The History of Cair Paravel

King Frank, the first King of Narnia was resident in the first Cair Paravel, the beautiful castle by the sea, which was created at the beginning of the world by Aslan Himself. King Frank had the castle extended during his long and peaceful reign to include more living quarters, courtyards and gardens. He built no defensive wall because at the beginning of the world there was nothing to defend against. However, the human family of Narnia increased (for the King and queen lived long, and had many sons and daughters in that perfect air when the creation song still lingered and the great tree protected the land). Some men then moved south to found the new kingdom of Archenland, and some no longer loved Aslan and they went bad and moved North where their blood was mixed with that of the white witch, and so began the race of Giants. Others built ships nd went to sea to find new islands to inhabit. Some men simply forgot about Aslan and began robbing and pirating or stealing, and even kidnapping and making men and women into their slaves. So fear and hatred, selfishness and despair increased and rather spoilt the good parts of men and women's characters such as love and charity and self respect (for men and women are such a peculiar mixture of good and bad things and yet, in some ways, everyone is just doing their best).

After a hundred and fifty years of peace and tranquillity at Cair Paravel three pirate ships landed at night and the castle was attacked. After a fierce fight the pirates were driven off by the fourth King; Frank the third.

King Frank III extended the defensive walls of the first Cair Paravel. When his son, Frank IV began to reign, he had a beautiful young daughter called Olisia who fell in love with the visiting Prince Taman of Terebinthia. But the King was very jealous of his daughter, and would not have the Prince for a son in law and he did everything he could to separate them. At last the King ordered the Prince to leave the castle and return home and he forbade the young man to see his daughter again. So the Prince organised a ship and manned it with some of his father's best warriors and set sail for Narnia. Now the Prince intended to sneak into the Castle by night with the help of one or two supporters at court. He only meant to take his love to the ship and sail away before King Frank IV knew anything about it. But the plan went wrong and the party of warriors was discovered inside the castle. A fight began. The Prince seized Princess Olisia and took her away to the ship. But many warriors were killed in the fight and in the chaos a fire began and quickly spread and the castle was burned to the ground. As the lovely princess looked back from the ship and saw the castle burning, and the roof fall in with a mighty roar and a great fountain of sparks rising up into the air, she wept for the hurt she had caused to her father and mother and to the creatures of Narnia. She threw herself from the ship into the sea. Prince Taman in his desperation threw himself overboard to search for her in the deep waters but after much time calling her name he grew weak in the merciless waves and perished in the darkness. The story that the Narnian's told ever afterwards in their gatherings in the mid-summer woods was that on dark, quiet nights at Cair Paravel, the echo of Prince Taman's voice could still be heard calling for Olisia from far out in the ocean. (and others said that Aslan turned them into the first Mer-people and they became the first Mer-King and Mer-Queen).

The burned-down castle was completely ruined so that King Frank IV was affected and yet more deeply so because of the loss of his favourite daughter. The poor King took ill and died of a broken heart.

After this the throne was disputed by Prince Aeralian of Archenland and Prince Tamin of Narnia. After a battle between the forces of the two Princes, Prince Tamin sent the Archenlanders retreating back over the mountain pass into their own country and Prince Tamin, once secure on His throne, began to rebuild Cair Paravel. However, the sea had so undercut the land where the first castle had been built that the second castle was built a little distance from the first one which gradually was overgrown with ivy and over the years, fell, wall by wall into the encroaching waves as they crashed into the land when the easterly, winter storms whipped them into thunderous, head-tossing, white horses.

The new castle stood for a hundred years until a band of giants came from the far north and attacked the castle with huge clubs. Even the great tree seemed to be unable to stop them from demolishing the castle. When the giants finished the job they turned West and attempted to destroy the great tree itself but the tree was too powerful and it is said that the giants were turned into the five great pine trees that stood, moaning in the North wind, on the mound of Brehill.

A third castle was built by the reigning King on the same spot as the first and this was destroyed by siege after only fifty years during the first 'War of the Islands' when Narnia became involved with the war between the sea going peoples of the islands. Ten fighting ships came and landed armies on the shore. After King Dranian fled and took refuge in the northern marshes he eventually was able to gather his army, and fight back. After a long struggle he drove the invaders out and then established a Narnian navy to protect the Narnian shores.

A new Cair Paravel was built right at the mouth of the great river where it entered the sea. It was the most beautiful of all the castles. Gardens and orchards were planted around it in the many years of peace that passed by, and the castle stood for a thousand years. But when an evil king called Erbert usurped the throne of Narnia and destroyed the great tree, a lion from the west whose name was Danlan, gathered an army and defeated and killed the King at the 'battle of Great Tree Knoll' (with the help of five children that appeared from another world – and you can read the whole story in 'Lionstar' on Fanfiction). Danlan had the wood of the tree made into four thrones and this protected the castle from the white witch who, with the great tree gone, was able to come from the North and plunge Narnia into a hundred years of snow and ice.

We know that after this period (which included Narnia's golden age), the castle was attacked and fell into neglect and at last ruin under the Telmarines who let the forest grow around it. It was rebuilt after many hundreds of years by the great King Caspian and it was still there when the last King of Narnia, King Tirian, saw it taken by the Calormenes in the last days of Narnia.

(But remember that the real history of Narnia was written by Mr Lewis and even I cannot be sure of this history that I have researched and heard from the tales told to me by the Islanders descended from the Telmarines who came back to live in our world. But! remember the tower where the owls met? It may just be, that it was all that remained of the very first Cair Paravel).