But first it had to be brought about. Jacob van Arteveldt was in agreement with Edward when the matter was broached with him and he assured Edward that he could win the support of the main towns whose consent would be necessary. He had brought the people of Flanders to his side with his eloquence and honesty and he could do so again for he sincerely believed that union with England was the best hope for Flanders.

Delighted Edward summoned his son and explained to him what he hoped for. Young Edward, eager to fight beside his father, was excited at the prospect. Indeed he was chafing against the delay in getting to France and wresting the crown from Philip and placing it where he believed it belonged, on his father’s head, and he knew that in time that should mean on his, too.

‘We must prepare to leave at once for Flanders,’ said the King, ‘but without too much noise. It should not be known what is in our minds until the Flemings send to us to welcome us into Flanders. We want no trouble from our enemies. I trust van Arteveldt with all my heart and he will let us know as soon as his countrymen are ready to receive us. My plan is to take very few men with us. We will ride quietly to Sandwich and there take ship. The Swallow will be waiting for us. But remember, my son, quiet is the word. I have told your mother and a few others, no more. Now prepare.’

Philippa had listened to the project with a certain apprehension. It meant that the peaceful months were at an end. Heartily as she wished that Edward would abandon his project for the conquest of France she said nothing; but a little sadly said good-bye to her husband and son, and on the last day of June the two Edwards set out on the journey for Sandwich.

The following day they embarked on the Swallow.

Jacob van Arteveldt, however, was finding it was not as easy as he had thought. When he had first arisen the citizens of the main Flanders towns—Bruges, Ghent and Ypres—had welcomed him as their saviour. He was one of them; he was a good honest workman, a man of ideals and the courage to present them; an honest man; a leader of stature. Perhaps he had been a little too hopeful. Perhaps he had set his dreams of prosperity too high. The fact remains that a great deal of what he had promised had not come to pass.

He talked to the people in market squares. They were dissatisfied with their Count who worked against them with the French but, they wanted to know, why should they exchange him for a foreigner, an English boy of whom they knew nothing? No, they would keep what they had. Who could say which might be the lesser of two evils?

Meanwhile Edward and his son remained on board the Swallow in Slays awaiting the call from van Arteveldt. It was long in coming but Edward was certain of Jacob’s influence with the people and he believed it would come in time. He had forgotten that it was a long time since he had been in Flanders and reputations such as that of Jacob van Arteveldt, acquired so hastily can evaporate with equal speed.

Jacob’s success in Ghent had aroused a great deal of envy among his fellow citizens. Who is this man who sets himself up to be our leader? they were asking. He is only one of us. What has he that we haven’t?

He was an excellent business man. He had acquired a small fortune. But who was he to dictate what Flanders should do?

Then the whispers came. He was working with the English. He wanted to depose the Count and set up the son of the King of England in his place. He wanted to choose their rulers. He was a traitor, wasn’t he?

When Jacob returned to Ghent they were waiting for him. He sensed their hostility immediately. He saw murderous looks directed in his direction so he made haste to his house and once there barricaded himself in.

It seemed that no sooner had he done this than the mob was at his door. He heard them shouting for him to come out and he knew that if they were determined they would, in time, break down his doors. It was an ugly mob.

It was his eloquence which had won them in the first place so he would try it again. He went to the topmost window of his house and looked down on the crowd.

Some of them carried clubs and others had picked up whatever article they could find to act as a weapon. He realized that they hated him now as fiercely as they had once loved him. Such was the emotion of the mob.

He opened a window and called to them to let him speak. ‘My friends and countrymen,’ he cried, ‘will you listen to me ...’

But they could not hear him to great was the noise they made

‘Come down and face us, Jacob,’ they chanted. ‘We will show you what we will do with you.’

‘Have you not prospered of late?’ he shouted. ‘Have I not made it easier for you to sell your goods? Did I not arrange ...’

But he could see it was useless. They had not come to listen. They had come to destroy him.

Several of them were climbing up the side of the house. ‘I can bring you prosperity,’ he cried.

But they could not hear. They did not want prosperity at this moment. They only wanted to satisfy their lust for revenge on one of their own kind who had risen far above them, who had set out to be a leader and who made contracts with kings.

A hand reached out and grabbed his arm. He was half way out of the window. Other hands seized him and pulled him down to the ground.

They were trampling on him; they were kicking him. They were raining blows on him.

It has all been in vain, he thought.

And so he died.


* * *

Eagerly awaiting a message from Jacob van Arteveldt, making his preparations for his and his son’s entry into Ghent, Edward received the messenger.

He could not believe what he heard.

Van Arteveldt dead! Murdered by the people of Ghent. But he was a man who had done so much for Flanders. Murdered. It was impossible.

‘‘Tis so, my lord,’ replied the messenger and told the King how the people of Ghent had turned against Jacob because he wanted to set a foreign Prince over them and how they had clubbed him to death.

Edward was subdued.

