Part 7 (1/2)

Preparations were now immediately made for solemnizing the marriage and bringing the young queen at once to England. The marriage ceremony by which a foreign princess was united to a reigning prince, according to the custom of those times, was twofold, or, rather, there were two distinct ceremonies to be performed, in one of which the bride, at her father's own court, was united to her future husband by proxy, and in the second the nuptials were celebrated anew with her husband himself in person, after her arrival in his kingdom. Suffolk, as was stated in the last chapter, was appointed to act as the king's proxy in this case, for the performance of the first of these ceremonies. He was to proceed to France, espouse the bride in the king's name, and convey her to England. Of course a universal excitement now spread itself among all the n.o.bility and among all the ladies of the court, which was awakened by the interest which all took in the approaching wedding, and the desire they felt to accompany the expedition.

[Sidenote: Dresses.]

[Sidenote: Company.]

A great many of the lords and ladies began to make preparations to join Lord and Lady Suffolk. Nothing was talked of but dresses, equipments, presents, invitations, and every body was occupied in the collecting and packing of stores and baggage for a long journey. At length the appointed time arrived, and the expedition set out, and, after a journey of many days, the several parties which composed it arrived at Nancy, the capital city of Lorraine, where the ceremony was to be performed.

[Sidenote: King and Queen of France.]

At about the same time, the King and Queen of France, accompanied by a great concourse of n.o.bles and gentlemen from the French court, who were to honor the wedding with their presence, arrived. A great many other knights and ladies, too, from the provinces and castles of the surrounding country, were seen coming in gay and splendid cavalcades to the town, when the appointed day drew nigh, eager to witness the ceremony, and to join in the magnificent festivities which they well knew would be arranged to commemorate and honor the occasion. In a word, the whole town became one brilliant scene of gayety, life, and excitement.

[Sidenote: The marriage ceremony is performed.]

[Sidenote: The bride's household.]

The marriage ceremony was performed in the church, with great pomp and parade, and in the midst of a vast concourse of people, composed of the highest n.o.bility of Europe, both lords and ladies, and all dressed in the most magnificent and distinguished costumes. No spectacle could possibly be more splendid and gay. At the close of the ceremony, the bride was placed solemnly in charge of Lady Suffolk, who was to be responsible for her safety and welfare until she should arrive in England, and there be delivered into the hands of her husband. Lady Suffolk was a cousin of Cardinal Beaufort, and she undoubtedly received this very exalted appointment through his favor.

The appointment brought with it a great deal of patronage and influence, for a regular and extended household was now to be organized for the service of the new queen, and of course, among all the lords and ladies who had come from England, there was a very eager compet.i.tion to obtain places in it. There are enumerated among those who were appointed to posts of service or honor in attendance on the queen, under the Marchioness of Suffolk, five barons and baronesses, seventeen knights, sixty-five squires, and no less than one hundred and seventy-four valets, besides many other servitors, all under pay.

Then, in addition to these, so great was the eagerness to occupy some recognized station in the train of the bride, that great numbers applied for appointments to nominal offices for which they were to receive no pay.

[Sidenote: The express.]

If Rene, Margaret's father, had been possessed of a fortune corresponding to his rank, the expense of all these arrangements, at least up to the time of the departure of the bridal party, would, have been defrayed by him; but as it was, every thing was paid for by King Henry, and the precise amount of every expenditure stands recorded in certain old books of accounts which still remain among the ancient English archives.

[Sidenote: Tournament.]

[Sidenote: The victors in the games.]

The nuptials of the princess were celebrated by a tournament and other accompanying festivities, which were continued for eight days. In these tournaments a great many mock combats were fought, in which the most exalted personages present on the occasion took conspicuous and prominent parts. The King of France himself appeared in the lists, and fought with Rene, the father of the bride. The king was beaten. It would have been impolite for any one to have vanquished the father of the bride at a tournament held in honor of the daughter's nuptials.

The Count St. Pol, too, who had formerly been betrothed to Margaret, but had not been allowed to marry her, fought very successfully, and won a valuable prize, which was conferred upon him with great ceremony by the hands of the two most distinguished ladies present, namely, the Queen of France and Isabella of Lorraine, the bride's mother. Perhaps he too was politely allowed to win his victory and his honorary prize, in consideration of his submitting so quietly to the loss of the real prize which his great compet.i.tor, the King of England, was so triumphantly bearing away from him.

[Sidenote: Romantic incident.]

[Sidenote: Grand elopement.]

[Sidenote: The parents finally appeased.]

The celebrations of the eight days were interrupted and enlivened by one remarkable incident, which for a time threatened to produce very serious difficulty. It will be remembered that when the original contract and treaty were made between Rene and the uncle of Isabella, Antoine of Vaudemonte, at the time when peace was re-established between them, after the battle in which Rene was taken prisoner, that not only was it agreed that Margaret should be betrothed to the Count St. Pol, but also that Yolante, Margaret's elder sister, was betrothed to Antoine's son Ferry, as he was called.[3] Now Ferry seemed not disposed to submit quietly, as St. Pol had done, to the loss of his bride, and as he had never thus far been able to induce Rene and Isabella to fulfill their agreement by consenting to the consummation of the marriage, he determined now to take the matter into his own hands. So he formed the scheme of an elopement. His plan was to take advantage of the excitement and confusion attendant on the tournament for carrying off his bride. He organized a band of adventurous young knights who were willing to aid him in his enterprise, and, laying his plans secretly and carefully, he, a.s.sisted by his comrades, seized the young lady and galloped away with her to a place of safety, intending to keep her there in his own custody until King Rene and her mother should consent to her immediate marriage. King Rene, when he first heard of his daughter's abduction, was very angry, and declared that he would never forgive either Ferry or Yolante. But the King and Queen of France interceded for the lovers, and Rene at last relented. Ferry and Yolante were married, and all parties were made friends again, after which the celebrations and festivities were renewed with greater spirit and ardor than before.

[Footnote 3: The name was a contraction of Frederick.]

[Sidenote: Margaret takes leave of her friends.]

At length the time for the conclusion of the public rejoicings at Nancy, and for the commencement of Margaret's journey to England, arrived. Thus far, though nominally under the care and keeping of Lord and Lady Suffolk, Margaret had of course been really most intimately a.s.sociated with her own family and friends; but now the time had come when she was to take a final leave of her father and mother, and of all whom she had known and loved from infancy, and be put really and fully into the trust and keeping of strangers, to be taken by them to a distant and foreign land. The parting was very painful. It seems that Margaret's beauty and the charming vivacity of her manners had made her universally beloved, and the hearts not only of her father and mother, but of the whole circle of those who had known her, were filled with grief at the thought of parting with her forever.

[Sidenote: Setting out of the procession.]

The King and Queen of France, who seem to have loved their niece with sincere affection, determined to accompany her for a short distance, as she set out on her journey from Nancy. Of course, many of the courtiers went too. These together with the great number of English n.o.bles and gentry that were attached to the service of the bride, made so large a company, and the dresses, caparisons, and trappings which were exhibited on the occasion were so splendid and fine, that the cavalcade, as it set out from the city of Nancy on the morning when the journey was to commence, formed one of the gayest and grandest bridal processions that the world has ever seen.

[Sidenote: Parting with the King and Queen of France.]