The Keys to Corfe Castle (Part1)

By Linda Sindt

The very real Lady Mary Hawtrey Bankes inspired a war-weary nation, including even her foes, when she dared to oppose the Parliamentary forces in fierce face-to-face combat with her young daughters by her side. Not exactly a then socially acceptable role for “proper” ladies! Who could blame them? The enemy (their neighbors) not only wanted to destroy their castle, but to abolish Christmas!

Lady Mary’s story is one of tender romance in an era of arranged marriages. It celebrates family at a time of paramount fear and despair. It is a (slightly) fictionalized but mostly true tale of heartbreaking loss and betrayal–but also of fervent love and hope. Not your ordinary historical romance novel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ink & Quill Publishers
• Release date: Aug 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781948266291

Book preview

The Keys

To

Corfe Castle

(Part 1)

Linda Sindt

Ink & Quill Publishers

2022

Henderson, NV 89002

The Keys to Corfe Castle

(Part 1)

Linda Sindt

Copyright 2022

This historical fiction is a result of the research performed by the author and is as accurate as the available information allows. Any errors in the life of the Lady Mary Bankes are not intentional and are the product of myths passed down through the ages. It is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Contact the publisher at [e-mail]

Line/Content Editor: Summer Gull

Interior Design: Jo A. Wilkins

E-Pub generated by: Richard Draude

Cover: Richard R. Draude

p. cm. — Linda Sindt (Biography)

Copyright © 2022 / Ink & Quill Publishers.

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-948266-44-4/Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-948266-59-8/E-Pub (Part 1)

ISBN: 978-1-948266-59-8/E-Pub (Part 2)

1. Biography & Autobiography/Women

2. History/Modern/17th Century

3. History/Europe/General

www.mysticpublishersinc.com

Henderson, NV 89002

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The Keys to Corfe Castle

(Part 1)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Altham Family Tree

Hawtrey Family Tree

Prologue

Chapter One

"Look upon thy death," Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

April 11, 1661

Chapter Two

"So foul and fair a day I have not seen." Shakespeare, Macbeth

November 5, 1606

Chapter Three

"I…durst commend a secret to your ear." Shakespeare, King Henry the VII

October 1608

Chapter Four

"Now, God be praised, that to believing souls gives light in darkness, comfort in

despair." Shakespeare. King Henry VI

January 1609

Chapter Five

"How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in it!"

Shakespeare, The Tempest

May 1609

Chapter Six

"Heigh ho! Sing heigh ho unto the green holly!" Shakespeare, As You Like It

Christmas Eve 1610

Chapter Seven

"My Stars shine darkly over me." Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

The 12 Days of Christmas

December 25, 1610 — January 5, 1611

Chapter Eight

"I count myself in nothing else so happy, as in a soul remembering my good friends,"

Shakespeare, Richard II

May 1612

Chapter Nine

"Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven."

Shakespeare, Richard II

1613

Chapter Ten

"The web of our life is a mindful yarn, good and ill together." Shakespeare,

All’s Well That Ends Well

1614

Chapter Eleven

"Get thee a good husband…" Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well

1614 — 1616

Chapter Twelve

"All the World’s a Stage…" Shakespeare, As You Like It

Twelfth Night, January 6, 1617

Chapter Thirteen

"When I was home, I was in a better place" Shakespeare, As You Like It

1620 — 1625

Chapter Fourteen

"Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world by their increase, now knows not

which is which." Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream

1625 — 1635

Navigation Page

Part One

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

End Of Part One of Two

Prologue

On the south wall of the chancel at St. Martin’s Church, Ruislip, Middlesex, in England is a monument honoring Lady Mary Bankes. Some say the lavish tribute on her monument contains a deliberate lie. A 400-year-old April Fool’s joke. The inscription reads:

"To the memory of LADY MARY BANKES, the only daughter of Ralph Hawtery, of Ruislip, in the county of Middlesex, esq. The wife and widow of the Honourable Sir Bankes, knight, late Lord Chief Justice of his Majesty's Court of Common Pleas, and of the Privy Council of his Majesty King Charles I, of blessed memory, who, having the honor to have borne with a constancy and courage above her sex a noble proportion of the late calamities, and the restitution of the government, with great peace of mind laid down her most desired life the 11th day of April 1661. Sir Ralph Bankes her son and heir hath dedicated this. She had four sons:

1.Sir Ralph

2.Jerome

3.Charles

4. William

(since dead, without issue), and six daughters."

Sir Ralph, who commissioned this monument had an older brother, John (1625 – 1656), the original heir to the family fortune. Why was this one-time heir (who died without children) not even named on his mother’s Monument? Why the emphasis that William, her youngest son died without having children? Why was the Monument not even erected until nine years after the death of Lady Mary? Coincident with the death of her youngest son? Is there something suspicious going on with this curiously worded obituary?

