Page:The Queens of England.djvu/109

ELEANOR OF PROVENCE. 91 embark in this new folly, intelligence reached him that the King and Queen of Scotland were held in durance by John Baliol, and the Comyns, regents during the minority of Alex- ander. This news was the more alarming from the circum- stance that these persons were the next heirs to the crown, and filled the breast of Eleanor, always a most tender mother, with such terrors for the safety of her daughter, that a long and severe illness was the consequence. Instead, therefore, of turning the British arms against those who disputed Prince Edmund's title to the sovereignty of Sicily, Henry, urged by his queen, undertook a campaign against the oppressors of the youthful Scottish monarchs ; but, before he could reach Scot- land, the Earl of Gloucester had, in disguise, gained access to the castle, and had admitted his adherents, who restored the king and queen to liberty, after having suffered great hardships and indignities. They shortly afterward proceeded to Wark Castle, to join the queen, then confined there by indisposition, and remained with her until her recovery enabled her to go to Woodstock, whither they accompanied her. Splendid were the festivities that followed the arrival of the royal party at Woodstock, which were soon after joined by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, lately elevated to sovereignty in the room of the late Emperor of Germany, and who had taken the title of King of the Romans. These festivities, attended with such heavy expense, were shortly followed by a famine, to which the people were less disposed to submit patiently, from its being generally believed to have originated in the vast sum drawn from England by the King of the Romans — a sum said to amount to seven hundred thousand pounds. And, as if this famine were not a sufficient calamity for the people, the queen again claimed from the city her queen-gold — a claim always unpopular, but at this crisis of distress peculiarly so. Henry took an active part in extorting this demand, which greatly increased the dislike entertained by his subjects to him and the queen. The death of the youthful Princess Catherine occasioned great sorrow to Eleanor and Henry, both of whom were fondly attached to their offspring, and for some time diverted their attention from pursuing the claims of Prince Edmund to the Sicilian throne. But when their regret had a little subsided, they again turned their views to this point ; and, in order to bring over his refractory barons to grant money to establish