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No. 213 - THE PENNY MAGAZINE - July 31, 1835
"THE annals of this extensive and illustrious fortress are replete with interesting and curious facts, and embrace a great variety of incidents and events calculated to display the national customs and domestic arrangements of our puissant barons, from early epochs of Norman domination in England to the termination of Elizabeth's reign. In contemplating the bold fragments and shattered ruins of this castle, and reflecting on the scenes of warfare and rude pageantry which have prevailed here at different and distant ages, the mind is at once fully occupied and delighted. It becomes difficult to persuade ourselves of the reality of the scene, and fix attention on positive occurrences. The visions of romance flit before the imagination, and we are liable to confound the creations of fancy with the evidence of facts."
In 1814 Mr. Britton thus introduced the account of Kenilworth Castle which is given in his 'Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain.' If the concluding portion of this passage was then true, it has since become infinitely more so. Since then, he who carried minds captive at his will has been there, and, in his romance of 'Kenilworth,' has peopled its desolate halls with the creatures of his genius, and made them the scene of events which, like many of his characters, are real and true in their outlines, but are filled up with only such strong similitudes of truth as might best serve the purposes of romance. The effect of such combinations, as we find them in 'Kenilworth,' is, that the work seems as a history to some readers, while others view it as history made romantic; and others as romance made historical. In the present instance, the effect has been to render thousands interested in a name which was formerly interesting only to antiquarians and architects; and to make many in all nations acquainted with some leading circumstances concerning a castle of the existence even of which they would scarcely otherwise have been aware. We are well content with this result. Separately from the beauty and interest of the romance itself, we hold it to be so great an advantage that multitudes should realize impressions (which are seldom contrary to truth) concerning historical places, persons, and circumstances, of which they would otherwise have had no impression at all, that none of the minor evils to the few who have subsequent occasion to discover that the writer dressed the facts, which he found naked, before he offered them to notice, are sufficient to neutralize it. Our present business is, however, not to expatiate on the claims of historical romances, but to state the real history of a place which has given name to one of the most interesting of them in our language.
The town of Kenilworth, which contains the remains of this magnificent castle, is situated in the county of Warwickshire, and is distant 95 miles N.W. from London, about five miles from Coventry, and nearly an equal distance from Warwick. The town probably owes its origin to the castle; and it does not appear that it ever attained to much importance. It now chiefly consists of one irregular street about a mile in length, and its population, by the last census, amounted to 3097 persons. It was an ancient demesne of the crown, and we are informed by Dugdale that, even in the Saxon times, it had within its precincts a castle which stood upon a place called Hom (Holme) Hill. Its origin was popularly attributed to a Saxon king of Mercia, of the name Kenulph, and his son Kenelm, and this is countenanced by the name which the place bears. The common accounts, in the time of Elizabeth, as we learn from that entertaining personage Robert Laneham, consider this castle to be the same with that to which our present account refers; and a better informed person than Laneham gives a still earlier origin to the structure. In the 'Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth,' the castle is described as existing in the reign of King Arthur, and the Saxon king is only mentioned as repairing and improving the structure. The Lady of the Lake, in her address of Queen Elizabeth, says,-
With regard to the name of the place, that which it at present bears is not, as usually happens, a corruption, but a restoration of the true form, which had been corrupted. In Queen Elizabeth's time it was always called Killingworth; but even Laneham was able to state that this was wrong, and that the correct form was Kenilworth. Dugdale agrees that the kenil must denote the name of some ancient proprietor; but as the name was anciently spelt Kenulworth, he hesitates to determine whether the name of that proprietor was Kenelm or Kenulph. The syllable worth is from the Saxon, signifying a mansion or dwelling-place, and the compound would therefore express Kenulph's (or Kenelm's) Place.
After the Conquest the demesne of Kenilworth remained with the crown until the time of Henry I., who gave it to a Norman named Geoffry de Clinton. Dugdale credits the accounts which describe him "to have been of very mean parentage, and merely raised from the dust by the favour of the said King Henry, from whose hands he received large possessions and no small honour, being made both Lord Chamberlain and Treasurer to the said king, and afterwards Justice of England: which great advancements do argue that he was a man of extraordinary parts. It seems he took much delight in this place, in respect of the spacious woods, and that large and pleasant lake (through which divers petty streams do pass) lying amongst them; for it was he that first built that great and strong castle here, which was the glory of all these parts, and, for many respects, may be ranked in a third place, at the least, with the most stately castles in England*."
