AGNES STRICKLAND'S QUEENS OF ENGLAND,
Abridged
By Rosalie Kaufman
Vol. I. of III
Fully Illustrated
Boston: Estes & Lauriat
1882
[Illustration: 0006]
[Illustration: 007]
PREFACE.
|Up to Queen Anne, this work is based upon Agnes Strickland's "Queens
of England;" but subsequent to that period many authorities have been
consulted, and only such matter used as would seem appropriate. My first
care was to prepare a narrative which should interest young people, but
I have endeavored also to produce a result that would prove a source,
not only of pleasure, but of profit. The limits of the design make it
evident that some eminent names and noteworthy events could receive
slight mention, or none at all, and that politics could be introduced
only when requisite for the comprehension of events that depended on
them. It will be a satisfaction to hope that my readers may be prompted
to independent inquiry.
CONTENTS.
PORTRAITS
Matilda of Flanders, Queen of William the Conqueror....015
Matilda of Scotland, Queen of Henry....045
Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of Stephen.....074
Eleanora of Aquitaine, Queen of Henry II.....089
Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of Richard I.....110
Isabella of Angouleme, Queen of King John.....123
Eleanor of Provence, Queen of Henry III...137
Eleanora of Castile, Queen of Edward I.....160
Marguerite of France, Second Queen of Edward I.....175
Isabella of France, Queen of Edward II......181
Philippa of Hainault, Queen of Edward III.....214
Anne of Bohemia, Queen of Richard II.....234
Isabella of Valois, Second Queen of Richard II.....243
Joanna of Navarre, Queen of Henry IV.....254
Katherine of Valois, Queen of Henry V.....263
Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI.....280
Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of Edward IV.......316
Anne of Warwick, Queen of Richard III.....327
Elizabeth of York, Queen of Henry VII.....332
Katharine of Arragon, First Queen of Henry VIII.....342
Anne Boleyn, Second Queen of Henry VIII.....378
Jane Seymour, Third Queen of Henry VIII.....403
Anne of Cleves, Fourth Queen of Henry VIII......409
Katharine Howard, Fifth Queen of Henry VIII......422
Katharine Parr, Sixth Queen of Henry VIII.....430
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Canterbury Cathedral....Frontispiece
Matilda of Flanders.....014
Norman Arches.....016
William the Conqueror.....019
William the Conqueror, from Tapestries.....021
Conqueror and Conquered.....023
Landing of William the Conqueror.....025
Ruins of Hastings.....029
Battle of Hastings, from Bayeux Tapestries...........031
Old Westminster.....033
Ships of William the Conqueror, from Tapestries......036
The Tower....037
Robert Discovers his Father....039
Trophy of Norman and Saxon Arms....041
Pleasure Barge on the Thames....044
Matilda of Scotland....047
Queen Margaret's Chapel....051
The Beacon....053
Death of the Red King....055
College at Oxford....059
Playing at Bowls....061
Norman Font....065
Exterior Pulpit....066
Ancient Windsor Castle....068
Abbey of St. Etienne....071
Norman Tower....073
Entrance to Norman Chapel....075
Arundel Castle....078
Horn....079
Scold's Bridle....080
A Battle....081
Escape from Oxford....085
Norman Robe....088
The Pilgrim....090
Eleanora of Aquitaine....091
Crusaders on their March....095
The Maze.....101
Godstowe Nunnery.....102
Murder of Thomas à Becket.....103
Tomb of Henry II.....107
Berengaria of Navarre.....114
Leaders of the First Crusade.....115
Capture of Acre.....119
Costumes of the Period.....122
Isabella of Angoulême.....125
The Crypt in Old Windsor.....128
John's Anger after Signing Magna Charta.....129
Magna Charta Island.....132
Interior of Gloucester Cathedral.....133
Eleanor of Provence.....139
Angel Tower and Chapter-House, Canterbury.....143
York, Chapter-House.....147
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.....151
Gateway and Keep, Alnwick.....153
King Henry and his Barons.....155
Archers.....159
Eleanora of Castile.....161
Attempt on Edward's Life.....165
Caernarvon Castle.....171
Marguerite of France.....177
Old Charing Cross.....180
Isabella of France.....183
Retamer's Hall.....190
Westminster Hall.....193
Under the Tower.....195
City Hall, Valenciennes.....201
Old Fort at Oxford.....205
Edward II. and his Jailers.....210
Tomb of Edward II., Gloucester Cathedral.....211
Philippa of Hainault.....215
Doorway.....219
Philippa on her Knees before the King.....227
Tomb of Edward III.....231
Anne of Bohemia.....235
Houses on Old London Bridge.....239
Beards.....242
Isabella of Valois.....245
Body of Richard interred at Westminster.....251
Joanna of Navarre.....255
Shrewsbury.....258
Before Agincourt.....259
Costumes.....262
Katherine of Valois.....265
Friar Bacon's Study.....267
Donjon at Vincennes....
Margaret of Anjou.....281
Ruins of Kenilworth Castle.....293
Royal Apartments.....297
Warwick Castle.....305
View of Verdun.....311
Elizabeth Woodville.....317
Windsor Castle.....321
Vault of St. George's Chapel.....324
Bloody Tower.....325
Crypt in Tower.....326
Anne of Warwick.....329
Dungeon, Tower.....331
Elizabeth of York.....333
Chapel of Henry VII.....340
Costumes.....341
Katherine of Arragon.....343
The Alhambra.....347
London Bridge.....350
Reception Room.....353
Richmond Church.....355
Richmond Palace.....359
Bedroom of Henry VIII., Knoll Castle.....363
House of Sir Thomas More.....368
Wolsey's Tower.....373
Beheading Block and Axe.....377
___________...................379
Hever Castle.....385
Whitehall, Wolsey's Palace.....388
Anne Boleyn's Chamber, Hever Castle.....390
Watergate, Tower.....393
Hampton Court.....397
Jane Seymour....405
Hampton Court, Garden Front....408
Waterloo Bridge and Somerset House....420
Guard Chamber, Lambeth Palace....421
Heads on Old London Bridge....423
Court Gardens....425
Stairway....429
Katharine Parr....431
Old St. Paul's....437
Essex House....443
STORIES OF THE LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND
Compiled From Agates Strickland, For Young People
By Rosalie Kaufman. {014}
[Illustration: 0018] {015}
THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I. MATILDA OF FLANDERS, WIFE OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR
(1031-1083).
|Matilda, wife of the great William, the Conqueror, was an exceedingly
handsome woman, and as she had received the best education that was
possible in her times, she was as celebrated for her learning as for
her beauty. She was, besides, generous and religious, and had all the
qualities necessary for the position she was called upon to fill.
She was famed for her fancy-work, which was looked upon as one of the
most important and desirable occupations for ladies of rank; and
any woman who could spin, weave and embroider was considered quite a
treasure.
Matilda had three cousins who were such skilful needlewomen, that they
were sought in marriage by the greatest princes of Europe. Their work
has not been preserved, but Matilda's still remains and is called the
Bayeux Tapestry. It is the most wonderful achievement in needlework ever
accomplished by any woman. But we shall tell more about it, by-and-bye.
Matilda's father was Earl of Flanders, a rich, powerful prince, skilled
in the arts of peace and war. He was, besides, such a popular man that
all the rulers in his {016} neighborhood were anxious to win the hand of
his beautiful daughter.
[Illustration: 9020]
Her cousin, William of Normandy, was the most accomplished of them all,
and loved her devotedly. He was handsome, brave and talented, and so
strong, that, it is said, no man could bend his bow but himself. And he
was such a sure marksman, that even when riding at full speed, he seldom
missed his aim. It is remarkable that although he was the tallest man in
his army, he passed through all his battles without the loss of a drop
of blood, until towards the close of his career, when he was wounded by
his own son.
Strange to say, this young man did not find favor in the eyes of his
lady cousin at all; this mortified him so much, that he resolved to win
her in spite of herself.
He had a rival in a young Saxon nobleman named Brihtric Meaw, who had
come to Flanders as ambassador from Edward the Confessor, then on the
British throne. This favored gentleman was so fair and light-haired that
he was nicknamed "Snow." Matilda loved him in secret, which is probably
the reason why she would not listen to her cousin William. {017} But
Brihtric Meaw does not seem to have cared particularly for her, and
so did not find out what her sentiments were towards him. Thus, quite
innocently, he never attempted to court her, and she could not forgive
his indifference. Still her mind was filled with him, and this made her
treat William coldly. He was not to be baffled, however, but courted her
through seven long and tedious years.
At last he became impatient, so one day when Matilda was going home from
church, he managed to meet her, as lovers will. Perhaps she was more
unkind to him than usual and made him angry, otherwise I do not know how
to account for his behavior on that occasion, but he seized hold of her,
rolled her in the dirt, then actually beat her. Before she had time to
call for help, after she had recovered from her surprise, he jumped on
his horse, and rode off as fast as he could go.
Now, she might have been induced to forgive him for spoiling her good
clothes, but how she could have had anything more to do with a fellow,
no matter what his rank might be, who could dare to treat her so
brutally, is hard to understand. Perhaps the women were not so high
spirited then as they are now, but certain it is that instead of getting
into a rage, stamping her feet and forbidding him ever to approach her
again, the princess was won. This remarkable style of love-making went
straight to her heart, and brought matters to a crisis. It may be that
she feared another beating, or that she was finally convinced of the
greatness of his love; whatever it was, she consented to become his
wife, forthwith.
The wedding was celebrated at William's Castle in Normandy, Matilda
having gone there accompanied by her parents, and a large retinue of
ladies and gentlemen. Her trousseau was magnificent, and on her wedding
day she wore a superb velvet robe embroidered with gold and {018}
pearls. It was so rich and costly, that it was for a long time preserved
in the treasury of the Cathedral of Bayeux with William's mantle and
helmet, which were adorned with precious stones.
At the time of his marriage, William's affairs were in a most perilous
condition, for he was surrounded by powerful neighbors who wanted to
get possession of the rich fields of Normandy. They hoped to divide them
among themselves and leave the duke nothing. He had enemies among his
own subjects too, who would have been pleased to turn him off and have
his cousin Guy of Burgundy to govern them, because they thought he had
a better right to the dukedom of Normandy than William had. Perhaps this
was so, but the latter had too determined a will to yield, and he had
been a leader nearly all his life.
When he was only five years old, he formed a battalion of boys of his
own age whom he drilled in military practice every day. It must have
been a pretty sight, and no doubt the little fellows fancied themselves
real warriors. Of course disputes arose, all of which William settled
with remarkable skill.
He was a good student too, for he knew enough of Latin at eight years of
age, to read and explain Caesar's Commentaries.
When he was about seven, his father, Duke Robert, went on a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land. But before he did so, he assembled all the nobles of
his realm, and made them swear fealty to his bright, promising child,
whom he hugged and kissed tenderly, then presented to his subjects as
their future Sovereign, saying: "He is little, but he will grow."
Not long after this, Henry, King of France, invaded William's dominion,
but he was defeated, because the young duke had such excellent advisers
and assistants. {020}
[Illustration: 0023] {021}The King was so indignant at this defeat,
that he incited the Norman nobles to stir up an insurrection, hoping, no
doubt, to punish the boy by depriving him of his title, altogether.
[Illustration: 8025]
Once when William was out hunting, he passed the night at a remote
castle without military escort. His cousin, Guy of Burgundy, hearing of
it, laid a plot to kill him, but this was prevented by the Court fool,
who accidentally found it out and travelled all night, at full speed, to
warn the Duke of his danger. He managed to get into the castle at four
o'clock in the morning, and knocked violently on William's chamber
door with the handle of his whip, shouting: "get up! get up, my lord!"
William obeyed the summons, and mounting his swiftest horse, half
dressed, rode with fiery speed for many hours before he was beyond
danger. Even while making his escape, he might have been caught, for
his horse was almost exhausted when he had the good fortune to meet a
gentleman who supplied him with another.
Later, the young duke had a chance to turn the tables on his cousin,
Guy, whom he captured in battle. But remembering that they had been
friends in early childhood, William forgave the attempt his cousin had
made on his life, and released him.
The King of France was just planning another attack on William's
dominions when the young man married, and {022}then Matilda's father
became such a powerful ally that the king hesitated. Soon after he died.
Relieved of this anxiety, the duke thought he might settle down and
enjoy the society of his young wife; but, the Archbishop of Rouen, who
had reasons of his own for trying to prevent the marriage, pronounced it
unlawful, and the young couple were so distressed that they appealed
to the Pope. He decided that if each would build and endow an Abbey, as
well as a hospital for the blind, he would grant them dispensation. This
was not difficult, so Matilda founded the Holy Trinity for Nuns, and
William founded the Monastery of St. Stephen.
Then William set to work to erect a palace for his own dwelling very
near the Monastery. Matilda had a great taste for architecture and took
pleasure in superintending these buildings. The great hall of the palace
was one of the finest apartments in all Europe and the edifice itself
was superb.
This royal couple did everything to render their subjects happy and
contented, and provided work for them by building ships and harbors,
which promoted trade also.
