Caerphilly Castle
| Caerphilly Castle | ||
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 Caerphilly Castle (2018) |
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| Alternative name (s): | Castell Caerffili | |
| Creation time : | 1268-1271 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | well preserved | |
| Standing position : | Earls | |
| Construction: | Cuboid | |
| Place: | Caerphilly | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 34 '34 " N , 3 ° 13' 13" W | |
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Caerphilly Castle ( Welsh : Castell Caerffili ) is a ruined castle in Wales . The ruin, classified as a Grade I cultural monument and protected as a Scheduled Monument , is the second largest castle in Great Britain after Windsor Castle with a base area of 1.2 hectares . The area of the castle and the surrounding water areas cover over 12 hectares. The castle, which is surrounded by artificial water, is the first castle in Great Britain to be planned and built as a fully concentric castle with two curtain walls. At the time of its construction it was a revolutionary masterpiece of military architecture and served as a model for the castles of King Edward I in North Wales .
location
The castle is located in the transition area between the lowlands on the coast of South East Wales and the highlands of Mid Wales. It was built north of Caerphilly Mountain in a basin surrounded by hills and mountains, through which two brooks flow. The two eastward flowing streams form the Porset Brook, a tributary of the Rhymney River . The castle was strategically located on the road from Cardiff to the Senghynnedd hill country, easily accessible to the east via a pass Newport , while another mountain pass led into the valley of the River Taff to the west. Today the castle is in the middle of the industrial city of Caerphilly .
history
Bulwark built by Gilbert de Clare in the 13th century
In contrast to the south-east Welsh lowlands, which were conquered by the Normans at the end of the 11th century , the northern highlands of Glamorgan remained under Welsh rule until the 13th century. To protect his reign of Cardiff , Richard de Clare , Earl of Gloucester and Lord of Glamorgan began building Morgraig Castle in 1246 on the border with Senghenydd in Welsh . During the conflict between the English barons under Simon de Montfort and King Henry III. had Llywelyn ap Gruffudd , the Welsh Prince of Gwynedd its expanded power to southeast Wales and 1262 Brecon conquered. On October 29, 1265, Heinrich III. however, the claims to Brecon to Gilbert de Clare , the young son and heir of Richard de Clare, who in November 1266 also became Lord of Glamorgan. To defend against the expansionist efforts of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd de Clare still occupied Gwynllŵg , the territory of the Welsh Lord Maredudd ap Gruffudd , in 1266 . In January 1267 he occupied the south of Senghenydd, took his Welsh Lord Gruffydd ap Rhys prisoner and imprisoned him in his Irish castle Kilkenny . To secure his conquests, de Clare built the little Castell Coch north of Cardiff . In September 1267, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was recognized by the King of England as Prince of Wales in the Treaty of Montgomery . Although he had no claims to Glamorgan under the treaty, as Prince of Wales he still regarded himself as the protector of the Welsh lords in Glamorgan, whose territories de Clare had just occupied. Llywelyn turned to the king in autumn 1267 and complained about the capture of his liege, Gruffudd ap Rhys, by de Clare. The king referred the lawsuit to the royal court on January 1, 1268, and in March 1268 Crown Prince Edward was supposed to mediate. However, the disputes in Glamorgan escalated into open fighting and on April 11, 1268 de Clare began building Caerphilly Castle.
In 1269, Crown Prince Edward negotiated again with Llywelyn in Montgomery and recognized Llywelyn's claims as head of the Welsh Lords of Glamorgan. De Clare refused to acknowledge this, however. Since the Crown Prince had set out on his crusade to Palestine in August 1270 , the king proposed that the dispute between Llywelyn and de Clare be decided by parliament , which was to meet in October 1270. The situation came to a head, however, and in October 1270 Llywelyn and his army invaded Glamorgan and on October 13th captured and destroyed the Caerphilly Castle, which was under construction. Nevertheless, the king wanted to continue resolving the conflict through negotiation. On April 11, 1271, a commission headed by Bishops Godfrey Giffard of Worcester and Roger de Meuland of Coventry and Lichfield dealt with Llywelyn's complaint. De Clare, however, resumed construction of Caerphilly Castle in June 1271, and the further expansion was so rapid that the castle withstood another attack by Llywelyn in October. Llywelyn began a new siege of the castle, but the king started new negotiations for February 1272 and placed the castle under royal administration, whereupon Llywelyn concluded an armistice on November 2, 1271, lifted the siege and handed the castle over to the bishops. In February 1272, however, de Clare had the castle occupied by his troops, who took the bishops' garrison by surprise. The king could no longer assert himself against his most powerful vassal until his death in October 1272. Since the heir to the throne was still in Palestine, de Clare took over the reign of England together with two other nobles. Llywelyn was also involved in conflicts in central Wales, so that de Clare was able to complete the construction of Caerphilly Castle.
