he Britons, we learn, made their table on the ground, on which they spread the skins of wolves and dogs. The guests sat round, the food was placed before them, and each took his part. They were waited upon by the youth of both sexes. They who had not skins were contented with a little hay, which was laid under them; they ate very little bread, but much meat, boiled, or broiled upon coals, or roasted upon spits, before fires kindled as gipsies do in these days. The best living appears to have been in South Britain, where venison, oxen, sheep, and goats were eaten; and ale or mead was the common drink. The whole family attended upon the visitors, and the master and mistress went round, and did not eat anything till their guests had finished their meal.
The Romans made little use of cattle as food; and the fattening of cattle for this specific purpose was unknown to them. Neither can we find evidence that beef and mutton were eaten by the Roman people generally. Pliny mentions the use of beef, roasted, or in the shape of broth, as a medicine, but not as food. Plautus speaks of beef and mutton as sold in the markets; but, amidst the immense variety of fish, flesh, and fowl, we hear little of the above meats in the Roman larder. Fish and game, poultry, venison, and pork, are often mentioned as elements of a luxurious banquet; but undoubtedly the common food of all classes was vegetable, flavoured with lard or bacon. Among the Romans the hare was held in great estimation. Alexander Severus had a hare daily served at his table; yet Cæsar says that in his time the Britons did not eat the flesh of hare.
"The Romans, after their colonization of Britain, must have enjoyed its great supplies of fish; with them its fine oysters were celebrities. They were fattened in pits and ponds by the Romans, who obtained the finest oysters from Ruterpiæ, now Sandwich, in Kent. The Roman epicures iced their oysters before eating them; the ladies used the calcined shell as a cosmetic and depilatory. Apicius is said to have supplied Trajan with fresh oysters at all seasons of the year. The Romans, according to Pliny, made Ostrearii, or loaves of bread baked with oysters. There is one secret we may well desire to learn from the Romans; namely, the manner of preserving oysters alive in any journey, however long or distant. The possession of this secret is the more extraordinary, as it is well known that a shower of rain will kill oysters subjected to its influence, or the smallest grain of quick-lime destroy their vitality."[19] Pliny records that one gentleman, Asinius Celer, gave 8,000 nummi (between 64l. and 65l. sterling) for one mullet, such as may now be bought in good seasons in London for sixpence! How the Anglo-Roman epicure must have enjoyed the mullet from our western coast! The lamprey was also with the Romans a pet fish: it is now rare. The celebrated Roman garum must here have been made in perfection. A Roman supper is thus described by the officer of the household of Theodosius:—"For the first course there were sea-hedgehogs, raw oysters, and asparagus; for the second, a fat fowl, with another plate of oysters and shell-fish; several species of dates, fig-peckers, roebuck, and wild boar, fowls encrusted with paste, and the purple shell-fish, then esteemed so great a delicacy. The third course was composed of a wild-boar's head, of ducks, of a compôte of river-birds, of leverets, roast-fowls, Ancona-cakes, called panes picandi," which must have somewhat resembled Yorkshire pudding. The old Romans had their fancy bread as well as the moderns, as loaves baked with oysters, cakes like our rolls, and others. A sort, of nearly the same quality as our middle sort of wheaten bread, was sold, according to the calculation of antiquaries, at 3s. 2d. the peck-loaf, present money.
Before the arrival of the Romans, mead, that is, honey diluted with water, and fermented, was probably the only strong liquor known to the Britons; and it continued to be their favourite drink long after they had become acquainted with other liquors. Its manufacture was an important art; for the mead-maker was the eleventh person in dignity in the courts of the ancient princes of Wales, and took precedence of the physician.
Of Saxon living we have many details. The Saxons were noted for their hospitality. On the arrival of a stranger he was welcomed, and water was brought him to wash his hands; his feet were also washed in warm water. A curious law was enforced at this period respecting host and guest; if any one entertained a guest in his house three days, and the guest committed any crime during that period, his host was either to bring him to justice, or answer for it himself; and by another law, a guest, after two nights' residence, was considered one of the family, and his entertainer was to be responsible for all his actions.
The meal now assumed more regularity; the parties sat at large square tables, on long benches, according to rank; and by a subsequent law of Canute, a person sitting out of his proper place, was to be pelted from it with bones, at the discretion of the company, without the privilege of taking offence! The mistress of the house sat at the head of the table, upon a raised platform, beneath a canopy, and helped the provisions to the guests; whence came the modern title of lady, being softened from the Saxon lief-dien, or the server of bread. The tables were covered with fine cloths, some very costly; a cup of horn, silver, silver-gilt, or gold, was presented to each person; other vessels were of wood, inlaid with gold; dishes, bowls, and basins were of silver, gold, and brass, engraven; the benches and seats were carved and covered with embroidery; and some of the tables were of silver. All tables were square at this period; they were displaced by the old oaken table, of long boards upon tressels.
The food of the period consisted of meat and vegetables, and the tables were plentifully but plainly supplied. There were oxen, sheep, fowls, deer, goats, and hares, but hogs yielded a principal part of the provision. On this account, swine were allowed by charter to run and feed in the royal forests. All sorts of fish now taken, were eaten at the above time; herrings were preferred. The porpoise, now no longer eaten, was then preferred. Bread was made of barley; wheaten bread was a delicacy. Baking was understood, as well as cookery; and if a person ate anything half-dressed, ignorantly, he was to fast three days; and four, if he knew it. Roasted meat was a luxury; but boiling was general, and broiling and stewing were in use. Honey was used in most of the meals of this period, on which account, added to that of sugar not being brought to England until the fifteenth century, the wild honey found in the English woods became an article of importance in the forest charter. Fruit, beans, and herbs were commonly eaten; the only vegetable was kale-wort; peppered broths and soups, and a kind of bouilli, were esteemed; buttermilk or whey was used in the monasteries; and salt was employed in great quantities, both for preserving and seasoning all sorts of provisions.
In representations of Anglo-Saxon feasts, the men and women are seated apart at table; a person is cutting a piece of meat off the spit into a plate, held underneath by a servant; and cakes of bread, with oblong, square, and round dishes are on the table. Festivals were given to people on religious accounts; they kept it up the whole day on state occasions, and the feast was accompanied with music. The company sat on forms, the chief visitors seated in the middle, and the next in rank on the right and left. A dish on the table was set apart for alms for the poor; and when our Anglo-Saxon kings dined, the poor sat in the streets, expecting the broken victuals. At private parties, two persons eating out of the same dish was a peculiar mark of friendship. Forks were not invented, and our ancestors made use of their fingers; but, for the sake of cleanliness, each person was provided with a small silver ewer containing water, and two flowered napkins, of the finest linen. The dessert consisted of grapes, figs, nuts, apples, pears, and almonds.
