One of our most celebrated castles of defence is Corfe Castle, in Dorset, a remarkable specimen of mediæval military architecture. The earliest notice of this fortress is in an Anglo-Saxon charter of the year 948. In 981 Corfe was the scene of the murder of King Edward the Martyr. After the death of his father, Edgar, Elfrida, his widow, headed a faction in opposition to the accession of Edward, and continued her intrigues until her unscrupulous ambition at last led her to the perpetration of a deed which has covered her name with infamy. This was the murder of her step-son by a hired assassin, as he stopped one day while hunting, at her residence, Corfe Castle; he was stabbed in the back, as he sat on his horse at the gate of the castle, drinking a cup of mead. The 18th of March, 978, is the date assigned to the murder of King Edward, who was only in his seventeenth year when he was thus cut off. He is retained in the calendar of the Anglican Church as a saint and martyr. The castle, which was the strongest fortress in the kingdom, formed an irregular triangle, the apex of which was connected by a narrow isthmus with the high ground, on which the town of Corfe stands. The isthmus had been cut through, and the ditch thus formed was spanned by a stately bridge of arches leading to the principal entrance of the fortress. Only the south side and parts of the east and west sides of the keep are standing, and large masses of prostrate walls lie in confusion around. The keep is Norman, believed to have been built by the Conqueror. King John kept his treasure and regalia here, and used the castle as a state prison. Twenty-four nobles concerned in the insurrection by his nephew, Arthur, Duke of Brittany, were, save two, it was said, there starved to death. King John caused Prince Arthur to be murdered, and sent his sister, the beautiful Princess Eleanor, prisoner to Corfe, where she remained several years.
Edward II., when he fell into the hands of his enemies, was, for a time, imprisoned here. In 1635, the castle and manor came into the possession of Sir John Bankes, Lord Chief Justice of England, and ancestor of the present owner. In the great Civil War, Corfe Castle was strongly defended for the king, by Lady Bankes, wife of the Lord Chief Justice, with the assistance of her friends and retainers, and of a governor sent from the king's army. The castle was one of the last places in England that held out for Charles I. In the year 1645, it was captured by the Parliamentary forces through treachery, and reduced to the shapeless but picturesque fragments that now remain. Lady Bankes's heroic defence is narrated in the Story of Corfe Castle, a volume of stirring interest; and the event is a favourite subject with our historical painters. The ruins of Corfe are extensive, and from their very high situation, form a very striking object. "The vast fragments of the King's Tower," says Hutchins, "the Round Tower, leaning, as if nearly to fall, the broken walls, and vast pieces of them tumbled into the vale below, form such a scene of havoc and desolation, as strikes every spectator with sorrow and concern. The abundance of stone in the neighbourhood, the excellence of the cement, harder to be broken than the stones themselves, have preserved these prodigious ruins from being embezzled and lessened."
In the age of Edward III. the castles differed from those of previous periods. The confined plan of the close fortress expanded into a mixture of the castle and the mansion; comprising spacious and magnificent apartments, the hall, the banqueting-room, the chapel, with galleries of communication, and sleeping chambers. The keep was entirely detached, and independent of these buildings. Such was the royal palace of Windsor, erected by Edward III.; and such were the splendid baronial castles of Warwick, Ludlow, Stafford, Harewood, Alnwick, Kenilworth, Raglan, and many others. The last-mentioned is one of the most perfect examples we are acquainted with, of the union of vast strength and security, with convenient accommodation and ornamental splendour. The keep is a perfect fortress in itself, and encircled by a range of minor towers and moat. Its masonry is unrivalled.[26]
Of one of these spacious castles we give a descriptive outline, chiefly from the paper read by Mr. J. H. Parker, on the visit of the Archæological Institute to Windsor, in July 1866. Amongst the royal and palatial edifices of Europe, that of Windsor holds a very high rank, and is, in a manner, to England what Versailles is to France and the Escurial to Spain; and while it is infinitely superior to both in point of situation, it far exceeds them, and indeed every other pile or building of its class, in antiquity. From having been the residence of so many of our kings, its history is, to a certain extent, identified with that of the kingdom itself from the time of the Conquest. The castle stands on an outlying promontory of chalk, commanding the winding shores of that part of the Thames, with a rich