* Dogdale's 'Warwickshire,' Thomas's edition,
vol. i., p. 236.
Even in this its first state, Kenilworth Castle appears to have been of large space and great strength. This is shown by the extent, breadth, and depth of the outer moat, and by the ancient keep, called Caesar's Tower, which, from its form and the extraordinary thickness of its walls, appears to have been of the first foundation. It was called Caesar's tower, as Laneham conjectures, "rather as I have good cause to think, for that it is square and high, formed after the manner of Caesar's Forts, than that ever he built it." A principal and often very ancient tower in many castles is called "Caesar's."
Such a structure as Kenilworth Castle became a desirable acquisition to the Crown. It did not therefore long remain in the possession of the founder's descendants; but as the Clintons continued to possess the royal favour, and to live in prosperity and wealth after they no longer held the castle, it is probable that it was relinquished to the king for some valuable consideration. However, we find in the 19th of Henry II. that it was possessed by the king, who placed a garrison there when his eldest son rebelled against him. The account of the provisions taken in for the use of the garrison is curious as shewing the value of money at that time. The following are the particulars:--One hundred quarters of bread corn, 8l. 2s. 2d. (little more than 2d. a bushel). One hundred quarters of barley 33s. 4d. One hundred hogs 71. 10s. Forty cows, salted, 41. One hundred and twenty cheeses 40s. Twenty-five quarters of salt 30s. For some time subsequent the interest connected with the castle arises chiefly from the accounts furnished by the sheriffs, who had the charge of it for the king, and gave in regular returns of the sums received and expended.
When Cardinal Ottoboni (afterwards pope under the name of Adrian V.) was sent to England by the pope, as legate, to endeavour to compose the differences between Henry and the barons, the king gave orders for Kenilworth Castle to be given up to Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, for the legate's use. It does not appear, however, that he occupied it, but appointed Richard de Gray to keep it for him. The great importance which the king attached to the castle is evident from the remarkable provisions in the letters patent by which, at a subsequent period (26 Henry III.), Gilbert de Segrave was constituted governor. His instructions were, "That he was to keep it only during the king's pleasure, and not to deliver it into the hands of any one but the king himself, so long as he lived: and that if the king should die during his custody thereof, to yield it to Queen Eleanor for the use of the king's heirs; but in case the said Queen could not come in person, that then he should not deliver it to any except to some of her uncles, to the use of the king's heirs who were not in league with the King of France." For the observance of these conditions Gilbert took a solemn oath on the Bible in the king's presence.
Not long after this, the king appointed the famous Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, to be governor of the castle, and afterwards granted it for life to him and his wife Eleanor, who was the king's sister. This earl is stated to have "wonderfully fortified the castle, and stored with many kinds of warlike engines, till that time never seen nor heard of in England." The earl afterwards took a prominent part in the memorable revolt of the barons, the details of which, although of great importance in history, had little connection with Kenilworth. When, however, the barons were defeated at Evesham, in August, 1265, the earl and his eldest son were among the slain, and it became the scene of very important operations. The earl's eldest surviving son, Simon de Montfort, continued in the castle, into which he received those that fled from the battle, and the friends and followers of persons killed. Their daily increasing numbers, and their exasperation of mind in consequence of "the death of their kindred and familiars," gave great strength and confidence to Simon, who "sent abroad his bailiffs and officers like a king;--his soldiers spoiling, burning, plundering and destroying the houses, lands, and lordships of his adversaries, driving away their cattle, and imprisoning many, forcing them to what fines he pleased for their liberty."
This state of things continued until about mid-summer, 1266, when the king, having become seriously alarmed for the consequences, determined to lay siege to the castle, and to that end marched with an army to Warwick, where he remained until he was joined by reinforcements from different parts of the country. Simon de Montfort, feeling that he should not be able to hold out long unless he could collect a force sufficient to raise the siege, left Kenilworth with the intention, it would seem, of going to France, though he does not appear to have gone farther than the Isle of Ely. He encouraged Henry de Hastings, whom he left governor in his absence, to make a stout defence, and assured him of timely relief. Meantime, Prince Edward surrounded the castle; and while he determined, if need were, to starve the garrison into a surrender, he took care that there should be abundance in his own camp. Among the items of provision, we find that the sheriff of Norfolk was commanded to cause 36 tuns of wine to be brought thither from Lynn.