In early baking the use of ovens was unknown; and when the lady had kneaded the dough, it was toasted either upon a warm hearth, or bake-stone, as it was called, when later it was made of some metal. In Wales, bread is, or was, lately baked upon an iron plate, called a griddle. The earliest bakers were probably the monks, since bakehouses were commonly appended to monasteries; and the host, or consecrated bread, was baked by the monks with great ceremony. In a charge to the clergy, date 994, we find:—"And we charge you that the oblation (i.e. the bread in the Eucharist), which ye offer to God in that holy mystery, be either baked by yourselves, or your servants in your presence." Bakehouses were also appended to the churches; for, on taking down some part of the church at Crickhowell, county Brecon, a small room with an oven in it was discovered, which had long been shut up. Although the monks were early bakers, they do not appear to have fared much more sumptuously than the people on bread; for the Anglo-Saxon monks of the Abbey of St. Edmund, in the eighth century, ate barley bread, because the income of the establishment would not admit of the feeding twice or thrice a day on wheaten bread.
Elecampane, now known as the sweetmeat of childhood, was esteemed for ages in the domestic herbal. The leaves are aromatic and bitter, but the root is much more so. The former were used by the Romans as pot-herbs; and appear to have been held in no mean repute in after times, from the monkish line,—"Elena campana reddit præcordia sana." When preserved, it is still eaten as a cordial by Eastern nations; and the root is used in England to flavour the small sugar-cakes, which bear its name. It is tonic and stimulant.
Of the manufacture of Ale and Beer we have a record of the fifth century, directing it to be made without hops, instead of which various bitters were used. Ale is next mentioned in the laws of Ina, King of Wessex, who ascended, the throne about the year 680. It was the favourite drink of the Saxons and Danes; and so attentive were the Saxons to its quality, that in their time it was a custom in the city of Chester to place any person who brewed bad ale in a ducking-chair, to be plunged into a pool of muddy water, or be fined 4s. In the Saxon Dialogues, in the Cotton Library, a boy, in answer to the question, what he drank, replies, "Ale, if I have it; or water, if I have it not." He adds, that wine is the drink of the elders and the wise. Ale was sold to the people at this time, in houses of entertainment; but a priest was forbidden by law to eat or drink at places where ale was sold. About the middle of the eleventh century, ale was one of the articles of a royal banquet provided for Edward the Confessor. At this time the best ale could be bought for 8d. the gallon. This was spiced, and double the price of common ale, and mead was double the price of spiced ale. One of the vessels out of which ale was drunk was the Saxon nap, now the neap, or nip, out of which we drink Burton ale. The Saxons had also cups of wood, ornamented with gold, besides the peg tankards introduced by King Edgar, to check excessive drinking. In Northamptonshire—a famous ale county—a small public-house is to this day called an ale-hus, the original Saxon hus being retained.[20]
As the monasteries were in ancient times reputed for ale, which the monks brewed for themselves with such remarkable care, so colleges, which rose upon the Dissolution, became famous for ale, and their celebrity continues to this day. Warton, poet-laureate in 1748, has left a panegyric on Oxford ale (which he dearly loved), and thus apostrophises:—
"Balm of my cares, sweet solace of my toils,
Hail, juice benignant!
"My sober evening let the tankard bless,
With toast embrown'd, and fragrant nutmeg fraught.
What though me sore ills
Oppress, dire want of chill-dispelling coals
Or cheerful candle, save the make-weight's gleam
Haply remaining, heart-rejoicing ale
Cheers the sad scene, and every want supplies.
"Be mine each morn, with eager appetite
And hunger undissembled, to repair
To friendly buttery; there on smoking crust
And foaming ale to banquet unrestrain'd,
Material breakfast. Thus, in ancient days
Our ancestors, robust with liberal cups
Usher'd the morn, unlike the squeamish sons
Of modern times; nor ever had the might
Of Britons brave decay'd, had thus they fed,
With British ale improving British worth."
They who recollect the ale of Magdalen and Queen's will acknowledge that Oxford well maintains its character for our national drink.
The brewers were formerly women, and those who sold the ale were ale-wives, one of whom, "Eleanor Rumming, the famous ale-wife of England," is commemorated by another poet-laureate, Skelton. Of her ale-house, at Leatherhead, there are some remains, and she lives in the rude woodcut portrait (1571), with this inscription:—
"When Skelton wore the laurel crown,
My ale put all the ale-wives down."
The introduction of foreign wines by the Normans did not altogether supersede the wines of our own country. The vine had been cultivated here long before. Vines are mentioned in the laws of Alfred, and Edgar makes a gift of a vineyard, with the vine-dressers. In a Saxon Calendar, preserved in the British Museum, there is a series of rude drawings representing the different operations of the rural economy of the year; that prefixed to February showing husbandmen pruning what are supposed to be vines. At the time of the Norman Conquest, new plantations appear to have been made in the village of Westminster; at Chenetone, in Middlesex; at Ware, in Hertfordshire, and other places. Of ancient wine-cellars we find some curious particulars, and drinking-glasses have been found in Roman-British barrows.
The Danes, in their visits to this country, added much to the gross hospitalities, against the consequences of which Saxon laws were enacted. They were accustomed to sing and play on the harp in turn; and to be entertained by the gleemen, ale-poets, dancers, harpers, jugglers, and tumblers, who frequented the earliest taverns, called guest-houses, ale-shops, wine-houses, &c. And it may be regarded as indicative of the reckless manners of the times, that the last of the Danish kings of England died suddenly at a marriage-feast; his death being imputed by some to poison, but, with more likelihood of truth, to his being then intoxicated.
We have now reached the period at which the Danes arrived in this country; but they so neglected the arts essential to life as to have little claim upon our respect. Their neglect of husbandry was great. The other arts were abandoned to the women, who spun wool for their clothing. Rude carving with the knife seems to have been the principal and natural talent of the Danes. Their houses were mostly erected near a spring, a wood, or an open field, at a distance from any others. The best of their dwellings were only thick, heavy pillars, united by boards, and covered with turf; though there sometimes existed a pride in having them of great extent, and with lofty towers.
In a late volume of the Gentleman's Magazine, we find this interesting page of research upon the names of provisions, which throw some light upon the mode of living among the higher and lower classes of our population. "Bread, with the common productions of the garden, such as pease, beans, eggs, and some other articles which might be produced in the cottage-garden or yard, retain their Saxon names, and evidently formed the chief nourishment of the Saxon portion of the population. Of meat, though the word is Saxon, they ate probably little; for it is one of the most curious circumstances connected with the English language, that while the living animals are called by Anglo-Saxon names, as oxen, calves, sheep, pigs, deer, the flesh of those animals when prepared for the table is called by names which are all Anglo-Norman—beef, veal, mutton, pork, venison. The butcher who killed them is himself known by an Anglo Norman name. Even fowls when killed receive the Norman name of poultry. This can only be explained by the circumstance that the Saxon population in general was only acquainted with the living animals, while their flesh was carried off to the castle and table of the Norman possessors of the land, who gave it names taken from their own language. Fresh meat, salted, was hoarded up in immense quantities in the Norman castles, and was distributed lavishly to the household and idle followers of the feudal possessors. Almost the only meat obtained by the peasantry, unless, if we believe old popular songs, by stealth, was bacon, and that also is still called by an Anglo-Norman name."
he history of building of Castles in England and Wales may be divided into periods of transition, changing with the exigencies and requirements of the age, and its character of civilization.
