Woodstock Palace

Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodge became a palace under Henry's grandson, Henry II, who spent time here with his mistress, Rosamund Clifford ("Fair Rosamund"). Henry III frequently visited the palace for entertainment, including once in 1237 when he invited his long-confined cousin Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany.Sharp, Accounts, 89; CPR 1232–47, 204.

It continued to be used, as one of the large number of royal residences, through the Middle Ages and Tudor period, and sometimes under the early Stuarts, but was largely destroyed in the English Civil War. Several decades later, the park was given to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Blenheim Palace built there, removing what traces remained of the medieval house.

Timeline

Important events that took place at the palace or manor include:

The marriage of William the Lion, king of Scots to Ermengarde de Beaumont in 1186; The signing of the Treaty of Woodstock between Henry III of England and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (1247); The birth of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301-1330), the sixth son of King Edward I, and the second by his second wife Margaret of France, and a younger half-brother of King Edward II; The birth of Edward the Black Prince (1330), eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III and father of King Richard II; Isabella of England born here 1332 oldest daughter of Edward III; Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester born here 1355, 7th son (5th surviving) and youngest child of Edward III; The marriage of Mary of Waltham, daughter of King Edward III, to John IV, Duke of Brittany (1361); A lost play, the Necromancer or Nigramansir by John Skelton is said to have been performed at the palace for Henry VII on Palm Sunday, 1501;Edward Marshall, The Early History of Woodstock Manor and Its Environs, (Oxford, 1873), p. 135. Imprisonment of the future Queen Elizabeth I of England (1554–1558).

A chapel or oratory was built for Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry III, in 1250. The new chapel was dedicated to St Edward and located above the Queen's Chamber. Externally the chapel had crenellations.Edward Marshall, The Early History of Woodstock Manor and Its Environs, (Oxford, 1873), p. 382.

Fair Rosamunde and her bower In English folklore, Rosamund Clifford's legend holds that King Henry II did everything to hide his affair from his wife, the formidable Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. He saw Rosamund only in the middle of "Rosamund's Bower", a separate enclosed garden, sometimes with a building in the middle, in the park of Woodstock Palace. In later fantastical elaborations this is sometimes described as a complicated labyrinth, perhaps underground. After hearing rumours, the queen made her way inside and confronted her rival, forcing her to choose between a dagger and a bowl of poison; Rosamund chose the poison and died.Matthews, W.H., Mazes and Labyrinths, Chap. XIX, Longmans Green and Co., London, 1922Gardner, Martin More Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions p. 88, Penguin Books (1966) Contemporary chronicler John Brompton did not recount this incident in his account of the events, and it first appeared in the 14th-century French Chronicle of London.

Several decades later, Henry II's grandson Henry III certainly established or expanded a "herber" or separate enclosed pleasure garden, in Woodstock Park, which was large enough for some costs to appear in his household accounts. This was a common feature of grand medieval gardens. In 1251 he built high walls around it, and in 1261 planted 100 pear trees.Morgan, Joan, Book of Pears: The Definitive History and Guide to Over 500 Varieties, p. 50, 2015, Chelsea Green Publishing, , google books

Especially in the 19th century, the Rosamunde story became very popular in the arts, and several Pre-Raphaelite painters depicted her at Woodstock.

Henry VII and family Henry VII rebuilt a part of the palace in the 1490s. He resided at Woodstock in August and September 1497, July and September 1507, and September 1513.Edward Marshall, The Early History of Woodstock Manor and Its Environs (Oxford, 1873), p. 135. On 15 August 1497, a ceremony of betrothal or proxy wedding was held for Catherine of Aragon and Arthur, Prince of Wales at Woodstock.Theresa Earenfight, Catherine of Aragon: Infanta of Spain, Queen of England, pp. 46, 51.

Elizabeth of York and Anne Saye, a lady-in-waiting, became ill at Woodstock during a visit in August 1502.Nicholas Harris Nicholas, Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York (London, 1830), pp. 37–38, 48, 52. In September 1507, the Spanish ambassador Dr Puebla was at Woodstock and encouraged Catherine of Aragon to compose a letter in cipher code to a Spanish minister Almazan.Gustav Adolph Bergenroth, Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 1 (London, 1862), pp. 427–428.

Henry VII spent over £4000 from his chamber account on building works at Woodstock.Howard Colvin, History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 349. The work was supervised by Master George Gainesford, Sheriff of Oxfordshire and others, and the mason was William Este of Oxford.Samuel Bentley, Excerpta Historica: Or, Illustrations of English History (London, 1831), pp. 96, 98. He modified the hall, a bay window for the Queen's chamber (for Elizabeth of York), and, in 1507, the gatehouse. According to Isaac Wake the gatehouse had a carved Latin inscription recording that it was the work of Henry VII. The King's chamber also had a bay window (built by William Flower), and there was a chamber for his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort.Howard Colvin, History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 349.

