January 1287 was spent in and around Bordeaux, in particular at Blanquefort, slightly north-west of Bordeaux, where there appears to have been a congenial residence, at some point conveyed to Eleanor, to which the party were to return repeatedly. In February, there was a trip beginning along the left bank and progressing to the mouth of the great river at Soulac opposite Royan. As with the similar Llŷn peninsular trip in Wales, offerings were made at the great altar of the Virgin Mary. This trip, or part of it, apparently involved hunting rather unusual prey: wolves. Although Eleanor’s presence at the wolf hunt is not specifically mentioned, she was obviously part of the group involved in this tour, and, particularly given her own fondness for hunting, it is likely that she participated.
At around this time, there are reports in the English chronicles that Edward fell seriously ill but was restored by the good offices of his physicians; however, the absence of matching references in the household books and the existence of the February tour tend to contradict this story.
The first part of March was spent in Bordeaux, followed by another mini-tour, with a river trip from Barsac to Langon, before heading inland to Bazas (where the king and queen made donations at the great altar) and Uzeste, after which they returned to Bordeaux. April and May then appear to have been spent in or around Bordeaux, again with a good deal of time spent at Blanquefort. The king and queen are spotted in the wardrobe accounts passing a place called Lesparre on their return from an excursion, giving gifts to people of the village for losses which they had sustained through the passage of the court through their lands.17
In spring (reportedly on Easter Sunday, 6 April), there was another piece of high drama. Edward was standing with some others in a solar at the top of a tower when the floor beneath them suddenly gave way, and they fell a distance somewhat improbably described as being eighty feet. Three knights were killed and Edward was recovered, with a broken collarbone, from beneath a Gascon knight.
It seems likely that the three dramatic incidents so far described for this year (Paris lightning, Edward’s illness at Blanquefort and the collapsing building) are accounts of two incidents, not three, with the illness being a misreporting of some indisposition following the Easter fall. Indeed, it would actually be tempting to say that only one could be true and that either this fall or the earlier Paris lightning strike is accurate, but not both; two such dramatic incidents in under a year would seem like outrageous bad luck. However, the Trivet account should probably be believed, since Trivet wrote for Mary and he is likely to have had accounts of dramatic incidents at least in the direct family oral tradition.
As for the collapse, the records of the household certainly lend credence to something dramatic happening, albeit a little earlier than Easter – they show Eleanor paying John de Montfort’s sick bill at Bordeaux in April, and making offerings for the funeral of Morris ap David of Wales at Bordeaux in March 1287. There is no record, however, of Edward’s illness at this time, and it seems permissible to infer a much smaller fall, with fairly minor cuts and bruises to Edward. All the same, this incident must have added to the sense of high drama, and perhaps misfortune, that was gathering about the party involved in this expedition.18
The next phase of the diplomatic circus began in early April, showing that throughout this hiatus period the diplomatic process had been moving on. Ambassadors arrived from Aragon in a delegation of over eighty men. Progress was made, and in May the embassy departed with John de Vescy to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Alphonso. At around the same time, news arrived that financial terms had been reached with Pope Honorius for Edward’s Crusade; and thus on 12 May, either at Bordeaux or Blanquefort, he and his companions made crusading vows to the Archbishop of Ravenna.19
At about this time, in accordance with papal views or with a view to assisting directly in the financing of the Crusade, Edward ordered the arrest of the Jews in England, who were later released on payment of a fine of 20,000 marks. Also at this time, and probably with similar motives, Edward ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Gascony and the seizure of their assets by the Crown. The crackdown on the Jews by Edward, of which this really marks the beginning, has attracted to him considerable odium. It should be noted, however, that neither the expulsion or the arrest was a unique occurrence; as well as the expulsion by Eleanor of Provence from her dower lands, Jews in France were coming under increasing pressure owing to papal influence, with expulsions from Poitou and Moissac in 1249 and 1271 and from Maine and Anjou within a short space of time. Even Alfonso X had arrested his Jewish population while under financial pressure in the political upheavals towards the end of his life. Given her own approach in business and the trend even in Castile, it seems likely that so long as the financial case pointed to the expediency of the new approach, Eleanor was untroubled by its implementation.20
For a few weeks, the party was doubtless exalted by the favourable crusading prospect which had opened. But almost at once it transpired that Pope Honorius had died before the oath was taken, and an agreement would have to be made with the new Pope – once he was eventually chosen.
