Windsor Castle

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WINDSOR CASTLE Described by

EDWARD THOMAS

Pictured by E.

W, HASLEHUST

BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY

Tl/ackie

Sons " beautiful'

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Series

beautiful Cnglanb

The Peak

Oxford

The

English

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Dis-

The Dukeries and Cornish Warwick

Lakes Canterbury

The

Shakespeare-

Dickens-Land Winchester

Land

The

Windsor Castle Cambridge Norwich and the

Isle

of

Wight York

Chester

The New

Forest

rogate Scarborough

Bournemouth, and Poole,

Hampton Court

Broads

The

Leamington Bath and Wells Ripon and Har-

Riviera

The Thames

Dartmoor

Heart

of

Wessex

JBeautiful

Christchurch

Swanage

Exeter Hereford

District.

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Ulster

Leinster

connaught

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Chamonix

Villars, Champery,

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and

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7.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

The Curfew Tower

Frontispiece

Windsor Castle from Fellows' Eyot, Eton

The Lower Ward, Windsor

The Horse-Shoe

Cloisters

....

Castle

and

St.

8 12

George's Chapel

.

.

16

The Hundred Steps

22

The Norman Gate

26

The Canons'

30

Anne

Cloisters

Boleyn's

Window, Dean's

Cloisters

.

.

.

.36

North Terrace and Winchester Tower Nell Gwyn's

House and Henry VIII Gateway

Eton College from Windsor Virginia

Water

40 .

.

.44

..........

48

52

r*s^7>K<^

WINDSOR CASTLE m

*»

1

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD Celebrated places

make a

strong and often a visual

impression upon the mind before they are seen either in

reality or in

Windsor some little

picture.

from the west and at

which confirm

of those first

even

especially

distance,

one

is

augment, when

seen, the mysterious vision of the imagination.

Seen from the

flat

meadows

when thrushes

morning,

Windsor Castle with

and

Castle,

are

of Clewer on a moist

singing

the

in

a cloud

in

elms,

the

rises

up

like

nothing behind,

or

on either side of

east,

it,

but

a sky of dull silver, and nothing below but the smoke wreaths of the town gently and separately ascending.

It

is

without motion yet resolved

into

the

like full

a cloud, a huge of change; and

predominant

soft

it is

cloud,

presently

Round Tower, and

WINDSOR

6

one

on

side

of

it

the

perpendicularly

carved

St.

George's Chapel and the Curfew Tower, on the other side the cliffy, long front of the State Apartments. Even thus clear, the buildings are as remote as a cloud in a mental atmosphere of time and undefined

For these green meadows of Clewer Behind their cheap fences they seem to-day.

associations.

belong to

they are edged by lowly and modern houses which vote Liberal and flutter white

to expect the builder;

is

And on every hand the grey air. what it has been made within recent times.

river,

the Court, and Eton College have changed

on

linen

country

The

the

the face of this countryside into something charac-

every detail of a piece of England which attractive in itself and conveniently near

teristic in is

both

— almost

an hour by rail and hardly more by road, if you ignore the law and the It is dotted with neat white-windowed multitude.

London

within

half

houses of the rich and comparatively rich. The very dogs are wearing Conservative ribbons as they trot between their slouching red-faced masters and their delicately

are

stepping

many and

indolent

excellent,

mistresses.

The roads

and the beat of carriage

a constant music, though interrupted by the motor car's hoot and throb and hiss. Every road is "as smooth as a die, a real stockjobber's horses' hoofs

road

".

is

For centuries the roads to Windsor

must

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

been exceptionally good; in Swift's time it little more than a three-hours' journey from

have

was •

7

The

London.

inns

are

Bread and cheese

many.

and a drink cost half a crown, by paying which the visitor confers upon himself a companionship in a nameless but very honourable Victorian or Edwardian

There are many other instruments of

Order.

zation

—railway

lege,

the

stations, boathouses,

civili-

Wellington Col-

Royal Military College at Sandhurst, the

Royal Holloway College for Women, not to speak of the racecourses at Ascot and at Windsor, and the Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Broadmoor, while Aldershot

the

same

district.

road

from

Staines

itself is really in

On one

side

of the

to

Old

Windsor are gasworks, perhaps the most impressive and singular of purely modern architectural monuon the other

Runnymede, a vast green level, skirted by the river and walled by woods, perfectly worthy of the scene of King John's humiliation and the Barons' triumph in 1215, which have ments;

is

probably as it was before them, except for The Workhouse at Old the hedges of whitethorn.

left

it

Windsor iron

lies

oaks,

close

to

some

some of the

And

of the most masculine

quietest

reedy water and

neighbourhood of a running river, wide grass, embowered hills, and the great skies over the Thames, cause new things to furry

turf.

if

the

near

WINDSOR

8

rasp a

more harshly than

little

usual, these in their

turn give an exquisite edge to the rusticity.

Nowhere

elmy meadows, mistletoed poplars, willowy serpentining brooks, sweeter than at Datchet: the very name has a country sound before it is seen, and are

without any magical help from The

Nowhere more

Windsor. trip

half a

Merry Wives of

beautifully does the deer

dozen steps and then

rise

and glide the

same distance with only a forward motion, than under the spruces, at the edge of the high road, within half a mile of the confectionery turrets of

Holloway College. This tract of country was one of the earliest to be highly civilized, and for three centuries the dilettante

has

admired

Windsor on June

8,

1654,

it.

John

Evelyn

was

at

and found the Castle rooms

"

melancholy and of ancient magnificence", but walking on the terrace, he thought that "Eton, with the park, meandering Thames, and sweet meadows yield one of the

most

delightful prospects".

Ten years

later,

Pepys exclaimed: "Lord! the prospect that is in the balcony in the Queen's lodgings, and the terrace and walk, are strange things to consider, being the best

Windsor was "a delicious place". Gray stood on the same terrace looking towards Eton, and wrote a poem which began as if it was to be his Ode on the in the world,

sure".

Swift told Stella that

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

9

Intimations of Immortality, such was the feeling of its first two verses, and these lines especially: I

A

the gales that from ye blow momentary bliss bestow.

feel

Gray had an aunt at Stoke Poges, near Eton, and visited Stoke Park, where in 1799 a Mr. Penn put up a monument to him as author of the Elegy in a Country Churchyard. As I

forget

the

rest.

famous by name, but far less read, is the " Cooper's Hill", which Sir John Denham wrote in the first year of the Civil War.

In the opening lines-

Sure there are poets who did never dream Upon Parnassus, nor did taste the stream

Of Helicon; we therefore may suppose Those made not poets, but the poets those.

And

as courts So where the

make

not kings, but kings the court,

Muses and

their train resort

can be to thee Parnassus stands; A poet, thou Parnassus art to me if I

—

much later can now do more

the feeling and versification foreshadow

and better work.

But few readers

than remember having heard the four lines to the

Thames which express O could I My great Though

the poet's vain aspiration:

flow like thee, and make thy stream example, as it is my theme!

deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;

Strong without rage, without o'erflowing

full.

WINDSOR

io

Denham Purnish,

ten

miles

at

Hill,

from Windsor;

his

Ankerwyke contempo-

Waller, at Hall Barn at Beaconsfield,

Milton

away;

Pope stayed

Cooper's

miles

three

Edmund

rary,

on

lived

at

Binfield,

and Chalfont; and, sixty years after Denat

Horton

ham's poem, wrote his Windsor Forest. With all his asseveration he does nothing to convince us that he

was ever to

he was glad hard to believe that a lover of

at Windsor,

be there.

It

is

or that,

if

so,

trees wrote: Let old Arcadia boast her ample plain, Th' immortal huntress, and her virgin train; Nor envy, Windsor! since thy shades have seen As bright a Goddess, and as chaste a Queen; Whose care, like hers, protects the sylvan reign, The Earth's fair light, and Empress of the main.

He

alludes to

poem

is

in

Queen Anne.

The

a language no longer

greater part of the intelligible,

and

it

was written at the time when Windsor Park began to be what it now is. I recognize the same familiar strangeness in the style should be remembered

it

anonymous poet who described a stag chase in Windsor Forest in 1739. That Frederick, Prince of Wales, was his theme did not daunt but inspired of an

him, and he says:

Round

Frederick's

Hence taught

to

Brows

their

Crowns

let

Dryads wreath,

grasp at Dangers, Wounds, and Death.

n

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

This was a language not only praised by Swift as well as by later critics, but then commonly under-

though there

stood,

spoken.

