The duke of Burgundy, who perfectly understood the character of his niece, had prepared a treat of a more important kind for her, and at the conclusion of the banquet, presented her with a rich crown and a sceptre of crystal, and another of gold, ornamented with pearls and precious stones. He gave the young duke, her son, a buckle of gold, adorned with rubies and pearls, a beautiful diamond, and a number of silver vessels. To his little brothers, Arthur, earl of Richmond, and count Jules, of Bretagne, he presented each a collar of gold, enriched with rubies and pearls. He gave the countess of Rohan, Joanna's aunt, a splendid diamond, and a buckle to each of her ladies and damsels who were present. The lords in waiting and officers of the duchess's household were not forgotten in this magnificent distribution of largesses, in which the duke expended an immense sum. These discreet gifts entirely gained the heart of the duchess, of the princes, her children, her lords and officers, but, above all, of that most influential coterie, the ladies of her court and bedchamber. They were sure the duke of Burgundy would be the best person in the world to defend the rights and protect the person of their young duke, and diffuse happiness and prosperity among his subjects, and they besought him to undertake the guardianship of the royal minors and their patrimony.

To turn Joanna from her intended marriage with the king of England, the duke of Burgundy found to be a thing impossible; but he succeeded in convincing her how much better it would be for the interests of her sons to leave them under his guardianship, and the protection of their natural sovereign, the king of France, than to risk alienating the affections of the Bretons by taking them to England. He reminded her that he was her uncle, and one of the nearest relations her children had, and also that he was the friend and kinsman of their father, the late duke; finally, he swore on the holy Evangelists to maintain their cause, and to preserve the laws, liberties, and privileges of the Bretons inviolate. The duchess was then persuaded to sign a deed, investing him with this important charge. When Joanna had resigned the guardianship of her children to the duke of Burgundy, he departed from Nantes for Paris on the 3rd of November, 1402, after a stay of two months, taking with him the young duke and his two brothers, Arthur and Jules. The duke was only in his thirteenth year, and the younger princes so small, that they could scarcely guide the horse on which they were mounted, one behind the other. They were conducted by the duke of Burgundy to Paris, where the young duke of Bretagne performed his homage to Charles VI. of France. Joanna had another son named Richard, an infant, who is not mentioned in the Breton chronicles as forming one of his party.

One of Joanna's last actions as duchess of Bretagne was to secure to

1 Actes de Bretagne. Chron. Briocense. Dom Morice.

1402.]

Entitled queen of England.

473 her aunt, Jane of Navarre, the wife of the viscount Rohan, a pension of £1000 per year, out of the rents of her dower-city and county of Nantes. This deed, which is printed in the Fœdera, affords an interesting testimony of Joanna's affection for her deceased lord, as it states that the annuity is granted, not only in consideration of the nearness of kindred and friendship that is between her and her aunt, "but also," continues the august donor, "in remuneration of the good pains and diligence she used to procure our marriage with our very dear and beloved lord (whom God assoile!). Of which marriage it has pleased our Lord and Saviour that we should continue a noble line, to the great profit of the country of Bretagne, in our very dear and beloved son, the duke of Bretagne, and our other children, sons and daughters."

CHAPTER II.

JOANNA assumed the title of queen of England some months before her departure from Bretagne. She appears to have exerted a sort of matrimonial influence with her royal bridegroom soon after the ceremonial of their espousals had been performed by proxy; for we find that she wrote to Henry in behalf of one of her countrymen, the master of a Navarrese wine-ship, who had been plundered of his cargo, in the reign of Richard II., by William Prince, a captain in the earl of Arundel's fleet. Her intercession proved effectual; for king Henry, as he expressly states, at the request of his dearest consort, enjoins his admiral, Thomas Rampstone, to see that proper satisfaction be made to the master of the wineship by the said William Prince."2 Previous to her departure from Bretagne, Joanna sold the government of her castle of Nantes to Clisson for twelve thousand crowns; and having only tarried to complete this arrangement, she, on the 20th of December, 1402, proceeded to Camaret with her two infant daughters, Blanche and Marguerite, their nurses, and a numerous train of Breton and Navarrese attendants.3

