Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and PresentTimbs, John
History
Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and Present
Timbs, John
England -- Social life and customs
In April, we find reference to the Queen's journey to Windsor; upon
which Mr. Bond remarks: "There is no room for doubt, therefore (though
the chroniclers make no mention of the circumstance), that the object of
Isabella's journey was to be present at the festivities held at Windsor
by Edward III. in celebration of St. George's Day, the 23d of
April--festivities set forth with unwonted magnificence, in honour of
the many crowned heads and noble foreigners then in England, and to
which strangers from all countries were offered safe letters of
conduct." From an entry in May, we find a donation of the considerable
sum of six pounds thirteen shillings (equal in value to about ninety
pounds of the present currency) to a messenger from Windsor, certifying
her of the conclusion of terms of a peace between Edward III. and his
captive, John of France; and the same sum is given by Isabella, the same
day, to a courier bearing a letter from Queen Philippa, conveying the
same intelligence.
On May 14, Isabella left London, and rested at Tottenham, on her way to
Hertford; and a payment is recorded of a gift of six shillings and
eightpence to the nuns of Cheshunt, who met the Queen at the cross in
the high road, in front of their house.
On the 4th of June, Isabella set out on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and
a visit to Leeds Castle. At Canterbury, on the 10th and 11th, she
entertained the Abbot of St. Augustine's; and under Alms are recorded
the Queen's oblations at the tomb of St. Thomas: the crown of his head
(the part having the tonsure, cut off by his assassins), and point of
the sword (with which he had been slain); and her payment to minstrels
playing "in volta;" as also her oblations in the church of St.
Augustine, and her donations to various hospitals and religious houses
in Canterbury.
Respecting Isabella's death, she is stated by chroniclers to have sunk,
in the course of a single day, under the effect of a too powerful
medicine, administered at her own desire. From several entries, however,
in this account, she appears to have been in a state requiring medical
treatment for some time previous to her decease. She expired on August
22; but as early as February 15, a payment had been made to a messenger
going on three several occasions to London for divers medicines for the
Queen, and for the hire of a horse for Master Lawrence, the physician;
and again, for another journey by night to London. On the same day a
second payment was made to the same messenger for two other journeys by
night to London, and two to St. Albans, to procure medicines for the
Queen. On the 1st of August, payment was made to Nicholas Thomasyer,
apothecary, of London, for divers spices and ointment supplied for the
Queen's use. Among the other entries is a payment to Master Lawrence of
forty shillings, for attendance on the Queen and the Queen of Scotland,
at Hertford, for an entire month.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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