The new hall roof was constructed by a carpenter John Brian of Oxford in 1494. Brian complained that Henry VII had agreed to his drawing for the roof, but after he began cutting and shaping the timbers, Henry Dean, Prior of Llanthony (paymaster at the site) told him to make changes. Brian asked for another £9 to accommodate a change in the plan or "proposition" for the roof involving a round window.Howard Colvin, History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 349. Stone for Palace in the 1490s was brought from quarries at Shirburn, Barrington, Taynton, and Windrush. Timber was brought from Bladon, Kirtlington, and Spelsbury. Bricks were made at Oxford and at Brill.Howard Colvin, History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 349.

William Este or East maintained the Palace for many years. In the reign of Henry VIII, Sir Edward Chamberlain organised repairs to the newer buildings and to "Rosamund's Place". The roofs at Woodstock were repaired with lead taken from the Priory at Canons Ashby.Howard Colvin, History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), pp. 351–352.

Henry VIII came to Woodstock in August 1532. He played dice and gave money to William Colyns, a "frantic man".James Gairdner, Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, 5 (London, 1880), p. 759. According to William Latymer, Anne Boleyn was kind to one of her gentlewomen servants, Mrs Jaskyne, when she made a request to leave the court at Woodstock to visit her sick husband in September 1533 or July 1535.Maria Dowling, "William Latymer's Cronickille of Anne Bulleyne", Camden Miscellany, XXX (London, 1990), pp. 52–53. Edward VI sent a carpenter called Thomas Cropper to survey and draw the buildings.Howard Colvin, History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), pp. 351–352.

Elizabeth I and the gatehouse Elizabeth I, as Princess or "Lady Elizabeth", was at Woodstock from 20 May 1554 to June 1555.Linda Porter, Mary Tudor: The First Queen (Piatkus, 2009), p. 339: Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1558–1559, 1 (London, 1863), pp. lxv–lxiv. Her keeper was Henry Bedingfeld of Oxburgh.David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989), pp. 284–285.J. E. Neale, Queen Elizabeth (London: Jonathan Cape, 1934), pp. 49–51: Richard Grafton, Chronicle At Large, 2 (London, 1809), p. 548. At first, four chambers were furnished with tapestry for her. Bedingfield hesitated to allow her a cloth of estate, a canopy that signified royal status. He thought the palace did not have as many locked doors as required by its rural situation.C. R. Manning, "Custody of Elizabeth at Woodstock", Norfolk Archaeology, 5 (Norwich, 1854), pp. 154, 160. John Foxe recorded some anecdotes of her time at the palace. According to John Foxe, there were five or six locked door between her lodging and the garden walks, and Elizabeth envied the freedom of the milkmaids at Woodstock who she could hear singing in the garden.A. F. Pollard, Tudor Tracts (Archibald Constable, 1903), pp. 355, 360.

Elizabeth is said to have been lodged in the upper floors of the gatehouse in 1554, and scratched inscriptions on the palace windows with a diamond ring, and written on a shutter with charcoal,John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, 1 (London, 1823), pp. 8–11 including the verse:Much suspected by me,Nothing proved can be,Quoth ELIZABETH the prisoner.Linda Porter, Mary Tudor: The First Queen (Piatkus, 2009), p. 340: A. F. Pollard, Tudor Tracts (Archibald Constable, 1903). p. 359. Mary, Queen of Scots, quoted this phase in 1584,John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 571. and Elizabeth's words were noted by the travellers Paul Hentzner and Henri, Duke of Rohan in 1600.William Brenchley Rye, England as Seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and James the First (London: John Russell, 1865), pp. 108–109. A chamber in the gatehouse had an arched oak ceiling, with carving, painted blue with gilt decoration, and was later known as Queen Elizabeth's Chamber.Edward Marshall, The Early History of Woodstock Manor and Its Environs (Oxford, 1873), pp. 155-7, 164-5. According to Foxe, the route taken by Elizabeth from Woodstock to Hampton Court in 1555 included stops at Rycote, the house of Master Dormer at Wing, and the George Inn at Colnbrook.A. F. Pollard, Tudor Tracts (Archibald Constable, 1903), pp. 355, 360.

Repairs made to the palace in 1576 included the plastering of several rooms. The accounts mention a courtyard with a fountain decorated in an earlier period with heraldic beasts, and a stairway to the great hall also featured four beasts.Howard Colvin, History of the King's Works, 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 353. Repairs in 1595 including new decorative plasterwork were supervised by William Spicer, who was also surveyor of the military works at Berwick-upon-Tweed.William Acres, Letters of Lord Burleigh to his son Robert Cecil (Cambridge, 2017), p. 166: Sue Simpson, Sir Henry Lee: Elizabethan Courtier (Ashgate, 2014), p. 87.

17th century

King James I and his wife Anne of Denmark, her secretary William Fowler, and Arbella Stuart came to Woodstock in September 1603 during a time of plague.HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 15 (London, 1930), p. 243. Sir Robert Cecil criticised the building as, "unwholsome, all the house standing upon springs. It is unsavoury, for there is no savour but of cows and pigs. It is uneaseful, for only the King and Queen with the privy chamber ladies and 3 or 4 of Scottish council are lodged in the house".Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 3 (London, 1791), p. 186. The court was at Woodstock again in September 1610.Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers Venice, 1610-1613, vol. 12 (London, 1906), pp. 40-1.