Sudeley Castle, South West, England

The lands of Sudeley Castle have been occupied since at least Roman times, archaeology has discovered a Roman Villa on the grounds. Sudeley Castle is only half a mile outside of Winchcombe, which was the Saxon Capital of Mercia and the seat of King Kenulph. By the 9th Century, the area of the Cotswolds were one of the more prosperous in Britain due to its trade in wool.

The Manor of Sudeley was given, in the 10th Century, by King Ethelred to his daughter, Goda, as a wedding present when she married Walter de Maunt. Their son, Ralf, became the Earl of Hereford and his son, Harold, was the first Lord of Sudeley. At the time of the Norman Conquest, the Domesday Book records the Manor as having 31 plows, and was taxed 12 hides. Earl Harold managed to keep his lands at Sudeley, a feat that very few Saxon nobles managed at the time. He also took as his wife, a great niece of William the Conqueror. The estate remained in the ownership of the de Sudeleys for the next 300 years.

During the reign of Henry II, William, a younger son, inherited Sudeley and took the name de Tracy. William was one of the four Knights who took it upon themselves to rid Henry II of his 'turbulent priest' and murdered Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, a deed for which he was excommunicated. However, he was never arrested or tried for the crime.

The estate passed to John de Sudeley, who died in Spain fighting for the Black Prince. He left no heir, so the estate passed, through his sister, to the Boteler family and came to Ralph Boteler in the 15th Century. Ralph fought in France under Henry V, and was Captain of Calais. At one point he was appointed the King’s Butler, and by 1443 he had become the High Treasurer of England and was created Baron Sudeley, after which he set about building himself a castle worthy of his new title. It was his building work that gave Sudeley the layout we see today, although he incorporated significant elements of the original buildings. His castle was based on a double courtyard, surrounded by a moat. The first courtyard contained the quarters for servants and men at arms, while the state and family apartments were in the second. Ralph Boteler was not to enjoy his new castle for long. After his support for the Lancastrians in 1461, the Yorkist King Edward IV forced Ralph to leave Sudeley. Ralph died four years later, without an heir. Edward IV then granted the castle to his younger brother Richard, who would later become Richard III.

Richard owned Sudeley until he exchanged it with his brother Edward IV, for Richmond Castle, which was closer to his base in the north. Sudeley reverted to Richard again after he was crowned King Richard III. Going back to the previous owner, Ralph Boteler, who died without an heir because his son Thomas had died at Blore Heath while fighting for the Lancastrians, leaving his widow, Eleanor, who had previously been Eleanor Talbot before her marriage. She was the daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Legend tells us that after her husband’s death, she was visiting her sister the Duchess of Norfolk, when she met Edward Plantagenet, the future Edward IV. The pair were mutually attracted to each other and Edward promised to marry Eleanor and they were betrothed, or even married. If true, this would mean that Edward IV was pre-contracted to this marriage, and that no other marriage would then be legitimate or legal.

It is thought that Edward’s marriage, or contract to Lady Eleanor Boteler, was presided over by Bishop Stillington, who Edward later made the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Now, while this may be a story, it would not be out of character for Edward, who we know secretly married Queen Elizabeth Woodville, and kept it quiet for many months. If the story were true, then Edward IV’s children, and the Princes in the Tower, would have been illegitimate and not able to rule in law. We also know that Eleanor never married again, but retreated into a convent, and died in 1468. We also know that at one point in Edwards reign, Bishop Stillington was kept as a prisoner in the Tower, around the time of Clarence’s execution. At the time of Edward IV’s death, Bishop Stillington would have been nearly 60 years of age, and with little to gain, and coming forward with the story, is said to have told Richard of Gloucester that his brother's children were illegitimate, due to the pre-contract with the Lady Eleanor Boteler. In the 15th Century, this pre-contract was regarded the same as a marriage and would, in the eyes of the law, mean that the Princes could not inherit the crown. This lead to the Parliamentary decision, that Richard of Gloucester should become the next King of England. A Parliamentary decision that was reversed by Henry VII, who got rid of all evidence that his new wife was not a legitimate child of Edward IV. The act of parliament in 1484 stated:

‘King Edward was and stoode married and trouth plight to oone Dame Elianor Butteler, doughter of the old Earl of Shrewsesbury.’

Richard III replaced the east range at Sudeley with a new suite of rooms and large banqueting hall. The picturesque ruins can still be seen today. After his death, the castle remained a crown property under Henry VII and Henry VIII. Henry VIII spent a week at Sudeley, with Anne Boleyn, in 1535, just a year before he had her beheaded.

