A. D. 1251. 401 



extravagant difplay of magnificence. On the marriage day (December 

 26'*^) a thoufand Englifli knights appeared in cointifes of filk *, and next 

 day every one of them was dreffed in a new robe of another kind. The 

 Scottifli part of the company were not fo fumptuoufly adorned ; for we 

 are only told, that above fixty knights, and many others equal to knights, 

 were handfomely drefled. But the hiflorian declines fpecifying the great- 

 efl exceffes of profufion on that occafion, becaufe, he fays, they would 

 aflonifh and difguft the reader, if related, and fcarcely be credited. The 

 archbifhop of York had the very expenfive honour of being landlord to 

 all this jolly company alTembled from England, Scotland, and France, 

 at his metropolitan fee. In an entertainment he expended fixty Hailed 

 oxen for one article of the feafl: : and his total expeilfcs in entertain- 

 ments and prefents of gold, filver, and filks, to his guefts during their 

 flay, amounted to the prodigious fum of four thoufand marks. [M. Pa- 

 ris, pp. 829, 830.] 



1252 — The port of Winchelfea, which was very ufeful to the merch- 

 ants of London, was much damaged by a dreadful florm, and an ex- 

 traordinary inundation of the fea. [M. Paris, p. 831.] 



' The citizens of London, who, by the tenor of their charters and by 



* antient cufloms, ought to be of the very freeft condition, were com- 

 ' pelled by Kirig Henry's imperious requifitions to give him twenty 



* marks of gold, as if they were the mofl abjcdl flaves, fo that their 



* fituation feemed nearly as bad as that of the miferable Jews.' This 

 fum, which was but a drop in the ocean of treafure he extorted from 

 the city f (though 160 ounces of gold could not be called a trifle) is no- 

 ticed, as it was the immediate prelude to the repetition, at leafl: the 

 third time, of an arbitrary proclamation, ordering the citizens to fliut 

 up their fliops for fifteen days, and bring their goods to his fair at Wefl;- 

 minfter, where he compelled them to expofe their perfons and property, 

 though there were fcarcely any buyers, to the inclemency of the weather, 

 which happened to be exceedingly rain,y. But the king, fays the hif- 

 torian, did not mind the imprecations of the people. [M. Paris, p. 

 852.] 



At this time died John of Bafingftokes, who in his youth had fludied 

 at Athens |, ftill the fchool of the languifhing fcience of Greece. He 



* Such a difplay of filk (liows that there was no an equal difplay of filken pomp in the rtmoter and ' 



fcarcity of it in England. We are told, [^/inn. lefs cojnmeicial country of England, and at Icaft ' 



Waverl. p. 203] that in the year 124a the ilreets equally well attelled, has been little noticed, 



of London were covered, or fliaded, with lilk, for -j- For other inftances of much larger fums 



the reception of Richard, the king's brother, on fqueezed out of the cily, fee Mathew Paris, pp. 



his return from the Holy 'and ; but that might be 336, 6qo, 693, 758, 863, 901, 902, 929. 



faid, if only a few iilk awnings were put up. Long % He told Mathew Paris, that he learned what- 



after this time, fo late as the year 1367, it was ever he knew, that was moil valuable in fcience, 



thought worthy of being recorded, as an inftance from Conllantina, a learned virgin under twenty 



of great magnificence, that a thoufand citizens of years of agf", tlie daughter of the archbifhop of 



the opulent commercial city of Genoa were cloth- Athens, 

 ed in lilk : and it has been often repeated, while 



Vol. I. 3 E 



