Bedford Castle

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Remnants of the moth from Bedford Castle

Bedford Castle is an abandoned castle in the town of Bedford in the English county of Bedfordshire . After 1100 King Heinrich I had a moth built on this site , which then played an important role both in the anarchy and in the first war of the barons . The castle was then substantially expanded using stone construction, but the exact extent of the expansion is no longer known today. King Henry III besieged the castle in 1224 after a dispute with Falkes de Bréauté ; the siege lasted eight weeks and involved an army of 2,700 men and siege engines from across England. After the castle was surrendered, the king ordered its destruction. Even though the castle ruins were partially re-fortified in the 17th century during the English Civil War , they remained a ruin. The expansion of the city in the 19th century meant that the area was gradually built over with residential houses. Today only a part of the castle hill remains, around which an archaeological park was created from 2007 to 2009.

history

Early history (1100–1153)

Bedford Castle was probably built after 1100 at the behest of King Henry I in the city of Bedford over the River Great Ouse . The castle was built inside the city and so many old Anglo-Saxon roads had to be destroyed and rerouted to make way for construction. This left a lasting mark on the road network. This castle was a moth and probably much smaller than the later, stone castle. It consisted only of the moth itself and a core castle .

At the beginning of the 12th century the castle was administered by a royal castellan , Simon de Beauchamp , a son of Hugh de Beauchamp , who had helped with the Norman conquest of England in 1066 . At that time, contemporaries described the castle as "completely enclosed by a huge moat and rampart on which a strong and high wall stood, and reinforced by a strong and unshakable donjon ". Simon de Beauchamp died in 1137, and King Stephen agreed that his daughter Hugh the Pauper would marry and that the castle would be given to his husband in exchange for honor and gifts for his nephew Miles . Miles and Payn de Beauchamp , the children of Simon de Beauchamp's brother Robert , declared that the castle belonged to Miles by right and refused to hand it over to Hugh.

Reconstruction of a possible appearance of the castle 1224: A - core castle; B - donjon; C - moat, flooded by the Great Ouse ; D - outer bailey; E - gatehouse

Meanwhile, a civil war had broken out in England between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, resulting in an age of chaos known as Anarchy . Matilda's uncle, King David I of Scotland , raided England in 1137 to support Matilda's claims to the English throne. Although Miles de Beauchamp declared his support for King Stephen, the king decided to retake Bedford Castle before marching north. Stephan gathered an army to besiege Bedford Castle, but Miles de Beauchamp received advance notice of the attack and supplied himself and the garrison with large quantities of food to prepare for a long siege. Unable to capture the castle, King Stephen left forces there under the leadership of Hugh de Beauchamp to starve and surrender the garrison while he marched north to fend off the Scottish attack.

Heinrich von Blois , the Bishop of Winchester , intervened and tried to find a negotiated solution. After five weeks he reached an agreement according to which the castle was handed over, the garrison could withdraw in peace, but the castle fell to the king. Apparently, however, the agreement between the bishop and Miles de Beauchamp left the land around the castle, and in 1141 Miles de Beauchamp returned and took the castle again, although it is not known today how he achieved this.

Miles de Beauchamp then supported Empress Matilda, and in 1146 Ramulph de Gernon , the Earl of Chester , was temporarily on the king's side, attacked and captured the city of Bedford. However, he could not take the castle; it remained under the control of Miles des Beauchamp until the latter died years later. Towards the end of the Civil War, Bedford Castle may have been attacked again. King Henry II marched through Bedford in the final year of the conflict, 1153, and documents show that the city was damaged at the time. Historical researchers do not agree on whether the castle was besieged again at that time or not.

