(A.D. 1222 - 1291.)
|Eleanor of Provence was married when she was only fourteen years old,
and became the most unpopular queen that ever reigned over the English
court. She was so beautiful as to be called _La Belle_, but her judgment
was too immature tor her to stand all the adulation she received without
being spoiled by it.
Before she entered her teens, Eleanor had written a poem in the
Provençal dialect, which is remembered in her native country to this
day. Born in that land of poetry and song, of parents who were both
popular poets among the troubadors, young Eleanor's talent was fostered
and encouraged by the very air she breathed.
It was this talent that was the means of placing her on the throne, for
she wrote a romance in verse, selecting Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who
was then preparing a crusade, for her hero. Romeo, her tutor, and one of
the greatest Italian poets of his day, was so proud of his pupil, that
he carried the composition to Richard, who was immensely flattered by
it. But he could not, in return for the compliment, offer his hand and
heart to _La Belle_ Eleanor because he was already provided with one
wife; therefore he did the next best thing--recommended her to his
brother, Henry III.
So delighted was this king with the accounts he received of the beauty
and genius of the maid of Provence, that {138}he put 'a stop to the
treaty under way for the hand of Joanna, daughter of the Earl of
Pembroke, and forthwith despatched ambassadors to the court of
Count Berenger to demand his daughter Eleanor in marriage. With the
covetousness for which he was noted, he added a dower of twenty thousand
marks to his demand.
The court objected to so large a sum. Henry lowered it, but even then
the father would not agree, and so much bargaining was the result that
the high-spirited court was on the point of putting an end to the affair
altogether, when a peremptory order came from the king to conclude the
marriage at once, with or without money. Then the contract was signed
and the maiden was delivered with due solemnity to the ambassadors.
When she commenced her journey to England, the royal bride was attended
by a train of knights, ladies and minstrels who accompanied her to the
French frontier. There she was met by her eldest sister, the wife of
King Louis, and after receiving the congratulations of her relatives,
she embarked for Dover and landed there January 4, 1236.
[[A.D. 1236.]] She was married at Canterbury, where King Henry had
received her with a splendid train of followers, and after the ceremony
the royal couple proceeded to London, where preparations on a very grand
scale had been made for the reception and coronation of the new queen.
Her apartments at Westminster Palace had been newly decorated and
furnished by order of the king, and all the streets of London had been
thoroughly cleansed.
The 20th of January was appointed for the coronation, and on the
previous Saturday, Henry laid the first stone of the Lady Chapel in
Westminster Abbey.
The streets through which the procession passed were
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[Illustration: 0143]
{141}hung with flags, banners and garlands of flowers, and the houses
were gaily decorated. Three hundred and sixty equestrians, preceded by
the king's trumpeters, who sounded as they moved along, accompanied the
royal pair from the tower. These were loyal citizens, who, mounted on
richly caparisoned horses and clad in bright, embroidered satin and
velvet garments, each carried in his hand a gold or silver cup to be
used at the banquet. They were called cellarers, and it was their duty
to hand wine to the royal butler, who passed it to the sovereigns. After
the banquet, the butler always claimed the cup out of which the king had
drank, the curtain that hung behind the royal table became the property
of the doorkeepers, other perquisites being divided among the cooks and
scullions. King Henry was very charitable and did not forget the poor,
among whom a liberal supply of money was distributed by his orders.
At this coronation were worn the most splendid garments ever seen in
England. They were made of the costliest satin and velvet, richly,
embroidered in gold and silver, and the ladies wore head-dresses
composed of rare and precious gems. The queen's crown was worth £1500,
and her girdle was studded with jewels of great value.
The king, who had a taste for finery not often seen in men, wore a
garment of gold tissue that glittered with every motion.
The expenses of Eleanor's coronation were so enormous that the king had
to petition the Lords for money. They refused, saying, "that they
had amply supplied funds both for his marriage and that of his sister
Isabella, who had just been united to the Emperor of Germany; and as he
had wasted the money he might defray the expenses of his wedding as best
he could."
Great dissatisfaction was felt in England on account of {142}the number
of foreigners who had accompanied Queen Eleanor. Among these was her
uncle, Peter of Savoy, who by the end of a year had gained such complete
control over Henry that all the affairs of the kingdom were submitted to
him.
Throughout his reign, Henry III. too frequently made demands on the
purses of his subjects, to supply his unbounded extravagance, and Queen
Eleanor was no check to him in this respect. Their tastes were similar,
and Henry had in his wife a congenial companion, interested, as he was,
in literature and art. Her influence over him was unbounded, and he was
never known to refuse any demand she made, no matter how unreasonable it
was.
