Editing Leeds Castle (section)

==History==

===Medieval and Tudor===
[[File:1 castle leeds panorama 2017.jpg|thumb|An aerial panorama of Leeds Castle]]
From 857, the site was owned by a [[Saxon]] chief called Led or Leed who built a wooden structure on two islands in the middle of the River Len.<ref name="Illustrated London News"/> In 1119, Robert de Crevecoeur rebuilt it in stone as a Norman stronghold<!-- to replace the earlier [[Saxon]] manor of Esledes--> and Leeds Castle descended through the [[Hamo de Crevecoeur|de Crevecoeur]] family until the 1260s.<ref name=pastscape>{{PastScape |mnumber=418125 |mname=Leeds Castle |access-date=14 March 2012 |mode=cs2}}</ref> What form this Norman stronghold took is uncertain because it was rebuilt and transformed in the following centuries. Adrian Pettifer speculates that it may have been a [[motte and bailey]].<ref>{{harvnb|Pettifer|1995|pp=121&ndash;122}}</ref>

In 1278, the castle was bought by King [[Edward I of England|Edward I]]'s Queen, [[Eleanor of Castile]], through the purchase of the debt bond from Jewish [[moneylender]]s forced to sell at a considerable discount as a result of Edward's own excessive tax demands.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} As a favoured residence of Edward's, it saw considerable investment. The king enhanced its defences, and it was probably Edward who created the lake that surrounds the castle. A [[barbican]] spanning three islands was also built and a [[gloriette]] with apartments for the king and queen was added.<ref name="Emery 2006 304">{{harvnb|Emery|2006|p=304}}</ref> In the [[Late Middle Ages]], the growth of the royal household meant fewer residences could accommodate the monarchy when they visited. As a result, expenditure on royal residences in south east England generally decreased except for the [[Tower of London]] and [[Windsor Castle]]. The activity at Leeds Castle during the reign of Edward&nbsp;I was a notable exception to this pattern.<ref>{{harvnb|Emery|2006|p=268}}</ref>

The castle was captured on 31 October 1321 by the forces of [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] from [[Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere]], wife of the castle's constable, [[Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere]], who had left her in charge during his absence. The King had besieged Leeds after she had refused Edward's consort [[Isabella of France]] admittance in her husband's absence; when the latter sought to force an entry, Lady Badlesmere instructed her archers to shoot at Isabella and her party, six of whom were killed.<ref>{{harvnb|Costain|1958|pp=193–195}}</ref> Lady Badlesmere was kept prisoner in the Tower of London until November 1322.<ref>{{harvnb|McKisack|1959|p=64}} note 3</ref> After Edward&nbsp;II died in 1327 his widow took over Leeds Castle as her primary residence.<ref>{{harvnb|Emery|2006|p=305}}</ref>

[[Richard II of England|Richard II]]'s first wife, [[Anne of Bohemia]], spent the winter of 1381 at the castle on her way to be married to the king. In 1395, Richard received the French chronicler [[Jean Froissart]] there, as described in ''[[Froissart's Chronicles]]''.

[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] transformed the castle in 1519 for his first wife, [[Catherine of Aragon]]. A painting commemorating his meeting with [[Francis&nbsp;I of France]] still hangs there. The glazier [[Galyon Hone]] reworked and restored the chapel windows in 1536.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Hilary Wayment |last=Wayment |first=Hilary |title=Stained Glass in Henry VIII's palaces |editor-link=David Starkey |editor-first=David |editor-last=Starkey |work=Henry VIII: A European Court in England |location=London |date=1991 |isbn=978-1558592414 |publisher=Abbeville Press |pages=28}}</ref> In 1544, Hone returned to repair windows in the lodgings and a banqueting house in the garden for a visit by [[Catherine Parr]].<ref>[[Howard Colvin]], ''History of the King's Works'', 3:1 (London: HMSO, 1975), p. 262.</ref>

In 1552 Leeds Castle was granted to Sir [[Anthony St Leger (Lord Deputy of Ireland)|Anthony St Leger]] (d.1559){{sfn|McCann|2002|p=14}}<ref name=pastscape/> of [[Ulcombe]], Kent, whose grandfather [[Ralph I St Leger]] (d.1470), of Ulcombe, [[Sheriff of Kent]] in 1467/8, had been Constable of Leeds Castle.

