Raby Castle

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Raby Castle in the spring of 2009

Raby Castle is a medieval castle in the village of Staindrop in County Durham, England . It is located in the middle of an 81 hectare deer park. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby , had it built around 1367-1390. Cecily Neville , mother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. , was born here. After Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland , led the failed Rising of the North Revolution for Mary Queen of Scots in 1569 , Raby Castle was placed under royal protection.

Sir Henry Vane the Elder bought Raby Castle in 1626, as did neighboring Barnard Castle from the Crown, and the Earls of Darlington and Dukes of Cleveland had a Gothic entrance hall and octagonal drawing room added. From 1883 to 1891 they were Dukes of Cleveland and retained the title of Lord Barnard . Extensive changes were made to the castle in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is the family seat of John Vane, 11th Baron Barnard . The castle is famous for both its size and the art objects it contains, such as B. works of old masters and portraits, known. English Heritagelisted the castle as a historical building of the first degree. It is open to the public, depending on the season.

history

South facade of Raby Castle

The House of Neville had ruled Raby since the 13th century and, although the family had no formal title, from 1295 they were called to Parliament as the "Barons of Raby".

Ranulph Neville, 1st Baron Neville de Raby , was the first family member to be summoned to Parliament. His heir, John Neville (1299 / 1300-1335), became a member of the household of Thomas of Lancaster, 2nd Earl of Lancaster , and thus established the family connection with the Earls of Lancaster. Raby was the family headquarters, the center of their power, and from around 1300 there may have been a fortified building on the site of the current castle. In the second half of the 14th century the Nevilles began to rebuild some of their properties in northern England, including Raby Castle between around 1367 and 1390. In the last few years of this century, the Nevilles became one of the most powerful families in northern England, comparable to the House of Percy , who became Earls of Northumberland in 1377 .

In 1378 Thomas Hatfield , Bishop of Durham , gave John de Neville permission to fortify his estate at Raby. John died in 1388 and was succeeded by his son Ralph . Almost no family documents have survived from this period to this day, so that the construction of Raby Castle is hardly documented. The dating is largely based on architectural details. In the words of historian Anthony Emery, "the construction work transformed (the building) from an easily defendable house into a palace-fortress".

Ralph Neville was raised to the Earl of Westmorland on September 29, 1397 by King Richard II as a reward for his loyalty in the face of political machinations . But the family's traditional association with the Earls of Lancaster meant that Neville sided with Bolingbroke in July 1399, when Henry Bolingbroke invaded the House of Lancaster . Neville helped convince Richard II to abdicate, and Heinrich Bolingbroke was crowned King Henry IV. Neville was made Earl Marshal of England on the day of Henry's coronation and was made Knight of the Garter in 1403 .

Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland , died in 1564 and was succeeded by his son Charles . The Nevilles were Catholics and Charles was one of the leaders of the failed Rising of the North in 1569 against England's Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. Because of the seriousness of the threat to the Crown, more than 800 rebels were executed and Charles Neville and Thomas Percy (the Earl of Westmorland and another leader of the rebellion) fled into exile. In 1571 Neville was declared an outlaw and his possessions confiscated in favor of the Crown.

A painting by William Turner of Raby Castle and the surrounding countryside early 19th century (The Walters Art Museum)

After the Rising of the North, the castle was owned by the Crown for more than 43 years before it was bought by Henry Vane the Elder . He was impressed by the size of the castle and the surrounding land, in contrast to Barnard Castle, which was narrowed by the surrounding town. House Vane was responsible for most of the modernization work on the castle, especially in the interior. This also included the renovation of the medieval chapel and salon.

The family had a driveway pulled through the castle, which caused great damage to its medieval masonry. Architect '' William Burn '' carried out changes to Raby Castle between 1843 and 1848, including the construction of new roofs for the great hall and chapel and the addition of a Jacobean style salon to one of the towers. The current owner family is also responsible for the large art collection in the castle.

On March 17, 1849, the then Prince of Orange followed as King Wilhelm III. his father in the Netherlands . At the time he was the guest of the Duchess of Cleveland at Raby Castle.

In 1891, the former 4th Duke of Cleveland died , leaving no heir for the castle and its extensive estates. The succession was decided in 1891 when the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords named his relative, Henry de Vere Vane, 9th Baron Barnard and heir to the vast estates of Raby. He did not inherit the title of Duke of Cleveland, which then became extinct.

Christopher Vane, 10th Baron Barnard , sold almost all of Raby Castle's 21,000 acres, keeping only 693 acres. Raby Castle is open to the public between May and September and Easter each year. In 2007/2008 there were around 26,000 visitors.

construction

Floor plan of the castle from: JD Mackenzie: The Castles of England: their story and structure .

