These were truly exemplary damages, and we find that the imprisonment was remitted on the same day, and the fines were respectively reduced to £15 and 100s.[107]
Besides sports in the streets, there was a constant succession of pageants, processions and tournaments in the Middle Ages, which made the streets gay, and brought out most of the inhabitants to see the sights.
The royal processions arranged in connection with coronations were of great antiquity, but one of the earliest to be described is that of Henry III., in 1236, which was chronicled by Matthew Paris. After the marriage at Canterbury of the King with Eleanor of Provence, the royal personages came to London, and were met by the Mayor, aldermen, and principal citizens, to the number of 360, sumptuously apparelled in silken robes embroidered, riding upon stately horses.
A very interesting point is mentioned by Matthew Paris, viz., that each man carried a gold or silver cup in his hand, in token of the privilege claimed by the city, of the Mayor being Chief Butler of the kingdom at the coronation. Something further respecting this claim will be found in the eighth chapter of this book. On this occasion the streets of the city were adorned with rich silks, pageants, and a variety of pompous shows; and the citizens attending the King and Queen to Westminster had the honour of officiating at the Queen’s coronation. At night the city was illuminated with an infinite number of lamps, cressets, etc.
After the death of Henry III. (1272) the country had to wait for their new King, who was then in the Holy Land. Edward I. came to London on the 2nd of August 1274, where he was received with the wildest expressions of joy. The streets were hung with rich cloths of silk, arras and tapestry; the aldermen and principal men of the city threw out of their windows handfuls of gold and silver, to signify their gladness at the King’s return; and the conduits ran with wine, both white and red. The coronation took place on the 19th of August.
The happy married life of Edward I. and Eleanor of Castile came to an end in 1290, and in connection with her death was arranged the most striking and most beautiful expression of a husband’s and a nation’s love in our history.
The Queen died in Harby, Lincolnshire, and the funeral procession came slowly to London and Westminster. Beautiful crosses were afterwards placed on the various spots where each night the body stopped. Two of these stopping-places were in London—at Cheapside, beneath the shadow of old St. Paul’s, and at Charing Cross, on the way to Westminster, where the Queen’s beautiful tomb remains as one of the chief glories of our wonderful Abbey Church.