===17th and 18th centuries===
{{Multiple image|direction=horizontal|align=left|image1=Leeds Maidstone Fairfax Doublet 1648.jpg|image2=Leeds Cuirassier 1640 civil war armour.jpg|width1=163|width2=163|caption1=Doublet worn by Fairfax at the [[Battle of Maidstone]] in 1648|caption2=Civil War [[cuirassier]] armour at Leeds {{circa|1640}}}}
The St Leger family continued to own the castle until Sir Warham St Leger sold it to Sir [[Richard Smythe]] in 1618.{{sfn|McCann|2002|p=14}} Smythe's daughters sold the castle to Sir Thomas Colepeper of [[Hollingbourne]].<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Charles Wykeham Martin |last=Martin |first=Charles Wykeham |title=The History and Description of Leeds Castle, Kent |year=1869 |publisher=Nichols and Sons |location=Westminster |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElQ-AQAAIAAJ |access-date=2023-02-08 |via=Google Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208013843/https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_History_and_Description_of_Leeds_Cas.html?id=ElQ-AQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_entity&hl=en&gl=GB&ovdme=1&redir_esc=y |archive-date=2023-02-08 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|pages157–159}} An early embroidered silk [[quilt]] from [[Bengal]] dating from the 1620s, held by the [[Colonial Williamsburg]] museum, has an ownership label of Catherine Colepeper, connecting it to Leeds Castle and the Smythe and Colepeper families. Richard Smythe's brother [[Thomas Smythe]] was a founder and governor of the English [[East India Company]].<ref>Linda Baumgarten and Kimberly Smith Ivey, ''Four Centuries of Quilts: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection'', (Yale, 2014), pp. 16–17.</ref>

The castle escaped destruction during the [[English Civil War]] because its owner, Sir [[Cheney Culpeper]], sided with the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarians]].{{sfn|McCann|2002|p=75}} The castle was used as both an arsenal and a prison during the war. Other members of the Culpeper family had sided with the [[Cavalier|Royalists]], [[John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper]], having been granted more than {{cvt|5000000|acre|km2}} of land in [[Virginia]] in reward for assisting the escape of the king's son, Charles, [[Charles II of England|the Prince of Wales]].<ref name="Guidebook">{{harvnb|McCann|2002}}</ref> This legacy was to prove vital for the castle's fortunes.

[[Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron]] was born at the castle in 1693 and settled in [[Colonial America|North America]] to oversee the Culpeper estates, cementing an ongoing connection between the castle and America. There is a commemorative sundial at the castle telling the time in [[Belvoir, Virginia]] and a corresponding sundial in America.<ref name="Guidebook"/>
Fairfax was the great-grandson of [[Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron|Thomas Fairfax]] who led the parliamentarian attack at the nearby [[Battle of Maidstone]] in 1648 and whose [[Doublet (clothing)|doublet]] worn during the battle is on display.

===19th century===
[[File:Leeds Castle (2004a).jpg|thumb|The new castle was completed in 1823 in the Tudor style.]]
Robert Fairfax owned the castle for 46 years until 1793 when it passed to the Wykeham Martins. Sale of the family estates in Virginia released a large sum of money that allowed extensive repair and the remodelling of the castle in a Tudor style, completed in 1823, that resulted in the appearance today.<ref name="Guidebook"/>

