She was
kind and thoughtful towards those about her and was also
sympathetic to the afflicted and generous to the poor. She shared
Edward's career to a remarkable extent, even accompanying him on a
crusade. She had an intimate knowledge of the people in Edward's
official circle and relied on the advice of two of them in
managing her lands. She mediated disputes between earls and other
nobility, as well as softened her husband's temper towards people.
Edward granted her many wardships and marriages and she arranged
marriages with political advantages. She dealt with envoys coming
to the court. Her intellectual vitality and organized mentality
allowed her to deal with arising situations well. Edward held her
in great esteem. She introduced to England the merino sheep,
which, when bred with the English sheep, gave them a better
quality of wool. She and Edward often played games of chess and
backgammon.
Farm efficiency was increased by the use of windmills in the
fields to pump water and by allowing villeins their freedom and
hiring them as laborers only when needed. Customary service was
virtually extinct. A man could earn 5d. for reaping, binding, and
shocking into a pile, an acre of wheat. A strong man with a wife
to do the binding could do this in a long harvest day. Harvests
were usually plentiful, with the exception of two periods of
famine over the country due to weather conditions.
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