LEEDS
The Ladies’ Castle
I
Once upon a time it was a privilege to live in Leeds Castle.
Let's know the narrative about the British Royalty's love and treason inside Leeds's Walls.
During centuries the Northern Kentish country, next to the British coast, appealed to numerous invaders. In the V Century, the Saxons drove out the Romans who had lived there from before Christ. Then the Saxons were the Normans’ victims. In 1150 a Norman Baron destroyed a Saxon’s residence and had a fortress built that was protected by an artificial lake. Thus it was the birth of the magnificent Leeds Castle.
Six Medieval Queens would reside at this fortress which was given to them as their dowry. Leeds would be known as The Ladies’ Castle. At the very beginning Leeds Castle looked solid and austere like a warrior, though.
During five turbulent centuries Leeds Castle was one of the Royal Family's Residences.
Top security was the "order of the day". As a protective measure the main part of the Castle was fortified according to the Medieval Standards of Beauty. The Royal Apartments were placed at the Homage Tower, which was connected with the main building through a passage under a stony bridge. Lord Congreve, the very well known historian, said that that singular combination of stone and water was wonderful because of its varied splendour.
For the Great Ladies that had Leeds as their home, the castle was the promise of lasting matrimonial happiness. Only one of them could achieve her dreams: the Spanish Leonor of Castile, whose colour waves on the pole on the main tower of Leeds Castle. She was the first Lady of the Castle. Leonor was given the ownership of the Castle when she got married to Prince Edward, the eldest son of Henry III, who would become King Edward I, the “Longshanks”.
At the age of 15, Edward travelled to Spain with his mother and was married at Las Helgas in October 1254 to the Infanta Leonor, daughter of King Fernando III, King of Castile and Leon. From that moment onwards the couple was inseparable for the rest of their joint lives.
Leonor gave the warmth of her feelings to the cold fortress and she made Leeds Castle into a residence deserving of a King. The marriage between Leonor and Edward was an arrangement with the purpose of consolidating an alliance between Spain and England. Nevertheless Leonor and Edward fell in love one another immediately. Their love lasted all their lifetime. From that time the mantelpiece of the chimney placed in the Queen’s Gallery reminds the Anglo-Spanish alliance.
When Edward went to the Seventh Crusade, Leonor's love suffered an endurance test. She left her children to be cared by other people and joined to Edward in his dangerous mission. She said that nothing would separate what God had joined. It was in Syria during the Holy War when Leonor saved Edward’s life by sucking the venom from a wound he received from a poisoned arrow. From that moment, because of her courage, the beauty Spanish brunette was known as Leonor the Faithful.
Edward was full of pride, love and thanks towards his wife. He decided to honour Leonor by beautifying Leeds Castle. He had Leeds Castle added many of the buildings that became it into the Fabulous Ladies' Castle. He made the main building and the Homage Tower renew. To protect both of them he made a solid wall build from whose watch-towers arrows could be shot by the archers. Finally Edward had the size enlarged and added a dike. This dike could be opened to flood the valley in case of danger.
At Leeds the Royal couple spent their happiest days and raised a family in an excellent conjugal harmony, which was not very common in the royalty.
The ending of the happiness was in the year 1290. Queen Leonor died. Leeds Castle mourned for the dead Queen. Edward I was downhearted and didn't enjoy living in the court any longer.
Deeply sad, he wrote: "My heart is mourned. If I loved her while she was alive, I couldn't stop loving her now she is dead". The disconsolate King had a chapel built where four monks and a cleric said Mass each day in memoriam Leonor's soul.
II
The next English Queen who received Leeds in her dowry was CatherineValois, youngest daughter of the mad French King Charles VI. The marriage between Henry was included in France's surrendering treaty of Troyes after his total victory against France in 1415. She got married to Henry V Monmouth at Troyes on June 2nd, 1420. This type of marriage between the royalties was common during the Middle Age. Some of them were successfully, others the exact opposite. The couple's initials joined by a true-lover's knot all around the Queen's bedroom can be seen up to our days. Nevertheless, he was not the great love of Catherine.
Shortly after receiving Leeds, Catherine had a clock and a bell installed, which are the most ancient in England. Henry died after only two years of marriage. It was on 31 August 1422. He was 35.
It was in the Leeds’ Gardens where a romance blossomed out between the young widow Queen and a young handsome Welsh gentleman, Owen Tudor, who was the keeper of the Royal cloakroom. Catherine and Owen got married secretly and unbelievably they had five children before being discovered and sent to prison. From them the Royal House of Tudor sprang. The first Tudor King was Henry VII and then his son, the most famous husband in the history. Henry VIII.
