10
Far from now representing the most ill-famed of English queens, Eleanor of Provence and her daughter-in-law, Eleanor of Castile, are remembered favourably, the latter having often been presented as the model of a good queen since the late medieval period. However this has not always been the case. Their unpopularity did not surpass that of women such as Isabella of Angouleme and Isabella of France, but during their lifetimes in England they were two of the most scorned English medieval queens. Eleanor of Provence was physically attacked by a London mob and Eleanor of Castile was the subject of much grumbling from the population throughout her reign. The ostracisation of both women derived from ideas of their foreign birth, together with the immigrants that their presence attracted to England. Eleanor of Provence was remembered for the many penniless relatives who joined her in England and whom she attempted to advance through patronage; nor was nepotism an alien concept for Eleanor of Castile. Both are also portrayed in sources as insatiably greedy, stripping the country of resources for their own profit. Although two very different women, their stories and the problems they encountered establishing themselves in a foreign country run parallel. With the loss of the Angevin Empire, England had become more insular with more strongly defined ideas of what constituted a ‘foreigner’. As natives of France and Spain respectively, both Eleanors were considered foreign in England and they experienced all the suspicion and disapproval this brought.
Eleanor of Provence was the second of four daughters born to Count Raymond Berengar of Provence and his wife, Beatrice of Savoy.1 The four sisters were all legendary beauties and this attracted high-ranking suitors, ensuring that all four became queens. Eleanor’s elder sister, Margaret, married Louis IX of France when Eleanor was still young and this marriage served to increase Eleanor’s own value on the marriage market. Although nothing survives of Eleanor’s early life, legend suggests that she attempted to take her future into her own hands. According to one account, Eleanor composed a romantic poem about a legendary Cornish hero which she sent to Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the brother of Henry III of England.2 If Eleanor did indeed write this poem her intention may have been to bring herself to the attention of one of the most powerful men in Europe and, if this was the case, it succeeded. The story continues: Richard was impressed by the poem and, knowing that his elder brother had been unsuccessful in finding his own bride, suggested that he marry the beautiful Eleanor. The idea appealed to Henry and he was so impressed with reports of Eleanor’s beauty and character that he privately instructed his envoys to negotiate a marriage contract even if she brought no dowry.3
Eleanor was approximately thirteen at the time of her marriage and must have been apprehensive when she landed at Dover in January 1236.4 Her family was unusually close and she must have missed her parents and sisters. She may have had some consolation from the fact that her uncle, William of Savoy, accompanied her to England and she quickly tried to show her gratitude towards him. Perhaps at Eleanor’s request, William became one of Henry’s chief counsellors and Henry also attempted to make him Bishop of Winchester.5 For Eleanor, it must have seemed only natural to attempt to advance her relatives in her new home. However, almost from the outset there appear to have been hostile undercurrents about Eleanor’s foreign birth and the strangers she brought with her. Eleanor, however, would not have been aware of this on her arrival in 1236 and she must have been anxious to meet her new husband. Henry was over twice Eleanor’s age but made an effort to ensure that his young wife was comfortable and happy. The pair quickly became close. Eleanor must certainly have been hopeful for the future when she and Henry were married at Canterbury on 14 January 1236.6 Eleanor was crowned soon afterwards in Westminster Abbey, appearing richly adorned in the jewels that Henry had given to her.7
Eleanor and Henry quickly settled into married life and, throughout their lives, they were renowned for their exceptionally happy marriage. In spite of her youth, however, Eleanor quickly came under pressure to produce an heir and there were rumours across the country that she was infertile.8 Such accusations cannot have been easy for the young Eleanor to deal with and it is likely that she came to look more and more to her husband and relations for support. She must have been relieved when, in June 1239, she gave birth to a healthy son who was baptised Edward after Henry’s favourite saint, Edward the Confessor.9 Eleanor must have felt vindicated and the following year she also gave birth to a healthy daughter, named Margaret after Eleanor’s older sister, the Queen of France. These births were followed in quick succession by two further healthy children, Beatrice and Edmund.
