The oval inner bailey has the outer surface of its exceedingly lofty wall formed of nineteen semicircular buttresses, which touch one another, and are practically a continuous series of half-towers, leaving no flat surface anywhere. Inside this remarkable inner bailey stands the circular keep, whose walls are 27 feet thick, with an angular projection towards the gateway of the bailey. The outer courtyard was defended with five great circular towers. The weak point of the defence, however, was the high ground that overlooked the walls on the south-west side, and to make this impregnable an exceptionally strong outer castle, with three large towers and two small ones, was built, with a deep ditch separating it from the main works. All this and much more can be seen by anyone who cares to climb up and down the steep grassy banks that fall away from the walls.
When the great pile was completed, Richard gazed on his ‘Dreadnought’ castle, with its frowning
CHÂTEAU GAILLARD.
The ruins of Richard Cœur de Lion’s great castle built above the Seine to defend the English frontier.
machicolations crowning the unassailable white walls, and exclaimed: ‘Comme elle est belle, ma fillette d’un an!’ Philippe Auguste, however, with justifiable indignation at the broken treaty, began hostilities, assuring Richard that he would take his saucy castle if it were made of iron, to which came the prompt reply, ‘I will hold it were it made of butter’; and Richard soon afterwards defeated the French army on the Plains of Gamaches. But in 1199 Richard died, and in his successor’s feeble hands Château Gaillard was soon in peril, for, in 1203, Philippe began a siege which lasted for five months.
The English Governor was Roger de Lacy, Constable of Chester, who was left to look after himself, when John with his army had made one half-hearted effort to relieve him. The fort on the island opposite Le Petit Andely was taken, and the little town soon afterwards fell into the hands of the French, the people fleeing to the castle for safety. But the Governor had no pleasure in seeing his food-supplies consumed by non-combatants, and the hapless creatures were soon turned out to shift for themselves. Some were at first allowed to pass through the French lines, but many were stopped, and lay in the grassy hollows, starving between friends and foes. The French King finally took pity on them and fed them, and allowed them to go before all were dead.
Meanwhile the siege proceeded with vigour; a wooden tower was built, and the outer castle was sapped and an entrance gained. The outer bailey was surprised by an entry being made through an unprotected window which may be seen to-day. Finally, the inner bailey was entered through a breach in the gateway, which the besiegers succeeded in making with a mangonel, and they rushed in with such impetuosity that the English had no time to reach the keep, and its enormous strength was therefore useless. There were only 180 Englishmen left when Philippe gained possession; the Governor was given his liberty, and the garrison marched out as the French flag was unfurled above the towers.