It

is

fairly

of 1708 represented alas!

irrecoverable,

no proof that it was ever certain that an anonymous poet is

some

inner truth and vision,

by the words

in

his

now

"Windsor

Castle": Beneath

this Palace flows fair

Thames's Streams,

Where spreading Elms shade from the Sun's hot Beams; Where beauteous Sea- Nymphs on the Waters sport, And bulky Tritons grace the splendid Court.

For him Queen Anne was

like

the sun, and he be-

lieved that: Clouds with mourning Sables deck'd the Skies, Till Anna like another Sun did rise.

take " Queen Anne" as being the equivalent of "Sun", it may still be possible to make out the If

we

cipher which he and Pope used so mysteriously.

These are not the only great men connected with Windsor and the neighbourhood in the days of its transformation.

the Porch

Cowley, the eagle Cowley, came to

House

at Chertsey for his last years,

died there in 1667.

and

Colley Cibber, the famous Lau-

was drawn into the charmed land at Hill Later came Thomson to House, White Waltham. Beaconsfield was the home and burial Richmond.

reate,

place of Burke, where Johnson and Mirabeau talked

WINDSOR

12

At

with him.

Anne's

St.

Hill,

lover of nightingales, lived for five

James Fox, that

years at the end of his

and

its

near Chertsey, Charles

life.

It

was

to

Dropmore,

and gardens, that Lord Grenville

library

re-

And at Marlow twenty years. Shelley moored his boat to write Laon and Cythna\ at Bishopsgate he wrote Alastor; but for a romantic tired

his

for

last

poet to come within a few miles of Windsor, even though he was once an Etonian, was a rash if not

a sacrilegious

act,

and

is

it

country

and

Pope and George the

is

read

not

miles of elms in the

Charles

II

The

Shelley.

in 1680,

who

Fourth,

For

Denham

the creation of the ages of

this

did

out of the picture.

probably

plantation of the

two

Long Walk was begun under

and these are

far

more impressive

than the oaks at Swinley, which remind the imaginof

ative

and

Alfred

lines of this

the

Confessor.

The

straight

of

Queen Anne's

ride

dominate

Walk and

At Cranbourne the significant fact is not that William the Conqueror's Oak is in the White the Park.

Deer Enclosure, but that the racehorse

was born here

in

1764.

"

Eclipse"

The Bray Wood oak

trees

Ages were suddenly modernized by being named after Queen Anne and

that

sprouted

Queen

in

Middle

the

Charlotte.

When he said:

Hazlitt

"Pope's

went

to see the pictures at

lines

Windsor,

on Windsor Forest suggest

I

H < U I/)

ct

O Q z

Q < 2i LU

O w I

iW*J===*~Mf

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD make

themselves to the mind and delicate".

It

looks a

13

the air about

it

odd to attribute to such

little

—

a poem the effect of making the air delicate Banquo having observed to Duncan that where the martlets " it

most breed and haunt

The

has a truth.

the delicacy of three artifice,

or of Nature

topher

Wren,

.

.

.

the air

delicacy

—not

is

in

".

Yet it

is

nine— centuries of

hand with Sir Chris-

Gibbons,

Grinling

delicate

sophisticated;

to say

hand

is

Antonio

Verrio,

Alexander Pope, Esquire, and the great gardeners. This artifice is triumphant on the East Terrace of the Castle the

itself,

orangery,

Italian

the smooth walk half a mile long,

the

garden, with

and

dark its

symmetrical marble and bronze statuary bright

elephants and nymphs, seen from the white-andIt is strong on the smooth gold royal dining-room.

and

its

sculptured

turf

below the

Round Tower and

the

rose garden in the ditch, though quaintly alleviated

by the gorse above that; of great elms in the

strong in the avenues Park, the lime trees, the

still

Home

grass,

as smooth as a lake and untrodden save by

birds,

under the Castle

trees.

If

and the high rookery among the bracken and the hill

you escape it warty oaks of the Great Park,

it

is

suddenly upon

you with violence when you look up at Snow Hill and see the colossal copper statue of Farmer George on horseback, more magnificent and less amiable now

WINDSOR

14

than in

It

life.

more than

is

and even, so far as

perfect

—

consistent with

is

is

it

its

rampant formality,

Water, the largest artificial water in England, completed under George III, with its laced waterfall, its ruined columns brought from rollicking— at

Virginia

by George IV, its marble altar dedicated to Jupiter Helios; the dark yews, close by, and the cedars and stone pines of Belvidere Wood; the Tripoli

heronry, and the Fishing Cottage which imperfectly replaces a Fishing

Pope's

" Windsor

Temple

in

the Chinese style.

Forest" has become obscure

night of two hundred years, Virginia in

an unquestionable and

The western is

Castle

not what

fairest

Maxen;

castle

if

it

is

it

is

that

fit

to

man

in the

Water speaks

flourishing style.

sublime

cloud

upon the approached more nearly,

seems when, from a road or

it

to the west,

that

itself,

horizon,

still

If

embody our ever saw,

river far

fancies of that

in

the

or from the fields of Datchet;

dream of

or from the

railway arch over the Clewer footpath, which gives a view of smooth water gleaming between old walls,

with swans, placid masts and curled pennons, and

Eton Chapel and among poplars and serrated satin, and to the right the to the left

its

high dark windows

roofs in a

sky of grey

gathered bulk of the Castle above the small town. closely

huge

As you walk under the Curfew Tower, the Garter

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

15

Tower, the Salisbury Tower, in Thames Street, only the mass and outline announce antiquity; the streets, the

names over the

shops, even the old

man who

has dyed his white beard to get work as a scaffolder, look more ancient. Doubtless the jackdaws, gliding

Round Tower,

straight out into the clear air from the

have been there since Crecy, but the stonework is new. That also is the work of George IV. Except St.

the timber and

George's Chapel,

herring-boned

brick of the Horse-shoe Cloister, and the stone houses

Knights where men obviously live, and the tranquil and leafy Canons' Cloister at the of the

Military

Hundred Steps, most of the exterior of Windsor looks and is new. There is little foliage on the walls, very little moss and green mould, and top of the

small space given to the festoons of the bellflower,

which contrives the

its

stone.

driest

ivy-shaped humid leaves out of

The thrush

a

sings with

clear,

wild note that seems scarcely earned by the barren

Even

hard walls. are

numerous

not

if

searched

for,

or

easy to lower story eastward from the

some Henry

foundations,

more

Ill's

west and

its

Ambulatory

in

three

the

are

of

towers,

Dean's

the

Part

find.

Henry

survives — the

ancient buildings

Devil's

of

the

Tower, and time.

From

outer

wall

on the

wall

of the

II's

Cloister,

South

a door behind

the altar of the chapel, the remains of the

Domum

WINDSOR

16

Regis on the north of the chapel in one of the Canons' houses, and the King's Hall, now a library. The work of Edward III and William of Wykeham gives

work

IV's

George's Chapel and the Horse-shoe

St.

Cloisters remain.

most

and

Of Edward

form to the Castle as a whole.

its

St.

perfect

survival

from

the

was at the end of the middle ages. it "a very visible piece of romance". and elaborate.

It

the finest

is

George's Chapel

Castle

Ruskin

as

it

called

It is

exquisite

holds and embalms the

sunlight.

might be called hard, and the nave and aisles are at first sight a little cold on account of the It

lack of history, except for the mildly pathetic monu-

ment its

to

George

pomp

V

of Hanover.

of banners, the

But the

choir,

with

swords, helmets, mantels,

and arms of the Garter Knights, is of an incomparable sombre gorgeousness. The groined vault of the nave

and the Tudor buildings on the south and east walls ot

of St. George's Chapel,

the

north

the

Tomb

side,

and

House, are Henry VII's; the groined vault of the choir at St. George's, and the entrance gate-

The gallery and facade, way, are Henry VIII's. with the postern at the west end of the North Terrace, are Elizabethan.

The

furniture

splendid collection

and

and decorations of the Castle are

costly,

of pictures ,

but is

not as

of

large

great

age.

