During this negotiation Eleanora arrived in Messina, bringing with her the long-beloved Berengaria. Although her daughter claimed her stay, Eleanora was forced to sail for Rome, four days after she had brought Berengaria to her son, to settle a dispute between the pope and Richard. This was a quarrel with Geoffrey, the son of Rosamond, who had been nominated by Henry II. archbishop of York. As the young archbishop had been dragged from the altar, about the streets of Dover, by the mad violence of Longchamp, Richard's deputy in England, Eleanora knew there was no time to lose in settling such disturbances, which had occasioned an uproar at Rome. She took warning by the example of Becket, and wisely compromised between the belligerents. After Eleanora had arranged this difficult business at Rome with equal temper and sagacity, she proceeded to Rouen, which was to be the seat of the delegated empire her son had committed to her charge. England, convulsed by the follies of Longchamp, she instantly tranquillised, by the appointment of her excellent friend Walter, archbishop of Rouen, as its governor. Abbot Benedict was the keeper of her great seal, a man of great wisdom and benevolence. She made frequent visits to England, and at last fixed her residence there during her son's absence. If we may judge of her, as a reigning monarch, by the wisdom of her choice of ministers, and the tranquillity England and Normandy enjoyed during the difficult times of her son's absence and imprisonment, we shall form a high opinion of See the succeeding memoir. 2 Rapin. Eleanora's abilities in government. The admirable manner in which she dispensed justice, so little known in the Norman dynasties, accounts for the domestic peace of England during her regency. Whilst she thus watched over the interest of her best beloved son, Otho of Saxony, son of her daughter Matilda and Henry the Lion,1 was the deputy of his grandmother in Aquitaine, where this great emperor first learned the art of government. Queen Eleanora, when thus arduously engaged as regent for her son, was approaching her seventieth year— an age when rest is imperiously demanded by the human frame. But years of toil still remained before her, ere death closed her weary pilgrimage in 1204; and these years were laden with sorrows which drew from her that pathetic alteration of the regal style, preserved in her letter to the pope, on occasion of the captivity of Cœur de Lion, where she declares herself Eleanora by the wrath of God, Queen of England." In this instance, and in several others, traits of the subdued spirit of Eleanora are to be discovered in her charters; for the extreme mobility of her spirits diffused itself even over the cold records of state, when in bitter grief she subscribes herself "in ira Dei Regina Anglorum," and "Elienora misera et utinam miserabilis Anglorum Regina." But, when swayed by calmer feel 1 Tyrrell. Our queen is the direct descendant of this princely pair, through the line of Hanover. Matilda, Eleanora's eldest daughter, died, soon after the death of her father, of a broken heart, owing to the misfortunes of her gallant husband.-M. Paris. 2 Peter of Blois' Epistles. ings, she styles herself "Alienora, by the grace of God, humbly Queen of England." Eleanora of Aquitaine is among the very few women who atoned for an ill-spent youth by a wise and benevolent old age. As a sovereign, she ranks among the first of female rulers.1 To prevent repetition, the rest of her life is comprehended in the memoirs of her daughters-in-law, Berengaria and Isabella. END OF VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED BY IBOTSON AND PALMER, SAVOY STREET. |