As well as being renowned for their happy marriage, Eleanor and Henry are also remembered as being loving parents to their children. Eleanor had enjoyed a close and loving family life in childhood and she took steps to replicate this for her own children. Edward, Eleanor’s eldest son, remained devoted to his mother throughout his lifetime and Eleanor also retained a close relationship with her daughters even after their marriages. In 1253, for example, Henry wrote to Alexander of Scotland, the husband of their daughter Margaret, asking him to send Margaret south whilst both he and Alexander were absent abroad so that she could visit her mother.10 Eleanor must have been greatly grieved when this request was refused. She and Henry were also distraught when their youngest child, Catherine, was born with a disability in 1253. The extent of Catherine’s disability is not clear but both her parents gave generous gifts to the church to pray for her health.11 They also provided their daughter with a fine memorial when she died before her fourth birthday. The illness and death of her youngest child must have had a profound effect on a woman as devoted to her family as Eleanor and it may have made her more determined than ever to promote the welfare of her remaining children, at whatever cost.
Certainly, Eleanor’s actions towards her children did, on occasion, damage her reputation still further in England. In 1255, for example, when Henry and Eleanor received news that their daughter, Margaret, was being badly treated in Scotland, the couple immediately dropped everything and set off for Scotland at the head of an army.12 They then brought the Queen of Scotland to England whilst they negotiated for her better treatment. This action demonstrates Eleanor’s devotion as a mother and was entirely understandable, but it was also rash. This is also shown in the ‘Sicilian Business’, a scheme in which Eleanor became involved in 1254.13 During that year the Pope contacted Eleanor and Henry offering the crown of Sicily to their younger son, Edmund, if they would only conquer the island for him. The prospect of a crown for her son was too much for Eleanor to resist and she was a major driving force behind the scheme, ensuring that Edmund was officially invested as King of Sicily at Westminster Abbey in October 1255.14 However not everyone in England was as convinced as Eleanor by the merits of this expensive scheme. Nonetheless she could not have acted without Henry’s support and should not be held wholly responsible for the scheme. It must have been a great disappointment when in November 1255, her uncle, Thomas of Savoy, acting as her envoy in the matter was captured and imprisoned in Turin. Eleanor immediately set about raising the ransom, but the setback signalled the end of the Sicilian Business.
The Sicilian Business damaged Eleanor’s reputation but, by the mid-1250s, she was already deeply unpopular. Throughout her lifetime, Eleanor showed herself anxious to advance her relatives and this was noted and commented on from early in her marriage. Eleanor was particularly close to her mother’s family, the Savoyards, and on her marriage they flocked to England. Over 170 Savoyards are known to have visited England during Eleanor’s marriage and at least 70 settled, making them a powerful group amongst the higher ranks of society in England.15 Eleanor encouraged Henry to patronise her relatives and he appears to have been willing to do so. In 1243 Eleanor’s mother, Beatrice of Savoy visited and she was rewarded with a generous pension by her son-in-law.16Eleanor’s uncles, Amadeus of Savoy and Thomas of Savoy were also granted pensions by Henry in the 1240s; in 1244 another uncle, Boniface of Savoy, was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury.17 These grants sparked jealousy amongst the English nobility and the honours were not merely limited to a financial nature. Eleanor’s most able uncle, Peter of Savoy, became one of Henry’s most trusted advisors and he was also given rich grants of land. Eleanor encouraged the English nobility to arrange marriages with the Savoyards, perhaps playing a part in the marriage of her younger sister, Sanchia, to Henry’s brother, Richard of Cornwall.18 On a personal level, this marriage brought Eleanor’s much loved sister into her daily life however it also caused discontent amongst the English nobility, which she does not appear to have noticed.
