Item, for the said dongeon v royd of sarkynge borde.

Item, for the said dongeon two royd of florynge borde.

Item, for the thyrde howsse of the dongeon a dormonte of viij yerdes and a half longe alle wych tymbere a fore sayd must be had in Chopwelle wode and caryed by wattere and alle charges therof by estimacion, viij l.

Item, ther is a towre callyd Lylborne towre wich haith veray good walles and a gud royff of tymbere but it must be new coueryd with leyd and for that leyd that wanttes ther is olde leyd in the castelle to serue and the charges of the plumber wylbe xviij s.

Item, ther must be for the said towre two flores boithe bordes and yestes for the wiche v tonne of tymbere will serue and for dores and wyndowes which tymbere must be hade in Chopwelle wode a forsaid and caryed by wattere all charges therof by estimacion, iiij l.

Item, the walles of the dongeon and battylmentes in the innere warde with a pece of walle a boue the vttere gaytt and in dyuers places of the grett walle that compasses the holl castell must be amendyt and pynd with ston and row the cast with lyme for the wyche lx l. wold do mych gud.

Item, ther wolde be ane yrone gayt for the innere warde of thre yerdes and a quartere hye and thre yerdes brode wyche wyll cost for yron and maykynge, xiiij l.

Item, ther is a draw welle in the inner warde wych is very deype. Item, ther is no horse mylne in the said castell and yf ther be one mayd it wylle cost x l.

Suma totalis, cvj l. xviij s.

The castle of Kenilworth is so universally known from the festivities held there in honour of Queen Elizabeth, and by the charms of fictitious narrative that have been thrown over it by Sir Walter Scott, that its higher claims of historical interest have never awakened sufficient attention. I shall therefore adduce a few facts deserving notice, and transfer to the Appendix some documents which I conceive to be sufficiently entitled to be placed for the first time in print. They seem, moreover, to call for this introduction, from the fact that the record of the 7 and 8 Edward II. relates to the same period as the one descriptive of the erection of Dunstanborough. It is remarkable that both these valuable documents are on the earliest roll preserved amongst the archives of the duchy. Some of the other extracts from the Clause Rolls throw great insight into the mode in which the siege of a great castle was conducted in the thirteenth century.

Geoffrey de Clinton, who was treasurer and chamberlain of Henry I., is reputed to have built this castle some time during his reign. But I must confess I think it doubt

ful whether even the earliest portion now existing, which is the keep, was constructed at that period. As King John visited the place several times, and ordered as much as 9541. to be expended in erections and repairs, it seems difficult to account for so large an outlay, unless it was expended on the keep itself. Nor does there appear to me to be any thing in the form of the building itself, or in the masonry, to forbid the supposition. The various entries on the Great Roll of the Pipe will be found below; and it will be enough to state in the present place that the earliest are the two following:

20 Hen. II. Payment of 117. 38. 4d. for 10 soldiers for 77 days. 30 Hen. II. For repairing the walls, 261. 98. 9d.

In 22 Hen. III. Hugh le Poer the governor was commanded to deliver it up to Gray, Archbishop of York, as a residence for Cardinal Ottoboni, the papal legate, afterwards Adrian V.

The Patent Rolls 26 Hen. III. mention many repairs carried on during this year, such as ceiling the chapel with wainscoting painting it, making seats for the king and queen, repairing the tower where the bells hung, making new walls on the south side, by the pool, which were the same Dugdale supposed existed in his time.

In the 50 Hen. III. it sustained a prolonged siege of six months, being held against the king by Simon de Montfort. During this period the Liberate, Close, and Patent Rolls show very full particulars of the expenses incurred whilst the castle was besieged. They exhibit writs addressed to several influential subjects, calling upon them for assistance. The sheriff of Norfolk was called upon to supply thirty-six casks of wine from Lynn; the sheriffs of Surrey and Sussex to furnish three hundred bundles of arrows; the bailiffs of Bridport to send hemp for ropes for the engines; the sheriff of Gloucester to supply iron; the sheriff of London to furnish 30,000 quarrels for the cross-bows; the sheriff of Worcester fifty hurdles, eight feet long and seven feet wide; the sheriff of Northamptonshire as many more, larger and stronger; the sheriff of Lincoln 30,000 quarrels; and besides other writs, ordering the dif ferent military engines to be put in repair and sent to Kenilworth, the keepers of the different royal forests were

F

ordered to send 150 head of venison, well salted, for the king's use at Kenilworth.

After the termination of this obstinate siege, the king held a parliament here, when the conditions known under the title of the Dictum, or Award of Kenilworth, were framed; these annulled the Provisions of Oxford, provided for the good estate of the land, and for those persons who were disinherited during the late wars. The award was confirmed a few weeks after in the parliament held at Northampton.

In the 7 Edw. I. a great tournament, or table-round, was held at Kenilworth. Henry III. had bestowed the castle upon Edmund his second son, who died 1295, and left it to Thomas Plantagenet, who was beheaded in 1321. It was confiscated, and restored to his brother Henry, and so came to John of Gaunt, who was born 1340, died 1399. It is to him that the erection of much of the existing building may be fairly attributed. Tradition assigns to him the erection of the part called Lancaster's Buildings, which are betwixt Cæsar's Tower and the hall, and he certainly built the great hall about 1390, one of the most beautiful examples of early perpendicular work in England.

Before proceeding to the last period of the architectural history of Kenilworth Castle, there are two or three important events to be viewed in connection with its history. The first and chief one relates to the latter days of King Edward II. He was kept here in a kind of restraint for about a month before his more rigid imprisonment at Berkeley Castle. An attestation on the Fine Rolls states that the king was at Kenilworth on the 5th of December, in the 20th of his reign; and he remained here till the 21st of the following month. This is a day later than historians have supposed; but an entry on the Fine and Liberate Rolls, signed before he resigned the crown, clearly shows this to be the case. And though his residence here till the 21st instead of the 20th of January does not add one day to the term of his life, it gives another to his reign. As is well known, the unfortunate monarch died, under what particular circumstances it would be now hopeless as well as unnecessary to inquire, on the 25th of the same month. His body, as if to atone for the unnatural cruelties he is supposed to have undergone, rests at Gloucester, under the