Their first child was born at Westminster in 1239, and received the name
of Edward, in honor of Edward the Confessor.
An attempt was made on the king's life one night by a crazy man named
Ribald, who concealed himself in the palace during the day and stole
into the king's bed-chamber at midnight. Fortunately Henry spent the
night in another apartment, otherwise the score of stabs that the madman
inflicted on the bolster would certainly have put an end to his majesty.
The shrieks of one of the queen's maids of honor, who heard the would-be
murderer shouting horrible threats with each thrust of his dagger,
aroused the household, and the wretch was taken into custody.
[[A.D. 1241.]] In 1241, a year after the birth of her daughter Margaret,
Queen Eleanor accompanied her husband to France, on an expedition
against their brother-in-law, King Louis. After a series of defeats,
they took refuge in Bordeaux, where many of Henry's knights and nobles
forsook him and returned to England. He revenged himself by imposing
upon them heavy fines,--his favorite mode of punishment
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[Illustration: 0147]
{145}Henry and Eleanor spent a merry winter at Bordeaux, amusing
themselves with feasts and pageants that they could ill afford, and on
their return to England, in 1243, Henry issued an order compelling the
principal inhabitants of every town on the route to appear on horseback
to give them welcome.
[[A.D. 1243.]] The marriage of the queen's youngest sister, to the
king's brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who had become a widower,
was solemnized in England the following autumn. On that occasion Henry
called upon his Jewish subjects to furnish funds for the sumptuous
festivities that he saw fit to give, and he spared no expense, for the
wedding-dinner alone consisted of thirty thousand dishes.
But he remembered the poor as usual, and ordered all the children from
the streets and highways of Windsor and its neighborhood to be collected
together and feasted in the great hall of the palace, after which the
royal children--of whom there were then three--were weighed, and
silver coin placed in the balance was distributed among the destitute
individuals present.
The following year the threatened war between England and Scotland was
averted by a contract of marriage between the infant Princess Margaret
of England and the heir of Scotland.
England was in such a dreadful state of misrule at this time that no
traveller was safe from plunder; and in some counties no jury dared
to punish the plunderer. Henry himself sat on the bench of justice and
tried many cases. Once he summoned Lord Clifford for some offence, but
the gentleman not only refused to answer, but forced the king's officers
to eat the royal warrant, seal and all. He was severely punished.
One great cause of Eleanor's unpopularity was the means {146}she
employed for extorting money from her subjects. She compelled vessels
carrying valuable cargoes to unload at her quay, no matter how
inconvenient it might be, in order that she might receive the toll. When
the royal funds were almost exhausted, the king and queen, with their
son, Prince Edward, daily invited themselves to dine with the different
rich men of London in turn, to save the expense of keeping up a table of
their own. They added to this economical mode of living by insisting on
costly presents from their entertainers as a proof of loyalty.
[[A.D. 1251.]] The year 1251 closed with the marriage of the Princess
Margaret and Alexander III. of Scotland, whose engagement had been
signed seven years before. As the bride was just ten years of age, and
the groom twelve, they probably had not much choice in this matter.
On the morning preceding the ceremony, the youthful groom was knighted
at York Cathedral. The wedding feast was served by the archbishop at a
cost of four thousand marks; and he supplied six hundred oxen, that were
all consumed at one meal. The costumes worn by the nobility were, as
when Eleanor, her mother, was married, of the most extravagant material,
scolloped, embroidered and ornamented with costly jewels. The queen and
her ladies wore robes that trailed on the ground, but, as they were the
same length all around, they had to be held up to enable the wearers to
walk. The height at which they were raised depended upon the beauty or
ugliness of the feet and ankles, no doubt. During this reign the hair
was gathered under a network of gold, over which was usually thrown a
gauze veil. Unmarried ladies wore ringlets, or long braids hanging down
the back and fastened with ribbons. A head-dress made in the shape of a
knight's helmet, with an aperture for the face to peep through, was
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[Illustration: 0151]
{149}worn by ladies, old and young, in the street, and must have been
very becoming.
After Margaret's marriage, the king became even more extortionate in his
demands for money than ever, and thus made a host of enemies. He applied
for funds for a crusade, but was refused, and shortly after he was
called upon to quell an insurrection at Guienne. This was the result of
the recall of the Earl of Leicester, who had been governor there.