The growing Savoyard community in England congregated around Eleanor and she considered herself the leader of the Savoyard faction at court. She would have been perturbed when, in 1247, Henry’s four Lusignan half-brothers and a half-sister arrived in England, seeking their brother’s protection and patronage.19 Henry openly welcomed his mother’s children and quickly set about showering them with patronage as he had previously done with Eleanor’s family. One half-brother, William of Valance, was permitted to marry the heiress of the Earl of Pembroke and another, Aymer de Lusignan, became Bishop of Winchester. Alice de Lusignan was also married to the heir to the Earl of Surrey, further strengthening the Lusignans’ position in England. Neither Eleanor nor her closest ally, Peter of Savoy, welcomed these newcomers and the court divided into Lusignan and Savoyard factions. Both sides resorted to dirty tricks to rid themselves of their rivals and it is possible that the Lusignans stirred up trouble in Eleanor’s close marriage. According to Eleanor’s contemporary, Matthew Paris, when the Lusignans were exiled from England in 1258, they asked the King of France for permission to enter his kingdom:
But the King of France refused, being exasperated by a complaint made against these Poitevins [the Lusignans] by the Queen of France to the effect that they had shamefully scandalised and defamed her sister, the Queen of England.20
This was probably Eleanor’s revenge on the Lusignans but it is likely that their defamation caused Eleanor’s reputation further damage.
Eleanor’s interest in the Savoyard faction and her opposition to the Lusignans gave her a political position at court and she retained an interest in politics throughout her lifetime. In 1253, Henry left England in order to command a military expedition to Gascony and, a complement to his wife’s abilities, left her as co-regent of England with his brother, Richard of Cornwall.21 Eleanor threw herself into this role enthusiastically, raising troops in England to join Henry in his campaign against the King of Castile’s invasion of Gascony. Perhaps eager to aid Henry’s campaign on the continent, Eleanor also began to strictly enforce tax on cargoes loading and unloading at Queenhithe in England and to insist upon her right to Queen’s gold payments from fines owed to the crown.22These extra payments would have bolstered Henry’s finances in his campaign but they also increased the hostility of the Londoners towards the queen, a hostility that Eleanor would later come to experience more directly. In any event, Eleanor’s rule as regent was not destined to last long and, in April 1254, she set out from England with her eldest son Edward to play her part in the peace Henry had negotiated for Gascony, exchanging war for a marriage.
The crisis in Gascony had arisen when Alfonso X, King of Castile, claimed the territory by virtue of his descent from Eleanor of Aquitaine, through her daughter, Eleanor.23 Castile’s claim to the province had been intermittently raised for half a century by the 1250s but, in late 1252, Alfonso renewed his claim, invading the province. Henry III was not a warlike king and, although he travelled to Gascony to conduct a campaign, on 15 May 1253, he instructed his ambassadors to try to arrange a marriage with Castile in order to avoid hostilities.24 After long negotiations, it was decided that Henry’s eldest son, Edward, would marry Alfonso’s twelve-year-old half-sister, Eleanor. Eleanor of Castile must have waited with apprehension for the arrival of Edward and his mother but, unlike many other medieval princesses, she was apparently lucky in the husband chosen for her and the couple quickly became close, marrying at Burgos in Castile on 1 November 1254.25
Soon after the wedding, Eleanor of Castile and Edward returned to Gascony where they spent a year getting to know each other and adapting to married life.26 It is possible that Eleanor of Castile perceived her mother-in-law’s poor reputation and she may have deliberately limited the number of Castilians who accompanied her to England in October 1255. Nevertheless her arrival did stir up another wave of xenophobia in England. Henry III, eager for his young daughter-in-law to be comfortable, had taken advice from Eleanor’s half-brother, Sancho of Castile, to furnish her apartments in Castilian fashion.27 Eleanor was probably grateful for the carpeted rooms she received from Henry III but even this gesture stirred up trouble with fear that Eleanor’s arrival would be accompanied by an influx of foreigners as her mother-in-law’s had done. In reality her foreign birth was damning and it seems likely that any action carried out by Eleanor would have been wrong in the eyes of the English.