The

but not as well (C162)

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H

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

17

were a public gallery. The tapestries are more suitable to a residence, if less pleasing in displayed as

if it

they belong to the last two centuries. Grinling Gibbons' life-like carvings of fish, fowl, and miss fruit are extraordinarily appropriate here. themselves;

We

beauties of the Restoration,

portraits of the

Lely's

which have gone to Hampton Court; to the last period

when

the Castle

for

they belong

was thoroughly

None of the furniture and humanly. and household effects mentioned in an inventory of royally

alive,

is

1547

left.

There

is

no Elizabethan or true Jaco-

bean work, because the furniture was continually renewed and kept up-to-date in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Nothing has come down from time

the

of

Cromwell's

much

of

William and Mary's, Anne's, and George George IV was also the first considerable col-

Charles IV's.

II's,

lector of ancient

arms at Windsor.

Prince Consort's.

the

but

occupation,

The armoury

is

Neither Henry V's "harnois

de teste" worn at Agincourt, nor the white armour of Joan of Arc, said to have been sent to is

anywhere It

Henry VI,

to be seen.

was probably the greatest work

of George IV,

with the help of the architect, Sir Jeffry Wyatville, to make Windsor Castle as young as the Brighton Pavilion.

He made

it fit

for

a king of taste to

live in.

His raw material was not a mediaeval castle slowly (

C 162

)

2

WINDSOR

18

accumulated by Angevins, Plantagenets, Lancastrians, Yorkists, and Tudors, but a mediaeval castle which had been iced or Italianized

Edward

III

Charles

by Wren.

II

had been as sweeping, but he destroyed

the old and built the

own

for

new

in the living fashion of his

George IV had not the strength or purHe pose, though he had the money, to do the same. lived at the beginning of an age that knew so much time.

of other ages,

that

it

what they

had no trust

and how they did

did,

in itself,

seeing

itself

it,

as but part

of a process, and therefore incapable of acting freely

and instinctively in that co-operation with past and If he future which makes a sane and hearty present. had lived later in this age, he might have restored

Windsor with more knowledge and But

it

is

George IV critics

better

it

is.

believes

He has

left

Better

to

have what art

and vociferously asserts

to

us a substantial building of

roughly mediaeval appearance which might

Burke

temerity.

what a generation of

really liked than

timidly

be correct.

as

less

still

enable

compare the British Monarchy to "the proud keep of Windsor". It is still national in its magnitude and position, in its history and reputation, as

to

what Michael

Drayton called

seat of the great English kings

".

"that

supremest

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE The

singular pride of

clear to all

who

road,

or

river,

Windsor

travel within

Windsor

rail.

Castle's position is

a long sight of first

owed

its

it

by

impor-

stands upon a single blunt cone of chalk projecting through the clay of the surrounding low lands, which the Castle thus overlooks and commands, as from an island, like the castles tance to

of

Corfe,

its

position.

Lincoln,

It

Belvoir,

and

Montacute

among

This advantage of singular eminence above any other place upon the Thames and near London was strengthened and served both by the river, which others.

on the north along a winding shore (which was perhaps the origin of the name Windsor), and flows

by the dense, broad tracts of forest extending far to It the south and west. lay within a few miles of Staines, and so was only a long day's march from London, by the

Roman

road from Winchester

and Silchester which crossed the Thames at that point.

There

is

no clear evidence of

the Conquest, and in the

its

importance before

Domesday Book Windsor

neither a parish nor a manor. 19

is

But halfway between

WINDSOR

20

and Staines the Saxon kings had a palace at Old Windsor. It may have been close to the river, west of Old Windsor Church, where there the chalk

used

hill

be a farmstead

to

having a river-fed moat;

Edward

the

we know, and

the

but not a sign of this palace remains.

Confessor held his court there,

most

memory

vivid

of

it

connected with the year

is

before the landing of the Conqueror.

The king was

Old Windsor, and with him Earl Godwin's two strong sons, Harold and Tostig. Harold was drinkat

ing with

Edward, when Tostig seized him by the

and shamefully handled him, to the dismay of the household. Harold in return caught his younger hair

brother up in his arms and dashed him to the

The guards then

forcibly separated the

foretold God's five

Only held his

Windsor. there sure,

forward from

leapt

years after

court on the

fatal

and

end to their violent ways. in

this, hill

sides

while the mild king

fighters,

anger and a

all

floor.

of

1070, the

Conqueror

what was then

New

Domesday survey of 1086 a castle is mentioned, but what it was we cannot be and there are no visible remains of it. The

position soldier

In the

had struck and pleased the Conqueror as and hunter, for he not only fortified the hill

but recovered, to form part of a forest, some neighbouring lands which the Confessor had given to his

Abbey

of Westminster.

The

early

Norman

castles in

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

21

England and Normandy were of timber, and consisted of a ditched and palisaded mound and a court, or several courts,

with water.

also ditched

and

Under William the

come a high stone keep

if

possible

moated

castle tended to be-

of rectangular form, with

towers at the corners, depending for its strength upon the thickness of its own walls, not on a series of outer

Windsor was used as a prison for Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, by the second William, but Old Windsor was still at times a royal residence while the new castle was In 1095

fortifications.

added "many fair buildings", including a chapel, and held his court there for the first time at Whitsuntide in 11 10. At Windsor

being

built.

Henry

Henry married

I

second queen, Alice the Fair, and there also he kept Whitsuntide when David of Scotland and the English barons swore fealty to his his

Empress Maud. At the time of the peace between Henry and Stephen the Castle was the second fortress in the kingdom, and its castellan, daughter, the

like

those of London,

ampton, gave hostages

Oxford, for its

Lincoln, and

South-

surrender to Henry in

the event of Stephen's death.

Henry

II

held

his

court at

Windsor

at

Easter,

accompanied by William the Lion of Scotland and his brother David; there he held a parliament in 1 175, and often resided; he knighted his son, 1

170,

WINDSOR

22

Prince John, within of the apartments

its

and

walls;

it is

said that one

was decorated with a

picture of a

dying eagle attacked by four eaglets, to represent himself and his rebel sons. When Richard I lay in

on his way home from the Crusade, John seized Windsor, but was forced by the barons to prison,

When

John succeeded to the kingdom he frequently kept Christmas at the Castle, and there in 1210 he confined William de Braose of Bramber's give

it

up.

wife and son, and the son's wife, in chains until they

and misery. A contemporary says that the captives were shut in a room with a sheaf

died

of hunger

wheat and a piece of raw bacon, and that in eleven days the mother was found sitting upright

of

between her son's knees, her head thrown back on his breast, and that she had gnawed his cheek, probably after his death, as he sat with his face From Windsor John rode out to Runnybowed.

mede

in June,

he broke his

1215,

faith

to sign

soon

after,

the English barons subdued

save

Magna

Dover and Windsor.

all

Charta.

When

Louis of France and the south of England

Windsor they besieged

with a great force under the Count de Nevers;

but

John corrupted him to treachery, and was then free to gather an army from his garrisons and lay waste the eastern counties, in that furious and hasty course which

led to his death in 1216.

THE HUNDRED STEPS

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE John's

son,

Windsor.

He

Henry

III,

was a great

23

builder

at

raised the Bell, the Clewer, the Berners,

and the Almoners' Towers on the north

and

side,

on the south-west the Garter and Salisbury Towers, completed the ditch on the west and added a barbican,

and

chambers

for

with

the

upper ward

made two

himself and his queen,

The

windows.

painted

Clewer

and

in

Tower,

is

In

Chapter.

and a chapel

King's

the

1248

Henry received

nuncios at the Castle.

in

Hall,

now

Library

great

the

of

the

Dean

the

Papal In 1261 he kept Christmas

queen and his daughter, the Queen of Scotland. It was a fine season, more like summer than winter, and Margaret of Scotland had come

there with

that place.

his

she

might bear her first child in her native She had been born at Windsor in 1240, and

spent her childhood in the Castle with her brother, afterwards Edward I, who was a year older. Married as a child to Alexander

she spent an unhappy girl-wifehood in Scotland, and was not allowed to III,

But in 1261 she concealed the nearEngland. ness of her time from the Scots and her husband

visit

and came to Windsor where,

a long waiting with her mother, the child was born. There was then no more splendid castle in Europe, says Matthew of Westminster.

portance,

as

As a

a palace

fortress it

was

after

it

was

of

unrivalled.

first

im-

On

the

WINDSOR

24

outbreak of the war with the barons Henry's son Edward occupied the Castle, placed his wife Eleanor there,

and strengthened

devastated

the

London

it

1265,

death,

surrendered

followed by the

conclusion of peace,

who

with foreign troops,

surrounding country.

as a prison for in

it

Two

citizens.

to

Ban

de

was used

It

years

Montfort.

later,

After

his

of Kenilworth and the

Henry came

to

Windsor again

in 1268.

