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Joanna's sons, William and Ian, who were wild with joy at their deliverance from a dull routine of lessons and practice combat. William was particularly indignant at having been left behind in safety when the king went off to war, and he complained vociferously as they traveled west that he would never learn to fight if he had no experience. |
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Although he gave William no encouragement in Joanna's presence, Geoffrey looked thoughtful. At fourteen, William's age, Geoffrey had been actively supporting Ian, his master, on the walls of a besieged keep and had gone with him and guarded his lord's left shoulder in full-scale combat when he was sixteen, after Owain, the senior squire, had been knighted. |
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On the one hand, Geoffrey's heart failed him when he thought of the dangers to which his elder son would be exposed if he were permitted to go to war. On the other, he was seriously disturbed by the truth of William's complaintthat the king was too fond and therefore too timorous for the safety of his cousin's sons. Geoffrey feared there was real substance to William's argument that he was ready, not merely a boyish desire for an adventure about which he knew nothing. Henry was too emotional and had too little personal battlefield experience to judge William's readiness for action. |
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One of the purposes of fostering was to strike a balance between the too-great love and, therefore, too-great fear of a natural parent and the indifference of a stranger. A boy fostered from the age of eight or ten engaged the affection of his master, who would not carelessly expose his fosterling to unnecessary, danger; however, neither was the boy's foster father blinded to the growing prowess and capabilities of a developing young man by memories of infant gurgles and kisses or toddling, uncertain footsteps with a chubby hand clinging to a father's fingers for support. |
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In truth, Geoffrey knew that Henry should have taken William with him and assigned to him such duties around camp and keep as were commensurate with the boy's tutor's judgment of his abilities. At the least, William could carry messages and suchlike, even if he were not permitted on the battlefield. This would give him experience of the life in camp, would provide him with examples of men who cared for and neglected their soldiers, and generally would broaden his outlook. Moreover, Geoffrey knew it was time for his son to be blooded, to see death dealt out and the broken wreckage |
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