Alongside the diplomatic circus and the crusading preparations, Eleanor was still maintaining her business interests. In May, she plainly had an emissary from her office at home, as on 17 May she acquired a fairly extensive package of properties in Devon, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Wiltshire. A few further properties in Buckinghamshire and Macclesfield were then added early in June, presumably before the return of the same emissary to England.
Yet still there was time for more personal issues. Poignantly, on 29 May 1287 we find Eleanor observing the anniversary of the death of her first daughter in the church of the Friars Preachers – and thereby providing the one record of that child’s existence. This event provides a suitable point for asking whether Eleanor had any further pregnancies during the Gascon trip. Her age certainly doesn’t make it impossible, and the fact that she had borne young Edward so recently might seem to suggest that more children might yet be expected. But the household records seem to negate such speculation. There are records of other childbeds being paid for by Eleanor; three members of her household gave birth during the final year of the trip. But no such records exist for Eleanor. It seems likely that Eleanor’s increasingly frail health either precluded conception or had tipped her into the menopause. It is unlikely that the end of her childbearing years, after the bearing of some sixteen children and the loss of ten of them, was any great grief to Eleanor; there is a strong sense that (save as to the conception) this was the least congenial of her roles as queen. However, both she and Edward will have been concerned that the result was to leave the throne dependent on the health of the worryingly young Edward junior.21
While the major preoccupation for the Gascon stay was the question of Aragon, genuine Gascon issues of moment also demanded attention. One major topic was the charge of misconduct which was brought against Jean de Grailly, Edward’s long-time trusted associate and co-campaigner in the Crusade of the 1270s, as seneschal of Gascony. A full commission, featuring the Bishop of Norwich, John de Vescy, Otho de Grandison and Robert Burnell, inquired minutely into the charges in late spring and early summer of 1287, and found them proved. De Grailly was ordered to make full restitution and to lose all his lands in Gascony.
Eleanor and Edward, though doubtless kept up to date by regular bulletins, were not present for this inquiry. They spent the early part of June at Blanquefort before moving towards Bayonne and then inland to Lucq de Béarn in the Pyrenees in early July.
During this period, Eleanor’s ill health reappeared – there are again records of medicines for her being purchased in June and July 1287 – and, unusually, it appears that Edward was also ill in June, since electuaries and syrups were said to be for both king and queen. While it is tempting to translate the mention of syrups into modern terms and hypothesise a summer cold or flu, this is not a safe assumption. Syrups were the means of delivering any number of unpalatable medicines, j
ust as they are now for children. Eleanor’s illness appears to have been more serious and worrying, for in late June payments were made for two boys to hold vigil around mensura candles for the queen at the chapel of St Thomas in Bordeaux. It was therefore perhaps to tempt the elusive appetite of the invalid that one of her staff purchased a number of damson plums for her at this time.22
Meanwhile, the negotiations for a French–Aragonese peace were progressing, the chief sticking point being the release of Charles of Salerno. Following the return of John de Vescy in early June, preparations began to be made for a meeting at Oloron-Sainte-Marie in Béarn in July. The records of the household contain endless small details of the planning which went into the meeting – the transporting of furniture, the guiding of the royal party, the provision of supplies and so forth. Amusingly, and consistent with practice elsewhere, this involved a degree of planning for Eleanor’s gardening interests; in readiness for her arrival, work was proceeding in June on a herbarium for her garden at Mauléon. This garden was presumably sited at the strong fortress which gives its name to the town, strategically placed on the road to Spain and dominating the valley of Soule, which Edward had bought from a reluctant Viscount of Soule back in 1261.