Raby Castle has an irregular floor plan with nine towers along its perimeter wall. The main entrance was to the west through the four-story gatehouse of the Nevilles. A drawbridge provided access to the gatehouse, but it was later replaced by a flagged dam. Originally there were three portcullis in the gatehouse , as can still be seen today in the niches for their service. Two smaller towers next to the gatehouse have no defensive function and were added during the renovation work commissioned by Henry Vane, 2nd Earl of Darlington .

The gatehouse can also be reached through a door in the curtain wall , which swung up to a height of 10 meters above the water level in the moat. Fortified at regular intervals with buttress towers, it formed a second line of defense, with the moat being the first. The path along the parapet was the old battlement where the guards were posted. Similar trails can be found at York Castle and around Oxford City . The castle buildings are arranged around a central courtyard. The eastern part forms the knight's hall, which is also called "Baron's Hall". The interior of the donjon and the kitchens are largely intact.

Panorama of the castle with the towers and the defenses on the northeast side

Works of art

The castle is known for its art objects, mostly collected by the '' Vane '' family, including works of old masters and family portraits. Well-known artists whose works are in the collection at the castle are z. B. Luca Giordano , Anthony van Dyck, and Sir Joshua Reynolds . The small parlor has a fine collection of paintings depicting sports and family interests, including works by Benjamin Marshall , Henry Bernard Chalon , Sir Alfred Munnings, and others.

There are some fine paintings in the library, such as B. two architectural fantasy designs, one by Marco and Sebastiano Ricci and the other by Antonio Joli . Among the portraits are two by Sir Peter Lely showing Lady Mary Sackville and Louise de Kerouaille , one by Pompeo Batoni showing William Bankes , and other family portraits, e.g. B. that of Henry Vane the Elder and Henry Vane the Younger. The latter was then governor of Massachusetts .

The paintings in the library's anteroom are mainly from the Dutch and Flemish schools and include works by Pieter de Hooch and David Teniers the Younger . The dining room contains some of the castle's most impressive paintings, such as: B. Works by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Anthony van Dyck. The paintings in this room are primarily portraits of family members or friends of the family.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Parks & Gardens . Raby Castle. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c {JF Hodgson: English Medieval Architects: Raby in Three Chapters . Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, Durham, 1880-1895. Volumes II and IV / 1 ff.
  3. ^ A b c Peter W. Hammond: The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords an All Its Members from the Earliest Times . Volume XIV. Sutton Publishing, UK 1998. ISBN 978-0-7509-0154-3 . Pp. 30-32.
  4. ↑ a b c d Owen Scott: Raby: Its Castle and Its Lords . A & E Ward, Barnard Castle 1906. pp. 1 ff.
  5. ↑ a b c Anthony Emery: Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500 . Volume I: Northern England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996. ISBN 978-0-521-49723-7 . P. 123.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Anthony Tuck: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. 2004.
  7. ^ Peter McNiven: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. 2004.
  8. ^ Anthony Emery: Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500 . Volume I: Northern England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996. ISBN 978-0-521-49723-7 . P. 32.
  9. ^ Raby Castle license to crenellate . The Gatehouse. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  10. ^ Roger McDermott: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press. 2004.
  11. ^ Raby Castle, the Seat of the Earls of Darlington . The Walters Art Museum. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  12. ^ A b Robert Surtees: The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham . Volume 2. Institute of Historical Research, London 1820. p. 220 describes 21 parishes and chapels in the Chester area in the north of the county, e.g. B. Gateshead, Jarrow and other parts of present-day urban Tyneside.
  13. ↑ a b c d English Heritage: Raby Castle . In: The Listed Building Register . English Heritage. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  14. ^ Dik van der Meulen: Biography William III. 2013.
  15. ^ The Official Gazette of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham 1908 to 1919 . Durham Freemasons, 1919. p. 172.
  16. ^ The Correspondent for Obituaries: Lord Barnard . The Times of London (October 20, 1964).
  17. ↑ Visiting Raby Castle . RabyCastle.com. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  18. ↑ SP606 Project Report: Enterprising Market Towns 2006-2008 (PDF) Teesdale Marketing. 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  19. ^ JD Mackenzie: The Castles of England: their story and structure . Macmillan, New York 1897. p. 400.
  20. ↑ George Thornton: The Rising of the North: The Rising of the Northern Earls. Ergo Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9557510-8-0 . Pp. 24-26.
  21. ^ Raby Castle . Gatehouse Gazetteer. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  22. ↑ a b c Official website of Raby Castle. rabycastle.com . Retrieved September 10, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Raby Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 54 ° 35 ′ 27 ″  N , 1 ° 48 ′ 7 ″  W.