I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER

A note on Chateau Gaillard and Richard the Lionheart

As I have mentioned once or twice lately, I am writing a book about castles. It’s called The Castle. Soon enough I’ll be able to give you its release date and pre-order details. But for now, here’s a tidbit I came across just five minutes ago.

One of the many castles featured in the book is Chateau Gaillard: Richard the Lionheart’s ‘Saucy Castle’, built between 1196 and 1198 on a limestone crag above the river Seine between Rouen and Paris.

It’s a beautiful castle, even in its ruins, and if you’re ever in that part of the world, I urge you to stop and check it out.

One thing that is often said about Chateau Gaillard is that Richard boasted he could defend it ‘even if its walls were made of butter’.

I have repeated this little zinger myself a number of times. It has always seemed to speak to the castle’s monstrous defences and Richard’s military brilliance - especially as contrasted with his brother John’s. (John lost the castle in 1203-4 when Normandy was collapsing around his ears.)

Out of curiosity I just looked up the quote, which comes from the logorrhoeic chronicler Gerald of Wales, in his De Principis Instructione (Instruction for a Ruler).

It’s worth reading the quote in full, and in context - which is this.