were restored to Henry, the son of Hotspur, who thus became the second
Earl of Northumberland. This great earl was killed, fighting under
the red-rose banner, at St. Albans, in 1455; and was succeeded by his
fourth surviving son, by his marriage with Eleanor de Neville, another
Henry, who, with one of his brothers, fell at the disastrous rout of
Towton, in 1461. Two other brothers of this earl died in arms in the
Lancastrian cause; one of them, Sir Ralph de Percy, a few days before
the final catastrophe at Hexham in 1464, was killed fighting bravely on
Hedgeley Moor, where a cross was erected as a memorial of his valour
and his fall: of this cross the shaft, adorned with the heraldic
insignia of Percy and Lucy, is still standing. Under the third earl,
who, by his marriage with Eleanor de Poynings, acquired the baronies
of Poynings, Fitzpayne, and Bryan, the estates attached to the earldom
reached their greatest territorial extent, and constituted a vast
principality.
In 1469 the attainder of the third earl having been reversed, his only
son, Henry, became the fourth earl; he was killed in a popular tumult
in 1489, when his eldest son, by his marriage with Maud de Herbert,
Henry Algernon, succeeded as fifth earl. Remarkable rather for an
almost regal state and magnificence than for the warlike qualities that
before his time had been hereditary in his house, he was the first
Earl of Northumberland who did not fall in battle or otherwise suffer
a violent death. He died in 1527, having married Catherine Spense, or
Spencer. The Household Book of this earl, which has been published
by Bishop Percy, is one of the most remarkable and characteristic
documents that illustrate the personal history of the greatest English
nobles in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. His son, the sixth
earl, a second Henry Algernon de Percy, the lover of Anne Boleyn in
her earlier and really happier days, married Mary Talbot, daughter of
the Earl of Shrewsbury, but in 1537 died without issue, when the grand
Percy earldom became extinct.
Twenty years later, “in consideration of his noble descent, constancy,
virtue, and valour in deeds of arms, and other shining qualifications,”
of which last recommendations to royal favour the fact that he was a
zealous Roman Catholic certainly was not the least influential, Thomas
de Percy, eldest son of the second son of the fifth earl (Sir Thomas
Percy), was created by Queen Mary, Baron Percy, and also restored to
the earldom of Northumberland; but the tenure by which the restored
earl was to hold his dignities and lands restricted the succession
absolutely to the heirs male of his own body, and to those of his
brother. This the seventh earl was executed, as a traitor, at York,
in 1572, leaving no surviving son. Accordingly, his brother, Henry
de Percy, became the eighth earl: he died in 1585, having been shot
(it was said, but most doubtfully, by his own hand) while a prisoner
in the Tower. The eldest son of this earl, by Catherine de Neville,
Henry, succeeded as ninth earl: he was a learned, eccentric personage,
commonly known as “the Wizard,” and died, after an imprisonment of
fifteen years in the Tower, in 1632. He married Dorothy Devereux,
and was succeeded by his eldest son, Algernon, one of the noblest of
his race. This great earl died in 1668, having married, first, Anne
Cecil, and, secondly, Elizabeth Howard. His successor, his only son
(by his second marriage), Josceline de Percy, the eleventh and last
earl of Northumberland of the direct lineage of the Percies, died in
1670, leaving, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas, Earl of
Southampton, an only child, a daughter, Elizabeth de Percy, four years
old at the time of her father’s death.
Here we pause, before we trace onwards the fortunes of the later lords
of Alnwick, that we may direct our attention to the history of their
grandest northern fortress-home, Alnwick Castle.
