In making a selection from the large number of castles and palaces that
might be included, I have endeavoured to choose those that would appeal
equally to the lovers of fine architecture and to the lovers of history
and legend.
There is probably no class of buildings that engages the interest of so
many different minds as the castle. To the architect, such strongholds
as Conway, Warwick, Arundel, Lambeth, Blois, Caernavon, Kronborg,
Windsor, Urbino, Berkeley, Amboise, Loches, etc., etc., are valuable
studies. For example, Conway, half castle, half palace, contains Early
Decorated architecture in Queen Eleanor’s Oratory and fine lancet
windows; the donjon of Arundel dates from the days of King Alfred;
Warwick, one of the few mediæval fortresses that has lasted unchanged
from the time of William the Conqueror to that of King Edward VII.,
shows us what Kenilworth and the other baronial castles of England
were like; the feudal stronghold of Berkeley has also preserved its
ancient appearance through seven centuries; Windsor retains its Norman
Keep and affords a splendid example of the dwelling-place of royalty;
the mediæval fortress of Amboise with its Flamboyant Gothic chapel
displays a wonderful contrast of styles; and at Blois four periods of
architecture may be contemplated side by side. Turning to palaces, it
is sufficient merely to name the Ducal Palace, the Alhambra, Hampton
Court Palace, Fontainebleau, Chenonceaux, Futtehpore-Sikri, and the
Palace of Shah Jehan to recall the wealth that exists in such vast
volumes of art and architecture. The Mikado’s Palace, and the Summer
Palace at Pekin transport us into another and mysterious world,
appealing strongly to our imagination.
The castle was built for defence as well as for a dwelling-place;
the palace, generally speaking, is the abode of monarchs or nobles;
and as both have been the scene of plots, imprisonments, murders,
entertainments, love-making, marriages, births and deaths, their
walls enclose innumerable memories of history and legend. As the most
brilliant displays of human pleasure and the blackest manifestations of
human conduct have occurred in their halls, towers and dungeons, the
phantoms of the most striking characters in history hover amid their
crumbling and ivy-clad stones.
In every castle there are one or two characters, events, or legends
that dominate all the others. For instance, in the Vaults of Kronborg
Holger Danske (Ogier le Danois, beloved of Morgan le Fay) sleeps; but
the better-remembered legend is that of the pale ghost that walks
the platform at Elsinore in the nipping and eager air of midnight.
Glamis is the supposed scene of Macbeth’s murder of Duncan; Warwick is
associated with the legendary Guy, the Wars of the Roses and the great
Earl, the “King-Maker;” Linlithgow is rich in Stuart memories,--it was
the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots; Caernavon was the birthplace of
the first Prince of Wales; Raby was the home of the famous Nevilles;
Harry Hotspur dwelt at Alnwick; the shadow of Louis XI. darkens
Plessis-les-Tours; Wyclif, Stephen Langton and the Lollards cling to
Lambeth; Futtehpore-Sikri recalls the splendours of the great Akbar;
Wolsey dominates Hampton Court Palace; Catherine de’Medici presides
over Chaumont; Charles VII., Joan of Arc and Agnes Sorel may be evoked
at Chinon; Berkeley was the scene of the murder of Edward II.; Agnes
Sorel is again at Loches; François I., Henri IV. and Diane de Poictiers
haunt Fontainebleau; the Riccardi is filled with Medici crimes; the
sombre Vecchio holds memories of the brilliant and wicked Cosmo I.;
and as the entire history of Florence may be read in the walls of the
latter palace, so all the events and phases of Venetian story are
centred in the Ducal Palace. Chenonceaux, “the fairy palace of Armida,”
and Kensington are exceptional in containing no stains of blood. Leigh
Hunt aptly remarks: “Windsor Castle is a place to receive monarchs in;
Buckingham Palace, to see fashions in; Kensington Palace a place to
drink tea in,” exhibiting “the domestic side of royalty.” Its gardens,
however, call up all the fashion, beauty and wit of the Eighteenth
Century.
We may suggest to the lovers of beautiful scenery that the pleasure
they experience is often largely due to the presence of the castle in
the landscape; and we may remind him, what an important feature Turner
made of the castle in his paintings. Sometimes, indeed, he went so far
as to introduce one when his artistic feeling told him that a peak
or crag was incomplete without its embattled towers. What would the
rock of Edinburgh be without “Auld Reekie,” or the parks of Arundel,
Berkeley, or Alnwick without their grey towers seen through vistas
framed in foliage? The Wartburg in the Thuringer Forest, and Stirling
and Conway, surrounded by the mountains of Scotland and Wales, are also
notable examples of the aid of the castle in completing the picturesque
effect of the landscape.
The translations have been made especially for this book; and in order
to give as much continuous history of each building as possible, I have
sometimes been compelled to cut. Otherwise, the essays remain
unchanged.
My thanks are extended to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for their
kind permission to reprint the selections from Hawthorne.