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Welsh hostages, it would certainly be a sign of good faith or of total indifference to his children in any man who would send a son or a daughter to John. It was sickening to Geoffrey that a king should demand hostages from his own noblemen. From a conquered enemy, it was necessary, of course. Sworn treaties should be sufficient to bind men, but the bitterness of defeat and hatred was not really conducive to the keeping of treaties. A king's man, on the other hand, should obey his lord from love and respect, knowing he would be punished if he did wrong but not fearing his master beyond reason. Thus, if the king summoned a subject to him owing to doubts of his loyalty, any man who had not actively wronged his lord should be glad to come and explain himself and feel free to complain of his injuries. Geoffrey shrugged. It was far too late for that now. The sad fact was that most of John's "enemies" hated him far less than his own barons. |
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"The problem," Salisbury went on slowly, "is not with them nor with the outright rebels. In the west, the lesser barons will be too busy watching what Llewelyn does to think of challenging the king. In the east, the south, and the mid-lands, we are strong enough so that none will move unless there is already an active and unified rebellion. That can come only from the north where Vesci holds much power and, I fear, has influenced even those who are not his own men." |
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Salisbury paused and Geoffrey turned toward him, his color high and his eyes dangerously bright. Did his father think he would betray Ian's men to the king's tender mercies? Geoffrey had little doubt that the northern vassals would have joined with Vesci's rebellion had it come to fruition, but he certainly would not admit that and give John an excuse to act against them. As yet they had done nothing. They were torn between hatred of the king and loyalty to Ian, whom they knew would uphold John for honor's sake in spite of his own dislike for his master. To threaten those men now would merely push them into the rebel's camp, making them feel they had nothing to lose. Before Geoffrey could decide how to say this without implying that Ian's |
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