The Castles of England consist of those erected by the Romans; of British and Saxon castles erected previous to, and Norman castles erected after, the Norman Conquest; also of the more modern stone and brick castles, erected from about the reign of Edward I. to the time of Henry VII.
The Roman castles in this country are numerous, and some of them still in very perfect condition, such as Burgh Castle and Richborough. More popularly known is Pevensey, once a maritime town of considerable importance, the site of which is now fixed with all but certainty, as that of the strong old city, Anderida, though this distinction has been claimed by no less than seven Sussex towns. Abundance of Roman bricks have been found here, affording strong presumption of there having been originally a Roman fortress on the spot. But the celebrity of Pevensey (for, though reduced to a village, it has an undying name in our history) rests upon its having been the place of debarkation of William, Duke of Normandy, on his successful invasion of this land in 1066. It was, therefore, the first scene of the Norman Conquest, the most momentous event in English history, perhaps the most momentous in the Middle Ages. Here William landed from a fleet of 900 ships, with 60,000 men, including cavalry; and having refreshed his troops, and hastily erected a fortress, he marched forward to Hastings, and thence to Battle (then called Epitou), where, on the 14th of October, he obtained a decisive victory over King Harold. Southey, upon the conjoint authorities of Turner, Palgrave, and Thierry, gives such a version of the Normans landing at Pevensey, as to decide its having been a Roman station. "They landed," he says, "without opposition, on the 28th of September, between Pevensey and Hastings, at a place called Bulverhithe. William occupied the Roman castle at Pevensey; erected three wooden forts, the materials of which he had brought ready with him for construction; threw up works to protect part of his fleet, and burnt, it is said, the rest, or otherwise rendered them unserviceable."[21]
Upon his accession, the Conqueror gave the town and castle to his half-brother, Robert, Earl of Mortagne in Normandy, whose descendant, William, was deprived of all his possessions, and banished the realm, by Henry I. for rebellion. That monarch granted them to Gilbert de Aquila, in allusion to whose name this district was afterwards styled the Honour of the Eagle.
The outer work of the castle contains many Roman bricks and much herring-bone work. The outer walls, the most ancient part of the fortification, inclose seven acres, and are from twenty to twenty-five feet high. The moat on the south side is still wide and deep; on the other side it has been filled up. The entrance is on the west or land side, between two round towers, over a drawbrige. Within the walls is another and much more modern fortification, approaching a pentagonal form, with nearly five circular towers, moated on the north and west. It is entered from the outer court by a drawbridge on the west side between two towers. The principal barbican, or watch tower, is not at the entrance, but towards the north-east corner. The walls are nine feet thick, and the towers were two or three stories in height. The castle was of great strength: it withstood the attacks of William Rufus's army for six days, protecting Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who ultimately yielded only for want of provisions; and it afterwards successfully resisted the siege of King Stephen, who personally superintended the attack, but met with so gallant an opposition from Gilbert, Earl of Clare, that he was obliged to withdraw his force, leaving only a small body to blockade it by sea and land. It once more resisted hostile attacks, when it was fruitlessly assailed in 1265, by Simon de Montfort, son of the renowned Earl of Leicester. Again, when Sir John Pelham was in Yorkshire, in 1339, assisting Henry, Duke of Lancaster, to gain the crown, the castle, left under the command of Lady Jane Pelham, was attacked by large bodies of the yeomen of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, who favoured the deposed King Richard, but was bravely and successfully defended by Lady Jane Pelham.
Pevensey castle remained as a fortress till the reign of Elizabeth: two ancient culverins, one of which bears her initials, are yet preserved; after which its history is not traced till the Parliamentary survey of 1675, when the fortress was in ruins, and the ground within the walls was cultivated as a garden. The demesne and castle are now held by the Cavendish family, under a lease from the Duchy of Lancaster, which was originally granted to the Pelhams by Henry IV., son of the famous John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, to whom the Honour of the Eagle had been given, on his surrender of the great earldom of Richmond.
It is remarkable that no mention is made of Pevensey Castle in the Saxon times; but if not erected by the Romans, it was certainly built from the remains of an older fortress. The Saxons most probably adapted the Roman inclosures to their modes of defence; and it appears that they often raised a mound on one side of the walls, on which they erected a keep or citadel.
We are indebted to the Saxons but for few social improvements; since, in the words of the Wiltshire antiquary, John Aubrey, "They were so far from having arts, that they could not even build with stone. The church at Glaston (bury) was thatched. They lived skittishly in their houses, they ate a great deal of beef and mutton, and drank good ale in a brown mazzard, and their very kings were but a sort of farmers. The Normans then came, and taught them civility and building."
In various parts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, there are numerous encampments or castles, mostly occupying the summits of hills, which have been ascribed to the aboriginal inhabitants. Amongst the most remarkable are the Hereford Beacon, on the Malvern hills, in Worcestershire; the Caer-Caradock, near Church Stretton, in Shropshire; Moel Arthur, in Flintshire; Chun Castle, in Cornwall; and the magnificent hill-fort, Maiden Castle, or the Castle of the great Hill, within three miles of Dorchester.
Maiden Castle had four gateways of stone; in excavations have been found round stones, probably sling stones, and pottery, denoting its original occupation by Britons; how the fortress was supplied with water has not been traced. This famous earthwork is considered of a period anterior to that of the Britons and Romans: the extent of the work is one mile, and the ramparts are, in some places, sixty feet high. Another famous earthwork in Dorset is Poundbury, a Roman encampment, though it has been set down as Danish, and an Anglo-Saxon camp of council.[22]
Before we leave the Roman period, we may remark that the manufacture of bricks and tiles must then have been known in England, because it was practised in such perfection by our conquerors during their occupation, as is evident in the numerous remains of their buildings.[23] It has, however, been asserted that up to the reign of Elizabeth, the houses of the gentry throughout England were built entirely of timber; whereas, of the mansions of earlier date than that reign, which remain entire or in part to this day, three-fourths, at least, are built of stone or brick. The latter material is stated by Bagford and others to have been first introduced in the reign of Henry VII. Yet, Endure Palace, in Oxfordshire, erected by William De la Pole, and Hurstmonceux Castle, in Sussex, both of which are of brick, are attributed to the reign of Henry VI. Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk, was erected in the reign of Edward IV. Leland mentions the walls of Hungerford, as early as the reign of Richard II., being of that material; and Stow records Ralph Stratford, Bishop of London, inclosing the burial-ground of Charter-house, for those that died of the plague in 1348, with a wall of brick. That roofing-tiles were in use before the time of Richard I. is proved by the order made in the first years of that reign, Henry Fitzalwayne being Mayor of London, that the houses of that city should be covered with "brent tyle," instead of "strawe," or reeds. The ancient name for bricks appears to have been wall-tiles, to distinguish them from floor-tiles, used for paving.
William the Conqueror lost no time in erecting strong castles in all the principal towns in the kingdom, as at Lincoln, Norwich, Rochester, &c. for the double purpose of strengthening the towns, and keeping the citizens in awe. The Conqueror's followers, among whom he parcelled out the lands of the English, imitated their master's example by building castles on their estates; and so rapidly did they increase, that in the reign of Stephen, or within a century after the arrival of the Conqueror, there are said to have been 1115 castles completed in England alone.
