The summer session of Parliament in Westminster was adjourned, but
re-assembled during the autumn, and Edward left London on 21st July,
travelling northwards accompanied as usual by the Queen. By slow stages
they reached Harby[29] near Lincoln, where the Queen remained at the
house of Richard de Weston, who was no doubt a relative of Sir John de
Weston, a confidential member of her own household. It is clear that the
Queen was unable to bear the fatigues of travelling, and as the autumn
session of Parliament was summoned to meet at King’s Clipstone, a royal
residence in Sherwood Forest, Edward was anxious that Eleanor should be
sufficiently close at hand for him to have full knowledge of her health.
During the month of September he made short journeys in the districts of
the Peak and Sherwood Forest, and paid a visit to Harby on 11th
September. The Clipstone Parliament occupied his attention during most
of October and the early part of November.
Footnote 29:
Previously written “Hardeby,” “Hardby,” &c.
During the whole of this period the Queen was steadily declining in
health. It is interesting to note one or two indications of the nature
of her long illness. It is on record that a certain Henry de
Montepessulano[30] received on 18th October the sum of 13s. 4d. on
account of syrups and other medicines purchased for the Queen at
Lincoln.[31] The Queen’s physician was a certain Magister Leopardus, who
is specially mentioned in the Queen’s will as receiving a legacy of 20
marks. In addition to the physician attached to her household she seems
to have been attended by some of her own countrymen—the physician to the
King of Aragon is especially mentioned. To him the Queen presented a
silver goblet, worth 12-1/2 marks, and Sir Garcia de Ispannia, who was
evidently of the King and Queen’s household, received a certain sum for
a cross given to the Queen.
Footnote 30:
The presence of a member of the ancient Medical School of Montpellier
in the Queen’s Household is of much interest.
Footnote 31:
Wardrobe Account 18 Edw. I, fol. 13, Chancery Miscellanea 4/5.
The character of the illness is described by a contemporary annalist as
being of a lingering character, associated with low fever.[32] In spite
of all skill and care the Queen steadily became worse, till at length
the illness must have been recognized as fatal. Another annalist speaks
of the Queen as being stricken with a serious illness.[33]
Footnote 32:
Wykes, Thomas. Ann. de Oseneia. Annales monastici: Rolls series, iv,
p. 326, “_Modicæ febris igniculo contabescens_.”
Footnote 33:
Walsingham, Thomas of, quoting William Rishanger, a contemporary
writer: “_Regina consors grave infirmatate correpta quarto idus
decembris ex hac vita migravit in villa de Hardeby_.” Historia
Anglicana, Rolls edition; anno 1291, pp. 32, 33.
At the close of the Clipstone Parliament, Edward travelled slowly
towards Harby, arriving there on the 20th November. The gravity of the
Queen’s illness seems scarcely to have been appreciated by the King. He
spent six days on his journey from Clipstone to Harby—a distance of
little more than 20 miles. On his arrival the hopelessness of the
Queen’s condition must have been apparent to him. She died on the
evening of the 28th November.
Evidence of the King’s grief and depression is given not only by the
contemporary writers, but by Edward’s actions at the time of the death
of Eleanor and during the subsequent months. The gracious character of
the Queen’s influence on her consort, and the affection she inspired in
her people, is amply testified by the contemporary annalists.
Walsingham, once more quoting his predecessors such as Rishanger,
describes her shortly in the following sentence: “She was in very truth
a woman of pious, gracious, and compassionate disposition, the friend of
all English folk, and as a pillar of the whole realm.”[34] The important
point of this description is the emphasis laid on the fact that Eleanor
was the friend of her English subjects. This had not been the
characteristic of her predecessors. In the time of Henry III, the
foreign relatives of both the Queen and the King swarmed into England,
and memories of the unjust favours showered upon them still rankled in
the minds of the people. An echo of this can still be heard on listening
to the tale of the annalist at Dunstable. He writes from the English
point of view, and is chiefly concerned with describing the benefits
received by his Convent from the King and Queen.[35]
Footnote 34:
“Fuerat nempe mulier pia, modesta, misericors, Anglicorum amatrix
omnium, et velut columna regni totius. Cujus temporibus alienigenæ
Angliam non gravabant, incolæ nullatenus per regales opprimebantur, si
ad aures ejus vel minima querela oppressionis aliqualiter pervenisset.
Tristes ubique, prout dignitatem suæ permittebat, consolabatur, et
discordes ad concordium, quantum potuit, reducebat.”
Footnote 35:
Ann. de Dunstaplia: Annales monastici. Rolls series, iii, p. 362. Of
Eleanor this annalist drily remarks: “Hyspana genere quæ plura et
optima maneria adquisivit.”
Edward’s letter conveying information of the Queen’s death to the Abbot
of Cluny still remains, and gives pathetic evidence of his own sorrow:
“Whom while living we cherished dearly, and being dead we shall not
cease to love.”[36]
Footnote 36:
Close Roll, 19 Ed. I, m. 11 d. A.D. 1291: Foedera, i, part ii, p. 743:
“De Orando pro Regina.” “Cum itaque, dictam Consortem nostram _quam
vivam care dileximus, mortuam non desinamus amare_, ac opus sanctum et
salubre, juxta divinæ scripturæ sententiam, censeatur pro defunctis,
ut a peccatorum solvantur nexibus, exorare.”
After the obsequies at Westminster were concluded, the King went into
retirement in the religious house of the “Bons Hommes” at Ashridge,
issuing to pay a visit to his mother and daughter in the Convent at
Amesbury.
The Queen’s death marks the crisis of Edward’s career. His kingly manner
and appearance, his renown as a warrior, and his success as a statesman,
combined to make him one of the most prominent personages in Europe. The
political problems of the future might well have been solved by his
firmness and skill had not the distortion of his character, which dates
back to his early years, become more pronounced. Especially in the
management of the Scottish difficulty, his firmness of purpose contrasts
curiously with the meanness and shiftiness of his administration. These
base qualities more than anything else brought to so unhappy a
termination his statesmanlike plans for the union of England and
Scotland. This great political scheme ended with Edward’s life in the
dark scene at Burgh-on-the-Sands, marked by the desire for savage
revenge[37] only too characteristic of Edward’s worse nature. At no
period of his career did Edward miss the moderating influence of Eleanor
of Castile more than during his quarrel with Scotland.
Footnote 37:
This phase of Edward’s character brings to mind the “demon blood” of
his Angevin ancestry. _Cf._ Norgate, Kate: “England under Angevin
Kings,” i, pp. 143-144; ii, p. 207.