Few of the Garter knights have as dashing an historical reputation as Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-1682), Charles I’s German-born nephew.  A soldier from the age of just thirteen, he came to England in 1642 with his brother Prince Maurice (1621-1652) to support his uncle in the fight against Parliament.  In the battles of the first civil war (1642-46), his brave and daring cavalry charges marked him out as a soldier to be feared by the enemy, and with a little more luck he might just have won the war for the King.  Exiled in 1646, he later took to the sea, making privateering expeditions to the West Indies, where he narrowly escaped death in a hurricane in 1652.  His beloved brother Maurice was not so lucky, perishing when his ship was wrecked.  Having returned to England at the restoration of his cousin Charles II in 1660, Rupert was given command of the King’s navy, later fighting in two (albeit inglorious) naval wars against the Dutch.

Less well-known is Rupert’s interest in scientific invention and experiment, which he pursued with great enthusiasm in his later years.  It was a good time for science in general.  In 1660, the Royal Society was founded to promote scientific research and discussion, and in 1664 Rupert was made an honorary member, and contributed to its discussions and experiments.  Politically too, the times were more settled after years of civil war and republican experiment, so the climate was right for science to flourish.

Where did Rupert’s interest in science spring from?  From his youth, he had been blessed with a brilliant mathematical mind, allied to a fascination with all things mechanical.  As a man steeped in warfare from an early age, he was much concerned with the methods and weapons by which war is waged, and how they might be improved.  A prolonged period of warfare, such as occurred in the 1640s, will always throw up technical issues and problems which demand solutions.  And Rupert was, to use modern parlance, a good problem solver, as well as a risk taker.

Rupert was credited with many inventions and discoveries, although it has been said some of these were really the introduction of European inventions into England.  Amongst his military inventions were a new form of gunpowder eleven times normal strength, a gun which fired multiple rounds at high speed (an early type of machine gun), a handgun with rotating barrels, and a form of grapeshot for use by artillery.  His naval experience led him to invent a diving engine for retrieving objects from the ocean floor.  And his humanitarian concern with the wounds of war prompted him to give papers on the healing process (including treatment of burns) to the Royal Society.

From 1668 to 1682, Rupert was Governor of Windsor Castle, where he converted some apartments into a laboratory, complete with forges, instruments and a range of raw materials.  At Chelsea (on the site of the present Royal Hospital), he had another laboratory, and furnaces which he used to make plate glass.  This involved generating high temperatures, and Chelsea residents were wont to complain of the pollution from his ‘glass houses’.

Not surprisingly, Rupert was passionate about gunnery, and conducted experiments towards the improvement of iron cannon.  Having been granted a patent to manufacture his new cannon in 1671, he invested a good deal of his money in their production.  But as things turned out, the new guns were not much better than the cheaper standard variety, the enterprise failed, and Rupert did not recover his investment.

Whilst Rupert cannot be bracketed with the great names of British science, his scientific activities exemplify a new spirit of inquiry and innovation which, a century later, was to help spark Britain’s industrial revolution.  Prince Rupert died at his home near Whitehall on 29 November 1682, aged sixty-two.  After a state funeral he was interred in Henry VII’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey, a fitting resting place for a notable man of war and man of science.

Simon Harrison (Archives volunteer)

On 25 June 1892 ‘Buffalo Bill’ and his Wild West show gave a command performance at Windsor Castle in front of Queen Victoria.  She recorded in her journal the entertaining events of the day [Royal Archives VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1892: 25 June]:

‘At 5…we went on to the East Terrace, & watched from a tent, open in front, a sort of “Buffalo Bill” performance, on the Lawn below.  It was extremely well arranged, & an excellent representation of what we had also seen 5 years ago at Earl’s Court.  There were Cow Boys, Red Indians, Mexicans, Argentinos taking part, & then a wonderful riding display by Cossacks, accompanied by curious singing, & a war dance by the Indians.  There were extraordinary buck jumping horses, shooting at glass balls by Col: Cody (Buffalo Bill), & [a] display of cracking huge long whips.  The whole, was a very pretty, wild sight, which lasted an hour.  At the conclusion of the performance, all advanced in line at a gallop & stopped suddenly.  Col: Cody was brought up for me to speak to him.  He is still a very handsome man, but has now got a grey beard.’

