Hyde Park, Its History and RomanceAlec-Tweedie, Mrs. (Ethel)
History
Hyde Park, Its History and Romance
Alec-Tweedie, Mrs. (Ethel)
Hyde Park (London, England); London (England) -- Social life and customs
It is difficult to realise what these journeys meant, when every
necessary or comfort the wayfarer required had to be carried on his
shoulders, or borne in his pack. The modern match was represented by
flint and steel; money was often in specie or in kind. The wretched
traveller must take food for several days, or go provided with bow and
arrow, spear and cooking utensils, to kill and cook his food, or else
eat it raw. Materials for a bed had to be carried if he would have one,
and a tent if he objected to sleeping in the open. But these evils were
often mitigated by the kindly hospitality in the age of chivalry, and
which extended into the fifteenth century.
Rough waggons came more into use, but the pack-horse long remained
the chief mode of conveyance. Illustrations of the time show a cart
resembling our present miller’s van in shape, drawn by two horses
tandem-fashion, but led, not driven. Large trains of attendants were
more than ever in request, for robbery became worse than before.
In the Earl of Northumberland’s _Household Book_ an account is given of
his moving his possessions from place to place; for in the olden days
habitations, if a man possessed more than one, were not furnished, and
not only personal effects had to be transferred, but beds and tables as
well.
Even kings when going from one place to another took their furniture.
The most wonderful thing is how dexterously these removals were
accomplished, especially at the French Court, which, at the time of
Catharine de Medici and subsequently, was ever on the move, travelling
between Paris and the many castles on the Loire. The coach (really
a room on wheels) was for the use of the King and Queen, and other
conveyances, numbering a hundred or more, followed in the wake.
Many records survive from the Tudor period of State ceremonials in
which the old horse-litter played a conspicuous part. Catharine of
Arragon entered London in one of these, when she came to England to
wed Prince Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII., who died soon
after the marriage. There are so many people in England who remember
the magnificent, and withal comfortable, processions for the marriage
festivities of King Edward and Queen Alexandra, the Jubilee processions
of Queen Victoria, and the Coronation of our reigning Monarch and his
Consort, that the following entries of arrangements for the reception
of Princess Catharine four hundred years ago, made in the Duke of
Northumberland’s _Household Book_, may be of interest as a contrast:
“_Item_, That a rich litter be ready to receive and convey the said
Princess to the door of the Church of St. Paul’s.
“_Item_, That three horsemen in side-saddle and harness all of one
suit, be arrayed by the Master of the Queen’s Horse to follow next to
the said Princesses litter.
“_Item_, That a fair palfrey with a pillion richly arrayed and led in
hand for the said Princess, do follow next unto the said horsemen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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