The Throne of Kings

[Desiderata]

The doors to the Throne Room were thrown open and the King stomped in shouting obscenities, some so coarse and vulgar that my gilt started to curl at the sides. I had heard mutterings that he had a loud and violent temper, but had never seen it.

“Those bloody stupid f***ing ba*****d cr***ing Arragonese” he truly was in a foul temper. Relations with Arragon had grown frosty over the last two years, firstly with the assassination of Lord Gilbert and then the Kings’ refusal to enter in to an alliance with them. Now it would appear that they had upped the ante somehow and the King was hopping mad. In fact, it wasn’t so much hopping as jumping up and down on the Arragonese flag that had been presented to his father. Following behind the King at a safe distance was the Chamberlain, the Chancellor and bringing up the rear, the now heavily pregnant Queen Inga.

The King’s tirade increased in volume, swearing down Death and Destruction to all Arragonese, questioning the parenthood of their king and causing my gilt to lift just a little more. As he stamped around the room, his advisors sat at the table and his Queen sat in her throne beside me. After a time, the King’s voice subsided to a dull roar, but still a very large dark cloud was across his face.

“Come my King, sat here beside me and let us discuss what has happened.” the Queen soothed.

Grabbing a goblet of wine, the King stalked over to me and threw himself down. The others waited for him to cool down and talk, not wanting to be the subject of his anger by interrupting his thoughts. Eventually the King finished his wine and gestured for more from a cowering servant who was as white as fresh snow.

“George, please tell everyone what news has been received from Aquitaine.” said the King in high dudgeon.

“We have just received word that the Arragonese successfully bribed and then took possession of the province. Apparently, the cost of this treachery was 4000 florins paid to the new Governor. They invaded with a force of 500, King Sancho II leading his troops with his son, in to our towns.” The Chamberlain spoke quietly, holding his anger in check.

With this news the King launched in to another tirade and again, the others waited for him to settle before they spoke.

“We shall take Aquitaine back. Tell the nobles to mass an army from each of our provinces; longbows from Wales, billmen from Mercia, hobilars from Wessex and the royal company of shield will march there and put there lands to the sword.” spat the King. The Chamberlain and Chancellor looked at each other and reddened.

“What is wrong with that? Come on you two, spit it out” shouted the King, infuriated no doubt by the furtive glances.

“Sire, these are affairs of state and of war, perhaps our war council should be convened to discuss all the options?” asked the Chamberlain, whilst tilting his head to the Queen.

“War council? What f***ing War Council?” the King seethed with anger and then looked directly at his two advisors “Do you mean that we should discuss this privately? Without the Queen being here?”

The Chamberlain went scarlet and mumbled apologetically “Sire, may I say in all candour and with no taint of disrespect to the Queen, but she is with child and these affairs are perhaps not for her delicate constitution at this time.”

“Sir, I stood by my father’s side whilst matters of state were discussed. I will stay and there will be no more of that said.” The Queen’s words were said with an icy chill. She was reminding the others, that her father’s empire was three times the size of English crown.

The King nodded at her words “So let’s get this army together and bash some Arragonese heads then!”

The Queen turned to her husband, leant in and spoke quietly “That could be a problem, we cannot send an army to Arragon from her. To do so, we must cross the Channel and as yet, the ports which would receive our men are not yet completed.”

The King swore another oath “Bugger it then, we’ll muster an army in France and send it to fight the French. My idiot brother can go and get some exercise; fat lazy indolent drunken swine.”

The Chamberlain nodded his head passionately, “Sire, this we can do and we should”

The Chancellor looked meekly at his hands resting on the table, the King and Chamberlain looked at him for his support to the plan, but ended up looking at the balding top of the financiers head.

“Well Hugh, what is your counsel?” asked the King. The Chancellor looked even more sheepishly at his hands and shrugged his shoulders. I could feel the King begin to stiffen once again, as though he would leap across the room at the throat of Hugh D’ Gascoigne.

The Chancellor coughed slightly and spoke quietly “Sire, unfortunately our treasurer is not as wealthy as we had hoped, the grain harvests have been down, trade has suffered from the storms in the channel and the ports in Northumbria, Wales and Wessex are yet to be completed. The loans we had to take out for the wedding feast are due to be repaid this year as well Sire. We could try and retake Aquitaine, but to take Arragon could bankrupt you Sire.”

Not a word was said. The King and Chamberlain stared at the Chancellor in icy silence. The Queen eventually broke the spell, “It is just like Saxony” she said.

The stares shifted towards the Queen, the King was now frowning so intently that his eyebrows were in danger of copulating on the bridge of his nose.

“My dear, what on earth are you talking about?” the King eventually asked in a voice laden with sarcasm.

“My father faced a very similar situation about 10 years ago my beloved husband. The Danes decided to invade and take over the province of Saxony; a region that was full of promise of trade wealth. It was also one our provinces that formed a bridge between the North and the Baltic Sea’s. When the Danes invaded, my father’s advisors were full of plans to retake the province, then go on and smash through Denmark; all except one quiet voice of reason, his Chancellor, Lord Disbalt. He quite rightly showed that to retake a province would many florins and to invade Denmark would cost us even more, as the Danes would fight like tigers to keep their capital and not be snuffed out of existence. He argued that a war can be profitable and can be thought of as an investment; it can take many years for the investment returns the money to repay the initial outlay. To have retaken Saxony and then invade Denmark would have cost my father too much; it was better to accept the loss of Saxony for a while and then retake it later, then to have reacted straight away and invaded and lost all of his regions as they rebelled. Of course, there’s always the Rome question as well.”

“Sorry; what damn Rome question?” asked the King

“The imbecile Prince of Rome, Pope Urban II. He was and is a lover of the underdog; albeit that the Danes invaded us first, had we reacted and retaken Saxony, then we could well have been excommunicated. Not a personal problem for Father, but it would have been a problem for our more zealous regions.” explained the Queen.

The King’s frown was now even more intense, “So your advice, is not to try and retake Aquitaine at all? But your Father holds Saxony and also Denmark. I remember that the Danes rebelled against their King, skewered his head on a pike and gave it to him as a present.”

The Queen smiled, it was the look of a hunter who has trapped their prey “Absolutely, it was cheaper for Father to send spies and assassins to send Saxony and Denmark in to turmoil. The Danish King had been very lax about border security and they slipped across easily; three years in the brewing and a civil war broke out when the Danish heir met an accident when hunting. The people rose up and the Danes were accepted in to the Holy Roman Empire as brothers. So my advice darling is this; to retake Aquitaine would cost you dearly, Urban II would probably excommunicate you and the French would no doubt seize the moment to take Normandy. To lose one province, Sire, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose your kingdom would be careless. This is statehood and real politik on a grand scale my love.”

The King’s face cleared of its frown, a smile crept up on him and jumped into it’s place, soon a chuckle burst from his lips and became a deep laugh. The Chancellor looked towards the Queen and bowed his head; the Chamberlain watched the exchange between the King and Queen and then smiled as he heard the Queen’s reasoning.

“So this is how I am to be taught statesmanship, by my wife, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor. Capital. My love, I follow your reasoning and I will follow your advice; but one day, Sancho’s head will adorn my castle walls, Aquitaine will be received back in to our fold and with it, Arragon.”
.........................

I may not be able to post an installment for about 6 days, as Im moving house soon. But when I do get my pc 'out to play', I'll add more then.