‘What did the King say?’
‘That it would be best if I returned there while the Queen is in residence and that he had been meaning to speak with me.’
Jeanette looked down, concealing her triumph.
‘Besides,’ Katerine continued, lifting her chin in rallied pride, ‘the estates need tending – I have to speak with my stewards and factors. The King has given William leave of absence to escort us. We must make haste, for a ship has already been arranged. Perhaps it is no bad thing. There are rumours of a pestilence that is causing great sickness in the south, and it will be safer for us to retire to better air.’ She cast a malignant glance at Jeanette. ‘Who knows, perhaps it has already reached Avignon.’
After her initial delight that her mother-in-law had received short shrift from the King, Jeanette was unsettled. England was removed from the court, and from Thomas. If she was summoned to Avignon to give evidence, how would she manage it from England in the care of these women who would do all in their power to prevent her?
Talk of sickness frightened her too, lest Thomas and his mother were endangered. She could do nothing about it except pray, and she knew how fickle God could be.
25
Manor of Bisham, Berkshire, April 1347
The first day back at Bisham, Elizabeth appeared in Jeanette’s chamber with the usual cup of fertility tisane.
‘Pray God that this time he gets you with child before he returns to Calais,’ she said. ‘I bore my husband eleven children – four sons and seven daughters – and I will not have you diminish our line. You will drink this now.’
Jeanette jutted her chin. ‘Your prayers will go unanswered,’ she retorted. ‘He has no more interest in me than I have in him, and you cannot make barren ground fertile. The papal court will declare in my favour, and all your schemes will come to nothing.’ She snatched the potion from Elizabeth’s hand, and with her eyes fixed on her, drank it down, shuddering at the bitter taste. Then she handed back the empty cup. ‘You reap what you sow,’ Jeanette said, venomously.
Elizabeth’s hand flashed out, and connected hard with Jeanette’s cheek. ‘Be careful what you say to me, my dear,’ she said. ‘There is no one here to protect you now.’ Drawing a small knife from her belt, she rotated it in front of Jeanette’s face and then polished it on her sleeve.
Jeanette swallowed. ‘You are mad.’
‘All the more reason to remain on my good side,’ Elizabeth replied. ‘I hope I have made myself clear.’
Jeanette dug her fingernails into her palms. ‘Abundantly.’
‘Good. Then we shall wait and see. If you are not with child this time around, then you shall be the next because you will not thwart God’s will for ever.’
‘Neither will you,’ Jeanette said. She knew how to keep William at bay and he was no longer interested in her. Thomas would set the wheels rolling in Avignon and God willing they would prevail.
At the papal palace at Avignon, Thomas waited on a bench as he had waited so many days before. He had presented his petition to the Pope – a miracle that he had succeeded, but letters of commendation from Queen Philippa and Prince Edward had stood him in good stead, as had the presence of an attorney well versed in the dealings of the papal court. That he had fought on crusade and had scars to show for it was to his advantage, as was the fact that he had money and gifts to grease the wheels, including a magnificent black palfrey from the Holland stud herd.
Thomas had not been expecting a personal audience with Pope Clement, but he and his mother had been granted a place in the hall where the Pope dined on several occasions, and all exchanges had been cordial.
He watched a bar of warm April sunlight cross the tiled floor and stripe his boot and thought of Jeanette waiting for him in Calais. His mother, garbed in a dark gown and white wimple, sat quietly at his side, her rosary conspicuous at her belt, her fingers rubbing over and over upon the smooth brown beads. They had been here for a fortnight with their small entourage, staying in lodgings and waiting for a reply. Thomas had had to rein in his agitation and impatience. The papal court was likeany other court; the skill was not to make a fuss while not fading into obscurity – a subtle thing of body language and manners. He hoped his gift would find its mark, and that the case might intrigue Clement sufficiently for him to take an interest.
A door opened and Thomas’s attorney Robert Beverley emerged, clutching a sheaf of documents. He walked over to them, his dark robe swaying right and left. He was tall and robust, with a fluff of curly grey hair poking out from under his bonnet. His light brown eyes were sharp and shrewd for he had spent sufficient time at the papal curia to know its workings intimately.
‘May the Holy Virgin help us,’ Thomas heard his mother murmur as she crossed herself.
Thomas rose and faced the attorney, and hung by a thread as Beverley cleared his throat and drew breath.
‘His Eminence has agreed to hear your case, and has put it in the hands of Cardinal Robert Adhemar.’
Thomas let out his breath on a harsh gasp of ‘Praise God!’ He clapped the attorney’s arm before turning to embrace his mother.
‘This is only the beginning of a long process,’ Beverley warned. ‘The next task is to assemble the witness statements, and the witnesses themselves. They will be summoned to Avignon to speak, or to have their sworn testimony presented by me as your representative. Summons will be sent to the Montagu party so that they may make their own depositions, and the same for your lady wife. She will be required to appear in Avignon, or have an attorney to act in her stead.’
‘When are the depositions required?’ Thomas asked.
‘Cardinal Adhemar will expect all replies by the last day of December. I know it seems a long time when it is only spring now, but all must be done to the letter and the court has manycases to be heard from all Christian lands, and information must be gathered.’
Thomas swallowed his dismay. ‘How soon after that is a judgement likely to be reached?’
Master Beverley spread his hands. ‘I cannot say. It depends on any counter arguments from the Montagu family, and we must wait on that information. I would hope not more than a couple of months after that, but I can give you no guarantees. All I can say for now is that our position is strong, and I hope we shall win this case.’