High Middle Ages (1153-1224)

Medieval lime kiln preserved as part of Bedford Castle's archaeological park

At the beginning of 1215 the tensions between King John Ohneland and the rebellious faction of the barons grew , which led to the first war of the barons . The rebels sieged Northampton Castle but were unsuccessful and then turned to Bedford Castle. But Bedford Castle also resisted the attack, and the rebels moved further south to London . Bedford Castle was then held by William de Beauchamp , whose loyalty was questionable and who eventually rebelled against the king. Falkes de Bréauté , an important Anglo-Norman leader and loyal to King John, resisted and recaptured Bedford Castle for the king in 1216. For this, Johann Ohneland gave Falkes de Bréauté the manorial rule of Bedford and thus practically gave him the castle as a fief, even if it is not clear whether he appointed him as castellan or even transferred ownership of the castle to him. As the war progressed, Falkes de Bréauté also took the castles of Plympton Castle , Christchurch Castle and Carisbrooke Castle while continuing to hold Bedford Castle. After the death of Johann Ohneland in 1216, the fortunes of war turned against the rebellious barons, and the royal faction, to which Falkes de Bréauté also belonged, could the young King Henry III. bring to power in England.

After the war, Falkes de Bréauté made Bedford Castle his headquarters and had the castle expanded considerably, resulting in what David Baker described as a "major re-fortification". De Bréauté had the neighboring churches of St Paul and St Cuthbert demolished to make way for a new outer bailey and had the stones used to build the castle. The exact shape of the castle after the expansion is no longer known today. It appears to have been square, with the western boundary running along what is now High Street and the northern boundary running along what is now Ram Yard and Castle Lane . The castle had a new barbican , an inner and outer castle (the inner castle was on the southeast corner, protected by an inner moat and a stone-lined palisade ), further stone-lined moats around the castle and a new donjon on the Motte. Brown suggests that the new donjon may have occupied the entire top of the Motte and had a tower, like the donjons at Launceston Castle and Bungay Castle . The stone-lined palisades and trenches were unusual in England; the closest example is found at Skenfrith Castle . The castle had a back door to the water leading to the river, and a knight's hall in the middle of the inner castle, at least 13 meters by 40 meters. There was probably a large gatehouse on the outer bailey wall . A mound in the northeast corner of the castle probably supported a large tower.

The siege of 1224

Mangonel bullets , which were discovered in the castle ruins in the 1970s and are believed to have come from the siege of 1224.

King Henry III decided that Bedford Castle should be returned to its original owners. This was William de Beauchamp , and he was becoming increasingly frustrated by Falkes de Bréauté's refusal to obey the king's instructions. The matter escalated when De Bréauté's castellan arrested Henry of Braybrooke , a royal judge who was hearing legal complaints against Falkes de Bréauté. When De Bréauté refused to release the judge, King Henry mobilized against the army, supported by the Church in the form of Stephen Langton , Archbishop of Canterbury , and marched on Bedford. Falkes de Bréauté had left the castle with a garrison of about 80 people to his brother, William de Bréauté , who refused to surrender to the king. Falkes de Bréauté probably hoped that if the castle were held long enough, his efforts would attract Pope Honorius III. to move to intervene against King Henry would have success. The archbishop excommunicated William de Bréauté and the siege began.

The siege of Bedford Castle consumed enormous resources. Siege engines were brought in from Lincoln , Northampton, and Oxfordshire , while carpenters made other wooden machinery from Northamptonshire . Ropes came from London, Cambridge and Southampton , hides from Northampton and tallow from London. Workers from across Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire were recruited by the sheriffs in charge, as were miners from Hereford and the Forest of Dean . Crossbow bolts were ordered from a warehouse at Corfe Castle and the provinces; 43,000 crossbow bolts were verifiably ordered by the king. Trees were felled in the area and stones were broken to obtain ammunition for the siege engines. Tents and pavilions for the king were sent from London, along with luxurious food and wine, also for the king. In total, the king had to pay £ 1,311 in wages for the entire siege. It is not known exactly how large Henry's army was, but 1,600-2,700 soldiers may have been available at any time. In support of the siege, Langton instructed his bishops to dig one man each for 24 acres of their land and imposed a special tax on Church lands.

An almost contemporary sketch of the keep and tower of Bedford Castle (left) during the siege of 1224 and the execution of the garrison after their abandonment (right), by Matthäus Paris .

