Hertford Castle

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Hertford Castle: The core of the 15th century, but several times modified gatehouse

Hertford Castle is a castle in Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom . Classified as a Grade I cultural monument and protected as a Scheduled Monument , it is considered to be one of the best-preserved motte-and-bailey fortifications in southern Great Britain. Only the medieval gatehouse remains of the buildings.

history

Early Middle Ages to the 12th century

Presumably there was already an Anglo-Saxon fortification that King Alfred the Great had built against a Danish camp near Ware . After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the conquerors erected a moth that was part of a chain of castles around London. King William the Conqueror handed over the management of the castle to Peter de Valoignes , High Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire .

Royal castle from 1170 to the end of the 15th century

Around 1170 the castle was expanded by King Heinrich II . He built a stone curtain wall, a gatehouse, a hall and a royal living room. The buildings were probably made of wood and half-timbered on stone foundations. The expanded castle, as it was a day's journey from London, was often used as the overnight stay for English kings and their guests on trips to and from London until the end of the 16th century. During the reign of Richard the Lionheart , the castle was fortified by his regent Wilhelm von Longchamp . After Robert de Valoignes died in 1184 without male heirs, his son-in-law Robert FitzWalter claimed the administration of the castle, which he was finally granted in 1202. As one of the driving forces behind the aristocratic opposition to King Johann Ohneland , he was expropriated several times, but tried several times to regain the castle. During the First Barons' War , the constable of the castle Walter de Godarvil had to surrender to the French on October 19, 1216 after a three-week siege. After the French withdrew, the castle fell to King Henry III in 1217 . who stayed at the castle several times between 1227 and 1255. In 1299 Edward I gave the castle to his second wife Margarethe .

During the dissolution of the Knights Templar in 1308, six Knights Templar were held captive in the castle for four months. King Edward II stayed in the castle in 1310 and 1312. The castle was the residence of his widow Isabelle de France from 1337 until her death in 1358. She had the castle expanded and a garden laid out. From 1346 to 1357 the castle also served as a prison for her son-in-law King David II of Scotland and his wife, Isabelle's daughter Johanna . After Isabelle's death, the castle served as a prison for King John II of France, who was captured during the Hundred Years War . He reached Hertford in April 1359 with eleven baggage carts and an entourage of 70 and stayed in the castle for four months. The following year the castle of King Edward III. third son John of Gaunt given as a fief. John auf Gaunt had the castle repaired until 1361 and often used it as a country residence. Although he had already married his second wife, Konstanze von Kastilien , in Bordeaux , the wedding was probably repeated in the castle in 1372. After his death, the castle remained in the possession of the Duchy of Lancaster , who became royal property with Henry IV's accession to the throne in 1399 . Heinrich IV visited the castle several times between 1406 and 1413, and in 1421 his successor Heinrich V and his wife Katharina von Valois were in the castle. The widowed queen lived in the castle in 1422 with her son Heinrich VI. who was just a toddler. In 1445 he married Margaret of Anjou and left the castle to her. King Edward IV left the castle to his wife Elizabeth Woodville , and the new gatehouse was built under his rule in 1463. King Richard III awarded the castle to one of its greatest supporters, the Duke of Buckingham .

Prayer book of Princess Elisabeth, later Queen Elisabeth I.

Royal palace in the 16th century

King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth of York visited the castle in 1489 and 1498. King Henry VIII expanded the castle into a palace. In the 1530s, the princesses Maria and Elisabeth lived in the palace, the king mainly used it in the 1540s. In 1545 Princess Elisabeth wrote a prayer book in the palace in the castle, which is now in the Royal Collection in the British Library . Her brother Eduard was staying in the palace when he learned in 1547 that his father Henry VIII had died and that he was the new king. He handed the palace over to his sister Maria, who used it as a prison for Protestants during her reign as Maria I from 1553. After her death in 1558, Elisabeth became queen, who frequented the palace, especially at the beginning of her reign. In 1561 she stayed in Hertford for 16 days. The palace was later used by various courts, and in 1582 a room was set up in the gatehouse as a conference room for the Star Chamber .

Expiration and Later Use

Hertford Castle, depiction around 1851

The palace and castle began to decline in the late 16th century. Large parts of the palace were demolished at the beginning of the 17th century. King James I leased the castle and his son Charles I sold it in 1628 to William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury . Over the next few centuries the facility was leased and rebuilt several times. From 1805 to 1818 the East India Company used the gatehouse as a school, from 1822 to 1832 it served as a hospital. In 1912 the city of Hertford acquired the complex, which until 1974 used the gatehouse as part of the local government, while the former castle grounds were converted into a public park. Archaeological investigations of the medieval ramparts and ditches were carried out in 1977, and further excavations were carried out from 1988 to 1990. The gatehouse is still owned by the City of Hertford, which uses and rents it for events.

investment

The castle is located in the center of the small town of Hertford south of the River Lea . In the northeast area of ​​the complex are the remains of the castle hill, which is about 30 m in diameter and 6.5 m high. The approximately 1 hectare outer bailey is still bordered in the south and east by the remains of the quarry stone ring wall; the ruins of a narrow, octagonal tower from the 14th century are still preserved on the southern wall. The only building in the castle that has been preserved is the gatehouse on the west side of the courtyard. The gatehouse, originally built from brick between 1460 and 1465, is three-story and has an octagonal stair tower. Around 1790 it was expanded to include a southern wing. During this renovation, the building also received the neo-Gothic pointed arched windows with stone frames and the crenellated wreath that covers the slate roof. Further renovations took place in the 19th century and in 1937 when two two-storey side wings were added. The gatehouse was restored from 1967 to 1971.

Remains of a double moat can still be seen on the south side in particular, which once ran around the entire castle but was filled in around 1905.

literature

  • Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David & Charles Book of Castles . David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historic England: Hertford Castle. A motte and bailey castle south of the River Lea. Retrieved August 20, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Gatehouse to Hertford Castle (Hertford Castle demolished) . Historic England. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ Historic Historic England: BAILEY WALLS, NORTH EAST RANGE TO HERTFORD CASTLE (HERTFORD CASTLE DEMOLISHED). Retrieved August 20, 2015 .
  4. ^ Matthew Strickland: Fitzwalter, Robert (d. 1235). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
  5. ^ William Page (editor): The borough of Hertford: Castle, honor, manors, church and charities in A History of the County of Hertford . Series: Victoria County History. Volume 3. 1912. pp. 501-511. Retrieved March 27, 2015.

Coordinates: 51 ° 47 '42.4 "  N , 0 ° 4' 50.2"  W.