Edward

and

queen often lived at Windsor; three of their children were born there; and in 1278 he held a tournament in the Park with thirty-eight I

of his knights.

his

His son, Edward

at the Castle in 1308 first

son,

When

Edward

II,

kept Christmas

and afterwards, and

" of III

in 1312 his

Windsor ", was born

there.

Despensers returned in 1321 and the opposition barons were put to death, Francis de Aldenham suffered at Windsor. the

Edward

III

made Windsor

his

chief residence,

and began a remodelling and rebuilding of the castle which lasted twenty years, though some of it was done in such haste that assuredly the oak timber did not to It

lie

long enough by the roadside for

its

ends

bourgeon into gophered fungi of the colour of gold. was worth the haste, beyond doubt, for a boy to

see

it

begun, then in his prime to ride back again

and to see suddenly the whole range of

it,

beautiful

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE in

its

pale

new

25

stone under the dawn, the trees of

home whispering above him and the night of absence behind. The Castle of Edward III, in its outline, mass,

and arrangement, has dominated

extent,

until

succeeding changes

the

of the actual structure Dean's the "

little

the

Cloister,

Round Tower,

present

all

though

day,

to be seen except in

is

Norman" gate

at

the vaulted basement of the

the

Devil's

and the groined vaulting under the north side of the Castle between the kitchen and King

Tower,

John's Tower.

He

built the

Round Tower on

the

mound, the great Hall of St. George, lodgings on the south and east of the upper ward, a Chapel of St. George

(to

supplant

Henry

I's

chapel, dedicated

to

the Confessor), and the whole circumference of the

Of those works

walls with their towers and gates. it

possible to give

is

some account.

"The Tower,

though usually called round," says the historian of the Life

HI, "is not really

the east side next the upper Castle

so;

to

and Times of Edward

accommodate the building

—a

is

flattened

to the form of the

mound

mound was not made for the tower. The tower was built entirely in ten It months, in the eighteenth year of Edward III. was built in great haste by the special command of the King, to receive the Round Table for the new clear proof that the .

order

of

.

.

Knights of the Garter,

then

just

estab-

WINDSOR

26 lished.

number

large

of hands were employed

a few weeks to collect materials, dig out stone, trees in the forest, prepare lime-pits and sand-

for fell

and

pits,

done

be in

... A

things necessary for a great

all

a

in

short

work

to

Many were employed

time.

the royal quarry at Bisham, near Marlow, on the

Thames, a few miles above Windsor, in digging out the chalk or soft stone there, of which the bulk of the

wall

consists;

but

it

is

with

faced

better

having been brought Oxfordshire, and a smaller part

stone, a large proportion of

it

from Wheatley in from Caen. Some of this was bought

London by the Dean of St. Paul's, who had prepared it for some other purpose, but as that was not enough, three The ships' loads were brought direct from Caen. timber

must have been used

carpenters

quite

were sent out to cut

it

in

green, in

as

the

the

forest.

Messengers were despatched to every part of EngFor a land to impress the most skilful workmen. short time as

many

as 600

men were employed

But

the Castle, and 122 in the quarry in addition. the

number was soon reduced

say,

want

rapidly, the chroniclers

on account of the wars, and the consequent of money,

but

the materials were

all

more probably because, when prepared, only a small number

of hands were required, or could time.

in

work

at the

The drawbridges were strengthened

same

for

the

THE NORMAN GATE

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

27

purpose of carrying the materials across them, and in various

ways it is evident that the circular wall which makes the Round Tower was built to receive the Round Table for the knights to dine at. The table was placed in a wooden gallery within the tower wall, with a passage under and an open space in the centre. covered by a roof of

tiles;

part of

it

for the servants,

The building was the wooden arcade

of the gallery remains, and nearly the whole of the

cornice of the

roof with the fine mouldings of the

fourteenth century.

There are entries

for the

tiles for

purchase of

building over the

Round

in the

accounts

covering the wall of the

Table, and the carting of

them from Penn in Buckinghamshire, where they were made. The kitchen for the table was on the top of the square tower on the slope of the mound,

Kitchen Tower, which also served tower of a drawbridge over the moat.

called the

.

.

for the .

The

knights sat on one side only with their backs to the

The King and his sons dined with them all on the same level, without any high table. The whole cost of the Round Table, with the tower to contain it, was rather more than £500 of the money

wall.

of that day, equal to about j£io,ooo of

modern money." though so strong, was to be

But the new Castle, famous as a palace and a prison rather than a fortress. In 1347 King David Bruce of Scotland came

WINDSOR

28 to

it

as a prisoner after his defeat at Neville's Cross.

His confinement

a tower on the south-west wall

in

of the upper ward, and elsewhere, lasted eleven years,

ransom of

until the

of our money,

Black

was

Death,

100,000 marks, equal to j£i, 250,000 paid.

1349,

In or about the year of the

Edward founded

the Garter at Windsor, perhaps in

the

Order of

remembrance of the

capture of Calais in 1347, perhaps fantastically

enced

by

a

traditional

Windsor with Arthur and

his

the

of

association

Round

influ-

hill

of

This

Table.

Order of twenty-six knights was to promote "honour and nobleness" under the patronage of the Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St.

and

George of Cappadocia, Edward the Confessor. There were to be

St.

annual Whitsuntide jousts for English and foreign knights, and feasts at a great Round Table; and in the first tournament Edward himself and the captive

King of Scotland took "

He

instituted the Order of the Garter," says the

chronicler

Cause

part.

is

of

the

kings of

not certain:

a Garter of his

England,

The common

own Queen,

or (as

"upon what

opinion

some

is,

that

say) of the

Lady Joan, Countess of Salisbury, slipping off in a Dance, King Edward stooped and took it up; whereat some of his Lords that were present, smiling, as at an amorous Action, he seriously said, It should not be long e'er Sovereign Honour should be done to

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE that

Garter;

he

whereupon

French Motto, Honi

soit

qui

added

afterward

mal y

29

fiense;

the

therein

checking his Lords' sinister suspicion."

The

Joan,

that

is

or

Alice,

countess

the finest of his

of

of Salisbury of the

whom

tales.

Froissart

Her

lord

one

tells

castle

at

Wark when King The

invaded England in 1341. of English beeves passed

of

had been taken

prisoner by the French before Lille, and she his

legend

was

in

David of Scotland

invaders and a drove

by without stopping, where-

upon Sir William Montague, Captain of the castle, sallied out and carried off the cattle from the rear-

The Scots turned back

guard.

The besieged kept a brave

to

assault

Wark.

by the regard of such a lady and by her sweet comforting a man ought to be worth two men at need". After some heart, "for

days Sir William slipped out with a prayer for help to Edward III, then at York. The relieving army arrived on the day

and

when

Edward stayed

at

the Scots raised the siege, the

castle

to

salute

the

whom

he had not seen since her marriage, and to learn the conduct of the attack and defence. countess,

"As soon

as the lady

knew of the king's coming, and came out so richly be-

she set open the gates seen, that every man marvelled at her beauty and could not cease to regard her nobleness,

great

beauty

and

the

gracious

words

with her

and

coun-

WINDSOR

3o

tenance

she

that

king, she kneeled

made.

down

of his succours, and

make him well do

When

she

came

to

the

to the earth, thanking

him

so led him into the castle to

cheer and honour, as she that could right

Every man regarded her marvellously: the

it.

king himself could not withhold his regarding of her; for he thought that he never saw before so noble a lady. He was stricken therewith to the heart with a sparkle of fine love that endured long nor so

fair

he thought no lady in the world so worthy to be beloved as she. Thus they entered into the castle hand in hand: the lady led him first into the

after:

and

hall

after

into

The

the

chamber, nobly apparelled. so the lady, that she was

king regarded abashed: at last he went to a window to rest him, and so fell in a great study. The lady went about to

make

there,

and commanded to dress the

When she

cheer to the lords and knights that were

she

came

had

to

hall

for

dinner.

and

commanded, then the king with a merry cheer, who was all

devised

a great study, and she said, 'Dear sir, why do ye study so for? Your grace not displeased, it appertained not to you so to do. Rather ye should make

in

good cheer and be

away your enemies, who other said:

men (

Ah!

ye have chased Let durst not abide you.

joyful,

seeing

study for the remnant' dear lady,

know

for

Then truth

the king

that

sith

I

fcWHAst-KHUST

THE CANONS' CLOISTERS

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE entered

my

mind,

nor

I

it

so

that

cannot

out of

a study come to cannot choose but to muse:

the castle,

into

my

I

there

you what

tell

heart

31

shall

cannot.'