One of the earliest was Conisborough Castle, built by William, the first Earl of Warren, about six miles west of Doncaster: the remains, as far as can be traced, extend about 700 feet in circumference; but the chief object is a noble round tower, strengthened by six massive square buttresses, running from the base to the summit. The extreme thickness of the walls is 15 feet; of each buttress 23 feet; and the entrance is 24 feet from the ground, up a flight of steps. In the centre of the first floor is a round hole, which is the only entrance to a lower apartment, or dungeon. This Castle is chosen by Sir Walter Scott for one of the principal scenes of his romance of Ivanhoe.
Many of the castles of this age were of great size. Instead of a single tower, they consisted of several towers, both round and square, united by walls, inclosing a space called a courtyard, the entrance to which was generally between two strong towers. The whole building was surrounded by a moat or ditch, across which a drawbridge led to the massive doors, which were covered with plates of iron, and in front of them, an iron portcullis—like a harrow, such as we see in the arms of the city of Westminster—was let down the rough, deep grooves in the stonework; whilst overhead projected a parapet, resting on corbels, with openings through which melted lead or hot water could be poured, or stones thrown on the heads of the assailants, who should attempt an entrance by forcing, or, as was the usual mode of attack, by setting fire to the door.[24] The gateways of Caerlaverock, Conway, Carisbrooke, and Caernarvon castles, present good specimens of this kind; as do the Middle Tower, and the Bloody Tower, in the Tower of London: the latter has the most perfect portcullis in the kingdom.
A principal tower or keep rose prominently above the rest, and generally from an artificial mount. It contained the well of water, without which the garrison, when besieged, could not hold out in this their last place of refuge. The keep also had its subterranean prison, and several stories of apartments communicating by a staircase, either in the walls, or built outside the tower.
As the railway traveller journeys along the South Eastern line, he will see close to the Tunbridge station, the towered entrance-gate of the castle built by Richard de Tonbridge, a follower of the Conqueror. The whole building was moated, and the exterior walls inclosed an area of about six acres. There remain only two massive towers flanking an arched gateway, with walls of great thickness, and having no other openings than long narrow slits, called oilets, through which, when besieged, archers shot their arrows. In front of this entrance was formerly a drawbridge, thrown across the moat, which, when raised, formed a strong door, closing up the archway. This opening was again guarded by two portcullises and two thick doors. The towers appear to have been divided into four stories, or floors, the lower being dungeons or prisons, and the upper formed into a large and noble hall, extending the whole width and depth of the two towers. It was lighted by two large windows towards the inner court. The towers are supposed, from their style, to have been built in the reign of King John, or Henry III. The windows were not glazed, but had iron bars; the floor and ceiling were of immense thickness, the latter three feet. Branching from this tower-entrance, are certain walls to the right and left; the first extending up the side of a lofty hill, whereon was the keep-tower, or chief residence of the baron: to this, it is presumed, he retreated when other parts of his castle had been taken by an enemy.
The following account of the siege of Bedford Castle by Henry III., given in Camden's Britannia, is interesting, as containing a summary of the principal portions of the building, and the several stages of the attack:—"The castle was taken by four assaults: in the first was taken the barbican; in the second, the outer bail (ballium); at the third attack, the wall by the old tower was thrown down by the miners, where, with great danger, they possessed themselves of the inner bail through a chink; at the fourth assault, the miners set fire to the tower, so that the smoke burst out, and the tower itself was cloven to that degree, as to show visibly some broad chinks; whereupon the enemy surrendered."
The most perfect of our northern castles now existing, is Raby, the stately seat of the Duke of Cleveland, the history of which is traced through eight centuries and a half. Raby, pointing by its name to a Danish origin, is first mentioned in connexion with King Canute, who, after making his celebrated pilgrimage over Garmondsway Moor to the shrine of St. Cuthbert, there offered it, with other possessions, to the saint. Bishop Flambard wrested the rich gift from the monastics, but restored it again on his death-bed. It continued in the peaceful possession of the monks till 1131. In that year they granted it, for an annual rent of £4, to Dolphin, son of Ughtred, of the blood-royal of Northumberland. Whoever the original founder might have been, Dolphin's descendant, Robert filius Maldred, was Lord of Raby when, early in the thirteenth century, he married Isabel Neville, by the death of her brother the last of that line. From their son Geoffrey, who assumed his mother's surname, the history of the Nevilles may be said to date. To his descendant, John Lord Neville, they owed Raby. Some portion of the older fabric is thoroughly incorporated with the new, so as to present the work and ideas of one period, and a perfect example of a fourteenth-century castle, without any appearance of earlier work or later alteration whatever. Its apparent weakness of site has been pointed out; but though not set on a hill, it had the defence of water, which was drawn off centuries since. But the real defences of Raby lay beyond the mere circuit of its own walls and waters. They are to be found in the warrior spirits of its lords and in the border castles of Roxburgh, Wark, Norham, Berwick, and Bamburgh, which they commanded continuously as warders and governors from the days of Robert Neville, in the thirteenth century, to the time of Queen Elizabeth. Apart from the question of the site, the stately castle itself is of great strength, and skilfully disposed.
Passing through a fine gate-tower, the bailey (immediately within the outer ward) is entered. The castle itself consists of a quadrangular mass of great dignity and splendour, with an open court in the centre. One side of the court, or the quadrangle, is occupied by two halls, one above the other, of such stupendous proportions that carriages are admitted to drive across the quadrangle into the lower hall. The sides of the quadrangle have the kitchen and offices springing from one end of the hall, and the principal chambers of the castle from the other, according to the usual distribution of the age.
Although a view of most of those fortresses which are destined chiefly for the purposes of war or defence, suggests to the imagination dungeons, chains, and a painful assemblage of horrors, yet some of these castles were often the scenes of magnificence and hospitality,
"Where the songs of knights and barons bold
In weeds of peace high triumph hold;"
or where, in the days of chivalry, the wandering knight or distressed princess found honourable reception; the holy palmer repose for his wearied limbs; and the poor and helpless their daily bread.
Leland considered Raby as "the largest castle of logginges in all the north country." At different periods alterations have been made, according to the more modern ideas of comfort and convenience, without materially affecting its external form, so that it recalls to the mind the romantic days of chivalry. The embattled wall with which it is surrounded, occupies about two acres of ground. At irregular distances are two towers, named from their founders, the Clifford Tower and the Bulmer Tower. The halls are large and grand. In the upper, or Baron's hall, ninety feet in length, and thirty-four in breadth, the baronial feasts were held; and here,
"Seven hundred knights, retainers all
Of Neville, at their master's call,
Together sat in Raby's Hall."
