As devoted to the chase as his father, William Rufus frequently hunted
in the forests of Windsor, and solemnised some of the festivals of the
Church in the castle.
In the succeeding reign--namely, that of Henry the First--the castle was
entirely rebuilt and greatly enlarged--assuming somewhat of the
character of a palatial residence, having before been little more than a
strong hunting-seat. The structure then erected in all probability
occupied the same site as the upper and lower wards of the present
pile; but nothing remains of it except perhaps the keep, and of that little
beyond its form and position. In 1109 Henry celebrated the feast of
Pentecost with great state and magnificence within the castle. In 1122
he there espoused his second wife, Adelicia, daughter of Godfrey, Duke
of Louvain; and failing in obtaining issue by her, assembled the barons
at Windsor, and causing them, together with David, King of Scotland,
his sister Adela, and her son Stephen, afterwards King of England, to do
homage to his daughter Maud, widow of the Emperor Henry the Fifth.
Proof that Windsor Castle was regarded as the second fortress in the
realm is afforded by the treaty of peace between the usurper Stephen
and the Empress Maud, in which it is coupled with the Tower of London
under the designation of Mota de Windsor.
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