I

is

fall

'Ah!

thereof:

sir,'

put

quoth the

ought always to make good cheer to comGod hath aided you so fort therewith your people. in your business, and hath given you so great graces, lady, 'ye

the most doubted and honoured prince

that ye be in

all

done

Christendom; and

you

when

it

divers

times

all

or

any despite

amend come

if

or

this.

into the hall,

ready.'

'Ah!

things lieth at

of Scots hath

damage,

ye

may

well

it

leave

your musing and

please you: your dinner

is

quoth the king, "other heart that ye know not of: but

fair

my

Sir,

if

King

please you, as ye have done

shall

it

the

lady,'

sweet behaving, the perfect wisdom, the good grace, nobleness and excellent beauty, that I see in you, hath so sore surprised my heart, that I surely the

cannot but love you, and without your love I am but dead.' Then the lady said, 'Ah, right noble I prince, for God's sake mock nor tempt me not. cannot believe that

it

is

true that ye say, nor that so

noble a prince as ye be would think to dishonour

me and my

lord

my

husband,

who

is

so valiant a

knight and hath done your grace so good service, and as yet lieth in prison for your quarrel. Certainly, sir, ye should in this case have but a small praise,

WINDSOR

32

and nothing the better thereby. such a thought shall

have,

my

in

for

to

my

be dismembered.'

trust in

I

all

God never

had any such only to blame me,

If

living.

ought not

intention, your grace

but also to punish

heart, nor

man

no

had never as yet

I

I

body, yea, and by true justice

.

.

.

day the king tarried there and wist not what to do. Sometimes he imagined that honour and truth defended him to set his heart in such a "All

that

and so true a knight as her husband was, who had always well and truly case, to dishonour such a lady

served him.

On

the other part love so constrained

him, that the power thereof surmounted honour and

Thus the king debated

truth.

himself

in

all

that

day and all that night. In the morning he arose and dislodged all his host and drew after the Scots,

them out of

to chase

of the lady, saying,

you

till

'

Then he took leave dear lady, to God I commend

his realm.

My

return again, requiring you to advise you

I

otherwise than you have said to

quoth the lady,

*

'.

Noble

prince,'

'God the Father glorious be your

conduct, and put you out of

am and

me

all villain

thoughts.

Sir,

be ready to do your grace service to your honour and mine.' Therewith the king departed all abashed; and so followed the I

Scots.

.

.

ever

shall

."

At the same time as the Garter the College of

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

33

George was founded, consisting of twenty -six Canons and twenty -six Poor Knights, all to live St.

within the walls of the lower ward.

The name

of

Knights" was recently changed, out of a characteristic modern dislike, to "Military Knights". In !357 King John of France arrived as a prisoner

"Poor

at

He and

Windsor.

his

by the English at Crecy. to the palace of the

rich

very

furniture,

son Philip were captured He rode through London

Savoy "on a white steed with and the Prince of Wales on

There he kept his household for a time, and was visited and entertained by the King and Queen of England, "consoling him" whatever that may mean "all in a

black hackney by his side".

little

—

—

their

power". there hunted

He was

transferred to Windsor, and

hawked

and

and

took

what

Never-

diversions he pleased in the neighbourhood. theless he died in

England

in

1364.

The tower

north-west corner of the upper ward

the

King John's

A

of

Windsor,

called

after this captive.

the at

tournament,

great the

Garter

feast

Chaucer

of St.

was

at

He

George.

the train of the Countess of Ulster, wife to

in

Prince I 357>

is

at

year after Crecy, in 1357, and also in 1358, the

year

was

other

Lionel,

and

it

is

known

when he was about

that

seventeen,

at

he

Easter

in

received

a short cloak, a pair of breeches in red and black, (

C 162

)

3

WINDSOR

34

On

and shoes.

later,

Italy and France, he was pitcher of wine for life, which was

embassies

his

after

George's Day, sixteen years

St.

in

granted a daily commuted to a pension of the annual value of about

modern

in

£200

Edward with

III built

and

ruin,

Richard

treason

Henry in

Only

forty

after

years

George's Chapel was threatened Chaucer superintended the repairs. St.

it,

was now

II

Windsor

money.

king, and

Bolinbroke

1398.

his

in

accused

presence at

Mowbray

of

Bolinbroke's banishment followed,

and few barons cared to come to the tournament proclaimed at the Castle by Richard, though "forty knights and forty squires clothed in green with the of a

white

against

all

comers,

were

to

grace the

wife

in

the

device

up

in his

falcon"

were to hold the

and the queen and her feast.

The king

lists

ladies

parted from his

Deanery of the Castle, lifting her arms and kissing her many times " great old

—

they separated, for they never saw each other more". pity

it

is

Henry IV for

also used the Castle as a prison,

the infant Earl of

March and

his

brother,

first

who

were descended from an elder brother of Henry's Lady Despenser, who had father, John of Gaunt.

them out of the Castle and on the way to Wales, but the alarm was given, and the maker of the keys lost his hands and then his the care of them, got

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE In 1406 Prince

head.

years old and on his

James of Scotland, then eleven way to school in France, was

caught by a privateer and imprisoned

Tower

at the top of Castle

Maiden's but

Henry

V

now

in the

in

Hill,

ward — a

corner of the upper

35

Octagonal

the south-west

tower once called the

the Devil's.

Under Henry IV and

the prince's imprisonment lasted seventeen

years, during

some

of which he

was King

of Scot-

In 1413 he had Griffin ap Owen by name. Glendower as a fellow prisoner, and in 1415 the

land

poet Charles of Orleans, taken at Agincourt. treaty of release

marks and

of 60,000

lady

of noble

difficulty

in

birth.

— Jane

1423 provided

his marriage with

He

the payment

some English

chose his bride without

Beaufort, a

Earl of Somerset

for

The

— married

young daughter of the her at St.

Mary Overy

Southwark, and at once set out for Scotland. He was a short stout man, but vigorous and agile, broad in

in

the shoulders, narrow in the waist, and his hair

auburn; he had a good singing voice, played on musical instruments, and excelled in games. He was murdered, and his Queen Jane wounded, by conspirators,

thirteen

years

later.

He

loved

his

wife

and was one of the few kings who had no mistress and no bastards. Befere he left England he had written the poem, The Kingis Quhair, to the end,

which records

his captivity

and courtship at Windsor.

WINDSOR

36 It

was

spring, but he

was sad —

The bird, the beste, the fisch eke in the see, They lyve in fredome everich in his kynd; And I a man, and lakkith libertee — yet not wholly sad, because he rose early and went to look out of the

window

and at the

at the world

people passing by, and though he was steeled against Outside his window, mirth, to look did him good. at

the

of

foot

with

fenced

that a

was a

tower,

hawthorns

trees

foliaged

the

and

so

man walking

fair

garden,

with

set in

it

so

dense

could

not

There the nightingale There he saw sang on the small green branches. the maiden, Jane Beaufort. It is difficult and perhaps be

seen

by the passer-by.

unnecessary to

known

consider

the

poem

apart

personality and acts of the king

from

the

who wrote

though nobody need trouble to say that he wrote like a king, for he did not; he wrote like a poet much like Chaucer, in fact and like a man. But it,

—

—

allow what

we know

of him, his captivity, his hard

and tragic death, to suffuse the images created by the poem, and The Kingis Quhair is one of the loveliest ceremonious poems of love. life,

Under Henry V, in the year of Agincourt, the Emperor Sigismund came to the feast of St. George. He brought with him the heart of St. George as an offering to the chapel.

**Y

t-WMASLtMUST

ANNE BOLEYN'5 WINDOW, DEAN'S CLOISTERS

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

37

Henry VI, the founder of Eton College in 1440, was born at Windsor, and buried in the south aisle of St George's Chapel, but not until some years after his death.

