poet, known as Ribald the Rhymer, who, roared out. "Where is he who has it appears, was also a knight and a gen- robbed me of my crown? the usurner tleman, went mad, and stealing into the Henry! Tear out his heart! kill him, King's bed-chamber, secreted himself! lads! kill him!" The noise disturbed beneath the bed, amongst the rushes, till | the royal household, Ribald was seized, midnight. Fortunate it was for Henry and for the offence executed at Coventhat he passed that night in the Queen's try, and drawn asunder by horses. chamber, as Ribald rose up in the dead From the name of this rhyming lunatic, of the night, stabbed the bed in several the expression of ribald rhymes was places, and finding his victim absent, probably derived

ELEANORA OF CASTILE,

First Consort of Edward the First.

CHAPTER I.

Henry the Third's purpose in proposing a match between Edward and Eleanora of Castile -Henry's overtures favourably received by the King of Castile-Terms of the marriage treaty-Eleanora's parentage-Marriage-Journey to England-DowerBanquet at Tothill-She goes to France-On her return to England, gives birth to the Princess Eleanora-Visits the most venerated shrines in the country-Gives birth to Prince Henry-Goes with her husband to the Holy Land-Edward takes Nazareth-Is wounded by an assassin, whom he kills-The wounds threaten to be mortal-Eleanora bewails his misfortune-He recovers-His will-Eleanora gives birth to Joanna of Acre-She embarks with her husband for Europe-At Sicily hears of the death of Prince John and Henry the Third-Entertained by the Pope at Rome-Tarries in France-Prince Alphonso born--Narrowly escapes death by lightning-The little battle of Chalon.

HEN King Henry the Third, favoured by more than his ordinary good fortune, had quelled the rebellion in Gascony, in 1253, he, to silence some obsolete claims which Alphonso the Tenth, King of Castile, laid to that province, resolved on a matrimonial alliance between Eleanora of Castile, Alphonso's half-sister, and his own heir, Prince Edward.

As the Castilian monarch had supported the rebellious Gascons, and agreed, in the event of success, to accept them as his lieges, Henry was desirous to bring about the marriage with all speed and privacy. He accordingly despatched from Eourdeaux, as ambassadors to the Castilian court, his special

chaplain, the Bishop of Bath, and his secretary, John Mansel. These discreet personages, on making known the object of their mission, were honourably received by Alphonso, who sent them back with letters patent, sealed with the golden seal, containing his approval of the match, his renunciation of all claim or title to Gascony, his counsel that Henry would be kind and gentle as a lamb to his subjects, and fierce and savage as a lion to his enemies, and, in conclusion, a stipulation that, if the proposed marriage was not solemnized by, at the latest, five weeks before Michaelmas day, 1254, the contract should be invalid. This stipulation was inserted to prevent the ill-convenience suffered by the bride's mother and grandmother, to both of whom English Princes had broken their long-pledged troth-plights.

Eleanora of Castile, the first consort | welcomed with great feasting and reof our first Edward, was the only daugh- | joicing. The most magnificent of these ter of Ferdinand the Third. King of Castile and Leon, and Joanna. Countess of Ponthieu-that lady with whom Henry the Third had so heartlessly broken his marriage engagement. Ponthieu and umeric descended to the Countess Joanna from her mother, Alice of France, whose betrothment with the lion-hearted King, Richard the First, led to an European war. Edward, by the sanction of his faThe marriage preliminaries being set-ther, dowered his bride with the towns tled, Prince Edward, accompanied by his of Samford and Grantham, the castle mother, the Queen of England, set out and village of Tickhill, and the village from Bourdeaux, crossed the Pyrenees, of Peak, with an understanding that the and reaching Burgos in safety, was mar- dower should be proportionately inried to the Infanta, Eleanora, with great creased when she became Queen. pomp and rejoicing, in August, 1254. At the period of their marriage, the heir of England was just fifteen, and his girlish bride about three years younger. The marriage festival was graced by the leading nobles of Spain, and King Alphonso celebrated the occasion by giving a tournament, at which he knighted Prince Edward.

banquets was given by King Henry's secretary, John Mansel, to the royal familes of England and Scotland, whose noble retinues were so numerous, that | John Mansel's house, at Tothill Fields, Westminster, was crowded with royal and distinguished personages, whilst hundreds were lodged in tents and booths erected for the occasion.

