The Plantagenet Palace of Langley still exists in the minds of all who know its story, catalyst for the modern-day village of Kings Langley. Michael charts the history of this medieval palace and those who stayed there
In later medieval England, the Royal Palace in Kings Langley was at the heart of Plantagenet rule in England. It was home to Kings and Queens and royal sons and daughters. Key moments in our medieval past occurred at Langley, and the consequences of murder, death and scandal. This month, a new book, ‘Palace Lives,’ by historian and author Michael Long, charts the history of the medieval Palace and the Plantagenet people who shaped our past from there.
This is an article about a royal palace that no longer exists. There is nothing above the surface for you to see; no signs tell you where it is, and no guidebooks to inform you. Even English Heritage has its location incorrect. But the Plantagenet royal Palace of Langley still exists in the minds of all who know its story.
The Palace of Langley was the catalyst for the survival of the modern-day village of Kings Langley. Before the Palace, Langley, an insignificant hamlet, nestled in the valley of the River Gade. At this time, the village is Langele or Langelei; the spelling is optional. It is not yet Kings Langley.
The Lord of the Manor in 1275 was Stephen de Chenduit, but Langley was not thriving. It has no annual fair or weekly market and was not on any main thoroughfare. And worse, Stephen de Chenduit was heavily in debt and had mortgaged Langley to a Jewish moneylender.
The catalyst for change in Langley’s fortunes was Eleanor of Castile. She is little remembered in the twenty-first century, and most would not be able to place her as a Queen of England and wife of King Edward I.
In March of 1275, Eleanor and Edward went on royal progress via Berkhamsted towards Risborough. They sought a location for a royal residence a day’s ride north of Westminster, somewhere the royal children could be housed, a cross between a creche and a boarding school.
Stephen de Chenduit was in debt to Jewish moneylenders as early as 1265. He had borrowed money from ‘Abraham the Jew’ of Berkhamsted and others. A marginal note in French entered on the rolls for 1276 sheds some light on the magnitude of de Chenduits’ debts.
“Sire Stephan de Cheynduyt owed to divers Jews fully 1000 marks. Of the aforesaid, the Queen pardoned Stephan, and for other great bounty that the Queen has done to him, the Queen retains the manor of Langelei forever.”
Like England’s other Jews, after 1275, Abraham was forbidden to engage in money lending. Nor could he evict de Chenduit. Hence, his mortgage would be of no value as security. Consequently, Eleanor bought out Stephen de Chenduit’s mortgage debt to Abraham and took possession of Langley.
READ MORE: 10 key dates in Kings Langley’s remarkable history
Langley suited the King and Queen. It was twenty-five miles from the Palace of Westminster and near the King’s Highway west towards the Chilterns. Moreover, it was defensible, situated on a hill 400 feet high. It was a perfect stop-off for northern journeys and a base for the royal children. Today, one only has to stand on top of Langley Hill and look east across the Gade Valley towards Bedmond to appreciate the commanding position of the Palace.
The accounts for August 1279 – November 1281 show a total of £408 spent on the works for Langley (£11 million in 2023). Levelling of the existing building and laying foundations commenced in the spring of 1277 and continued through the summer and early autumn. The stone-built royal apartment wing and chapel were completed in three building seasons.
The initial building phase included a chapel, kitchens, bakery, solar, garderobes, dormitories, gatehouse, and a guardroom. Priority was given to the King’s and Queen’s chambers and rooms for the heir to the throne, Alfonso of Chester. Further building phases followed in the 1280s, 1290s and 1300s. A ‘great well’ was dug, the remains of which were discovered in an archaeological investigation in 1974. Later, a master carpenter, Henry of Bovingdon, was paid £66 13s 4d to construct a louvred roof for the main hall.
Eleanor put much thought into the interior of the Palace. She sought to evoke memories of her Castilian upbringing with colour schemes of reds and greens typical of the southern Mediterranean. There was a cloistered court tiled with Spanish tiles in green and white. Around the palace complex was a moat eighteen feet across and six feet deep though no visible evidence exists today.
The wardrobe accounts show that Eleanor liked to be surrounded by luxury. At Langley, this included painted walls on which were hung tapestries; glazed windows, beeswax candles; running water for her chamber and a garden with herbs, flowers and grass. Her private chapel had panelling painted green with gold speckles.
READ MORE: 10 things to know about Kings Langley
Eleanor gave personal instructions to her Aragonese gardeners at Langley. Ferdinand Ispannus would spend two years creating the gardens with their lead-lined ponds fed with piped water evocative of Eleanor’s childhood.
Eleanor had vines planted and employed a vineator, James Fragpanay. Her orchard contained apple and pear trees from Aquitaine, including her favourite Blandurel apple, renowned in Castile for making desserts. Eleanor imported figs, pomegranates, lemons, oranges, olive oil and Spanish onions to Langley. Garden masonry was carved to reflect Castilian themes such as fruit, vines and running water. Eleanor also ensured that Langley had a ‘proper’ bathroom. The piped water supply from the gardens ran to the royal bathhouse too.
When the King and Queen were overseas, Eleanor kept in regular touch with Langley. She sent a model castle and toy soldiers to the heir, Alfonso, which are now in the Tower of London. Eleanor arranged for London merchants to deliver Christmas sweetmeats to Langley.
Following Eleanor’s death in 1290, Langley Palace remained at the heart of Plantagenet rule. Both Eleanor’s youngest son, Edward II and her great-great grandson, Richard II, had a strong connection to Langley. Both buried their royal favourite at Langley; both were overthrown and forced to abdicate. Her grandson, Edward III, moved the royal court to Langley in 1348 to escape the Black Death. After 1399, the usurper Henry IV had no affinity with Langley, and it fell from favour as a royal residence. A fire in 1431 caused substantial damage, and by the reign of Henry VIII, it had fallen into disrepair.
Nothing now remains above ground of Eleanor of Castile’s great royal residence. Seven centuries later, it is but a distant echo, lost in the mists of time, like Camelot, remembered fondly for its once glorious past.
To order a copy of Palace Lives email palacelives2023@gmail.com