Living in Leeds Castle was not a privilege for the ladies any longer when Henry VIII was King of England. It became pain and tragedy for Henry VIII’s wives.
III
The War of the Roses had finished. The new King was a balsam for the wounds suffered by Lancastrians and Yorkists. Henry VIII was the principal heir of both Houses and the Second Tudor King. He was a Renaissance Prince: handsome, stout, good athlete, learning on languages and theology. He had musical talent. His fate was a Royal one. He was not the first but the second son of the King. After the death of his elder brother's and father's deaths, he was crowned King of England and took all the Royal properties, among them, the amazing Leeds Castle.
At that time, Catherine of Aragon was the most important for Henry. She was his late brother's widow. Catherine was the daughter of the Spanish Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. Leeds was again the cradle of a Royal couple's love.
Henry decided to make Leeds beautify for the sake of Catherine, who he got married to two weeks after being crowned, on June 11th, 1509. Henry had his best friend Sir Henry Wilfort add a second floor, rebuild the main Entrance Hall and the stairs. Stained glasses faced the central arbour and beautified the rooms. Henry decided to put up the "Lady's Maid's 'Tower" place where they were supposed to live in.
One of those ladies would be very soon responsible for changing the British History course.
Catherine of Aragon's time was the “Golden time” for Leeds. Catherine was deeply fond of her young husband and Henry seemed to be prepared for grandiosity. British people adored their King. Life in Court was rich and varied and there always were masked balls and tournaments between Henry and the noblemen. These tournaments were competitions of courage and fighting skill by using the sword, the spear, the long bow.
The Noble fighters gave honour to their Lords and Ladies. Henry VIII toured the country to attend tournaments and masked-ball parties. Henry was a clever warrior and his greatest was, after defeating his opponents, to bow down before them, take his helmet out and reveal his identity.
But in 1527 the King started revealing his true personality. Catherine only could give him a daughter, Mary, in spite of six pregnancies. Henry got worried because of the stability of the Tudor dynasty without an heir. His flirts and the existence of an illegitimate son were known by his subjects. At that time he was infatuated to Jane Boleyn. Jane and her sister Ann were ladies of honour at Catherine's court. Henry left Jane to give his attentions to Ann. They met themselves at a party. Henry felt a deep whim for Ann Boleyn. The King had ordered to make a chair that bore the following inscription: "The owner of this chair has the right to be kissed by any lady who sits here". In presence of the Queen and other courtesans, Henry sat Ann Boleyn on the chair and kissed her. After that the relationship between England and the Catholic Church would change forever.
Henry asked the Pope for a dispensation to get his divorce from Catherine. Henry said that he had never been married to Catherine because she had been his brother's wife. He used to cite verse from Leviticus.
In 1533 the Archbishop of Canterbury annulled the marriage between Henry and Catherine. The Queen died three years later. It was said the Queen died of grief. Henry didn't attend the funeral.
IV
Ann Boleyn never took Catherine's place in the British's heart. Ann Boleyn was pregnant when she was crowned. But the people didn’t love her. She was Queen of England for only three years. Henry III had become a fat and bad-tempered tyrant. His murderous anger and excessive pride made him very unpopular. A French Ambassador said that there was no so worthy head that the King couldn't have cut. Henry also was unpopular in Ireland and France. Henry fought unsuccessfully against Francois I, the French King.
Because his failure Henry dismissed all his ambassadors because he thought they were the responsible. But Henry feared Francois's reprisal; he decided to fortify the defensive structures of Leeds by arranging towers and embrasures Leeds was more grandiose yet but its happy days had ended.
Ann Boleyn hated the swans that swam in the Castle pond and the wild birds that lived in the forest surrounded it. She ordered the swans to be killed and the birds to be put in cages. Nobody loved Ann Boleyn. She was called Ann "The Black Raven". Henry had waited for her during six long years, but he didn't love Ann Boleyn any longer. He thought she was troublesome and whimsical.
She was accused of unfaithful. To make matters worse she could not give an heir to the King. She only gave birth to a girl, the future Elizabeth I. Her fate was determined. In the spring of 1536, after having given birth to a dead child, Ann Boleyn was arrested and sent to the Tower of London.