Eleanor of Castile appears rarely in sources between 1250 and 1260 and she may have spent much of this time growing up, learning the customs of her adopted country. She may have had some influence over Edward, and it is possible that she approved when, in 1258, he finally broke away from his mother’s Savoyard faction and began allying himself with the Lusignans.28 This was a deliberate act of rebellion against his controlling parents and Eleanor of Provence must have been deeply worried by her son’s actions. Her distress would have increased when, in October 1259, Edward announced that he was now allying himself with his uncle, Simon de Montford, the leader of the barons who entered into rebellion against Henry III’s rule in 1258.
Henry, like his father, King John, had had trouble with the barons for much of his reign. This hostility erupted dramatically in 1258, perhaps catching both Henry III and Eleanor of Provence by surprise. In two parliaments of that year, Henry was forced to agree to the demands of the barons, as his father had done, and to exile his half-brothers, the Lusignans.29 Eleanor of Provence must have been relieved to see the back of the hated Lusignans but that would have been a small consolation. Eleanor herself was also seen as an enemy by the barons and her lands and castles were seized.30 Eleanor and Henry deeply resented the dominance of the barons but there was little they could do. In 1260, Simon de Montford was in a strong enough position to have Peter of Savoy removed from the royal council, something which must have been deeply worrying for Eleanor. One consolation must have been Edward’s return to his parents’ cause but, even with his support, Henry and Eleanor were forced to employ foreign mercenaries and, in June 1263, they withdrew to the Tower of London.31
Locked in the Tower of London together, the future must have seemed bleak for Eleanor and Henry and they appear to have quarrelled about the best way to approach the situation. The couple were in a hopeless situation and matters can only have been made worse by the fact that they had no money with them and nobody in London would agree to give them credit.32 Eleanor, who was always active herself, may well have felt frustrated at Henry’s lack of activity and, when word reached her that Edward had taken matters into his own hands and stolen money from the New Temple in London, she apparently decided to abandon her husband and throw in her lot with her son.33 According to the Annals of Dunstable:
The queen left the Tower by the Thames on her way to Windsor by boat and came to London Bridge; when the Londoners assailed her and her men shamefully with foul and base words and even casting stones; so that freed with difficulty by the mayor of London and driven by necessity she went back to the Tower.34
Eleanor must have been horrified by the Londoners’ reaction to her and perhaps this was the first moment in which she truly realised how unpopular she was. No English queen either before or after her was actually attacked by a mob and Eleanor must have emerged dishevelled and bruised from her ordeal. The indignities of the day were not over for Eleanor, however, and, when she arrived back at the Tower she found the gates barred against her on Henry’s orders.35 It must have been a furious and distraught Eleanor who was finally taken to lodge at the Bishop’s palace, although she and Henry appear to have been reconciled soon afterwards.
As in other perilous times, Eleanor immediately turned to her family for help and, in September 1263, her brother-in-law, Louis IX, summoned Henry, Eleanor and their sons, along with Simon de Montford, to present their cases before him in France.36 The barons forced Henry and Eleanor to swear oaths that they would return to England, but Eleanor clearly had no intention of keeping her oath. Henry and Eleanor laid a number of complaints about de Montford before Louis, but there was little he could do. Soon after the meeting, Henry and Edward returned to England but Eleanor and Edmund, in violation of their oaths, refused to return.
