army. Men inflamed with holy zeal were bound to mistrust their commander’s pragmatism, and too often Richard had failed to take that into account. Would he have any more luck now in addressing what he saw as his uncle’s one major mistake since arriving in the Holy Land?
“Whilst it is true that to the French, this war is about you more than Saladin, that is not true when it comes to the poulains. To them, it is all about two men and only two men—Conrad of Montferrat and Guy de Lusignan. I think you erred in backing Guy, Uncle.” Seeing Richard’s head come up sharply, he said quickly, “I know you do not like to hear that. And I am not defending Conrad. He’ll never be a candidate for sainthood. But it is a crown he seeks, not a halo, and the very qualities that may damn him to Hell—his ruthlessness, his lack of scruples, his ambition—make him a good choice to rule over a troubled land like Outremer. The poulains see his flaws as well as you do. But they need a strong king, a man who will be able to defend his kingdom to the death if need be, and they trust Conrad as they cannot trust Guy. They know that Guy is a puppet king, your puppet, and he can be propped up only as long as you are here to support him. Once you leave, he’ll collapse like a punctured pig’s bladder, and that is why they have held ‘aloof ’ as you put it. Guy will never be forgiven for Ḥaṭṭīn, Uncle. It is as simple as that.”
“There is nothing ‘simple’ about life in Outremer,” Richard scoffed. But Henri was heartened by that relatively mild response, and he dared to hope he’d planted a seed that might eventually take root, for he was convinced that peace with the Saracens would not ensure the survival of Outremer—not if Guy de Lusignan was still its king on the day they departed its shores for their own homelands.
ON APRIL 15, Richard finally got a message from his chancellor, carried by the prior of Hereford. Soon thereafter, he met with Henri, the Earl of Leicester, and the Bishop of Salisbury, men who stood high in his confidence, and they remained secluded for much of the afternoon. By now Joanna and Berengaria had learned of the prior’s arrival, and they grew more and more uneasy as the hours passed. Richard had already gotten unwelcome news earlier in the week—word of a rebellion in Cyprus against the heavy-handed rule of the Templars. They had put down the revolt, but the situation on the island remained volatile; the Templars had made themselves quite unpopular, so this was just one more worry for Richard to deal with. The women fervently hoped that the news from England would not be troubling, too. They took turns reassuring each other that Eleanor was quite capable of maintaining peace in her son’s kingdom, but they both knew that Philippe’s return was akin to setting a wolf loose in a flock of defenseless sheep.
They’d been discussing whether to wait further or to seek Richard out; Berengaria did not want to risk interrupting his council and Joanna wanted to head straight for his tent. The debate was ended by Richard’s sudden arrival. One glance at his face and they both tensed, for it was as if they were looking at an engraved stone effigy, utterly devoid of expression.
“Good—you’re both here,” he said, and his voice, too, was without intonation.
“I’d not want to have to tell this twice. Send your ladies away.”
Once they were alone, Richard seemed in no hurry to unburden himself. He sat down on the edge of Berengaria’s bed, only to rise restlessly a moment later. By unspoken consent, both women remained quiet, waiting for him to begin. At last he said, “Prior Robert brought a rather remarkable letter from my chancellor . . . my former chancellor, I should say, since Longchamp was deposed and sent into exile last October. I’ll spare you the depressing details, for they do none of the participants much credit. My brother Geoff crossed over to Dover in mid-September and Longchamp saw that as a breach of his oath to remain out of England whilst I was gone, claiming not to believe that I had absolved Geoff of that oath. The chancellor was not in Dover at the time, but his sister is wed to the constable of Dover Castle and