[Illustration: _Norman Gateway in the Keep._]
The plan of the castle, as it exists at the present time, is shown in
our engraving; and it will be seen that five distinct periods in the
architectural history are indicated by varieties of shading introduced
into the outlines. The extreme extent of the walls from east to west
slightly exceeds 1,000 feet; while that from north to south is somewhat
less than 600 feet. The varied outline of the space enclosed within
the walls, which in a great measure has been determined by the nature
of the ground, in an infinite degree enhances the equally noble and
picturesque aspect of the edifice. The figures in the plan refer to
the various parts of the castle in the manner following:—1, is the
Barbican; 2, the Gateway to the second Baly; 3, the Octagonal Towers;
4, the Norman Gateway; 5, the Grand Staircase; 6, the Guard Chamber;
7, the Principal Ante-Room; 8, the Library; 9, the Saloon; 10, the
Drawing-Room; 11, the Dining Hall; 12, the Chapel; 13 and 14, State
Bed-Rooms, 15, Boudoir of the Duchess; 16, Kitchen; 17, Estate Offices;
18, Laundry; 19, Guest-Hall; 20, Stables; 21, Riding-School; 22, West
Garret; 23, Abbot’s Tower; 24, Falconer’s Tower; 25, Postern Tower;
26, Constable’s Tower; 27, Ravine Tower; 28, East Garret; 29, Warder’s
Tower; 30, Auditor’s Tower; 31, Clock Tower; and 32, the Avener’s
Tower. Thus, the open ground within the circumvallation, as will be
seen by the plan, is divided into two irregular spaces, the outer and
the inner Baly, the outer being toward the west. Occupying a central
position is the Keep, a grand cluster of towers and curtain-walls,
enclosing an open court-yard: of these towers, the new Prudhoe Tower,
within which is the Library (No. 8), with its lofty banner-turret,
is the most conspicuous. Running south, commencing with No. 13 and
extending to No. 2, a new range of buildings connects the Keep with
the early Percy gateway between the balies, and with the main southern
curtain. In this direction, all the buildings, from No. 29 to No. 17,
and from thence (with the exception of No. 31, which is one of the
flanking towers of the main curtain) to No. 19 southward, and to No. 21
westward, are new, and they have been erected beyond and without the
limits of the proper fortification. In like manner, the whole line of
curtain-wall, from No. 24 to No. 25, is new. To the north of the Keep
the ground falls somewhat rapidly in the direction of the river; from
the bridge which here crosses the Aln, the view of THE CASTLE, as its
groups of towers and its far-extending walls rise proudly above the
encircling woods, is particularly fine and impressive.
The principal approach and entrance to the castle are from the west.
Here, to the westward of the original outer face of the fosse, stands
the Barbican; an embattled outwork of equal strength and dignity, the
work of the first of the Percies, about A.D. 1310. The rounded arch of
the entrance gateway here is an example of a usage not very uncommon
at the period which has just been specified, and always present in the
works of Lord Henry de Perci. The Barbican, which covers an area of 55
feet in length by 32 feet in width, is a perfect example of the style
of fortification that was held to be essential for defence against
assault in mediæval warfare. One remarkable feature, which is repeated
again and again in various parts of the castle, cannot fail at once
to attract attention when approaching the Barbican; this is the array
of tall figures representing armed warders of the fourteenth century,
sculptured in stone, which surmount the parapet, and stand upon the
merlons of the embattling, casting their long shadows upon the grey
masonry.
[Illustration: _The Armourer’s Tower._]
Having entered the Barbican, passed under the sculptured Percy
lion which keeps guard over the archway, and traversed the entrance
tower, we find ourselves within the enclosure of the first or outer
baly; here, turning to the left, we commence our survey of the castle
within the lines of circumvallation. The curtain-wall, extending from
the entrance northwards at a right angle to the Abbot’s Tower, and
having midway a garret or wall-tower (No. 22 in plan) built upon it,
is part of the old Norman work of the De Vescis, with evident tokens
of important reparation a little before the middle of the fifteenth
century, by the father of Hotspur, the sixth lord of Alnwick. The
Armourer’s Tower (No. 23 in plan), which occupies the N.W. angle
of the _enceinte_, is a noble piece of Edwardian architecture; it
consists of a vaulted basement, with two stories above it, connected
by a turret-stair: and its external massive effectiveness is greatly
enhanced by the square turret at the N.W. angle of the tower, which
rises boldly above the embattled parapet, having its own merlons
crowned with weather-beaten sculptured warders. Now facing eastwards,
and soon making a slight inclination towards the east, again we follow
the line of the Norman curtain-walls, until we reach the new Falconer’s
Tower (No. 24 in plan), which has been built on the site of the razed
early Armourer’s and Falconer’s Towers; the original curtain apparently
extended in a direct line from No. 24 to the Keep. Passing onwards
along the new curtain-wall due east from No. 24, we follow the line
of this wall as it turns towards the south, and at No. 25 in the plan
brings us to the Postern Tower, another massive relic of the first Lord
Percy, placed at the base of the eminence upon which the Keep stands;
this tower protects a postern or sally-port, and it has a curious
staircase in the thickness of its walls: it is now used as a museum for
Roman and British antiquities. Advancing still further eastwards, but
with an inclination to the north, and again following the course of De
Vesci’s curtain, we reach the Constable’s Tower (No. 26 in plan), of
Edwardian architecture, to which there are three external entrances,
one in each floor: one chamber in this tower is used as an armoury.
