Page:The Queens of England.djvu/107

ELEANOlTOF PROVENCE. 89 king was the most successful in its results ; for by it she not only disarmed the opposition more than once exhibited by the Earl of Cornwall against her influence over the king, and especially in the overweening favors lavished on her own family, .but drew him wholly to her side, by thus connecting him so closely with that very family. Hence, although the king expected that Eleanor would be guided by the advice of her co-regent, he knew that she had nothing to fear from the sister of her husband ; and, when recovered from her confine- ment of a daughter, the Princess Catherine, — which event took place in November, — she assumed the reins of government, fully determined to exercise only her own sovereign will. One of the earliest proofs of her despotism was given by demanding of the citizens of London a considerable sum of money, on the plea that it was due to her as the fines on the renewals of leases of the crown lands, it being customary to pay the queens of England a certain voluntary fine on such occasions. But the money now demanded was on heavy fines unjustifiably exacted from the citizens by the king on various pretexts ; consequently, this new act of injustice and oppres- sion on the part of the queen not only enraged those against whom it was directed, but forcibly reminded them of the former extortion of the king. Eleanor, angered. at the resis- tance offered to her unjust demand, commanded the imprison- ment of the sheriffs of London, — a proceeding that drew on her general indignation. In 1255, the queen, by decree of the king, summoned a parliament to grant supplies to meet the war in Guienne ; but, disappointed in this attempt, she remitted from her owns funds a considerable sum to Henry, who instructed his representa- tives at home to levy contributions on the Jews, whom he never spared when in need of money. With the gold thus extorted, Henry was now joined by the queen, who, having committed the' regency to the Earl of Cornwall, set out for Bourdeaux with her sister Sancha, escorted by a vast train of lords and ladies, and commenced a system of reckless extravagance and light pleasures that bade fair soon to con- sume it. The marriage of Prince Edward with Eleanor of Castile had lately been arranged, and it was decided that the queen was to accompany the prince, her son, to his nuptials. It was an extraordinary coincidence that Edward should marry the