The Times records that on 25 June 1892 the Queen witnessed from the East Terrace of Windsor Castle a performance of ‘a party of the Wild West Company, consisting of American Cowboys, Mexicans, Cossacks of the Caucasus, Gauchos, and Sioux Indians, under the direction of Colonel Cody [Buffalo Bill].’

Philip Frank Eliot, Dean of Windsor (1891-1917), was invited by the Queen to attend.  He described the event in a letter to his mother dated the following day:

‘It was really a very pretty sight.  The performance took place on the lawn in front of the East Terrace … and the Queen and all the guests etc. sat on the Terrace itself.  Unfortunately it was a dull evening, with no sun.  Certainly they performed some wonderful feats of horsemanship.  The Queen suggested that her equerries might try to ride the ‘bucking’ horses! but they were not willing.’

Eleanor Cracknell (Assistant Archivist)

In October 1642, Colonel John Venn and twelve companies of foot soldiers took possession of Windsor Castle on behalf of Parliament. With Parliamentary troops occupying the Castle, it was merely a question of time before Governor Venn would seek to have the Royalist Dean and Canons ejected from the Lower Ward.  The House of Lords attempted to preserve the College of St George from harm, ordering the Speaker to write to Colonel Venn “to take care that there be no disorders and disturbances made in the Chapel at Windsor; and that the evidences, registers, monuments there and all things that belong to the Order of the Garter, may be preserved without any defacings; and that he permit the Prebends to live in their own houses”. However, it was not to be and on 23 May 1643 the Dean and Canons, accepting the inevitable, petitioned the Lords that “they may have liberty to carry forth all their goods, utensils, household stuffs and books to their several abodes, and that an order might be made for their safe conveying and quiet enjoying of the same”.

With the Dean and Canons departed, Colonel Venn set about plundering the Chapel, from a combination of religious and financial motives. The coat of mail belonging to Edward IV, with its surcoat of crimson velvet decorated with pearls and rubies, was seized from above his tomb and much of the woodwork and metalwork removed, including the brass statues designed for Henry VIII’s unfinished tomb. In September 1643 the organs and stained glass in the Chapel were defaced and many of the furnishings were destroyed or sold. The Chapel plate was melted down and coined to finance Fairfax’s northern campaign. But all was not lost. The Dean, Dr Christopher Wren, father of the famous architect, managed to recover and preserve the three registers of the Order of the Garter (the Black, Blue and Red Books), and these are now held in the Chapel Archives.  Meanwhile the Poor Knights of Windsor, an integral part of the College of St George since its foundation in 1348, were allowed to remain in residence in the Castle. Although depleted in number and in financial distress, they kept the spirit of the College alive throughout the Commonwealth and were there to greet the new Dean, Bruno Ryves, and his fellow Canons at the Restoration in 1660.

Clare (Archivist and Chapter Librarian)

Start of the 1908 Olympic Marathon

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens on 6th April 1896, and one of the main events was the marathon, commemorating the legendary run by Pheidippides from Marathon to Athens to announce victory in battle.

For the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the British Royal Family requested that the marathon start at Windsor Castle so that the Royal children could witness its start. As a result, the marathon distance was changed to 26 miles to cover the ground from Windsor Castle to White City Stadium, with 385 yards added on so the race could finish in front of the Royal Family’s viewing box. In 1924, this distance became the standardized length of a marathon.

