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demanding that the King bring an army and solve their problem for them. Ordinarily barons were not so generous with their own men and money. Probably the answer was that these men were like kings in their own domains. They might prefer to expend their goods than to have the King lead an army that could exert his influence over them as well as over the Welsh. Yes, Richard thought, they had asked for men, but men over whom they would rule so that the Welsh would see that Mortimer and Braose wielded the power. Yet his mother was right about the coronationand that was only five days away. |
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With his mind thus occupied, it did not occur to Richard that his mother and Simon were suddenly babbling nonsense. That was because the "I remember" Braose had uttered had no special signficance to him. Simon and the Queen, however, had both guessed that Braose had been about to describe the disaster that had ensued when Henry had led an army into Wales "once and for all to subdue the Welsh." To hint that the Welsh had beaten his father was a sure way of pushing Richard into a full-scale war against them to prove he was the better man. |
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Had there been any hope of success, the Queen might have been willing that Richard begin a major struggle with the Welsh. A war there might have kept his interest until his crusading fever died. There was always danger in war, but less than from the disease and treachery that would be found in the Holy Land. An indemnity paid to the Pope to release Richard from his crusader's vowno matter how enormouswould be cheaper than the cost of the Crusade itself. What made the Queen anxious to keep Richard out of Wales was her knowledge that no continental-style army could hope for success against them. The Welsh merely took their goods, their herds, and their women and retreated into the mountains. There were no open fields for pitched battles. The supply carts could not |
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