Edward IV

George's Chapel, or began the building which was completed under Henry VIII rebuilt St.

and Edward VI.

On

the north side of the Chapel

he built the Dean's and Canons' houses, and those of the petty Canons. Edward and his queen were buried near the altar under a

tomb

of such splendour

was plundered in 1642. Henry VIII began the royal tomb-house

that

it

at the

east end of St. George's as a sepulchral chapel for

Wolsey, who caused a black marble sarcophagus to be made, bordered and canopied with costly bronze work. The Cardinal himself.

Later he granted

never lay under sold,

it.

It

was

it

to

stripped,

and the ornaments

by Parliament soldiers a century

later.

The

sarcophagus itself was afterwards used to cover the In the choir of the body of Nelson at St. Paul's. Chapel of VIII,

who

St.

built

Jane Seymour and Henry the gateway bearing his name, under

George

lie

which the public enter the lower ward.

When Henry crowned

VIII's

in June, 1533,

queen,

Anne

Boleyn,

was

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey,

and then about sixteen years old, carried the fourth sword. This young man, who was to be atrociously

WINDSOR

38

executed at the age of thirty by the same Henry, lived at Windsor for some time as the companion of the

king's

bastard son, the

Duke

of Richmond,

and while confined there some years later he wrote a poem which gives perhaps the most beautiful picture

connected with Windsor.

I

will

belittle

the

rest of this little book by here quoting the poem in " Prisoned in Windsor he recounteth his full: plea-

sure there passed": So cruel prison how could betide, alas, As proud Windsor? Where I, in lust and joy, With a King's son, my childish years did pass, In greater feast than Priam's sons of Troy.

Where each sweet place returns a taste full sour, The large green courts, where we were wont to hove, With eyes cast up into the Maiden's tower, And easy sighs, such as folk draw in love. The stately seats, the ladies bright of hue, The dances short, long tales of great delight With words and looks that tigers could but rue; Where each of us did plead the other's right. The palme-play, where, despoiled for the game, With dazzled eyes oft we by gleams of love ;

Have

miss'd the ball, and got sight of our dame,

To bait her eyes, which kept the leads above. The gravel'd ground, with sleeves tied on the helm, On foaming horse, with swords and friendly hearts; With chere, as though one should another whelm, Where we have fought, and chased oft with darts. With silver drops the mead yet spread for ruth, of nimbleness and strength, did strain, trained with swarms of youth, tender limbs, that yet shot up in length. secret groves, which oft we made resound

In active

games

Where we Our The

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

39

Of pleasant

plaint, and of our ladies' praise; Recording oft what grace each one had found, What hope of speed, what dread of long delays. The wild forest, the clothed holts with green; With reins availed, and swift y-breathed horse, With cry of hounds, and merry blasts between, Where we did chase the fearful hart of force. The wide walls eke, that harbour'd us each night:

Wherewith, alas! reviveth in my breast The sweet accord: such sleeps as yet delight; The pleasant dreams, the quiet bed of rest; The secret thoughts, imparted with such trust; The wanton talk, the divers change of play;

The

friendship sworn, each promise kept so just,

Wherewith we past the winter night away.

And The The

with this thought the blood forsakes the face; my cheeks of deadly hue: which, as soon as sobbing sighs, alas! Up-supped have, thus I my plaint renew: uO place of bliss! renewer of my woes! Give me account, where is my noble fere? Whom in thy walls thou dost each night enclose; tears berain

other lief; but unto me most dear." Echo, alas! that doth my sorrow rue, Returns thereto a hollow sound of plaint. Thus I alone, where all my freedom grew, In prison pine, with bondage and restraint: And with remembrance of the greater grief, To banish the less, I find my chief relief.

To

The

critics,

I

believe,

regard

this

poem as a some unim-

exaggeration of portant or wholly imaginary event in Surrey's life, because he was then married, and because the lady conventional

who

poetical

conjectured to have been the subject of his " " Description and Praise of Geraldine was then only is

twelve years

old.

WINDSOR

4o

Queen Elizabeth

the

built

North Terrace of the

Castle in 1576, a gallery to the west of

it

as a library, and an octagon banqueting east end, which Charles

I

pulled

down

now used at the

hall,

to substitute

a gateway and drawbridge leading into the Home He also demolished the fountain of Queen Park. Mary Tudor in the Upper Ward. He thought, but another banqueting hall, and to construct a fountain, where Hercules was to have been

in vain, to build

seen strangling

so

Antaeus,

make

as to

it

appear

"by squeezing of him the water came out of Charles often held his Court at Windsor, his mouth ". and was at the Castle in January when the Civil War was at hand; there was a garrison of forty that

four

hundred

horse,

ammunition were

arriving.

But

officers

and

and in

wagons

October,

of

1642,

appeared a pamphlet, entitled "Exceeding true and happy news from the Castle of Windsor declaring

how

several troops of

Dragoons have taken posses-

sion of the said Castle to

keep

it

for the

use of the

King and Parliament". "For King and Parliament" was a euphemism. Windsor was esteemed one of the strongest places in the kingdom, and could the

Cavaliers have retained

and

fortified

it,

they might

And so "several upon London. well-affected Gentlemen and valiant Religious Comhave

descended

manders have gone

to raise several

troops of Dra-

a.

O H !* UJ

H -

X u z

z <

u

<

a: IX)

H X H a o z

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

41

gooners and Volunteers, some of which are already arrived at Windsor, and have taken possession of the

Castle".

The

intruders

George's and coined

of St.

took the chapel plate it

into

money

for

the

Parliament; they despoiled Wolsey's tomb; and they carried off

Edward

IV's embroidered surcoat of crim-

son velvet, wrought with gold and pearls and decorated with rubies, which had hung over his tomb since the opulent funeral of 1483.

Rupert attacked the Castle in the same year, 1642, but without success, and in the winter and spring following Essex made it his headquarters Prince

and a prison for Royalists, while Rupert flickered here and there about Oxford. At the end of the war

Windsor was the strange meeting of the Army

officers

to that notable prayer

held

The Army was uneasy

in 1648.

people and Parliament; vival of royalism;

laying

foil

down

their

it.

in its

early

relations with

had cause to

and some

fear

a re-

had thought of arms, because what they had done,

and were willing to table to

it

some time

officers

do, for the nation

was not accep-

Therefore they spent two days together

prayer at Windsor Castle, enquiring when it last was that they could say with confidence: "The pre-

in

On the third Lord was among us". day the "gracious hand of the Lord" showed them how they had come to their present trouble and sence of the

WINDSOR

42

was through

It

uncertainty.

their treating with

the

king and his party, their

by

own

this of course being prompted " conceited wisdom, fear, and want of

Thus they were led to loathe their iniquities. They wept for shame of their unbelief and trust in the wisdom of this world, and they arrived at a humble confidence and "a very clear and joint resolution, That it was our duty, if ever the Lord brought faith".

us back again in peace, to

man

Charles Stuart, that

call

of blood, to an account for that blood he had

shed, and mischief he had done to his utmost, against

the Lord's Cause and People in these poor Nations".

These are the words written Allen,

who was

In

was

1659

by Adjutant

at the prayer meeting.

than

less

in

a

year,

on

Christmas

Eve,

1648,

and bloody news from Windsor". The king was brought from Hurst Castle by Colonel At the passing Harrison and ten troops of horse. there

of

the

bless

and the

"terrible

king

the

people

of

Windsor

cried:

"God

your majesty and send you long to reign"; after he entered the Castle the Royalists of

town drank a carouse

to their dread sovereign,

but were "taken off from that ceremonial and cant"

by several files of musketeers, not before Charles several had been wounded and three killed.

like action

did not return to

Windsor again

until

His body was borne thither without

he was dead.

pomp

or noise.

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE When

the attendant lords

— the

Duke

43

of Richmond,

Marquis of Hertford, and the Earls of Southampton and Lyndsy requested that the body might be buried according to the form of the Common the

—

Prayer

the

Book,

Governor

"

expressly,

and roughly refused to consent to

was not

lawful;

that the

Common

it,

positively,

and said

it

Prayer Book was

As the coffin was brought to St. George's Chapel, snow fell and gave the black pall the "colour of innocency". Such were the dismal put down.

.

."

.

mutations of the Chapel, that the lords scarce knew "A fellow of the town" showed where they were.

them the vault of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and there they laid him. At a later date the vault

was opened Anne's.