When the British Archæological Association visited Raby in the autumn of 1865, the Duke of Cleveland, as the President of the Association, entertained some 200 guests at a sumptuous dinner, in which venison, venison pasties, and grouse were paramount. The kitchen is on a scale to correspond with the enormous festivals of the seven hundred knights: it is a square of thirty feet, having three chimneys, one for the grate, a second for stoves, and the third (now stopped up) for the great cauldron. The roof is arched, and has a small cupola in the centre; it has likewise five windows, from each of which steps descend, but only in one instance to the floor; and a gallery runs round the whole interior of the building. The ancient oven is said to have allowed a tall person to stand upright in it, its diameter being fifteen feet; according to Pennant, it was one time converted into a wine-cellar, "the arches being divided into ten parts, each holding a hogshead of wine in bottles." "The park and pleasure grounds belonging to this magnificent castle are upon the same extensive scale, with woods that sweep over hill and sink into valley, and command a constant change of beautiful prospects."[25]
Durham Castle is another noble pile of the north. The outer gateway is a Norman arch; traces of Norman work are seen in the courtyard; and we then reach the hall, which, as left by Bishop Hatfield, was at least a third longer than it is at present. It owes it curtailment to Bishop Fox (1494-1502), who erected a kitchen and other offices at the lower end. This kitchen remains in its original form, with wide-yawning fireplaces still applied to their original purpose; and the buttery hatches in old black oak have the motto of "Est Deo gracio," in black-letter, carved upon them. A tapestried gallery, with an elaborate Norman doorway, leads to Bishop Tunstall's chapel; and in another apartment, now the senate-room of the University of Durham, is some curious tapestry of the history of Moses. The keep, now refaced and restored, was rebuilt by Bishop Hatfield. The castle is commonly said to be no older than William the Conqueror; but a fortress must have existed from a much earlier period, and the mound is artificial. The Norman chapel of the castle, its most ancient portion, is usually assigned to King William I., though of the time of Rufus. The pavement of herring-bone is, no doubt, coeval. The whole of Durham Castle is now in excellent preservation, and the union of the past with the present is well maintained; for the old keep, which commands beautiful views of the Wear and the outlying country, is parcelled out into rooms, which are occupied by the students of the University. The great hall of the castle is hung with old paintings, chiefly the portraits of bishops and ecclesiastics connected with the see. At the lower end of the apartment, about half way between the roof and the ground, are two niches, at opposite sides, built for the minstrels of the period, and from which they regaled the guests.
The legendary histories of our castles would take us too far afield for our limits. Sometimes, in these legends, the very names of the Teutonic mythic personages are preserved. Thus, a legend in Berkshire has retained the name of the Northern and Teutonic smith-hero, Weland, the representative of the classical Vulcan. The name of Weland's father, Wade, is preserved in the legend of Mulgrave Castle, in Yorkshire, which is pretended to have been built by a giant of that name. A Roman road, which passes by it, is called Wade's Causeway; and a large tumulus, or cairn of stones, in the vicinity is popularly called Wade's Grave. According to the legend, while the giant Wade was building his castle, he and his wife lived upon the milk of an enormous cow, which she was obliged to leave at pasture on the distant moors. Wade made the causeway for her convenience, and she assisted him in building the castle by bringing him quantities of large stones in her apron. One day, as she was carrying a bundle of stones, her apron-string broke, and they all fell to the ground, a great heap of about twenty cart-loads,—and there they still remain as a memorial of her industry. Another castle in Yorkshire, occupying an early site, was said, according to a legend related by Leland in the sixteenth century, to have been built by a giant named Ettin. This is a mere corruption of the name of the eotenas, or giants of Teutonic mythology.
One of our most celebrated castles of defence is Corfe Castle, in Dorset, a remarkable specimen of mediæval military architecture. The earliest notice of this fortress is in an Anglo-Saxon charter of the year 948. In 981 Corfe was the scene of the murder of King Edward the Martyr. After the death of his father, Edgar, Elfrida, his widow, headed a faction in opposition to the accession of Edward, and continued her intrigues until her unscrupulous ambition at last led her to the perpetration of a deed which has covered her name with infamy. This was the murder of her step-son by a hired assassin, as he stopped one day while hunting, at her residence, Corfe Castle; he was stabbed in the back, as he sat on his horse at the gate of the castle, drinking a cup of mead. The 18th of March, 978, is the date assigned to the murder of King Edward, who was only in his seventeenth year when he was thus cut off. He is retained in the calendar of the Anglican Church as a saint and martyr. The castle, which was the strongest fortress in the kingdom, formed an irregular triangle, the apex of which was connected by a narrow isthmus with the high ground, on which the town of Corfe stands. The isthmus had been cut through, and the ditch thus formed was spanned by a stately bridge of arches leading to the principal entrance of the fortress. Only the south side and parts of the east and west sides of the keep are standing, and large masses of prostrate walls lie in confusion around. The keep is Norman, believed to have been built by the Conqueror. King John kept his treasure and regalia here, and used the castle as a state prison. Twenty-four nobles concerned in the insurrection by his nephew, Arthur, Duke of Brittany, were, save two, it was said, there starved to death. King John caused Prince Arthur to be murdered, and sent his sister, the beautiful Princess Eleanor, prisoner to Corfe, where she remained several years.
Edward II., when he fell into the hands of his enemies, was, for a time, imprisoned here. In 1635, the castle and manor came into the possession of Sir John Bankes, Lord Chief Justice of England, and ancestor of the present owner. In the great Civil War, Corfe Castle was strongly defended for the king, by Lady Bankes, wife of the Lord Chief Justice, with the assistance of her friends and retainers, and of a governor sent from the king's army. The castle was one of the last places in England that held out for Charles I. In the year 1645, it was captured by the Parliamentary forces through treachery, and reduced to the shapeless but picturesque fragments that now remain. Lady Bankes's heroic defence is narrated in the Story of Corfe Castle, a volume of stirring interest; and the event is a favourite subject with our historical painters. The ruins of Corfe are extensive, and from their very high situation, form a very striking object. "The vast fragments of the King's Tower," says Hutchins, "the Round Tower, leaning, as if nearly to fall, the broken walls, and vast pieces of them tumbled into the vale below, form such a scene of havoc and desolation, as strikes every spectator with sorrow and concern. The abundance of stone in the neighbourhood, the excellence of the cement, harder to be broken than the stones themselves, have preserved these prodigious ruins from being embezzled and lessened."
