Eleanor and Edward – a summary
extracted from pages
246-247 of “Eleanor of Castile – The Shadow Queen” by Sara Cockerill
Effigy of Eleanor in Westminster Abbey
The starting point for any consideration of Eleanor’s family
must be the most important constituent of it to her – her husband. The more
time one spends looking at the life of Eleanor the more apparent it becomes,
that she and Edward were genuinely incredibly close, and not really happy out
of each other’s company. Marc Morris concludes, and I entirely agree, that
their shared tastes for horses, hunting, chivalry, romance and chess had
provided a good base for a happy marriage. More than this though, it is fairly
clear that they shared a sense of humour – each was plainly ready to laugh and
to find fun in amusing pictures and little word plays and both also enjoyed the
kind of boisterous fun which marked the coronation. Beyond these shared
interests and tendencies, however, one can see in the household records the
hallmarks of active respect, consideration and kindness which promote a happy
marriage.
Victorian
interpretation of Eleanor
So, repeatedly each
can be seen paying attention to the interests of the other, and doing their
best to help. Each helped the other financially – Eleanor gifting Edward with
1,000 marks when he and everyone else was out of cash following the Gascon expedition,
and Edward helping with purchase monies and funds for improvements for her
properties. For Eleanor, Edward was the centre of her world, and she identified
herself completely with his interests – as she had been raised to do.
Everything gave way to his interests and she would uproot herself from her work
for years at a time to be with him in Wales and in Gascony, as well as on
crusade. Although Eleanor had her own office and powerbase of very able
employees, there was no “Team Queen” operating in opposition to “Team King”;
unlike the position under Eleanor of Provence and Henry III. Eleanor and her
staff were parts of Edward’s team, and never sought to be perceived otherwise.
But it was far from being a one way street. Having charged Eleanor with a role
in property management, Edward was supportive of Eleanor’s very active interest
in this role; to the extent of inconveniencing himself in repeated
dislocations.
Edward I
(not contemporary)
Each can also be
spotted in the records planning pleasant surprises for the other, and trying
generally to make life more pleasant for their spouse. So in Gascony, Eleanor
sent home to get Edward a particularly special hunting bird for his birthday,
while on another occasion Edward, mindful of Eleanor’s book obsession and
vibrant theological interests, commissioned a psalter and book of hours as a
present for her. Facing a social engagement too far, Eleanor agreed to go by
herself, and made arrangements for musicians to be hired to amuse Edward, while
she was discharging their social obligations. Meanwhile, Edward made sure that
everywhere they went, gardeners and decorators went ahead, so that Eleanor need
not face the shabby lodgings which were her aversion.
One surprising
thing which emerges from the record is that Edward was surprisingly sentimental
– rather more so, it would appear, than Eleanor. So the records of his
charitable oblations for 1283-4 show him giving extra alms on the occasion of
their wedding anniversary and also in those nervous days in the run up to
Eleanor giving birth to Edward, as well as the expected celebratory donations
on the birth and christening of a prince. When Eleanor was ill and he could not
actually be with her, he sent thoughtful gifts of food, with which he hoped to
tempt her appetite or recoup her strength. The public face of his mourning is
well known, but in addition to the well-known gestures after Eleanor’s death of
commissioning spectacular funeral monuments he provided chantries at the place
of her death, and at Leeds castle where they had spent happy time together. He
also took for himself the chess set with which they had played chess together.
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