===20th century===
[[File:Staircase in Leeds Castle, 2019.jpg|thumb|French designer [[Armand-Albert Rateau]] added a spiral staircase in the style of the 16th century to the south side of the Fountain Court.]]
The Wykeham Martins were forced to sell the castle and estate in 1924, in order to meet death duties.{{sfn|McCann|2002|p=77}} The last private owner was the Hon. [[Olive, Lady Baillie]], daughter of [[Almeric Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough]] and his first wife, [[Pauline Payne Whitney]], an American heiress. Lady Baillie bought the castle in 1926 for £180,000 ({{Inflation|UK|180000|1926|2019|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). She redecorated the interior, first working with the French architect and designer [[Armand-Albert Rateau]], who oversaw exterior alterations and added interior features such as a 16th-century-style carved-oak staircase, then with the Paris decorator [[Stéphane Boudin]]. In total she spent $2 million on the project over the years.<ref name="HistoricEnglandGatewayListing">{{cite web |url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=418125&resourceID=19191 |title=Leeds Castle |work=Historic England |access-date=7 September 2022 |quote= |archive-date=8 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208002629/https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=418125&resourceID=19191 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/02/archives/leeds-castle-one-of-britains-oldest-reopened-to-public.html |title=Leeds Castle, One Of Britain's Oldest, Reopened to Public |date=2 July 1976 |work=NY Times |access-date=7 September 2022 |quote= |archive-date=7 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907191458/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/02/archives/leeds-castle-one-of-britains-oldest-reopened-to-public.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the early part of [[World War II]] the castle was used as a hospital where Lady Baillie and her daughters hosted burned Commonwealth airmen as part of their recovery. Survivors remembered the experience with fondness. Upon her death in 1974, Lady Baillie left the castle to the Leeds Castle Foundation, a private charitable trust whose aim is to preserve the castle and grounds for the benefit of the public.<ref>{{EW charity|268354|LEEDS CASTLE FOUNDATION}}</ref>

An estimated £1.4 million (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|1.4|1974|2019|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|UK}}) was invested and a further £400,000 (£{{Inflation|UK|.4|1974|2019|r=2}} million in {{Inflation/year|UK}}) was retrieved from the sale of the furniture to make improvements to the Castle and attract paying corporate conferences. However, it was quickly understood that it could not support the ongoing costs of running the Estate, so in 1975 the gardens were opened to the public, and the following year the Castle was also made available to visitors.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.leeds-castle.com/History/The+Leeds+Castle+Foundation |title=THE LEEDS CASTLE FOUNDATION |website=Leeds Castle Kent England |access-date=30 April 2019 |archive-date=30 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430105818/https://www.leeds-castle.com/History/The%2BLeeds%2BCastle%2BFoundation |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 17 July 1978, the castle was the site of a meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister [[Muhammad Ibrahim Kamel]], Israeli Foreign Minister [[Moshe Dayan]] and US Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]] in preparation for the [[Camp David Accords]].<ref name="Guidebook"/> The castle also hosted the [[Northern Ireland]] peace talks held in September 2004 led by [[Tony Blair]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chrisafis |first=Angelique |date=18 August 2004 |title=Can castle summit secure Ulster peace? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/aug/19/uk.northernireland |access-date=16 January 2025 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

In October 2021, Leeds Castle Foundation was one of 142 recipients across England to receive part of a £35 million grant from the government's [[Culture Recovery Fund]].<ref>[https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/heritage-and-craft-workers-across-england-given-a-helping-hand/ "Heritage and Craft Workers Across England Given a Helping Hand"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023092706/https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/news/heritage-and-craft-workers-across-england-given-a-helping-hand/ |date=23 October 2021 }} – [[Historic England]], 22 October 2021</ref>

In 1952, the castle was named a Grade&nbsp;I [[listed building]] and recognised as an internationally important structure.<ref name="HistoricEnglandListing">{{NHLE |num=1039919 |desc=Leeds Castle |access-date=14 March 2012|mode=cs2}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Faqs/default.aspx?topic=4#25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111223206/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Faqs/default.aspx?topic=4#25 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 November 2007 |title=Frequently asked questions |work=[[Images of England]] |publisher=[[English Heritage]] |access-date=14 March 2012}}</ref> The listing summary states: "Castle. Early-to-mid C12, with C13, C14, C15 and C16 alterations. Partly rebuilt 1822".<ref name="HistoricEnglandListing" /> The research records at Historic England state that the castle was also "extensively rebuilt in ... 1926".<ref name="HistoricEnglandGatewayListing" />
{{wide image|Leeds_Castle,_Kent,_England_1_-_May_09.jpg|699px|A wide panoramic view of Leeds Castle from across the moat on the north west side}}
{{wide image|Leeds Castle, Kent, England 3 - May 09.jpg|699px|Leeds Castle and its [[moat]] from the rear}}