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had been appointed to hold the reins indefinitely or if they were to be handed over eventually to Richard of Cornwall, to whom Henry had promised Gascony in the past, Raymond would have fought on grimly through the intervening years. Neither Lord Simon nor Lord Richard would have been an unjust or tyrannical overlord once peace was established, but King Henry had insisted that Cornwall give up his right to the province and had transferred that right to his fourteen-year-old heir, Prince Edward.
    In the meantime, another complication had developed. The King of Castile had died, and his able and astute son, Alfonso X, had inherited the throne. Alfonso had a claim to the overlordship of Gascony. Raymond did not bother to trace the claim, knowing it was through Alfonso’s descent from a daughter of King Henry II, and by now nearly every royal house in Europe was descended, one way or another, from the Plantagenets.
    Naturally, on his accession to the throne, Alfonso had reiterated this old claim, adding Duke of Gascony to his many other titles. In normal circumstances, no one would have paid the slightest attention. Such old claims were myriad, owing to the mingling of royal and noble blood and tangled feudal relationships. However, because of the growing unrest caused by Leicester’s repression, there was actually some danger that Alfonso’s claim could be pressed to good effect. Gaston of Béarn, the most powerful nobleman in the area, had already renounced his fealty to England and sworn to Castile.
    In these special circumstances, by the autumn of 1252, Raymond had joined the ranks of those who wished to see Lord Simon relieved of his duty as seneschal. Raymond wrote to King Henry about Lord Simon’s harsh, although just, judgments and his lack of understanding of the Gascon temperament and heritage, which were causing growing disaffection in those previously loyal. However, he was shocked and grieved when he heard, from his father-by-marriage, William of Marlowe, that Lord Simon had been publicly accused of oppression and mismanagement. William also warned Raymond to be very careful. He wrote that although there had been a reconciliation between the king and Lord Simon, he was sure it was not genuine, at least, not on the king’s part.
    Alys’s father’s judgment was all too soon proved correct. The Earl of Leicester had returned to Gascony, claiming that he now had permission from the king to finish his work in the province, which he doubtless believed was true, for he was an honest man. Unfortunately, he was sadly mistaken. In Blancheforte, just about the time his daughter, Fenice, decided to leave the convent in which her mother-by-marriage had placed her, Raymond was holding a letter from King Henry that informed him that he need not respond if Leicester should call on him for military service.
    “It is easy enough for the king to say,” Raymond snarled at his wife. “But you know what Simon is like. He will insist that he has Henry’s oath not to interfere in the management of Gascony, that Henry has no right to go over his head, and thus I must still come to his summons.”
    Alys raised her cornflower-blue eyes from her tapestry work. “The king is more powerful than the Earl of Leicester,” she said. Of course, the main purpose of Alys’s reply was to keep her husband out of any more fighting, and she would have adjusted what she said according to whether obedience to Henry or to Lord Simon gave more hope of satisfying that purpose.
    “But Leicester is closer,” Raymond responded dryly, “and who knows how Henry’s purpose will waver, whereas Lord Simon’s is steady as a rock.”
    “It was a mistake not to go home to Tour Dur to celebrate Christmas,” Alys sighed. “Then we would have been out of the way.”
    “No, it was not,” Raymond said, getting up and leaning over the side of the tapestry frame to kiss his wife. “My mistake was in allowing you to come here with me when you were not