On Warwick Castle (Contemporary Poetry)
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It was also the setting for the next infamous act by a de Beauchamp. Although she was convicted by a religious court and declared a heretic to be burnt at the stake by that court, Richard Beauchamp , 13th Earl of Warwick is largely credited or discredited with being behind the death of Joan of Arc. He was the English commander at Rouen, then in English hands, and was at her trial and her execution. Forced to release Edward, Neville was then killed at the Battle of Barnet , but not by Edward personally as this contemporary woodcut would suggest.
Being on the wrong side of history now changes the fortunes of Warwick Castle as it is awarded by the victorious Edward IV to his brother George, Duke of Clarence. Being a threat to the eventual winner of the War of the Roses, Henry VII who literally came out of left field after nearly all the Lancastrian and Yorkist potential claimants killed each other off, Edward is imprisoned for most of his life in the Tower of London and then executed in Since Edward was not old enough to run the castle when he attained the title and before he was imprisoned, good old Richard III stepped in and ran it for a short time until he was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
Nothing is more confusing in English history than trying to follow the umpteen battles and claimants to the throne during the War of the Roses. For the purposes of visiting Warwick Castle all you need to know is that many of the most significant actors in that war resided here at one time or another. In law we would call that undue influence. Lady Jane rules for only nine days, is imprisoned and executed as is Dudley. Another Earl of Warwick goes down flames. By now the English monarchs have figured out that giving Warwick Castle to powerful noblemen is not the best of ideas and split the title of Earl of Warwick from ownership of the castle.
Sir Fulke is murdered by a disgruntled servant in his London home, but for reasons no ghost hunter has been able to explain to me, decides to haunt Warwick Castle instead of the site of his murder. In the castle is besieged, unsuccessfully, by Royalist troops and that appears to end its time as an actual defensive fortress.
Over the years it has been visited by many ruling monarchs including Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and the present Queen. The sale in was to the Tussaud Group which subsequently went through amalgamations with other entertainment companies and is now the Merlin Entertainments, which also owns various Legolands and of course, the Madame Tussaud wax museums. The present owners make no apologies for turning Warwick Castle into, in effect, a theme park, but I am anxious to see if that detracts from the historical significance of the place.
Visiting Warwick Castle has lots of options, but for those whose primary interest is the castle and grounds and not things like the Haunted Castle or the Dungeon which are separate attractions with a higher entry fee, I would suggest the following over a three hour visit. This is the castle entrance with me standing like a dolt in the shade rather than on the sunny side. On the left is the castle proper and here you enter the great hall and follow a designated route throughout. The Great Hall is truly impressive with great displays of weapons, armour and all the things you expect in a medieval castle.
One thing I learned from visiting Warwick Castle and others on the Liberation Tour is that the owners of these castles go to great lengths to make the weaponry displays not only interesting, but works of art in themselves.
Under orders from William the Conqueror, Thorkell of Arden constructs a ditch, with a guarded entrance gate, around the town of Warwick. It is clear that large sums were spent on internal fittings, all of which have now disappeared. These titles continue in the Greville family. In a piece of the castle wall, probably that between Caesar's Tower and the domestic buildings, was taken down and rebuilt by Samuel Dunkley. George VI second son of George V.
Wardship was accordingly given to them provided that they did not commit the earl's castles of Warwick or Elmley to anyone without licence. He handed over his charge in to William de Sutton, fn. In by royal licence Thomas Beauchamp entailed the castle and his lands in Warwickshire and elsewhere on his sons and male descendants, by an early form of family settlement. He was succeeded by his son Richard Beauchamp of whose vast and widespread estates Warwick Castle and its lands formed but a small part when he died in During his minority his castles and manors were farmed from the Crown by a group which included John Throckmorton and Thomas Huggeford, two of his father's executors.
The title to the Warwick estates then descended to Anne, Henry Beauchamp's infant daughter by his wife Cecily, daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, there being no surviving male heirs to inherit under the entail of Queen Margaret and later William de la Pole were granted her wardship; fn. The next heir was her aunt, Anne, sister to Henry Beauchamp and wife of Richard Neville the younger, the Earl of Salisbury's son, to whom the Warwick earldom and estates were confirmed in that year. He was attainted and executed in and, his wife having died in , was succeeded in the title to the castle and estates by his only surviving son, Edward Plantagenet, styled Earl of Warwick since his baptism and then aged nearly three.