Though we know that Matilda did not love her husband before marriage,
she became a devoted wife afterwards, and William showed his entire
confidence in her by leaving her to govern his country when he went over
to England to obtain a promise from Edward the Confessor that he would
adopt him as successor to the throne.
He was kindly received in England, and Edward gave him some fine hawks,
hounds and other presents. Then Matilda had a little boy whose birth
added considerably to her happiness. He was called Robert, after his
grandpapa, and there was great rejoicing in Normandy over this event. If
they could have foreseen how he would turn out, the feeling would have
been very different. {023}In course of time Matilda had eight other
children, and during many years of peace and national prosperity, she
and her husband devoted themselves to their care and education.
[[A.D. 1065.]] Now it happened that once, when Harold, Edward the
Confessor's half brother, was out fishing in an open boat, he was
overtaken by a storm and obliged to seek refuge in the territory of
the Earl of Ponthieu, who seized him and shut him up in prison. William
rescued him, treated him most kindly, and even promised him one of his
daughters in marriage, though she was but seven years old.
[Illustration: 8027]
Harold acted like a sneak, and pretended to be highly flattered; but it
was not his intention ever to marry the girl at all.
He listened to William's narration of how Edward had adopted him as his
successor to the British throne, and made a solemn promise to assist him
to get it. Soon after his return to England, he married the widow of the
Prince of Wales, and at Edward's death he took no notice of his promise
to William, but had himself proclaimed king.
Of course such conduct aroused William's wrath, and, with the aid of his
wife's relations, he resolved to invade England.
[[A.D. 1066.]] This was the year 1066, and a memorable {024}one on
account of the appearance in the heavens of a splendid three-tailed
comet. We are pleased to have such a visitor and to be able to gaze at
it and study it with the aid of telescopes, but in that time the people
were so superstitious that they thought it portended evil, and so it
spread terror throughout the land. The death of the King, which
occurred only a few days after its appearance, served to encourage the
superstition. When the astrologers foretold its approach they announced
it thus:
"In the year one thousand and sixty-six,
Comets to England's sons an end shall fix."
One of the largest and finest pieces of handiwork that Matilda
accomplished, was the tapestry representing this comet in the heavens
with its three fiery tails spread all across the canvas. A group of
terror-stricken Saxon princes, priests and ladies have rushed out of
their dwellings to look at it, and are pointing towards it, their
faces expressing the utmost anxiety. To be sure the comet looked, when
compared with the objects in the picture, a great deal larger than it
could possibly have been, but probably, the size was suggested by the
awe it inspired.
Matilda did not do all this work alone; if she had, Hood's Song of the
Shirt might well apply to the hundreds and thousands of cross stitches
that she would have made, and we should pity her for having such a weary
task. But she was assisted by all the ladies of her court, who laughed
and chatted merrily while their hands were busily employed.
Well, William started on his expedition to England, leaving his wife
to rule at home, and his son Robert, then only thirteen years of age,
military chief of Normandy.
A large number of his subjects objected to this invasion, SO when the
whole fleet was becalmed at St. Valleri, the
{025}
[Illustration: 0029]
{027}common soldiers complained and declared that God was their
adversary, and had stopped the wind to keep them back. The king did not
know what to say to this, but at last he hit upon something that he knew
would impress them. He ordered the shrine of St. Valleri to be brought
from the tomb and placed in an open field, then invited everybody to
pray to the saint to intercede with the Almighty for a breeze. Crowds of
people far and near, as well as the Norman soldiers, brought offerings,
and in a short time the shrine was buried in the gold, silver and other
precious gifts that they placed upon it. The wind did not immediately
change, but the malcontents had something to think about, and the delay
gave Matilda time to carry out a pleasant surprise that she had planned
for her husband. One day she appeared in the harbor on a splendid vessel
of war that she had caused to be built as a present for William. She
called it the Mora. At the prow of the vessel was a gold image of their
youngest son. With one hand he held a trumpet to his lips, and with
the other a bow with the arrow aimed towards England. Loud cheering and
joyful exclamations greeted Matilda's appearance, and her husband was
overcome by this mark of her affection.
The Mora carried a red flag at her mast-head by day; it was replaced at
night by a bright light that served as a guide for the other vessels of
the fleet. Scarcely was the duke well established on board than the long
wished-for wind arose, every man was summoned to his post, and they set
sail. Matilda went back home.
The Norman fleet met some very rough weather and lost two of their
ships. On the 28th of September, 1066, they landed on the coast of
Sussex.
The duke was the last person to step on shore. As he did so, he stumbled
and fell. Probably he was still giddy {028}from the motion of the
vessel, but his followers thought it an evil omen and raised a great cry
of distress. The duke's presence of mind did not desert him. He picked
up two handfuls of sand, exclaiming: "See, Seigneurs! by the splendor of
God, I have seized England with both hands!"
Then a meal was served on the beach, and afterwards the soldiers
having selected a spot, began to put up the wooden fortress that they
had brought in sections, from Normandy.
A piece of Matilda's tapestry represents the soldiers, assisting the
carpenters and builders in this work.
The army tarried four days on the beach. But there were no telegraphs or
newspapers in those days, so Harold knew nothing of the approach of
his enemy until a knight arrived from Sussex, having ridden all the way
without food or rest, and rushing into his presence shouted at the top
of his voice: "The Normans have come! they have landed at Hastings and
built up a fort! they will rend the land from thee and thine unless
thou defend it well!" Harold sent a messenger offering to buy off the
Normans, but William replied that he had not come for money, but to
claim the realm that Edward the Confessor had given him.
"Nay; you ask too much of us, Sire," said the messenger. "Harold is
willing to purchase your departure with silver, gold and fine garments,
but if you refuse, he will give you battle on Saturday night."
The duke accepted the challenge. The night preceding the battle was
passed by the English in dancing, singing and gambling; but the Normans
prayed, fasted, and confessed their sins.
The battle was fought seven miles from Hastings. Taillefer, the warrior
minstrel of Normandy, rode gallantly {029}
[Illustration: 0033]
{0031}at the head of the chivalry of his native land, singing the
war songs of Rollo. William had three horses killed under him that day
without receiving a single scratch himself. Harold was killed, and the
victorious Duke William pitched his tent on the battle-field that night.
When Matilda received the joyful tidings of her husband's triumph, she
was praying in a church, which, she ordered to be forever after called
Notre Dame de Bonnes Nouvelles, in memory of the good news she had
received there.
A celebrated piece of embroidery made by her after the victory
represents her husband pointing towards his noble steed. He is dressed
in a complete suit of armor, and the likeness is said to be as perfect
as it could be, represented in cross stitch.
[Illustration: 0035]
{032}
CHAPTER II.
[[A.D. 1066.]] On the Monday following the battle of Hastings, William
rode into the city of London, on horseback, followed by a long train of
the nobility of England and Normandy. He proceeded to Westminster Abbey,
where he was crowned King of England.
Grand preparations had been made for this event, and such a brilliant
coronation had never been seen. Crowds of people gathered in the
streets, and the duke's fine presence and noble bearing won all hearts.
Holding the crown aloft the archbishop asked the nobles assembled, if
they were willing to receive this duke for their king. They were so
boisterous in their eager assent, that the Norman soldiers who had
assembled outside the Abbey in case their protection should be needed,
mistook the noise for the rising of the Saxons, and set fire to most of
the buildings in the neighborhood. It required prompt action on the
part of the more sober-minded of the Normans, to prevent the flames from
destroying the Abbey itself. William was dismayed at this occurrence,
and it was not until he showed himself in his coronation robes and
crown, that his followers could be restored to order and quiet.
Now, one would naturally suppose that in those rude times, Matilda's
neighbors would have taken advantage of her husband's absence to invade
her dominion, but she governed with so much skill and prudence that they
did {033}not venture to molest her, and she made herself universally
beloved and respected.
Having recounted the good traits of this queen, it is only fair to
present the bad ones too, because nobody is entirely without faults, yet
it is painful to be obliged to refer to one very dark deed of which she
was guilty.
[Illustration: 0037]
She must have had a large share of vanity, for she never forgave
Brihtric Meaw because he did not return her early affection, and
fourteen years later she sought revenge in this wise: She persuaded her
husband to deprive Meaw of all his lands and bestow them on her; then
she had him put in prison where, after several months, he died. This
was a very serious crime, and it is hard to understand how a woman with
everything in the world to make her {034}happy, and with qualities so
fine and noble as Matilda's certainly were, could have been capable of
it.
After an absence of six months, William returned to Normandy,
accompanied by a number of Saxon noblemen. He brought a large quantity
of costly spoils, among which were garments richly embroidered in silver
and gold by the skilful hands of the Anglo-Saxon women, whose beautiful
work was renowned all over the world.
The whole summer was spent by the royal couple in travelling and
amusements until news was brought to William that his Saxon subjects
were planning an insurrection, when he hastened back to England. He
arrived before any very serious steps had been taken.
He now began to see that his position would be in every respect more
agreeable, and his subjects would be better, satisfied if he had his
family at court, so he sent a numerous company over to Normandy to
conduct them to England.
[[A.D. 1068.]] They proceeded at once to Winchester, where the queen's
coronation took place with great pomp and ceremony. In order to render
it still more imposing, William had himself crowned a second time, but
on this occasion there was no such excitement as disturbed the first
crowning. Everybody was charmed with the graceful, majestic appearance
of the new queen, though some of the Saxons objected to her being called
Regina, which is the Latin word, signifying Queen. However, William
insisted upon this honor being conferred on his wife; though previous to
his reign all the wives of the various kings had simply been termed "the
lady, his companion." To be sure, few of the queens of England could
claim more illustrious descent than Matilda; for Alfred, the best and
noblest of their sovereigns, was one of her ancestors, and {035}she was
connected with most of the royal families in Europe.
After the coronation ceremony, a grand banquet was served, at which both
the king and queen presided.
Now, Matilda had to be served by her hew subjects, the English, because
they would not have been satisfied if she had kept only her Norman
ladies in attendance.
The king was so happy that he bestowed favors right and left in order
to gain the affection of the nation. He also revived some of the old
offices at court, which was a very popular act. Among these, was that
of grand pannetier, whose duty it was to carry the salt and the
carving-knives from the pantry to the king's dining-table on state
occasions. His fees were the salt-cellars, spoons, knives, and
bread-covers laid on the royal table. Forks were not among the luxuries
of William the Conqueror's day, when people must have verified the
proverb of later times, that "fingers were made before forks." The Manor
of Addington was presented to the cook for preparing a kind of white
soup that tickled his majesty's palate.
During the grand coronation banquet, a noble cavalier, named Marmion,
rode into the hall on horseback, completely armed, and shouted out three
times: "If anybody denies that our most gracious sovereign Lord
William, and his spouse Matilda, are King and Queen of England, he is
a false-hearted traitor and liar, and here I do challenge him to single
combat."
Nobody accepted the challenge.
Under a glass case' at the Museum of Bayeux is preserved to this very
day, a piece of canvas, nineteen inches broad and sixty-seven yards
long, on which Queen Matilda embroidered the whole conquest of England
by her husband. There are many hundred figures of men, horses, birds,
beasts, houses, trees, castles, and churches, all done {036}in their
proper colors.
The designs were made by a dwarf artist named Turold, who seems to have
been farsighted enough to know that the work would become celebrated,
for he has curiously managed to introduce his own figure or name on the
canvas wherever it was possible.
[Illustration: 9040]
After William and his wife were seated on the throne, there was a season
of tranquillity. Then the Conqueror laid the foundation for the great
Tower of London, as well as other strong fortresses. But revolts began
again, and the Normans demanded the return of Matilda. She resolved to
gratify them, but in so doing displeased the English, for they knew that
during her absence there would be fewer celebrations at court, and they
would thus be deprived of opportunities for disposing of their fine
goods.
[[A.D. 1069.]] All the working people were affected, more or less,
by her departure, and they {037}got into a habit of gathering at each
other's houses to discuss their wrongs and grievances. Fearing that they
might stimulate one another to revolt, William instituted the Curfew, or
the tolling of a bell, at eight o'clock every evening. This was a signal
for all the lights and fires to be put out in the dwellings; the word
was originally _couvre feu_, which means extinguishing fires.
[Illustration: 8041]
Then William made war in the north of England and laid waste the whole
country. In one of the battles a fair young Saxon, who was engaged to
one of the king's daughters, was killed.
As time went on, Norman customs were adopted in England, and that
dialect, which was a mixture of French and Danish, became popular. The
learned wrote and conversed in Latin.
Now, the ladies of Normandy, whose husbands were fighting William's
battles, began to grow tired of the long separation; besides, certain
bits of gossip that came over the water to them aroused their jealousy.
So, many of them insisted on recalling their lords who, for the sake of
peace, were obliged to desert the king, and obey. The queen herself
set a very bad example, for growing jealous of a daughter of one of the
priests, she actually had the {038}poor girl secretly put to death. When
William went to Normandy, he beat her severely for this shameful deed.
Such treatment does not seem to have surprised her very much, though,
for she forgave him just as she did for a similar indignity before her
marriage, and the royal couple were soon living on the most amicable
terms again.
But there was one serious cause of disagreement between them. It was the
great affection that the queen felt for her eldest son Robert. She loved
him better than any of her other children, while the third son, William
Rufus, was the king's favorite.
Robert was a proud, self-willed, quick-tempered lad, who always wanted
to rule, and the position of trust and importance that he had filled in
Normandy during his father's absence had encouraged this disposition. He
was spoiled, and showed an inclination to rebel when William resumed the
reins of government.
[[A.D. 1076.]] One day when he was walking with some companions around
the castle, his two younger brothers, William Rufus and Richard, with a
desire for boyish fun, threw some dirty water out of the window
directly on his head. Instead of receiving the joke good-naturedly, or
retaliating as any brother might be expected to do, Robert flew into a
passion, and with a drawn sword in his hand rushed up-stairs, declaring
that he would kill the offenders. A great tumult ensued, and it was only
the appearance of their father who burst into the room, flourishing his
sword, and pronouncing angry threats, that prevented fatal consequences.
That evening Robert privately withdrew from court with a party of young
nobles who were attached to him. He stood upon his dignity and refused
to bow to his father's will.
{039}
[Illustration: 0043]
{041}About this time the Princess Constance married, and shortly after
Princess Cicely entered a convent.
Then the queen received a severe blow in the death of her second son,
Richard, a prince of most amiable disposition and studious habits. But
Robert's bad conduct and his disrespectful behavior towards his father
gave her more real sorrow than anything else in the world.
[Illustration: 8045]
After a short absence he sought the king's presence and made a request
that he should be appointed Sovereign of Normandy, saying, "It is my
right; have you not promised to bestow it on me?"
"It is not my custom to strip until I go to bed," replied the king,
adding some wholesome advice.
Then Robert, becoming impertinent,' said he did not come to listen to
sermons, and angrily withdrew. He immediately went to live with his
uncle, the Earl of Flanders. There he lived such a wild, extravagant
life that his mother was frequently called upon to supply him with extra
funds. When her private purse was empty, she sold her jewels and even
her garments to provide the wicked youth with what he demanded.
All this was kept secret from William, which was certainly very wrong.
But he found it out at last, and it need scarcely be said, that he was
exceedingly angry. However, {042}he did not beat his wife this time;
perhaps he had heard before of women making sacrifices for their
children, but he was hurt at Matilda's lack of confidence in him,
and told her very truly, "The woman who deceives her husband is the
destruction of her own house." She defended herself so well, that he
forgave her at last, and continued to love her till the very end of her
life.
But somebody had to be punished, and the victim was the agent who
had forwarded the money to Robert, and attended to the selling of the
queen's jewels and garments. The poor man was condemned to have his
eyes put out. Filled with terror, he ran to a monastery, where, within
twenty-four hours he was shaven and shorn and became a professed monk.
Thus was he protected.
Robert's ambition would not let him rest, so he prepared an attack on
England. There was a furious battle, and it so happened, that in the
midst of it a hand to hand encounter took place between father and son.
William was run through the arm with his adversary's lance and unhorsed.
It is to be hoped, that as the warriors wore their visors down they
did not recognize each other, for it would be horrible to think of a
father's being intentionally wounded by his own flesh and blood. He
cried out so loudly that he was known at once; then Robert raised him
tenderly from the ground and begged to be forgiven, while he placed the
wounded king on his own horse and led him to a place of safety.
It was a long time after the battle, in which Robert came off
victorious, before he was blessed with his father's forgiveness, and
this was brought about by the over-fond mother. Her health had suffered
so much on account of the constant anxiety to which she was subjected,
that William granted her request to invite his erring son home. But
Robert was never admitted to his father's confidence.
[[A.D. 1078.]] {043}It was William the Conqueror who established the
celebrated Doomsday Book which contained a survey of all the lands
throughout England. The object of this book was to enable the sovereign
so to regulate taxes as to feel sure that he received as much as he
dared exact from each subject.
It was while her husband was making one of his expeditions to Normandy
that Queen Matilda heard of a German hermit who was renowned for his
gift of prophecy. She sent to consult him as to what was likely to be
the result of the ill feeling existing between her husband and Robert.
The hermit required three days for his reply, which was: "Tell your
mistress that the Most High has made known to me in a dream, what she
desires to hear. I saw in my vision, a pasture covered with grass and
flowers. A noble charger was feeding thereon. A numerous herd gathered
near eager to share the feast, but the charger would not permit them to
approach. But, alas! suddenly he dropped dead, and a poor silly steer
appeared in his place. He had no power to keep off the meaner animals,
so they all rushed into the field and trampled down the grass and
flowers that they failed to devour. This is the explanation:
"The noble steed is William the Conqueror, who by his wisdom and power
keeps his surrounding foes in awe. The dull beast is Robert, who will
succeed him. The other animals are the envious princes who are waiting
for an opportunity to attack the fields of Normandy, and destroy the
land. If the illustrious lady do not labor to restore peace, there will
be nothing but misery, ruin, and desolation to her beloved country."
This message came close upon the death of the Princess Constance, and
added so much to Matilda's sorrow that her health broke down, and she
died. She had reigned seventeen years, and was the first Anglo-Norman
Queen of England.
Matilda's funeral was conducted with great pomp, and the tomb that was
placed over her grave was a mass of sculpture and precious stones.
The king mourned the loss of his noble companion for many days; he gave
up all his favorite sports and became an irritable, melancholy man. He
survived his wife only four years.
Then Robert got possession of Normandy, but his attempt to place himself
on the throne of England shortly afterwards failed.
[[A.D. 1087.]] William Rufus, called the Red King on account of the
color of his hair, succeeded William the Conqueror, and his brother
Henry became king when he died. Robert ended his life in a prison, after
being shut up in it for twenty-eight years.
[Illustration: 0048]
{045}
CHAPTER III. MATILDA OF SCOTLAND, QUEEN OF HENRY I.
[[A.D. 1077-1118.]]
|This princess is called "The Good Queen," a title that shows how dear
she must have been to her subjects, and how much she must have done to
promote their happiness. She is the only princess of Scotland who ever
shared the throne of an English king.
Her aunt, Christina Atheling, was Abbess of Rumsey, and did all she
could to influence Matilda to take the veil and enter a convent. But
this was very displeasing to her father, the King of Scotland, and one
day when she entered his presence with a nun's veil fastened to her
head, he indignantly tore it to pieces, saying that he intended her
to become a wife some day, not a nun. This circumstance made such an
impression on her youthful mind, that she never forgot it.
When the king made this remark, there was a young man present whose name
was Alan, Duke of Bretagne. He was the widower of Constance, William
the Conqueror's daughter, consequently much too old for Matilda;
nevertheless, he made up his mind on the spot that he would make her his
wife if he could get her consent.
But now we must tell something about the illustrious mother of this
princess, to whom she was indebted for her earliest lessons in piety and
virtue.
Her name was Margaret, and her parents were Edward Atheling, surnamed
the Outlaw, and a daughter of Henry II. of Germany.
[[A.D. 1068.]] {046}When she was a young lady, her family determined to
leave England and take up their residence in Hungary, but the ship on
which they embarked became disabled, and was driven by a storm into the
Frith of Forth. Malcolm Canmore, who was King of Scotland, chanced to be
present when they arrived, and so struck was he with the extreme beauty
of the Lady Margaret, that a few days later he demanded her hand in
marriage. This offer pleased her brother Edgar Atheling very much,
because, not only was it a fine thing to have his sister in such a lofty
position, but Malcolm had received them all so kindly and hospitably
that he had made an excellent impression, so Edgar joyfully gave his
consent.
The spot where Margaret first set foot on Scottish soil is to this day
called Queen's Ferry in memory of the circumstance.
Now, Malcolm could neither read nor write, and he was so rough and wild,
that many of her Saxon friends objected to so pure and intellectual a
girl as Margaret uniting herself to him. She loved him, however, and
immediately after her marriage she set to work to reform her household
as well as she could, and to introduce religious ceremonies, which were
sadly wanting..
Her husband felt her superiority, and had so much confidence in her
judgment that he left the entire control of the royal household in her
hands. He entertained such respect and admiration for her virtues as
well as her mental qualities, that her influence over him was excellent.
All persons who were leading bad, immoral lives were dismissed from the
court, and no one was allowed to hold an office of any kind who failed
in honesty or sobriety.
Although grace was said daily after each meal, by Turgot, the court
chaplain, the Scotch nobles were in the habit of leaving the table as
soon as they had satisfied their
{047}
[Illustration: 0051]
{049}stomachs, without waiting for the grace. This displeased Margaret,
and she began to consider what she could do to keep them in their seats
without commanding them to stay. At last her woman's ingenuity fixed
upon this arrangement. She ordered a cup of the very choicest wine in
the royal cellar to be served to each man after grace, and by degrees
she had the satisfaction of seeing not a single vacant chair at table so
long as Turgot remained. In time the "grace cup" became an established
custom not only at court, but in the castles of the nobility, and the
dwellings of the humbler classes throughout the land.
Margaret was also a devoted mother, and bestowed a great deal of care
upon the education of her seven children. The learned Turgot was their
preceptor and confessor, and when the queen was dying she said to him:
"Farewell! my life is drawing to a close; to you I commit the care of my
children; teach them above all things to love and fear God."
Her husband had been killed by treachery a short time previously, so the
five princes and two princesses were left orphans.
Their uncle Edgar was very kind to them all, and placed the girls,
Matilda and Mary, at the convent, with their aunt Christina, where he
knew that they would have a better training and education than he could
possibly bestow on them. There they remained for a long time, and were
carefully instructed in the art of reading as well as in good manners.
Christina always hoped that they would both become nuns, and considering
that they were entirely under her influence, with no parents, their
brothers at a distance, and no home but the convent, it seems strange
that they did not. But they were reserved for another fate.
In those rude times the Norman nobles were so rough {050}and
uncultivated that they had no respect for any woman excepting those
consecrated to religion, consequently it was a common custom for young
girls to dress in nun's attire for protection.
But Christina made her nieces wear the great, thick, heavy, black veil
because it was all settled in her mind that it was to be forever, and
whenever she saw Matilda without hers, she scolded her and treated
her very harshly. Poor Matilda found it so uncomfortable, and no doubt
unbecoming too, that she wept many a bitter tear over the infliction,
and the moment she was out of her stern aunt's sight, she would fling
the veil on the ground and stamp upon it. During the seven long years
that she spent in the dreary convent, she must, many a time, have wished
for her dear father to relieve her, as he once did.
Matilda was passionately fond of music and devoted much time and
attention to this art. When she became Queen of England she was
exceedingly liberal in her rewards to those monks who sang the church
service well, and did everything in her power to encourage them.
While at the convent, this princess received two offers of marriage. The
first was from the Alan, to whom we referred at the beginning of this
biography. But fortunately for her he died before she was called upon to
give an answer, for she positively asserted that she would rather wear
the odious veil forever than wed him. The other offer was from the young
and handsome William Warren, Earl of Surrey. But him she did not love,
and although he was one of the richest and most powerful of the baronets
of England or Normandy, she refused him. She was somewhat sly on this
occasion, for she pleaded her devotion to a religious life as excuse,
though the real one was the affection she entertained for Henry, fourth
son of William the Conqueror.
{051}
[Illustration: 0055]
{053}She was then at Wilton Abbey, near Winchester, the favorite home
of the Norman king. Edgar Atheling, who was very fond of his niece,
went frequently to see her, and Henry sometimes accompanied him. On such
occasions it is probable that Matilda managed to leave off her veil, for
she was too pretty not to be somewhat vain, and Henry was too young and
ardent not to have his heart touched by her charms.
[Illustration: 8057]
This prince was surnamed Beauclerc because he was such a good student,
and Matilda was so well, educated herself that she could appreciate his
intellect and accomplishments. Therefore she preferred him to Warren,
and no doubt by a whispered word, or a sly glance, succeeded in letting
him know it.
Of all William the Conqueror's sons, Henry was most in favor among the
English, owing to his having been born on their soil: nevertheless it
was a long time before he became king.
When on his deathbed, his father called Henry to him and made the
following prophecy: "Thy elder brothers may go before thee. Robert
shall have Normandy, and William shall have England, but thou shalt be
inheritor of all my honors, and shalt excel both thy brethren in riches
and power."
This dying prophecy was not fulfilled until he was thirty-two years old,
when Wat Tyrrel's arrow placed him on the throne. It happened in
this way: William Rufus, with his brother Henry and a large party of
attendants, were hunting one day, when Henry, by some mistake, was
separated from the others and found himself quite alone in an adjoining
forest. Suddenly, the string of his cross-bow {054}snapped, and he
entered the hut of the nearest forester to have it mended.
A shrivelled-up old woman, who sat on the hearth-stone and looked like
one of the witches in Macbeth, saluted him as king. He was very much
surprised at this, and began to assure her that she had made a mistake.
Without heeding his reply, she continued in a cracked voice, holding up
her long, bony forefinger in token of warning,
"Hasty news to thee I bring,
Henry, thou art now a king;
Mark the words and heed them well,
Which to thee in sooth I tell,
And recall them in the hour
Of thy regal state and power."
