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88 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. little valued that those on whom it was conferred were not found willing to repay it by gifts expected by the sovereigns, in proof of loyalty to their persons. The celebration of the nuptials of Margaret, the eldest daugh- ter of the king and queen, with Alexander the Third, King of Scotland, was the sole gratifying event that interrupted the chain of distressing ones which marked the year 1251. This ceremony took place at York ; and the archbishop of that see, with a generosity then become rare, offered to defray all the expenses of the feasts to be given on the occasion — an offer peculiarly acceptable to Henry and Eleanor, and attended with great cost to the archbishop. The gorgeousness of the dresses worn at this ceremony is handed down to posterity by several are said to have displayed not only extreme richness, but a fine taste for picturesque effect. It was soon after the celebration of these nuptials that the return of Simon de Montfort from Gascony, where he had been some years governor, embittered the life of Henry, by the insolence and violence with which he presumed to treat him. Henry was compelled to recall Simon from Gascony, and to place his son and heir, Edward, only fourteen years of age, there in his stead. He soon, however, learned that the Gascons had formed the project to deliver Guienne to the King of Castile, — a project, which, during the presence of Leicester, they dreaded to attempt, but which they now openly avowed ; and the king determined to proceed to Guienne, to defeat their schemes. The queen was appointed regent, in conjunction with her brother-in-law, the Earl of Cornwall ; and Henry and his train, including nearly all his barons, left England in August, for Bourdeaux, where he placed himself at the head of the army. Henry was blamed for vesting such power in the hands of the queen, whose unpopularity in his kingdom was so well known, that it was to be feared she might be tempted to make reprisals on those who had offended her. But, even had she not been appointed to the regency, and had the sole power been vested in Richard, Earl of Cornwall, so great was the influence of Eleanor over his sister Sancha, who ruled her husband almost, if not quite, as much as the queen did Henry, that the wishes of Eleanor would, in all probability, have been carried into effect as implicitly as if the whole power had been vested in her. Of all the policy of Eleanor, the having accom- plished the marriage between her sister and the brother of the