She was accused of adultery. Her brother and four noblemen were accused of having sex with her. All of them were beheaded. Henry had called for a French swordsman to save Ann from being executed by a simple axe. In the Tower Ann Boleyn practised how to go to the scaffold and bend in front of the executioner. On May 19th, 1536, Ann Boleyn was beheaded.
V
Jane Seymour was Henry VIII's next wife during a year. She died because of complications when she gave birth to Edward, the only male heir to Henry VIII. The King had not to be alone. Thomas Cromwell arranged Henry’s marriage to Ann de Cleves. But Henry disliked her. He called Ann "The Mare of Flanders". In less than a year the marriage was annulled
Catharine Howard, Ann Boleyn’s cousin, was Henry's fifth wife. Henry loved her, but she was unfaithful and in 1542 she was beheaded after having been a time in the Tower.
Eighteen months later Henry got married to Catherine Paar, who was his nurse rather than his wife. Within a year Henry died.
But in a way Henry had achieved his desire: an heir. Jane Seymour had given him a son, Edward, who would be crowned as Edward VII. In his deathbed Henry believed his dynasty would continue long time, but Edward was a sick boy and he would die when he was sixteen.
VI
Leeds would not belong to the British Crown any more. In the 20th, C. Leeds was in ruins. But thanks to Lady Olivia Bailey's love, the owner, Leeds would reborn, like the Phoenix, among its ashes.
Lady Olivia was an Anglo-American aristocrat. She shared Henry VIII's blood from both sides of her family. She was the worthy “20th.Century Queen of Leeds Castle”. In 1926 she decided to have the Castle restored to become Leeds one of the most famous stately homes in England. In the twenties there were parties again. The guests were from Charles Chaplin, Errol Flynn, James Stewart, Noel Coward, Somerset Maugham, the Prince of Wales.
Nowadays there are also pictorial masterpieces. There is a 16th century stair brought from France whose steps are made of oak and the banister bears the figure of Edward I, the first Royal inhabitant in Leeds.
Lady Olivia died in 1974. But before her death she transferred Leeds to the British people forever. As a sample of gratitude to Lady Olivia, her colours wave on the main pole of the Castle, joined to the colours of the First Queen and Great Lady of Leeds: Leonor of Castile.
Leeds has been, is and will be the Ladies’ Castle for ever.
Bibliography
Taylor, Henry O. The Medieaval Mind. 2 vols. New York, 1927
I
Once upon a time it was a privilege to live in Leeds Castle.
Let's know the narrative about the British Royalty's love and treason inside Leeds's Walls.
During centuries the Northern Kentish country, next to the British coast, appealed to numerous invaders. In the V Century, the Saxons drove out the Romans who had lived there from before Christ. Then the Saxons were the Normans’ victims. In 1150 a Norman Baron destroyed a Saxon’s residence and had a fortress built that was protected by an artificial lake. Thus it was the birth of the magnificent Leeds Castle.
Six Medieval Queens would reside at this fortress which was given to them as their dowry. Leeds would be known as The Ladies’ Castle. At the very beginning Leeds Castle looked solid and austere like a warrior, though.
During five turbulent centuries Leeds Castle was one of the Royal Family's Residences.
Top security was the "order of the day". As a protective measure the main part of the Castle was fortified according to the Medieval Standards of Beauty. The Royal Apartments were placed at the Homage Tower, which was connected with the main building through a passage under a stony bridge. Lord Congreve, the very well known historian, said that that singular combination of stone and water was wonderful because of its varied splendour.
For the Great Ladies that had Leeds as their home, the castle was the promise of lasting matrimonial happiness. Only one of them could achieve her dreams: the Spanish Leonor of Castile, whose colour waves on the pole on the main tower of Leeds Castle. She was the first Lady of the Castle. Leonor was given the ownership of the Castle when she got married to Prince Edward, the eldest son of Henry III, who would become King Edward I, the “Longshanks”.
At the age of 15, Edward travelled to Spain with his mother and was married at Las Helgas in October 1254 to the Infanta Leonor, daughter of King Fernando III, King of Castile and Leon. From that moment onwards the couple was inseparable for the rest of their joint lives.
Leonor gave the warmth of her feelings to the cold fortress and she made Leeds Castle into a residence deserving of a King. The marriage between Leonor and Edward was an arrangement with the purpose of consolidating an alliance between Spain and England. Nevertheless Leonor and Edward fell in love one another immediately. Their love lasted all their lifetime. From that time the mantelpiece of the chimney placed in the Queen’s Gallery reminds the Anglo-Spanish alliance.