In the age of Edward III. the castles differed from those of previous periods. The confined plan of the close fortress expanded into a mixture of the castle and the mansion; comprising spacious and magnificent apartments, the hall, the banqueting-room, the chapel, with galleries of communication, and sleeping chambers. The keep was entirely detached, and independent of these buildings. Such was the royal palace of Windsor, erected by Edward III.; and such were the splendid baronial castles of Warwick, Ludlow, Stafford, Harewood, Alnwick, Kenilworth, Raglan, and many others. The last-mentioned is one of the most perfect examples we are acquainted with, of the union of vast strength and security, with convenient accommodation and ornamental splendour. The keep is a perfect fortress in itself, and encircled by a range of minor towers and moat. Its masonry is unrivalled.[26]
Of one of these spacious castles we give a descriptive outline, chiefly from the paper read by Mr. J. H. Parker, on the visit of the Archæological Institute to Windsor, in July 1866. Amongst the royal and palatial edifices of Europe, that of Windsor holds a very high rank, and is, in a manner, to England what Versailles is to France and the Escurial to Spain; and while it is infinitely superior to both in point of situation, it far exceeds them, and indeed every other pile or building of its class, in antiquity. From having been the residence of so many of our kings, its history is, to a certain extent, identified with that of the kingdom itself from the time of the Conquest. The castle stands on an outlying promontory of chalk, commanding the winding shores of that part of the Thames, with a rich valley, which seems to have pointed it out as a natural position for a fortress in primitive times, when the natives wished to protect their country from invasion. The wide and deep entrenchments, and the high artificial mounds, indicate an early date. There are also roads at the bottom of the fosses, with a wide bank between them, on which several keeps were erected, first of wood and afterwards of stone. A subterranean passage leading from the bottom of the outer foss, at a depth of thirty feet, to the bottom of the inner foss, at a depth of fifteen feet (the present pantries), cut in a very rude manner through the solid chalk, has a vault of the time of Henry II. carried on chalk walls, built over a small part of it as far as the Norman buildings extended only: the doorways are of the same period, one of which is quite perfect, and opens into the inner foss. If Windsor Castle had been built in the fifth century by King Arthur, as was believed by Edward III. and the chronicler Froissart, the roads would have been on the level. They are more likely of the time of Caractacus or Julius Cæsar. Edward the Confessor is believed to have resided chiefly at Old Windsor, where some of the ancient earthworks certainly belong to a period before the Norman Conquest. William himself is said to have built a castle at Windsor, but there is no evidence of it. The Domesday Survey rather proves that there was one previously existing, which had been inhabited by Earl Harold in the time of the Confessor. Henry I. is said by Stow, writing in the fifteenth century, to have built New Windsor chiefly of wood; some of the fragments of stone carving found in the castle may be of his time.
Stephen built nothing here, but Windsor is mentioned in the treaty of Wallingford as a fortress of importance. The name "Norman Tower," as given to one part of the pile, is erroneous, as the Norman keep is nothing more than earthworks surmounted by a wooden structure. The earliest date which can be assigned to any stone masonry which has been discovered at Windsor is the reign of Henry II. In the time of Henry II. the first mention of the castle is made in the Pipe Rolls. The outer wall of the south front of the upper ward remains, with the lower part of the king's gate, its hinges, and portcullis groove; the upper part was destroyed, and the whole concealed in other buildings by Wyatville, in the restoration works under George IV. In the reigns of Richard I. and John only necessary repairs were made.
With Henry III. the history of the existing castle may be said to begin. The whole of the lower ward was then first built of stone, and many portions of the existing walls are found to be of that period. The Clewer Tower—now known as the Curfew Tower—remains almost unaltered, and exhibits in good condition a prison of the above period.
The King's Hall is now the Chapter library, but the chambers of the King and Queen have been destroyed. Plans and drawings of them have been preserved; and the measurements agree with the orders of the kings, as recorded in the public rolls.
Of the primitive chapel the north wall is still preserved; the galilee being now the east end (behind the altar) of St. George's Chapel. The doorways of the galilee are one of Henry III., the other of Edward III.; the west end of the chapel has been rebuilt several times. The arcade in the cloisters was protected by a wooden roof only. This chapel was completed by Edward III. and made into a lady-chapel, when the great St. George's Chapel was built. It was partly rebuilt by Henry VII. for the tomb of Lady Margaret, his mother, and afterwards was proposed for that of Henry VIII. It was much altered by James II. and partly restored by George IV. At the present time it is being made the object of devoted care, under the direction of Mr. Gilbert Scott. The roof has been vaulted in stone, the pattern of that of Henry VII. is being inlaid with mosaic work, and the windows filled with stained glass; and the edifice is to be a sepulchral chapel over the Royal vaults, in memory of the late Prince Consort. Mural paintings of kings' heads have been found of the date of Henry III. and Edward III., and are preserved in the cloister and galilee.
During the reign of Edward I. the accounts show that the great works begun by Henry III. were carried on and completed; but no new works appear to have been undertaken. In the reign of Edward II. there were considerable sums expended on repairs of the walls, towers, and bridges, chiefly for timber and carpenters' work.
The reign of Edward III. is one of the most important in respect to the history of Windsor, a large part of the existing castle having been built at that period, and its survey has been lately brought to light. Another equally important document is the builder's account for the Round Tower, which was entirely built from the ground in the eighteenth year of this reign, and still remains, though much altered in appearance, from the additional story superposed by Mr. Wyatville, under George IV.
This building is sometimes called the Round Tower, and sometimes the Round Table; and, from other peculiarities in the same accounts, it is evident that the tower was built to hold the table. The galleries on which this round table was placed are still remaining, and the general disposition of the apartment where the knights dined on St. George's day is well seen from the summit of the Round Tower. The tables of those days were seldom more than a few planks in width, and the guests sat round on one side, the other being open for the service of the attendants. The centre of this great round table, then, was designed for the latter purpose, and was open to the air, a passage communicating on a level from this central space to the kitchen on the top of the middle gate, which has thus acquired the title of the "Kitchen Tower." The tower and table were erected in ten months, the greatest haste being made in order that the new order of knights might dine here on St. George's day following.
Edward III. did not build a chapel at Windsor, but only completed the one which had been begun by Henry III.; adding to it or rebuilding a cloister, a vestry, and other adjuncts.
After the thirteenth year, when William of Wykeham was appointed clerk of the works, with a salary of one shilling a day, an entirely new hall, with a new suite of apartments and offices, was built in the upper bailey, where the royal apartments now are; and the fine series of vaults under these apartments, forming ceilings to the servants' hall and other rooms and offices, still remain in perfect preservation, as built by Wykeham, who remained in this appointment only six years. The summary of his accounts during that time shows an expenditure of 5,658l.—equivalent to 120,000l. (?) of our money.
From this period, comparatively little was done for a century, when Edward IV. began to re-erect St. George's Chapel, nearly as we now see it; thereby adding, if not immediately to the castle itself, to the buildings within its precincts, one of extraordinary beauty and interest, as being in some respects the very finest specimen of the Perpendicular style and of ecclesiastical architecture in the kingdom. What adds, in some degree, to the interest of this edifice is, that the architects' names are preserved to us, it being known to be the work, first of Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury; and, after his death, in 1481, it was completed by Sir Reginald Bray, who was also architect of Henry VII.'s Chapel. This sovereign intended to erect a mausoleum for himself at Windsor, and had begun to do so on the site of the original chapel built by Henry III.; but he abandoned the idea in favour of that at Westminster. Henry VII., however, added to the castle that building which is still called after him, and which is situated at the western extremity of the north side of the great quadrangle. Fortunately, this has been preserved, owing, perhaps, partly to its situation; for, although a mere "bit," it is a singularly fine one, and a noble specimen of palatial architecture, in that particular style.[27]
The small tower at the south-west angle of the Royal apartments near the library, now called erroneously King John's Tower, is an octagonal building, and the two chambers in it have very good vaults, with the ribs meeting in a central boss, which is in both cases carved into the form of a rose. This enables this rose-tower and the rose-vaults to be identified in a very remarkable manner. The tower was very richly painted, and the quantity of paint and other materials charged on the roll misled the late Mr. Hudson Turner, who had only seen a portion of these accounts, and made him think they belonged to the great Round Tower, and that it was painted on the outside. The dates do not agree with this, and there is no evidence of external painting.
