Page:Woman in Art.djvu/333

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

WOMAN IN ART

the border and the battle of Neville's Cross was fought in England. Says Froissart: "It now was Philippa's turn to do battle royal with a king. The Queen of England, anxious to defend her kingdom, came herself to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to await her forces. On the morrow the King of Scots with forty thousand men advanced toward Newcastle, and sent word to the queen that if her men were willing to come forth from the town he would wait and give them battle. Philippa accepted his offer, saying her bairns would risk their lives for the realm of their lord the king.

"The Queen's army drew up in order for battle. Philippa advanced among them, mounted on her white charger, and entreated her men to do their duty well in defending the honor of their king and urged them for the love of God to fight manfully. They promised, and the queen took leave of them, and recommended them to the care of God and St. George. Her courage was wholly moral courage, and her feelings of mercy and tenderness, when she had done all a queen could do, led her to withdraw from the work of carnage and pray for the invaded kingdom while the battle joined."

Suffice it to say that the English archers gained the day and King David was captured.

This admirable Queen of England died in 1369, mourned by all the kingdom. To her influence England is indebted for the establishment of factories and commerce as national assets to her progress.

Art commingles with history when it comes to portraits. Or shall we say that portraiture pronounces the development of humanity when said portraits represent the high lights of history.

One of the functions of art is the portrayal of character that has influenced a nation, an epoch, or a dynasty for better or worse.

The work and influence of the early English queens referred to proved a stimulus to the Anglo-Saxon race in its formative period, as it was passing through the slow process of amalgamation of differing nationalities, struggling toward a state of civilization, the perfection of which was not even a dream at that time.

From the crowning of Matilda of Flanders as Queen of England, in the old cathedral at Winchester in 1067, to the proclaiming of Victoria as Queen of England in 1837 represents nearly eight centuries of that formative period, and there were but few high lights among the queens of those centuries.

But there was to be a change.

Owing to a number of deaths in the royal family, and William IV hav-

263