This eulogy lavishes the highest praise on Lady Mary. The words … a constancy and courage above her sex… nevertheless would wound delicate 21st Century enlightened souls. Did Sir Ralph intend to diminish his mother’s courage by suggesting her bravery may have exceeded that of mere women, but possibly not that of most men? Should it matter that her monument records her sons’ names but not the names of her daughters? Even though Sir Ralph’s valiant younger sisters stood fiercely by their mother’s side in face-to-face combat with enemy Parliamentary forces while Ralph and his brothers safely hid from possible harm?

Four-hundred-year-old portrait of Lady Mary Hawtrey Bankes by an unknown artist. It is currently displayed at Sudbury Hall, National Trust, United Kingdom, titled Unknown Lady.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Final editing by the author exposed a previously invisible inscription clearly identifying this portrait to be Lady Banks. The inscription reads in part: Lady Banks Mother of Lady Borlase. (Our heroine’s oldest daughter was Lady Alice Borlase. National Trust records show the portrait was acquired from the Vernon Trust which came from the Borlase family). Clear evidence that this is no longer an Unknown Lady. As of the publishing date of this novel the National Trust had not yet changed its identification of The Unknown Lady, but it was under review.

CHAPTER ONE

"Look upon thy death," Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

April 11, 1661

"Why did you lie to your children? And send them away? Clodagh’s tear-sparkled green-blue eyes hovered over my face. They would want to be here, by your side."

I bade my nearby offspring and their families to depart from my bedside yesterday in a parade of gift-laden carriages. They needed to be at their brother’s wedding—not tending to their ailing mother. I longed to go with them. To the grand wedding celebration of my now oldest son, Ralph, in Dorsetshire, so near to the home I once loved with such desperation. Corfe Castle.

No, I said to Clodagh, it is better this way. They will also remember the day of my death as a day of great happiness and celebration. My John lives on in his children. Our family must have ample means. I cannot meet my Maker in peace until I am certain my family’s future financial welfare is assured. The enormous wealth of my son’s bride will sustain our family for many generations to come.

You always did insist on doing things your way. You will be stubborn until the end.

I glanced at the high window in my room. Gloomy clouds dimmed the grey light that filtered through the curtains on that Spring Day—I could not judge the time.

Surely the wedding vows between my Ralph and his bride, Mary Bruen, will have been said by now?

Clodagh tried to distract me. You did well when you arranged for this marriage with such a wealthy young woman, she said. Even though her late father was a Colonel in the Parliamentary forces that so recently tried to destroy us all.

You are right as always. There are indeed strange bedfellows arising from the ashes of the Civil War.

And you are not grieved that she has recently declared herself to be a Roman Catholic? Clodagh’s usual mischief colored her speech.

I stifled a cough, hiding my smile from my long-cherished Irish Roman Catholic friend. I squeezed her hand with what strength I could. If there is any positive side to the devastating times we have lived through, it is that those with differing faiths can, at last, begin to try to live openly and peacefully together in our land. I have left you a stipend, Clodagh. You will be able to live on your own wherever you wish. I am sure all my married children will beg you to join their households. They all believe they belong to you as much as to me.

Clodagh squeezed my hand back. I love them all as if they were my own, you know that. But they no longer need me. It has never been a secret that something else has long been calling to me. My homeland fared so cruelly under the harsh rule of Cromwell. I know well I am no longer young. I have learned of a new order that endeavors to aid my countrymen who are now so impoverished and starving. This new convent desperately seeks help. They will take me in and allow me to help as long as I’m able. It will be comforting to know my coffin will lie near my courageous mother and the heroic father I never met.

My dear, brave friend. My family owes you so much, was all I could manage to say.

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

I squeezed her hand again. And now I think you must leave me alone for a while.

She bent to softly kiss my brow before she left my side. Predictably, she took solace in her music. I could not help but smile at the fierce way she attacked her harpsichord that stood near mine in the library. Her voice soared as the joyous madrigal she had sung at my wedding so long ago took wing, throbbing now more in a fierce lament.

My thoughts turned to my John. As one sweet, too young daughter once worried when confronted so early with the death of her father, I hoped he would recognize me in Heaven without my skin on. How would we speak in a heavenly realm? My whole being ached for the sheer joy of just being with him. I longed to hear once more the noise of our lively arguments.

Of course, I yearned, especially, for my brilliant eldest son, John, namesake for his father, struck down so early. I yet ached to hold the stillborn babies so cruelly denied to me. Also, of course, there will be my so wise father, Ralph Hawtrey. And my funny, amazing mother, Mair-Mair to all. There are already so many