Suffolk Presenting Margaret to the King.
1445.
The final ceremony.
This final ceremony was performed in April, 1445. Of course, as Margaret was born in March, 1429, she was at this time sixteen years and one month old.
Strange bridal present.
Among other curious incidents which are recorded in connection with this wedding, there is an account of Margaret's receiving, as a present on the occasion—for a pet, as it were, just as at the present day a young bride might receive a gift of a spaniel or a canary-bird—a lion. It was very common in those times for the wealthy nobles to keep such animals as these at their castles. They were confined in dens constructed for them near the castle walls. The kings of England, however, kept their lions, when they had any, in the Tower of London, and the practice thus established of keeping wild beasts in the Tower was continued down to a very late period; so that I remember of often reading, when I was a boy, in English story-books, accounts of children, when they went to London, being taken by their parents to see the "lions in the Tower."
The lion sent to the Tower.
Margaret sent her lion to the Tower. In the book of expenses which was kept for this famous bridal progress, there is an account of the sum of money paid to two men for taking care of this lion, feeding him and conveying him to London. The amount was £2 5s. 3d., which is equal to about ten or twelve dollars of our money. This seems very little for such a service, but it must be remembered that the value of money was much greater in those times than it is now.
Margaret continues her journey toward London.
Rejoicings.