Part 17

“On each side of the hall,” writes Mr. Parker, “were two tables and benches, which, if not actually contemporaneous with it, were certainly among the earliest pieces of furniture remaining in England. There was no doubt a similar—or probably a more ornamental—one on the daïs at the upper end of the hall where the Elizabethan table now stood, which was used by the lord and his more honoured guests, the side tables in the lower part of the hall being for the domestics and retainers, and guests of that class. One end of the daïs had been altered, so that the original arrangement could not be seen; but there would necessarily be at one end the sideboard, or buffet, filled with plate, arranged on shelves to be well displayed, whilst it also formed a sort of cupboard, with doors which could be closed and locked. This piece of furniture was usually placed in the recess formed by a bay window in halls of the fifteenth century, but it was doubtful whether the bay window was in use as early as the fourteenth. At the opposite end of the daïs was the door to the staircase of the solar or upper chamber, used as the withdrawing-room for the ladies after dinner; and by its side there was another door leading to the cellar. This was originally the lower chamber under the solar, but afterwards there was often a short passage to the cellar, which was sometimes underground, and the original cellar, or lower chamber, became the parlour. But there were always two chambers, one over the other, behind the daïs, the two together often not reaching so high as the roof of the hall. The upper room was the lord’s chamber, from which there was usually a look-out into the hall, as a check to the more riotous proceedings after the lord and his family or his guests had retired; or for the lords to see that the guests were assembled before descending with his family into the hall. In the centre of the hall was the original hearth or reredos, almost the only one, he believed, remaining. By the side of it were the andirons, or fire-dogs, for arranging logs of wood upon the hearth, and over it was an opening in the roof, with a small ornamented turret to cover it, called a smoke-louvre, which unfortunately had been removed, after having been previously Italianised and spoilt. The custom of having a large fire of logs of wood in the hall continued long after fire-places and chimneys were used in the other chambers; and it was a mistake to suppose that they were unknown in this country until the fifteenth century. There were many fire-places and chimneys of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the chambers, but it was not customary to use them in the hall before the fifteenth. In spite of all the modern contrivances for warming rooms, it might be doubted whether for warming a large and lofty hall it was possible to obtain more heat from the same quantity of fuel than was obtained from the open fire, and where the space was so large and the roof so high that no practical inconvenience could be felt from the smoke, which naturally ascended and escaped by the louvre.”

Leaving the hall, the Ball-room is entered; it is long and narrow, the walls being covered with family portraits—some original, some copies. Queen Elizabeth’s room succeeds: it contains much of the furniture, tapestry-covered, that was placed there when the virgin queen visited the mansion. In one corner is an ancient mandoline; some portraits of the chiefs of the heroic race are here; and here is a singular picture, representing Queen Elizabeth dancing with the Earl of Leicester. The family portraits are gathered in the “Picture Gallery;” it contains no others; none but a member of it has been admitted with one exception—that of Edward VI., who gave the estate to the Sidneys. Among them are several of Sir Philip and Algernon Sidney, one of Sir Philip’s sister, the Countess of Pembroke, to whom he addressed the “Arcadia,” and who is immortalised in the epitaph we have just given, and one by Lely of the “Sacharissa” of the muse of Waller. A small chamber in the mansion contains, however, a few treasures of rarer value than all its copies of “fair women and brave men.” Among some curious family relics and records is a lock of Sir Philip Sidney’s hair; it is of a pale auburn. A lock of the hair of the ill-fated Algernon is also with it, and in tint nearly resembles that of his illustrious great-uncle.

There are many other relics of interest and value scattered throughout the mansion, but towards the close of the last century a grand collection of ancient armour, worn by generations of the Sidneys, richly emblazoned and inlaid, was sold as old iron that cumbered one of the rooms of the house; while MSS. of inestimable worth, including correspondence with the leading worthies of many centuries, mysteriously disappeared, and were probably consumed as waste paper, useful only for lighting fires.

