Henry III by Baker Darren

Author:Baker, Darren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2017-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

12

COLLAPSE, 1255–1257

Gift giving was just as important as hospitality in medieval relations and diplomacy, and Henry made sure to distribute lots of silver cups, brooches and girdles to the guests at the banquet in Paris. A flirtatious Margaret gave him a bejewelled washing basin shaped like a peacock at full spread, whereas Louis’s gift was far more rustic. It was an elephant he had taken back with him from the East. His one success in the Holy Land had been an alliance with his former captors against a rival sultan, earning him the repatriation of the remaining Christian prisoners, the forgiveness of the balance of his ransom and the elephant. Henry already had a zoo of sorts at the Tower of London, which he had set up after Frederick sent him a camel and the three leopards. A polar bear from Norway was added in 1251, tied to a long rope so it could catch fish in the Thames. The elephant arrived in February 1255 and was housed in a specially built pen measuring 40 feet long and 20 feet wide. The costs of feeding it and maintaining a keeper were enormous, about £30 a year, but it drew in the crowds in a land where such animals were known only from the bible and fables.1

The two sheriffs of London were given overall responsibility for the elephant, but the creature was the least of their worries. Upon his return, Henry was informed that a prisoner had escaped and fled abroad. He was a clerk suspected of inciting a crowd of fellow clergy to murder Bernard of Champagne, a prior in the service of the Bishop of Hereford. Although the motive seems to have been Bernard’s own aggressive behaviour, he was the second distant relative of the queen murdered in his benefice. At first, Henry wanted to hold the whole of London to account, but the aldermen banded together to pin the blame on the sheriffs who, after a month’s imprisonment, were deposed and new ones elected.2 But the city couldn’t escape the tax bill to help defray the king’s costs overseas. Of the £5,666 levied on the towns and shires by the council, London’s share was £2,000. Doubtless few would have been pleased to think they were paying for the good time had by the royal party in Paris.3

In need of a lot more money, Henry again turned to his brother for a loan. Since he had already pledged the crown jewels to him, the security he offered was the Jews. On 24 February, Richard of Cornwall gave him £3,333 in return for the receipts of the Jewry until he had recouped the principal plus an extra £2,000. On 11 April, Henry convened Parliament again to ask for a tax, but it was more of the same never-ending saga. They would only grant his request if he gave them control over the justiciary, treasury and chancery, but he refused, and the session was adjourned until autumn.4 The king didn’t go

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