His lands were taken into custody by the Crown because of his minority, and he himself was removed to the Tower on the accession of Henry VII and kept prisoner until his execution in In , therefore, the Crown's title became absolute. The period of continuous royal administration of the castle and lands which began in lasted until they were granted in to John Dudley, newly created Earl of Warwick. The property then descended in the family of Greville from this Robert killed , through Francis d. These titles continue in the Greville family.
The castle founded in the 11th century was of the motte-and-bailey type. It stands on a sandstone bluff overlooking a bend of the Avon where the river has cut away the rock to form a cliff. Except on this side, where river and cliff provide natural defences, the walls surrounding the former bailey are protected by a dry moat. The area enclosed by the walls is about yds. The motte or castle mound, fn. Here a central gatehouse tower with a barbican outside it is connected by high curtain walls to two great angle towers, Caesar's Tower on the south and Guy's Tower on the north.
Beyond the barbican there was originally a drawbridge across the dry moat but since the late 18th century the main approach to the castle has been by way of a stone bridge and a drive cut through the rock to a gateway on Castle Hill. From the courtyard Guy's Tower appears the taller of the two angle towers, but externally Caesar's Tower descends almost to the level of the river where its foundations are built on the solid rock.
From Guy's Tower the curtain wall is continued to enclose the long northwest side of the former bailey. Near its centre a projecting structure incorporating the smaller Bear and Clarence Towers, represents the remains of a 15th-century fortification. The gateway between them is modern. Further south-west the wall is pierced by another modern opening and then climbs to the summit of the castle mound where it formerly joined a shell keep of the 12th or 13th century.
Little of the present masonry on the mound, however, is of medieval origin. On the further side of the mound the wall descends to the Watergate or Hill Tower which, from an early date, appears to have contained an iron-gated postern.
Almost the whole south-east side of the former bailey is occupied by the domestic buildings of the castle which extend nearly to Caesar's Tower at their north-east end. The range is built on the rocky cliff beside the Avon so that the basement beneath the principal rooms lies mainly below ground level on the courtyard side but to the south-east has its windows placed high above the river. The buildings owe their external appearance almost entirely to alterations made in the 17th and 18th centuries when they were extended at both ends and towards the courtyard.
The whole central portion, however, which is ft. The extent of the medieval structure can be determined by the extra thickness of the walls and the stone vaulting to the basements below. Projecting into the courtyard is a remodelled chapel of medieval origin and, further south-west, the polygonal 'Spy Tower', containing a spiral staircase and probably dating from the 16th century.
Warwick Castle Facts and Timeline
The principal alterations and additions to the domestic buildings were carried out by Fulke Greville in the early 17th century, by Robert, Lord Brooke, about 50 years later, by the first Earl of Warwick of the Greville line from onwards, and by the fourth earl in the later 19th century. Most of the changes to the castle grounds and approaches were the work of the first earl and his son between and When the castle was begun in its site encroached on part of the town, and four houses there belonging to the Abbot of Coventry were demolished to make room for it.
Upon this another palisade was erected fn. When the earth of the mound had settled, the keep and palisades were rebuilt in stone, and this was presumably done at Warwick from the 12th century onwards. A 17th century traveller, Thomas Baskerville, observed that the castle 'is built upon a rock of excellent freestone, and out of the dike surrounding the wall they drew the stone which built this brave edifice'. On the mount itself the modern walls incorporate masonry which is thought to be of the 13th century fn.
The walls have been so often repaired or rebuilt that it is now impossible to assign any part of them to the Norman period; some of the oldest work, however, is visible on the north-west side near the base of the Clarence Tower. The domestic buildings, probably placed from the first on the securest side of the bailey next the river, included the church of All Saints, founded by Henry de Beaumont before , but removed in or by Simon, Bishop of Worcester, who considered the position unsuitable for a church by very reason of its being within a castle.
On the arrival in England of Henry of Anjou in , the garrison was tricked into handing over the castle to Henry's men, possibly at the instigation of the Countess Gundred in the absence of the earl, who supported Stephen and is said to have died of chagrin on hearing the news. The sheriff expended 45 s.
There was again a guard in the castle for some eight months in Margery, his sister and heir, was described in as a lady of the highest family, having a castle of great strength lying towards the Marches; her remarriage had therefore to be safeguarded. At an early stage of the Barons' Wars, in which the earl was an inactive supporter of the king, Warwick Castle attracted the attention of John Giffard of Brimpsfield who in was holding Kenilworth Castle for Simon de Montfort.
