1292.] Her children. 309 white cambric or lawn, out of which was cut a visor for the face to peep through, deformed the head-tire of some of the ladies of her court, and is to be seen on the effigy (otherwise most elegant) of Aveline, countess of Lancaster, her sister-in-law. But Eleanora had a better taste in dress; no gorget hides her beautiful throat and fine shoulders; her ringlets flow on each side of her face, and fall on her neck from under the regal diadem. The ladies of Spain are celebrated for the beauty of their hair, and we see by her statues that Eleanora did not conceal her tresses. The elegance and simplicity of the dress adopted by this lovely queen, might form a model for female costume in any era. To Eleanora of Castile England owes the introduction of the famous breed of sheep for which Cotswold has been so famous. A few of these animals were introduced, by the care of the patriotic queen, from her native Spain; and they had increased to that degree in about half a century, that their wool became the staple riches of England. Anthony Bec, bishop of Durham, having obtained possession of Eltham-palace, originally a royal demesne, after building superbly there, bequeathed it with its improvements to queen Eleanora.1 The last time the name of Eleanora of Castile appears in our national records is in the parliamentary rolls, and from Norman French we translate the following supplication:-"The executors of Oliver de Ingram pray to recover before the king's auditors three hundred and fifty marks, owed by dame Alianore, late queen and companion to our lord king Edward I., and the said executors show, that though our lord the king had given command to have it paid, it is not yet done; therefore they humbly crave that he will be pleased to give a new order for that same, on account of the health of the soul of the said queen Alianore, his companion." By this document we learn, from the best authority, that creditors, at that era, considered they kept a detaining hold on the souls even of royal debtors. Moreover, in the same parliament the prioress and her nuns of St. Helen present a pathetic petition to the king, representing "how earnestly they have prayed for the soul of madame the queen, late companion to king Edward; and they hope for perpetual alms for the sustenance of their poor convent in London, in consideration of the pains they have taken." was Eleanora of Castile left seven living daughters and one son. Only four of her daughters were bestowed in marriage. The princess-royal united, in 1292, to the duke of Barr. Afterwards the king paid Husso de Thornville, valet of the count of Barr, for bringing him news of the birth of her eldest son, the enormous sum of fifty pounds! But this boy was the next heir to England after Edward of Caernarvon, for Edward I. settled the succession on the daughters of Eleanora of Castile ; first on the countess of Barr and her progeny, then on Joanna of Acre, and all the seven princesses then alive, in succession. Isabella,1 the sixth daughter of king Edward and Eleanora of Castile, was married at Ipswich (the year before her father's wedlock with Marguerite of France) to the count of Holland. Some circumstances connected with the wedding of the princess Isabella had put the royal widower of Eleanora of Castile in a violent fit of anger, for he threw the bride's coronet behind the fire; a freak which would never have been known, if the keeper of his privy-purse2 had not been obliged to account for the outlay of the money "to make good a large ruby and an emerald lost out of the coronet, when the king's grace was pleased to throw it behind the fire." A strange stormy scene, lost in the dimness of time, is assuredly connected with this incident, which occurred at Ipswich, January 18, 1297. It is doubtful if the young bride ever left England: two years afterwards her lord died, and she was left a widow, childless. She afterwards married the earl of Hereford, Humphrey de Bohun. Edward I. survived most of his beloved Eleanora's children. The countess of Barr preceded him to the tomb, not long after the birth of her second son in 1298. Joanna of Acre died soon after her father, and the countess of Hereford survived him but four years. The nun-princess, and the unfortunate Edward II., were the only individuals that reached the term of middle life out of the numerous family that Edward I. had by Eleanora of Castile. MARGUERITE OF FRANCE, SECOND QUEEN OF EDWARD I. THE early death of the brave son and successor of St. Louis, king Philip le Hardi, left his youngest daughter, the princess Marguerite, fatherless at a very tender age, She was brought up under the guardianship of her brother, Philip le Bel, and carefully educated by her mother, queen Marie, a learned and virtuous princess, to whom Joinville dedicated his immortal memoirs. Marguerite early showed indications of the same piety and innate goodness of heart which, notwithstanding some superfluity of devotion, really distinguished the character of her grandfather. If Marguerite of France possessed any comeliness of person, her claims to beauty were wholly overlooked by contemporaries, who surveyed with admiration the exquisite persons of her elder brother and sister, and surnamed them, by common consent, Philip le Bel and Blanche la Belle. The eldest princess of France was full six years older than Marguerite, and was, withal, the reigning beauty of Europe when Edward I. was rendered the most disconsolate of widowers by the death of Eleanora of Castile. If an historian may be believed, who is so completely a contemporary that he ceased to write before the second Edward ceased to reign, Marguerite was substituted, in a marriage-treaty commenced about 1294, by Edward for the beautiful Blanche, with a diplomacy unequalled for craft since the days of Leah and Rachel. It has been seen, that grief in the energetic mind of Edward I. assumed the character of intense activity; but after all was done that human ingenuity could contrive, or that the gorgeous ceremonials of the Romish church could devise, of funeral honours to the memory of the chère reine, his beloved Eleanora, the warlike king of England sank into a morbid state of