John

to

There

Evelyn

in

receive a nameless child of in

the vault just before

1654

found

"our

Queen

the

blessed

altar,

martyr,

King Charles". Cromwell occasionally lived at Windsor. Charles II used it as his summer lodging, and Nell Gwynn had a house, called

Burford

House,

close

to

the

The king was at St. George's Feast in 1663 with Lady Castlemaine as well as the queen. Pepys heard that the Duke of Monmouth danced Castle.

with the queen, his hat in his hand, and that "the king came in and kissed him, and made him put on his

hat,

which everybody took notice

of".

Pepys

WINDSOR

44

a cheerful, carnal day on February 26, 1665,

spent

Eton

and the banners and the

in

the

Castle

and at

admiring the Chapel singing and "the most

" romantique castle that is in the world", and giving a great deal of money to this and that man and

When

woman".

Evelyn saw the Castle in August, Prince Rupert was Constable, and "had begun

1670,

keep or high round tower, and handsomely adorned his hall with furniture of arms, which was very singular, ... so disposing the to

trim

up

the

bandoleers, holsters and drums, as to represent fes-

and that without any confusion, trophy-like. From the hall we went into his bed-chamber, and ample rooms hung with tapestry, curious and effemitoons,

nate pictures so extremely different from the other,

which presented nothing but war and horror."

The

king was hunting the stag, walking in the Park, and The Castle was planting it with rows of trees. "exceedingly ragged and ruinous", and about to be

Wren

repaired.

Castle

was

remodelled

to

Italianised

some extent

the

facade,

rebuilt

and

the

and altogether

something which later critics considered monotonous and commonplace. The interior

was

into

decorated

Antonio

Verrio's

by

the

inert

"Judith and Holofernes", the

like,

carvings

and "

of

luscious

Gibbons paintings

and of

Leda and the Swan", and which Evelyn, who saw the frescoes of

NELL GWYN'S HOUSE AND HENRY VIM GATEW

\V

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

45

George's Hall in 1683, admired for their "full and

St.

Gibbons also antique and heroical" style. the copper statue of the king on horseback,

flowing,

made

which was newly set up of white marble, where

in July, it

ditches of the Castle were

formed on the south and

1680,

its

filled

in.

pedestal

The

stands.

still

east,

on

outer

Terraces were

and the north terrace

was enlarged. The Devil's Tower was given to the Maids of Honour. Charles meant to face the mound of the Round Tower with red brick, but was prevented.

for

the practice of his

was decorated by the

Papal

Tomb House

turned the

II

James

Nuncio.

crowd

volutionary

own

and

the

king's

downfall

attacked

therefore

destroyed the windows, and

left

her reign Swift

was

ceiling

the

a

re-

Chapel,

the interior in ruin.

Further alterations planned by William carried out. Queen Anne's work was In

its

At Windsor he received

Verrio.

On

religion,

into a chapel

often at

III

in

were not the Park.

Windsor with

his

friend

Harley, the Secretary of State, supping with

Prior

and

Arbuthnot,

and winning seven out

playing

shillings at

twelvepenny picquet it,

putting his

thumb

of joint

by boxing Patrick's ear for carelessness, riding out in the forest on "the finest day in the world" October 4, 171 1 "a noble caravan

—

of us",

—

Maids of Honour, the Duke and Duchess

WINDSOR

46

of Shrewsbury, Arbuthnot, and others,

and Swift on horseback

some

some

riding,

light

camlet, faced with red velvet, and

On September

tons.

with a basket of

171 1, Swift

i,

in

came

fruit for his friend

driving,

a coat of silver

to

but-

Windsor

Lewis from Lord

Peterborough's garden at Parson's Green. "I durst not eat any fruit, but one fig," he writes to Stella,

and asks, "Does Stella never eat any?

What, no

Donnybrook? Nothing but claret and ombre? I envy people maunching and maunching peaches and grapes, and I not daring to eat a bit. at

apricots

My

head

is

me

time makes it

feels

pretty

for

giddy

but

very stuffed;

can bear

it

very well.

walking; and joining

well,

to

I

we have a

the

castle,

sudden turn any a moment, and sometimes only a

if

it

take

grows no worse, all

I

opportunities of

park here just and an avenue in the great delicious

park very wide, and two miles long, set with a Were you ever double row of elms on each side. at

Windsor?

I

was once a great while ago; but

had quite forgotten it." The two first Georges neglected the Castle though the second placed there Windsor's last prisoner, the Marechal de Belleisle— to such an

—

had to build the "Queen's This building himself and his family.

extent that George

Lodge" is

for

immortalized

by

III

the

king's

remark

to

Fanny

THE STORY OF THE CASTLE

47

Burney, a Maid of Honour to his Queen Charlotte, "Was there ever such stuff as much of Shakespeare? but it

had

.

.

is

.

now

been

George 1787.

down.

pulled

completely

was no need

there

east

only of course one must not say so";

III

began He removed

window,

in

St.

neglected,

of to

the

order

George's

probably

Chapel because

many

years

renovate

and

repave

tracery

and

glass

it,

for

exalt

to

the Resurrection in painted glass.

a

new The

before it

of

picture

in

the of

walls were

then stained to harmonize with the heavy colouring of this picture, and finally the Chapel was darkened

by the blocking up of the clerestory, to destroy the painful contrast between the sunlit walls and the

George III also restored the ruined Tomb House and dug a royal vault beneath it. Under

glass.

George IV the monument to the Princess Charlotte of Wales was placed in the chantry at the west end of the north

aisle.

Two

WyatThe Castle.

years before,

Wyatt) began to rebuild the incongruous buildings and external additions of the

ville

(ne

Restoration were to

the

caster

removed.

The entrance gateway

upper ward, with its two towers of LanThe height of the and York, was made.

Round Tower was increased by thirty-nine feet and The old houses under the a flag turret added. Curfew, Garter, and Salisbury towers were cleaned

WINDSOR

48

away. Thus in four years the exterior of the Castle, shaken more free of the little town clambering and clustering about it, was brought to its present state,

which may or may not have blasted the hopes of the author of this epigram: Let restless George who can leave nothing quiet, Change if he will the good old name of Wyatt: But let us hope that their united skill

May

not

make Windsor

Castle Wyatville.

The Tomb House was converted by Queen toria

Vic-

and Sir Gilbert Scott into the Albert Memorial

Chapel, on the death of the Prince Consort in 1861.

same prince, the mullions were the east window of St. George's Chapel

As a memorial restored to in

1863.

and its

The

in

Queen Victoria

lived

much

at

Windsor,

her time the interior of the Castle attained

present

height

majesty

answer

to the

fully

of

without to

the

costliness

and

and

splendour

the

expectations

domesticity.

usually

within

founded

upon a reading of history and a sober loyalty to the Crown.

o Q z

I/)

o as u. LU -"

_ _J

O u z o I— _

WINDSOR FOREST AND PARK In the Conqueror's time and before,

been hard

what was

it

must have Forest,

or

on the south side of the middle course

Thames.

of the for

say what was Windsor

to

not,

it

After choosing the

mound

of

Windsor

a castle, William enlarged the Forest so that included a great part of Berkshire, as far west

as Hungerford;

on the north

and

some

side;

as far

surrounded

is

parts of Middlesex, Oxfordshire,

Hampshire, and

Wey

of Buckinghamshire, which

Surrey both banks of the as Guildford. The Forest and the river in

and isolated the Castle on every

side.

The Forest was named after Windsor from early times, but was also sometimes called Oakingham or

Wokingham

Forest.

All

this wild

virgin country

swamp, tangled wood, and high land held many deer for the king's hunting, and fattened many swine. Partly by the number of swine feeding in

of heath,

it

to

was estimated; and the right send swine among the acorns of Windsor was

the value of a forest

retained

or

acquired

by many of the dwellers at

the edge of the Forest or within to the (

C 162

it,

from the boor

nuns of Ankerwyke near Datchet. )

49

4

WINDSOR

50

There were many portions of cultivated land running into the forest or islanded in its midst. Some even of the woods inside the borders, such as Clewer, Bray, Hurley, Bisham, and Finchhampstead, remained

under separate ownership, with their own woodwards, though open to admit the king's game. The oaks of Forest

the

are

often

mentioned

in

records,

early

There

together with alders, birches, beech, and ash.

oaks at Cranbourne, and a beech at Smith's Lawn, which are conjectured to have been seedlings

are

Gifts of timber for

at the Conquest, perhaps earlier.

were frequently made to religious houses Six oaks in the neighbourhood and to private men. were sent to the Tower in 1276, wherewith to burn building

lime for the masonry;

and the builders of Windsor

Castle in William

Henry

Edward

Ill's

I's,

II's,

Henry

time must have drawn abundantly from

the oaks in the clay of the lower lands. in

the

was

Forest was

the

esteem.

and

Ill's,

noblest

Fox,

of

many

kinds.

appearance, in wild otter, badger, in

were also hunted.