The church at Penshurst is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It immediately adjoins the park, and is connected, by a private walk, with the gardens of the mansion. It is an ancient and very venerable structure, containing many monuments to the Sidneys, and to members of the families of Dragnowt, Cambridge, Egerton, Head, Darkenol, Pawle, and Yden. The most interesting and beautifully wrought of the tombs is to the memory of Sir William Sidney, Knight Banneret, Chamberlain and Steward to Edward VI., and Lord of the Manor of Penshurst, who died in 1553. It stands in a small chapel at the west end of the chancel, and at the foot of the tomb is a very antique figure, carved in marble, supposed to be a memorial to Sir Stephen de Pencestre. Below is the vault which contains the dust of generations of the Sidneys. Sir William Sidney’s monument is a fine example of art, elaborately and delicately sculptured; it contains a long inscription, engraved on a brass tablet, the lettering in which is as clear and as sharp as if it were the work of yesterday. The roof of this chapel is peculiarly light and elegant. In both exterior and interior it is highly picturesque. The oak gallery is one of the earliest erections of the kind that followed the Reformation. Mr. Parker, in his address to the Archæological Society, thus spoke of the church:—“It exhibited specimens of the architecture of various periods, and is interesting as the burial-place of the ancient families that inhabited the mansion. The north side was of the time of Henry III., and was probably built by Sir Stephen Penchester; the south side in the time of Edward III. The chancel chapel at the end of the south aisle was the burial-place of the Pulteney family. There were also two chantry chapels on the north side, one of the time of Edward I., and the other of the time of Henry VI. Amongst the other interesting monuments and tablets there is one commemorative of the late illustrious Lord Hardinge.”

In all respects, therefore, a visit to PENSHURST—now by railroad within an hour’s distance of the metropolis—may be described as a rare intellectual treat, opening a full and brilliant page of history, abundant in sources of profitable enjoyment to the antiquary, affording a large recompense to the lover or the professor of Art, and exhibiting nature under a vast variety of aspects.[32]

WARWICK CASTLE.

WARWICK CASTLE holds foremost rank among the Stately Homes of England, both from its historical associations, and the important positions which, in every age, its lords have occupied in the annals of our country. Situated in one of the most romantic and beautiful districts of a fertile and productive shire, overlooking the “sweet-flowing Avon,” and retaining all its characteristics of former strength and grandeur, Warwick Castle is renowned among the most interesting remains of which the kingdom can boast. Of its original foundation, like that of other of our older strongholds, nothing is really known, although much is surmised. It is said to have been a Celtic settlement, converted into a fortress by the Roman invaders. However this may be—and there were several ancient British and Roman roads and stations in the county—it is not our purpose to inquire. It will suffice to say that at the time of the Roman conquest of Warwickshire, which is said to have occurred about the year 50, the county was occupied by two tribes of ancient Britons, the Cornavii and Dobuni, the boundary between these territories being, it would seem, the river Avon. Near the Avon, relics of frontier fortresses on either side have—as at Brownsover, Brailes, Burton Dassett, Brinklow, &c.,—been found; the principal British and Roman roads being the Icknield Street, the Fosse Way, and Watling Street. Warwick is believed, and not without reason, to have been one of these frontier fortresses; its situation would seem to lend strength to the supposition. In Anglo-Saxon times, Warwick formed a part of the kingdom of Mercia, the capital of which was at Repton, in the neighbouring county of Derby. At that period it “fell under the dominion of Warremund, who rebuilt it, and called it Warrewyke, after his own name.” Having been taken and destroyed by the Danes, it “so rested,” says Dugdale, “until the renowned Lady Ethelfled, daughter to King Alfred—who had the whole earldom of Mercia given her by her father to the noble Etheldred in marriage—repaired its ruins, and in the year of Christ DCCCCXV made a strong fortification here, called the dungeon, for resistance of the enemy, upon a hill of earth, artificially raised near the river side;” and this formed the nucleus of the present building. In 1016 it is stated to have again suffered from an attack by the Danes, who nearly demolished the fortifications of the castle and did great damage to the town. At the time of making the Domesday survey, Warwick was a royal burgh, and “contained 261 houses, and with its castle was regarded as a place of much consequence; for orders were issued by the Conqueror to Turchel to repair and fortify the town and castle of Warwick. This was carried into effect, by surrounding the town with a strong wall and ditch, and by enlarging the castle and strengthening its fortifications.”