Henry and Edward were not idle on their return to England and both set about raising an army in an attempt to defeat the barons.37 On 14 May 1264 a royal army, four times the size of the force commanded by de Montford, met the barons in Battle at Lewes. Both Eleanor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile would have waited anxiously for news of this battle, hoping for word of a royal victory. It was not to be, however, and the Battle of Lewes proved to be a great disaster for Henry III. By the end of the day Henry III, his brother, Richard of Cornwall, and Edward were all prisoners and it was left to Eleanor of Provence alone to continue the struggle against the barons.38 The royal women were clearly considered a potential danger by the barons and this is likely to be due to Eleanor of Provence’s reputation as a formidable woman. They took no chances and Eleanor of Castile was ordered to join Henry III in his imprisonment so that the barons could keep an eye on her.39
The barons were right to be worried about Eleanor of Provence’s activities and, soon after news of the Battle of Lewes reached her, she began collecting troops in order to invade England.40 News of this deeply troubled the barons and the Annals of Dunstabledescribes how ‘the king on their advice had his letters sent to all the shires of England commanding all the adjacent sea coasts of England to be guarded by an ample force of armed men against adversaries coming from foreign parts’.41 News of this probably only spurred Eleanor on and she also persuaded the King and Queen of France to approach the Pope to annul the baron’s actions and to excommunicate them.42
In spite of the difficulties of her position, Eleanor pressed on with gathering her forces and, by autumn 1264, she was based on the Flemish coast with a large army.43 Eleanor was probably confident of victory against the barons and must have imagined that she would land in England in triumph. However, once again, bad luck dogged her and storms kept her trapped on the coast for several months. Eleanor must have watched anxiously as she quickly ran out of money and, with the last of her funds, her army drifted away, leaving her unable to do anything for Henry and Edward except watch, impotently, from France. For a woman as active and resourceful as Eleanor of Provence, this must have been difficult to bear and it would have been with relief, in May 1265, that she finally heard that Edward had escaped his captors and was raising his own force in England.44 On 4 August 1265 Edward and the barons met in battle at Evesham and, during the day, Simon de Montford was killed, crushing the baron’s resistance and restoring Henry III to power.45 Eleanor of Provence landed at Dover on 1 November 1265 to be reunited with her husband and son and to be restored to her position as queen.46
Although glad to return, Eleanor of Provence was never to regain the same influence that she had had before the baron’s revolt. She may, perhaps, have been content with this and to allow her daughter-in-law, Eleanor of Castile, more influence. Certainly, after the birth of her first son, John, in July 1266 and a second son, Henry, in May 1268, Eleanor of Castile’s position in England was secured.47 The births of these sons, as well as a number of daughters, also seems to have united the two Eleanors and both Henry III and Eleanor of Provence were doting grandparents, taking custody of their grandchildren when Edward and Eleanor of Castile decided to go on crusade in 1270.
As the story of Eleanor of Castile’s own ancestress, Eleanor of Aquitaine shows, it was not unheard of for women to accompany their husbands on crusade and Eleanor of Castile was adamant about accompanying Edward. According to legend, when attempts were made to dissuade Eleanor from going, she replied that no one ought to separate husband and wife and that, in any event, Syria was as near to Heaven as England and Spain.48 Whether or not these were Eleanor’s exact words, she probably said something to that effect and Edward and Eleanor of Castile were devoted to each other throughout their marriage. Eleanor certainly suffered emotional and physical hardships whilst in the Holy Land, giving birth to two daughters during the campaign.49
The crusade is notable for a legend that has grown up around Eleanor of Castile. Whilst they were in the Holy Land, Edward was stabbed twice by an assassin with a poisoned dagger before he was able to overpower his assailant and kill him.50 Edward was grievously injured in this attack and, according to some reports, it was Eleanor herself who saved him. Camden wrote:
When her husband was treacherously wounded by a moor with a poyson’d sword, and rather grew worse than receiv’d any ease by what the Physicians apply’d to it, she found out a remedy, as new and unheard of, as full of love and endearment for by reason of the malignity of the poison, her husband’s wounds could not possibly be clos’d: but she lick’d them dayly with her own tongue, and suck’d out the venomous humour, thinking it a most delicious liquor. By the power whereof, or rather by the virtue of a wife’s tenderness, she so drew out the poisonous matter, that he was entirely cur’d of his wound, and she escap’d without catching any harm. What then can be more rare than this woman’s expression of love? Or what can be more admirable? The tongue of a wife, anointed (if I may so say) with duty and love to her husband, draws from her beloved those poisons which could not be drawn by the most approv’d Physician, and what many and most exquisite medicines could not do, is effected purely by the love of a wife.51
The story of Eleanor sucking out the poison from Edward’s wounds is one of the most enduring that surrounds her. However, no version of this story is contemporary with Eleanor. In fact, those contemporary sources which mention the assassination attempt on Edward present a very different picture of a hysterical Eleanor having to be carried from Edward’s tent so that his surgeons could operate. The story of Eleanor sucking the poison from Edward’s wounds fits well with the almost saintly posthumous reputation that has grown up around her. However, the image of a hysterical Eleanor fits more accurately with the reality of her character. It is also entirely understandable and Eleanor, who was completely dependent on Edward and appears to have loved him, must have been terrified.
