CHAP. Her exaction of 66 queen gold." A parlia ment. A. D. 1254. She resigns the Great Seal. The Lady Keeper had a favourable recovery, and being churched*, resumed her place in the Aula Regia. She now availed herself of the King's absence, not only to enforce rigorously her dues at Queenhithe, but by demanding from the city of London a large sum which she insisted they owed her for "aurum regina" or "queen gold," - being a claim by the Queens of England on every tenth mark paid to the King on the renewal of leases on crown lands or the granting of charters, matters of grace supposed to be obtained from the powerful intercession of the Queen.† Eleanor in this instance demanded her "queen gold" on various enormous fines that had been unrighteously extorted by the King from the plundered citizens. For the non-payment of this unjust demand, the Lady Keeper, in a very summary manner, committed the Sheriffs of London, Richard Picard and John de Northampton, to the Marshalsea Prison, and she soon after sent Richard Hardell, the Lord Mayor, to keep them company there, for the arrears of an aid unlawfully imposed towards the war in Gascony. These arbitrary proceedings caused the greatest alarm and consternation; for the city of London had hitherto been a sort of free republic in a despotic kingdom, and its privileges had been respected in times of general oppression. In the beginning of 1254 a parliament was called, and the Queen being present and making a speech, pressed for a supply; but, on account of her great unpopularity, it was peremptorily refused. A new arrangement was then made for carrying on the government; the Great Seal was transferred into other hands, and on the 15th of May she sailed from Portsmouth with a courtly retinue of ladies, nobles, and knights, and joined the King at Bourdeaux. They then visited Paris, where Queen Eleanor had the happiness of meeting her three Catherina, eo quod die Sanctæ Catherinæ nata, aera hauserat primitivum." One of the grandest scenes ever seen in England was the queen's churching after the birth of her eldest son,-all the great ladies of the land being summoned to attend the queen to church ;—but the ceremony on this occasion was conducted very privately. † 1 Bl. Com. 221. VIII. sisters, all splendidly married, and where a banquet was CHAP. given, much celebrated by the chroniclers, at which the kings of France, of England, and of Navarre, with all their prime nobility, were present, trying to outvy each other in courtesy as well as splendour. Eleanor and her husband landed at Dover on the 5th of a.d. 1255. January, 1255, and on the 27th of the same month made their public entry into London with extraordinary pomp; but notwithstanding the display of banners and tapestry by the different companies, it was evident that hatred of the Queen was still rankling in the hearts of the citizens. She disdained to take any step to mitigate their resentment. All the violations of Magna Charta were imputed to her, and she was charged with instilling her own political opinions into her eldest son. The following is a specimen of the ballads published upon Ballads her: "The queen went beyond the sea, the king's brethren also, And ever they strove the charter to undo; They purchased that the pope should assoil I wis Of the oath and the charter, and the king and all his. "It was ever the queen's thought, as much as she could think, To break the charter by some woman's wrencket; And though Sir Edward was proved a hardy knight and good, In the following year, while residing in the Tower, she was threatened with violent treatment by the citizens of London, and she resolved for safety to proceed by water to the Castle of Windsor; but as she approached London Bridge the populace assembled to insult her. The cry ran, "Drown the Witch," and besides abusing her with the most opprobrious language, and pelting her with dirt and rotten eggs, they had prepared great stones to sink her barge when she should attempt to shoot the principal arch. She was so frightened Dante, in celebrating RAMONDO BERLINGHIERI, Seems to have been most of all struck with the elevation of his daughters: 66 "Quattro figlie ebbe, e ciascuna reina."