Again, as we follow the guidance of the curtain-wall towards the S.E.,
we have before us the Norman masonry, with traces of Edwardian, or
first Percy, reparation. Here, about midway between Nos. 26 and 27 of
the plan, an embattled projection from the line of the wall has been
entitled “Hotspur’s Chair,” and to the east of this projection a gap in
the curtain is filled up with eighteenth-century masonry; this gap a
not very well-supported tradition assigns to a fierce assault by some
Scots, who are said to have been so far successful as to beat down
this portion of the castle-wall, after which exploit the tradition
adds that the assailants were cut off to a man by the garrison. This
tower, which is called both the Ravine Tower and the Record Tower
(No. 27 of plan), stands at the easternmost extremity of the castle;
with Edwardian remains in its walls, it was for the most part rebuilt
in the last century: on the ground-floor is the muniment-room, in
which the records are kept. From this point our course inclines in
a south-westerly direction, the curtain being eighteenth-century
work, until again, at No. 28 in the plan, we welcome traces of the
early masonry: here another garret occurs, with the junction of the
Norman and modern masonry; then yet another succeeds, as once more
we follow an eighteenth-century wall until we reach the new Lion or
Garden Gatehouse, No. 29 in the plan, through which a road leads to
Barneyside, where are situated the extensive and beautiful gardens of
the castle.
[Illustration: _On the Barbican._]
From within this gateway, which is flanked by two octagonal towers,
one of them—the Warder’s Tower—larger and loftier than the other,
the curtain-wall of the first Lord Percy’s work leads in a direct line
nearly due west; we follow the course of this wall, we pass through
the middle gate-house, erected by the first of the Percies, which both
separates and connects the inner and the outer baly; again, on our
left, we have early Norman masonry in the curtain, and then we reach
the Auditor’s Tower (No. 30 in plan), another relic of the first Lord
Percy: here was held the court of the lord of the barony; here now
is the private Library of the Duke; and here also is the Museum of
Egyptian Antiquities, collected by Duke Algernon, the last munificent
restorer of Alnwick. Still following the line of the curtain, we
reach the Clock Tower. From this tower, the curtain, built in the
last century, leads in a northerly direction to the entrance gateway
connected with the Barbican, to which, thus completing our entire
circuit, we now return, having passed, since leaving the Clock Tower,
the Avener’s Tower or Garner (No. 32 of plan), like the adjoining
curtain, a modern work.
During our progress from the garden gate (No. 29 in plan) westward
and northward to the Barbican, we have passed the long ranges of new
buildings that either adjoin or actually abut upon the outer face of
the curtain-walls (Nos. 16 to 21 in plan), by no means unimportant
parts of the latest restoration, which comprise all the domestic
offices and the whole stable department of the castle. These buildings,
which have been planned and constructed with the highest architectural
and engineering skill, are on a scale of princely magnitude; and of
them it may truly be said that they leave nothing to be desired. Of
one only of these new edifices is it necessary that we should make
particular mention; this is No. 19 on the plan, a noble apartment,
covered with an open timber hammer-beam roof. In consequence of there
being in the restored castle no such baronial hall as invariably formed
the principal feature in a great mediæval stronghold, Duke Algernon
built this Guest Hall in its stead, which might enable himself and his
successors to assemble his and their tenantry and friends to partake of
the always splendid hospitality of the Percies. This hall has also been
used for concerts and various other purposes.