The chronicler, perhaps with some dramatic licence, describes a trial or rather debate among his captors in which the view prevailed that it would be foolish to let slip that which they had pursued with such trouble, and that it was better that this one man should die rather than that the realm should be troubled with further wars. In the constable of the castle was warned, as were the constables of other castles, to keep securely all prisoners, rebels, and enemies of the king, fn. To Thomas Beauchamp the elder d.
Of these great works, which include the most individual and characteristic features of the castle, no contemporary documentation survives; John Rous, however, says of this earl that 'he walled the castle of Warwick toward it [i. Rous appears to regard all the high curtain wall, and with it Guy's Tower, since he says 'towers' in the plural, as the work of Thomas Beauchamp, the elder, and in a drawing he depicts that earl holding part of the castle in which the new wall and Guy's Tower figure prominently and unmistakably. There is clearly a conflict between Rous and Dugdale on this point which cannot now be resolved.
Of Thomas Beauchamp the younger, Rous says only that he 'began the new towers next the dungeon'; fn. The 14th-century fortifications were planned and built on a lavish scale. The passage between the barbican and the main gateway has high side walls but is open at the top. The gatehouse itself consists of a square tower with polygonal turrets at the inner and round turrets at the outer angles.
It is of five stories, but high above the roof, both at the sides and over the barbican passage, the turrets are connected by arches carrying platforms for the use of the defenders. Caesar's Tower is an irregular quatrefoil on plan with a deep battered base on its outer side rising from the rock just above the level of the river. Within the base, approached from the courtyard by a doorway and down a long flight of steps, is a vaulted prison with a garderobe or latrine opening off it. Above courtyard level the tower has three stories surmounted by a platform with an embattled and machicolated parapet.
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Behind the parapet a further story contains a hexagonal guardroom with rectangular openings on five of its sides. One stair turret gives access from the courtyard to the tower rooms and to the roof, while another rises from the top of the curtain wall to the parapet walk and the guardroom. Guy's Tower is twelve-sided and of five stories. On each of the four lower floors is a central stone-vaulted chamber, flanked on one side by a smaller chamber and on the other by a latrine.
The narrow transomed windows have ogee heads and the larger rooms contain fireplaces. The top story, as at Caesar's Tower, consists of a hexagonal guardroom, its walls pierced by rectangular openings in deep embrasures. The stone vault above it is over seven feet thick and the tower roof is enclosed by a machicolated and embattled parapet. There are two staircases in the thickness of the walls, one serving the rooms in the tower and the other leading independently from the curtain wall to the roof.
On the outer face of the curtain wall to the south-west of Guy's Tower is a 'crow's-nest', or small corbelled turret at parapet level. The Watergate Tower has been largely rebuilt; it has a square plan with polygonal projections at the angles, one containing a stair. There are now only two stories on the courtyard side but externally, where the ground falls away towards the river, there are four stories.
Probably there was always a gateway through the tower, formerly approached by a flight of steps leading downwards from the courtyard. In addition to their defensive works it is likely that Thomas Beauchamp and his son extended the castle's domestic buildings. The north-eastern half of the medieval range, containing the Great Hall and two rooms to the east of it, is evidently of later 14thcentury date. The vaulted basement below the western half of the range where the State Rooms are now situated shows earlier features: It is possible that the present Cedar Room was the site of an earlier hall, the Red and Green Drawing Rooms representing its service rooms and solar respectively.
The Cedar Room may have been converted into a solar or great chamber in the later 14th century after the new and larger hall had been added at the northeast end of the range. The roof of the castle chapel was repaired in in preparation for a visit of Richard II. Plaster of Paris was used, perhaps for greater whiteness in the wall-filling of a timberframed building.
In addition he repaired a tower on the south side of the castle, probably Caesar's Tower, and the domestic buildings. It was to strengthen this side that the next piece of building was undertaken. Leland says 'in this part of the castle King Richard III pulled down a piece of the wall, and began and half finished a mighty tower or strength for to shoot out guns. This piece as he left it so it remaineth unfinished'. Provided with its own well and baking ovens, this fortification was designed to be a strongpoint independent of a possibly mutinous garrison in the rest of the castle. Although the building was not finished it is possible that guns were obtained for it since a new office, that of keeper of the artillery in the castle, was created in Mary's, who was arrested for ringing on St.