valley, which seems to have pointed it out as a natural position for a fortress in primitive times, when the natives wished to protect their country from invasion. The wide and deep entrenchments, and the high artificial mounds, indicate an early date. There are also roads at the bottom of the fosses, with a wide bank between them, on which several keeps were erected, first of wood and afterwards of stone. A subterranean passage leading from the bottom of the outer foss, at a depth of thirty feet, to the bottom of the inner foss, at a depth of fifteen feet (the present pantries), cut in a very rude manner through the solid chalk, has a vault of the time of Henry II. carried on chalk walls, built over a small part of it as far as the Norman buildings extended only: the doorways are of the same period, one of which is quite perfect, and opens into the inner foss. If Windsor Castle had been built in the fifth century by King Arthur, as was believed by Edward III. and the chronicler Froissart, the roads would have been on the level. They are more likely of the time of Caractacus or Julius Cæsar. Edward the Confessor is believed to have resided chiefly at Old Windsor, where some of the ancient earthworks certainly belong to a period before the Norman Conquest. William himself is said to have built a castle at Windsor, but there is no evidence of it. The Domesday Survey rather proves that there was one previously existing, which had been inhabited by Earl Harold in the time of the Confessor. Henry I. is said by Stow, writing in the fifteenth century, to have built New Windsor chiefly of wood; some of the fragments of stone carving found in the castle may be of his time.
Stephen built nothing here, but Windsor is mentioned in the treaty of Wallingford as a fortress of importance. The name "Norman Tower," as given to one part of the pile, is erroneous, as the Norman keep is nothing more than earthworks surmounted by a wooden structure. The earliest date which can be assigned to any stone masonry which has been discovered at Windsor is the reign of Henry II. In the time of Henry II. the first mention of the castle is made in the Pipe Rolls. The outer wall of the south front of the upper ward remains, with the lower part of the king's gate, its hinges, and portcullis groove; the upper part was destroyed, and the whole concealed in other buildings by Wyatville, in the restoration works under George IV. In the reigns of Richard I. and John only necessary repairs were made.
With Henry III. the history of the existing castle may be said to begin. The whole of the lower ward was then first built of stone, and many portions of the existing walls are found to be of that period. The Clewer Tower—now known as the Curfew Tower—remains almost unaltered, and exhibits in good condition a prison of the above period.
The King's Hall is now the Chapter library, but the chambers of the King and Queen have been destroyed. Plans and drawings of them have been preserved; and the measurements agree with the orders of the kings, as recorded in the public rolls.
Of the primitive chapel the north wall is still preserved; the galilee being now the east end (behind the altar) of St. George's Chapel. The doorways of the galilee are one of Henry III., the other of Edward III.; the west end of the chapel has been rebuilt several times. The arcade in the cloisters was protected by a wooden roof only. This chapel was completed by Edward III. and made into a lady-chapel, when the great St. George's Chapel was built. It was partly rebuilt by Henry VII. for the tomb of Lady Margaret, his mother, and afterwards was proposed for that of Henry VIII. It was much altered by James II. and partly restored by George IV. At the present time it is being made the object of devoted care, under the direction of Mr. Gilbert Scott. The roof has been vaulted in stone, the pattern of that of Henry VII. is being inlaid with mosaic work, and the windows filled with stained glass; and the edifice is to be a sepulchral chapel over the Royal vaults, in memory of the late Prince Consort. Mural paintings of kings' heads have been found of the date of Henry III. and Edward III., and are preserved in the cloister and galilee.
During the reign of Edward I. the accounts show that the great works begun by Henry III. were carried on and completed; but no new works appear to have been undertaken. In the reign of Edward II. there were considerable sums expended on repairs of the walls, towers, and bridges, chiefly for timber and carpenters' work.
The reign of Edward III. is one of the most important in respect to the history of Windsor, a large part of the existing castle having been built at that period, and its survey has been lately brought to light. Another equally important document is the builder's account for the Round Tower, which was entirely built from the ground in the eighteenth year of this reign, and still remains, though much altered in appearance, from the additional story superposed by Mr. Wyatville, under George IV.