George, have a chat with the old Jew; in your own way and time. Good work Hugh, you are repaying me and the country well.”

The Chamberlain’s face lit up, he bowed his head with over mock formality and left after the King, the Chancellor stood and bowed from his waist but stayed behind. His face was a over boiled with two competing emotions; pride in a job well done and anger at having his suspicions about the King and the Chamberlain confirmed. For a long time he sat there, occasionally looking around and then staring at the ledgers, the table or at an undefined point of space. The rest of the castle was quiet, still and little could be heard; the soft sound of two people laughing that came from the Kings bedchamber, the intermittent sound of a guard patrolling the corridors. When the Chancellor did get up to leave, he did as though he had aged 30 years in that short meeting; his shoulders were slumped, his gait unsteady and body weary.

So this was how the fate of men could be decided; coldly and sandwiched between things of more importance. I well remember that King’s tone; final, cold and decisive. He was man who was used to orders being followed without questions, of sending men in to the thick of battle knowing that they could well die as a result. It chilled me to the core.
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edit for typos