The Journey to Harby and the Queen’s Fatal Illness.
The summer session of Parliament in Westminster was adjourned, but re-assembled during the autumn, and Edward left London on 21st July, travelling northwards accompanied as usual by the Queen. By slow stages they reached Harby[[29]] near Lincoln, where the Queen remained at the house of Richard de Weston, who was no doubt a relative of Sir John de Weston, a confidential member of her own household. It is clear that the Queen was unable to bear the fatigues of travelling, and as the autumn session of Parliament was summoned to meet at King’s Clipstone, a royal residence in Sherwood Forest, Edward was anxious that Eleanor should be sufficiently close at hand for him to have full knowledge of her health. During the month of September he made short journeys in the districts of the Peak and Sherwood Forest, and paid a visit to Harby on 11th September. The Clipstone Parliament occupied his attention during most of October and the early part of November.
[29]. Previously written “Hardeby,” “Hardby,” &c.
During the whole of this period the Queen was steadily declining in health. It is interesting to note one or two indications of the nature of her long illness. It is on record that a certain Henry de Montepessulano[[30]] received on 18th October the sum of 13s. 4d. on account of syrups and other medicines purchased for the Queen at Lincoln.[[31]] The Queen’s physician was a certain Magister Leopardus, who is specially mentioned in the Queen’s will as receiving a legacy of 20 marks. In addition to the physician attached to her household she seems to have been attended by some of her own countrymen—the physician to the King of Aragon is especially mentioned. To him the Queen presented a silver goblet, worth 12-1/2 marks, and Sir Garcia de Ispannia, who was evidently of the King and Queen’s household, received a certain sum for a cross given to the Queen.
[30]. The presence of a member of the ancient Medical School of Montpellier in the Queen’s Household is of much interest.
[31]. Wardrobe Account 18 Edw. I, fol. 13, Chancery Miscellanea 4/5.
The character of the illness is described by a contemporary annalist as being of a lingering character, associated with low fever.[[32]] In spite of all skill and care the Queen steadily became worse, till at length the illness must have been recognized as fatal. Another annalist speaks of the Queen as being stricken with a serious illness.[[33]]
[32]. Wykes, Thomas. Ann. de Oseneia. Annales monastici: Rolls series, iv, p. 326, “Modicæ febris igniculo contabescens.”
[33]. Walsingham, Thomas of, quoting William Rishanger, a contemporary writer: “Regina consors grave infirmatate correpta quarto idus decembris ex hac vita migravit in villa de Hardeby.” Historia Anglicana, Rolls edition; anno 1291, pp. 32, 33.
At the close of the Clipstone Parliament, Edward travelled slowly towards Harby, arriving there on the 20th November. The gravity of the Queen’s illness seems scarcely to have been appreciated by the King. He spent six days on his journey from Clipstone to Harby—a distance of little more than 20 miles. On his arrival the hopelessness of the Queen’s condition must have been apparent to him. She died on the evening of the 28th November.
Evidence of the King’s grief and depression is given not only by the contemporary writers, but by Edward’s actions at the time of the death of Eleanor and during the subsequent months. The gracious character of the Queen’s influence on her consort, and the affection she inspired in her people, is amply testified by the contemporary annalists. Walsingham, once more quoting his predecessors such as Rishanger, describes her shortly in the following sentence: “She was in very truth a woman of pious, gracious, and compassionate disposition, the friend of all English folk, and as a pillar of the whole realm.”[[34]] The important point of this description is the emphasis laid on the fact that Eleanor was the friend of her English subjects. This had not been the characteristic of her predecessors. In the time of Henry III, the foreign relatives of both the Queen and the King swarmed into England, and memories of the unjust favours showered upon them still rankled in the minds of the people. An echo of this can still be heard on listening to the tale of the annalist at Dunstable. He writes from the English point of view, and is chiefly concerned with describing the benefits received by his Convent from the King and Queen.[[35]]
[34]. “Fuerat nempe mulier pia, modesta, misericors, Anglicorum amatrix omnium, et velut columna regni totius. Cujus temporibus alienigenæ Angliam non gravabant, incolæ nullatenus per regales opprimebantur, si ad aures ejus vel minima querela oppressionis aliqualiter pervenisset. Tristes ubique, prout dignitatem suæ permittebat, consolabatur, et discordes ad concordium, quantum potuit, reducebat.”
[35]. Ann. de Dunstaplia: Annales monastici. Rolls series, iii, p. 362. Of Eleanor this annalist drily remarks: “Hyspana genere quæ plura et optima maneria adquisivit.”
Edward’s letter conveying information of the Queen’s death to the Abbot of Cluny still remains, and gives pathetic evidence of his own sorrow: “Whom while living we cherished dearly, and being dead we shall not cease to love.”[[36]]
[36]. Close Roll, 19 Ed. I, m. 11 d. A.D. 1291: Foedera, i, part ii, p. 743: “De Orando pro Regina.” “Cum itaque, dictam Consortem nostram quam vivam care dileximus, mortuam non desinamus amare, ac opus sanctum et salubre, juxta divinæ scripturæ sententiam, censeatur pro defunctis, ut a peccatorum solvantur nexibus, exorare.”
After the obsequies at Westminster were concluded, the King went into retirement in the religious house of the “Bons Hommes” at Ashridge, issuing to pay a visit to his mother and daughter in the Convent at Amesbury.
The Queen’s death marks the crisis of Edward’s career. His kingly manner and appearance, his renown as a warrior, and his success as a statesman, combined to make him one of the most prominent personages in Europe. The political problems of the future might well have been solved by his firmness and skill had not the distortion of his character, which dates back to his early years, become more pronounced. Especially in the management of the Scottish difficulty, his firmness of purpose contrasts curiously with the meanness and shiftiness of his administration. These base qualities more than anything else brought to so unhappy a termination his statesmanlike plans for the union of England and Scotland. This great political scheme ended with Edward’s life in the dark scene at Burgh-on-the-Sands, marked by the desire for savage revenge[[37]] only too characteristic of Edward’s worse nature. At no period of his career did Edward miss the moderating influence of Eleanor of Castile more than during his quarrel with Scotland.
[37]. This phase of Edward’s character brings to mind the “demon blood” of his Angevin ancestry. Cf. Norgate, Kate: “England under Angevin Kings,” i, pp. 143-144; ii, p. 207.