In 1172 (19th Henry II.), Warwick Castle was provisioned and garrisoned at an expense of £10 (which would be equivalent to about £200 of our present money), on behalf of the king; and during those troublous times it remained about three years in his hands. In 1173 a sum equal to about £500 of our money was paid to the soldiers in the castle; and in the following year, the building requiring considerable repair, about £50 was laid out upon it, and a considerable sum was paid to the soldiers who defended it for the king. In 1191 it was again repaired, and also in the reign of King John. In the 48th of Henry III. (1263), William Mauduit, Earl of Warwick, was surprised by the adherents of Simon de Montfort, then holding Kenilworth, and the walls of the castle were completely destroyed; indeed, so complete was the devastation, that in 1315 “it was returned in an inquisition as worth nothing excepting the herbage in the ditches, valued at 6_s._ 8_d._” In 1337 (12th Edward III.) a new building was commenced, and in that year a royal licence was granted for the founding of a chantry chapel in the castle. The building was commenced by Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, whose monument is preserved in the Beauchamp Chapel. In 1394 (17th Richard II.) Guy’s Tower is said to have been completed by Thomas Beauchamp, second son of the last named Thomas, at a cost of £395 5_s._ 2_d._, and by him to have been named “Guy’s Tower.” In the reign of James I. a sum of about £20,000 was expended by the then owner of the castle, Fulke Greville, Lord Broke, “in making it habitable and restoring it to its former importance.” From this time downwards, the castle has undergone many alterations, and so-called “beautifyings,” at the hands of its different owners; but, despite all, it retained its ancient grandeur and its most interesting features, and was, as Sir Walter Scott has said, “the fairest monument of ancient and chivalrous splendour which remains uninjured by time.”

And now as to its long line of illustrious and valiant owners.

Passing over the whimsical list of earls, &c., in Rous’s Roll, beginning with “King Guthelyne, about the sixth of Kinge Alexander the greate conqueror,” and “Kinge Gwydered, who began to reigne the 4th yere from the birth of our Lord,” reminding one very forcibly of the “Promptuaire des Medalles,” which commences the series with those of “Adam” and of “Heva vx Adam,”—the first we need even hint at, so obscure is the matter, is Rohan de Arden, who is stated to have married a daughter and heiress of “Æneas, Earl of Warwick, in the time of the Saxons,” and to have succeeded to that title and estates. Rohan de Arden is said to have lived in the reigns of Alfred and Edward the Elder, and to have been succeeded by the “renowned Guy,” Earl of Warwick (the legend connected with him will be noticed on subsequent pages), who had married his only daughter and heiress, Felicia. This Sir Guy “is said to have been son of Syward, Lord of Wallingford, which possession Guy also enjoyed.” “He was often in conflicts with the Danes in defence of his country; did many brave exploits; and, lastly, as the story goes, after his return from the Holy Land, retired from the world, and turn’d hermit, and lived in an adjacent cave, now called ‘Guy’s Cliff,’ wherein he died, and was buried in a chapel there, anno 929, aged about seventy years, leaving issue, by Felicia his wife, Reynborne,” who succeeded him, and “married Leonora, or Leoneta, daughter to King Athelstan.” From him the descent is said to have been continued in regular succession through father and son (Wegeat or Weyth, Wygod, Alcuin or Aylwin, &c.) to Turchel, who was earl at the time of the Norman Conquest, and who was allowed by that monarch to retain possession of the estates, but was ultimately deprived of both them and of the earldom.