When Edward went to the Seventh Crusade, Leonor's love suffered an endurance test. She left her children to be cared by other people and joined to Edward in his dangerous mission. She said that nothing would separate what God had joined. It was in Syria during the Holy War when Leonor saved Edward’s life by sucking the venom from a wound he received from a poisoned arrow. From that moment, because of her courage, the beauty Spanish brunette was known as Leonor the Faithful.
Edward was full of pride, love and thanks towards his wife. He decided to honour Leonor by beautifying Leeds Castle. He had Leeds Castle added many of the buildings that became it into the Fabulous Ladies' Castle. He made the main building and the Homage Tower renew. To protect both of them he made a solid wall build from whose watch-towers arrows could be shot by the archers. Finally Edward had the size enlarged and added a dike. This dike could be opened to flood the valley in case of danger.
At Leeds the Royal couple spent their happiest days and raised a family in an excellent conjugal harmony, which was not very common in the royalty.
The ending of the happiness was in the year 1290. Queen Leonor died. Leeds Castle mourned for the dead Queen. Edward I was downhearted and didn't enjoy living in the court any longer.
Deeply sad, he wrote: "My heart is mourned. If I loved her while she was alive, I couldn't stop loving her now she is dead". The disconsolate King had a chapel built where four monks and a cleric said Mass each day in memoriam Leonor's soul.
II
The next English Queen who received Leeds in her dowry was CatherineValois, youngest daughter of the mad French King Charles VI. The marriage between Henry was included in France's surrendering treaty of Troyes after his total victory against France in 1415. She got married to Henry V Monmouth at Troyes on June 2nd, 1420. This type of marriage between the royalties was common during the Middle Age. Some of them were successfully, others the exact opposite. The couple's initials joined by a true-lover's knot all around the Queen's bedroom can be seen up to our days. Nevertheless, he was not the great love of Catherine.
Shortly after receiving Leeds, Catherine had a clock and a bell installed, which are the most ancient in England. Henry died after only two years of marriage. It was on 31 August 1422. He was 35.
It was in the Leeds’ Gardens where a romance blossomed out between the young widow Queen and a young handsome Welsh gentleman, Owen Tudor, who was the keeper of the Royal cloakroom. Catherine and Owen got married secretly and unbelievably they had five children before being discovered and sent to prison. From them the Royal House of Tudor sprang. The first Tudor King was Henry VII and then his son, the most famous husband in the history. Henry VIII.
Living in Leeds Castle was not a privilege for the ladies any longer when Henry VIII was King of England. It became pain and tragedy for Henry VIII’s wives.
III
The War of the Roses had finished. The new King was a balsam for the wounds suffered by Lancastrians and Yorkists. Henry VIII was the principal heir of both Houses and the Second Tudor King. He was a Renaissance Prince: handsome, stout, good athlete, learning on languages and theology. He had musical talent. His fate was a Royal one. He was not the first but the second son of the King. After the death of his elder brother's and father's deaths, he was crowned King of England and took all the Royal properties, among them, the amazing Leeds Castle.
At that time, Catherine of Aragon was the most important for Henry. She was his late brother's widow. Catherine was the daughter of the Spanish Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. Leeds was again the cradle of a Royal couple's love.
Henry decided to make Leeds beautify for the sake of Catherine, who he got married to two weeks after being crowned, on June 11th, 1509. Henry had his best friend Sir Henry Wilfort add a second floor, rebuild the main Entrance Hall and the stairs. Stained glasses faced the central arbour and beautified the rooms. Henry decided to put up the "Lady's Maid's 'Tower" place where they were supposed to live in.
One of those ladies would be very soon responsible for changing the British History course.
Catherine of Aragon's time was the “Golden time” for Leeds. Catherine was deeply fond of her young husband and Henry seemed to be prepared for grandiosity. British people adored their King. Life in Court was rich and varied and there always were masked balls and tournaments between Henry and the noblemen. These tournaments were competitions of courage and fighting skill by using the sword, the spear, the long bow.
The Noble fighters gave honour to their Lords and Ladies. Henry VIII toured the country to attend tournaments and masked-ball parties. Henry was a clever warrior and his greatest was, after defeating his opponents, to bow down before them, take his helmet out and reveal his identity.