‘He was a good man,’ he said. ‘He was a man who served his country well and would have gone on doing so. An honest man, rare in these days.’

He saw it was the end of a dream.

He rewarded the messenger and dismissing him, summoned his son.

‘You see, Edward, how in this life that which we thought to be within our grasp will often elude us. We should never count on anything until we hold it in our hands.’

‘Should we not go and avenge the death of this good friend, Father?’ asked the Prince.

The King shook his head.

‘Jacob is dead. Nothing can bring him back. We are engaged on a war to win the crown of France. We cannot involve ourselves in minor wars which would divert us from our purpose. I had hoped to attack with the Flemings beside me. Now we will forget that and start from another point.’

‘What shall we do now?’

‘My son, we shall return to England. There we shall prepare ourselves for a mighty campaign against the French.’


* * *

There should be no more delay.

He would depend on none but himself. The next months should be spent in preparation and this time next year he would be in France with the finest army he could muster.

Thank God for the truce! Preparation time. It should be well spent.

Philippa was delighted to see them back. She mourned the death of Jacob van Arteveldt, a man whom she had greatly admired; she wondered about his son Philip who had been her godson. ‘Poor fatherless boy,’ she said. ‘And Jacob was such a good man. Why cannot people understand that such as he did not seek honours for themselves but only the good of their country?’

She was glad though that she had her husband and son back if it was to be only a short respite. She had not wanted young Edward to take the title of Duke in Flanders. Men like her husband could never see how dearly such honours were bought and that the world would be happier without them.

Now throughout England workshops were busy. Bows and arrows were being made in their thousands. The blacksmiths shops throughout the country rang with activity; they were making horse-trappings for the horses which would go to war. Carpenters and tentmakers were working full speed, and this brought prosperity to the country.

Every man knew what they were working for. It was for the excursion into France. It was to set the crown of France on the head of Edward Plantagenet for, every Englishman believed, that was where it rightly belonged. Was not their King’s mother a daughter of a King of France and had not her brothers died ... every one of them? The French said that no woman could inherit the crown of France. That was their Salic law. Well why shouldn’t a woman’s son inherit? In any case this was what they wanted to believe and they were going to believe it.

Their Edward was the true King of France not Philip of Valois. And they were going to fight to give him what was his by right.

By the following summer there was an army of twenty thousand men ready to follow the King to France. And each day they practised with their bows. They were determined to be the finest archers England had ever known. Lance, sword and battle-axe. They would know how to use them against the French when the great day came.


* * *

Philippa hid her grief at parting. She was once more pregnant or she would have gone with the King to France.

She smiled tenderly on her husband who was now so eager to be gone. He was certain of victory; it was characteristic of him that he should be. Again it seemed to her that he had never really grown up, a trait which often served him well. His unfailing optimism had carried him through many a difficult situation. Edward always believed in victory and he had the gift of making others believe in it too; and when his dreams failed to come true he never brooded on their failure; he began the next campaign. Thus cheated of the dukedom of Flanders he turned his efforts to the crown of France.

Fondly he embraced Philippa. ‘I leave you, my love,’ he said, ‘regent of this realm. The Earl of Kent will stand beside you. And Lionel shall be Guardian of the Realm.’

Lionel who was summoned to the King’s presence listened gravely to his father’s injunctions. It sounded wonderful to be Guardian of the Realm. He did not quite understand what it meant but it was something to boast of to his brothers and sisters and it gave him a chance to score over Isabella who always thought she was the most important person in the family because she was their father’s favourite.

When he asked his mother what he would have to do she reassured him by telling him only what she told him to. He might have to sit at meetings and when he did so remember that he must keep quiet and try to listen, or seem as if he were listening.

That did not seem insuperable and was a great comfort to the eight-year-old boy.

So they said good-bye to the King and Prince Edward, and the Regency had begun.

Shortly afterwards the Queen went to Windsor for her lying in and very soon gave birth to her daughter Margaret.


* * *

Prince Edward stood on deck with his friends William de Montacute, who had become the Earl of Salisbury on the death of his father, and Sir John Chandos. He admired John Chandos more than anyone he knew and he was proud of his friendship with him. John being older than he was had taught him a great deal and he seemed to the Prince the perfect knight. He was brave yet gentle; he hated oppressing the weak and showed no fear of the strong. Edward delighted in his company. He felt differently towards William de Montacute who was two years older than he was and inclined to stress the superior wisdom of seniority. Moreover there had been a certain rivalry between them over the fascinating Joan of Kent who, at the joust of the Round Table, had played one against the others, with Thomas Holland in spite of his being of lesser rank seeming to be the favoured one. But perhaps that was just Joan’s perversity.

Both William de Montacute and Edward had yet to attain knighthood and this was their immediate ambition. The Prince was envious of William for he was to command the landing of the first batch of the invaders—a task which Edward had thought his father might have given to him.

William was preening himself, determined to make a success of it and listening to the advice given by John Chandos.