The king, wishing to prevent the effusion of blood, sent to offer very favourable terms to the besieged; but, says Dugdale, "they did not only slight the king's offers, but maimed the messenger, and with much resolution defended themselves against all the assaults that were made, having engines that cast forth stones of great bigness, and making bold and frequent sallies, did very much mischief: neither could the sentence of Ottobon**, the pope's legate, who was there in the camp, nor the king's power, any whit daunt them."
The estates of the besieged having been confiscated by a parliament which had previously assembled at Winchester, the king, in the fear that this might render them desperate, caused a convention of the clergy and laity at Kenilworth, to reconsider this matter. The convention elected twelve nobles and bishops, to whom the final determination was referred. These persons held their meetings at Conventry, where they could be better accommodated than in the camp; and in due time produced the decree so well known in historics and records under the name of "Dictum de Kenilworth." It enacted that the parties in question might redeem their estates by a pecuniary fine proportioned to the nature of the offence, and payable to the persons then holding the forfeited estates. The fine was not to exceed five years' income of the estate, nor to be less than two years. The exceptions were--the Earl of Leicester, whose case was left undetermined; the Earl of Derby, who was to pay seven years' income of his lands; and Henry de Hastings, the governor of the castle, and those who maimed the king's messenger, who were to be imprisoned seven years, or submit to the king's pleasure. When this decree was communicated to the besieged, they refused to submit to it; "first, because they had no voice in choosing those who were makers of the decree; and secondly, for that they held the decree itself to be intolerable."
** This was Ottoboni's second visit to England for the purpose of bringing the king and his barons to a good understanding.
The king, being "much moved" at this reception of his conciliatory measure, determined to storm the castle. But about three weeks were necessary to enable the sheriff to collect the masons and other labourers who, with their hatchets, pickaxes, and tools, would be required in this service; and in the meantime the garrison began to suffer greatly, not only from want of provisions, but in consequence of a pestilential disease which raged among them, and of which many died. When the king heard of this he renewed his overtures, with assurances of kind treatment if they would surrender. In answer to this, they proposed that all acts of hostility should cease for the present, and that they should meantime be allowed to send to Simon de Montfort, to know whether he would relieve them by a fixed day or not; and, if he did not, they engaged to deliver up the castle. The king consented. But before the messengers despatched to Simon could return, the flux and other grievous diseases increased so much among the inmates of the castle, that those who had hitherto escaped were unwilling to hazard the infection, and having little hope that Montfort would be able to assist them, surrendered the castle to the king, on condition that the governor and all the inmates "should have four days' time to carry out all their goods, and go freely away with horse, arms, and all accoutrements, throughout any part of the kingdom." Thus ended this memorable siege, which lasted full six months, and the whole history of which indicates the great strength of the place, which after all was overcome by disease and famine rather than by the forces of the king.
Very soon after the king had gained possession of the castle, he bestowed it upon his youngest son Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, who was also on this occasion created Earl of Leicester. At this time (7th Edward I.) Kenilworth Castle was made the scene of a splendid and costly festival, the chief promoter of which was Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who was also the principal challenger in the tilt-yard. This personage appears to have been one of the most fashionable gallants of the time, and his own son Geoffrey named him "The King of Folly." The meeting was called the "Round Table," from the banquetings being held, according to a then ancient custom, at a round table, that the harmony of the festival might not be disturbed by questions about precedence. A hundred knights and an equal number of ladies were present. The knights, many of whom came from foreign parts to be present on the occasion, amused themselves with tilting and other exercises of chivalry, and the ladies with dancing. It is recorded in the accounts of this festival, apparently as an extraordinary circumstance, that the ladies were clad in silken mantles. The Lady of the Lake, in her address to Queen Elizabeth, which we have already quoted, thus alludes to the transactions which we have recorded.