The works which had been carried on during a great part of the long reign of Edward III. were not completed at the time of his death, and were continued under Richard II.; but with the exception of necessary repairs, the accounts for this reign relate chiefly to the offices and dependencies of the cattle, especially the mews for the falcons, which was evidently a large and important establishment not within the walls.
Geoffrey Chaucer, "the father of English poetry," was appointed, in the fourteenth year of this reign, clerk of the works, but very little was done in his time. The old chapter house, the remains of Henry the VII.'s palace, and the Clewer Tower and prison, are objects of much interest. A flight of about twenty steps leads down into the dungeons, which had been constructed by Henry III. for the confinement of State prisoners: it is a large and finely-arched vault, surrounded by seven small cells, each dismally lighted through a loop-hole in the thick wall.
The reign of Elizabeth forms almost an epoch in the architectural history of the castle, because, though she did not do much to it in the way of building, except annexing the portion erected by Henry VII., that which is distinguished by the name of Queen Elizabeth's Gallery, she first caused the terraces to be formed, thereby adding to the royal abode of Windsor, these truly regal characteristics. Under the Stuarts nothing material was done until the Restoration, when the castle began to be modernised, but in insipid taste. The principal addition made by Charles II. was the Star Building (containing the State Apartments shown to the public). The rooms were spacious and lofty, with large arched windows, commanding enchanting prospects; their only embellishment was derived from the sprawling pencil of Verrio. The first two Georges did nothing for Windsor; George III. on the contrary, much, especially in restoring the interior of St. George's Chapel. In 1796, James Wyatt Gothicised the Star Building, and other portions. Meanwhile, the east and south sides, the portions actually inhabited, were so inconvenient that it was found indispensable, in 1778-82, to erect a separate building for the actual occupation of the royal family: this was the Queen's Lodge, a large, plain house on the south side of the castle, near the site of the present stables. About 1823, George IV., with a grant of 300,000l. from Parliament, began his grand improvements, with Jeffry Wyatt for his architect; commencing with George the Fourth's Gateway, the entrance into the quadrangle on the south side, in a direct line with the Long Walk. We shall not attempt to detail the improvements: among the most effective is the fine architectural vista quite through from the north terrace by George the Fourth's Gateway; the addition of the Waterloo Gallery, lighted from above, and brought into a group with the Throne-room and the Ball-room. St. George's Hall has been greatly improved, and at its western end has been constructed the Chapel. By renovation and remodelling the exterior, greater height has been given to most of the buildings; some of the towers have been carried up higher, and others added: amongst these last are the Lancaster and York, flanking George IV.'s Gateway; and the Brunswick Tower at the north-east angle. But the most striking improvement of the kind was that of carrying up the Round Tower thirty feet higher, exclusive of the Watch Tower on its summit, which makes the height in that part twenty-five feet more; thus rendering the castle much more conspicuous than formerly as a distant object.
The architect's work has been much animadverted on: the details and strange intermixture of the earliest and latest styles of Gothic are very objectionable; and, as to general effect, Canon Bowles objected that the renovated pile looked as if it had been washed with soap and water! Nevertheless, it is a stately pile; the venerable Canon, just named, says of it: "Windsor Castle loses a great deal of its architectural impression (if I may use that word) by the smooth neatness with which its old towers are now chiselled and mortared. It looks as if it was washed every morning with soap and water, instead of exhibiting here and there a straggling flower, or creeping weather-stains. I believe this circumstance strikes every beholder; but, most imposing indeed is its distant view, when the broad banner floats or sleeps in the sunshine, amidst the intense blue of the summer skies; and its picturesque and ancient architectural vastness harmonizes with the decaying and gnarled oaks, coeval with so many departed monarchs. The stately, long-extended avenue, and the wild sweep of devious forests, connected with the eventful circumstances of English history, and past regal grandeur, bring back the memories of Edwards and Henries, or the gallant and accomplished Surrey." In 1825, Canon Bowles, who had been chaplain to the Prince Regent, and writes himself down as not a Laureate, but "a poet of loyal, old Church of England feelings," sung as follows:—
"Not that thy name, illustrious dome, recalls
The pomp of chivalry in banner'd halls,
The blaze of beauty, and the gorgeous sights
Of heralds, trophies, steeds, and crested knights;
Not that young Surrey here beguiled the hour,
With eyes upturn'd unto the maiden's tower.[28]
Oh! not for these, and pageants pass'd away,
I gaze upon your antique towers, and pray—
But that my Sovereign here, from crowds withdrawn,
May meet calm peace upon the twilight lawn;
That here, among these grey, primeval trees,
He may inhale health's animating breeze;
And when from this proud terrace he surveys
Slow Thames revolving his majestic maze,
(Now lost on the horizon's verge, now seen
Winding through lawns, and woods, and pastures green,)
May he reflect upon the waves that roll,
Bearing a nation's wealth from pole to pole,
And feel (ambition's proudest boast above)
A king's best glory is his country's love!"
"The range of cresting towers has a double interest, whilst we think of gorgeous dames and barons bold, of Lely and Vandyke's beauties; and gay, and gallant, accomplished cavaliers like Surrey. And who ever sat in the stalls of St. George's Chapel, without feeling the impression, on looking at the illustrious names, that here the royal and ennobled knights, through so many generations, sat each installed, whilst arms, and crests, and banners glittered over the same seat?"[29]
The interior of Windsor Castle, half a century since, mostly presented the decorative taste of the time of Charles the Second. To the seventeen State Apartments the public were admitted, until they were wearied with the mythological ceilings of Thornhill, Rigaud, and Matthew Wyatt; and the crowning genius of Verrio, in St. George's Hall. Throughout the apartments was placed the royal collection of pictures, then including the cartoons of Raphael; and the seven pictures of the glories of Edward III. painted by West for George III., remarkable for their historical accuracy, attributable to the friendly aid of Sir Isaac Heard, Garter King-at-arms, who was constantly at the elbow of the artist. And foremost among the decorative furniture were the State Bed of Queen Anne, silver chandeliers and glass-frames, and a "massive silver table from Hanover." Most of Gibbons's fine carvings appear to have been removed to Hampton Court. The Keep, or Round Tower, was the residence of the Constable or Governor of the castle, which he defended against all enemies, and he had the charge of all prisoners brought thither: the last was Major Belleisle, who lived in tapestried chambers, and beguiled his captivity with the loves of Hero and Leander and Cupid and Psyche. In the guard-chamber was a small magazine of arms. At the top of the stairs, within the wall, was planted a large piece of cannon, levelled, through an aperture, at the lower gate; there were also seventeen pieces of cannon mounted at the embrasures round the curtain of the towers, which was then the only battery in the castle, though formerly the whole place was strongly fortified with cannon on each of the several towers, besides those on the two platforms in the Lower Ward.