With these resources, King Henry set up a series of siege engines around the castle. A blide and two mangonels were placed on the east side of the castle, two mangonels on the west side to attack the donjon and one mangonel each on the north and south sides. Two siege castles were set up to watch the garrison in the castle. However, William de Bréauté was convinced that either his brother would come back and horror the castle or the Pope would intervene, and held out despite the artillery attacks. The losses of the royal army began to rise, chronicler Radulph von Coggeshall says that seven knights and over 200 soldiers and workers were killed in the further course of the siege.

Ultimately, Bedford Castle fell through a series of four attacks. The royal troops first took the barbican and then stormed the outer bailey, capturing most of the garrison's supplies, but also suffering high losses. Miners who worked under the cover of a "cat" then gained access to the inner castle by collapsing part of the inner wall. Finally, on August 14th, the miners attacked the keep itself by setting fire under its walls to make the stone crack and to fill the keep with smoke. The female members of the household, including the wives of Falkes de Bréauté and Henry of Braybrooke, were released and the royal standard was hoisted on the tower. The following day, William de Bréauté and his garrison surrendered.

A discussion broke out over the fate of the garrison. Nearly contemporary sources state that the prisoners asked the archbishop for help, but the archbishop refused the request. King Henry then hung all the male members of the garrison, with the exception of three knights who agreed to join the Knights Templar . Three days after the fall of Bedford Castle, the Pope wrote a letter demanding that King Henry cease his campaign against Falkes de Bréauté, but his intervention came too late to be of any help. Bishop Alexander Stavensby of Coventry convinced Falkes de Bréauté to surrender after the castle fell; he surrendered the remaining castles of Plympton and Storgursey and was pardoned by Langton. Shortly afterwards he went into exile. The historian R. Allen Brown thinks that the siege of Bedford Castle in 1224 was so remarkable because the garrison could hold out an impressive eight weeks against "the concentrated military resources of the entire kingdom". Historian David Carpenter believes that the fall of Bedford Castle "sealed the triumph of the central government" over the previously uncontrollable local barons.

Later history (13th-19th centuries)

Bedford Castle on the map by John Speed (1611) with the moth and fragments of the castle walls

After the siege, King Henry III ordered. the demolition of the castle; Workers filled in moats and halved the height of the walls. William de Beauchamp was forbidden to have the castle rebuilt. Instead, he had a non-fortified house built in the inner castle. The churches of St Paul and St Cuthbert were rebuilt in 1224 using blocks from the castle. The sudden availability of cheap building blocks resulted in many streets in Bedford being repaved in 1224. Local legend says that Bedford's first stone bridge, the Great Bridge , was built from the bricks of Bedford Castle. In 1361 the castle grounds were described as "an empty place, enclosed by old walls" and it appears that it remained in a ruinous state for most of the Middle Ages. The historian John Leland visited the site in the 16th century and noted that the castle was "now completely demolished". John Speed , the cartographer from the early 17th century, made a map of Bedford in 1611 showing the moth and remaining fragments of the castle walls in the otherwise empty castle grounds.

When the English Civil War broke out, Bedford sided with the parliamentarians . The city was temporarily captured in 1643 by Prince Ruprecht von der Pfalz, Duke of Cumberland , and the castle was re-fortified for the duration of the war. A fort, probably made of wood, and a prison of the same type were built on the remains of the Motte and garrisoned with 100 men. After the war, the moth was used as a bowling green until the 19th century . In 1804, the northeast tower of the castle was converted into a hexagonal building for the local militia. At the end of the 19th century, the town of Bedford expanded to the east and the castle grounds became sought-after building land for residential buildings. In 1851 the last remains of the barbican were destroyed to make way for the construction of farmhouses.