Henry was amazed, but had no time to reply before the Red King's
attendants surrounded the door of the hut with news that their Sovereign
had been shot and instantly killed. Wat Tyrrel's arrow had accidentally
struck him in the head, and the unlucky marksman had fled to escape
punishment.
Prince Henry did not wait to weep over the sad fate of his brother, nor
even to see his body properly cared for, but jumped into the saddle and
made speed for Winchester. The cause of this haste was that the
royal treasurer, who happened to be present at the chase, declared
emphatically that the crown now belonged to Robert, and started on a
race with Henry to announce it at the Norman palace. But Robert was in
the Holy Land, so, with drawn sword, Henry forced the treasurer to give
up his keys, and at once took possession of the royal robes, jewels,
and regalia. This high-handed action caused dissatisfaction among those
nobles who owned lands in Normandy, for they were desirous that their
duke should succeed; so it was resolved to settle the question in the
council chamber. All the
{055}
[Illustration: 0059]
{057}nobles and prelates assembled, and while they were debating the
matter, Henry gathered a crowd about him in the street, and eloquently
pleaded his own cause. First he reminded them that he was a born
Englishman, then he made the most flattering promises, and concluded his
speech by assuring them that they should have an English queen, and be
governed by English laws. Loud shouts and hurrahs greeted his ears, and
"Long live Henry, King of England!" passed from mouth to mouth, until it
was taken up in the council hall itself, and thus, by the voice of the
people was the succession settled.
On the day after this scene Henry was crowned at Westminster Abbey. The
promises he made he fully intended to execute, and set about his work of
reform without delay. His popularity increased, and when he made known
his intention to marry Matilda, a descendant of their beloved King
Alfred, and a girl educated in England, it met with great favor.
He then made a formal proposal for her to her brother, the King of
Scotland. But the Abbess Christina was determined not to give her up
without a struggle, moreover, she was a Saxon, and objected to having
the Norman line strengthened by such a union, so she declared that
Matilda was a consecrated nun, whom it would be a sacrilege to marry.
Henry did not dare to act in defiance of the church, though he had
resolved on this marriage, so he wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury
asking advice. That prelate refused to decide so important a question
alone, but summoned a council of churchmen, before whom Matilda was
requested to appear.
This must have been a most embarrassing ordeal for a young girl brought
up in the strict seclusion of a convent, but she was equal to it, and
answered all the questions {058}put to her clearly and intelligibly.
They asked her whether she had taken any vows, saying that if so, no
motive could induce them to consent to their being broken. The princess
denied that she had ever done so. The archbishop asked her if she had
not worn the black veil at her father's court, and subsequently in the
nunneries of Rumsey and Wilton.
"I do not deny," she replied, "having worn the veil in my father's
court, for when I was a child my aunt Christina put a piece of black
cloth over my head; but when my father saw it, he snatched it off in
great rage, and swore at the person who had put it on me, observing at
the same time that it was his intention to give me in marriage, not to
devote me to the church."
Then she told how she had worn the veil for protection at first, and
afterwards, because her aunt would beat and scold her whenever she left
it off.
This explanation was considered perfectly satisfactory, and the council
pronounced Matilda free to contract marriage with the king.
Now, although she loved Henry, and certainly had no desire to remain
longer in the convent, yet she hesitated about getting married because
she had heard the king was not so good and virtuous as he ought to
be, and she feared to trust her happiness in his keeping. But those
connected with the Saxon royal line entreated her with these words: "O
most noble and most gracious of women, if thou wouldst, thou couldst
raise up the ancient honor of England, thou wouldst be a pledge of
reconciliation; but if thou refusest, the enmity between the Saxon and
Norman races will be eternal; human blood will never cease to flow."
This was a strong argument in favor of her marriage. She was to become a
bond of peace to a divided nation,
{059}
[Illustration: 0063]
{061}and she ceased to object when Henry promised to be a constitutional
monarch, and observe the laws and privileges established by Alfred.
Three years and six months after his coronation Henry and Matilda were
married, and the latter was crowned at Westminster. Before performing
the ceremony, the archbishop stood up in the pulpit, and related the
whole history of the princess's life, because he wanted to leave no room
for doubt that she was justified in getting married. He then asked in
a loud tone whether anybody present had an objection to raise. All
declared that the matter was rightly settled.
This marriage proved one of the happiest events for the English nation,
for the queen's thoughts were always for the common people, and she
urged her husband to grant them all their rights and privileges. One of
his first acts was to abolish the curfew at her request, for she said
that everybody ought to be permitted to sit up and enjoy an evening chat
just as long as they pleased.
Henry's Anglo-Saxon subjects soon became so warmly attached to him, that
they were anxious to show him an allegiance which the stern laws of
his father, or of the Red King, never could have forced from them.
They loved the queen also, because they knew that a great deal of their
happiness was the result of her good influence.
[Illustration: 0065]
{062}
CHAPTER IV.
|The royal couple lived at Westminster, in the palace of Edward the
Confessor, and Matilda devoted much of her time to the care of the sick
and the needy. She was so strict concerning her religious duties, that
every day in Lent she went to Westminster Abbey barefooted and clothed
in a garment of haircloth. Then she would wash and kiss the feet of the
poorest people. One day a courtier reproved her for it, but she replied,
as the following curious dialogue, taken from a rhyming chronicle of the
day, will show,--
"Madam, for God's love is this well ado
To handle such unclean limbs and to kiss so?
Foul would the king think if this thing he wist,
And right well avile him ere he your lips kist."
"Sir, sir!" quoth the queen, "be still. Why say you so?
Our Lord himself example gave for to do so."
On another occasion, her brother, the King of Scotland, who was on a
visit to the English court, entered Matilda's apartments, and found her
on her knees washing the feet of some old beggars. She looked up,
and asked him if he would not assist her in this work of charity and
humiliation, for the good of his soul. His majesty smiled and left the
room without making any reply. Perhaps as he had never had any practice
in that sort of labor he feared that he might not be able to perform it
skilfully, or it may be that he did not care to encourage his sister
in the humility which she seemed inclined to carry to excess. How-
{063}ever, Matilda's good works were not all directed in one channel,
for she tried to benefit every class of her subjects, the rich as
well as the poor. Once when she was obliged to cross the river Lea
on horseback, the tide was so high that she ran great danger of being
drowned, so she caused a fine arched bridge to be built high up the
stream. The Saxons called it the Bow Bridge. Then she built more of
these structures, and to insure their being kept in good repair, she
presented a mill or dwelling-house to those whom she selected to attend
to them.
She planned new roads and repaired old ones, thus facilitating travel
through the wild, uncultivated parts of the country, so that in time
merchants could cross the desolate moors with their wares without
incurring much risk.
All this work was probably done during her husband's absence from home
when she was regent and could call on the public treasury, for certainly
her private purse could never have enabled her to undergo such a heavy
outlay. But that made no difference to her subjects, for they enjoyed
the benefit of her improvements, and looked upon her as a real
benefactress.
Henry's wise laws did not give universal satisfaction by any means; for
the Norman nobles objected to any check being placed on their actions.
They had been used to doing just exactly as they pleased with only their
sweet wills to govern them, and now when they found that they could not
commit crimes and outrages against the lower classes without incurring
punishment of some sort they made great complaints. They could not
understand why the laws that protected them and their families should
apply equally to the common people. Their amusements were restrained,
and their lawlessness no longer had free play. So they spoke with utter
contempt of "that Saxon woman," as they called Matilda, and actually
went so far {064}as to apply ridiculous nicknames to the royal couple,
before their very faces.
Just two years had passed since their marriage, when Duke Robert
returned from the Holy Land. He determined at once to invade England.
Now, as Henry's fleet was manned by Normans, under the influence of
Norman chiefs, they refused to guard the coasts of England against
their duke, but went out to meet him, and brought him in triumph to
Portsmouth, where he was joined by nearly all the Anglo-Norman nobles,
as well as a great many of the English themselves.
Well, Robert marched straight on to Winchester, but with all his faults,
he proved himself a true gentleman on this occasion; for when he got
there he heard that Matilda had a little baby and was ill in bed, so he
refused to storm the city.
This consideration on his part pleased the queen so much, that she used
her influence to bring about a reconciliation between her husband and
his brother, and Henry invited Robert to court, where he was feasted and
entertained in a sumptuous manner. The queen and her brother-in-law had
one taste in common: they both loved music. It is only a pity that all
Robert's fancies were not so refined and harmless.
Poets and minstrels from every part of Europe flocked to Matilda's court
to recite their verses or sing their songs in her presence, and she
took great pains to receive them kindly and make them welcome. The only
objection that could be made to this custom, was that it cost too much
money, for the queen was exceedingly liberal with her rewards. Robert
was so well pleased with the treatment he received at his brother's
court, that he prolonged his stay six months, and he and the queen
passed a great deal of time in each other's society singing and
{065}studying music; and quite a warm affection grew up between them.
[Illustration: 8069]
[[A.D. 1104.]] The following year the Duke of Normandy visited England
again, probably to demand the payment of his pension. As he was
accompanied by only twelve gentlemen it could scarcely have been his
purpose to raise a revolt. Nevertheless, when Henry heard of his arrival
he said, "By my faith, should he fall into my hands, I will keep him so
closely imprisoned that he shall never give me any more trouble."
A friend of Robert's heard this remark, and hastened to warn him of his
danger, advising him to seek the queen's protection, which he was very
glad to do. She spoke kind and comforting words, assuring him that she
would do all in her power to save him from the anger of the king. But
Robert was so alarmed that he scarcely listened to what she said.
He declared himself ready to make almost any sacrifice to insure his
personal safety, and even offered {066}to dispense with the annual sum
the king regularly allowed him for resigning his claim to the throne.
[Illustration: 9070]
When Henry heard this, he sent for the queen to come to him and bring
Duke Robert with her. She did so, and the duke thus addressed his
brother:
"Fair sire, I am come to show you our of affection, and not to injure
either you or yours. We are brothers, born of one father and one mother.
If I am the eldest, you have the honor of the crown, which is a much
better thing. I love you well, and thus it ought to be. I have given
over to the queen all you owe me for this kingdom. We will be friends
now and exchange gifts of jewels, dogs, and birds."
The king replied: "We will do as you say, with thanks." Now, one of
Robert's vices was intemperance, which was so great, that he would often
be in a state of intoxication for days together. So, not long after his
friendly speech, when he was under the influence of wine, he accused
Henry of having cheated him out of his pension, by making Matilda
mislead him with her fair words. Of course, after that there could be
nothing but bitter and {067}unkind feelings between the royal brothers,
and Robert made so many threats, that the king embarked for Normandy,
determined to make war on him.
But when he got there, Anselm, the old archbishop, effected a
reconciliation. Anselm then returned to England and gave Matilda much
pain, by putting in force a plan that he had agreed upon with Henry. It
was to forbid any of the Anglo-Saxon clergy to marry, and to turn those
out of the church who were already married. Two hundred of these poor
unfortunates stood barefooted in the streets of London, when Henry
returned, begging for compassion. He turned aside, and showed plainly
that they were to look for neither aid nor sympathy from him, while the
good Matilda wept bitterly, saying that "she dared not interfere."
At this time the royal couple had two children, a boy named William, and
a little daughter who was placed at Wilton Abbey for care and education.
The Anglo-Normans were so much pleased with the Saxon style of wearing
their hair, which was in long ringlets flowing to their shoulders, their
mouths and chins covered with it too, that they soon imitated them. The
king especially was remarkable for the beauty of his locks, which he
cherished with care, though the Norman clergy highly disapproved of such
vanity.
One day, while Henry was in Normandy, he and his train entered a church,
where the bishop began to preach about the sinfulness of this new
fashion, saying, "It was a device of the evil one to bring souls into
everlasting perdition, the moustached, bearded, and long-haired men
resembling filthy goats." The discourse was so touching that the King
of England and his courtiers wept. Then the bishop drew a large pair of
scissors from his sleeve and proceeded to crop off the curls and beards
of his {068}hearers, beginning with Henry, who was anxious to prove the
sincerity of his tears. Thus for nearly an hour the church resembled a
barber-shop, and afterwards Henry published an edict forever abolishing
such sinful adornments as ringlets and beards.
After this Henry pursued the war in Normandy, completely conquered that
country, and returned in triumph to England with Edgar Atheling, Robert,
and four hundred valiant knights as prisoners.
[Illustration: 0072]
He then removed his court to Windsor Castle, which had been completed by
Matilda during his absence. It now became necessary for Henry to spend
part of every year in Normandy, as he was ruler of that country as well
as of England.
In 1109 he received an ambassador from the Emperor Henry V., who came to
make a proposal for the hand of the little Princess Matilda, then only
six years of age. The offer was accepted, but the child was permitted to
remain at home until she had reached the mature age of twelve, when she
was married and crowned in the cathedral of Mentz. The little empress
was very kindly treated by {069}her husband, who was forty years her
senior; and she was so amiable and pretty, that she won the hearts of
the German princes, his sons.
When Prince William was twelve years old, the king took him to Normandy,
and presented him, with great pomp, as heir to the duchy. The barons and
freemen swore fealty to him.
The royal family passed the following Christmas at the Abbey of St.