[Illustration: _The Well in the Keep._]
From the Barbican we retrace our steps so far as to traverse the
roadway that leads to the inner Gate-House (No. 2 in plan), that we may
explore the magnificent Keep: this, however, is a duty we postpone;
pausing for a while, and resting beneath the tree that grows beside
the Barbican. Presently, we shall resume our biographical sketch, and
observe by what means an only daughter once again became the ancestress
of a noble lineage, and through them brought to the house and castle of
the Percies a still more exalted dignity and a still higher honour than
ever before had been attained by them.
[Illustration: _The Constable’s Tower._]
And we rejoice to know that the noble line of the Percies was not
destined finally to fail with a failure of a direct heir male; it also
is a subject for rejoicing that over the towers of Alnwick there still
should wave a banner, charged with the same quarterings that in the
olden time were so well known to the breezes of Northumberland. As it
has been well said, Alnwick Castle has ever been esteemed as the old
head-quarters of border chivalry; and, in truth, it is a subject for
national pride to feel it has that same aspect still. No one assuredly
can “look upon this very ‘gudlye howsse,’ as King Harry’s commissioners
called it, or upon its grassy courts fringed with ‘faire towres,’ its
stately keep with its ‘marveylouse fare vaulte’ ‘and tryme ladgings,’”
as they are described about the middle of the sixteenth century, in the
survey made by Clarkson for the seventh earl, “without feeling that he
had seen the martial, social, and most knightly centre of mediæval life
in Northumberland.” And so also, in like manner, no one now can visit
Alnwick Castle, and not feel deeply impressed with the conviction that
the England, of which the past history possesses monumental records
and still living witnesses such as this, is a land rich as well in the
most precious elements of present strength as in the most glorious of
memories; and so, when her true sons look forward to the future of
England, they may do so in the spirit of the fine old motto of the
Percies—ESPERANCE.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
The annals of the truly noble family of the Percies, as we have seen,
down to the death of Josceline, the eleventh earl, in 1670, extend
over five centuries, during three hundred and sixty-one years of
which period, almost without interruption, the family was intimately
connected with Alnwick. By the limitation of the patent of 1557, the
youthful daughter of Earl Josceline was incapable of inheriting her
father’s honours, and thus, at last, the Percies’ earldom again became
extinct, when no inconsiderable part of their immense possessions
lapsed to the crown: the great northern earldom, however, was not
permitted in this manner to pass away without more than one fruitless
effort on the part of collateral descendants to establish a claim to
the succession.
Notwithstanding the alienation of some of the estates consequent upon
the extinction of the Earldom of Northumberland, Elizabeth Percy, the
daughter of the last earl, was the most wealthy heiress in the realm;
and, accordingly, it was considered to be a matter of the greatest
importance that a suitable alliance should be arranged for her with
the least possible delay. When but little more than a child, in 1679,
she was married to Henry Cavendish, Earl of Ogle, and heir to the Duke
of Newcastle, who died in the following year. Before another year
had expired, the youthful widow was again married to Thomas Thynn of
Longleat; but once more the heiress became a widow very shortly after
her marriage. Her second husband was murdered early in 1682, as he was
passing in his coach along Pall Mall. While she was still not more than
fifteen years of age, within three months after the tragedy in Pall
Mall, Elizabeth Percy became the wife of Charles Seymour, sixth Duke
of Somerset, by whom only she had issue: she died in 1722, leaving,
besides three daughters, one only surviving son, Algernon, who in 1748
succeeded his father as seventh Duke of Somerset. In 1749 this duke was
created Baron of Warkworth and Earl of Northumberland, with remainder
of those dignities to the heirs male of his daughter, his only
surviving child, by her marriage with Sir Hugh Smithson. The duke died
in 1750, when the Seymour dignities reverted to the male descendants of
the Protector Somerset by his first marriage. Thus, once more, an only
daughter, now bearing the paternal name of Seymour, was the heiress and
representative of the Percy lords of Alnwick: and thus, by reason of
his alliance with this lady, Sir Hugh Smithson became _jure uxoris_, by
special Act of Parliament, Earl of Northumberland; and he himself, his
countess, and their descendants, were empowered and authorised to take
and use the surname of Percy alone, and to bear and quarter all the
armorial insignia of that noble house.
