The presence of a member of the ancient Medical School of Montpellier in the Queen’s Household is of much interest. Footnote 31: Wardrobe Account 18 Edw. I, fol. 13, Chancery Miscellanea 4/5. The character of the illness is described by a contemporary annalist as being of a lingering character, associated with low fever.[32] In spite of all skill and care the Queen steadily became worse, till at length the illness must have been recognized as fatal. Another annalist speaks of the Queen as being stricken with a serious illness.[33] Footnote 32: Wykes, Thomas. Ann. de Oseneia. Annales monastici: Rolls series, iv, p. 326, “_Modicæ febris igniculo contabescens_.” Footnote 33: Walsingham, Thomas of, quoting William Rishanger, a contemporary writer: “_Regina consors grave infirmatate correpta quarto idus decembris ex hac vita migravit in villa de Hardeby_.” Historia Anglicana, Rolls edition; anno 1291, pp. 32, 33. At the close of the Clipstone Parliament, Edward travelled slowly towards Harby, arriving there on the 20th November. The gravity of the Queen’s illness seems scarcely to have been appreciated by the King. He spent six days on his journey from Clipstone to Harby—a distance of little more than 20 miles. On his arrival the hopelessness of the Queen’s condition must have been apparent to him. She died on the evening of the 28th November. Evidence of the King’s grief and depression is given not only by the contemporary writers, but by Edward’s actions at the time of the death of Eleanor and during the subsequent months. The gracious character of the Queen’s influence on her consort, and the affection she inspired in her people, is amply testified by the contemporary annalists. Walsingham, once more quoting his predecessors such as Rishanger, describes her shortly in the following sentence: “She was in very truth a woman of pious, gracious, and compassionate disposition, the friend of all English folk, and as a pillar of the whole realm.”[34] The important point of this description is the emphasis laid on the fact that Eleanor was the friend of her English subjects. This had not been the characteristic of her predecessors. In the time of Henry III, the foreign relatives of both the Queen and the King swarmed into England, and memories of the unjust favours showered upon them still rankled in the minds of the people. An echo of this can still be heard on listening to the tale of the annalist at Dunstable. He writes from the English point of view, and is chiefly concerned with describing the benefits received by his Convent from the King and Queen.[35] Footnote 34: