Page:The Queens of England.djvu/166

ANNE OF BOHEMIA, FIRST QUEEN OF RICHARD THE SECOND. Anne of Bohemia was the daughter of the Emperor Charles the Fourth, and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Bolislas, duke of Pomerania, and was born at Prague in the year 1367. She was also sister to Sigismund, afterwards Emperor of Ger- many. Previous to her having been demanded in marriage during the minority of Richard, other alliances had been pro- posed and contemplated for the youthful monarch ; Katherine, daughter of the late Emperor Louis, and Katherine, daughter of the Duke of Milan, were the princesses in question. It seems, however, that the personal merits of Anne were con- sidered to outweigh all the advantages of these ladies ; for we are told by Speed that "King Richard tooke to wife the Lady Anne, daughter to the Emperour Charles the Fourth, and sister to Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, called the Emperour, which lady, by the Duke of Tassill, was, in the name of her said father, formerly promised and assured unto him, as one whom the king did specially affect, though the daughter of Barnabus, duke of Millaine, was also offered, with a farre greater summe of gold" (1382). Indeed, so little was the king's pecuniary interest allowed to interfere in the match, that Carte informs us, that so far from Anne's bringing him a dowry, "a loan was made to Wenceslaus of 18,000 marks, a moiety whereof was to be remitted upon the delivery of his sister at Calais, according to the conventions." Sir Simon Burley, warden of the Cinque Ports, and constable of Dover — who is described as "one of the finest gentlemen in England, a man of excellent parts, great sweetness of temper, politeness and affability" — was intrusted to complete the treaty, and to conduct the Princess Anne to England ; where, after innumerable delays, difficulties, and dangers — owing partly to some French vessels which were cruising about between Hol- 140