The assassination attempt in June 1272 marked the end of Edward’s interest in crusading and, as soon as he was well enough, the couple set out to return to England.52 Eleanor was probably relieved. The couple moved in leisurely stages towards England and it was whilst they were staying in Sicily they received the news that their eldest son, John, and Edward’s father, Henry III, had died. Edward apparently took the death of his father much harder than the death of his son although Eleanor’s feelings are not recorded. By 1272, she had already lost several daughters and the death of an infant son that she had not seen for two years may have had little effect on her. Certainly, both Edward and Eleanor seem to have reasoned that they still had one surviving son and that they were also still young. In any event, during the journey back to England, Eleanor bore a third son, Alphonso. Edward and Eleanor finally arrived back in England on 2 August 1274 and were crowned together in Westminster Abbey.53
Eleanor of Provence took the deaths of her grandchildren harder than their parents did. She retained custody of her grandson, Henry, after his parents returned to England and she was with him when he died on 14 October 1274.54 This was in stark contrast to his parents who, although staying in London at the time of their eldest surviving son’s death, did not bother to make the short trip to visit him at Guildford.55 They also did not commission any memorial masses for their next eldest son, Alphonso, when he died in 1284, a very unusual omission for that time.56 Eleanor of Castile spent the majority of her marriage in childbearing and bore around fifteen or sixteen children.57 To modern eyes, at least, neither she nor Edward appear to have been fond parents and they had little involvement in their children’s upbringing, for example, sending their daughter, Joan of Acre, to be raised in Ponthieu by Eleanor’s mother.58 It is true that Edward and Eleanor’s court was extremely mobile, constantly moving around the country. However, Henry III’s court had also been mobile and he and Eleanor of Provence had always shown an interest in their children in a way that Edward I and Eleanor of Castile did not.
The children were, however, a source of common interest between Eleanor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile in a relationship that might otherwise have been tense. After Henry III’s death, Eleanor of Provence still retained a keen interest in politics and it is possible that her influence over Edward irked Eleanor of Castile. Certainly, Eleanor of Provence was unable to let go of her children, even when they were well and truly grown up, as one letter that she wrote to Edward shows:
Know, dear sire, that we are most desirous to have good news of your health and how things have been with you since you left us. We are letting you know that we are in good health, thanks be to God. We have left Gillingham sooner than we expected, because of the noisomeness of the air, and the thick clouds of smoke which rise in the evenings and have come to Marlborough, arriving on the Friday after Michaelmas. Thanks be to God we are in good health, and we greatly desire to know the same of you.59
After the loss of her two daughters in 1275, Eleanor of Provence was probably extremely anxious to know of the health of her surviving children. Her letter, however, shows a single-mindedness and forcefulness that Eleanor of Provence exhibited throughout her life and one that never made her popular. This possessiveness was also exhibited in her relationships with her grandchildren and, in 1285, the two women certainly came into conflict when Eleanor of Provence insisted that her granddaughter, Mary, become a nun at Amesbury, in spite of the protestations of Mary’s mother to the contrary.60 Eleanor of Provence lived at the nunnery of Amesbury for most of the time after 1276 and, in 1287, became a nun herself.61 She probably wanted Mary to keep her company but such a move certainly did not make her popular with her daughter-in-law.