The castle having been strengthened and enlarged, its custody was given to Henry de Newburgh, a Norman, who had accompanied the Conqueror, and to him was afterwards granted all the possessions of Turchel de Warwick, and he was made Earl of Warwick. By some he is said to have married the daughter of Turchel, but he is also stated to have married three other ladies. He was succeeded by his son, Roger Newburgh, as second Earl of Warwick, who married Gundred, daughter of the second Earl Warren, by whom he had a son, William, who succeeded him as third earl, and dying without issue, was succeeded by his brother Walleran as fourth earl, who married twice—first, Margaret de Bohun, and second, Alice de Harcourt. By his first wife he had two sons, Henry, who succeeded him, and Walleran. Henry de Newburgh, fifth Earl of Warwick, was a minor at his father’s death in 1205, and was placed under Thomas Bassett, of Headington, near Oxford. In the thirteenth year of King John, he was certified as holding 107 knights’ fees of the king _in capite_. Having led an active military life, and married two wives—Margaret D’Oyley and Philippa Bassett—he died 1229, and was succeeded as sixth earl by his son, Thomas de Newburgh.

This nobleman married a daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, but died without issue. His sister and heiress, Margery, who was married to John de Mareschal, brother to the Earl of Pembroke, succeeded to the estates, and her husband became seventh earl. This honour he did not enjoy long, but died without issue “within about half a year of his brother-in-law the late earl.” The widow then, by special arrangement of Henry III., married John de Placetis, or Plessitis, a Norman by birth, and a great favourite of the king. By the Countess of Warwick he had no issue, and therefore at her death the estates passed to her cousin, William Mauduit, Baron of Hanslape, who died without issue. The title and estates then at his death passed to his sister, Isabel Mauduit, wife of William de Beauchamp, heir of Walter de Beauchamp, Baron of Elmley, who thus through her became heir to the title, which however,—she having entered a nunnery,—was not claimed, but passed, in the person of their son William, into the powerful family of Beauchamp. By Isabel Mauduit William de Beauchamp the elder had four sons—William, who succeeded him; John, whose grandson was created Baron Beauchamp; Walter, ancestor of Fulke Greville, Lord Broke; and Thomas, who died unmarried. William de Beauchamp, who bore the title of Earl of Warwick during his father’s lifetime, married Maud, one of the co-heiresses of Richard Fitzjohn, by whom he had issue with others, Guy de Beauchamp, who succeeded him as Earl of Warwick. This Guy, so called, no doubt, after the “renowned Guy,” attended the king into Scotland, and for his valour at the battle of Falkirk, had granted to him all the lands of Geoffrey de Mowbray in that kingdom, with the exception of Okeford, and all the lands of John de Strivelin, with the castle of Amesfield, and the lands of Drungery. He was one of the noblemen who seized Piers Gaveston,—against whom he held a mortal hatred for having called him “the black hound of Arden,”—whom he conveyed to Warwick Castle, from whence he was removed to Blacklow Hill, near Warwick, and beheaded. This Guy married Alice, sister and heiress to Robert de Toni, Baron of Flamstead, and widow of Thomas de Leybourne, and by her had issue two sons and five daughters. He died (it was suspected by poison) in 1315, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas de Beauchamp, who married Catherine Mortimer, daughter of the Earl of March, by whom he had issue seven sons and ten daughters. The sons were—Sir Guy, “a stout soldier,” who died in his father’s lifetime, leaving three daughters, all nuns, at Shouldham; Thomas, his successor; Reynbourne, so called in memory of the son of the “renowned Guy;” William, who became Lord Abergavenny; Roger, John, and Jerome.

Thomas Beauchamp, the eldest son, who succeeded to the honours, was knighted in the lifetime of his father. He, like his predecessor, made many additions to the castle, the principal of which was the building of Guy’s Tower. Having passed a troublous life, being at one time confined and condemned in the Tower of London, he died in 1401, leaving by his wife Margaret, daughter of Lord Ferrars of Groby, two daughters, nuns, and one son, Richard Beauchamp, who succeeded him. This Richard, Earl of Warwick, is said to “have surpassed even the great valour and reputation of his ancestors;” and, indeed, his career seems altogether to have been one of the most brilliant and successful on record; and besides having a special herald of his own, “Warwick Herald,” he was styled the “Father of Courtesye.” “He founded the Chantry of Guy’s Cliff, where before this foundation were Guy’s Chappel and Cottage.” In this he placed the statue of Guy (still seen, though much defaced), made several pious donations, and died at Roan in the 17th of Henry VI. There is extant a very remarkable and curious MS. Life of this renowned warrior; it is preserved in the British Museum (Julius, E. IV.). In it the illuminations are very spirited, and are highly valuable as examples of armour, &c., of the time, no less than as genuine representations of various valiant deeds in which he was engaged.