The remodelling of the private apartments of the castle has been effected with due regard to convenience and splendour. Among the more pleasurable memorials of royal visits, are the fittings of the apartments refurnished for the Emperor and Empress of the French, in which satin hangings, bordered with long-stitch needlework, in the natural colours of the flowers portrayed, are much admired, as are also the Brussels lace and white silk toilet-table, &c. There are in the state-rooms some fine Gobelin tapestries, inlaid cabinets, superb clocks, and a malachite vase and doors. In the plate room, among other superb works, is a tall vase of oxydized silver, produced for the Prince Consort, a short time previous to his death, at the cost of 1,000l.; besides rock crystal cups and beakers, the gold mounts studded with jewels, and the cups engraved and ornamented with flowers in silver filigree. Two of the most splendid receptions at the castle in the present reign, were the fêtes at the christening of the Prince of Wales in 1842, and the visits of Louis Philippe and some of his family in 1844: upon the latter occasion, the castle, seen from a distance, in the shades of an autumnal evening, with lights gleaming from nearly every window of the long-extended and stately pile, had a most enchanting effect.
Next to Windsor, deserves to be ranked Warwick Castle, in picturesqueness of site rivalling the royal palace; it is one of the finest specimens in the kingdom of the ancient residences of our feudal nobles. Not only for its architecture, but for its scenic accessories, and the sylvan character of the surrounding grounds, Warwick Castle is of almost matchless beauty. Of its archæology, on reference to the Pipe Rolls, we find it first mentioned in the 19th of Henry II., when it was furnished and garrisoned, at an expense of 10l. (equal to 200l. now), on behalf of the king against his son, and so it remained in the hands of Henry II. for three years. In the 20th and 21st of Henry II. are records of outlay for the soldiers, and in the latter year 50l. was spent in repairs. In the 7th year of King John, the castle, then belonging to the Crown (not the present castle, but a castle on the same site), was defended for 253 days; and in the days of Henry III. the walls were completely thrown down and destroyed. In the 9th of Edward II. (1315) it was returned, on an inquisition, as worth nothing except for the herbage in the courts and ditches, valued at 6s. 8d. a year. In the reign of Edward III. (1357) a new building was commenced by Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and finished about 1380. Guy's Tower was built in 1394. The next period in the architectural history of the castle is two or three hundred years later. The castle was then used as a gaol. The next work was the erection of the entrance-hall. Mr. Salvia, the architect, has been called in by the Earl of Warwick, and has made habitable a portion of the castle which before had been unused. The extreme beauty of the two towers is considered as unequalled in the world.
In the valuable collection of pictures in Warwick Castle are a curious portrait of Queen Elizabeth, painted very early in her reign; portrait of Sir Philip Sydney, the intimate friend of Fulke Greville; Charles I. on horseback, probably a copy made by Vandyke from that at Blenheim; and the colossal picture of Charles I. copied from the original in the Vandyke Room at Windsor, a duplicate of which is to be seen at Hampton Court. At Warwick, too, is Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII. noted for the exquisite finish of its details. The collection of ancient and modern armour is very valuable. The great hall of the castle, in its appearance and furniture, retains much of its ancient character. Externally, the form of the building has sustained little alteration; its site is a solid rock, in which the cellars are excavated. Cæsar's Tower is the most ancient; Guy's Tower, of Decorated English character, is la fine preservation. In one of the greenhouses is the celebrated ancient marble vase brought to England by the Earl of Warwick, to whom it had been given by Sir William Hamilton; it is known as the Warwick Vase, and has been copied in various materials.
As you look from the castle windows upon the soft-flowing Avon, with its gentle ripple in your ears, the effect is fascinating, and you are almost carried back to the age of fays and fairies. Henry V. visited Guy's Cliff; and Shakspeare is supposed to have made it a favourite retirement.
Warwick has its apocryphal antiquities, more especially Guy's curiosities. The story of this famous fellow is said to have been taken from the exploits of Earl Leofric, husband of Lady Godiva; though the legendary Guy is derived by some from a French romance of the twelfth or thirteenth century. Guy, or a prototype, was reputed to be a living personage, and his sword and coat of mail formed the subject of a bequest in 1369. In the reign of Henry VIII. a pension was granted for the preservation of Guy's porridge-pot; but the conflict with the dun cow is not mentioned until in a seventeenth century play, though Dr. Caius, about 1552, saw a bone of a bonassus (cow) at Warwick Castle kept with the arms of Guy. In 1636 the rib of the dun cow was exhibited at Warwick. Guy's armour is a medley: a bassinet of Edward III.; breast-plate, fifteenth and seventeenth century; sword, Henry VIII.; staff, an ancient tilting-lance, very curious; the horse-armour, and "Fair Phillis' slippers" (strap-irons), are fifteenth century. In conclusion, "the renowned Guy" is considered to be a myth.
The first historical Earl of Warwick was so created by the Conqueror. The history of the castle has some strange episodes. In 1468, Edward IV. marching towards Warwick, was met by an embassy from the Earl of Warwick to treat for peace; which the king, too credulously listening to, rested in his camp at Wolvey; but the Earl surprised him by night in his bed, and took him prisoner to his castle at Warwick. In the Civil War, 1642, Warwick Castle, garrisoned for the Parliament, was besieged; and, after the battle of Edge Hill, when Charles left Birmingham, the inhabitants seized the carriages containing the loyal plato, and conveyed them to Warwick Castle. Then Warwick and Kenilworth were in deadly hate: in 1230 (47th Hen. III.), Maudit, Earl of Warwick, and his Countess, were surprised in Warwick Castle, by a party of rebels from Kenilworth Castle, when the walls were thrown down lest the royalists should use them again; and the Earl and Countess were carried prisoners to Kenilworth Castle.
Kenilworth, five miles from Warwick and Coventry, respectively, had a castle which was demolished in the war of Edmund Ironside and Canute the Dane, early in the eleventh century. In the reign of Henry I. the manor was bestowed by the king on Geoffrey de Clinton, who built a strong castle, and founded a monastery. The castle keep is attributed to the reign of King John; the outer wall to the time of Henry III. The castle was one of the strongholds of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in his insurrection against Henry III. and afforded shelter to his son, and others of his adherents, after the fatal battle of Evesham, in 1265; next year, however, it capitulated, after a gallant defence. A tournament of 100 knights was held here in 1278, the Earl of March principal challenger of the tilt-yard: of the ladies, who were splendidly attired, it is recorded, that they wore "silken mantles." The east range of buildings is referred to the middle of the reign of Edward II. who was confined in the castle, shortly before his murder in Berkeley Castle, in 1327. In the following reign, John of Gaunt became owner of the castle, which he much augmented by new and magnificent buildings. Henry IV. son of John of Gaunt, united the castle, which he inherited, to the domains of the Crown, of which it formed a part until the time of Elizabeth, who granted it to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who erected "Leicester's Buildings." The magnificent entertainments given here by Leicester to Elizabeth are minutely described by Laneham, an attendant on the court, in a tract, entitled The Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth. On her way thither, the Queen was entertained by Leicester under a splendid tent at Long Itchington. Kenilworth has been made familiar to the general reader by Sir Walter Scott's picturesque romance, which has sent thousands to pic-nic among the castle ruins: it was dismantled after the Civil War of Charles I.