"When the ambitious king had exhausted all his resources, the pontiff coolly transferred the coveted crown to Charles d'Anjou, brother to the King of France, leaving poor Henry to cancel his debt with the lords of exchequer as best he might, getting to himself in the eyes of his subjects little glory and great loss. Such was the character, the political and the social posi-tion of the parents of Edward I., who commenced about the middle of the thirteenth century to take an active part in the affairs of Europe. A splendid concourse were gathered in the spacious pal-ace of the old temple at Paris, A.D. 1254. The royal fami-lies of England and France were convened on terms of cordiality and kindness, such as they had never enjoyed since the day when Normandy was wrested from the de-scendants of Charlemagne. The banquet was given in honor of Edward, the heir-apparent of England, and his sweet young bride, Eleanora of Castile. In the place of honor sat the good St. Louis King of France, on his right, Henry III. of England, and on his left, the King of Na-varre, the royal descendant of Thibaut of Champagne, and Blanche the sister of Berengaria. At this magnificent en-tertainment, Beatrice the Countess of Provence enjoyed a reunion with her beautiful daughters, their noble husbands and blooming offspring. The eldest, Margaret, was the wife of Louis IX., Eleanor, of Henry III., Beatrice, of Charles d'Anjou, and Sancha, of Eichard of Cornwall, King of the Romans. ' But the queen of this Feast of kings, the fair young In-fanta, around whom were gathered the nobility of a Conti-nent, though but a child of scarce ten years, concentrated in herself more romantic associations and excited higher hopes than any of the crowned heads present. Her brother Alphonso X., the astronomer, was the most learned prince in Europe, and neither priest or peer could boast that devo-tion to the arts, or that success in scientific discoveries that characterized the King of Castile, surnamed II Sabio, the wise. Her mother Joanna, had been the affianced bride of her royal father-in-law Henry III., had been rejected for •m HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.