Although Eleanor of Castile’s main activity during her marriage was childbearing, she is also chiefly remembered for her acquisition of land. This began early in her marriage and she was apparently determined to carve out a large landholding in England at whatever cost. Even before she was queen, Eleanor had an excellent grasp of the landholdings in the country and was relentless in pursuing what she believed belonged to her. A letter by Eleanor in 1265 to John of London shows something of this aspect of her character:
Know that our lord the king gave us the other day the manor of Berewic with its appurtenances, at the solicitation of Sir Roger de Leyburn, and because it is appurtenant to the guardianship of Cantilupe, my lord has given it to another, so that nothing of it is remitted to us, but there is another manor close by in the county of Somerset, which is at the town of Heselbere, which belonged to Sir William the Marshal, who is dead and held it of the king in chief. Wherefore we would desire that you should ask of Sir John de Kyrkbi if the guardianship of that manor is granted, and if it is not, them that you should pray Sir Roger de Leyburn and the Bishop of Bath on our behalf that they should procure from our lord the king that he grant us the manor until the coming of age of the heir of Sir William. And, if it is given, there is another manor in the county of Dorset, which is called Gerente, which belonged to Sir William de Keenes, who is dead, and he held it in chief of the king, wherefore we would that if we cannot have the other, you should pray them on our behalf that these should apply to the king to allow us this one; the manor of Heselbere is worth less. And if neither, pray Sir Roger in this way. Tell him that the manor of Berewic that the king gave us at his suggestion has been taken from us, for this will tend to make us seem less covetous; and say the same to the bishop of Bath.62
If Eleanor hoped that she would not be seen as covetous in her acquisition of land, then she did not succeed but quickly gained a reputation across England for greed. One popular rhyme of the period sums up the mood in England at the time, saying ‘the king he wants to get our gold, the queen would like our land to hold’.63 Eleanor disregarded the popular perception of her, neither did she heed Archbishop Pechan of Canterbury when he admonished her for the sin of usury and warned her that Edward’s harsh rule was being blamed by the people squarely on her influence.64 The second charge was not reasonable since Eleanor of Castile never managed to achieve political influence over her husband. However, she was certainly guilty of usury and greed and the details of her land acquisitions do not make easy reading.
Eleanor appears to have been happy to use any methods possible in her quest for land and she was not averse to bending and even breaking the law in order to increase her own wealth. In 1278, for example, she was able to acquire Leeds Castle in Kent from William Leyburn by taking over a debt which he owed to a Jewish moneylender.65 Once she had acquired the debt, Eleanor immediately repossessed the castle, which had been used as security, giving the owner only minimum compensation for his loss. Eleanor’s land acquisition was very tied up with Jewish moneylenders and, in 1283, Edward granted her the goods and chattels of condemned Jews.66 This certainly helped Eleanor increase her wealth but it did not increase her popularity and her name came to be associated with the hated Jewish moneylenders.
Eleanor’s agents also committed a number of harsh acts in her name and Eleanor, although not personally involved, would have known what was happening and her silence suggests that she approved of her officials’ actions. At Havering, for example, Eleanor’s agents limited local hunting rights by extending her rabbit warrens. When twelve tenants protested, they were imprisoned.67 Eleanor’s agents also seized a house on another estate and had the owners imprisoned on trumped up charges. Their baby was then dumped in its cradle in the middle of the road.68 Eleanor was apparently unconcerned by these actions and on the only recorded occasion that she dismissed an official it was for his failure to generate sufficient revenue.69
Eleanor of Castile also had a reputation for having a fierce and implacable temper. In 1279 Archbishop Pechan wrote to the nuns at Headingham who were refusing to admit a friend of Eleanor’s to their nunnery.70 The Archbishop, who apparently knew Eleanor well, warned them that they would do well not to cross the queen. In 1283, Eleanor also threatened to prosecute the Bishop of Worcester for a debt she claimed he owed her.71 The bishop was equally adamant that there was no debt but Edward’s chancellor advised him to pay her anyway if he knew what was good for him. Clearly, Eleanor of Castile was known as a domineering woman. Sometimes even Edward felt she had gone too far, forcing her to relax a fine she had imposed in 1283.72 Even Eleanor herself later came to realise that she had been unjust and, on her deathbed, begged Edward to make amends for her actions for the good of her immortal soul. Eleanor’s acquisitiveness went beyond that of most other medieval queens. It must also be pointed out that Edward benefited from his wife’s acquisitions and he did not work very hard to encourage moderation in her behaviour. Her policies suited him, but it is Eleanor who bears the full blame. Similarly with Edward’s harsh rule. It seems that to the people of England, Edward as a popular and English king was incapable of doing wrong except at the instigation of his unpopular foreign queen.
