Read Online The King of Thieves: by Michael Jecks - Free Book Online

the King had removed the Bishop from his role as Lord
     High Treasurer, but within a short space, he found he had to reinstate him. Bishop Walter’s skill at administration and record-keeping
     was beyond comparison. ‘Why so?’
    ‘The King trusts no one. He is parsimonious, it is true, but his niggardly penny-pinching will lead us into trouble before
     long. Last year he split the realm into two, for administrative purposes, north and south. But then, although he has created
     much more work, more administration, more effort, he refuses to allow the hire of more men to do it! Ach! I will have nothing
     more to do with the Exchequer. And then, he also wants to take more money from the Church, too. All ecclesiastical debts areto be called in. It was too much. So two weeks ago yesterday, I ceased to be Lord High Treasurer.’
    ‘It must have been a most trying period for you,’ Baldwin said.
    ‘Not so trying as continuing with a task I could not possibly achieve,’ the Bishop said sharply. ‘But that isn’t why I am
     as you see me. Have you heard of the violence growing in our land?’
    ‘We have heard some rumours,’ Baldwin said, glancing at his wife as he did so. He could see that she was unsettled by the
     conversation. She stood quietly, but her eyes told of her anxiety.
    ‘I heard last afternoon that another King’s official has been attacked. The keeper of rebel castles in the Welsh March has
     been most brutally beaten and blinded. And he is not the only one. There are attacks in Yorkshire, in the south near London,
     down towards the coast – there is nowhere safe where the law resides.’
    ‘Surely the land is not so unsettled that you need fear such things?’ Jeanne asked quietly.
    ‘My dear, I fear it is worse than you could appreciate,’ the Bishop said with absent-minded condescension.
    Jeanne could see that he had not intended to patronise her, but his words rankled nonetheless.
    ‘How could it be worse? Are there many similar cases?’ Baldwin frowned. ‘I have heard nothing of any such attacks here in
     Devon.’
    ‘Let me put it like this: the King is now moving his prisoners from one castle to another.’ Bishop Walter had fixed Baldwin
     with a steely, unwavering stare as he spoke.
    ‘What does that mean?’ Jeanne asked.
    Baldwin knew precisely what he meant. ‘If the King was confident that the castle garrisons could hold the prisonerssecurely, he would leave them in one place. If he’s moving them about the country, it means he is worried that large forces
     could be brought to lay siege to any one of the castles, if people grow certain of who is being held there. If he’s moving
     them around, it means he is trying to confuse any potential rebels, not giving them the certainty of which prisoner will be
     in which castle at any time.’
    ‘It makes excellent sense, Lady Jeanne. However, it is also a proof of his weakness in the face of the men ranged against
     him.’
    ‘But he is the King,’ Jeanne objected. ‘Surely few would dare to set their faces against him – especially since he destroyed
     the Lords Marcher and their forces.’
    Baldwin nodded, his eyes fixed upon the Bishop. The King had not enjoyed a successful career as a warrior. The Scots had beaten
     him severely, not once, but many times. During the last war the Scottish had almost captured the Queen. It was only a miracle
     that saw her escape – and then it was so close that two of her ladies-in-waiting had died. Only once had he displayed a martial
     skill suitable for the son of Edward I: at Boroughbridge. There he had defeated the combined strength of the Lords Marcher.
    ‘He succeeded there, yes,’ Baldwin admitted. ‘But he sowed the problem that is beginning to fruit even now. Isn’t that so,
     Bishop?’
    ‘The King captured many, Lady Jeanne,’ Bishop Walter said, and nodded. ‘But the simple truth is, his actions afterwards left
     all those who received his blast of anger with a simmering