Chapter VI: The Last Years of Henry II (3)

[1322] He had given solemn directions to that effect, when he
thought himself dying at La Motte-de-Ger, in 1170. _Gesta Hen._
(Stubbs), vol. i. p. 7.

[1323] _Hist. de Guill. le Mar._, vv. 9229–9244 (as above). For
the prophecy and its application see _Gesta Hen._ (Stubbs),
vol. ii. p. 55, and Rog. Howden (Stubbs), vol. ii. pp. 356, 367.

None of the dead king’s friends had thought it necessary to wait for any instructions from his heir. The marshal, however, had sent to apprise Richard of his father’s death, and delayed the burial long enough to give him an opportunity of attending it if he chose to do so. The other barons were in great dread of meeting the future king against whom they had been in arms; and several of them were even more anxious for the marshal than for themselves, for they could not but imagine that Richard’s heaviest vengeance would fall upon the man who had unhorsed and all but killed him at Le Mans. More than one of them offered to place himself and all his possessions at the service of the comrade whom they all held in such reverence, if thereby anything could be done to save him from Richard’s wrath. But he only answered quietly: “Sirs, I do not repent me of what I did. I thank you for your proffers; but, so help me God, I will not accept what I cannot return. Thanks be to Him, He has helped me ever since I was made a knight; I doubt not He will help me to the end.”[1324] Before nightfall Richard overtook them.[1325] He came, it seems, alone. Vainly did the bystanders seek to read his feelings in his demeanour; he shewed no sign of either grief or joy, penitence or wrath; he “spoke not a word, good or bad,”[1326] but went straight to the church and into the choir, where the body lay.[1327] For awhile he stood motionless before the bier;[1328] then he stepped to the head, and looked down at the uncovered face.[1329] It seemed to meet his gaze with all its wonted sternness; but there were some who thought they saw a yet more fearful sight--a stream of blood which flowed from the nostrils, and ceased only on the departure of the son who was thus proclaimed as his father’s murderer.[1330] Richard sank upon his knees; thus he remained “about as long as one would take to say the Lord’s Prayer;”[1331] then he rose and, speaking for the first time, called for William the Marshal. William came, accompanied by a loyal Angevin baron, Maurice of Craon. Richard bade them follow him out of the church; outside, he turned at once to the marshal: “Fair Sir Marshal, you had like to have slain me; had I received your spear-thrust, it would have been a bad day for both of us!” “My lord,” answered William, “I had it in my power to slay you; I only slew your horse. And of that I do not repent me yet.” With kingly dignity Richard granted him his kingly pardon at once;[1332] and on the morrow they stood side by side while Henry Fitz-Empress was laid in his grave before the high altar by Archbishop Bartholomew of Tours.[1333]

[1324] _Hist. de Guill. le Mar._, vv. 9245–9290 (_Romania_,
vol. xi. pp. 67, 68).

[1325] The _Gesta Hen._ (Stubbs), vol. ii. p. 71, make Richard
meet the corpse on its way; and Rog. Howden (Stubbs), vol. ii.
p. 367, follows the _Gesta_. But the _Hist. de Guill. le Mar._
and Gir. Cambr. _De Instr. Princ._, dist. iii. c. 28 (Angl.
Christ. Soc., p. 157) both distinctly say that he met it at
Fontevraud. The other version is intrinsically most improbable,
for Richard can hardly have been coming from anywhere else than
Tours, and in that case he could not possibly meet the funeral
train on its way from Chinon to Fontevraud. That he should
reach Fontevraud some hours after it, on the other hand, is
perfectly natural; and this is just what Gerald and the French
_Life_ imply; for they both tell us that the funeral started
from Chinon on the day after the death--_i.e._ Friday, July
7--and Gerald (as above, p. 158) implies that the actual burial
took place the day after Richard’s arrival, while in the _Vita
Galfr._, l. i. c. 5 (Brewer, vol. iv. p. 372), he seems to
place it on the Saturday, July 8. See Bishop Stubbs’s preface
to Rog. Howden, vol. ii. p. lxix, note 1. One of the MSS. of
Mat. Paris, _Chron. Maj._ (Luard, vol. ii. p. 344, note 8) has
a curiously different version of Richard’s behaviour on the
occasion.

[1326] _Hist. de Guill. le Mar._, vv. 9294–9298, 9300 (p. 68).

[1327] Gir. Cambr. _De Instr. Princ._ as above.

[1328] _Hist. de Guill. le Mar._, vv. 9299, 9300 (as above).

[1329] _Ib._ v. 9301. Gir. Cambr. _De Instr. Princ._ and _Vita
Galfr._ as above.

[1330] Gir. Cambr. _De Instr. Princ._, dist. iii. c. 28 (Angl.
Christ. Soc., p. 157); _Vita Galfr._, l. i. c. 5 (Brewer, vol.
iv. p. 372). _Gesta Hen._ (Stubbs), vol. i. p. 71.

[1331] Gir. Cambr. as above.

[1332] _Hist. de Guill. le Mar._, vv. 9304–9344 (_Romania_,
vol. xi. pp. 68, 69).

[1333] The day is given by Gir. Cambr. _De Instr. Princ._ as
above (p. 158), and _Vita Galfr._ as above; the name of the
officiating prelate by R. Diceto (Stubbs), vol. ii. p. 65.
Bartholomew was assisted by Archbishop Fulmar of Trier (_ibid._)