melancholy. His contemporary chronicler emphatically says,— "His solace all was reft sith she was from him gone. On fell things he thought, and waxed heavy as lead, A more forlorn widowerhood no pen can portray than is thus described by the monk Piers. Nevertheless, it is exceedingly curious to observe how anxious Edward was to ascertain the qualifications of the princess Blanche. His ambassadors were commanded to give a minute description, not only of her face and manners, but of the turn of her waist, the form of her foot and of her hand; likewise' sa façoun,'—perhaps dress and demeanour. The result of this inquisition was, that Blanche was perfectly lovely, for, to use the words which describe her, "a more beautiful creature could not be found." Moreover, sire Edward, at his mature age, became violently in love (from report) of the charms of Blanche la Belle. The royal pair began to correspond, and the damsel admonished him by letter "that he must in all things submit to her brother, king Philip." In truth, the extreme wish of king Edward to be again united in wedlock with a fair and loving queen induced him to comply with conditions too hard even for a young bride to exact, whose hand, waist, and foot were perfect as those possessed by Blanche la Belle. Philip demanded that Gascony should be given up for ever, as a settlement on any posterity Edward might have by his beautiful sister. To this our king agreed; but when he surrendered the province, according to the feudal tenure,1 to his suzerain, the treacherous Philip refused to give it up, or let him marry his eldest sister; and just at this time the name of Marguerite, the youngest sister of Blanche, a child of little more than eleven years of age, is found in the marriage-treaty between England and France. The consternation of the king's brother, Edmund of Lancaster, when he found the villanous part Philip le Bel meant to play in the detention of the duchy of Guienne, is very apparent. His letter to king Edward assumes the style of familiar correspondence, and proves at the same time that ear! Edmund was with his consort at the French court, negotiating the royal wedlock. 'After," says earl Edmund, "my lord and brother had surren dered, for the peace of Christendom, this territory of Gascony to the will of France, king Philip assured me, by word of mouth, that he would agree to the aforesaid terms; and he came into my chamber, where the queen my wife was, with monsieur Hugh de Vere, and master John de Lacy, and he brought with him the duke of Burgundy, and there he promised, cording to the faith of loyal kings, that, in reality, all things should be as we supposed. And on this faith we sent master John de Lacy to Gas1 This ceremony, as narrated by Piers of Langtoft, is exceedingly like the surrender of a modern copyhold. 2 "Edward without reserve sal give Philip the king The whole of Gascony, without disturbing. To Edward and to Blanche, and the heirs that of them come. To that ilk scrite Edward set his seal, That the gift was perfect, and with witnesses leal." ac The dowager of Navarre, queen Blanche, mother to Jane, wife of the king of France, was married to Edmund of Lancaster. 1298.] Substituted for her fairer sister. 313 cony, in order to render up to the people of the king of France the seisin of the land, as afore agreed. And the king sent the constable of France to receive it. And when these things were done, we came to the two queens,' and they prayed the king of France that he would forthwith give safe-conduct to my lord the king, to come and receive again his land and fortresses according to his covenant. And the king of France, in secret, in the presence of queen Jane, told me "he was grieved that he must return a hard answer before the council, but, nevertheless, he meant to fulfil all he had undertaken." And forthwith he declared before his said council, that he never meant to restore the territory of which he had just been given full seisin.' Earl Edmund evidently concludes his letter in a great fright, lest Philip le Bel should persist in his cheating line of conduct; but he makes a serious exhortation to his brother not to let small causes break the compact. His letter is accompanied by a treaty of marriage, in which is inserted, not the name of the beautiful princess Blanche, but that of the child Marguerite. A fierce war immediately ensued, lasting from 1294 to 1298, during which time Edward, who at sixty had no time to lose, was left half married to Blanche; for, according to Piers of Langtoft, who seems intimately acquainted with this curious piece of secret history, the pope's dispensation had already been granted.2 should It was not till the year 1298 that any pacific arrangement took place between Edward and the brother of Blanche. The treaty was then renewed for Marguerite, who had grown up in the mean time. The whole arrangement was referred to the arbitration of the pope, who decreed "that Guienne was to be restored to the right owner; that Edward I. marry Marguerite; and that she should be paid the portion of fifteen thousand pounds left her by king Philip le Hardi, her father." This sum Piers verily believes Philip le Bel meant to appropriate to his own use. Piers does not say why the younger sister was substituted instead of Blanche, but he seems to insinuate, in these lines, that she was the better character:- 3 "Not dame Blanche the sweet, Of whom I now spake; But dame Marguerite, 4 "Now," says a Latin poem descriptive of the Scottish war, 1 Jeanne of Navarre, 'the queen of France, and her mother, queen Blanche, dowager of Navarre, wife of Lancaster. 2 The facts stated by Piers are most satis "the Her le Bel, married Rodolphus, duke of Austria, eldest son to the emperor Albert I. husband was afterwards king of Bohemia. This marriage was arranged between king Philip young the learned researches of Sir Harris Nicolas. accompanied her brother, was betrothed at See a Latin poem preserved in the City archives.-Chronicle of London, p. 132. 3 It was because the beautiful Blanche daughter of Philip le Hardi, and sister to Philip Toul, in Lorraine, in the spring of 1299.-Du 4 Songs of the Scottish Wars. Political Songs of England, Camden Society. |