The Passionate Enemies by Jean Plaidy Read Free Book Online Page B

since Windsor is within my diocese I claim the right to perform it.’
    â€˜And old, Ralph of Canterbury?’
    â€˜He is in his dotage. Nay, I’ll marry you here and there should be no delay, for the child the Queen gives you must be born within the correct space of time after the nuptials which have already taken place.’
    â€˜Oh, never fear. When she tells me she is with child, I’ll rejoice no matter if the child arrives a little soon for decency.’
    â€˜Then I will make all preparations for the ceremony,’ answered Roger.
    It was hardly to be expected that the Archbishop of Canterbury would stand by while Roger of Salisbury snatched his privileges from under his nose.
    Roger, who was an extremely ambitious man, was, however, determined not to lose one point in the battle for power. To marry the King and his new Queen would establish him in the eyes of the country as not only the most important man of the State – under the King, of course – but of the Church also.
    It had been before Christmas when the party had arrived at Windsor and the King wished the matter to be settled before the season’s celebrations began.
    â€˜My one concern,’ he said, ‘is that the ceremony be performed with expedition.’
    But by this time, the news that Roger of Salisbury was to perform the marriage ceremony had spread throughout the country and Ralph and his adherents began to raise their protests.
    The Archbishop’s envoy arrived and demanded an audience with the King. Henry was exasperated but realized the need to placate Ralph. ‘You must explain to the Archbishop,’ he said, ‘that I have made these arrangements because he partially lost his speech when he was overtaken by a fit which paralysed his lips to some extent and I believe that he would willingly forgo the irksome task of marrying us and that Roger, in his health and strength, would willingly perform the duty for him.’
    Ralph laughed this explanation to scorn. All knew of the ambitions of Roger of Salisbury. All knew that he was living openly with his mistress. It was not fitting that such a man who was living an immoral life should perform the marriage ceremony for the King and Queen, and moreover it was improper because to conduct such a ceremony was the prerogative of the Archbishop of Canterbury and no other.
    The King’s ill temper flared up. He was heartily tired of Archbishops who thought because they were head of the Church of England – under the Pope of course – that they ruled the land. He had come through one quarrel with his Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, and he was not going through another.
    Ralph immediately called an ecclesiastical council, the object of which was to decide whether the ceremony should be performed by the Bishop in whose diocese the royal pair were residing, or by the Archbishop of Canterbury who declared he had jurisdiction over all dioceses.
    Meanwhile the King chafed. He had devoted himself to Adelicia, taking no mistresses, and he daily expected to hear that she was with child. Delay irritated him.
    Adelicia was getting to know the Court. There was Stephen, the King’s nephew, a handsome and very charming man who was gracious to her; she liked his wife Matilda very much for she was gentle and pleasant and told Adelicia how well she understood the strangeness she must be feeling now.
    â€˜Stephen is a courteous gentleman and has never shownaught but kindness to me,’ Matilda told her, ‘but I well remember the first weeks of Court life after my marriage and how strange it all was after the Abbey where I was educated.’
    Adelicia replied that she too found it very strange, but the King was kind to her and she would in time grow as contented with her lot as Matilda was with hers.
    Matilda did not tell Adelicia how she was tormented by the infidelities of her husband as it seemed very likely the Queen would be in due course by those