Lawrence's day, declared not to be a public holy day. Leland saw the castle at some time between and After mentioning the principal towers, to the east and north, he observed that 'the dungeon now in ruin standeth in the west-north-west part of the castle. There is also a tower west-north-west, and through it a postern-gate of iron. A tiled roof 60 ft. In minor repairs were carried out on the stable roof and on the leads and gutters over 'the chambers in the castle called the king and queen's chambers', fn.
Elizabeth I first visited Warwick briefly during a progress in fn. On the Sunday she watched the country people dance in the courtyard from her chamber window and later saw a firework display and a mock battle in the Temple fields below the castle. In the hall, also called the 'paved hall', and in the great chamber two large windows of stone would hardly stand until the next spring, while the chapel, gatehouse, and Caesar's Tower were all decayed through rain entering.
The lead and glass of the 'tower next the new building', probably the Spy Tower, were in great decay. The gallery from the great chamber to the chapel lacked lead and in the Watergate Tower, described as the 'tower over the iron gate', the timber and stone work were decayed and a wooden bridge which connected it to the domestic buildings was broken down.
At about this time a plan of the castle at basement level was drawn by Robert Smythson d. The line of the walls and the principal towers were much as they are today, but the structure on the courtyard side of the Bear and Clarence Towers was still in existence. No complete building is shown on the summit of the mound. Between the domestic range and Caesar's Tower were the timberframed kitchen and a brewhouse, while the stable block and barn stood in the outer court. Other timber-framed ranges were attached to the inside of the north-east curtain wall; their fireplaces and the corbels which supported their roofs are still visible.
The position of the 'new building' mentioned in , probably the lodging erected for Queen Elizabeth, is not certain. Within the angle of the castle wall at the south-west end of the domestic range Smythson's plan shows the two basement rooms which now lie below the State Bedroom and the Boudoir. This basement is not a medieval structure and may have formed part of the king's works carried out in the early 16th century. An addition to the castle in this position, remote from the service quarters, would have enjoyed all the amenities appropriate to a royal suite.
There is no reason to doubt that the castle was in very great decay when Sir Fulke Greville obtained it. There is great preparations at the castle and my lord doth intend to keep a very great house, as I have heard'. No doubt improvements to the grounds and repairs to the walls and towers absorbed much of it. He almost certainly remodelled the south-west end of the domestic range, perhaps replacing in stone the decayed timber superstructure occupied by Elizabeth and giving the building a new two-storied front towards the courtyard.
This front has an embattled parapet and a symmetrical arrangement of tall mullioned and transomed windows with a central square projection. It is possible that Robert Smythson had something to do with the design although the work may not have been completed before his death. The facade was continued eastwards beyond the Spy Tower, converting a narrow space which had separated the chapel from the great chamber into an internal passage. The present chapel, standing on a medieval undercroft, is also attributed to Greville. Both the chapel and its vestibule now the vestry have windows with four-centred traceried heads in the late Gothic style but these were probably renewed in the 18th century.
The original access to the screens passage at the east end of the Great Hall appears to have been by way of a forebuilding approached by external steps; Greville may have replaced this by the two-storied porch which was again rebuilt in the 18th century. Other alterations could have included the removal of the service rooms from the east end of the hall to the basement. It is clear that large sums were spent on internal fittings, all of which have now disappeared.
An inventory made on Greville's death lists many valuable sets of tapestry hangings, illustrating biblical and classical stories, among which one depicting the seven planets was in the 'new dining chamber'. With the onset of the Civil War, preparations were made by Robert, Lord Brooke, to put the castle in a state of defence. Between January and May the garden walls and the wall on top of the mount were raised, bulwarks were begun and revetted with timber, wheels were obtained for two guns, the larger of which weighed lbs.
After William Dugdale, in his capacity as herald, had summoned the garrison to lay down their arms and on their refusal had proclaimed them traitors at the castle gates, fn. But, in the words of Sir Richard Bulstrode, 'our endeavours for taking it were to little purpose, for we had only two small pieces of cannon which were brought from Compton House, belonging to the Earl of Northampton, and those were drawn up to the top of the church steeple, and were discharged at the castle, to which they could do no hurt, but only frightened them within the castle, who shot into the street, and killed several of our men'.
Major John Bridges was appointed governor of the castle in fn.
A sallyport and door were made and the castle drawbridge repaired. A timber platform was constructed on the mount, the stairs up to it were repaired, and another platform made in Guy's Tower; fn. The sallyport may be identified with a doorway roughly cut through in the concealed angle of the Clarence Tower.
