Agnes Strickland's Queens of England, Vol. 1. (of 3) Abridged and Fully Illustrated

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

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[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.

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[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

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[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}

Chapter IX. Eleanor Of Provence, Queen Of Henry III.

(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

{143}

[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

{147}

[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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{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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{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.

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Chapter X. Eleanora Of Castile, First Queen Of Edward I.

(A.D. 1244-1291).

|Edward I. was only fifteen years old when he accompanied his mother across the Pyrenees from Bordeaux, to claim the hand of Eleanora, sister to King Alphonso of Castile, to whom he had been betrothed several months before.

[[A.D. 1256.]] The marriage was solemnized a few days, after his arrival, feasts and tournaments in honor of the event followed, and then the little bride of ten years proceeded with her lord to Paris. She was present at the feast of kings, given by King Henry to celebrate his son's marriage, of which mention is made in the preceding reign.

When Henry III. and Queen Eleanor returned to England, the young couple went with them and made their public entry into the metropolis in grand state.

Among the numerous entertainments given to welcome the bride, that which took place at the house of John Mansel, the secretary of state, was the most remarkable. All the royal family, with their entire retinue, were present, and as the mansion was by no means capacious enough to accommodate so large a party, tents were erected on the surrounding grounds. Considering that seven hundred messes of meat were served at one meal, it is not surprising that Mansel's house was too small.

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{163}A few months later, Prince Edward took his little wife to Bordeaux to complete her education, which had scarcely begun at the time of her marriage. While she pursued her studies, the prince led the life of a knight-errant, wandering from place to place, and taking part in various tilting matches and tournaments until summoned to England