The marriage rejoicings ended, Edward, accompanied by his bride and his mother, returned to Bourdeaux, where King Henry received them with joyous feastings and pageantry, and settled on his heir Gascony, Ireland, Wales, and the towns of Bristol, Stamford, and Grantham.

From Bourdeaux the young Donna Ele mora was conducted by her husband and the other members of the royal family of England through France, on their route to Britain. At Paris, King Henry the Third presided at the "feast of kings," mentioned in the preceding memoirs. On this and the other festi"als which he gave in honour of the marriage of his daughter-in-law, Eleanora, he expended the enormous sum of three hundred thousand marks, which so annoved his English nobles that one of them censured his prodigality, when he answered with a penitent voice:

"Oh, for the head of God! say no more of it, lest the very relation thereof should make men stand amazed, and curse the hour that gave birth to royalty!"

On landing in England, Eleanora was

For several years subsequent to her marriage, we find no important notice of Eleanora of Castile. Probably she spent much of her time with her mother-inlaw, Eleanora of Provence; although she appears to have had a private residence, as, shortly after her marriage, Henry the Third ordered apartments to be fitted up for her in the castle of Guildford, with glass windows, a dais, a chimney, a wardrobe, and an adjoining oriel.

In 1260, Eleanora accompanied her lord, Prince Edward, when he proceeded, along with John of Brittany and other illustrious nobles, to display his chivalric skill at a tournament, held at Paris, in honour of the nuptials of the French King's youngest son, Robert of Artois, with Amicia De Courtenay. Whilst tilting at this tournament Prince Edward heard of the violent dissensions which had burst forth between his father and the English barons; and believing that his presence might possibly avert a civil war, he and his faithful consort hastily recrossed the channel, in the spring of 1261. On reaching England, Eleanora of Castile took up her residence with her mother-in-law, the English Queen, at Windsor Castle, which Prince Edward had strongly garrisoned with foreign troops, and where, a few weeks after her arrival-the precise date is not known-she was delivered of her eldest-born-a Princess-christened after herself, Eleanora.

of St. Peter she gave a rich altar-cioth of baudekin, in gratitude for the recovery of her children from a severe illness; and, on her return to Westminster, the barons swore fealty to her in

When Henry the Third and Prince | nerated shrines in the country. To that Edward were taken prisoners at the battle of Lewes, fought on the fourteenth of May, 1264. Eleanora of Castile resided at Windsor Castle; but as that fortress had fallen into the hands of the ambitious Leicester, she, by the desire of | fant son, Prince John, as successor to King Henry, removed with her offspring from thence to the Palace at Westminster, where she remained till the victory of Evesham restored the royal family of England to their former dignity, when she returned to Windsor Castle, and, in July, 1266, gave birth to her eldest son, John.

the English crown, should Edward die in the ensuing crusade.

The friends of Eleanora endeavoured in vain to prevail on her to relinquish the idea of accompanying her husband on his hazardous enterprise to the deathdoing coasts of Asia.

Nothing," said the faithful Princess, "should part those whom God hath joined: besides, the road to heaven is as short and smooth from Palestine as from England, and I should little, indeed, deserve to be the wife of the brave Prince Edward, did I desert him at such a time."

In 1268, Eleanora's second son, Prince Henry, was born. The place of his birth is nowhere recorded, but as, at that period, Windsor Castle was the nursery of the infant hopes of England, it doubtless took place there.

Peace being restored to the kingdom, Prince Edward, who was ever forward at a tilting match, led the life of a knight errant, wandering from county to county to display his chivalric powers and skill at the numerous tournaments given by the English barons. He, however, was soon induced to exchange the gay trappings of the tournay-tilter for the cross of the Crusader. Hopeless as was the cause of the Christians in the Holy Land on the preaching of the ninth and last crusade, in 1268, St. Louis of Early in 1270, Eleanora embarked for France, the heir of England, and nu- Bourdeaux, where she superintended the merous others of royal and noble line- preparations for the crusade. About a age, answered the summons of the Sove-month later, Edward, who had wisely reign Pontiff, and proceeded against the tarried in England to distinguish his dePainim in Palestine. Being impover-parture by acts of grace and popularity, ished by the previous civil wars, Edward mortgaged the revenues of Bourdeaux to the French King for thirty thousand marks, which are set down in his agreement as being for "ships, horses, provisions, our passage, and all other matters which this our expedition against the infidels in the Holy Land may require." Having resolved to take with him his loving consort, he assigned the guardianship of his children, the care of the succession, and the administration of the kingdom, in the event of King Henry's death during his absence, to his uncle, On reaching Tunis, Edward and EleRichard, King of the Romans. As go-anora found that St. Louis had already vernors of his castles, and protectors of his lands, he named the Archbishop of York, Roger Mortimer, and Philip Basset.