Loss of importance after the conquest of Wales
The construction of the castle was completed by 1280, but in the Wars of Edward I against Llyweln in 1277 and 1282 the castle in south-east Wales played no role. After the death of Llywelyn in 1282 and the conquest of Gwynedd in 1283, the castle lost its importance. During the Welsh uprising of 1294 , the Caerphilly settlement was burned down by the rebels under Morgan ap Maredudd , but the castle withstood the attack. The castle was not attacked during the revolt following the death of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester in 1314, but the castle was the first target of the rebels during the revolt of Llywelyn Bren . On January 28, 1316, they attacked the castle surprisingly and were able to capture Constable William de Berkerolles , who was holding court outside the castle, with several of his followers. However, the weak British garrison managed to repel the attackers and hold the inner castle. Llywelyn Bren then began a siege of the castle, but in March a royal army from Cardiff shocked the castle and Llywelyn Bren surrendered on March 18th.
Fortress by Hugh le Despenser
In 1317 Glamorgan fell to Hugh le Despenser , who had married Eleanor de Clare, a sister of Gilbert de Clare, who had died in 1314. The unscrupulous rule of Despenser and his influence on King Edward II led to a joint revolt of the Welsh people and the English Marcher Lords in May 1321, the so-called Despenser War , during which the castle was conquered. Due to the revolt Despenser had to flee into exile, but after the defeat of the rebels in the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 he was able to regain his position. The castle was restored by Despenser, who also had the palace expanded by 1326 .
In September 1326, however, Queen Isabella and her favorite Roger Mortimer landed in England to overthrow Edward II . The king fled to Wales with Despenser, where they briefly sought refuge in Caerphilly Castle at the end of October. They gathered a strong garrison in the castle and left part of the crown treasure and Despenser's young son Hugh in the care of John Felton before they fled further west. They were captured on November 16, and Despenser was executed on November 26, while Eduard was forced to abdicate in January 1327. The victorious rebels besieged the castle from December 1326, but Felton did not hand the castle over to William la Zouche , the commanding officer of the besiegers until March 1327 , after a pardon had been assured not only for him and the crew but also for Despenser's young son. In June 1328 la Zouche gave the castle to Roger Mortimer. Glamorgan was returned to Despenser's widow, Eleanor de Clare , on April 22, 1328 . However, this was kidnapped by la Zouche in early 1329. The couple married shortly thereafter without obtaining the royal consent required for crown vassals , and la Zouche claimed Glamorgan for themselves. He besieged Caerphilly Castle from February to April 1329 before being beaten and captured. Glamorgan fell under royal administration again. La Zouche and his wife Eleanor were released on payment of a heavy fine, but after the fall of Roger Mortimer, the king gave them Glamorgan on January 20, 1331. After Eleanor's death, Glamorgan and the castle fell to the young Hugh le Despenser, who had also been released from prison in 1331. His descendant Thomas le Despenser was executed in Bristol in 1400 for rebellion against Henry IV. His widow Constance of York , a daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York was allowed to keep Glamorgan and the castle. At the end of 1400, the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion broke out. There was heavy fighting between 1403 and 1405, but there is no evidence as to whether the castle was besieged or conquered by the rebels. Constances and Thomas Despenser's daughter Isabel were second married to Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick . The Earl of Warwick had the castle repaired again from 1428 to 1429.
Decay of the castle and restoration in the 20th century
The castle played no role during the Wars of the Roses , and after 1486 it fell to Jasper Tudor , who did not use the castle. John Leland found the castle abandoned except for a tower used as a prison in 1539. In 1583 the castle was leased to the Lewis family, who used some of the stones to build their Van Mansion , 1 km to the east . During the civil war the castle was not occupied, instead a redoubt was built northwest of the castle , but it is unclear whether the earth fortification was built by the royalists or the parliamentary troops and whether it was contested. After the civil war, the castle was razed in 1649 by destroying the corner towers and the outer front of the eastern gatehouse, and the lakes were drained by partially destroying the dams. In the 18th century, numerous houses and huts were built on the walls and dams. In 1776 the ruins fell to the Earl of Bute. The 3rd Marquess of Bute had the post-medieval houses demolished in 1870 and began restoring the living room. In contrast to Castell Coch or Cardiff Castle , however, he did not have the castle rebuilt in the historicizing style , but limited himself to security measures. His son, the 4th Marquess of Bute , had the castle restored from 1928. Among other things, the corner towers destroyed in the civil war and the eastern gatehouse were rebuilt until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 stopped work. In 1950 the 5th Marquess of Bute gave the ruins to the state. In the 1950s, the two lakes were dammed again. Today the ruins are managed by Cadw and can be visited.
investment
Construction site
The castle was not built on older predecessor buildings, but designed as a completely new facility by an unknown master builder. Although the castle was built in several phases, the uniform construction plan was retained due to the short construction period. When choosing the site, Gilbert de Clare was probably influenced by his experiences during the siege of Kenilworth Castle in 1266, whose vast expanses of water made the use of siege engines difficult. De Clare dammed the two streams that flow through the plain north of Caerphilly Mountain into two lakes.
