Page:The Queens of England.djvu/108

 9 o THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. daughter of Joanna, who had been affianced to his father, who had broken off the -engagement to wed Eleanor, and which breach had furnished the papal see with an excuse for harass- ing Henry with doubts of the legality of his marriage with Eleanor, — doubts so often and so powerfully urged, that it was only by the sacrifice of a large sum of money that bulls were obtained from the pope declaring the marriage of Henry and Eleanor valid. The nuptials of Prince Edward and Eleanor of Castile were celebrated with great pomp; after which, the queen, with the youthful bride and bridegroom, returned to join King Henry, who had remained at Bourdeaux. Here an invitation from King Louis was sent to the royal party to visit his court : and Louis and his queen, attended by a train of nobles, met his expected guests at Chartres, whence they conducted them to Paris. Eleanor, with many faults, was remarkable for the strong affection she bore to her family; hence, the meeting with her sister, the Queen of France, must have been peculiarly gratifying to her. The palace of the Old Temple, at Paris, was prepared for the reception of the royal party, who entered the French capital with a splendid train; and, shortly after their arrival, Henry bestowed a very large sum on the French poor, and entertained with princely hospi- tality and regal magnificence his royal relatives. No less than three sovereigns sate at this splendid feast; the King of Navarre, as well as St. Louis, being one of the guests. After a sojourn of a week at Paris, during which period the King and Queen of England received every honor from the royal hosts, they departed en route for their own dominions, and landed at Dover early in January, 1255. Their entry into London was made with unwsual pomp and ceremony, and the citizens were again called on to assist in defraying a portion of the expense attending it. About this period the pope invested Prince Edmund with the kingdom of Sicily, which caused infinite joy to his weak- minded father ; for Henry forgot, in the gratification of his paternal vanity, the difficulties in which this dangerous gift was likely to involve him. Nor was it long before he found himself on the eve of engaging in a war in support of the pretensions of Edmund, still a mere boy, to the great dissatis- faction of his subjects, who, already harassed by the frequent exactions of the king, looked with dread to future ones, likely to spring from this source. Before, however, Henry could