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immortal soul to spite an old, helpless, broken man." |
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Since Henry was truly, if not intelligently religious, that might have won the case, if he had not been immediately distracted and prevented from thinking it over. No sooner had the bishops been silenced than the trouble with the barons began. By now, all had heard of the outcome of the truce with Pembroke. If Henry had had any delusions about the indifference of his other nobles to Richard Marshal's loss, he was very quickly brought back to reality. |
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The violation of that particular kind of agreementthe formal yielding and return of a keepstruck in each man a responsive, personal chord. Each saw the same kind of fate befalling him. It was common enough for any baron to yield a keep into the king's hands for a defined period of time and for a particular purposefor example, as a hostage for behavior, as a surety for a debt, or for a special defensive or offensive purpose. Every man now saw himself conceivably defrauded in the same way by the whim of the king. Naturally, each remembered what had started this quarrel in the first placethat Henry had, without trial or public reason, disseisined Gilbert Bassett of Upavon. |
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The meeting grew so stormy that the bishops were moved to intervene. Even Winchester pleaded for less heated discussion. Then, since it was obvious that tempers were too furious for calm to be restored, the council was dismissed to reconvene the following day. |
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The whole proceeding was thrashed out for the women in Alinor's solar. Rhiannon was stunned to see that Alinor, Joanna, and Gilliane were even more excited than the men, even more adamant that tenure of land must be inviolate above every other cause, every other good and evil. She and Simon alone were relatively unmoved. |
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Both loved their homesSimon, his four keeps, and Rhiannon, Angharad's Hall. Both would fight to preserve them. But the fanatic devotion to each stick, |
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