Thomas, the son of Edmund, who succeeded his father in the possession of the castle, joined the barons against the favourites of Edward II., namely, Piers Gaveston and the two Spencers; and although the king once pardoned him and restored his forfeited lands, yet in 1322 he was taken in arms at the battle of Borough-bridge, and a few days afterwards was beheaded at Pontefract. The castle then became the property of the king, who, when he saw dangers thickening around him, sent orders to the constable to keep a sufficient garrison in the castle, intending to retire thither in the worst emergency of his fortunes. And indeed he then did become an inmate of Kenilworth--but it was as a prisoner. Having been seized in Wales by Henry, Earl of Lancaster, (brother and heir of Thoma,) and others, he was brought to this castle, and kept close prisoner, until the report that the deposed king was "too much observed and respected" at Kenilworth, occasioned his removal from thence to Berkeley Castle, where he was ultimately murdered. He was removed from Kenilworth in the night time, by Sir Thomas Berkeley and Sir John Maltravers, who, in an open field between this place and Warwick, are said to have set him down on the bare ground, and shaved him with dirty water out of a neighbouring ditch. Horace Walpole, observing that this king is represented with a "longish beard" on his monument in Gloucester Cathedral, and knowing that such beards were commonly worn at the time, is inclined to reject the anecdote which describes him as having been shaven on this occasion. But if Walpole had referred to Stowe's account of the transaction, he would have found that it resulted from the very custom which seemed to him to render it doubtful. Stowe gives as his authority Thomas de la More, "a worshipfull knight that then lived, and wrote in the French tongue what he saw with his eyes, or heard credibly reported by them that saw, and some that were actors." He says, "Devising to disfigure him that hee might not bee knowne, they determine for to shave as well the haire of his head as also of his beard; wherefore, as in their journey they travailed by a little water which ranne in a ditch, they commanded him to light from his horse to be shaven, to whome, being set on a moale hill, a barbar came unto him with a bason of colde water taken out of the ditch, to shave him withall, saying unto the king, that that water would serve for that time. To whome Edward answered, that would they, noulde they, he would have warme water for his beard; and to the end that he might keepe his promise, he began to weepe, and to shed teares plentifully."
After the death of Edward, Henry Earl of Lancaster, lately mentioned, was restored to his brother's possessions, and from him Kenilworth Castle descended, through his son and grand-daughter, to the famous John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The Duke greatly improved and enlarged the castle. It seems indeed that, with the exception of Caesar's Tower, the outer walls, and the turrets towards the east end, all that now remains was built by him, and has always borne the name of Lancaster's Buildings. Dugdale finds that in the 15th of Richard II., "the king did appoint John Deyncourt, then constable hereof and his lieutenant, as also Robert de Skyllington, mason, to hire diggers of stone, carpenters, and labourers, to the number of xx persons; and to provide stone, timber, tile, and all other necessaries, for the use of the said Duke in his buildings here."
When John of Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, became king, his possessions as Duke of Lancaster were united to the crown. Kenilworth therefore remained a royal property without interruption until the reign of Elizabeth.
We are informed by Stowe, on the authority of Thomas de Elmham, that King Henry V. "kept his Lent in the castle of Kenelworth [Anno 1414], and caused an harber there to be planted in the marish, for his pleasure, among the thorns and bushes, where a foxe had harbored, which foxe he killed, being a thing thought to prognosticate that he should expell the craftie deceite of the French king; besides which hee also there builded a most pleasant place, and caused it to bee named Le Plesant Maris, or The Pleasant Marsh. * * * In this Lent season, whilst the king lay at Kenelworth, messengers came to him from the Dolphin of France, named Charles, with a present of Paris balles, for him to play withall; but the king wrote to him that hee would shortly send to him London balles, with the which he woulde breake down the roofes of houses."
Henry VIII. incurred considerable expense in repairing and altering the castle. Among other works, he caused the banqueting-house, erected by Henry V., to be taken down, and part of it to be rebuilt in the base-court of the castle near the Swan Tower.
After this, nothing particular occurs in the history of the castle until the time Queen Elizabeth, who, in the fifth year of her reign, bestowed it upon Robert Lord Dudley, her favourite, whom she soon after created Baron of Denbigh and Earl of Leicester. From him the castle of Kenilworth and the surrounding domain received most extensive additions and alterations, which are said to have cost him no less than 60,000l.,--a prodigious sum to be so applied at that period. His principal works consisted in the erection of the grand "Gatehouse" on the north side; for, after having filled up a part of the moat on that side, he made the principal entrance from the north, instead of the south, as it had been before: he also erected a large mass of square rooms, at the south-east angle of the upper court, called "Leicester's Buildings," and built from the ground two handsome towers at the head of the pool. The one called the "Flood Gate," or "Gallery Tower," stood at the end of the tilt-yard, and contained a spacious and noble room, from whence the ladies might conveniently see the exercises of tilting and other sports. The other was called "Mortimer's Tower," either, as Dugdale thinks, after one that stood there, and in which Lord Mortimer lodged at the Round Table festival, or else because Sir John Mortimer was confined there when a prisoner in the reign of Henry VI. Leicester also greatly enlarged the chase. Although his works are of the most recent date, they have the most ancient and ruined appearance, having been built of a brown friable stone, not well calculated to stand the weather.