The English fleet, with the two half brothers of her affianced bridegroom (the earl of Somerset and Henry Beaufort, bishop of Lincoln), and Thomas Percy, earl of Worcester, the lord chamberlain of England, had been waiting at that port a considerable time. Joanna, with her daughters and her retinue, embarked at Camaret, January 13th, in a vessel of war, commanded by the young earl of Arundel. The expedition sailed the same day with a favourable wind, but encountered a dreadful tempest at sea, by which the vessels were much damaged. After tossing five days and five nights on the wintry waves, Joanna and her children were driven on the coast of Cornwall; and instead of landing at

1 Dom Morice. Rymer's Fœdera, vol. viii. 2 Rymer's Fœdera. 3 Dom Morice.

Southampton, their original destination, they disembarked at Falmouth. From thence the illustrious travellers proceeded to Winchester, where king Henry was in waiting with his lords to receive his long-expected bride. The nuptials between Joanna and Henry were publicly solemnized, February 7th, 1403, in that ancient royal city, in the church of St. Swithin, with great pomp. The bridal feast was very costly, having two courses of fish; and at the end of the second, panthers crowned were introduced for what was, in the quaint language of the times, called a sottiltie, or banquet-ornament of confectionary. Eagles crowned formed the sottiltie at the end of the third course.

Great preparations were made by the citizens of London to meet and welcome the newly-married consort of the sovereign of their choice on her approach to the metropolis. Among other expenses for the civic procession ordained in her honour, the grocer's company allowed Robert Stiens, their beadle, 6s. 8d. for riding into Suffolk to hire minstrels; he engaged six. The Suffolk musical band was paid four pounds for riding to Blackheath to meet the queen. The mayor, the aldermen, and sheriffs went out in procession on this occasion, with the crafts in brown and blue, and every man a red hood on his head. Queen Joanna rested the first day at the Tower. That she went to Westminster in grand procession on the following, is ascertained by the entry for paying the said Suffolk minstrels 13s. 4d. on the morrow, when the queen passed through Cheapside to Westminster.1

There is an exquisite drawing in a contemporary MS.2 illustrative of Joanna's coronation, which took place February 26th, 1403, not quite three weeks after her bridal. She is there represented as a very majestic, beautiful, and graceful woman, in the meridian glory of her days. Her attitude is that of easy dignity. She is depicted in her coronation robes, which are of a peculiarly elegant form. Her dalmatica differs little in fashion from that worn by our sovereign lady, queen Victoria, at her inauguration. It partially displays her throat and bust, and is closed at the breast with a rich cordon and tassels. The mantle has apertures, through which her arms are seen; they are bare, and very finely moulded. She is enthroned, not by the side of her royal husband, but, with the same ceremonial honours that are paid to a queen-regnant, in a chair of state, placed singly under a rich canopy, emblazoned, and elevated on a very high platform, approached on every side by six steps. Two archbishops have just crowned her, and are still supporting the royal diadem on her head. Her hair falls in rich curls on her bosom. In her right hand she holds a sceptre, and in her left an orb surmounted by a cross,- -a very unusual attribute for a queen-consort, as it is a symbol of sovereignty, and could only have been allowed to queen Joanna as a very especial mark of her royal bridegroom's favour.

1 Herbert's History of the Livery Companies.

2 Cottonian MS. Julius E. 4, fol. 202.

1403.]

66

Costume of queen and her ladies.

