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hands with hardly a drop of blood shed. In fact, Pembroke could have demanded that the churchmen use their powers of excommunication against the king and that the noblemen who went surety bring their retainers and fight against the king's forces to regain Usk. But the earl did not go so far as that, although his craw was full of Henry's deceit and treachery. When Henry brought a second army to Wales to punish Richard for his "treachery and insolence," Richard agreed to a surprise attack on the king's encampment at Grosmont, which his ally Prince Llewelyn planned and led. The attack had stripped the king's army naked, although there was little bloodshed. |
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Because the Bishop of Winchester had alienated the whole barony of England, both by his sneers and his attack on Magna Carta, which defined their rights and privileges, few of the lesser vassals would respond to the levy called. Because they were either sureties for the fulfillment of the king's oath to the Earl of Pembroke, which absolutely precluded fighting against him, or were simply so disgusted with Henry's behavior that they would condone it no longer, most of the great vassals also refused to answer the levy. |
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Thus, the king's second army was made up almost exclusively of foreign mercenaries under captains from Poitou. The only exceptions were Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury Geoffrey's father. Roger Bigod's attendance was owing to a combination of youth, inexperience, a passionate love of fighting for the sheer joy of it, and the fact that he was the king's brother-by-marriage, having married Henry's sister Isabella. The Earl of Salisbury's presence was a different matter entirely, and it was owing to Geoffrey's father's at Grosmont that Joanna did no need to hint, even indirectly, that she would like to see Simon and Rhiannon married. |
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Geoffrey looked up from Prince Llewelyn's letter and met Joanna's anxious eyes. "Yes," he said, "we will go to the wedding." His lips were thin and bitter when he spoke. |
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There was a brief pause while Joanna continued to examine her husband's face. "You are always so good to me, Geoffrey," she said slowly. "I do wish to see Simon married; you know that. Nonetheless . . ." |
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Geoffrey uttered a mirthless bark of laughter. "There is nothing you would ask of me that I would not do, Joanna, but |
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