Sir Walter Scott has given a short description of the appearance which the castle presented in this its most perfect state. This account appears to have been drawn from a comparison of the description given by Laneham with the details in the survey made in the reign of James I., and with the actual remains of the castle. We may very suitably introduce it here.
"The outer wall of this splendid and gigantic structure enclosed seven acres, a part of which was occupied by extensive stables, and by a pleasure garden with its trim arbours and parterres, and the rest forming the large base-court or outer yard of the noble castle. The lordly structure itself, which rose near the centre of this spacious enclosure, was composed of a huge pile of magnificent castellated buildings, apparently of different ages, surrounding an inner court, and bearing in the names attached to each portion of the magnificient mass, and in the armorial bearings which were there lazoned, the emblems of mighty chiefs who had long passed away, and whose history, could ambition have bent ear to it, might have read a lesson to the haughty favourite who had acquired and was now augmenting this fair domain. A large and massive keep, which formed the citadel of the castle, was of uncertain though great antiquity. It bore the name of Caesar, probably from its resemblence to that in the Tower of London so called. * * * The external wall of this royal castle was, on the south andwest sides, adorned and defended by a lake, partly artificial, across which Leicester had constructed, a stately bridge, that Elizabeth might enter the castle by a path hitherto untrodden, instead of the usual entrance to the northward, over which he had erected a gatehouse or barbican, which still exists, and is equal in extent and superior in architecture to the baronial castle of many a northern chief. Beyond the lake lay an extensive chase full of red deer, fallow deer, roes, and every species of game, and abounding with lofty trees, from amongst which the extended front and massive towers of the castle were seen to rise in majesty and beauty*."
* 'Kenilworth,' vol. ii., p. 330-332. 1821.
Queen Eliabeth visited the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth in the years 1566, 1568, and 1575. The two first visits were attended with no great ceremony or expense; but the last so far eclipsed in spendour and profuse expense anything of the kind that had ever been known in this country, that it has been thought worthy of being noticed in the annals of the country, and has been immortalized by "the Author of Waverley." We have two contemporary accounts of this great festival. The one is entitled:--'The Princelye Pleasures at the Court at Kenelworth. That is to say; the Copies of all such Verses, Proses or Poeticall inuentions, and other deuices of pleasure as were there deuised by sundry Gentlemen, before the Qvene's Maiestie: in the year 1575.' This was first printed in 1576, and was prepared by George Gascoigne, who wrote most of the speeches and verses which it contains. It has been several times reprinted: the last edition, published at Warwick in 1824, gives a modernized orthography of this as well as of Laneham's 'Letter,' which is published together with it. The other work is entitled:--'A Letter: whearin part of the Entertainement untoo the Queenz Maiesty, at Killingwoorth Castl in Warwik Sheer, in this Soomerz Progress, 1575, iz signified: from a freend officer attendant in the Coourt, unto his freend a Citizen and Merchaunt of London.' This "officer attendant" was Richard Laneham, "clerk of the Council chamber door, and also keeper of the same," whom Sir Walter Scott has introduced in his romance. The letter is full of affectation and conceit, with many lame attempts at wit; but the writer was evidently a man of some general acquirements, and his letter gives much information illustrating the tastes and manners of the times. It has been quite as often reprinted as the 'Princely Pleasures.' In endeavouring to give our readers some idea of the festival at Kenilworth, we shall avail ourselves of both production, adopting the modernized spelling as given in the Warwick edition, but also recurring to earlier editions, particularly those in Mr. Nichols's "Progresses of Queen Elizabeth," and in the fine work entitled 'Kenilworth Illustrated,' published at Coventry in 1821; to both of which valuable notes are annexed.
Every preparation on the part both of the queen and the earl having been completed, the queen dined at Ichington, about seven miles from Kenilworth, on Saturday, July 9, 1575. After dinner she set out for Kenilworth, attended by Leicester and a splendid retinue. There was hunting by the way, so that they did not arrive at the castle till eight o'clock in the evening. On approaching to it the queen was accosted by a sibyl, "comely clad in a pall of white silk," who came out of an arbour in the park, and, in a poetical address, expressed the delight her arrival gave, and prophesied that she should enjoy a long and prosperous reign. The following promise was most to the purpose:--
* Laneham. † Gascoigne.