The fortunate husband of this last heiress of the Percies, on the death
of his grandfather, Sir Hugh Smithson, in the year 1729, succeeded to
the baronetcy, which had been conferred by Charles II. in 1663 on that
grandfather’s grandfather, also a Hugh Smithson. A remarkably handsome
man, with a refined taste, and in many other respects well qualified
for the distinguished destiny which awaited him, Sir Hugh Smithson
is said to have been in no slight degree indebted for his eventual
splendid matrimonial success to a previous failure. He had attracted
the attention of Lady Percy, who, on hearing that some other lady had
rejected the suit of Sir Hugh Smithson, expressed her surprise that any
lady should have refused to accept such a man. The words of the fair
and noble heiress reached the ears of the disconsolate baronet, and
they promptly wrought a marvellous change in his views and aspirations.
Upon the hint so given Sir Hugh spoke, and—his words were not in
vain. In nearly all the “Peerages,” borrowed one from another, it is
stated that this Sir Hugh Smithson early in life went to London, where
he established himself in business as an apothecary. Although no slur
would thus have been cast on the illustrious race, it is simply untrue.
The following statement, extracted from a “Baronetage” published in
1727, may be accepted in proof:—
“The present Sir Hugh Smithson married a sister of the late Lord
Langdale, and had two sons, who lived to man’s estate. Hugh, the
eldest, died unmarried before his father; Langdale Smithson, the second
son, married Miss Revely, by whom he left only one son, Hugh—now a
minor, and a most hopeful young gentleman—so that there now remain
only two heirs to the title and estate—this young gentleman, Sir
Hugh’s grandson, and Hugh Smithson, of Tottenham, Esq., cousin of Sir
Hugh.”
[Illustration: _The East Garret._]
The “young gentleman” in question succeeded his grandfather as Sir
Hugh Smithson, of Stanwick. There was no trace in any documents
or papers of his ever having been in any position but that of the
acknowledged heir to a considerable estate and to a baronetage, granted
to his ancestor for his loyalty and sacrifices in the royal cause
during the civil wars of Charles I.[21] He married Lady Percy on the
16th of July, 1740, when he became Earl of Northumberland with all the
territorial greatness attendant on that earldom.
[Illustration: _The Garden Gate, or Warder’s Tower._]
In 1766 the earl was created Duke of Northumberland and Earl Percy,
with succession to his heirs male; and, finally, in 1784, the barony of
Lovaine was added to the duke’s accumulated dignities, with remainder
to the younger of his two sons. The duchess died in 1776, but the duke
survived till 1786: they had one daughter, who died unmarried, and
two sons, Hugh and Algernon, of whom the elder succeeded his father
as second Duke of Northumberland, a distinguished general officer in
the first American War. The second duke married, first, a daughter of
the then Earl of Bute; and, secondly, Frances Julia, third daughter of
Peter Burrell, Esquire, a Commissioner of the Excise, by whom he had
a numerous family: the duke died in 1817, and was succeeded by Hugh,
his eldest son, who thus became the third Duke of Northumberland, the
princely representative of George IV. at the coronation of Charles X.
of France. This third duke died, without issue, in 1847, having married
Lady Charlotte Florentia Clive, youngest daughter of Earl Powis: and
thus the dukedom passed to the third duke’s brother, the younger son of
the second duke, who at the time of his brother’s death bore the title
of Baron Prudhoe—an independent peerage to which he himself had been
elevated in 1816, in consideration of his services as an officer in the
navy.
Algernon Percy, fourth Duke of Northumberland, was born in 1792; in
1842 he married the Lady Eleanor Grosvenor, daughter of the Marquis of
Westminster; in 1847 he succeeded to the honours and possessions of his
family; he was created a K.G. in 1852, when he also held the office of
First Lord of the Admiralty; and on February 12th, 1865, he died at
Alnwick Castle, and, as his brother and predecessor had died, without
any issue. Like the great soldier, with whose memory the dukedom of
Wellington must ever be directly associated, Sir Algernon Percy will
long be remembered with affectionate and grateful admiration as THE
Duke of Northumberland. A true English sailor, a princely English
Nobleman, an elegant scholar and an accomplished gentleman, large of
heart too and open of hand, with his commanding presence Duke Algernon
looked every inch a Percy; and, in very deed, in his person were
centred the brightest of the brilliant qualities of his forefathers, in
happy combination with those admirable endowments that were peculiarly
his own.