Alban's as guests of the Abbot Richard, who invited them, as well as a
large company of prelates and nobles, to assist at the consecration of
the abbey. In a rich illuminated volume, called the Golden Book of
St. Alban's, (now in the British Museum,) is a likeness of the queen,
evidently made at this time.
In the year 1117, a fresh revolt called Henry to Normandy again, and
during his absence "the Good Queen," whose health had been failing for
many months, died. To the last hour of her life she was a beautiful
example of piety and self-denial, and her virtues had made her so dear
to her subjects of every class, that she was passionately lamented by
them all. She was buried at Westminster Abbey near her royal uncle,
Edward the Confessor.
After her death, her three Saxon maids of honor retired to a hermitage
where there was a holy well, or medicinal spring, and established a
convent there. They were pious ladies, always ready to bestow alms and
relieve the sick and suffering, and passed the rest of their lives in
imitating the charitable, worthy deeds of their royal mistress.
Prince William never returned to England after the death of his mother,
but spent much of his time fighting against the King of France, at his
father's side.
In 1119 he married Alice, daughter of the Earl of Anjou. A year later
he accompanied his father to Harfleur for the purpose of embarking for
England. The king set {070}sail the same night, leaving the prince to
follow in the "White Ship" the finest vessel in the Norman navy. William
went on board with a gay party of young friends, and ordered three casks
of wine to be given to the ship's crew. This was a mistake, for the
sailors were, for the most part, intoxicated when they sailed. Prince
William, desiring to overtake the rest of the fleet, ordered his captain
to put up all his sails, and the "White Ship" went rushing through the
water with such dangerous speed, that she suddenly struck a rock and
began to sink. All was terror and confusion. The life-boat was launched,
and the young heir of England, with several of his companions, got into
it, and would probably have been able to row back to the Norman shore in
safety; but the cries of his half-sister calling on him for assistance
reached his ear. He commanded the boat back, and as soon as it neared
the ship, such numbers sprang into it that it immediately sank. Out
of three hundred persons who embarked on the ill-fated vessel only one
escaped to tell the sad tale. This was a poor butcher, who climbed to
the top of the mast, and was rescued next morning by some fishermen.
The report of the disaster reached England next day, but there was
nobody bold enough to carry it to the king, so for three days he was
left in suspense.
At length his private little page was selected to break the news to the
bereaved father. Entering the room with pattering steps and a sorrowful
mien, the child knelt down at Henry's feet and told him of the dreadful
catastrophe. He sank upon the floor in a swoon, from which he did not
recover for many minutes. In all his life Henry I. was never known to
smile again.
[[A.D. 1120.]] Three years after the death of Queen Matilda he married
Adelicia of Louvaine, surnamed the Fair Maid of Brabant, a lady of
distinguished beauty and rare
{071}
[Illustration: 0075]
{073}talent. She occupied the English throne too short a time for us to
devote a separate chapter to her reign. She was a good, kind stepmother
to the little Empress Matilda, and took excellent care of her. But she
could not have been very happy as the wife of Henry I., because his
troubles made him such a cross, melancholy old man that even his
greatest nobles were afraid to approach him. He died in Normandy in
1135, and three years later Adelicia married William de Albini.
She had seven children after her second marriage, from one of whom by
lineal descent were two of the most unfortunate of all the queens of
England,--Anna Boleyn and Katherine Howard.
[Illustration: 0077]
{074}
CHAPTER V. MATILDA OF BOULOGNE, QUEEN OF STEPHEN
A.D.1106-1151.
|Matilda of Boulogne was the last of the Anglo-Norman queens, and the
only child of the Count and Countess of Boulogne. She was educated at
the Convent of Bermondsey, which was founded by her mother, but it was
never intended that she should spend her life there, because, at a very
early age, she was married to Stephen de Blois, a nephew of Henry I.
Stephen was a handsome, bright, intellectual boy when he went to seek
his fortune at the court of England, and Henry Beauclerc was pleased to
have an opportunity of showing kindness to the son of his sister Adela,
Countess of Blois, whom he had always loved very tenderly.
So he knighted the youth, and bestowed upon him the hand of his queen's
niece Matilda, the heiress of Boulogne. After the marriage, the king
presented the young couple with the Tower-Royal, a strongly fortified
palace, which became their London residence.
Stephen had embarked on board the ill-fated Blanche Nef, or White Ship,
with his cousin William, but prudently left just before the vessel
sailed, saying: "She was too much crowded with foolish, headstrong young
people."
After the death of his son William, the king placed his affections
on his nephew, and always liked his companionship in all his voyages.
Stephen was a great favorite in {075}England, for he was as affable and
agreeable to the poorest and humblest people as he was to the nobles.
His wife, too, was daily winning hearts, and when the king's health
began to decline, it was fondly hoped that this young couple would
succeed him instead of his daughter, the Empress Matilda. And so they
did, for no sooner was King Henry's
[Illustration: 0079]
death announced than Stephen left Normandy, and embarked for Dover,
leaving the last rites of his deceased uncle to the care of Robert, Earl
of Gloucester.
He hastened on to London in the midst of a terrible thunder-storm, and
convened an assembly of barons, before whom the steward of King Henry's
household swore that the late sovereign had disinherited the Empress
Matilda {076}on his deathbed, and named Stephen as his heir. Thereupon
the Archbishop of Canterbury absolved the nobles from the oath of fealty
they had twice sworn to the daughter of their dead king, and Stephen was
crowned without opposition.
This was easily managed, because the Empress Matilda, being the wife of
a foreign prince, was residing on the continent, and therefore out of
the way. Besides, at the time of her father's death, her husband was
dangerously ill, and she had no thought for anything but the care he
required. When he recovered she determined to remain quiet for awhile to
watch the condition of affairs in England.
[[A.D. 1136.]] Meanwhile Queen Matilda had given birth to a son, who was
named Eustace, and three months after her husband had claimed the crown,
her own coronation took place on Easter Sunday, 1136.
Stephen began his reign by making some wise and popular laws, but he
permitted his nobles to build or fortify over a thousand castles. This
was a grave mistake, because the owners of these strongholds could shut
themselves up in them and defy the crown when they chose.
The first sad experience Stephen had in this respect was when the Earl
of Devonshire refused to obey him, or to acknowledge his right as king.
Stephen proceeded to chastise him, when the King of Scotland, taking
advantage of this disturbance, invaded the northern counties under
pretence of revenging the wrongs of his niece, the Empress Matilda,
though Queen Matilda stood in the same degree of relationship to him as
the empress did.
Stephen met the King of Scotland with a large army, but Queen Matilda
interposed between the two sovereigns, and settled all differences
without any bloodshed.
[[A.D. 1137.]] This happy termination of the storm that had been
gathering was celebrated by a series of rejoicings, {077}but in the
midst of them Stephen was seized with an illness so serious that it
resulted in a stupor closely resembling death. It was reported in
Normandy that he really had died.
Thereupon the party of the Empress Matilda immediately began to take
measures to place her on the throne, her husband, the Count of Anjou,
entering Normandy at the head of an army to assert her right. Then
Stephen's elder brother, Theobold, put in his claim. Meanwhile Stephen
recovered, and no sooner did he see the danger that threatened him,
than, leaving his wife to look out for his interests in England, he
hastened with his little son to France, and by means of a large bribe
induced King Louis VII. to acknowledge the child's claim to the earldom
of Boulogne, which Queen Matilda had bestowed on the child.
During King Stephen's absence some enormous fires occurred in different
parts of England which seemed to be the work of discontented subjects;
conspiracies were formed in favor of the Empress Matilda, and, what
was worst of all, the King of Scotland made another invasion into
Northumberland. But Queen Matilda showed herself a woman of courage and
determination, for she actually went in person to fight the insurgents,
and kept them at bay until her husband arrived and drove the Scottish
army back into their own country.
The party that favored the empress had become so powerful by the autumn
of 1140 that, had she acted promptly, she would certainly have gained
the prize she sought. But she did not enter England until Stephen had
taken possession of the castles as well as of the great wealth of three
bishops who had opposed him.
Consequently, when she took up her abode at Arundel Castle, Stephen
might perfectly well have made her his {078}prisoner; but he remembered
what a debt of gratitude he owed to her father, and spared her for the
sake of his benefactor. When she expressed her desire to remove to the
Castle of Bristol, he was even so gallant as to offer his brother, the
Bishop of Winchester, as escort, and to pledge his word that she should
not be molested by the way.
[Illustration: 0082]
The Earl of Gloucester was still fighting for his sister's rights when
Queen Matilda went, with her son Eustace, to France for the purpose of
strengthening her husband's cause by the aid of her foreign relations.
While there, a {079}marriage was negotiated between Constance, sister of
Louis I., and little Eustace, who was just four years old.
Matilda was still in France when the battle of Lincoln, so disastrous to
Stephen's cause, was fought.
[Illustration: 0083]
It happened that Stephen had shut up a number of the Empress Matilda's
partisans and their families when he besieged the town of Lincoln; among
these was the Earl of Gloucester's youngest daughter, who had recently
married her cousin, the Earl of Chester. So determined were the father
and husband to liberate her, that, with all their followers, they
swam across the river Trent, behind which Stephen and his army thought
themselves safely encamped, and fiercely attacked him in their dripping
garments.
Stephen fought desperately, until he was left almost alone on the
field, when a stout knight seized him and led him captive before the
Empress Matilda, who ordered him into close confinement in Bristol
Castle.
Then the Empress Matilda made her public entry into the city of
Winchester, where she was received in state by Stephen's brother, the
bishop of that place, who excommunicated all those who adhered to the
imprisoned king, {080}and promised absolution to all those who joined
the cause of the empress.
At this melancholy juncture Queen Matilda returned from France. She at
once made a personal appeal to the citizens of London, with whom she
had always been popular, and so readily did they listen to her complaint
that they demanded the liberation of the king. But her brother-in-law,
Henry de Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, paid no attention to the
demand; he even refused to have Queen Matilda's address to the Synod
in behalf of her husband read aloud, and boldly declared the Empress
Matilda sovereign of England.
[Illustration: 0084]
Then Queen Matilda made a pathetic appeal to this haughty, arrogant
woman in behalf of Stephen, who remained, heavily ironed, in prison. She
assured the empress that the loss of power was of little moment; all she
asked was that her husband might be set at liberty. She even proposed
that if her life were spared, and her son were permitted to enjoy the
Earldom of Boulogne, she would enter a convent, her husband a monastery,
and promised that both would forever forego all claim to the crown of
England.
{081}
[Illustration: 0085]
{083}This petition, as well as all the others that King Stephen's wife
had made to the cruel empress, was rejected with contempt. But the
devoted wife was not to be baffled when working for her husband's life
and pardon, so taking advantage of a misunderstanding that arose between
the Bishop of Winchester and the empress, she induced that prelate
to absolve all those of her husband's party whom he had previously
excommunicated, and to aid her in the deliverance of his brother.
Then, in the name of her son, Prince Eustace, she raised the standard
of the captive king in Kent and Surrey, and a strong army was soon
organized in her support.
Meanwhile the empress had become exceeding unpopular, and when the
citizens of London found that she proposed to treat them as a conquered
nation, which her demand for a subsidy proved, they asked leave to
deliberate.
The empress retired to her palace of Westminster, where she awaited the
arrival of a deputy with the bags of gold she felt sure they would send.
Suddenly the bells of London rang out an alarm, and every man in
the city and its vicinity came out of his house carrying a sword. A
formidable army soon collected, ready to dispute any unjust demand for
subsidies, and proceeded to the palace.
But the empress, with her barons and chevaliers, had made good their
escape on horseback, and were far on the road to Oxford when the mob
broke open the doors of the palace.
The King of Scotland was with his niece, but he was so disgusted with
her behavior that he made the best of his way to his own borders. By the
time the empress reached Oxford, all of her train had deserted excepting
the Duke of Gloucester, with whom she entered the city alone.
With a large army ready to support her, Queen Matilda {084}now returned
to London, where she was received by the populace with open arms. Her
next step was to go with her son to the Bishop of Winchester and entreat
him to assist her in once more placing her husband on the throne.
He promised to do so, and urged the queen to put herself at the head of
her army and march to Winchester. At her approach, the prelate retired
to his castle in the suburbs, and a blockade was established that made
the empress tremble in her palace. No doubt, during the two months of
famine and warfare that succeeded, she regretted more than once the
scorn with which she had repulsed her cousin's humble appeal. At last,
when at least twenty-five churches and monasteries had been destroyed,
and the empress knew that her position was becoming daily more
dangerous, she prevailed on her brother, the Duke of Gloucester, to
assist her to escape. He and the King of Scotland attempted to do so by
forcing their way through the besiegers.
The Duke of Gloucester fought bravely, but was compelled to surrender at
last, when he was made captive and conducted before Queen Matilda. The
King of Scotland escaped with the empress, and got as far as Devizes,
where the queen's soldiers pursued them so closely that they would
certainly have been captured but for a stratagem to which the empress
was compelled to resort for safety. She had herself rolled in a
winding-sheet, and placed in a coffin, and was in this manner carried
on the shoulders of some of her faithful partisans to the fortress of
Gloucester, which belonged to her brother. There she was deposited at
last, after many hours of travel, worn out with fasting and terror.