When the queen had entered the gate and came into the base-court, she was met by the Lady of the Lake, who, attended by two nymphs arrayed in silk, floated towards her from the middle of the pool upon a moveable island, blazing with torches. In a poetical address, part of which we have already quoted, she spoke of the history of the castle, and said, since King Arthur's time, she had remained concealed, and confined her care to the lake, but now she felt it her duty to discover herself, and surrender her trust to the queen; concluding with
"Pass on, madam, you need no longer stand,
The Lake, the Ladye, the Lord, are yours now to command."
The queen, then proceeding towards the inner court, passed over a bridge, which was railed on both sides. To each pair of posts, of which there were seven, at the distance of twelve feet from each other, presents were attached, appropriate to the several deities by whom they were supposed to be offered to the queen, as was explained to her in Latin verse by an actor clad like a poet. The queen proceeding into the inner court, was received with "sweet music;" where she alighted from her palfrey, and mounted the stairs to her apartment amidst the sound of drums, fifes, and trumpets, the firing of guns, and a grand display of fireworks; "the noise and flame of which were heard and seen twenty miles off," according to Laneham.
The following day was Sunday, and the reader will be curious to know how it was spent on this great occasion. Laneham says:--"On Sunday, the forenoon occupied as for the sabbath-day in quiet and vacation from work, and in divine service and preaching at the parish-church: the afternoon in excellent music of sundry sweet instruments, and in dancing of lords and ladies and other worshipful degrees, uttered with such lively agility and commendable grace, as whether it might be more strange to the eye, or pleasant to the mind, for my part indeed I could not discern; but it was exceedingly well, methought, in both." Gascoigne informs us, more intelligibly than Laneham, how the evening was spent:--"There were fireworks showed upon the water, which were both strange and well executed; as sometimes passing under the water a long space, when all men thought they had been quenched, they would rise and mount out of the water again, and burn very furiously until they were utterly consumed."
Monday being a hot day, the queen kept within doors till five o'clock in the evening, when she went out to "hunt the hart of force." On her return, "there came roughly forth Hombre Salvagio [i.e., a savage man], with an oaken plant, plucked up by the roots, in his hand, himself foregrown all in moss and ivy; who, for personage, gesture, and utterance beside, countenanced the matter to very good liking; and had speech to effect:--'That continuing so long in these wild wastes, wherein oft had he fared both far and near, yet happed he never to see so glorious an assembly before: and now cast into great grief of mind, for that neither by himself could he guess, nor knew where to be taught, what they should be, or who have estate. Reports some had he heard of many strange things, but broiled thereby so much the more in desire of knowledge. Thus in great pangs bethought he, and called upon all his familiars and companions, the fauns, the satyrs, the nymphs, the dryades, and the hamadryades; but none making answer, whereby his care the more increasing, in utter grief and extreme refuge called he aloud at last after his old friend Echo, that he wist would hide nothing from him, but tell him all if she were here *.'" We are informed in the 'Princely Pleasures' that the verses of this savage "were devised, penned, and pronounced by Master Gascoigne; and that (as I have heared credibly reported) upon a very great sudden." We give a verse or two from the Dialogue with Echo by way of specimen:--
"Well, Echo, tell me yet, How might I come to see This comely Queen of whom we talk? Oh, were she now by thee!" Echo.-- "By thee." "By me? oh were that tru How might I see her face? How might I know her from the rest, Or judge her by her grace?" Echo.-- "Her grace." "Well, then, if so mine eyes Be such as they have been, Methinks I see among them all, This same should be the Queen." Echo.-- "The Queen."
* Laneham.
Upon this the "salvage man" fell upon his knees before the queen, and delivered a characteristic but flattering address. Laneham informs us of a circumstance which must have mortified Gascoigne, who makes no mention of it. "I shall tell you, Master Martin, by the mass, of a made adventure.--As this savage, for the more submission, broke his tree asunder, and cast the top from him, it had almost light upon her highness's horse's head; whereat he startled, and the gentleman was much dismayed. See the benignity of the prince: as the footman looked well to the horse, and he of generosity soon calmed of himself,--'No hurt, no hurt,' quoth her highness. Which words, I promise you, we were all glad to hear, and took them for the best part of the play."
What we have given must suffice as specimens of entertainments,
which seem to us, at this day, sufficiently tasteless and insipid.
