Page:The Queens of England.djvu/157

 PHILIPPA OF HA1NAULT. . 133 likewise, in the grand tournaments she held at Norwich, which might be considered as exhibitions showing" the citizens how well, in time of need, they could be protected by a gallant nobility. These festivals displayed the defensive class and the productive class in admirable union and beneficial intercourse ; while the example of the queen promoted mutual respect be- tween them. Edward the Third did not often take part in these visits to Norwich, which were generally paid by the queen while her husband spent some days with his guilty and miser- able mother at Castle Rising, in Norfolk — a strong proof that he did not consider Isabella a fit companion for his Philippa. "It is likely that the establishment of the Flemish artists in England had some connection with the visit that Jeanne of Valois, Countess of Hainault, paid to her royal daughter in the autumn of 1331. The mother of Philippa was a wise and good woman, who loved peace, and who promoted the peaceful arts. During her sojourn in England, she further strengthened the beneficial alliance between England and the Low Countries, by negotiating a marriage between the king's sister, Eleanora, and the Duke of Gueldres, which was soon after celebrated." In 1333, Edward, while besieging Berwick, found his queen Philippa actually besieged by Douglas in Bambrough Castle ; and, exasperated at this, he carried on the war with such reck- less ferocity, that he not only soon relieved Bambrough, but added Berwick, by an act of bloody perfidy — the murder of the two young Seatons, sons of the Governor — permanently to the British Crown. At the period to which we have advanced (1337), occurred an incident which exercised so important an influence in the subsequent career of Edward and Philippa, that it must be nar- rated distinctly, though briefly. We refer to the claim pre- ferred by Edward to the throne of France — a long premeditated deed, which not only shaped his future course, but dispersed throughout the English nation the seeds of actions and passions which, even in this day, are not wholly extinct. Philip the Fourth of France, surnamed the Fair, who was the maternal grandfather of Edward, left three sons, each of whom, in his turn, reigned for a brief time ; their names were Louis le Hutin, Philip the Long, and Charles le Bel. The last of these kings, all of whom were uncles of Edward, died on the 1st of February, 1328, leaving no sons, but two daughters. Thus was extinguished the direct male line of the elder branch