Lakes and Vorwerke
The two lakes surround the core castle in the north and south and were almost insurmountable for attackers. The dams that dam the two streams and over which the access roads lead are masterpieces of medieval engineering. The older, southern dam is a massive, stone-clad earth dam, the southern end is protected by a rectangular gatehouse with a drawbridge and two other towers. In the middle of the dam are the ruins of a watermill. The narrower northern dam has a high outer wall to the east and is secured by three gatehouses. However, due to the damp subsoil, they are damaged by subsidence. The outer northern gatehouse was particularly well fortified. On the east side, the two dams were protected by a moat. On the west side of the castle is an artificial, 1.2 hectare island called Hornwork . The island is surrounded by a low stone enclosure wall, the northwest side is protected by two semicircular protrusions that flank the drawbridge and the entrance.
To the northwest of the castle lies the 17th century redoubt, which is now covered with trees . It is located on the site of a small auxiliary fort from Roman times .
Core castle
The access routes over the dams lead to the main entrance on the east side of the inner castle. The rectangular main castle is surrounded by a double curtain wall. The double wall ring is derived from the castles in Dover and in the French Château Gaillard as well as from Byzantine fortresses and the Crusader castles in Palestine. Thanks to the concentric structure, the defenders were able to move flexibly between the individual parts of the castle. The towers and gatehouses with numerous loopholes and cast holes could be defended separately.
The outer wall ring consists of a low, crenellated wall with large semicircular bastions at the corners and gatehouses flanked by towers on the east and west sides. Between the outer and inner side there are some buildings on the south side. In the southeast corner you can see the remains of a rectangular building that served as a store of provisions, as well as storage rooms and accommodation for the garrison. A small gate in the southern wall led directly to the southern lake. A short distance behind the outer wall rises the much stronger and higher inner wall, which is provided with powerful round corner towers and two large gatehouses in the east and west. Another tower, the semicircular two-story kitchen tower, is located in the middle of the south wall. The main gate house in the east is the tallest building in the castle, it also served as a keep . It consists of two mighty semicircular towers that were restored in the 19th century under the 4th Marquess of Bute. The austere building is sparsely furnished and has only a few and small windows. The constable's apartment used to be on the second floor. Inside the building there is now an exhibition on the history and architecture of the castle.
Access to the west is also via a first gatehouse protected by two semicircular towers, behind which rises the three-storey inner gatehouse protected by two further semicircular towers, which is smaller than its eastern counterpart. Inside the gatehouse there were living quarters next to the guard rooms. The four corner towers of the inner wall ring have been preserved in varying degrees. The northwest tower contains an exhibition on the history of Welsh castles. Little has been preserved of the northeast tower, however. The 15 m high southeast tower, preserved as a ruin, is inclined 10 degrees outwards. Whether this tendency was caused by undermining or demolition during the civil war in the 17th century or due to the damp subsoil is not exactly clear.
On the south side of the inner courtyard were the palas and the lords' apartments. The ground floor hall was rebuilt after 1322 under de Despenser and splendidly furnished. At the end of the 19th century it was restored under the 3rd Marquess of Bute. To the east of the hall was a pantry and the sideboard, perhaps above the chapel. To the west of the hall were the comfortable rooms of the lords of the castle.
literature
- Elisabeth Whittle: Glamorgan and Gwent. HMSO, London 1992. ISBN 0-11-701221-1 , pp. 133-137
- Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: III - Part 1b: Medieval Secular Monuments, the Later Castles from 1217 to the present , Her Maj. Stat. Office, London 2000, ISBN 1-871184-22-3 , pp. 51-132
- Adrian Pettifer: Welsh Castles. A Guide by Counties . Boydell, Woodbridge 2000, ISBN 0-85115-778-5 , pp. 82-87
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ British listed Buildings: Caerphilly Castle, Caerphilly. Retrieved March 13, 2014 .
- ↑ Ancient Monuments: Caerphilly Castle. Retrieved March 13, 2014 .
- ↑ Castles of Wales: Caerphilly Castle. Retrieved March 17, 2014 .
- ^ Elisabeth Whittle: Glamorgan and Gwent . HMSO, London 1992. ISBN 0-11-701221-1 , p. 134.
- ^ Adrian Pettifer: Welsh Castles. A Guide by Counties . Boydell, Woodbridge 2000, ISBN 0-85115-778-5 , p. 82.
- ^ Caerphilly County Borough Council: Caerphilly Castle. Retrieved March 17, 2014 .
- ↑ Derek Renn: Caerphilly Castle . Cadw, Cardiff 1989, ISBN 0-948329-13-0 , p. 9.