The Mystery of the "lost King."

First it was King Richard III who was discovered under a car park in Leicester. Then part of King Alfred’s pelvis (or possibly that of his son Edward) was found in a box in a museum in Winchester. There is a sudden interest in “lost” kings.

Here at Ashdown we have a connection to two “lost kings,” Alfred himself, who fought at the Battle of Ashdown, and also the unfortunate Frederick, King of Bohemia.

There is something intriguing about the idea that the burial place of a historical figure is not known. In the case of Richard III the contested nature of his reputation gave the discovery of his burial site an extra dimension. Perhaps that is why it seems no one has gone looking for Frederick of Bohemia; his was a tragic and unsuccessful role in a bigger history. Perhaps it was felt he was best forgotten.

Frederick was born in 1596, and from 1614 ruled over the County Palatinate of the Rhine, a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick married Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James I in 1613 and they made their home in Heidelberg where Frederick transformed the castle and its gardens into a palace worthy of the daughter of a king. In 1618 the kingdom of Bohemia rebelled against its catholic ruler and invited Frederick to take the throne. Perceiving it to be his holy duty, Frederick did so, putting himself in opposition to the Holy Roman Empire and losing his throne a scant year and four days later at the Battle of the White Mountain. He, Elizabeth and their young family forced to flee into exile in Holland.

In 1632 Frederick had his best chance of regaining his ancestral Palatine lands. The Swedish King Gustavus

Adolphus had entered the Thirty Years War with significant success. In January 1632 Frederick travelled to Mainz to join the Swedish king’s forces. William Craven of Ashdown went with him and shortly after his arrival fought alongside the Swedish forces at the taking of Kreuznach Castle. This was the famous occasion on which Gustavus praised Craven for his courage in battle. Sadly Gustavus had less of a good opinion of Frederick’s abilities and refused to give him a command.  Instead, Frederick went to visit his Palatinate lands, which had been devastated during the ongoing conflict, with towns burned and ruined.

It was still Frederick’s hope that the Swedes would take the rest of the German lands from the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor and that after this he would be restored as ruler of the Palatine. In November Gustavus Adolphus won the decisive victory at Lutzen, but it was at the cost of his own life. Frederick wrote to Elizabeth telling her that he would be coming to fetch her now that his German lands would be restored to him. Alas it never happened. On November 19^th 1632 Frederick died of plague in Mainz in Germany.

It was another sixteen years before Charles Louis, Frederick’s heir, finally succeeded to the Palatinate. In 1632 he was only 15 and his uncle, the Duke of Simmern, was appointed administrator of the Palatine lands on his behalf. Meanwhile Elizabeth corresponded with her brother Charles I about a suitable place for Frederick to be buried. His embalmed body lay in Mainz for many months before it was taken to the town of Frankenthal and interred.

Peace did not last long.  In 1635 Frankenthal was threatened by enemy troops and the Duke of Simmern felt it would be wise to move Frederick’s body for fear it might be dug up and desecrated. Simmern fled to Metz, in France, taking Frederick’s coffin with him. From there the intention was to take him to Sedan for reburial in the mausoleum of his uncle, the Duke de Bouillon.  With an increase in hostilities, however, it was deemed to dangerous to travel.

Reports vary as to what happened next. Some historians suggest that Simmern arranged for Frederick’s burial secretly in Metz. Others suggest that he finally took the body to Sedan in September 1637. However when the mausoleum at Sedan was opened in the early 20^th century, Frederick’s body was not there. Where Frederick’s tomb is we do not know. Elizabeth made no reference to her husband's burial in any of her correspondence and thus preserved the mystery of the final resting place of this “lost king.”

Ashdown House and the Heidelberg Connection

Last week we had the pleasure of a visit from Nichola Hayton, the President of the German-English Society in Heidelberg, who had come to Ashdown to view the splendid portrait collection bequeathed to William Craven by Elizabeth, the Winter Queen. During this 400th anniversary year of the marriage of Elizabeth and Frederick, the Elector Palatine, there is a series of celebratory events taking place in Heidelberg. The programme can be found here. The Queen is a patron of the festival and the British Ambassador commented that it "is a special expression of the friendship between our two nations." It was a great pleasure to talk to Nichola about the festival and Elizabeth's often overlooked role in 17th century European history.

Here at Ashdown House we are privileged to have a small part

of Elizabeth Stuart's portrait collection on display. It includes some very fine paintings from the 1620s and 1630s from the studios of several Dutch artists as well as the wonderful group portrait by William Dobson of Prince Rupert, Colonel Murray and Colonel Russell. We'd like to encourage art lovers to view this fascinating collection for themselves at Ashdown as part of the anniversary celebrations!

Hamstead Marshall Palace

Today we’ve reached H in the A – Z of Ashdown and I’m writing about a house built for love of a queen: No, not Ashdown this time, but the grand mansion of Hamstead Marshall, near Newbury. It was at Hamstead that William Craven planned a “miniature Heidelberg” for Elizabeth of Bohemia, The Winter Queen. The intention was to model this mansion on the Palatine palace lost during the 30 Years War. As with many things to do with Craven and Elizabeth the term “miniature” was relative. This was a very grand house indeed. However, after the death of Elizabeth in 1662 its design did not mirror Heidelberg much at all.

Lady Craven, the widow of Sir William Craven, bought the estate of Hamstead from Francis Jhones in 1620 as part of her policy of turning the vast Craven fortune into land ownership. As at Ashdown, building work started some time in 1661 as soon as Lord Craven had returned from exile in Europe. The grand house at Hamstead Marshall was designed by Sir Balthazar Gerbier with the assistance of William Winde. When Gerbier died in the early 1660s Winde took over the design and build. Papers in the Bodleian Library in Oxford give a detailed description of work on the house, which continued for the rest of the 17^th century. They include 40 drawings that show designs for gateposts, porticoes and stabling and a floor plan with 30 rooms including a “withdrawing room to repair the records” a “room to repose after bathing” and a distillery, spicery, confectioner’s room and “Lardery.”

As with Kyp’s view of Ashdown, his engraving of Hamstead Marshall is stylised but there is no reason to suppose it is inaccurate in detail. Aerial photographs have shown the outlines of the parterre gardens, and the remaining gateposts show very fine details.

In 1718, 21 years after the death of the first Earl of Craven, Hamstead Marshall burned to the ground when a brazier was left untended on the roof. Very little is left of this magnificent mansion that was originally intended as a palace for a queen.

In her book Craven Country Penelope Stokes writes extensively about the fascinating history of Hamstead Marshall. You can find more information here. http://www.hamsteadmarshall.net/history/cc.pdf