Previous to leaving England, Eleanora, accompanied by her mother-in-law, the Queen, paid a visit to the most ve

sailed from Portsmouth, and joined his consort at Bourdeaux, whence they journeyed together to Aigues Morte, where the Duke of Brittany, Edward's brotherin-law, awaited their arrival with a powerful 1 reton fleet. Having arranged with St. Louis of France, in the first onset, to make a simultaneous attack on the Bey of Tunis, who had refused to pay the customary tribute to the King of Sicily, Edward embarked with his wife and a host of brave warriors for that coast, in May, 1270.

arrived there, and reduced the Moors to subjection; they, therefore, retired to Sicily, to spend the winter. Here they had scarcely landed, when they received the mournful intelligence of the death of St. Louis, by a deadly epidemic which had broken out in the French army, and

Whilst in Sicily, anxiously awaiting the return of spring, Edward received a message from his father, requesting his presence in England, which the Sicilian monarch strenuously advised him to obey, declaring that, as the French had returned, his army was far too insignificant to afford really serviceable succour to the Christians in the East. But devotion and curiosity overcame duty and interest, and, smiting his breast, Edward vehemently exclaimed:

raged with such fury, that neither age secret society known as Assassins, or nor rank were spared; and Philip, the agents of the Old Man of the Mountains. French King's eldest son, and the rem- a body of fanatics. pledged by soiemin nant of the pestilence-smitten warrior- | oath, at all hazards, to murder every host, thought only of returning to France i person doomed to death by the tribunal -a step which they took with all pos- of their blood-stained band. Having, sible celerity. by frequent friendly visits, gained the confidence of the English Prince, this crafty envoy arrived on the Friday in Whitsun week with letters and presents from the Emir, when the vigilance of the guard being relaxed, he was incautiously permitted to enter the royal chamber, where Edward, overcome by the heat of the climate, was reposing on his couch, barcheaded, and clad only in a loose mantle. The infidel gave the Prince some kindly-worded letters to read, and as they touched upon the Emir of Joppa's conversion to Christianity, the conference was a private one, secrecy being imperative. Whilst Edward was reading the epistles, the assassin, pretending to search his belt for another letter, watched his opportunity, suddenly drew forth a poisoned dagger, and aimed a desperate blow at the heart of the Prince, who, perceiving the trea chery, received the blow on his arm, sprung to his feet, and grappling with the assassin, threw him on the ground, and despatched him with his own weapon, or, according to some authorities, dashed out his brains with a stool that stood by the couch-side. The Prince then called in his attendants, and ordered them to hang the body, with a live dog tied to it, over the wall of the city.

"By the clouds of heaven! though all should desert me, I would go to Ptolemais, and fight the infidels, if attended only by Fowen, my groom!"

Edward and Eleanora landed at Acre in April, 1271, and although the Prince mustered an army of only about a thou sand strong, his arrival elated the Christians, and struck terror into the camp of the infidels, who expected that he would equal the fame of that renowned hero, his great uncle, the "lion-hearted Richard." Bondoca, the Sultan of Egypt, who had already prepared to assault the city, retired with his mulmicks across the desert into his own territory, and Edward, having reinforced his little band with about six thousand Latin chivalry, laid siege to Nazareth, totally defeated the garrison, entered the city, and mercilessly slaughtered every man, woman, and child, that could be found there.

The other victories obtained by Edward during his sojourn in the Holy Land were insignificant. The capture of two small castles, and the surprise of a caravan, are alone worthy of notice. But although he failed to win the laurels of a conqueror, the treachery of the Sultan of Egypt invested him with the glory of a martyr. The Emir of Joppa, counselled to the course by Eondoca, and under a pretence of embracing Christianity, sent a messenger with friendly letters and costly presents to the English heir. This messenger was one of the

The wounds on Edward being several in number, and inflicted with a poisoned dagger, threatened to be mortal. Mortification commenced, a skilful English surgeon was consulted, and he at once pronounced that life could only be saved by immediately paring away the sides of the wounds. Eleanora, who was present, on hearing her husband express his determination to submit himself to the surgeon's knife, lost all self-command, and bewailed his misfortune with a flood of hysterical tears. Edward, however, cut short her anguish by ordering her removal from the room. Whilst Prince Edmund and John de