Eleanor continued to acquire land right up until the end of her life and it was an abiding interest for her. During 1290, it became clear that Eleanor’s health was deteriorating. In November 1290, the court set out north on a progress and Eleanor insisted on accompanying Edward, as she had always done, not wanting to be parted from him. The court made slow progress, however, and, it seems likely that this was due to Eleanor’s poor state of health. They tried to reach Lincoln but, due to Eleanor’s illness, were forced to stop at the manor of Harby and it was there, on 28 November 1290, that Eleanor of Castile died.
Edward I was devastated by the death of his wife and resolved to give her the grandest memorial of any English queen. He had her body transported slowly to Westminster and, at every place her body stayed for the night, he erected a cross in memorial to her, constructing twelve in all.73 According to Camden, the crosses were ‘a monument which King Edward I erected in memory to Queen Eleanor, the dearest husband to the most loving wife’.74 These twelve crosses, the most famous of which was erected at Charing Cross, in London, served as a testament to Edward’s devotion and caught the imagination of people for several centuries afterwards. It was on the basis of these crosses that Eleanor achieved a posthumous reputation completely remote from that which she had enjoyed in life and, after her death, she was portrayed as a pious queen.75 This is not how she was viewed in her own time, however, and her reputation, during her lifetime, was of one of the most notorious and unpopular queens that England had ever had, just as her mother-in-law, Eleanor of Provence, was also perceived.
Eleanor of Provence survived her daughter-in-law by just over six months, dying at Amesbury on 24 June 1291.76 She had also been unpopular during her lifetime but, unlike her daughter-in-law, was survived by no husband to provide an extravagant memorial to her. In her day she was seen in a negative light by the people of England and through her association with the troubles of Henry III’s reign they would never have judged her to be a successful monarch. To modern eyes, at least, she appears as one of the most personally likeable of all medieval queens. For both women it is clear that their real crimes were their foreign births. There is no doubt that at points they acted unwisely and even harshly, but similarly did their husbands and many other contemporaries. The difference is that, by the thirteenth century, kings were beginning to be considered as Englishmen. Queens on the other hand, who were generally brought from the continent, were not. They were therefore alien to the increasingly insular country and, as such, useful scapegoats and easy targets.
Eleanor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile were deeply unpopular during their lifetimes and were scorned as poor queens by their contemporaries. Over the years Eleanor of Castile’s reputation completely altered, such that by the later medieval period she was used as a model of queenly virtue for other women to follow. It was only much later that a more accurate picture of her life and reputation was able to emerge, providing a much less likeable, but much more human, picture of the queen. Eleanor of Provence, on the other hand, received no such attestation of her husband’s devotion and retained an image of an unloved and unsuccessful queen until recently. Her reputation has improved in recent years and she shows a likeable quality in her devotion to her family. Neither queen, however, was a success in their time and this was largely due to their foreign birth and their apparent avariciousness. Eleanor of Provence was certainly acquisitive for her family, procuring honours and wealth for them at the expense of others, and Eleanor of Castile was acquisitive for herself. It amounted to the same thing in their contemporaries’ eyes, however, and both queens were always ill-famed for their greed. However in comparison with Eleanor of Castile’s own daughter-in-law, Isabella of France, this was a small matter and the two Eleanors’ notoriety pale in comparison to that of the She-Wolf of France.