The meeting commenced in the middle of the month. Alphonso of Aragon and his party were given the local monastery for their lodging, while the English royal party roughed it in such other lodgings as the little town afforded. Ten days were spent in lavish hospitality – feasting, dancing and jousting all played a part, with gardens and vineyards being levelled for the games and melees. Edward even sourced a lion from somewhere (for what purpose history does not relate), and it escaped and killed a horse. Meanwhile, two of Alphonso’s Saracen followers ran away.
To some extent, all this sweetening of the Aragonese paid off: on 25 July a treaty was signed which gave a three-year truce and provided for the release of Charles and his procuring of the recognition of Alphonso as King of Aragon by the King of France and the Pope. Despite the marriage link, and all Edward and Eleanor’s work, there was little romance in Alphonso’s approach. It can be seen from the terms of the treaty that he was playing rough about the return of Charles; the terms demanded the surrender, before his release, of two of Charles’ sons (Louis, the future saint and Bishop of Toulouse, and Robert, the future King of Naples), the additional surrender of his eldest son, Charles Martel, within ten months, with the fifth son, Raymond Berengar, standing hostage for his brother in the interim. Provence was pledged against the securing of the necessary recognitions. Nor was this all. There were to be hostages in the form of sixty firstborn sons of the nobility of Provence. Charles was also to deposit securities to the value of 50,000 marks, of which 30,000 was to be in cash and the remainder provided by Edward. The marriage did creep into the terms: Edward was also to seek the consent of the next Pope to Eleonora’s marriage to Alphonso, and the terms of the marriage contract were finally drawn up.23
The strength of Edward’s desire to see the marriage brought about can be gauged by his agreement to these terms, in particular the hard-cash element, when he was himself as pressed for money as ever; mere fondness for Charles of Salerno is unlikely to have prompted Edward to such generosity. Quite why the treaty did not bear fruit is unclear; a number of reasons seem to have been in play, including Charles’ difficulties in finding the requisite cash, Philip of France’s vehement opposition to the pledge of Provence, and the eventual papal opposition once the new Pope Nicholas was installed in February of the next year. But as a result, in late 1287 or early 1288, the English mediators were back somewhere very close to square one.
Of course, this was all in the future when, in the wake of the treaty, the royal party left Oloron on 5 August. They then stayed at Mauléon (complete with herbarium) until 19 August. Local records suggest that this was a visit of considerable size and moment, marking the agreement of Eleanora’s dowry, with carpenters and masons preceding the party by some weeks and making considerable improvements, before the royal suite, and finally the royal party themselves, arrived. During the stay there were a number of festivities – jousts, tourneys and banquets, plus a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Engrace. Gifts were given by Alphonso, including two superb Arab stallions for Edward; one may perhaps doubt whether Eleanor, that keen connoisseur of horseflesh, was overjoyed with her present – a mule.24
After the festivities were over, the party moved on to Sauveterre-de-Béarn and Dax in September, before visiting the Abbey of Saint-Sever for October. From here Eleanor despatched her knight Richard de Bures on her behalf to visit the shrine of Santiago de Compostela. It may well be supposed that he was charged to ask for the saint’s intercession both in the matter of Eleanor’s health and the continuing political crisis. Meanwhile, they king and queen continued to conduct the business of Gascony, receiving petitioners and issuing charters from the abbey.
A meeting of this sort, which probably was of little moment to Eleanor or Edward at the time, but which casts an interesting shadow over the future, also took place on 27 October; they received one Arnald de Gaveston, who had served Edward in the Welsh wars and was now seeking to establish his claims to his late wife’s lands. The records do not say whether Arnald brought his son Piers, a boy of about the same age as young Edward of Caernarfon, to be presented to the king and queen. However, the close contact which Edward and Eleanor had with Arnald will have paved the way for this ill-fated addition to their son’s household in due course.
