South Front of Belvoir Castle, Leicestershiredetails

Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire,

seat of the duke of rutland.

William the Norman was followed to England [just after A.D. 1066] by a train of landless lords, whose fidelity he requited by extensive territorial grants in his newly acquired kingdom. One of these barons, Robert de Todenci, his standard-bearer, was rewarded by the munificent grant of forty manors, or lordships, all contiguous, alhough in the the several counties of Leicester, Lincoln, and Northampton. The eagle-height of this wood-clad rock was a fitting feudal site, and there the military liege-lord erected his fortress-home, which he very significantly called Château de Belvedere. the position of the present castle, which is the precise spot on which Todenci’s towers stood, very much resembles that of Windsor. From the tall tower, the whole vale of Bever is seen extending into the three shires already named, and from thence may be traced the boundaries of the many manors, that have descended to the present noble owner from his Norman ancestor. (p. 17)