There were wild

The game

The red deer speed, cat,

and

and

cattle

in

hare

as

late

as 1277, for in that year the Constable of Windsor

was ordered

to

capture and

sell

them.

Among

the

Forest offences were the carrying away of boughs

and

felling

taking

of

of

does

trees,

with

the

pasturing

a noose,

of

sheep,

hunting with

the

grey-

WINDSOR FOREST AND PARK

51

The hounds, hawking at pheasants and partridges. poachers included labourers, husbandmen, gentlemen, and a

A

rector.

tenth part of the venison, under

Henry I, Henry II, and Richard God and St. Mary of Abingdon. In the reign of

Edward

I

was granted

I,

Great

III

Park,

the

was Under

the Chief Forester

under the orders of the Constable of Windsor.

Edward

to

Constable was also Parker of the

which

had

gradually

been

fenced

in

out of the larger and vaguer extent of the Forest itself.

Yet another enclosure was made

Edward

in

1467

by

namely two hundred acres close to " Windsor, which were the origin of the Home Park ", once called the " Little Park". There Henry VII IV,

and Philip of Castile

killed

deer "with their

own

even so early was it a sovereign to do what many

hands, with their crossbows";

a notable thing for a man does without thinking about it. Henry VIII loved the chase, and hunted in Windsor Forest all

He also shot, morning until nightfall. hawked, fished, and played tennis, and having killed the deer, watched the men who ate quantities of day,

from

venison for a wager.

attended

and once,

by half a in

Elizabeth hunted at Windsor,

hundred

to

on

hackneys,

1602, shot a great fat stag, and sent

Archbishop Parker as a to have been in her childhood, it

ladies

gift.

in

It

is

supposed

her father's reign,

WINDSOR

52 that

events which led

the

Heme

story of

the

to

the hunter took place: There is an old tale goes that Heme the hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest, Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight, Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns; And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle, And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain In a most hideous and dreadful manner.

So speaks

Mistress

Page

in

opening

the discomfiture of Falstaff.

for

yeoman hanged himself on a king after hunting

was

in the

It

tree

her

plans

is

said

that a

for

fear

of the

Forest without leave.

The

and a ghostly stag haunted the place and butted at the tree and breathed smoke and There was also a story fire as it tore the roots. tree

cursed,

Heme was

a keeper and went mad after being gored by a stag. He tied a pair of antlers upon his head, ran naked through the Forest, and hanged

that

himself

on

Home

the

tree,

near

Oak Heme's Oak

Shakespeare's

in

for was called centuries, and was blown down in 1863, or, according to another opinion, cut down by George III. Queen Victoria planted the oak which marks the site of

the

Park, which

the legendary tree. In Elizabeth's reign the

first

systematic planting

was begun by Lord Burleigh. Thirteen acres near Cranbourne Tower were sown with oaks which were

I

X fc

—

< < z J

WINDSOR FOREST AND PARK

53

never pollarded, like most other trees in the Forest, This planting in to provide browsing for the deer. 1580 was to supply the navy, especially in case the

Spaniards should destroy the oaks of the Forest of Dean, as they had planned to do. Since that date

a more or less contemporary record of successive plantings has been made, and where the planter has

been a royal or distinguished personage,

name

is

his or her

attached to the recording plate.

James I hunted in the Forest, closed the Little Park against the public, and turned out some wild pigs, of

which a few are

still

In his time the

left.

circumference of the unenclosed Forest on the Berkshire side of the river

and a

half,

measured seventy-seven miles

and here ran the red

deer.

The Home

Park of two hundred and eighty acres held two hundred and forty fallow deer, and the Great Park of three

thousand six hundred and

fifty

acres held

Charles I also hunted there, and eighteen hundred. at the beginning of the Civil War deer were law-

and the pales of the Park destroyed. Bulstrode Whitelocke was Constable of the Castle

lessly

killed

and Keeper of the Forest under the Commonwealth, but could not keep

and William

III

down

the poaching.

planted the

Charles

II

Long Walk.

Queen Anne hunted in a chaise, and Swift, in 171 1, says that she was hunting until four in the

WINDSOR

54

more than

afternoon, and covered

oaks the ride known

with

planted

She

forty miles.

by her name.

Marlborough, was Ranger for many years, and has to be gratefully remembered for protecting the trees against Walpole when he

Duchess

Sarah,

was

need

in

of

of

Georges did nothing glecting

it,

Though

money.

the

for

Castle

their reigns there

in

the

first

except by ne-

were several plant-

The avenue of lime trees Cumberland Lodge was made under George I. of trees.

ings

two

east

of

Under

were formed some of the plantations round about the heathery Smith's Lawn at the south end George

II

of the Park:

these were the

first

to be

shaped ac-

cording to the lines of the ground, and not circular or in parallelograms as before;

some

of this

work was

ran

three

was

the

in

included

Heath. ters

By

hundred, though fifty-six

is

said

that

lack of anything

thirteen-hundred red deer

II

George

Forest.

for

it

against the Rebellion of 1745.

else, to soldiers raised

In the time of

given,

and

they numbered only late as 1813 the Forest

1806

as

miles and a half in circumference, and

Wokingham and

a great part of Bagshot The Forest was still unenclosed, but squat-

had been steadily enlarging

by carrying forward

their

their pieces of land

ditches

at

the

time

of

scouring them, while parishes within the boundaries

had raised money by allowing persons to enclose

WINDSOR FOREST AND PARK

55

and acquire portions of the common land. In 1817 awards were given, settling the claims of various occupants, and the Forest, or every tract of it which retained that title, was enclosed and the deer driven

This

into the Great Park.

is

now

eighteen hundred

and holds a thousand fallow deer

acres in extent,

and a hundred red

deer,

Cranbourne Park holding

a small herd of white deer.

Though crossed by

public footpaths and roads,

it

Park

is

most times and places the front garden of Windsor

is

at

clear that the Castle.

There

is

even

a sense of privacy unintentionally disturbed at spots here and there where the family grief or rejoicing of royalty has been celebrated by planting a tree

—

as

when Queen

Victoria planted an oak to

mark

the

place where the Prince Consort finished his last day's shooting, November 23, 1861. Yet the Park is about six

length from the Castle southward

to

Water, and at most points from two

to

miles

Virginia

in

Considering this extent, it has This is due to the lack no great effect of space. of any great quality of art or nature in the Park. miles

three

Its

outline

wide.

has

no

natural

wholeness,

and

the

marked by fences and walls and several are not easily forgotten. The eighteen hun-

boundaries, lodges,

grace of undulation or natural variety; and they are made up of a number of separate dred acres have

little

WINDSOR

56

but not integral parts, so that

it is

not one but many.

and surprise follow one another too rapidly for any but the first and last to be There are a thousand excellent or notable satisfied. Curiosity, admiration, respect,

— some

due to chance and antiquity, some to deliberation and design but the Park as a whole has things

—

no supremacy over others of the same or even less I have no sooner admired the exquisite giant extent.

craggy vast oaks, or the perfectly formed younger ones, than I come to lines of rhododendrons, birches, or the

symbols of very modern riches, or to lines of venerable stately trees which are not satisfying exthe

cept

on

the

rare

occasions

when they overhang The Park splendour.

some human stateliness or was grand and stern under Plantagenets when the poet could say of it

—

or Tudors,

No Forest, of them all, so fit as she doth stand, When Princes, for their sports, her pleasures will command, No Wood-nymph Nor it

as herself such troops hath ever seen, can such quarries boast as have in Windsor been;

was sweet and

Hanoverians.

But

under Stuarts and early charm is faded and the

gallant

the

grandeur confounded, and the Park should either be artistically treated as a whole, or allowed a century

and wise neglect, if these qualities are to return in a measure worthy of its repute and of nature

history.

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