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The Tudor Queen who is best associated with Sudeley, is Henry VIII’s sixth wife, Catherine Parr. Less than one month after Henry VIII died, Katherine had written to Thomas Seymour to accept his marriage proposal. Their marriage was initially kept secret as it was so soon after Henry VIII’s death, although they were given the blessing of King Edward VI. Thomas Seymour was an attractive courtier, who thought himself a Tudor Casanova. He was jealous of his powerful brother, who was the kings Protector. He married the Dowager Queen, possibly to further his own political aspirations, although they had known each other before she had married Henry, so there may have been some genuine affection on his part. 

Katherine Parr’s feelings for Thomas Seymour seem to have been genuine, as she wrote to him: 

‘As truly as God is my God, my mind was fully bent to marry you before any man I know… Howbeit, God withstood my will most vehemently for a time and made me utterly renounce mine own will.’

Katherine Parr had been twice widowed before the age of thirty. She was one of the few women, at the time, to have published written works, and was the first woman to publish under her own name, in English. Although she is best known as the wife who survived Henry VIII, she was highly educated and fluent in French, Italian and Latin. After the death of King Henry VIII, she moved into a house in Chelsea, with the then 14 year old, Princess Elizabeth. However, after her marriage to Thomas Seymour, the Princess was sent away, possibly for her own safety, as Thomas Seymour was often seen flirting with Princess Elizabeth.

Katherine and Thomas moved to Sudeley Castle within a few months of their marriage. The castle was being improved to welcome the Dowager Queen, and a new suite of private apartments was created. Space also had to be created for her considerable retinue. She was attended by more than 120 Yeomen of the Guard and Gentlemen of the Household, as well as Maids of Honour and Gentlewomen. Katherine had her own small court, which followed her households movements. One of these ladies was the 11 year old, Lady Jane Grey.

At 36 years of age, Katherine was pregnant and, in 1548, she gave birth to a daughter they named Mary. Her happiness was short lived, as three days later she came down with a fever and a week after the birth of her daughter, she died. Katherine was laid to rest in the chapel at Sudeley. This was the first time that Protestant rites were used for a Royal funeral service in England. Her husband Thomas did not attend his wife’s funeral, and instead had set off to London to see Princess Elizabeth. The chief mourner at Katherine’s funeral was Lady Jane Grey, who had stayed with the queen until her death.

A few months after his wife’s death, Thomas Seymour was arrested and charged with plotting to marry the Princess Elizabeth, and overthrow his brother. Thomas was beheaded, with his death warrant having been signed by his own brother, the Duke of Somerset. His daughter was just 7 months old at the time, and was now an orphan. It is unknown what became of the child, but as she does not appear again in history, it is thought she died young.

Queen Katherine’s marble effigy was commissioned by the Dent Family in 1861, when her lead coffin was moved for the last time to its present location. The tomb was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The recreated Tudor Queen’s privy, is displayed with its crimson velvet canopy, was cushioned in a cover of cloth of gold with a velvet seat. It contained a removable commode, which was covered with red silk and ribbons, attached with gilt nails. It is a certainly an advancement from the medieval hole in the side of the castle, which hangs over the moat.

In 1592, Queen Elizabeth went on progress after the defeat of the Spanish Armanda, and spent three days at Sudeley. Lord Chandos, then Lord of Sudeley, put on a lavish event in her honour and the nobility travelled to Sudeley for the occasion. There was a huge schedule of events. The Queen was particularly impressed by the fireworks, and afterwards created the post of Fire Master of England. There were three days of dancing and feasting, with lavish entertainments, which nearly bankrupted Lord Chandos.

After Elizabeth’s reign, Sudeley was abandoned and left to fall to ruin. It's stone was depleted by local builders, and what remained intact was occupied by the tenants of the surrounding land for farm animals. By the end of the18th Century, the castle was a ruin but an appreciation for the past was becoming more and more fashionable, and the Romantic Movement was just beginning. In 1782, a group of ladies out sightseeing noticed an alabaster panel in the ruined chapel and persuaded the tenant farmer to dig under the wall for further investigation. A lead coffin was found with the inscription,

‘Here lyeth Quene Kateryn, Wife to Kyng Henry VIII’.

The farmer opened the coffin and they were shocked to see Katherine’s corpse, as she looked the day she died, somehow the body had been preserved.

The chapel at Sudeley was originally built by Ralph Boteler in the 15th Century, when there had been a covered gallery linking it to the castle. The chapel was restored in the 19th Century, by the architect Gilbert Scott, on the instructions of the Dent brothers.

The Dent brothers were glove makers from Worcester, and were also antiquarians who were looking for a restoration project. They purchased the estate in 1830, but it wasn’t until seven years later that they managed to also purchase the castle. The castle and the estates then totalled some 12,000 acres. They embarked on a large restoration program for Sudeley, but they left the medieval parts of the castle in the picturesque ruins that are seen today.