The three men met in Winchester: Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester, Randulph de Blundervill, Earl of Chester, and Falkes de Breauté; and the subject of their discourse was Hubert de Burgh and how to curb his growing power.

‘He thinks there will be nothing to stop him now,’ observed Peter de Roches. ‘Each day he grows more in the King’s favour.’

‘The King is a child,’ growled Chester. ‘It is a matter of whose hands he falls into. It is you, my lord Bishop, who should be his governor and controller.’

‘De Burgh has ever worked against me,’ murmured the Bishop.

‘This cannot be allowed to go on,’ replied Chester.

‘Perhaps we could make the King our prisoner,’ suggested Falkes. ‘We could catch him when he was riding … surround him by our men … and then … he would be ours to command.’

The Bishop shook his head. ‘If that could be, I doubt not it would be an excellent way of dealing with the situation, but to take the King by force would be called treason … rebellion … or some such name. The people would not endure it. They would want our heads on spikes over the bridge. We must work more secretly.’

Falkes de Breauté looked disappointed. He was fascinated by violence and he saw himself running his sword through the bodies of the guard while he told the young King that all would go well with him if he came quietly.

‘It would seem,’ went on the Bishop, ‘that de Burgh is the richest man in the kingdom. He has done well through his marriages.’

‘One thing I’ll say for him,’ added de Breauté with a smirk, ‘the women like him.’

‘He has an ingratiating manner,’ murmured the Bishop, ‘and this has won him the heart of the King.’

‘And those of his wives!’ added Chester. ‘The Scottish Princess is the fourth … his only virgin. The rest were widows.’

‘He has a fancy for widows,’ said de Breauté.

‘A wise fancy,’ put in Chester, ‘for a widow will often have her husband’s fortune as well as that which may come to her through her own family.’

‘So it was,’ said the Bishop. ‘The daughter of the Earl of Devon, and widow of William Brewer, brought him wealth; then there was Beatrice, Lord Bardulf’s widow, and then he had the temerity to marry John’s cast-off wife Hadwisa of Gloucester, who by that time was the widow of the Earl of Essex.’

‘John took a considerable bite out of her fortune but she still had much left to help fill the coffers of shrewd Hubert,’ commented Chester.

‘I wonder how she liked Hubert after John,’ asked Breauté with a sly smile.

‘By all accounts she found the change agreeable,’ said the Bishop. ‘But she died as all his widows did, and my point is that there was not one marriage which did not bring him benefit. Now he has made the best of them all – he is brother to the King of Scotland, being his sister’s husband.’

‘You may judge a man by his marriages,’ said Chester. ‘De Burgh’s have shown him to be a wise man with a taste for wealth.’

‘It would be well if the people realised this,’ said the Bishop. ‘At this time they are pleased with their young King and the Justiciar’s rule. He has subdued the robbers and if his punishments are severe, he would say – and many would be with him – that this is the only way to keep the law effective. It will not be difficult, though, to rouse the people against him. He has served the country they might say, but it must be made known to them that in doing so, he has made himself very rich. You all know that the best way to arouse the mob against any one man is to tell them that he has so much more than they have. They will accept a man’s lechery, cruelty … his acts of expediency … but arouse their envy and they will be ready to bring him down. The people want justice in the land; they want law and order; they want to rid the country of those they call the foreigners, and methinks, gentlemen, that we should all of us fit into that category. They hate all this but their envy will be greater than their love of their country. So we will rouse the people against de Burgh. We will tell them that he is the richest man in England. He has just brought himself more advantage by marrying the Princess of Scotland. Arouse the people’s envy and in due course they will bring him down.

The three men looked at each other and nodded.

They knew there was truth in the Bishop’s words.


* * *

In the taverns the people of London whispered together; they walked along by the river and talked of the influence the Justiciar had over the young King. The Justiciar was the richest man in England. He governed the King and lined his own pockets. The servants of Falkes de Breauté and the Earl of Chester mingled with merchants and apprentices and asked them and each other why the people endured this state of affairs.

