Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/292

278 and offences of the poor and lepers: so that, if one leper struck another with a knife, he could adjudge him to be burnt.

"After the banquet was finished, he received, as his right, the silver dish for alms that stood before the king; and he claimed to have one tun of wine in right of alms; and on that day the great chamberlain served the water, as well before as after the banquet—namely, Hugh de Vere, Earl of Oxford; and he received, as his right, the basins and the towels wherewith he served. Gilbert, earl marshal. Earl of Strigul, served the office of the marshalsea; and it was his duty to appease tumults in the king's house, to give liveries to them, and to guard the entrances to the king's hall; and he received from every baron who was knighited by the king, and from every earl on that day, a palfrey with a saddle. The head cook of the royal kitchen always, at the coronation, received the steward's robe as his right; and of the aforesaid offices none claimed to themselves the right in the queen's house, except G. de Stamford, who said that he, in right of his predecessors, ought to be chamberlain to the queen, and door-keeper of her chamber on that day, which ho there obtained; and had, as his right, all the queen's furniture, as belonged to the office of chamberlain. . . . And the cloth which hung behind the king at table was claimed on the one side by the door-keepers, and on the other by the scullions, for themselves."

Such were the ceremonies which graced the marriage of Henry and Eleanor of Provence.

No sooner had the union been celebrated than the indignant father of Joanna of Ponthieu, feeling keenly the insult offered to his child, applied to the Roman Pontiff for his interference, well knowing that it was the only authority before which Henry bowed.

Fortunately for the newly-married pair, the Pope thought fit to take a very different view of his crowned vassal's falsehood. Gregory rejoiced to see him allied to a family which had given such unequivocal marks of attachment to the holy see. He therefore addressed a bull to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and another to the Prior of Beverley, expressing his approbation of the union, "seeing," as the document ran, "that the proposed marriage of the king and Joanna being within the fourth degree of consanguinity, the king could not, without injury to his fame and peril to his soul, be permitted to contract it."

The king found a party far more difficult to manage than the holy see in his barons; for having summoned a parliament to assemble at the Tower, they unanimously refuse to attend, alleging as a reason that, surrounded as the king was with foreign and inimical counsellors, they could not with safety trust themselves in so strong and well-garrisoned a fortress.

This excuse marks not only the great unpopularity of Henry, but the utter contempt into which his character for good faith had fallen. It was in vain that ho alternately threatened and remonstrated—the barons continued firm; and prudence prevailing over his self-will, he was obliged to yield the point, and, returning to his palace at Westminster, hold the parliament there.

Never did the Church of Rome proceed with so little prudence, show such an utter disregard of everything like justice, as during the reign of the obsequious Henry. The Pontiflf, not content with the enormous sums of money which, under various pretences, he had drained from the kingdom, had the modesty to demand that 300 Italians should be preferred to English benefices. In vain did the primate, Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, protest against the iniquitous measure; his patriotism called forth the resentment both of the king and the Pope. Wearied with the contest, he retired at last, a voluntary exile, to Pontemac, where he died.

Never was a system calculated to alienate the affections of a people from the Church more perseveringly pursued than by the court of Rome; it was that of the leech draining the life-blood of the nation on which it had fastened. Men began to question an infallibility which manifested itself only in acts of injustice and oppression. In the universal condemnation of the grasping policy of the Pontiff, the seeds were sown which slowly but steadily ripened in the hearts of all who possessed the least sense of dignity and national independence.

Little, however, did Henry heed the growing disaffection of his subjects, exulting in the protection of the holy see, which found in him a vassal worthy of her pretensions. He fasted both during Lent and on every Saturday throughout the year, and feasted right royally both at Easter and Christmas; keeping the festival of St. Edward most religiously, passing the whole night in the church, clothed in white.

But these observances could neither fill his exhausted exchequer nor conciliate the goodwill of the nation. The people murmured, the nobles were loud in their complaints; but Henry pertinaciously adhered to his foreign counsellors, and invited over many of the queen's relations, on whom he conferred both estates and benefices. In 1243, we find in the "Foedera" a charter respecting Eleanor's dower, from which it appears that the appropriated dower of the Queens of England was not even at this period assigned her. In this she is assigned the town and castle of Gloucester, the cities of Worcester and Bath, the manors of Clyne and Chiltham and instead of the manors assigned by the first charter, the whole county of Chester, together with Newcastle-under-Lyme, is granted.

This year Eleanor's mother visited England, for the purpose of bringing Sonchia, her third daughter, who was affianced to the king's brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall.

The marriage was celebrated with much splendour; that king directing that the whole way from London Bridge to Westminster should be hung with tapestry and other ornaments. This seems to prove that comparatively little vacant space could have extended between London and Westminster.

On this occasion Henry confirmed to his brother the county of Cornwall, together with the honours of Wallingford and Eye. He also made splendid presents to the bride and her mother; and bestowed on Peter of Savoy, the queen's maternal uncle, the honour of the Eagle, and the titles and estates of the Earl of Richmond, and on his brother the archbishopric of Canterbury.

But while Henry thus lavished gifts on his queen's relations, he duly, according to orthodox practice, mulcted the unfortunate Jews. During the same year writs were forwarded to the sheriffs of each county, directing them to return before Henry at Worcester, upon Quinquagesima Sunday, the names of six of the richest Jews from each