Page:The Queens of England.djvu/110

92 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. his son's right, Henry had Edmund attired in regal robes, and, presenting him to them, appealed to their feelings in his behalf. But this effort to excite their sympathies was unsuccessful, and Henry was compelled to seek from the relatives of his queen the assistance denied him at home. While the misunderstand- ing of the sovereigns with their subjects daily increased, each endeavoring to circumscribe the power of the other, the Duke of Bretagne arrived in England to claim the hand of the Princess Beatrice, and the nuptials were celebrated with great magnificence. The Earl of Leicester was at this period wielding the power the possession of which Henry so much envied him ; and it was a bitter humiliation to the king to feel that to this all- powerful enemy, whom he feared no less than he hated, he owed the money required to keep up the regal state for the nuptials. Henry and Eleanor now began to dread the result of their impolitic measures ; and, to secure themselves against the vengeance they anticipated, betook themselves to Windsor Castle and the Tower, both of which were more strongly forti- fied to resist the rebellious subjects whose outbreak was ex- pected. The death of the queen's sister, Sancha, Queen of the Romans, in 1261, fell heavily on the heart of Eleanor, who was deeply attached to her, and this event, occurring when affairs in England wore so threatening an aspect, greatly added to the gloom of the queen. The royal pair gained a short respite from the fears that harassed them, through the absence of the Earl of Leicester from their kingdom ; but his return the following year renewed their alarm, and was quickly followed by his urging the barons to confirm the Oxford statutes, which he had violated. On Prince Edward's return to England he committed one of those acts which have unfortunately cast an indelible stain on a character that had so many brilliant and noble qualities. The little importance attached to high principles of morality and probity in that age, of which so many examples were fur- nished him, cannot plead his justification for an action so inconsistent with common honesty as to merit the severest reprobation. Being aware that the queen, while suffering under some of those pecuniary difficulties which but too often were the result of her own and the king's extravagance, had placed her jewels, as security for a considerable sum of money, in the Bank of the Knights Templar, in which many persons