[[A.D. 1141.]] The Duke of Gloucester was so necessary to his party,
that the empress opened communication with Queen Matilda to effect his
release. But the only terms
{085}
[Illustration: 0089]
{087}to which the devoted wife would listen, were those that would
secure the restoration of her husband. Consequently, after many
propositions had been made on one side and rejected on the other, and
after Queen Matilda had threatened severe measures against Gloucester,
the illustrious prisoners were exchanged. This important event took
place in November, 1141.
Stephen had another attack of his old malady soon after his release, but
he recovered with the tender care bestowed upon him by his loving wife,
and then entered the field again, determined to fight more desperately
than ever.
Then the party of the empress thought they would claim the assistance
of her husband, the Count of Anjou, for which purpose the Duke of
Gloucester was despatched to Normandy. Before leaving England, however,
he saw his sister established at the Castle of Oxford, where he felt
perfectly certain of her safety.
But Stephen was so bent upon capturing the empress that he laid siege to
the fortress she occupied and reduced her to such distress for want of
provisions that she escaped one night with only four attendants. The
fugitives dressed themselves from head to foot in white, and as the
ground was all covered with snow, they moved noiselessly and unnoticed
along, protected by the banks of snow and ice along the Thames, through
a blinding storm that flew full in their faces. When at a safe distance
from the castle, they walked faster, over hedges and ditches, until they
reached a town six miles off, where they obtained horses and rode on to
Wallingford the same night.
There the empress met her brother, who had just returned from Normandy.
The Count of Anjou had not seen fit to comply with the request of his
wife's party for assistance, but compromised by sending Prince Henry to
see his mother, keeping their other child, Geoffrey, with {088}him.
He was evidently not anxious to see her himself. Three years later the
count sent a train of Norman nobles to England to reclaim his heir. The
Duke of Gloucester accompanied his nephew part of the way, and then
bade him farewell forever; for he died in October, 1147. Deprived of the
support of this true-hearted brother, the Empress Matilda abandoned hope
and left England, nearly all of her friends having deserted her.
Stephen and Matilda were so delighted at the departure of the empress,
and the establishment of peace, that they celebrated the following
Christmas with unusual splendor, and prevailed upon some of the barons
to swear fealty to their son, Eustace, then thirteen years old, and
acknowledge him as heir-apparent to the throne.
In 1148, Queen Matilda founded and endowed the Church of St. Katherine,
by the tower; also the Royal Abbey of Feversham in Kent. Then she
spent a few months quietly at the convent. But her health had begun to
decline, and she died of a fever on the 3d of May, 1151, at the age of
forty-seven.
She was buried at the new abbey of Feversham, and was deeply lamented
by all who knew her. About three years later Stephen was laid beside his
beloved queen.
[Illustration: 0092]
{089}
CHAPTER VI. ELEANORA OF AQUITAINE, QUEEN OF HENRY II.
(A.D. 1134-1204.)
|Eleanora was born in the beautiful province of Aquitaine, a name that
Julius Caesar gave to the south of Gaul on account of its numerous
rivers and fine ports. The people liked the name and adopted it; but it
was really the ancient kingdom of Provence.
Eleanora and her sister Petronilla were daughters of William, Count of
Poitou, such a good, pious man,'that as he happened to be in the Holy
Land at the time of his death, he was forever after called St. William.
The grandfather of these girls was William IX., not a very good man, but
a learned one, and an excellent poet. The most polished and civilized
people on the face of the earth in the 12th and 13th centuries were to
be found in Provence, and their language, which was a mixture of French
and Italian, was particularly adapted for poetry and music. This is no
doubt the reason why there were so many minstrels in that country, who
wandered about from one nobleman's house to another, singing their songs
and reciting their poems.
William IX. was a troubadour, and his compositions were so popular that
they became models for all the others. He was the most powerful prince
in all Europe, but as he advanced in years his conscience began to
trouble him, and {090}he thought he must reform before it was too late.
So, when Eleanora was about fourteen years of age, he ap> pointed her
ruler of Aquitaine in his place, assembled all the nobles of the land,
and made them take an oath of allegiance to her, because, as he told
them, he wished to occupy himself with spiritual matters.
[Illustration: 9094]
This done, he planned a marriage between Eleanora and the son of Louis
VI. of France. The young people had no objections to offer, and they
were married at Bordeaux without delay.
[[A.D. 1137.]] As soon as they were crowned Duke and Duchess of
Aquitaine, William IX. laid aside his royal robes forever. Attired in a
hermit's gown, he started on a pilgrimage to Spain, and passed several
years in different caves in the gloomy, rocky wilderness, where he ended
his days.
Now, Eleanora was a great heiress, because all the rich territory that
her grandfather had owned passed into her possession.
Afterwards, young Louis was crowned Duke of Guienne, when he and his
youthful bride were summoned to France to attend the death-bed of his
father, Louis VI., the good king and wise law-maker. His dying words
were: "Remember, royalty is a public trust, for the exercise of
{091}
[Illustration: 0095]
{093}which a rigorous account will be exacted by Him who has the sole
disposal of crowns and sceptres."
Louis was impressed by these words, but they had little weight with the
thoughtless Eleanora. She was beautiful and accomplished, but seemed
to think that the chief object in life was enjoyment. She was a fine
musician, and wrote some beautiful poetry, which she set to music. These
verses were remembered and sung long after she had ceased to live, which
proves that they must have had considerable merit.
Eleanora's southern subjects adored her, and were dreadfully grieved
whenever she had to leave them to return to her court at Paris. She
preferred to stay among them, too, because, as she had entire control
of affairs in the south, all was life and fun there, while her husband's
palace was under such rigid rule that it was almost like a convent.
She gave festivals in Provence, called "Courts of Love," that were
very popular among her subjects. On such occasions she, with her
ladies-in-waiting, would receive all the troubadours who chose to come
with their new poems and songs. The ladies would hear them, and then
pronounce sentence upon them, and as Eleanora was a very accomplished
poetess, her judgment was considered of great value.
She could not induce her husband to take part in these amusements, yet
she had considerable influence oyer him, which, unfortunately, once
led him to commit an act of great injustice. It was on account of her
sister, Petronilla, whose beauty was equal to her own, and whose sense
of right was sadly wanting. This princess happened to fall in love
with a certain young count, whose affection she was determined to have,
although he was a married man. So she and Eleanora put their heads
together and planned, {094}until they brought about a divorce between
the count and his wife for some trifling excuse. Then Petronilla married
him. But the former wife had a brother, the Count of Champagne, who
would not stand such treatment towards his sister, so he laid the matter
before the pope, who commanded the divorced count to leave his new wife
immediately and take back the former one. This so enraged Eleanora that
she persuaded her husband to punish the Count of Champagne. Louis, who
had another cause of offence against this man, did not need much urging,
and invaded his country at the head of a large army. They destroyed
right and left until they came to the town of Vitry, which they began
to storm; thirteen hundred of the terrified inhabitants rushed to the
cathedral and locked themselves in for safety. The building was set on
fire by the besiegers, and every soul w'as burned to death. About
this period the eloquent St. Bernard came to Burgundy and preached
the crusade. Such crowds of people flocked to hear him that they were
obliged to meet in the market place, for there was no church in the town
nearly large enough to contain them. King Louis and Queen Eleanora
were present also, and the saint spoke so eloquently, and in such harsh
tones, about the burning of the Vitry cathedral that they both felt very
repentant. The king resolved to atone for the horrible deed by going to
the Holy Land to fight for the Christian cause. That was all very well,
and one can only admire him for such a resolution. But the queen vowed
that she would accompany her lord, and lead her southern forces in
person. This was a silly determination for a woman, and the excellent
Abbot Suger tried to persuade her to give up all idea of such a wild
expedition, but she had made up her mind to become a female crusader,
and no argument could change her. Throughout her life, she was weak
where she ought to have been
{095}
[Illustration: 0099]
{097}strong, and determined where timidity would have been, by far, more
becoming and womanly. The king did not oppose her crusade; but even if
he had, she would have forced him to yield to her will.
She received the holy cross from the hand of St. Bernard, and
immediately put on the dress of an Amazon and mounted a horse. All the
court ladies did the same, calling themselves the queen's body-guard.
Then they formed in parade every day, and practised military exercise in
public, making themselves as ridiculous as possible. In short, they were
a band of madwomen, and nobody could control them. When once they had
become Amazons they abandoned all womanly occupations, consequently had
no use for their distaffs; these they sent to all the knights and nobles
who kept out of this insane expedition. Thus, many of them being too
weak to stand such a taunt, were actually shamed into joining though
their good sense opposed it.
King Louis managed his difficult enterprise with a good deal of courage
and prudence, but it would have required a greater general than the
world has ever known to discipline a regiment of fantastic women. The
freaks of these female warriors were the cause of all the misfortunes
that befell the army, for the king, after landing in Thrace, sent them
forward with his choicest troops, and told them exactly how to choose
their camp so that they would overlook the valley of Laodicea. He
remained about five miles behind with the baggage, of which there was a
large supply, and had to stop frequently to fight the bands of Arabs who
attacked him.
Instead of obeying her husband's directions, Queen Eleanora insisted
that her part of the army should halt in a lovely valley, full of
grass and flowers. This inviting spot caught her fancy, and military
discipline became of secondary importance to her. {098}It was almost
night when the king approached the valley; he could not distinguish his
troops on the elevated ground where they ought to have been, and knew
not what to make of it. The queen was not encamped there, that was
certain, so there was nothing for him to do but to enter the valley in
search of her. Soon after he was attacked from the hills by swarms of
Arabs, and had to move in and out among the rocks to dodge them. At
one time he barely escaped with his life by climbing a tree, whence he
fought desperately. It was daylight before he discovered the troops that
he had sent in advance. During the night seven thousand French
soldiers had been killed, the provisions had been cut off, the baggage,
containing all the fine clothing of the lady warriors, had been
plundered by the Arabs, and the whole army was in great distress.
Fortunately, Eleanora had an uncle living near by; his name was Prince
Raymond, and he was the handsomest man of his time. He threw open his
friendly gates to the defeated French army, and they were glad to rest
and refresh themselves after all the hardships they had endured. The
uncle and niece met for the first time, and were so charmed with each
other that Louis soon became jealous; so one night he hurried his wife
off without taking leave of his polite host. This made Eleanora so angry
that when they arrived at Jerusalem she did nothing but grumble and
complain. Most pilgrims had their piety aroused on this holy ground, but
it was not so with Eleanora; she wanted to get home, and quarrelled with
her husband for keeping her there. In fact, she never forgave him for
forcing her away from her uncle's agreeable company, and from that time
all affection w'as at an end between this royal couple Eleanora was not
willing to submit to restraint of any sort, and her husband's temper was
so tried that he resolved to have a divorce. So, on his return to Paris,
he consulted {099}his confidant, the Abbot Suger, about this matter.
That worthy man advised him to wait; because, he argued, that it would
be troublesome for France to have to give up the money Eleanora's
provinces in the south yielded; besides Louis' daughter, the Princess
Marie, would probably be deprived of her inheritance if her mother
should take it into her head to marry again.
Louis accepted this advice, but he had his wife closely watched, and
would not allow her to go to Provence at all. She complained of the
stupid life she led in Paris, and made great fun of her husband for
wearing plain clothing and keeping his head and beard closely cropped,
which she declared made him look more like a priest than a king.
Well, in time another princess was born, and named Alice. Soon after
this event Henry Plantagenet visited Paris. He was a noble-looking young
prince, full of energy and very intellectual.
[[A.D. 1151.]] Eleanora fell so desperately in love with him that
without hesitation or advice she applied for a divorce from Louis,
and got it. No doubt the king was glad to be rid of such an undutiful,
unwomanly wife, though he did have to give up all control over his
southern provinces, even Guienne.
Eleanora went straight to her favorite home, where Henry Plantagenet
followed her. He was probably not so very much in love with her, for she
was twelve years his senior, but he needed her money and her ships to
fight King Stephen, and lay claim to the throne of England, which he did
during the first year of their marriage.
He returned in triumph, and was besieging the castle of a rebel duke
in Normandy when the news of Stephen's death reached him. For six weeks
England was without a king, until Eleanora and Henry arrived with their
young son. They were crowned at Westminster Abbey in 1154, {100}and such
a magnificent coronation had never been seen. The costumes of costly
silk and brocade worn on that occasion had been brought by Eleanora from
Constantinople. In one of her portraits she wears a close coif, or hood,
over which is a band of precious stones; a rich brocade gown is fastened
with full gathers just below the throat, and confined there with a
costly collar of exquisite gems. Over this is an outer robe, or pelisse,
bordered with fur, the large sleeves of which fall open from the
shoulder, displaying the tight ones of the gown beneath. In some
portraits her hair is braided and wound closely around her head with
jewelled bands, and over this is a piece of fine gauze, which could be
so arranged as to serve the double purpose of veil or bonnet, just as
the wearer chose.
Before marriage, the girls of that time wore their hair in long
ringlets, but the church required married ladies to conceal their locks.