Warton remarks, with reference to these classical pageants:--"The
books of antiquity being familiarized to the great, everything
was tinctured with ancient history and mythology. The heathen
gods, although discountenanced by the Calvinists, on a suspicion
of their tending to cherish and revive a spirit of idolatry, came
into general vogue. When the queen paraded through a country
town, almost every pageant was a pantheon. When she paid a visit
at the house of any of her nobility, at entering the hall she
was saluted by the Penates, and conducted to her privy chamber
by Mercury. Even the pastry-cooks were expert mythologists.
At dinner, select transformations of Ovid's metamorphoses were
exhibited in confectionary; and the splendid iceing of an immense
historic plumb-cake was embossed with a delicious basso-relievo
of the destruction of Troy. In the afternoon, when she condescended
to walk in the garden, the lake was covered with Tritons and Nereids:
the pages of the family were converted into wood-nymphs, who peeped
from every bower; and the footmen gamboled over the lawns in the
figure of satyrs*." Pageantry of this sort began
to gain ground in the reign of Henry VIII., and gradually superseded
those in which saints, prophets, and apostles were the actors;
religious canticles and texts of scripture, delivered by personified
doctors of the church, similarly giving place to profane poetry,
classic translations, and occasional verses and exhortations delivered
by the representatives of heathen divinities. These pageants
may therefore be regarded as evidences of the national familiarity
with classical learning: and they were useful, at the time, for
what Warton says of the ancient 'Mysteries,' is still more true
of these classical pageants: "They had their use in abolishing
the barbarous attachment to military games, and the bloody contentions
of the tournament, which had so long prevailed as the sole species
of popular amusement. Rude, and even ridiculous as they were,
they softened the manners of the people, by diverting the public
attention to spectacles in which the mind was concerned, and by
creating a regard for other arts than those of barbarous strength
and savage
valour †"
The rest of the seventeen days' festivities at Kenilworth we must give in the brief summing up of Dugdale. "For the several days of her stay, various and rare shows and sports were there exercised, viz., in the chase, a savage man with satyrs: bear-baitings, fire-works, Italian tumblers, a country brideall, with running at the quintain, and morrice-dancing. And that there might be nothing wanting that these parts could afford, hither came the Coventry men, and acted the ancient play, long since used in that city, called Hock Tuesday, setting forth the destruction of the Danes in King Etheired's time; with which the Queen was so pleased that she gave them a brace of bucks, and five marks in money to bear the charges of a feast. Besides all this, they had upon the pool a Triton riding on a mermaid eighteen feet long; as also Arion on a dolphin's back, with rare music." He then goes on to state that five gentlemen were knighted; and adds that the expenses of the festivities may be estimated from the single item of beer, of which not less than 320 hogsheads of the ordinary sort were consumed.
* History of English Poetry, sect. 43. †
Ibid., vol. ii, sect. 9.
The Earl of Leicester continued to reside occasionally at Kenilworth until his death in 1588. He died without acknowledged legitimate issue; and devised the castle to his brother, the Earl of Warwick, for life, after which it was to be inherited by Sir Robert Dudley and his heirs. This Sir Robert Dudley appears to have been Leicester's son by an unacknowledged marriage with Lady Sheffield; and when his uncle died, he resided at Kenilworth, and adopted proceedings to establish his legitimacy. He was opposed by the powerful friends of the lady whom Leicester had publicly married during the lifetime of Lady Sheffield. It was difficult to prove the fact of a marriage which had so long been kept secret; and the House of Lords, indeed, brought the cause to an abrupt termination, directing the depositions to be sealed up, and no copies taken but by the king's order. Disgusted at this arbitrary measure, Sir Robert left England for Italy, having obtained leave to travel for three years. The friends of Leicester's acknowledged widow, bent upon his ruin, procured a summons for his return, which not being obeyed, the castle and lands of Kenilworth were seized on for the king's use. A survey of it was then made, by which it appears that the area within the walls was seven acres. The castle and four gatehouses were all built of reestone, the walls varying from four to fifteen feet in thickness; and the outer walls being "so spacious and fair, that two or three persons may walk together upon most places thereof." The rooms are described as being "of great state within the same, and such as are able to receive his Majesty, the queen and prince at one time, built with as much uniformity and conveniency as any houses of later time; and with such stately cellars, all carried upon pillars and architecture of free-stone carved and wrought, as the like are not within this kingdom*, and also all other houses for offices answerable." The parks and chases were valued at 1200l. per annum, "900l. whereof are grounds for pleasure." Concerning the woods, it is said:--"There joineth upon this ground a park-like wood, called the King's Wood, with fifteen several copses, containing altogether 789 acres within the same, which, in the Earl of Leicester's time, were stored with red deer, since which time the deer have strayed; but the ground is in no sort blemished, having great store of timber and other trees of much value upon the same." The pool, which has been so frequently mentioned, contained 111 acres: it was well stored with fish and fowl, and its water could "be let around the castle at pleasure." The circuit of the whole domain was about "nineteen or twenty miles, in a pleasant country, the like both for state, strength and pleasure not being within the realm of England." The total value of the property was estimated at 38,554l., being 16,431l. in lands; 11,722l. in woods; and 10,401l. for the castle.
