The Lady of the Rivers Read online

  THE

  LADY OF THE

  RIVERS

  By the same author

  The Cousins’ War

  The White Queen

  The Red Queen

  History

  The Women of the Cousins’ War:

  The Duchess, the Queen and the King’s Mother

  The Tudor Court Novels

  The Constant Princess

  The Other Boleyn Girl

  The Boleyn Inheritance

  The Queen’s Fool

  The Virgin’s Lover

  The Other Queen

  Historical Novels

  The Wise Woman

  Fallen Skies

  A Respectable Trade

  The Wideacre Trilogy

  Wideacre

  The Favoured Child

  Meridon

  Civil War Novels

  Earthly Joys

  Virgin Earth

  Modern Novels

  Mrs Hartley and the Growth Centre

  Perfectly Correct

  The Little House

  Zelda’s Cut

  Short Stories

  Bread and Chocolate

  First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2011

  A CBS COMPANY

  Copyright © Philippa Gregory, 2011

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

  No reproduction without permission.

  ® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

  The right of Philippa Gregory to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

  1st Floor

  222 Gray’s Inn Road

  London

  WC1X 8HB

  www.simonandschuster.co.uk

  Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney

  Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi

  A CIP catalogue record for this book

  is available from the British Library.

  ISBN HB 978-1-84737-459-2

  ISBN TPB 978-1-84737-460-8

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-85720-430-1

  Typeset by M Rules

  Printed in the UK by CPI Mackays, Chatham ME5 8TD

  For Victoria

  CONTENTS

  CASTLE OF BEAUREVOIR, NEAR ARRAS, FRANCE, SUMMER–WINTER 1430

  ROUEN, FRANCE, SPRING 1431

  CASTLE OF ST POL, ARTOIS, SPRING 1433

  PARIS, FRANCE, MAY 1433

  CASTLE OF CALAIS, FRANCE, JUNE 1433

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1433

  PENSHURST, AUTUMN 1433

  PARIS, FRANCE, DECEMBER 1434–JANUARY 1435

  GISORS, FRANCE, FEBRUARY 1435

  ROUEN, FRANCE, SEPTEMBER 1435

  ENGLAND, SUMMER 1436

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, AUTUMN 1436

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, AUTUMN 1436

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, AUTUMN 1436–1439

  LONDON, SUMMER 1441

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, OCTOBER 1441

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, WINTER 1441–1444

  NANCY, FRANCE, SPRING 1445

  TITCHFIELD ABBEY, HAMPSHIRE, SUMMER 1445

  LONDON, SUMMER 1445–1448

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, SUMMER 1449

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, SPRING 1450

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, SUMMER 1450

  LONDON, SUMMER 1450

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, SUMMER 1450

  PLYMOUTH, AUTUMN 1450–1451

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, AUTUMN 1451

  LONDON, SPRING 1452

  THE WEST OF ENGLAND, SUMMER 1452>

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, AUTUMN 1452

  PALACE OF PLACENTIA, GREENWICH, LONDON, CHRISTMAS 1452

  THE TOWER OF LONDON, SPRING 1453

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, SUMMER 1453

  CLARENDON PALACE, WILTSHIRE, SUMMER 1453

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, AUTUMN 1453

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, SPRING 1454

  WINDSOR CASTLE, SUMMER 1454

  WINDSOR CASTLE, WINTER 1454

  THE PALACE OF PLACENTIA, GREENWICH, LONDON, SPRING 1455

  HERTFORD CASTLE, SUMMER 1455

  GROBY HALL, LEICESTERSHIRE, AUTUMN 1455

  HERTFORD CASTLE, SPRING 1456

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, SPRING 1456

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, SUMMER 1456

  KENILWORTH CASTLE, WARWICKSHIRE, SUMMER 1457

  ROCHESTER CASTLE, KENT, NOVEMBER 1457

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, WINTER–SPRING 1458

  WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON, WINTER 1458

  ON CAMPAIGN, SUMMER–AUTUMN 1459

  SANDWICH, KENT, AND CALAIS, WINTER 1460

  COVENTRY, SPRING 1460

  NORTHAMPTON, SUMMER 1460

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, SUMMER 1460

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, WINTER 1460–61

  ON THE MARCH, SPRING 1461

  height="4" width="0" align="left">ST ALBANS, SPRING 1461 YORK, SPRING 1461

  GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, SPRING 1464

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  CASTLE OF BEAUREVOIR, NEAR ARRAS,

  FRANCE, SUMMER–WINTER 1430

  She sits, this odd trophy of war, as neat as an obedient child, on a small stool in the corner of her cell. At her feet are the remains of her dinner on a pewter platter, laid on the straw. I notice that my uncle has sent good slices of meat, and even the white bread from his own table; but she has eaten little. I find I am staring at her, from her boy’s riding boots to the man’s bonnet crammed on her brown cropped hair, as if she were some exotic animal, trapped for our amusement, as if someone had sent a lion cub all the way from Ethiopia to entertain the great family of Luxembourg, for us to keep in our collection. A lady behind me crosses herself and whispers, ‘Is this a witch?’

  I don’t know. How does one ever know?

  ‘This is ridiculous,’ my great-aunt says boldly. ‘Who has ordered the poor girl to be chained? Open the door at once.’

  There is a confused muttering of men trying to shift the responsibility, and then someone turns the big key in the cell door and my great-aunt stalks in. The girl – she must be about seventeen or eighteen, only a few years older than me – looks up from under her jagged fringe of hair as my great-aunt stands before her, and then slowly she rises to her feet, doffs her cap, and gives an awkward little bow.

  ‘I am the Lady Jehanne, the Demoiselle of Luxembourg,’ my great-aunt says. ‘This is the castle of Lord John of Luxem bourg.’ She gestures to my aunt: ‘This is his wife, the lady of the castle, Jehanne of Bethune, and this is my great-niece Jacquetta.’

  The girl looks steadily at all of us and gives a nod of her head to each. As she looks at me I feel a little tap-tap for my attention, as palpable as the brush of a fingertip on the nape of my neck, a whisper of magic. I wonder if standing behind her there are indeed two accompanying angels, as she claims, and it is their presence that I sense.

  ‘Can you speak, Maid?’ my great-aunt asks, when the girl says nothing.

  ‘Oh yes, my lady,’ the girl replies in the hard accent of the Champagne region. I realise that it is true what they say about her: she is no more than a peasant girl, though she has led an army and crowned a king.

  ‘Will you give me your word not to escape if I have these chains taken off your legs?’

  She hesitates, as if she were in any position to choose. ‘No, I can’t.’

  My great-aunt smiles. ‘you understand the offer of parole? I can release you to live with us here in my nephew’s castle; but you have to promise not to run away.’

  Th