Google Earth Community: all the places in Shakespeare's plays

Gloucester's castle in King Lear is difficult. Shakespeare's allegory used made up characters, but some were 'recycled' from other plays. It is likely that the character of Gloucester bears some resemblance to Humprey of Gloucester, Henry Vs youngest brother. Unfortunately for this subject he had at least four castles, but it is tempting to think that the castle referred to was in fact Baynard's Castle.

Some relevant info gleaned from various sources are as follows:

King Henry V (in whose time Greenwich was still a small fishing town) granted the Manor, for life, to his kinsman, Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter. Soon after his decease in 1417, it passed to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who, in 1433, obtained a grant of 200 acres of land in Greenwich for the purpose of enclosing it as a Park. In 1437, he obtained a similar grant and in it license was given to the Duke and Eleanor, his wife, "their Manor of Greenwich to embattle and build with stone, and to enclose and make a tower and ditch within the same, and a certain tower within his park to build and edify." Accordingly, soon after this, he commenced building the tower within the park, now the site of the Royal Observatory, which was then called Greenwich Castle. Likewise, he newly erected the palace on the spot where the west wing of the Royal Hospital now stands. Which palace he named Bella Court.
Duke Humphrey was Regent of England during the minority of King Henry VI and, for his many virtues, was styled the "Father of his Country." He lent Greenwich to the King for his honeymoon, despite his strong opposition to the marriage. This excited the envy of Queen Margaret and induced her to enter into a confederacy with the Cardinal of Winchester and the Earl of Suffolk. Strengthened by her assistance and incited by their common hatred of the patriotic Duke, they basely assassinated him at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk on February 28th, 1447. He was a generous patron of men, of science and the most learned person of his age. He founded, at Oxford, one of the first public libraries in England. Leland, in his Laboryeuse Journey, says, "Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester, from the favour he bears to good letters, purchased a wonderful number of books in all sciences. Whereof he freely gave to a library in Oxford, a hundred and twenty-nine fair volumes." This became the basis of the Bodleian Library of today. He was buried in the Abbey Church of St. Albans where a handsome monument was erected to his memory.
Baynard's Castle stood first on the river-bank close to the Fleet Tower and the western extremity of the city wall. The great house which afterwards bore this name was on the bank, but a little more to the east. The name survived in Baynard's Castle Ward and Wharf. There was no house in the City more interesting than this. Its history extends from the Norman Conquest to the Great Fire - exactly six hundred years; and during the whole of this long period it was a great palace. It was first built, as a castle, by one Baynard, a follower of William the Conqueror. It was forfeited in A.D. 1111, and given to Robert FitzWalter, son of Richard, Earl of Clare, in whose family the office of Castellan and Standard-Bearer to the City of London became hereditary. His descendant, Robert, in revenge for private injuries, took part with the Barons against King John, for which the King ordered Baynard's Castle to be destroyed. FitzWalter, however, becoming reconciled to the King, was permitted to rebuild his house. In 1275, another Robert FitzWalter gave the site to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the foundation of the London House of Dominican or Black Friars. At the rebuilding of FitzWalter's 'castle' it was somewhat shifted in position and it was probably at this time that it lost its fortified appearance. It was again destroyed, this time by fire, in 1428. It was rebuilt by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, on whose attainder it reverted to the crown. Richard, Duke of York, had it next and lived here with his following of four hundred gentlemen and men-at-arms. It was in the hall of Baynard's Castle that Edward IV assumed the title of King, and summoned the bishops, peers and judges to meet him in council. Edward gave the house to his mother, and placed in it, for safety, his wife and children before going out to fight the battle of Barnet. Here Buckingham offered the crown to Richard III.

HUMPHREY PLANTAGENET, fourth son of King HENRY IV., by his first wife, the Lady Mary de Bohun, daughter and co-heiress of Humphrey, Earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton, Constable of England, was made a Knight of the Bath, at his father’s coronation, along with his brothers, Thomas, afterwards Duke of Clarence, and John, Duke of Bedford.
In the 1st of HENRY V., he obtained with other grants, the Castle and Lordship of Pembroke; shortly after which, being made Duke of Gloucester, in the Parliament held at Leicester, he had summons by that title, as well as by the title of Earl of Pembroke, 26th Sept. 1414.
Also
In lieu of payment for wages of his soldiers at Agincourt, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was granted the castle of Lanstephan, forfeited by the Welsh rebel, Henry Gwyn, who fought with the French at Agincourt.

So maybe we shall never know!!

Wrt Gaultree Forest it must have been in West Yorkshire somewhere, but there is absolutely no hint of this name in modern mapping from around the site of the battle. In fact there is very little woodland left, let alone forest left in this area. The Gaultree was almost certainly an oak, but much of the area was covered in oak forest at that time. So again it will remain difficult to pin down. Its probably a 'generic'.

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