475

In this picture, a peeress in her coronet and robes of state, probably Occupying the office of mistress of the robes, stands next the person of the queen, on her right hand, and just behind are seen a group of noble maidens wearing wreaths of roses, like the train-bearers of her majesty, queen Victoria; affording a curious but probably forgotten historical testimony, that such was the costume prescribed anciently by sumptuary regulations for the courtly demoiselles who were appointed to the honour of bearing the train of a queen of England at her coronation. John, lord de Latimer, received forty marks for release of the almoner's dish placed before queen Joanna at her coronation-banquet, he having the hereditary right of almoner on such occasions.1 Among other courtly pageants after this ceremonial a tournament was held, in which Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, surnamed "the Courteous," maintained the lists in honour of the royal bride. "He kept joust on the queen's part against all other comers, and so notably and knightly behaved himself, as redounded to his noble fame and perpetual worship." 2 This quaint sentence is in explanation of another historical drawing, in which queen Jane," as she is there styled, is represented sitting with the king in state, at an open gallery, attended by her ladies, beholding with evident satisfaction the prowess of her champion. Instead of her royal robes, the queen is here represented in a gown fitting close to her shape, having exchanged her crown for one of the lofty Syrian caps, then the prevailing head-dress for ladies of rank in England, with its large, stiff, transparent veil, supported on a framework at least two feet in height. The queen's ladies-in-waiting wear hoods and veils very gracefully draped, and by no means emulating the towering head-gear of their royal mistress. King Henry is by queen Joanna's side, wearing a furred gown and velvet cap of maintenance, looped up with a fleur-de-lis. His appearance is that of a gallant gentleman in middle life. The balcony in which the royal bride and bridegroom are seated is not unlike the royal stand at Ascot, only more exposed to public view; and the king and queen are both accommodated with the luxury of large square cushions for their elbows, with tassels at the corners. King Henry sits quite at ease, resting his arms on his cushion; but the queen leans forward, and extends her hands with a gesture of great animation, as she looks down on the contest. Warwick has just struck his opponent. His family badge, the bear and ragged staff, decorates his helmet. This historical sketch, besides its great beauty, is very valuable for its delineation of costume. Joanna of Navarre was the first widow since the Norman conquest, who wore the crown-matrimonial of England. She was, as we have seen, the mother of a large family. Her age, at the period of her second

1 Issue Rolls, 297.

2 Cottonian MS. Julius E 4, fol. 202. This is usually called 'the Beauchamp MS,' and is one of the most precious relics in the British Museum.

nuptials, must have been about three-and-thirty; and if past the morning freshness of her charms, her personal attractions were still very considerable. Her exemplary conduct as the wife of the most irascible prince in Christendom, and the excellence of her government as regent for her eldest son, had afforded unquestionable evidence of the prudence and wisdom of this princess, and she was in possession of a very fine dower; yet the marriage was never popular in England. It has been asserted by many historians, that Henry IV. married the duchessdowager of Bretagne chiefly with the view of directing the councils of the young duke, her son. If such were his motives, they were completely frustrated by the maternal feelings of Joanna, who, consulting the welfare of her son and the wishes of his subjects rather than the interests of her second husband, placed her children, as we have seen, under the protection of the duke of Burgundy previously to her de parture from Bretagne; and even after her coronation as queen England, we find, by her letters dated Westminster, March 9th, 1403, that she confirms her last act as duchess-regent of Bretagne by solemnly appointing "her well-beloved uncle, the duke of Burgundy, the guardian of her sons, the duke of Bretagne, Arthur, and Jules; and enjoins the young princes to be obedient to him, and to attend diligently to his advice."

of

The bridal festivities of Henry IV. and his new queen were soon interrupted by the news of a descent of the French on the Isle of Wight; but the inhabitants compelled the invaders to retire to their ships with dishonour. Next, the Breton fleet, being wholly under the direction of the court of France, put to sea, and committed great depredations on the coast of Cornwall and the merchant shipping, causing much uneasiness to the king, and rendering the new queen distasteful to the nation. The memorable Percy rebellion occurred in the same year: it has been said that it was fomented by the earl of Worcester, in consequence of a disagreement between him and queen Joanna during her voyage from Bretagne. This might possibly have originated in some dispute with Joanna's natural brother, Charles of Navarre, who accompanied her to England in the capacity of chamberlain to herself. The battle of Shrewsbury might have been prevented, if Worcester, who was employed by the insurgent lords to negotiate a pacification with Henry, had fairly and honestly stated the concessions the king was willing to make; but he did not, and his own ruin, with that of his whole house, was the result.s Part of the confiscated property of the Percys, especially the

1 Chron. de Bretagne.

2 Ibid.

3 A determined set was made against the life of the newly-wedded king at the battle of Shrewsbury, by a certain number of champions, among the insurgents, who had vowed to have his blood. This confederacy being suspected by Henry's partisans, thirteen stout

gentlemen arrayed themselves in a dress similar to that which he was accustomed to wear, and were slain in different parts of the field. Henry killed no less than sixteen of his assailants with his own hand in selfdefence that day, and, like his son the prince of Wales, performed prodigies of valour.