The King of Thieves: Read Online Free PDF Page A

power to aid and support him, as any wife would. The birth of their boy had helped, naturally.
     King Edward II was besotted with the lad. As soon as little Edward was born, the King seemed to change. He lavished presents
     upon the man who brought news of the birth, he made grand gestures to his boy, endowing him with lands and ennobling him when
     he was only a few days old.
    But the depredations of Despenser were bound to cause problems, and soon the depth of the Despenser’s greed became apparent.
    In the beginning he was more circumspect, but as he grew less worried about his position, depending upon the King for support,
     the people in the land grew to hate him more and more. Eventually his thefts, his murders, his kidnaps and tortures proved
     too much and the Lords Marcher in Wales could take no more. They overran his territories and broughttheir armies to London. For a while they held the King to account and forced Despenser’s exile. But then, when he returned,
     he was stronger, more deeply in the King’s affection, and all the more powerful.
    The Lords Marcher were crushed at the Battle of Boroughbridge, and afterwards began the slaughter. Men-at-arms, squires, even
     knights and lords, were rounded up and executed as an example to others. The first to die was the King’s own cousin, Earl
     Thomas of Lancaster. It was as though all the King’s rage at the way his ‘dear brother’ Piers had been slain was guiding his
     mind now. All those who now stood against his new favourite were his enemies, and he would destroy them all. The bodies of
     his enemies decorated the gates of every town and city in the realm.
    It was a hideous shock. Isabella could see the change in every aspect of her own life.
    All was the fault of that snake, Despenser, and the foul Bishop of Exeter, the untruthful, greedy thief who set such stock
     on probity in public, and who enriched himself at the expense of all while he was Lord High Treasurer to the King. It was
     those two together who caused her such terrible trouble.
    Despenser hated her. There was no hiding his feelings. They both knew and understood each other. There might be occasional
     flashes of mutual respect, but little more than that. Despenser had lured her husband from her, and she would never forgive
     him. Her ease of spirit was all gone, stolen away by this … this
pharisee
. Any joy she had once experienced in her marriage was now nothing but a fading memory.
    The Bishop was equally evil, in her mind. It was he who had spoken to the King after the War of Saint-Sardos last year, he
     who had murmured soft words of deceit. He said that it was unsafe for the French to have an ally in the easily invaded lands
     of Devon and Cornwall. Perhaps it would be best if theywere taken out of the control of the Lady who was sister to the French King, and who was yet the Queen of England. Not because
     she was
herself
disloyal, of course … but she had a huge
familia
to support her. And almost all were French themselves.
    Her household was broken up shortly afterwards. All her properties were taken into the King’s hands, all her income confiscated,
     her servants, guards and even ladies-in-waiting dismissed, all bar a tiny number. Even her children were taken from her. No
     doubt, in order that she might not pollute their minds against the lawful commands of their father. That was how effective
     the Bishop’s sly mutters had been. She had not even the solace of her daughters. And then she was herself given a new household
     of ladies; now nothing could be written or sent in private apart from some few, carefully concealed notes which the Queen
     managed to secrete about herself. There were still one or two men upon whom she could rely. Even the woman responsible for
     her household was installed at the insistence of Despenser. Isabella’s most senior lady-in-waiting was his wife, Eleanor.
     And Eleanor held that most potent proof of Isabella’s independence: her personal