ON October 10, 1356, Edward III responded to astonishing news from France. At Poitiers, on September 19, his son, Edward of Woodstock—posthumously familiar as the Black Prince—had utterly vanquished a much larger French army and captured its leader, John II. Edward III’s claim to the Capetian throne assumed a new authority and he instructed his bishops to offer thanksgiving for the capture of his rival ‘John de Valois, usurper of the kingdom of France’.
Confident in victory, Edward III embarked on a new initiative to remodel his seat at Windsor. He had been engaged in building works in the castle since his Arthurian celebrations there in 1346, from which emerged the royal chivalric brotherhood of the Order of the Garter. His new initiative, however, was to create a palace in the upper ward on a scale to match anything in contemporary Europe. This palace can claim to be the single greatest building project initiated by an English medieval king, costing the stupendous sum of about £44,000, much of it paid for by the ransom of King John.
It must have been at the inception of this undertaking, October 30, 1356, that a previously obscure figure, one William, a clerk from Wickham (or Wykeham) in Hampshire was put in charge of the Windsor operations. William had evidently caught the king’s eye, because he now advanced with extraordinary speed through the ranks of the royal administration until, as the chronicler Froissart expressed it ‘he stood so high in the King’s favour that… everything was done by his consent, and nothing was done without it’. Just over a decade later, in 1367, he was consecrated Bishop of Winchester, one of the richest sees in Christendom.
Denne historien er fra October 16, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra October 16, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
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'Without fever there is no creation'
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The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds