These three are the best known health resorts, but visitors throng equally to the rapidly rising Totland Bay on the west, and Freshwater, Cowes, Ryde, and other places are seldom altogether deserted to their own inhabitants.
CHAPTER II CARISBROOKE AND ITS MEMORIES
Carisbrooke is the central attraction for visitors, just as, by position, it is well-nigh the centre of the island. Even from childish days the picture of the patient donkey walking in a wheel to draw up water from the well, or the touching tale of the little Princess Elizabeth, who pined to death in the castle, has been familiar to everyone. The donkey who now holds the office is probably just as great an interest to the thousands of tourists—one Whit-Monday has been known to bring ten thousand—as the historical associations with which the castle is so richly endowed. The well is 150 feet deep, but that the work is not unduly hard is evidenced by the longevity of the donkeys, one of which lived to the age of thirty-two and another to twenty-one years. There are two at present, who relieve each other, both comparatively young and much petted.
Carisbrooke is bound up with the history of the island. Its origin goes back into the dim mists of antiquity, and the earliest record is of a British fort which stood on the site. This was eventually succeeded by a Roman camp. The Romans called the island Vecta, or Vectis, and held it from A.D. 43 to A.D. 530, when Cedric the Saxon seized it. The Saxons used Carisbrooke as a strong place and fortified it, but when William the Conqueror established himself in England he bestowed it upon William Fitz-Osborne. One little incident which stands out in William's reign is that of the seizure of his half-brother Odo at Carisbrooke, where he had taken refuge. King William himself crossed over on this occasion and dragged out the rebel with a strong hand. (See plan of Carisbrooke, [p. 62]).
In the time of King Stephen, "Baldwin de Redvers made an insurrection against Stephen at Exeter, was there besieged and starved out, and then fled to the Wight, an island situate between Normandy and England, but nearer to England than to Normandy. He there occupied his castle, which was most grand built of stone and strengthened by very great fortifications. It was considered impregnable, and being well stored with provisions and plenty of water, Baldwin determined to defy the King, but by the providence of God intervening the well was dried up suddenly. Baldwin on this was so discouraged that he fled to the King to ask forgiveness and to be allowed to retain his own property; but he did not get his request granted. He then repaired to the Court of Anjou, which received him with much honour" (Gesta Stephani).
With the treaty which provided for the succession of Henry came the re-establishment of Baldwin at Carisbrooke, whereupon he at once sank a much deeper and better well, the one which is now in existence, probably with an eye to future contingencies! The family of de Redvers, which continued long in possession, was Norman, and the description of the island as lying "between Normandy and England" is not really so absurd as it sounds in view of the fact that it was an appanage of Normandy, and when Normandy was lost to England it continued to be so, until Edward I. bought it from its "lord," Isabella de Fortibus, the last of the line of de Redvers, who is said to have had "a man's courage and lion's heart." She sold it to him as she lay dying, childless and a widow. The sum was one which in these days would be equal to £60,000. Since then it has been an integral part of England. It is true that the Duke of Warwick was called King of the Island by Henry VI., but the empty title died with its only possessor. Among the Wardens and Governors have been many whose names stand out in history: Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, Richard, Duke of York (killed at Agincourt), Piers Gaveston the Favourite, Edmund, Duke of Somerset, Anthony Woodville, who was Lord Scales in right of his wife, and became Earl Rivers when his father and elder brother were beheaded. The same fate befell him when he was only forty-one, because he had dared to espouse the cause of his nephew, Edward V., against the Duke of Gloucester.
Cromwell, the "Hammer of the Monks," was another Governor, but did not long enjoy his position; he was made Constable of Carisbrooke Castle in 1538, and it was only two years later that his downfall came. One of his last letters written to the King from the tower where he was imprisoned ends, "Your Highness's most heavy and most miserable prisoner and poor slave." Among the names of our own times there is that of Prince Henry of Battenberg, whose wife succeeded him in the honorary position at his death.