Near the town of Maidstone in Kent, sits a beautiful castle on an island in a lake. This is Leeds Castle. There has been a castle on this site since about 1119. But the current castle, although it looks old (it was built in the Tudor style) mainly dates to the 19th century.
A lot can happen to a castle over the years. Some are destroyed by fire. Some are bombarded by cannons. Some simply disintegrate from neglect. None of these things happened to Leeds Castle. But it was constantly being rebuilt and remodeled by various owners. Fortunately they all were quite wealthy and could afford to lavish their attention on the castle. So the results are spectacular.
King Edward I (that major castle builder in Wales) acquired the castle in the 13th century. It became a favorite of his and his wife, Eleanor of Castile. Windsor, the Tower of London, and Leeds were their three main castles in the south of England. Back in the day, kings kept moving from one castle to another around the country to keep themselves constantly in front of their subjects. They had to do it to keep control over their kingdom. If, like the early kings after William the Conqueror, they also had territories in France, they were back and forth between France and England like yo-yos. As much as I love to travel, I don’t think that sounds like a lot of fun. Always moving. Always looking over their shoulder. Never able to just stay put, relax, have fun.
They had retinues of hundreds of people they had to house and feed (and pay) who traveled with them, including hoards of knights, musicians, ladies in waiting, servants, and any Dukes, Earls or other people they wanted to keep their eye on. I suppose that’s one reason why Shakespeare had Henry IV say “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”. Of course, Henry had taken the crown from Richard II and had him murdered, so he was well aware of how dangerous the throne could be. That still didn’t stop him from taking it from his cousin, though.
When Henry VIII came along, he used Leeds Castle for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. That’s the era that the castle mainly evokes now, but with modern plumping and electricity. There is also a swimming pool.
In the gatehouse at the time we visited in 1997, was a museum dedicated to dog collars. The castle’s shop also had pottery figures of dogs what were very well done. We ended up getting two of them. The one I have is still the nicest dog figure I own.
From Leeds Castle, we went to Canterbury to have lunch and visit the Cathedral. My watch had decided to die. Not just the battery, but the whole thing fell apart. So we needed to purchase a new one for me between lunch and the Cathedral visit. As it happened, there was a shop across the street from the café where we had lunch. I still have the watch. It has lasted much longer than the one it replaced.
Canterbury Cathedral was originally founded in 597. After a fire in 1067, it was rebuilt from 1070 to 1077. The Cathedral was very important and the Archbishop of Canterbury was the most important ecclesiastical position in England. King Henry II appointed Thomas Beckett to the position, believing that his old friend would just rubber stamp whatever the king wanted. No such luck. Beckett had his own mind and conscience and did what he thought was right whether the king agreed or not. This made the king very frustrated. At one point he said something to the effect of “who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” Well, about four of his knights took him quite literally and murdered Beckett there in the cathedral.
Now you would think that Henry II would have learned to curb his tongue after that. But no. He was constantly stirring up the pot with all of this sons — Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John — plus his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (who he kept imprisoned for much of their married life). Every last one of them ended up at war with him at one time or another and constantly plotting against him (and one another).
After Beckett’s death, Canterbury became a place of pilgrimage for people who wanted to honor the slain archbishop. He was interred in the cathedral and a shrine was built directly over the tomb. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and destroyed shrines after splitting with the Catholic Church when he wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn, Beckett’s shrine was removed. This was in 1538. Henry VIII also summoned the long dead (murdered in 1170) archbishop to court to face charges of treason. When he didn’t show up, Henry declared him guilty by default. I don’t know. I think it would have been cool if the nearly four hundred years dead ghost of Beckett had shown up. But I don’t think that was quite Beckett’s style and I’m sure he had better things to do.
Also at Canterbury Cathedral is the tomb of the Black Prince, which was what Edward III’s eldest son (also named Edward) was called. He was next in line for the throne, but he died about a year before his father of some sort of illness. His son, Richard, took the throne at the age of nine and became King Richard II.
The Black Prince’s tomb is pretty cool. There is an effigy of him in full armor (in black) and his other accoutrements are hanging above the tomb. Actually the ones above the tomb are reproductions as the originals are much too delicate and are displayed in a glass case on the wall. He died in 1376. As I’ve mentioned before, several of my ancestors have been knights, in service to various kings and other royalty. One of those knights served the Black Prince and was killed at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. Although a strong victory for the English forces, it didn’t do my ancestor much good. Nevertheless, I gave the Black Prince’s effigy a little pat.
Our last stop of the day was Dover Castle, which was founded in the 11th century. During the Napoleonic Wars, a complex of barracks tunnels was created beneath the castle. Then, during World War II, these tunnels were converted into an air-raid shelter and then a military command center plus a hospital. There are roughly three miles of tunnels in the chalky cliffs.
Despite the song saying, “I’m looking over the White Cliffs of Dover,” I was not interested in walking over to the edge and taking a look. Not a fan of heights. Later, when we went into the town below, I was just fine with looking up at them. Very impressive and quite beautiful.
We headed back to London to spend a few more days there exploring until we set off on another multi-day adventure to Devon and Cornwall. Next up — The Beatles, the Bard & Bedlam.