The earl had been replaced by Prince Edward, who was only fourteen, and
therefore incapable of managing public affairs. Before his departure,
King Henry appointed Eleanor regent of England, but requested her
to advise with his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, on matters of
importance. He sailed from Portsmouth August 6, and arrived at Bordeaux
on the 15th of the same month.
Queen Eleanor's first act, on finding herself in power, was to tax the
London citizens more heavily than her husband had ever done, and those
who refused her unjust claims were sent to the Marshalsea Prison. This
conduct aroused universal indignation, and the following year, when
parliament was summoned for the purpose of demanding aid to carry on the
war in Gascony, they peremptorily declined to give it.
Every other means having failed, Henry instructed his brother to extort
money from the Jews, and no sooner did he get it than he sent for
Eleanor to help him to squander it on the nuptials of Princess Eleanor
of Castile with their eldest son, Prince Edward. Queen Eleanor willingly
resigned the cares of government to the Earl of Cornwall, and with
his wife, Prince Edmund, her second son, and a retinue of knights
and ladies, sailed for Bordeaux, where she was warmly welcomed by her
husband.
[[A.D. 1255.]] {150}After Prince Edward's marriage, his parents went
to pass a fortnight at the court of King Louis. The day after their
arrival, King Henry distributed so much money among the poor of Paris
and gave such a grand entertainment to the crowned heads assembled to
meet him, that it was called the Feast of Kings.
On their return home, which occurred January 27, 1255, the king and
queen made a public entry into the city of London, and received a
present of a hundred pounds and a valuable piece of plate from the
citizens.
Shortly after, the royal couple were made extremely anxious by a report
that the young king and queen of Scots were deprived of their rights and
kept in close confinement by the regents, Sir John Baliol and Comyns.
The queen's physician was immediately despatched to Scotland to
ascertain the facts. He managed to obtain a secret interview with
Margaret, who gave a lamentable account of her treatment. She said,
"that she had been rudely torn from her husband and shut up in a dismal
place, the dampness of which had seriously injured her health, and, so
far from having any share in the government, she and he were treated
with disrespect and were in danger of their lives."
Queen Eleanor was so distressed at the condition of her child, that she
accompanied the king on a northern campaign, constantly urging him to
do something to aid her. The Earl of Gloucester was sent to Scotland
for that purpose, and with John Mansel gained admittance to Edinburgh
castle, by disguising themselves in the dress of Baliol's tenants.
Then, secretly admitting their followers, they surprised the garrison,
restored the young king and queen to each other's society and carried
their cruel jailers, Baliol and Ross, before King Henry at Alnwick.
Throwing themselves at the feet of the sovereign, the traitors implored
for mercy and were forgiven, but as Baliol
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[Illustration: 0155]
{153}was Henry's own subject he had to pay a heavy fine, which his
majesty pocketed for his own private wants.
Queen Eleanor was lying ill at Wark Castle, and requested her daughter
Margaret, with the young king of Scotland, to join her without
delay. They obeyed, and as soon as the royal mother was convalescent,
accompanied her to Woodstock, where King Henry joined them. The court
was kept with extraordinary splendor at that beautiful palace, which
contained three kings and three queens, with their retinues, during the
winter of 1255, for besides the English and the Scottish royal couples,
there was Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who had been elected King of the
Romans, and his second wife, Queen Eleanor's sister.
[Illustration: 0157]
They all made a public entry into London in February, wearing their
crowns and royal robes, and the entire populace {154}assembled to
witness the splendid procession. After the departure of the royal
visitors, there was a season of misery and gloom caused by a dreadful
famine, and by the drain that had been made on the public treasury by
the King and Queen of the Romans, who, on departing for Aix-la-Chapelle,
where they were to be crowned, carried with them seven hundred thousand
pounds sterling. Added to this were the battles of the barons, to whom
both Henry and Eleanor had made themselves obnoxious by frequent acts
of selfishness and injustice, and finally the shameful attack upon the
Jews, whose wealth had excited the envy of the nation.
The mob was led on by the Marshal of London and John Fitz-John, a
powerful baron, killing and plundering without mercy, men, women and
children of that noble race, and driving hundreds from their beds into
the street half clad as they were. The next morning they began again
with such demoniacal yells that the queen, who was at the Tower, was
so terrified that she got into her barge with several of her ladies,
intending to escape to Windsor Castle. But as soon as the populace
observed the royal barge, they made a rush for the bridge, crying:
"Drown the witch!--drown the witch!" at the same pelting the queen with
mud and trying to sink the vessel by hurling down huge blocks of wood
and stone that they tore from the unfinished bridge. There was nothing
for Eleanor to do but to hasten back to the Tower, where she remained
until nightfall, then sought shelter in the Bishop of London's palace
at St. Paul's, whence she was privately removed to Windsor Castle, where
Prince Edward was garrisoned with his troops.
