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 ELEANOR OF CASTILLE. 105 purposely placed by them in front of the battle, and being com- pletely clad in armor, it was impossible for his friends to iden- tify him. In the heat of the action he received a wound, and would in all probability have been killed, had not he called out — U I am Henry of Winchester, your king!" Fortunately, his voice was recognized by his friends, and his gallant son having flown to his rescue, he was soon conducted to a place of safety. The battle of Evesham took place on the 12th of August, 1265, and, tvo months afterward, on the 29th of October, the young princess arrived in England with her mother-in-law, Eleanor of Provence. She landed at Dover, where she was received by her gallant lord, who conducted her not improbably to the same apartment in Dover Castle to which, exactly four hundred years afterwards, his unfortunate successor, Charles the First, led his fair bride, Henrietta Maria, after her arrival at Dover ; and where, "wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her with many kisses." From Dover, Edward escorted his bride to Canterbury, where they were entertained with great splendor by the archbishop. They then continued their progress to London, where the citizens celebrated their arrival with all kinds of pageants and rejoicings. Having, in the first instance, been lodged in the priory of St. John's, near Smithfield, they afterwards took up their abode in the magnificent palace of the Savoy, in the Strand, which had recently been granted by Henry the Third to Peter of Savoy, uncle to his queen, Eleanor of Provence. The following year the young princess was deliv- ered of her first-born, John, at Windsor Castle. Much as the original character of Edward the First has been eulogized, the truth of history forbids us to represent him at this period' of his life as faultless. On the contrary, during his young wife's abode in France, his intrigue with the Duchess of Gloucester involved the whole court in broils and dissen- sions, which did not cease till 1270, when he and the princess left the court, to proceed to Palestine. Eleanor had been married about four years, when her warlike husband, panting to signalize himself once more in the field of arms, expressed his determination to take up the cross, and, with the aid of Louis, King of France (commonly known as St. Louis), to make a grand simultaneous effort to expel the infidels forever from the Holy Land. It was a campaign which threatened danger and death, in a variety of shapes, even to the strongest and boldest ; how little suited, therefore, was a young