* This refers to the undercroft of the Great Hall.--
See the wood-cut
.
The king's eldest son, Henry, took a fancy to the castle "as the most noble and magnificent thing in the midland parts of this realm;" yet, with that gentlemanly feeling for which he has obtained much praise, was unwilling to occupy the premises without something like compensation to the ejected owner. He therefore entered into a treaty with Sir Robert Dudley for obtaining a right to the property by purchase from him: 14,500l. was the sum agreed to be paid, besides which Sir Robert was to hold the office of Constable of the castle during life. This was in 1611; and the prince died the next year, when only 3000l. of the above amount had been paid; and even this sum was never received by Sir Robert Dudley, it having been paid for him to a merchant who failed † Prince Charles (afterwards Charles I.) then took possession as heir to his brother, without feeling bound to pay the balance of the purchase-money. As Sir Robert's wife, however, had a jointure on the estate, he obtained a special Act of Parliament to enable her to alienate it; which she did to him for the sum of 4000l. in the year 1621.
† ir Robert Dudley, a man of great ability and attainments, never returned to England. He was treated with much consideration abroad, and was made a duke by the emperor.
Kenilworth Castle afterwards shared the disastrous fortunes of its royal owner. After his death, Cromwell gave the whole property to certain officers of his army, who demolished many parts of the castle and dismantled it of its most valuable materials, which were sold: they also drained the great pool, cut down the woods, destroyed the parks and chase, and divided the land into farms among themselves. After the Restoration, Charles II. gave the property to Sir Edward Hyde, whom he created Baron Kenilworth and Earl of Clarendon; and, through the eldest surviving daughter of the last earl of that family, it has descended to the present Earl of Clarendon.
For a long period decay was suffered to extend the ruin which Cromwell's officers commenced. The further progress of the devastation was, however, arrested by the present Earl of Clarendon; and if this most magnificent ruin be now left to the slow inroads of time, it is likely to remain a monument of baronial grandeur which many future ages may contemplate.
The historical statements into which we have entered, as likely to be most generally interesting to our readers, leave us no room for a detailed account of the ruins, which is the less necessary as the preceding account includes much information concerning the progress of the castle and its appearance when completed. Our first wood-cut is a view of the castle from the east, comprehending Caesar's Tower and Leicester Buildings. These were formerly connected by "Sir Robert Dudley's Lobby" and "Henry VIII's Lodgings," which being now levelled to the earth allow the Great Hall to be seen in the background. The other wood-cut is a larger view of the Great Hall. The steps which led to the beautiful portal of this magnificent apartment are now fallen down and removed. The interior of the Hall shows an undercroft of six arches in length and three in breadth, originally bearing a groined roof. The undercroft, appropriated to military and domestic stores, is lighted by loopholes only, of rather singular construction. The pillars and groining, spoken of with so much admiration in the 'Survey,' are represented in our cut, and must not be mistaken as belonging to the hall above, whose roof was supported by trusses of timber, the holes of which are to be seen between the windows. The dimensions of the Hall are about ninety feet by forty-five, which with the latter measure for height would give a double cube, an admired proportion among ancient builders. The windows, though bereft of their glass and most of their tracery, still appear graceful in outline, and must once have been exceedingly beautiful.
We may appropriately conclude this account with a passage from the romance of 'Kenilworth:'--
"We cannot but add, that of this lordly palace, where princes feasted and heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest of storm and siege, and now in the games of chivalry, where beauty dealt the prize which valour won, all is now desolate. The bed of the lake is but a rushy swamp; and the massy ruins of the castle only serve to show what their splendour once was, and to impress on the musing visitor the transitory value of human possessions, and the happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in virtuous contentment."
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