After Henry I. cut off his curls, and forbade his courtiers to wear
their hair long, they adopted wigs, but Henry II. abolished them,
and appeared at his coronation with short hair and shaven chin. His
dalmatica, or long gown, was of the richest brocade with elaborate gold
embroidery; over this he wore the short cloak afterwards called the
court-mantle. This coronation introduced into England the sumptuous
robes of silk and velvet worn by the ecclesiastics there on that
occasion. The queen's first residence in England was at a little village
nearly opposite to London, and she must have been struck with the
grandeur of that remarkable city, with its tower, its tall spires, and
the river Thames running through it, so different from anything she had
ever seen before.
Now, although she did not please her new subjects, who were acquainted,
of course, with her former behavior, they felt the advantage of being
connected with her Aquitainian dominion, and in a few months large
fortunes were {101}made by the London traders in the wines imported from
the port of Bordeaux.
[Illustration: 8105]
One of the queen's country residences was at Woodstock, where rather a
peculiar incident occurred. She was resting in the park, concealed by
the shrubbery, one day when the king passed so close to her that she
observed a thread of silk tightly twisted into his spur. She wondered
where he could have been to have picked up such a thing, so, as he moved
off, she cut it, and resolved to ferret out the mystery. Next day he
left Woodstock for a long journey, and the queen immediately thought
that now was her time to gratify her curiosity. So she sought the piece
of silk, which proved to be the end of a ball, and followed its
windings among the roads and thickets until she came to a door cunningly
concealed by a luxuriant vine. This she opened, and found it to be the
entrance to a winding path under ground. A few minutes' walk brought her
to a bower at the further end of the forest, in which sat an exceedingly
pretty young girl embroidering. "Aha!" thought the lady, "now we know
where Henry gets his spurs caught in balls of silk."
This girl was Rosamond Clifford, who was said to have been a playmate
of Henry's in his youth, and as she was kept a prisoner, it is probable
that she did not know of his marriage until his wife informed her of it.
At all events, nobody ever heard what took place at this interview,
but it is certain that, in obedience to the queen's commands, Rosamond
entered the convent of Godstowe, where she passed the remaining twenty
years of her life.
II. fancied himself about to die, he left dominions to all his sons
excepting this one.
[Illustration: 9106]
Little Matilda was three years old when she was married to Henry the
Lion, Duke of Saxony.
A revolt in the south of France caused Eleanora's return, because her
subjects there insisted on having her to rule them. King Henry escorted
her to Bordeaux, where she stayed with her son Richard.
{103}
[Illustration: 0107]
[[A.D. 1156.]] {102} Shortly after this adventure, the Princess Matilda
was born, and a year later the celebrated Richard Cour de Lion came into
the world. In course of time, Queen Eleanora had several other children,
among whom was John, surnamed Lackland, because once, when Henry
{105}Great disputes had been going on in England for a long time
between the church and state, headed by Thomas à Becket, the celebrated
Archbishop of Canterbury. Prince Henry was so devoted to this priest,
who had been his tutor, that the king became jealous of the influence
exerted by Becket over the mind of his son. In order to change the
current of the prince's thoughts, the father offered him a share in the
government of his kingdom. This was gladly accepted, and young Henry
was crowned. But he had a perverse little wife, Marguerite, daughter of
Louis VII., who was fond of Becket, too, and she vowed that she would
wear no crown that had not been placed on her head by that fascinating
prelate; so she remained with her mother-in-law at Aquitaine.
King Henry met with so much opposition at the hands of Becket that he
became enraged at the very sight of that priest. Once, when he was
the subject of conversation among his knights, Henry asked, angrily,
"whether no man loved him enough to revenge the affronts he perpetually
received from an insolent priest?"
[[A.D. 1171.]] Four armed men instantly proceeded to the cathedral, and
slaughtered the archbishop while he was kneeling before the altar in
prayer.
When this happened Eleanora was still in the south with her son Richard,
who had been crowned Count of Poitou. Suddenly she chanced to hear that
Henry was thinking about getting a divorce from her, so she resolved to
seek the protection of her former husband, the King of France. Disguised
in male attire, she stole out of the palace at night, and started on her
journey. But Henry had his Norman agents on the spot, and they watched
her so closely that her absence was discovered in time for them to
overtake her. They captured her very roughly, and brought her back to
Bordeaux, where she was kept in close {106}imprisonment until her lord
was summoned. He remained only a few days in the south, then went back
to England with two royal captives, his wife and the young Princess
Marguerite, whom he had not forgiven for scorning the crown he offered
unless it could be consecrated by his enemy, Becket. Now, that he had
her in his power, he resolved to punish her. But after a few months'
confinement she was restored to her husband.
Eleanora was not so fortunate, for she was kept a prisoner at the royal
palace of Winchester for nearly sixteen years. During that time there
was no end of strife among her sons. The real mischief-makers were the
troubadours, of whom we have spoken, for with their inspiring war songs
they were constantly urging the princes to battle for one trivial reason
or another, even when they would gladly have been at peace.
It must not be supposed that the queen was unkindly treated at
Winchester, for, on the contrary, she received the attention and
respect due to her station. While she was there Louis VII., her divorced
husband, died; and shortly after, the death of her eldest son, Henry
Plantagenet, followed. This was a great sorrow to the royal couple, and
Henry mourned with the deep grief of David over Absalom. Still later,
their son Geoffrey was killed in a grand tournament in Paris.
In one of her letters to the pope, the queen thus writes about these
bereavements: "The younger king and Geoffrey, Count of Bretagne, both
sleep in the dust, while their most wretched mother is compelled to live
on, though tortured by recollections of the dead.".
In 1189, Henry II. died, and was succeeded by his son Richard I., Cour
de Lion. About the first act of the new king was to order his mother's
release, and from a captive Queen Eleanora at once became a sovereign,
for the reins
{107}
[Illustration: 0111]
{109}of government were placed in her hands as regent. Her long
confinement must have had a good effect on her, for she went about, from
city to city, releasing all the poor people that her husband had cruelly
locked up for violating the Norman game laws, and spent her whole time
in acts of mercy and charity. Richard was crowned in 1189, but, as his
mother's mourning prevented her being present on that occasion, no women
were admitted at all.
The king then settled a most liberal revenue on his mother, and she went
to Aquitaine, the government of which was also restored to her. But
she did not stay there; her old age was passed in England, where
she assisted her son in governing, and made him, as well as herself,
exceedingly popular.
Eleanora of Aquitaine is among the very few women who, after an
ill-spent youth, have become wise and benevolent in old age. But she had
a great deal more trouble to bear before her death. Her life exhibits
many traces of a great ruler. If she had only been blessed in her
early days with a good, moral education, she would have been one of
the greatest women of her time. Slowly and surely she learned the stern
lesson of life, which teaches that without virtue, power, beauty and
royalty are of slight avail.
[[A.D. 1204.]] She was a very old woman when she retired to a convent,
where she spent many months previous to her death, which occurred in
1204. She was buried by the side of Henry II., and on her tomb is a
reclining statue said to be a good portrait of herself. The features are
noble and intellectual. On the head is a hood, above which is a regal
diadem; and a blue mantle, figured with silver crescents, is folded
gracefully about her form. {110}
CHAPTER VII. BERENGARIA OF NAVARRE, QUEEN OF RICHARD I.
A.D. 1165-1230.
|Richard Cour de Lion first met the beautiful, accomplished Berengaria
at a tournament, and fell desperately in love with her; but,
unfortunately, he was at that time engaged to Alice of France, so could
not offer his hand to the Provençal princess.
Both Sancho the Wise, King of Navarre, Berengaria's father, and Sancho
the Strong, her brother, were poets of considerable merit, and early
came under the notice of Richard, who was not only a troubadour poet,
but as sovereign of Aquitaine, he was, besides, the prince and judge
of all the troubadours. Between him and Berengaria's brother a warm
friendship was formed in early youth, strengthened by their similarity
of tastes.
It was not until after his father's death that Richard was at liberty to
marry the Princess Berengaria, to whom he had been secretly engaged
for several years. So she was about twenty-six years old when Richard
ascended the throne of England. He at once sent his mother, Queen
Eleanora, to the court of Sancho the Wise to demand the princess in
marriage.
The royal father was much pleased, and placed his daughter in charge
of the queen without hesitation. The two ladies set out together and
travelled as far as Naples, where ships awaited them in the bay. But the
princess
{111}
[Illustration: 0115]
{113}would not join her lover until he had broken off his engagement
with Alice; so she spent the spring of 1191 at Brindisi with his mother.
At last a message came from Richard announcing that he was free to
marry, then his lady-love returned to France with his sister, Queen
Joanna, in whose charge she had been placed by the queen mother.
While Richard was waiting the arrival of Berengaria, he instituted the
order of Knights of the Blue Thong, to scale the walls of Acre. They
were twenty-four in number, and were distinguished by a band of blue
leather which each wore on his left leg.
[[A.D. 1192.]] It was Lent when Berengaria met her royal lover,
therefore their marriage had to be postponed; but so anxious was Richard
to begin his crusade, that he set out at once with his knights in his
favorite ship, which he had named "_Trenc-the-mere_," meaning cut
the sea. His fleet consisted of one hundred and fifty ships and fifty
galleys. Among the latter was one in which Berengaria and Queen Joanna,
guarded by a brave knight; accompanied the crusaders.
A dreadful storm drove the galley which contained the queen and princess
into the harbor of Limoussa, the capital of Cyprus, but when Isaac
Comnenus, the lord of the isle, found out who they were, he brutally
refused them shelter, and they were obliged to row out of the harbor. As
soon as the gale abated, Richard Cour de Lion, who had found shelter in
a harbor of Crete, started in search of his bride. When he beheld her
ship pitching and tossing in the Bay of Famaguta, he suspected that
something had prevented the knight in charge from seeking the protection
so near at hand. Armed, as he was, he jumped into the first boat that
could be got ready, and when, on reaching the queen's galley, he heard
how the Lord of Cyprus had behaved, his fury knew no bounds.
The Queens of England. {114}Determined to punish the offender at once,
Richard led his crusaders straight to Limoussa, and made such a sudden
and desperate attack that in a few hours he had captured the town,
and all the inhabitants had scampered to the neighboring mountains for
shelter.
Then, in response to King Richard's signals, the queen's vessel entered
the harbor and landed at Limoussa, where grand preparations were soon
under way for the marriage and coronation of the royal pair.
The wedding ceremony was performed in the month of May, 1191, and King
Richard gave a grand feast, to which he invited the people of Cyprus.
On that occasion Berengaria wore a richly-embroidered robe of velvet
and satin. Her dark hair fell in curls, over which hung a full long lace
veil, fastened to a crown studded with rich jewels.
King Richard wore a short rose-colored satin skirt, with a brocaded
mantle embroidered in silver. A richly jewelled Damascus sword hung at
his side, and on his head he wore a scarlet hood, brocaded in gold with
figures of animals. He had a bright complexion, and curly, yellow hair,
and' his figure was a perfect model of manly grace and strength.
The people of Cyprus had been so tyrannized over by Isaac Comnenus that
they gladly consented to receive Richard for their king; therefore, by
the advice of all the crusaders who had witnessed his marriage, he was
crowned King of Cyprus, and his bride Queen of England and Cyprus.
Then the daughter of the despot, Isaac, threw herself at King Richard's
feet and asked for mercy. He kindly raised her from the ground and sent
her to his wife and sister, with whom she remained until the end of the
crusade. Her father was bound in silver chains and presented to Queen
Berengaria as her captive.
{115}
[Illustration: 0119]
{117}Once more the fleet set sail for Palestine, and when Richard
appeared' before Acre, the whole army of Christians, already assembled
there, marched to the beach to welcome him.
The town was soon taken, and before proceeding further, Richard
established his wife and sister in safe quarters there, under the
protection of a couple of brave knights, to await his return.
King Richard distinguished himself by many brave deeds during his Syrian
campaign, and captured several important towns, but Jerusalem did not
fall into his hands. Once he was in sight of that coveted city, when the
Duke of Burgundy, who commanded the French forces, suddenly drew back
with his whole division when victory seemed certain, because he would
not have it said that the King of England had taken Jerusalem. This act,
which was prompted by envy, was a serious blow to Richard, who, throwing
down his weapon, said, with tears in his eyes and his hands raised to
heaven:--
"Ah! Lord God, I pray thee that I may never see thy holy city,
Jerusalem, since I have failed to deliver it from the hands of thine
enemies."
He returned to Acre in 1192, and, after spending a few days with his
wife and sister, saw them embark for home on the very day he himself set
out in the disguise of a Templar to return across Europe by a different
route.
His vessel was wrecked off the coast of Istria, and his ignorance of
geography led him to the neighborhood of Vienna, the capital of his
enemy, Leopold of Austria.
One day, after several narrow escapes, he sent a page to make some
purchases at a village near Vienna. The boy was recognized by an officer
who had been in the late crusade with Leopold's troops. He was seized,
and after suffering much cruelty, confessed where he had left his
{118}master. A party of soldiers set out for the inn designated, but
could not find King Richard. The landlord said, on being questioned:
"No, there is no stranger here, unless it be the Templar in the kitchen,
who is turning the fowls which are roasting for dinner."
