Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 2 (of 2)

by George Thomas Clark

The possession of Kenilworth was the first object of the royal party; but not only was the castle strong, and its resources abundant, but the popular cause was in the ascendant, and the garrison included some of the greatest nobles and bravest soldiers in England. Henry, forty years before, had learned by the experience of Bedford that the siege of a well-appointed fortress was no light matter, and his preparations were very considerable. On the 8th of December he summoned his nobles to a muster at Northampton to proceed against Kenilworth, and on 26th December he called out the “posse” of Warwick and Oxford, “ad gravandum et expugnandum illos qui se tenent in Castro de Kenelworth.” The garrison refused to surrender the castle to Sir Simon, then in the hands of their enemies, and pleaded that they held it in trust for the Countess of Leicester, and could give it over to none other. It was the 23rd June, 1265, before the siege was commenced in good earnest.

The royal head-quarters seem to have been on the north side of the castle, probably along the high ground between what is still called Camp Field and Clinton Green, and it is not improbable that the king’s pavilion was pitched at the former point so as to be out of reach of the sallies of the garrison. On the Sunday after St. Margaret’s day, 20th July, the sword of state, called “Curtana,” was brought to the camp, and, in the presence of the king, delivered to the keeper of the king’s pavilion. To the camp came also the legate, Ottoboni; and so intent was the king upon the siege that the Duke of Brunswick, who had come to Windsor to marry Henry’s niece, came on to the camp, where the marriage ceremony was performed. The garrison was, however, in no way daunted by these symptoms of the king’s determination to take the place. They constructed powerful engines, and threw great stones from the walls, some of which are probably the stone balls, 18 inches diameter, which have been found there, and are still preserved at the castle. Unfortunately, the political events were so important that the operations of the siege have escaped record.

As, however, the royal cause gained ground, it became evident that, however strong the castle might be, its fall was a question of time only, and the counsels of Prince Edward and Prince Richard and the legate were directed to hasten this event by moderate means. A royal council was summoned, and met at Coventry, to settle the terms to be offered to the “disinherited”; and on the calends of November (31st October) the celebrated “Dictum” or “Ban” was proclaimed in camp, and on the following day confirmed, and, finally, on the Sunday, read out from the pulpit of Warwick Church by the legate in the presence of the king. The terms were, however, rejected by the garrison; on which the king decided to attack the place by storm, and, 20th November, masons, labourers, pioneers, and sappers were ordered up from Northampton.

Probably the garrison had been improvident; for stores began to fall short, the water became bad, and disease broke out. Upon this, the garrison asked for time to seek and advise with Simon de Montfort, then supposed to be on the continent. This was granted, but as the sickness became pestilential, Hastings agreed to surrender on terms. Four days were allowed for the retreat of the garrison, with their horses, arms, and harness. The necessary safe-conducts bear date the 13th December, but the castle was surrendered on the 12th. The siege had lasted six months, at a prodigious expense to the royal exchequer, as Henry soon afterwards informed the sheriffs, and to the severe injury of the monks of Kenilworth and Stoneleigh, and of the people of the whole midland district, who had been harried by both besiegers and besieged. Henry left immediately afterwards for Oxford, placing Philip Marmion in charge as constable; but before leaving he, by grant dated Warwick, 16th December, made over the castle and lordship to his brother Edmund, Earl of Lancaster.

Edmund was created Earl of Leicester by his nephew, Edward I., in 1274; and four years afterwards, 7 Edward I., he held a grand tournament at the castle, at which Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, specially distinguished himself. Edmund’s son and successor, Earl Thomas, enlarged the park, 30 Edward I. On his execution and attainder, the castle escheated to Edward II., who was afterwards brought here a prisoner by Henry, Earl Thomas’s brother and heir, and here retained until he was sent to Berkeley. With the new reign the attainder was reversed, and Earl Henry held the castle till his death, 19 Edward III., as did his son Henry, created Duke of Lancaster, 25 Edward III. Ten years later, on his death, 35 Edward III., Kenilworth came to his second daughter and co-heir, Blanch, who married John of Gaunt, Edward’s fourth son, who became Duke of Lancaster, 36 Edward III.

On the death of Edward III., John of Gaunt, distrusting the new king, his nephew, took up his abode for a time at Kenilworth, and probably commenced his alterations there. The works were, no doubt, carried on for many years; and certainly were not ended 15 Richard II., 1391–2, when masons, quarrymen, carpenters, and labourers were employed at the castle, the result being the remodelling of the inner ward, and the construction of the magnificent range of kitchens, hall, and state apartments, of which the remains are still visible. When the son and successor of John of Gaunt became Henry IV., Kenilworth, with the other possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster, fell to the Crown, and so remained. The castle received certain small additions, not of a military character, and all now removed, from Henry VI. and Henry VIII. Elizabeth, in the fifth year of her reign, 1563, granted the domain to Lord Robert Dudley, creating him in the following year Earl of Leicester. Leicester’s works were considerable. He gutted the keep and forebuilding, fitting them up in the Tudor style; built the pile of masonry, now nodding to its fall, and which bears his name, at the south-east corner of the inner ward; he built or restored the Gallery Tower upon the outer end of the dam; probably added an upper storey to the great barn; and built the great gatehouse, a very fine specimen of its age.

Probably also, late in his life, he filled up the ditch of the inner ward. His masonry, though of ashlar, and not ill executed, was not substantial; and upon the removal of the floors and roofs, the walls became unsafe, and much has fallen and is about to fall. No doubt his works were executed with great rapidity, since his famous reception of Elizabeth here took place in 1575. Leicester’s conduct threw a doubt upon the legitimacy of his only son, of which King James availed himself to make an enforced purchase of Kenilworth for an inconsiderable sum for Prince Henry; after whom it was held by Prince Charles, probably more for the use of the chase than as a residence. At that time the lake covered 111 acres, and there were four gatehouses; the four being, no doubt, Leicester’s Gatehouse, Mortimer’s and the Gallery Towers, and the entrance gate of the Brayz.

Drawn by J. H. Le Keux, from a Sketch by H. Smyth.

J. H. Le Keux sc.