Read Online The Royal Succession by Maurice Druon - Free Book Online
Authors: Maurice Druon
Ads: Link
corresponded in his mind to the waxen doll, pierced with pins, with which he had, cast a spell. The glances he exchanged with his following, the Abbe Pierre, Father Bost and the clerk Andrieu, his secretary, were those of victory. He wanted to say to all those present: `This,' Messeigneurs, is what happens when you attract the, vengeance of the Caetani, who were already powerful at the time of Julius Caesar.'
The two brothers Colonna, each heavy chin divided by a vertical cleft, looked like warriors disguised as prelates.
The Count of Poitiers had not economized on the choir. There were a full hundred of them, their voices sounding above the organ, which had four men pumping at its bellows. A royal, reverberating music echoed among the vaults, saturated the air with vibrations, and enveloped the crowd. The junior clerks could gossip among themselves with impunity, and the pages laugh or mock their masters. It was impossible to hear what was being said three paces away, and still less what was taking place at the doors.
The service came to an end; the organ and the choir fell silent. Both wings of the great door stood open;-but no daylight penetrated into the church.
There was a moment of astonishment, as if some miracle had occurred during the ceremony, obscuring the stun. Suddenly, the cardinals understood; and an angry clamour broke out. A brand - new wall blocked the doorway. During the mass, the Regent had bricked up the exits. The cardinals were prisoners.
There was a fine panic; prelates, canons, priests and valets; all mingled together, ran to and fro like rats in a trap. The pages, climbing on each other's shoulders, hoisted themselves up to the windows, from where they shouted: `The church is surrounded by armed men!'
`What are we going to do, what are we going to do?' groaned the cardinals. `The Regent has played a trick on us.'
`That's why he favoured us with such loud music!'
`It's an attack on the Church. What are we going to do?'
`We'll excommunicate him,' cried Caetani.
`But what if he starves us to death, or has us massacred?'
The two brothers Colonna and the people of their party had already armed themselves with heavy bronze candelabra, benches and processional maces, determined to sell their lives dearly. The Italians and the Gascons were already beginning to hurl reproaches at each other.
`All this is your fault,' cried the Italians. `If you had only refused to come to Lyons. We knew some dastardly trick would be played on us.'
`If you had elected one of us, we should not be here now,' replied the Gascons.
`It's your fault, you bad Christians!'
They were almost on the point of coming to blows.
One door alone had not been entirely blocked; barely room for a man to pass through had been left, but the narrow opening was a hedge of pikes held in iron gauntlets. The pikes lifted and the Count de Forez, in armour, followed by Bermond de la Voulte and a few more armed men, entered the church. They were received with a volley of threats and obscene insults.
His hands crosse d on the hilt of his, sword ; th e Count de Forez waited till the clamour died down. He was a strong, courageous man, unmoved by threats or entreaties, profoundly shocked by the example the cardinals had given during the last two years, and prepared to go to any length to obey the Count of Poitiers' instructions. His rugged, wrinkled face appeared through his open visor.
When the cardinals and their people had grown hoarse, his voice rang out over their heads, precise and emphatic, reaching to the end of the nave.
`Messeigneurs, I am here on the orders of the Regent of France to ask you to devote yourselves henceforth solely to electing a pope, and to inform you that you will not leave here until that pope is elected. Each cardinal may keep with him only one , Jacques Dueze put out his thin hand from within the confessional, where he lay in a state of collapse, and seized the young Italian by his robe, murmuring: `Stay with
The two brothers Colonna, each heavy chin divided by a vertical cleft, looked like warriors disguised as prelates.
The Count of Poitiers had not economized on the choir. There were a full hundred of them, their voices sounding above the organ, which had four men pumping at its bellows. A royal, reverberating music echoed among the vaults, saturated the air with vibrations, and enveloped the crowd. The junior clerks could gossip among themselves with impunity, and the pages laugh or mock their masters. It was impossible to hear what was being said three paces away, and still less what was taking place at the doors.
The service came to an end; the organ and the choir fell silent. Both wings of the great door stood open;-but no daylight penetrated into the church.
There was a moment of astonishment, as if some miracle had occurred during the ceremony, obscuring the stun. Suddenly, the cardinals understood; and an angry clamour broke out. A brand - new wall blocked the doorway. During the mass, the Regent had bricked up the exits. The cardinals were prisoners.
There was a fine panic; prelates, canons, priests and valets; all mingled together, ran to and fro like rats in a trap. The pages, climbing on each other's shoulders, hoisted themselves up to the windows, from where they shouted: `The church is surrounded by armed men!'
`What are we going to do, what are we going to do?' groaned the cardinals. `The Regent has played a trick on us.'
`That's why he favoured us with such loud music!'
`It's an attack on the Church. What are we going to do?'
`We'll excommunicate him,' cried Caetani.
`But what if he starves us to death, or has us massacred?'
The two brothers Colonna and the people of their party had already armed themselves with heavy bronze candelabra, benches and processional maces, determined to sell their lives dearly. The Italians and the Gascons were already beginning to hurl reproaches at each other.
`All this is your fault,' cried the Italians. `If you had only refused to come to Lyons. We knew some dastardly trick would be played on us.'
`If you had elected one of us, we should not be here now,' replied the Gascons.
`It's your fault, you bad Christians!'
They were almost on the point of coming to blows.
One door alone had not been entirely blocked; barely room for a man to pass through had been left, but the narrow opening was a hedge of pikes held in iron gauntlets. The pikes lifted and the Count de Forez, in armour, followed by Bermond de la Voulte and a few more armed men, entered the church. They were received with a volley of threats and obscene insults.
His hands crosse d on the hilt of his, sword ; th e Count de Forez waited till the clamour died down. He was a strong, courageous man, unmoved by threats or entreaties, profoundly shocked by the example the cardinals had given during the last two years, and prepared to go to any length to obey the Count of Poitiers' instructions. His rugged, wrinkled face appeared through his open visor.
When the cardinals and their people had grown hoarse, his voice rang out over their heads, precise and emphatic, reaching to the end of the nave.
`Messeigneurs, I am here on the orders of the Regent of France to ask you to devote yourselves henceforth solely to electing a pope, and to inform you that you will not leave here until that pope is elected. Each cardinal may keep with him only one , Jacques Dueze put out his thin hand from within the confessional, where he lay in a state of collapse, and seized the young Italian by his robe, murmuring: `Stay with
Similar Books
