A Mortal Bane(70)

All he said, however, was, “The bishop thought news of that decision might have been in Baldassare’s pouch, but I cannot believe it was worth killing over. There can be little doubt that the pope decided in Stephen’s favor. After all, the papal legate approved when Stephen first claimed the throne.”

“Mayhap the bishop is thinking like a churchman, not a soldier? Somer just wondered whether those who killed Baldassare were the king’s so-called friends or his enemies.”

“If he is Ypres’s man, ‘so-called friends’ means Waleran, but I think like a soldier, too, and I cannot see any reason why Waleran should wish to keep the pope’s decision secret. And if, for some unthinkable reason the pope decided against Stephen, Waleran could not know that. I cannot believe anyone came from Rome more swiftly than Baldassare.”

Since Magdalene knew that the pope’s decision was favorable, she saw no point in continuing the conversation along those lines. “There is a thing that puzzles me,” she said. “Beaumeis told Baldassare that this was the Bishop of Winchester’s inn and that was what Baldassare asked for when he rang my bell. Yet when I told him my servant would take him to the bishop’s house, he said he had no business with the bishop.”

Magdalene now knew that was a lie. He had had the bull to deliver to Winchester, unless…she bit her lips to stop herself from asking Bell why Baldassare would say that. Was it possible that he was going to deliver the bull to someone else? To hide? To destroy? That made no sense…. Yes, it did. There was one way it did make sense. Possibly he was going to deliver the bull to King Stephen so that the king himself could give it to Henry of Winchester to soothe his anger over being passed over for Archbishop of Canterbury. And if Stephen knew that Baldassare was coming with a legatine commission for Winchester, Waleran would know also.

“But I think he did have business with the bishop,” Bell said, startling her, because her mind had wandered. Magdalene could have kissed him; she knew her surprised expression made her look more innocent. “Did you not know that the king had asked the pope to make Winchester legate?”

“Yes, I did,” Magdalene said. “William told me. He knew I was interested because I had told him how disappointed I was when Theobald of Bec was made archbishop instead of Winchester.”

Bell looked astonished. “Why should you care who was archbishop?”

“Do not be a fool. If Winchester became archbishop, who would dare speak against whores who were his tenants? Contrariwise, if we got a man like Brother Paulinus for archbishop, would he not be likely to order the bishops and deans to ‘cleanse their houses of corruption’? Even the Bishop of Winchester could not ignore an order from the archbishop.”

[page]“I see.” Bell nodded. “It would make a difference to you.”

“Yes, it was on my mind, and when William stopped in a few days after Christmas last year, I mentioned it to him. He was strange. When I said I wished Winchester had been elected archbishop, he shouted at me because he did not know what he wanted. I cannot remember ever seeing William so undecided. He said that if Henry of Winchester were archbishop, there would be two kings and the Church would have the more powerful ruler.”

Bell whistled between his teeth over that statement. “I had heard that was the argument Waleran used to convince Stephen not to urge the election of his brother. I had also heard he did not need to argue very hard, that Stephen had realized that without help. So, Ypres agreed with Waleran about keeping Winchester out of the archbishopric?”

“I would not say he ever agreed completely, but later he came to believe that rejecting Winchester was a mistake. He was greatly disturbed at how bitter Winchester was over what he saw as his brother’s treachery and ingratitude.”