Modern times (20th - 21st centuries)

Today only the lower part of Bedford Castle's moth remains, 7.5 meters high and 49 meters in diameter at the top. It is considered a Scheduled Monument . Archaeological excavations were carried out in order to develop a better understanding of the history of the castle, although the excavations are difficult to carry out because of the urban development of the site. Excavations between 1969 and 1972 revealed the vast extent of the castle; This was supplemented by further work in 1995 and 1996, as well as a further excavation phase in 2007. According to the investigations from 2007, an archaeological park was built on parts of the castle grounds from 2007 to 2009, which today forms the center of a mixed area with restaurants and apartments. The park also houses one of the castle's old lime kilns , which was rediscovered in 1973, and the foundations of the great hall.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Henry Hartshorne: Bedford Castle . Self-published, Holdenby 1861. p. 1.
  2. ↑ a b Bedford Castle . Gatehouse Gazetteer. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  3. ^ David Baker: Bedford Castle: Some Preliminary Results from Rescue Excavations in Chateau Gaillard . Issue 6 (1973). P. 18.
  4. ^ A b c d e Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005. p. 32. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  5. ^ A b c d e The borough of Bedford: Castle and barony in A History of the County of Bedford . Volume 3 (1912), pp. 9-15. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Edmund King: King Stephen . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010, ISBN 978-0-300-11223-8 , p. 83.
  7. ^ Bedford Castle . Bedford Borough Council. ( Memento of October 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  8. ↑ Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-53 . The History Press, Stroud 2009, ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 , p. 63.
  9. ↑ The exact layout of Bedford Castle in 1224 is not known. The model was created before the excavations in 2007.
  10. ^ A b c d e Charles Henry Hartshorne: (1861) Bedford Castle . Self-published, Holdenby 1861. p. 2.
  11. ↑ Edmund King: King Stephen . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-11223-8 , p. 224.
  12. ↑ Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-53 . The History Press, Stroud 2009, ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 , p. 152.
  13. ↑ Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-53 . The History Press, Stroud 2009, ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 , pp. 178, 182.
  14. ^ A b c d e David Baker: Bedford Castle: Some Preliminary Results from Rescue Excavations in Chateau Gaillard . Issue 6 (1973). P. 17.
  15. ^ WL Warren: Henry II . Yale University Press, New Haven 2000. ISBN 0-300-08474-9 . P. 50.
  16. ↑ The events of 1153 at Bedford Castle are unclear. Jim Bradbury interprets the damage to the town as the result of an unsuccessful attack on the castle, which presupposes that the Beauchamps, who supported the House of Anjou , no longer had control of the castle at that time. David Baker and WL Warren assume an attack on the city itself, but not on the castle, which makes it possible that the Beauchamps, who supported the house of Anjou (i.e. King Henry II), were still sitting in the castle .
  17. ^ A b Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 115.
  18. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 116.
  19. ^ A b c Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 119.
  20. ↑ Nigel Pounds emphasizes that the legal status of the castle at that time is not clear and that as a baronsburg it could have been part of the manor. David Baker believes that it has remained a royal castle.
  21. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 117.
  22. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 .
  23. ^ Robert Liddiard: Castles in Context: Power, Symbolism and Landscape, 1066 to 1500 . Windgather Press, Macclesfield 2005. ISBN 0-9545575-2-2 . P. 17.
  24. ↑ a b c d e R. Allen Brown: English Castles . Batsford, London 1962. ISBN 0-7134-3119-9 , p. 161.
  25. ^ A b c David Baker: Bedford Castle: Some Preliminary Results from Rescue Excavations in Chateau Gaillard . Issue 6 (1973). P. 21.
  26. ^ David Baker: Bedford Castle: Some Preliminary Results from Rescue Excavations in Chateau Gaillard . Issue 6 (1973). Pp. 18-21.
  27. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Issue 1 (2002). P. 111.
  28. ↑ a b c d e f g h R. Allen Brown: English Castles . Batsford, London 1962. ISBN 0-7134-3119-9 , p. 160.
  29. ↑ a b Jim Bradbury: The Medieval Siege . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 1992. ISBN 978-0-85115-312-4 . P. 140.
  30. ↑ History researcher Emilie Amt notes that De Bréauté's timing was “almost comically awkward”, since the king was already holding a meeting with his barons in Northampton , just a few kilometers away.
  31. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Book 1, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-909-5 , p. 104.