[[A.D. 1264.]] While the civil war continued King Henry took the queen
and her children to France, where she remained under the care of King
Louis and her sister Margaret.
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[Illustration: 0159]
{157}At the battle of Lewes, the king and Prince Edward were captured
and locked up in the Castle of Wallingford. As soon as Eleanor heard
their sad fate she sent word to Sir Warren de Basingbourne, her son's
favorite knight, that Wallingford was feebly guarded and could not
resist an attack. Sir Warren lost no time in crossing the country with
three hundred horsemen, and laid siege to the castle, which, contrary to
his expectation, was warmly defended. At last the besiegers called out
to Sir Warren that "if they wanted Prince Edward, they should have him
bound hand and foot, and shot from the mangonel"--a war engine used for
throwing stones. On hearing this, the prince begged leave to speak
with his friends, and appearing on the wall "assured them that if they
persevered in the siege, he should be destroyed." Thereupon Sir Warren
and his chevaliers withdrew.
The royal prisoners were afterwards removed to Kenilworth Castle, and
Lady Maud Mortimer, who was warmly attached to the queen, helped Prince
Edward to escape. Having sent him the necessary instructions, she had a
swift horse concealed in a thicket on a certain day when it was planned
that he was to ride races with his attendants. When all the horses were
tired out, he approached the spot where Lady Maud's fresh one awaited
him, and after mounting, he turned to his guard and said: "Commend me
to my sire, the king, and tell him I shall soon be at liberty." He then
galloped off to a hill, about a mile distant, where a band of armed
knights awaited him.
Although the queen was living in France at this time, she made several
secret visits to England, to ascertain the true state of affairs there.
After her husband's dreadful defeat at Lewes, she pawned all her jewels,
and, with the money thus raised, collected a powerful army that might
have subdued the whole kingdom if they had ever reached {158}it. But the
Almighty mercifully ordained otherwise, and before Queen Eleanor, with
her foreign troops, set sail, the battle of Evesham was fought and won
by Prince Edward.
[[A.D. 1265.]] At this battle King Henry was wounded in the shoulder and
would have been cut down by one of his own soldiers, who mistook him
for an enemy, had he not cried out in a feeble voice: "Slay me not, I am
Henry of Winchester, your king."
An officer who happened to be within hearing, conducted him to Prince
Edward, and thus the royal father and son met once more. After tenderly
embracing his sire, the prince knelt to receive his blessing.
A succession of victories for Edward soon put an end to the barons' wars
and reinstated the royal family of England. It is much to the credit of
King Henry, that after he was restored to power, not one of his enemies
was brought to the scaffold. But he punished them with such heavy fines
that many of the rebel barons were reduced to penury.
[[A.D. 1269.]] Henry III. lived to witness the completion of St.
Edward's chapel at Westminster, which he had begun fifty years before.
On St. Edward's day, October 13, 1269, assisted by his two sons and
his brother, the King of the Romans, he bore the bier of Edward the
Confessor to the chapel and deposited it in the new receptacle. This
ceremony was witnessed by the whole court, and Queen Eleanor offered at
the shrine a silver image of the Virgin, besides jewels of great value.
King Henry reserved the old coffin of the saint for his own use, and
was placed in it just three years later, having expired on the 16th of
November, 1272.
He was buried at Westminster Abbey, near the shrine of Edward the
Confessor. His funeral was conducted with {159}great magnificence by
the Knights Templars-military monks who, in the middle ages, acted as
bankers and money-brokers to all Europe--and they raised a fine monument
to his memory, which was afterwards inlaid with precious stones brought
from the Holy Land for that purpose, by Edward I., King Henry's heir.
Queen Margaret, of Scotland, followed her royal father to the grave
within the year, and then, bowed down with suffering and sorrow, Queen
Eleanor retired to Ambresbury, where four years later she entered the
convent and took the veil.
[[A.D. 1291.]] She survived her husband nineteen years, and when she
died her body was embalmed and placed in a vault until King Edward, her
son, returned from his campaign in Scotland. Then he summoned all his
barons and clergy to Ambresbury, where the funeral rites were duly
performed and his mother's body was buried. Her heart was conveyed to
London and interred in a church.
[Illustration: 0163]
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