It was always the same when there was a young King on the throne, they pointed out. Ambitious men sought to rule through them; and their rule was to fill their own coffers and the devil take the man or woman in the streets.

So the resentment grew against Hubert de Burgh and when he rode out with the King there was hostility in the silence which greeted them; there was an occasion when someone threw a stone at the Justiciar. One of Hubert’s servants caught the man and his punishment was severe – the loss of the right hand which had thrown the stone.

A bitter reward, said many, for that which others would have the inclination to do had they been on the spot.

One of the principal citizens, Constantine FitzAthulf, called meetings in his house and there he with others plotted the overthrow of the King and planned to send a message to Prince Louis at the French Court asking him to come back to England where he would find the people of London ready to welcome him.

As a result there was rioting in the streets of London and Constantine marched at the head of a band of men shouting ‘Montjoie. God and our Lord Louis to the rescue.’

But the majority of the people, while they wished to remove the Justiciar, had no desire to bring the French back to England. This had not been the intention of Falkes de Breauté and his friends. All they wanted was to keep the King where he was but change his advisers so that they could step into the shoes of Hubert de Burgh and in doing so rob him of his power and riches. For this reason there was little support for the rioters of London and in a short time they were routed and Constantine FitzAthulf and other leaders captured and thrown into prison.

Hubert was deeply disturbed. He must rid himself of Constantine and Hubert believed that he deserved to be condemned to the traitor’s death for if ever a man was a traitor to his King that man was Constantine. Hubert paused though, for he knew how unwise it would be to anger the people of London even more so than they were at this time.

He kept the men in prison while he wrestled with the problem; and in the end it was Falkes – the very man who had provoked the rebellion – who came to Hubert and offered to hang Constantine, assuring all who would listen to him that the last thing he wanted was to depose the King. He took Constantine and his friends across the river and in a quiet spot hanged them.

This did not mean that Falkes and his friends had ended their attacks on the Justiciar. They had no intention of doing this until they had rid the country of him.

They met again and Falkes put forward a plan for seizing the Tower of London. The Bishop of Winchester stressed the difficulties of bringing this about; and suggested that it would be better if they formed a deputation and called on the King, when the Justiciar was absent and pointed out the true nature of Hubert de Burgh and the need for him to rid himself of him.

The Bishop thought this was an excellent plan. They would come to Westminster and there Henry would receive them. He would be unprepared for what they would say to him and they had no doubt that, since he was little more than a child, they could win him to their point of view and get a promise from him to turn Hubert de Burgh from his office.

They chose their moment and the Bishop’s presence secured them an immediate audience with the King.

It was the first time Henry had received a deputation without having had either William Marshal, Stephen Langton or Hubert de Burgh beside him to tell him what he must do.

It was the Bishop of Winchester who addressed him and presented Falkes de Breauté and the Earl of Chester to him.

‘Your humble servants, most gracious lord,’ murmured the Bishop.

Henry inclined his head and bade them rise for they were kneeling before him which while it gratified him made him feel a little awkward. He told them they might be seated. They were so much taller than he was while they stood, which he found disconcerting.

‘You have missed the Justiciar,’ said Henry. ‘He is not in London this day.’

‘It was our purpose to miss him, my lord,’ answered the Bishop. ‘It was our King with whom we wished to speak.’

‘Say on,’ said Henry, beginning to feel more important with every passing second, which was exactly their intention.

‘It has long been apparent to us,’ said the Bishop, ‘that you, our King, have been endowed with wisdom beyond your years, and we feel the time has come for you to take a more active part in affairs. You have no need to be constantly attended by your wet nurse.’

‘My … wet nurse … you mean Hubert …’

‘We are of the opinion that the Justiciar believes you still to be in swaddling clothes. He guides your tottering baby steps, does he not, my lord?’

Henry flushed. ‘You are mistaken,’ he said angrily.