  32. ↑ a b c d e f g h Robert Liddiard: Castles in Context: Power, Symbolism and Landscape, 1066 to 1500 . Windgather Press, Macclesfield 2005. ISBN 0-9545575-2-2 . P. 92.
  33. ↑ The siege of 1224 is unusually well documented by medieval standards, as the local analysts sat in Dunstable Priory and recorded the events with a certain level of detail.
  34. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Book 1, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-909-5 , p. 106.
  35. ^ A b R. Allen Brown: English Castles . Batsford, London 1962. ISBN 0-7134-3119-9 , p. 162.
  36. ^ A b c R. Allen Brown: English Castles . Batsford, London 1962. ISBN 0-7134-3119-9 , p. 163.
  37. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Book 1, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-909-5 , pp. 112-113.
  38. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Book 1, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-909-5 , pp. 108, 111.
  39. ↑ It is impossible to accurately compare 13th century prices and incomes with today's prices. As a comparison, however, £ 1311 was about seven times the annual income of an average baron at that time.
  40. ^ Norman John Greville Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3 . P. 147.
  41. ^ A b David Carpenter: The Minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 978-0-520-07239-8 . P. 364.
  42. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Book 1, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-909-5 , pp. 115-116.
  43. ↑ The historical records do not give precise information about the use of the siege engines in Bedford. The medieval terminology for this type of weapon was vague. The Historian argued Emilie Office that the amount of ropes and manpower it notes that the Mangonels actually a kind of train trebuchets were.
  44. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Book 1, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-909-5 , p. 109.
  45. ^ R. Allen Brown: English Castles . Batsford, London 1962. ISBN 0-7134-3119-9 , pp. 160-161.
  46. ↑ R. Allen Brown believes this phase of the operation relates more to Henry's troops accessing the donjon.
  47. ^ Maurice Powicke: The Thirteenth Century, 1216-1307 . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1962, ISBN 0-19-821708-0 . P. 27.
  48. ↑ Emilie Office: besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224 in the Journal of Medieval Military History . Book 1, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2002, ISBN 0-85115-909-5 , p. 114.
  49. ^ Robert Liddiard: Castles in Context: Power, Symbolism and Landscape, 1066 to 1500 . Windgather Press, Macclesfield 2005. ISBN 0-9545575-2-2 . P. 93.
  50. ^ A b R. Allen Brown: English Castles . Batsford, London 1962. ISBN 0-7134-3119-9 , p. 164.
  51. ^ David Carpenter: The Minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 978-0-520-07239-8 . P. 367.
  52. ^ David Carpenter: The Minority of Henry III . University of California Press, Berkeley 1990. ISBN 978-0-520-07239-8 . Pp. 369-370.
  53. ↑ Jim Bradbury: The Medieval Siege . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 1992. ISBN 978-0-85115-312-4 . P. 141.
  54. ^ Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005. pp. 33-34. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  55. ^ Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005, p. 37. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  56. ^ Joyce Godber, History of Bedfordshire, 1066-1888 . Bedfordshire County Council, Bedford 1969, ISBN 0-90105-110-1 . P. 54.
  57. ^ Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005. p. 43. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  58. ^ Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005. pp. 32, 38. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  59. ^ MW Thompson: The Decline of the Castle . Harveys Books, Leicester 1994. ISBN 1-85422-608-8 . P. 171.
  60. ^ MW Thompson: The Decline of the Castle . Harveys Books, Leicester 1994. ISBN 1-85422-608-8 . P. 13.
  61. ^ Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005, p. 18. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  62. ^ A b Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005. p. 46. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  63. ^ Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005. p. 53. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  64. ^ Albion Archeology: Extensive Urban Survey for Bedfordshire: Bedford Archaeological Assessment, Document 2001/42 Project 510 . Albion Archeology, Bedford 2005. p. 33. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  65. ^ Bedford Castle . Bedfordshire HER, Heritage Gateway. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  66. ↑ a b http://www.csaenvironmental.co.uk/view-project/764c87dfc8835d7890797542/Archaeological+Park'2C+Bedford+Castle+/ (link not available)

Web links

Commons : Bedford Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 8 ′ 4.9 "  N , 0 ° 27 ′ 51.8"  W.