The Castle, from the banks of the Avon.
The pilgrim is moved, and ultimately consents, and after three weeks spent in prayer and preparation the battle begins. Colbrand “came so weightily harnessed, that his horse could scarcely carry him, and before him a cart loaded with Danish axes, great clubs, with knobs of iron, squared bars of steel, lances, and iron hooks, to pull his adversary to him.” The giant uses a bar of steel in the combat, which lasts the whole day. Guy in the end proving victorious, and taking a farewell of the king, to whom he declares himself, goes towards Warwick, and thence to a hermit in its neighbourhood, living with him till his death, and succeeding him in his cell until his own decease.[34] The spot is still pointed out, and bears the name of Guy’s Cliff. But this is not the only giant-story connected with the family. Their well-known crest, or cognisance, is said to come from one Morvidus, an Earl of Warwick in the days of King Arthur, “who being a man of valour, slew a mighty gyant in a single duell, which gyant encountered him with a young tree pulled up by the root, the boughs being nog’d from it; in token whereof, he and his successors, Earles of Warwick in the time of the Brittons, bore a ragged staff of silver in a sable shield for their cognisance.” Other stories are the combat and overcoming of the famous dun cow, the slaying of a ferocious lion, and “the greatest boar that man e’er saw,” the killing of “the mighty dragon in Northumberland that destroyed men, women, and children,” and the killing of the fifteen armed knights. Such were the old fables with which our ancient family histories were obscured, or rendered romantic and wonderful to the subordinate classes.
Intimately connected with Warwick Castle and its former lords, is the Beauchamp Chapel attached to St. Mary’s Church. The chapel is one of the most exquisitely beautiful buildings remaining in this country, and ought to be seen by every visitor to Warwick. It is placed on the south side of the choir of the church, from which it is entered by a descent of several steps beneath a doorway said to have been carved by a mason of Warwick in 1704, but probably being only a freshening and touching up, or restoration, of the original design. The size of the chapel is 58 feet in length, 25 in breadth, and 32 in height, and its design and finish are of the most chaste and beautiful and elaborate character. It was built in the reign of Henry VI., in accordance with the will of its founder, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who died in 1439. The foundation was laid in 1443, and in 1475 the chapel was consecrated, and the body of its founder with much solemnity laid therein. It is stated to have cost £2,481 4s. 7d., an enormous sum in those days, when the value of a fat ox was only 13s. 4d.: and the contracts for some of the work are still preserved. In the chapel is the monument of the founder, which is, with only one exception, the most splendid monument of its kind in the kingdom. It is an altar-tomb of Purbeck marble, bearing the recumbent effigy of the great earl, in fine latten brass, gilt. His head, uncovered, rests upon a helmet, and at his feet are a bear and a griffin. The tomb is surmounted by one of the few “hearses” that yet remain in our churches. It consists of six hoops of brass, extended by five transverse brass rods, on which formerly was hung a pall, “to keep the figure reverently from the dust.” Around the tomb, in niches, are fourteen figures in “divers vestures, called weepers,” friends and relatives of the deceased who mourn his loss. Between the weepers are smaller niches, raised upon pillars, containing whole-length figures of angels holding scrolls, inscribed “Sit deo laus in gloria, defunctis misericordia.” The effigy of the earl is the finest of its class, and it is a perfect figure, the armour on the back, and all the details being as highly and carefully finished as those on the front of the figure. For this effigy in brass, William Austen was paid (exclusive of cost of workmen, carriage, &c.) £40, and the goldsmith, Bartholomew Lambespring, was paid £13 for gilding it; the “weepers” cost in brass, 13s. 4d. each, and the angels 5s. each; and the gilding of these, and preparing them for gilding, cost also a considerable sum—the contracts being of the highest interest, and very minute in every particular.
The Beauchamp Chapel, monument of the founder.
In the same chapel are monuments, &c., to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and his Countess Lettice, 1588; to Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, 1589; to Robert Dudley, Lord Denbigh, 1584; to Lady Katherine Leveson, and others.
The windows were filled with stained glass, for which the contract with John Prudde of Westminster is preserved; but it has undergone much change and mutilation: it still, however, especially that of the east window, is of great beauty.[35] Adjoining the chapel is an exquisite little oratory, with a confessional near; of these we give engravings.
The Confessional.
The Church of St. Mary is of considerable antiquity, and is mentioned in Domesday Book. The Norman Earl, Henry de Newburgh, formed the intention of uniting the endowments of St. Nicholas within the Castle with St. Mary’s, which was carried out by his son, whose grant of incorporation was executed in 1123. Probably the church was built about that time, as the crypt is of Norman character. In the reign of Edward III., Thomas Beauchamp ordained by his will in 1369, that a choir should be erected; and many alterations have at one time or other been made. A great part of the church was burnt down in 1694, and rebuilt at a cost of £5,000, to which Queen Anne contributed £1,000. In the crypt is preserved the ducking stool.