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PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 
1919 
into solid stone, and the pent-up proprietor and his family found their way 
to greater freedom in nobler and roomier apartments in the curtain wall of 
the inner bailly, to which a great hall and another chapel (St. Mary) were 
added, so that the keep probably became more official than domestic. It was, 
in fact, the Constable’s domain ; hence it is probable that Edward II. was 
lodged in some portion of the keep, and will have heard his prayers, made his 
confession, and received his communion in the Chapel of St. John and not in 
the later family chapel of his father’s date, of St. Mary. It should be recalled 
that the constant danger in these castles was rather from treachery within, 
on the part of bribed porters and garrisons, than from the violence without. 
Hence discipline was perforce strict and responsibility very great. We hear 
of one local family, Thorpe of Wanswell, holding the Thorpe Tower for genera- 
tions, and being responsible for the defences of Berkeley. The various cross- 
ailettes, or “ meurtrieres ” are, almost all of them, of Edwardian date, and owing 
to the late wise destruction of perhaps three hundred years of unrestrained 
ivy, a number of more of these in their original position have now come to 
light, which we shall view in making our simple perambulation of the exterior, 
adding very greatly to the interest of the walls, especially on the north-east 
above the great moat or ditch. Lord Berkeley’s zealous care for his home 
comes not a moment too soon. 
We may here, while in the keep, recall the actual facts such as are known 
(discarding all inflated conjectures) about the half imbecile Edward here. He 
was brought to the Castle from Kenilworth in April, 1327, and was committed 
to the charge of Thomas, Lord Berkeley (later one of the commanders at 
Crecy), his brother-in-law, Lord Maltravers of Woodchester, and his kinsman 
Sir Thomas de Goumay and a William of Ocle. He died on September 21st, 
after five months’ detention, probably to the dismay of his keepers, who now 
became responsible to the new king, his son (as they must have known they 
would be). Berkeley, however, being (as he afterwards proved in court, 
1331) indisposed, was not in the Castle, but at his Manor at Bradley, some 
way off. But he came to his Castle soon after with his family, and took up 
his residence there until the embalmed body of the dead king was removed 
to St. Peter’s Abbey at Gloucester, for burial in the following January, when 
he and his whole family accompanied it thither. Meantime Maltravers, 
Goumay and William of Ocle had fled to the Continent, certainly to escape 
vengeance, but not necessarily because they were guilty of murder. That 
Maltravers was not guilty seems beyond doubt, owing to the fact that after 
his absence for many years the son of Edward II. restored him both to his 
lands and honours which had been seized, and received him untarnished at 
Court. That Goumay was guilty can nowise be proved ; for, according to 
one oft-repeated account, he was pursued and captured on board a ship on the 
high seas, and beheaded then and there. But though even this was not the 
case, his lands and possessions were all returned to his heirs by the stem and 
martial Edward, son of his supposed victim. 
The beautiful effigy of Edward in Gloucester was probably made from a 
cast of his face taken while he lay dead at Berkeley by a Nottingham master. 
