The Story of LondonWheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
History
The Story of London
Wheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
London (England) -- History
On the 21st of June following (1377) Edward III., deserted by his
mistress, Alice Perress, and his courtiers, and attended by a solitary
priest, died at Shene (now Richmond). Before the breath was out of his
body the citizens waited upon the young Prince Richard, and offered
their allegiance, requesting him to come to London. In Walsingham's
Chronicle there is an account of a pageant in honour of the young King
in the following month. On the Feast of St. Swithin the Mayor and
citizens assembled near the Tower, when King Richard, clad in white
garments, came forth with a great multitude in his suite, also dressed
in white. The streets were hung with cloth of gold and silver and silken
stuff, and the conduits ran wine for three hours. At the upper end of
Cheapside was erected a castle with four towers. In the towers were
placed four beautiful virgins, of stature and age like to the King,
apparelled in white; these damsels on the King's approach blew in his
face leaves of gold and threw on him and his horse counterfeit golden
florins. When he was come before the castle they took cups of gold, and
filling them with wine at the spouts of the castle, presented the same
to the King and his nobles. On the top of the castle, betwixt the
towers, stood a golden angel, holding a crown in his hands, and so
contrived that when the King came he bowed down and offered him the
crown.
There was infinite variety in these pageants, and they were very
frequent during the Middle Ages, and long after, but the too full
description of them is likely to become monotonous. It will therefore be
sufficient to refer to some of the other rejoicings in a more succinct
manner.
On Friday after the Epiphany, 1382, the Mayor, aldermen and Commons rode
to meet the new Queen, Anne of Bohemia, and conducted her through the
city. All the crafts were charged to wear nothing but red and black.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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