-Parad. c. vi. Wrenching or perverting the meaning of the charter. Prince Edward. § Robert of Gloucester. upon her. Pelted by the London mob. CHAP. VIII. 4th Aug. Returns to Takes the veil. that she returned to the Tower. Not considering herself safe in this fortress, she took sanctuary at night in the Bishop of London's palace, within the precincts of St. Paul's. She was thence privately removed to Windsor Castle, where Prince Edward was at the head of a military force. He never forgave the Londoners the insult they had offered to his mother. In the civil wars that took place at the close of her husband's reign, Eleanor often showed great determination and courage, and after repeated disasters still made head against the impetuous Earl of Leicester. At last, when the confederated barons were triumphant and Henry was made a prisoner, she took refuge with her younger children in France; but after the battle of Evesham she returned to England and had her revenge upon the citizens of London, who for their ill behaviour to her were fined 20,000 marks to her use. She continued to act a conspicuous part during the remainder of this reign. Soon after the accession of her son to the crown, she renounced the world and retired to the monastery of Ambresbury, where, in the year 1284, she actually took the veil. She had the satisfaction of hearing of the brilliant career of The death. her son, and she died in 1292, when he was at the height of his glory, having subdued Wales, pacified Ireland, reduced Scotland to feudal subjection, and made England more prosperous and happy than at any former period. Her character. Although the temper and haughty demeanour of Eleanor were very freely censured in her own time, I believe no imputation was cast upon her virtue till the usurper Henry IV., assuming to be the right heir of Edmund her second son, found it convenient to question the legitimacy of Edward her first-born, and to represent him as the fruit of an adulterous intercourse between her and the Earl Marshal. Then was written the popular ballad representing her as confessing her frailty to the King her husband, who, in the garb of a friar of France, has come to shrive her in her sickness, accompanied by the Earl Marshal in the same disguise. But she was a very different person from her successor, Isabella of France, Queen of Edward II., and there is no reason to doubt that she was ever a faithful wife and a loving mother to all her children. Although none of her judicial decisions, while she held the Great Seal, have been transmitted to us, we have very full and accurate information respecting her person, her career, and her character, for which we are chiefly indebted to Matthew Paris, who often dined at table with her and her husband, and composed his history of those times with their privity and assistance. Prince Edward. † Prince Edmund. Miss Strick Mat. Par. 562. 654. 719. 799. 884. 989. 1172. 1200. 1202. land's Lives of the Queens of England-tit. "ELEANOR." 147 СНАР. CHAPTER IX. CHAP. WILLIAM LORD CHANCELLORS FROM THE RESIGNATION OF LADY KEEPER ON Queen Eleanor's resignation of the office of Lady Keeper, WILLIAM DE KILKENNY, who had been employed by her to seal writs while she held the Great Seal, was promoted to the office of Chancellor. He did not continue in it long, and in his time nothing A.D. 1254. memorable occurred, except the representation from the clergy respecting alleged encroachments by the Crown upon their order. A deputation, consisting of the Primate and the Bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, and Carlisle, came to the King with an address on the frequent violation of their privileges, the oppressions with which he had loaded them and all his subjects, and the uncanonical and forced elections which were made to vacant ecclesiastical dignities. Lord Chancellor Kilkenny is said to have written the King's celebrated answer, Reprimand to the clergy. Kilkenny's resignation. "It is true I have been faulty in this particular: I obtruded you, my Lord of Canterbury, on your see: I was obliged to employ both entreaties and menaces, my Lord of Winchester, to have you elected. My proceedings, I confess, were very irregular, my Lords of Salisbury and Carlisle, when I raised you from the lowest stations to your present dignities. I am determined henceforth to correct these abuses; and it will also become you, in order to make a thorough reformation, to resign your present benefices, and try again to become successors of the Apostles in a more regular and canonical manner."† On St. Edward's day, in the year 1255, William de Kil Mandamus * Rex dilectæ consorti suæ A, eadem gratia Reginæ salutem. vobis quod cum delectus clericus noster W. de Kilkenni, Archidiaconus Coventrensis ad vos venerit, liberatis ei sigillum scaccarii nostri bajulandum et custodiendum usque ad reditum nostrum de partibus Wasconiæ, &c. - Pat. 37. H. 3. m. 5. Mat. Par. a. D. 1253. |