But in 1527 the King started revealing his true personality. Catherine only could give him a daughter, Mary, in spite of six pregnancies. Henry got worried because of the stability of the Tudor dynasty without an heir. His flirts and the existence of an illegitimate son were known by his subjects. At that time he was infatuated to Jane Boleyn. Jane and her sister Ann were ladies of honour at Catherine's court. Henry left Jane to give his attentions to Ann. They met themselves at a party. Henry felt a deep whim for Ann Boleyn. The King had ordered to make a chair that bore the following inscription: "The owner of this chair has the right to be kissed by any lady who sits here". In presence of the Queen and other courtesans, Henry sat Ann Boleyn on the chair and kissed her. After that the relationship between England and the Catholic Church would change forever.
Henry asked the Pope for a dispensation to get his divorce from Catherine. Henry said that he had never been married to Catherine because she had been his brother's wife. He used to cite verse from Leviticus.
In 1533 the Archbishop of Canterbury annulled the marriage between Henry and Catherine. The Queen died three years later. It was said the Queen died of grief. Henry didn't attend the funeral.
IV
Ann Boleyn never took Catherine's place in the British's heart. Ann Boleyn was pregnant when she was crowned. But the people didn’t love her. She was Queen of England for only three years. Henry III had become a fat and bad-tempered tyrant. His murderous anger and excessive pride made him very unpopular. A French Ambassador said that there was no so worthy head that the King couldn't have cut. Henry also was unpopular in Ireland and France. Henry fought unsuccessfully against Francois I, the French King.
Because his failure Henry dismissed all his ambassadors because he thought they were the responsible. But Henry feared Francois's reprisal; he decided to fortify the defensive structures of Leeds by arranging towers and embrasures Leeds was more grandiose yet but its happy days had ended.
Ann Boleyn hated the swans that swam in the Castle pond and the wild birds that lived in the forest surrounded it. She ordered the swans to be killed and the birds to be put in cages. Nobody loved Ann Boleyn. She was called Ann "The Black Raven". Henry had waited for her during six long years, but he didn't love Ann Boleyn any longer. He thought she was troublesome and whimsical.
She was accused of unfaithful. To make matters worse she could not give an heir to the King. She only gave birth to a girl, the future Elizabeth I. Her fate was determined. In the spring of 1536, after having given birth to a dead child, Ann Boleyn was arrested and sent to the Tower of London.
She was accused of adultery. Her brother and four noblemen were accused of having sex with her. All of them were beheaded. Henry had called for a French swordsman to save Ann from being executed by a simple axe. In the Tower Ann Boleyn practised how to go to the scaffold and bend in front of the executioner. On May 19th, 1536, Ann Boleyn was beheaded.
V
Jane Seymour was Henry VIII's next wife during a year. She died because of complications when she gave birth to Edward, the only male heir to Henry VIII. The King had not to be alone. Thomas Cromwell arranged Henry’s marriage to Ann de Cleves. But Henry disliked her. He called Ann "The Mare of Flanders". In less than a year the marriage was annulled
Catharine Howard, Ann Boleyn’s cousin, was Henry's fifth wife. Henry loved her, but she was unfaithful and in 1542 she was beheaded after having been a time in the Tower.
Eighteen months later Henry got married to Catherine Paar, who was his nurse rather than his wife. Within a year Henry died.
But in a way Henry had achieved his desire: an heir. Jane Seymour had given him a son, Edward, who would be crowned as Edward VII. In his deathbed Henry believed his dynasty would continue long time, but Edward was a sick boy and he would die when he was sixteen.
VI
Leeds would not belong to the British Crown any more. In the 20th, C. Leeds was in ruins. But thanks to Lady Olivia Bailey's love, the owner, Leeds would reborn, like the Phoenix, among its ashes.
Lady Olivia was an Anglo-American aristocrat. She shared Henry VIII's blood from both sides of her family. She was the worthy “20th.Century Queen of Leeds Castle”. In 1926 she decided to have the Castle restored to become Leeds one of the most famous stately homes in England. In the twenties there were parties again. The guests were from Charles Chaplin, Errol Flynn, James Stewart, Noel Coward, Somerset Maugham, the Prince of Wales.
Nowadays there are also pictorial masterpieces. There is a 16th century stair brought from France whose steps are made of oak and the banister bears the figure of Edward I, the first Royal inhabitant in Leeds.
Lady Olivia died in 1974. But before her death she transferred Leeds to the British people forever. As a sample of gratitude to Lady Olivia, her colours wave on the main pole of the Castle, joined to the colours of the First Queen and Great Lady of Leeds: Leonor of Castile.
Leeds has been, is and will be the Ladies’ Castle for ever.
Bibliography
Taylor, Henry O. The Medieaval Mind. 2 vols. New York, 1927
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