A series of iron hooks on the outer face of the barbican, from which woolsacks are said to have been hung to protect the stonework and window openings from shots, probably dates from this time. The second story in the barbican was called the capstan room from the machinery for working the drawbridge, and the fourth room in Guy's Tower contained a muniment chest and large square table for evidences, as well as a bed.
He was then deputed to certify its dilapidations fn. The governor from was Colonel Joseph Hawksworth fn. Soon after he gained possession Lord Brooke started to provide new outbuildings for the castle and to remodel the principal rooms on the lines of the great houses of the day. In an agreement was made with Samuel Dunkley and Francis Overton to build washhouses and a laundry; this range still stands outside the curtain wall to the south of the gatehouse.
Forgotten Elizabethan poet to be remembered in Alcester
The wooden castle is replaced by a fortified stone castle. The two main round towers were built at the front of the castle and the Chapel and large hall were built against the south wall. He had no son and died in The Barons led by Simon de Montfort force the king to submit to government by council leading to the formation of the English Parliament. William Maudit sides with the King. William Beauchamp followed his uncle and became 9th Earl of Warwick.
Guy de Beauchamp became 10th Earl of Warwick. Edward II son of Edward I. Piers Gaveston held at Warwick Castle prior to his execution. Thomas de Beauchamp - became 11th Earl of Warwick and starts the reconstruction of Warwick Castle. The king was forced to abdicate in favour of his young son, Edward III.
- Warwick Castle- 1, Years of British History - The Maritime Explorer.
- Galgenfrist für einen Toten (German Edition).
- Se mi tenete l core - Score.
Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, commanded troops at the battle of Crecy. The terrible Black Death ravaged England killing nearly one third of the population - in London it was much worse and the population almost halved to 30, French nobles and troops held as prisoners at Warwick Castle. Thomas de Beauchamp b. Guy's Tower was completed. John of Gaunt died and King Richard seized his lands.
Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke invaded England, whilst Richard was on campaign in Ireland, usurping the throne from the king. King Richard II was condemned as a tyrant. He renounced the crown and Henry IV was proclaimed King the next day. Henry invaded England while Richard was on campaign in Ireland, usurping the throne from the king.
Richard de Beauchamp b. Henry IV died suffering from leprosy and epilepsy. Henry V son of Henry IV. The notorious Dowager Queen of England, Joan of Navarre, was accused by her stepson Henry V of witchcraft and necromancy - she was acquitted. The wars waged during his reign left England deeply in debt. Henry VI son of Henry V. Henry de Beauchamp b. Anne de Beauchamp b. England enters the period of civil disorder and political instability known as the Wars of the Roses.
Warwick is declared a traitor by Edward IV and forced to flee to France. Edward IV was a notorious womaniser - his affairs led to claims of illegitimacy and ultimately led to the murder of his sons. The boy king was on his way to his coronation in London but was intercepted by his uncle, and Protector who would become Richard III. Edward was escorted to London and then to the Tower. The coronation was cancelled. The thirteen year old King and his ten year old brother mysteriously disappeared in the Tower after being declared illegitimate. They were believed to have been murdered and are referred to as the Little Princes in the Tower.
Parliament declared the two little princes illegitimate and, as next in line to the throne, their uncle and Protector, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was declared the true King. The two little princes were never seen again. Richard lost both the throne and Warwick Castle when he was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in Henry Tudor becomes the owner of Warwick Castle and keeps the castle to himself. In this led to the Second Creation of the Earls of Warwick.
Improvements include a new roof for the kitchens, reinforcement of the south front, the building of Spy Tower and an extension to the State Rooms. Improvements are completed which include a new roof for the kitchens, reinforcement of the south front, the building of Spy Tower and an extension to the State Rooms.
Edward V Henry's son by Jane Seymour. The young King restores the title and John Dudley, his chief minister, was created the 1st Earl of Warwick. On Dudley's death the dukedom was forfeit for his treason, but the earldom passed to his son John, and then his other son Ambrose. John Dudley is given the title Duke of Northumberland which makes him the most powerful noble in England.
The young King Edward is sickly and Dudley realises that if the King dies, and either of his sisters take the crown, that Dudley will lose his power and probably his head. Guildford Dudley and Lady Jane Grey are forced into marriage. Edward died of tuberculosis and he left the throne to 'the Lady Jane and her heirs male.
Monday 10 July - Monday 10th July Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England. Queen Jane was deposed as Queen.