In late 1287 Eleanor’s health seems to have been more robust, since in November a further tour was made in the direction of Pau before returning to Uzeste and then to Blanquefort in December. It was in December, however, that signs re-appear of Eleanor’s illness; she is then described as suffering from a ‘double quartan fever’. This is a fever pattern where two days of fever symptoms are followed by one day of remission, in contrast to a traditional quartan fever, which would give a single day of fever with two days of remission, the fever recurring on the fourth day. Parsons suggests that this was probably malaria, which was not uncommon in France in the period, but in the light of the time of year and previous illnesses, this is by no means certain.25
Despite her distance from home and her ill health over winter, Eleanor was again reviewing her properties in England. In January she acquired a package of farmland in Norfolk. Sometime later in the year this was supplemented with the substantial acquisition of the Walerand lands, useful holdings over five counties for which she had already acquired complementary properties. And she had also, in November of the previous year, effectively enforced her claim against Hugh Despenser, taking his property at Bollington near Macclesfield.26
In spring 1288, with little to do while negotiations still dragged on, one can find what may be one of the most sentimental gestures which remain in the records of Edward and Eleanor’s time together: according to most scholars, during this period Edward built Eleanor a bastide. The evidence for this is that in the early part of the year messages cease to be directed from Bordeaux and start to be directed ‘Burgum Reginae’ (in French Bourg La Reine); and there are certain entries in the household accounts which refer to the queen’s bastide of Burgus Reginae. The problem is that no one knows where this is. Various suggestions have been dismissed. Trabut-Cussac’s suggestion is that it probably denotes the hamlet known as La Bastide, in the commune of Labarde on the west bank, directly opposite the junction of the Garonne and the Dordogne. Yet there is no real material in its favour: nothing remains on this site to show whether a town ever lay here, and analysis of aerial photos and historical maps has proved completely undemonstrative. Generally, scholars have adopted his suggestion in default of a better one, since there is no lack of ‘disappeared’ bastides – Robert Burnell’s ‘Baa’, for example.
It is, however, possible that there was no new bastide at all, and that this was a joke. There are three factors which suggest this as a possibility. The first is that there is no practically record of work on Burgus Regi
nae before the court is apparently settled there and doing business. The first mention of the town in despatches comes in March 1288; the first records of expenditure on building are only in January of the same year. It is hard to believe that even Edward and Eleanor, with a tolerance for building sites unusual in royalty, could have set their court down, practically in a field, and operated from there for months at a time, with the first building works going on around them. This is still more so in that Eleanor’s health was, as we have seen, not as robust as it once had been, and there were plenty of more comfortable places within easy travelling distance of the speculative site of the town where the court could have based itself.
The second is the relative paucity of builders’ bills for the town. If Edward was building a town from scratch, one would expect many references to expenditure within the household records – or even an assigned roll, as there was for some of the work in Wales. However, there are relatively few references to works at Burgus Reginae – and there is relatively little money heading in that direction. Indeed – and this is significant – there are about four or five times as many records of work at Bonnegarde en Chalosse, a town founded remotely by Edward in 1283 and on which further work was commenced in the period of the royal stay of 1286–9.
The third is a potential alternative location for Edward and Eleanor’s stay: the town of Bourg-sur-Gironde or Bourg-sur-Mer, a strategic and ancient town fifteen miles north-east of Bordeaux, near the point of land formed by the junction with the River Garonne, possessed of a tidal harbour and the recent recipient of works on its fortifications which involved a bastide-like closing of the walls. This town’s name would readily lend itself to the joke of Burgus Reginae (literally translated ‘the town of the queen’), a reflection of the court’s favourite spring venue in England of Quenington – now being missed for the second year in a row.
Eleanor of Castile: The Shadow Queen Page 47