Three of these we give. Our first shows the figures of the Earl of Warwick and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, from a picture of the fight with Philip, Duke of Burgundy, before Calais. The next represents “how a mighty duke challenged Erle Richard (Beauchamp) for his lady sake, and in justyng slewe the Duke, and then the Empresse toke the Erle’s staff and bear from a knight’s shouldre, and for great love and favour she sett it on her shouldre. Then Erle Richard made one of perle and precious stones, and offered her that, and she gladly and lovynglee reseaved it.” The engraving shows the Earl vanquishing the Duke—his lance has run through his body—and the heralds proclaiming his victory. Behind are the Emperor Sigismund and his Empress, the latter of whom is taking, as recounted, the Earl’s badge of the bear and ragged staff from the shoulders of the knight to place upon her own. On the Earl’s helmet will be seen his crest of the bear and ragged staff.

In the third engraving we see the Earl of Warwick setting out in his own ship, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He is dressed in pilgrim guise, and, staff in hand, is just stepping into the boat to be conveyed to the ship, his attendants and luggage following him. The ship is sumptuously fitted with castle and state apartments, and has the sail emblazoned with the Beauchamp arms, and the pennon, besides the St. George’s cross of England, bears the bear and ragged staff many times repeated. This badge will be best understood by the accompanying engraving. The Earl had two wives; first, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas, Lord Berkley; and second, Isabel, daughter of Thomas le Despencer, Earl of Gloucester. He was succeeded by his son Henry, who was then barely fourteen years old.

This Henry de Beauchamp—who had during his father’s lifetime been called De Spencer, through his mother’s possessions—when only nineteen years of age tendered his services to Henry VI. for the defence of Acquitane, for which the king created him Premier Earl of England, with leave to distinguish himself and his heirs male by wearing in his presence a gold coronet.

Three days later, he was created DUKE of Warwick, with precedence next to the Duke of Norfolk. After this, he had granted to him, in reversion, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, Erme, and Alderney, which he was to hold for the yearly tribute of a rose. He was also by his sovereign crowned King of the Isle of Wight, his Majesty himself placing the crown upon his head. This young nobleman, however, with all his honours thick upon him, lived but a short life of greatness, and died at Warwick at the early age of twenty-two, in 1445. He married Cicely, daughter of Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, by whom he had an only child, Anne, Countess of Warwick, who died when only six years of age, leaving her aunt Anne, wife of Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, heir to the titles and estates, and thus they passed to the family of Nevil.

This Richard Nevil, then Earl of Warwick, is the one so well known in English history as “the stout Earl of Warwick, the king-maker,”—“peremptory Warwick,” the “wind-changing Warwick,” of Shakspere—who, “finding himself strong enough to hold the balance between the families of York and Lancaster, rendered England during the reign of his power a scene of bloodshed and confusion; and made or unmade kings of this or that house as best suited his passions, pleasures, or interests. His life was passed in wars and broils, destructive to his country and his family.” He was killed at the battle of Barnet in 1471. He left issue two daughters, Isabel, married to George, Duke of Clarence and brother to Edward IV.; and Anne, married first to Edward, Prince of Wales, and secondly, to his murderer, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, subsequently King Richard III. To the eldest of these daughters, Isabel, came the Warwick estates; and her husband, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, was, by his brother Edward IV., created Earl of Warwick and Salisbury. That ill-fated and indiscreet nobleman, however, did not live to carry out improvements he had commenced at Warwick. His wife was poisoned; and he himself, later on, was attainted of high treason, and was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine in the Tower, by order of his brother, the Duke of Gloucester.