Britain's Castles: Symbols of Military Might and Royal Control
Norman castles were built to dominate their surroundings from the tops of hills which were sometimes as much as eighty feet high. In places like Windsor in Berkshire, Launceston in Cornwall or Totnes in Devon, they proved dauntingly effective in keeping the populace under stern control.
The Norman Castle at Windsor
Windsor Castle has long been a favorite royal residence, probably because it stood close to the River Thames and was easily reachable from London. Several Kings and Queens of England have had a hand in making Windsor the impressive place it still is today and it has also featured prominently in the folklore and legend of the country.
For example, the semi-mythical King Arthur is said to have met his Knights of the Round Table near where the Castle’s Round Tower now stands. The Tower was built by the first Plantagenet king of England, Henry II, in 1180. It was a replacement for a previous structure, a wooden stockade erected by Henry’s Norman great-grandfather, William I, the Conqueror, just over a century before.
Since then, King Henry VIII, his daughter Elizabeth I and much later the 19th century monarch George IV, formerly the Prince Regent, have been among several sovereigns to add turrets, towers, chapels and terraces.
Windsor Castle in 1658 source
St. George’s Chapel at Windsor
Probably the most famous addition was St.George’s Chapel, which ranks second only to Westminster Abbey in London as the premier burial place of British royalty. King Charles I lies there, and so does Henry VIII who was interred next to Jane Seymour, his third wife, and probably the only one he really loved.
By then, in the mid-16th century, another castle of formidable status was becoming a prestigious royal residence - Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. At the time, Edinburgh was first fortified, England and Scotland as such had not yet come into existence.
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, 1848 source
How Edinburgh got its Name
Both were a collection of small kingdoms and were constantly at war with each other. One of them, straddling what is now the border between northern England and southern Scotland was the Kingdom of Northumbria. In 617AD, it was King Edwin of Northumbria who fortified the castle which became known at first as “Edwin’s Burh” and so gave the city its name.
Since Edwin’s reign, Edinburgh Castle has witnessed a great deal of dramatic history. Mary, Queen of Scots, is probably the most famous personality connected with it. In 1566, she gave birth to a son, who later united the two kingdoms as the first Stewart monarch, James I of England and VI of Scotland.
The Fearful Fate of King Edward II
Another King of England and a particularly unfortunate one, was born in another renowned British castle - Caernarvon in Wales. He was the second Edward. In later years, the second Edward proved to be a great disappointment. His rule was so disastrous that his nobles deposed him and in 1327, brutally murdered him in Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.
Nevertheless, the tradition started by his father continued, although the ceremony of presenting the Prince of Wales to the Welsh people at Caernarvon has been repeated only twice since 1284.
In 1911, Prince Edward, later King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor, was invested Prince of Wales in a ceremony of glittering pageantry. In 1969, the event was used as a model for the investiture of Prince Charles, the present Prince of Wales, and the twenty-first heir to the English throne to hold the title.
The Castle on Cardigan Bay
A further Welsh castle, possibly more famous even than Caernarvon, stands at Harlech on Cardigan Bay on the Irish Sea coast of Wales. Situated on top of a steep hill, with Mount Snowdon in the background, Harlech Castle dominates the coast of Merionethshire for miles around. The present castle, the last of several on the site, was built by Edward I between 1280 and 1284.
Since then, Harlech acquired a valiant reputation as the defiant upholder of lost causes. In 1408, the castle saw the decisive defeat of Owen Glendower, the legendary Welsh rebel who for years, kept the English at bay in the fastnesses of Wales. Glendower died, still uncaught, in around 1416.
Sixty years later Harlech was again the last castle in England and Wales to surrender during the Wars of the Roses. In 1647, it was once more the final castle to capitulate in the the third and last of Britain’s civil wars when its defenders offered the final resistance to Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary army in the struggle that cost King Charles I his head.
Sources
Phillips, Charles: Medieval Castles, Stately & Historic Houses of Great Britain & Northern Ireland: From ancient times to the Wars of the Roses and 1485 (London, UK: Southwater Publishing, 2009)
Loades, D.M. Princes of Wales: Royal Heirs and Their Lives in Waiting (Richmond, Surrey, UK: The National Archives, 2008)
Castles of Britain Photo Gallery - Learning Center - Travel and Castle Venues http://castles-of-britain.com/
These days the royal control is evidenced in the fact that the royals own most of the property... and lease it back to the peons. Shopping real estate in London is a real eye-popper.
Thanks for the trip through history and a look at these magnificent structures.
Just as an interesting side note, I saw a recent episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring Courtney Cox. It seems her family was at the center of the murder of Edward II.
Hi @folke, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.