The Austrian officer, accompanied by his soldiers, proceeded at once to
the kitchen, recognized the king, who sure enough was busily turning the
spit, and cried: "There he is. Seize him!"
Cour de Lion started up and fought desperately for liberty, but he was
only one man against a dozen, who captured him and carried him in chains
before Leopold.
He was forthwith locked up in a gloomy prison, where he remained for
many months, no one knowing whether he was alive or dead.
Meanwhile Berengaria and Joanna had landed at Naples and proceeded to
Rome, where they remained six months. While there, Berengaria saw a belt
of jewels offered for sale that she knew Richard had worn when he parted
from her. This convinced her that something dreadful had happened to
him, but she had no means of finding out the truth, and as soon as she
could get a safe escort she journeyed on until she arrived at Poitou.
As time went on, poor Richard fancied himself forgotten, and bitterly
lamented because he had no friend nor relation who loved him enough to
rescue him. But he was wrong, for as soon as his mother heard of his
captivity she spared no pains nor money to obtain his release. It was
a long time, though, before the exact spot of his imprisonment could be
ascertained, and this is how it happened, after many months: A certain
troubadour knight who had been with Richard when he was shipwrecked
at Istria, having heard of his captivity, wandered around through the
southern cities of Germany in search of him. One day he
{119}
[Illustration: 0123]
{121}stood beneath the tower that formed Richard's prison, and sang a
song that he and the king had composed together. When he finished the
first stanza, the prisoner replied with the second; then the troubadour
hastened with all speed to Queen Eleanora with the discovery he had
made.
She took immediate measures for her son's release, and with the
assistance of the pope, to whom she made a most pathetic appeal, a large
ransom was collected, with which the devoted mother set out for Germany.
[[A.D. 1195.]] After an absence of more than four years, Richard arrived
in England in company with Queen Eleanora.
During his imprisonment, John, his younger brother, had tried to
possess himself of the crown of England. It was the mother who prevented
anything so disgraceful, and who kept all Richard's dominions intact,
and it was she who proudly sat beside her brave son at his second
coronation, which took place in his own country.
Berengaria remained in France, and Richard was not at all anxious to
join her there, or to have her with him. The reason for this remarkable
conduct on the part of a husband is that on his return to England
Richard had been met by his former bachelor friends, into whose way of
living he fell, much to the disgust of the more sober of his subjects.
He drank with them to excess, and led such a gay, bad life, that
Berengaria could not join him.
At last he became alarmingly ill, and began to repent of his neglect of
his wife; but he knew that she was justly displeased with him, and did
not dare to approach her. So he assembled at his bedside all the monks
within ten miles and publicly confessed his sins, vowing that if Queen
Berengaria would forgive him he would never forsake her again.
A few months later he went to France and became {122}reconciled to his
wife. It was a year of famine and of suffering among the poor, and the
queen used her newly-restored influence over the heart of Richard to
persuade him to many acts of charity that preserved the lives of a
number of families. The Christmas of the year 1196, which occurred
shortly after the king's arrival in France, was celebrated in grand
style.
Berengaria accompanied her husband in all his campaigns after that, and
never left him during the remaining three years of his life.
It was when Richard was storming the Castle of Chaluz, in April, 1199,
that an arrow pierced his breast and caused his death. He was buried at
the Abbey of Fontevraud.
Queen Berengaria went to live at Mans, where she founded the Abbey of
L'Espan, and devoted her life to deeds of charity.
She lived to an advanced age, and was buried at the abbey she had
founded.
She deserves to be remembered as a Queen of England who was never in
that country, and as a woman possessed of many noble virtues.
[Illustration: 0126]
{123}
CHAPTER VII. ISABELLA OF ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF KING JOHN.
(A.D. 1185-1246.)
|John ascended the throne of England on the death of his brother,
Richard Cour de Lion, and it was at a festival given to him at Angouleme
that he first made the acquaintance of Isabella, who afterwards became
queen.
[[A.D. 1200.]] She was just fifteen years old and so beautiful that King
John fell madly in love with her. She was engaged to Hugh de Lusignan at
the time, but her parents were so ambitious for her to be raised to the
lofty position of Queen of England, that they kept her with them after
the festival instead of allowing her to return to the Castle of Valence,
the possession of her betrothed, where she had been living under the
protection of the Count of Eu, his brother.
Isabella really loved Hugh de Lusignan, but she was dazzled by the
splendor of the triple crown of England, Normandy and Aquitaine, and,
as her lover was absent, she denied that she had ever consented to marry
him.
According to the feudal laws of the thirteenth century, King John,
as ruler of Aquitaine, had the power to prevent any marriage that the
Provençale princess might contract, if he chose, and to deprive her of
her inheritance besides.
So, when King John and Isabella were married, in the month of August,
1200, Count Hugh dared not interfere to prevent it. But he challenged
the king to mortal combat. {124}The reply he got was that if he wished
to fight a champion should be appointed for that purpose, but he was
indignant at such a proposition and determined to await an opportunity
for revenge.
Isabella sailed with her husband for England, where she was duly crowned
by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Six months of feasting and enjoyment
succeeded, which were only terminated at last by rumors of war.
Thereupon, King John retired with his wife to Rouen, where he led such a
life of indolent ease as to excite the displeasure of all who surrounded
him.
His mother, the aged Eleanora, was then residing at the Castle of
Mirabel in Poitou, and was the ruler of Aquitaine. Quite suddenly and
unexpectedly her residence was besieged by Hugh de Lusignan, whose plan
was to capture the old lady and exchange her only for his lost love.
But Eleanora held out heroically until the arrival of her son John, whom
she had summoned at the first signal of danger.
King John's enemies had reckoned on his character as a sluggard, but
they found their mistake, for when he heard of the attack on his mother
he hastened to Mirabel with lightning speed, hemmed in Count Hugh and
Duke Arthur of Bretagne, who had joined him, and took both prisoners.
The one was his rival in love, the other in empire.
Count Hugh was subjected to the most insulting treatment at the hands of
the king, who had him and the other insurgent barons of Poitou chained
hand and foot to carts drawn by oxen. In this manner they were forced
to follow him wherever he went, until he made them embark with him for
England.
King John was not so cruel to his nephew, Arthur, whom he merely had
locked up in the citadel of Falaise,
{125}
[Illustration: 0129]
{127}leaving himself the sole representative of the house of
Plantagenet.
[[A.D. 1204.]] In 1204 Queen Eleanora died, and from that moment her
son John seemed lost to all sense of decency or fear, and became
more corrupt and wicked than the most brutal of his subjects. Queen
Isabella's influence was no check on his notorious conduct.
In 1206 he entered into a treaty with his prisoner, Hugh de Lusignan,
with whose aid he conquered the southern part of France.
On his return to England he made some most unreasonable demands of his
barons, one of them being the surrender of their children as hostages.
Those young nobles who fell into his hands were required to attend the
queen, serve her at meals and follow her at cavalcades and processions.
The Lord of Bramber resisted the King's demand, whereupon he, with his
wife and five children, were all shut up in a room at the old Castle of
Windsor and deliberately starved to death.
[[A.D. 1211.]] Queen Isabella had given birth to several children, but
that did not prevent her brutal husband from treating her with extreme
harshness. Once, when he fancied that she had a fancy for a certain
knight, he had the man assassinated, and his dead body suspended over
her bed. Then he shut her up in Gloucester Abbey, where she remained
until 1213, when it suited his majesty to take her with him to
Angoulême.
King John found himself again in need of Hugh de Lusignan's assistance
when Philip Augustus of France seized the northern provinces. But that
brave count refused his aid unless the king would give him his eldest
daughter, Joanna, for a wife. This was a singular request, considering
that he had once been engaged to the mother, but he was gratified, and
the infant princess was {128}forthwith handed over to him to be brought
up in one of his castles as her mother had been before her. Count Hugh
soon cleared the northern provinces of France of the invaders, and then
John returned to England to perpetrate new acts of tyranny.
[Illustration: 0132]
[[A.D. 1215.]] After the signing of the Magna Charta, which granted
certain privileges to all his subjects, King John behaved like a madman,
giving way to outbursts of fury, cursing the hour of his birth, and
biting and gnawing sticks and clubs until he reduced them to small bits.
The result of several sleepless nights at the fortress of Windsor, the
scene of many secret murders, was an expedition to the Isle of Wight,
where, after idly sauntering on the beach for days at a time and
conversing with the fishermen, he joined a band of pirates with whom he
made attacks on his own subjects. He was gone so long that everybody
{129}
[Illustration: 0133]
{131}hoped he would never return, but, like a bad penny, he turned up
at the end of a few weeks, when he was joined by troops from Brabant
and Guienne, whom he had summoned to aid him in revenging himself on the
rebellious barons. This he did by travelling around among them, obliging
them to entertain him, and then turning upon them and doing some damage
to their lives or property. It was not uncommon for him to set fire to a
house in which he had been sheltered over night.
In the midst of this diabolical career, Queen Isabella met her husband
at Marlborough, and after spending a few weeks with him, retired to
Gloucester with her children.
While she was there, Prince Louis of France made an invasion into
England, prompted to the act by the barons, who were so incensed against
their sovereign that they offered him the crown if he would come to
their aid.
Then the tormentor tried to escape towards the north, but when he
thought to cross the Wash to Lincolnshire, part of his army, his
baggage, and his splendid regalia were lost, and he barely escaped with
his life. He arrived at Swinshead Abbey ill and in a horrible temper.
With his usual brutality, he gave vent to his spleen by saying, while
eating in the abbot's refectory, "that he hoped to make the half-penny
loaf cost a shilling before the year was over."
This malicious speech was heard by several monks, who, thinking that
John's outrages had extended far enough, treated him to a dose of poison
served in a dish of stewed pears. Ill as he was from the effect of
the poison, the king insisted on proceeding on his journey, and was
therefore carried on a litter to Newark, where he summoned several monks
for the purpose of confession. It was no trifling matter for this sinful
man to recount all the wrongs of which he had been guilty, but having
accomplished it, {132}he forgave his enemies and made all the officers
about him swear fealty to his eldest son, Henry. Then he expired, having
left directions for his burial. As soon as the news
[Illustration: 0136]
of the king's death reached her, Isabella caused Prince Henry to
be proclaimed in the streets of Gloucester, and nine days later she
assisted at his coronation in the cathedral of that place.
{133}
[Illustration: 0137]
[[A.D. 1217.]] {135}Although the young king was only nine years old,
his mother was so unpopular that she was not asked to act as regent, and
before the year of her widowhood had expired, she retired to her native
city of Angoulême.
The Princess Joanna, then just seven years of age, was still at Count
Lusignan's castle at Valence, but the count himself was absent on a
crusade.
In the year 1220 he returned, and frequently met the mother of his
little promised bride. The consequence was, that his early love was
renewed, and as Isabella was still a very handsome woman, only a few
years younger than himself, she was a much more appropriate mate for him
than Joanna could have been.
So they were married without asking the advice or consent of any one in
England; consequently Isabella's dower was withheld from her, much to
the indignation of her husband.
Now, it so happened that Henry III. was at war with the King of
Scotland, whom his council were anxious to conciliate. They therefore
resolved to offer the king the hand of the little Princess Joanna in
marriage, so when Henry wrote his mother a congratulatory letter on her
nuptials, he demanded, at the same time, the restoration of his sister.
Isabella refused to give up the princess, because she was highly
displeased at being deprived of her jointure.
Thereupon the young king applied to the pope, who took great pains to
inquire into the merits of the case. A voluminous correspondence was
carried on between the contending parties. The King of Scots insisted
upon his marriage with Joanna before he would come to terms; the result
was the payment of all the money due to Queen Isabella in exchange for
her daughter.
The King of France was the liege-lord of the Count de {136}Lusignan, and
it was so hurtful to the pride of Isabella to see her husband kneel at
the feet of any man, that she gave him no rest until he joined her son,
Henry III., whom she had instigated to undertake the conquest of Poitou.
Several years of warfare ensued, and at last the King of England fled to
Bordeaux. De Lusignan's possessions were overrun by the enemy, and Queen
Isabella was forced, after much suffering, to throw herself on the mercy
of the King of France, Louis IX.
She went to his camp with her husband and children, and, falling at his
feet, begged for mercy. He received them kindly, and granted forgiveness
on easy conditions.
Nevertheless, so ungrateful did Isabella show herself, that when an
attempt was made on the life of good King Louis, in 1244, it was proved
that she had bribed people to poison him. She flew to the Abbey of
Fontevraud for protection, and there hid herself from the French, who
held her responsible for so much sorrow and bloodshed that they gave her
the name of Jezebel.
She died in 1246, and was buried in the common cemetery of Fontevraud.
Some years later her son, Henry III., raised a stately monument over her
grave.
De Lusignan joined a crusade after the death of his wife, and was killed
at one of the battles in 1249. His eldest son was known as Hugh XI.,
Count de la Marche and Angoulême. His other children were liberally
provided for by Henry III., much to the indignation of his English
subjects.
{137}