In the recently re-catalogued Kathleen Naylor collection are 2 photographs of the start of the 1908 Olympic Marathon from Windsor to Chiswick. Kathleen’s father, Fred Naylor, was a lay clerk at the Chapel for over 60 years from 1895 to 1957, and these photographs form part of the collection of records covering his life and those of his children at St George’s Chapel, and the many events in and around the Castle that they witnessed.

Eleanor (Assistant Archivist)

Henry VIII and his Garter Knights

The Black Book (Liber Niger) named because of its black velvet binding, is the earliest surviving register of the Order of the Garter. It was commissioned by Henry VIII who took a strong personal interest in the Order. It was begun in 1534 by Robert Aldrydge, Canon of Windsor and Register of the Order but incorporates material from the first known register, the Registrum ordinis Chartaceum, and continues until 1551.

Written in Latin, it contains the statutes, an account of the foundation of the Order and details of Garter elections and ceremonies. It is richly illuminated, with representations, in decorated initials, of the Founder Edward III and successive sovereigns up to Henry VIII and, as its climax, a central double-page depicting the ceremonies of the Order for the year 1534. These illuminations have been identified as the work of Lucas Hornbolte.

Although it is rare for the Black Book to be publicly displayed outside the Chapter Archives and Library, it was one of the outstanding items at the exhibition in Greenwich 1991 to celebrate the quincentenary of the birth of Henry VIII and will form a central part of the display at ‘Henry VIII: A 500th Anniversary Exhibition’ to be held at Windsor Castle for twelve months from April 2009.

Enid (Assistant Archivist)

A ship graffito

A royal castle in Berkshire may not seem the most likely place to find images of medieval ships but two such examples exist within the walls of Windsor Castle. The first, perhaps better described as existing on the walls of Windsor Castle, is believed to date from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The image takes the form of a graffito or wall-drawing and may be a rare depiction of a balinger. Similar to a barge and carrying both oars and sails, such vessels were a common feature of medieval coastal shipping.

The second image is a seal in the Archives attached to a document dated 1 April 1352 [SGC XV.55.59]. The double sided seal is made of green wax and is that of Yarmouth Borough. It shows men sailing a ship, two in the rigging and a third at the tiller. Maritime historians have long since found the image of interest due to the clear depiction of a ‘bowline led from the sail to the bow-spirit end’ [The Society of Friends of St George's annual report, 1951].

Men sailing a ship on the seal of the Borough of Yarmouth

The document to which the seal is attached is no less interesting and contains evidence of an unusual payment made by Yarmouth to the College of St George. Persuaded by Edward III, and apparently through a devotion to the Dean and College of St George, the Bailiffs and Commonalty of Great Yarmouth granted a last of red herrings, to be presented dry and cleaned, every St Andrew’s Day. This was a considerable gift when one considers that a ‘last’ contained between 10,000 and 13,200 fish. In the 17th century Canon Evans depicted a rather less pious explanation to the document. It seems likely that the annual payment was a punishment on the town for the murder of a Yarmouth magistrate. The payment continued for an extraordinary period of time. By 1718 the quality of herrings was such that the College began accepting money instead. It was only in 1867 when the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took control of the College’s property that the town quietly stopped the payment.

Richard (Assistant Archivist)

From its foundation until the nineteenth century, the College of St George held land and property throughout the country and it was whilst researching these links that I came across the following porcine tale relating to St Anthony’s Hospital in London.

A medieval privilege enjoyed by the master and brethren of St Anthony’s was the right to take from Smithfield, London’s meat market, pigs considered unfit for slaughter.  With a bell tied about their necks, these scrawny animals were released onto the streets of the capital where it was a Londoner’s responsibility to feed them.  Having been fattened at the citizens’ expense the pigs were then used to feed the poor and needy in the care of St Anthony’s Hospital.

It is thought that this custom is the basis for images of St Anthony being accompanied by a pig.  Whatever the reason however, one such early sixteenth century representation of the saint still survives in the Catherine Room, No.2 Canons’ Cloister, Windsor Castle.

Richard (Assistant Archivist)