Warwick Castle
Warwick Castle is a medieval castle that evolved from a castle built by William the Conqueror in 1068. Warwick is the main town in the county of Warwickshire in England, which lies on a bend in the River Avon . The original wooden castle moth was rebuilt from stone in the 12th century. During the Hundred Years War , the side of the castle facing the town was re-fortified and is now one of the most famous examples of military architecture of the 14th century. The castle was used as a fortress until the beginning of the 17th century. Afterwards it was transferred by James I in 1604 to Sir Fulke Greville, who converted it into a country house. It remained in the ownership of the Greville family, who were made Earl of Warwick in 1759, until it was purchased by the Tussauds Group in 1978 .
location
Warwick Castle is in the town of Warwick on a sandstone cliff at a bend in the River Avon. The river that flows below the castle on the east side has abraded the rock on which the castle stands and formed a cliff. The river and the rock form a natural fortification. When construction began in 1068, four houses owned by the Abbot of Coventry were demolished to make way. The location of the castle made it a strategically important point to secure the Midlands against rebellions. In the 12th century, King Henry I was suspicious of Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick . In order to counteract the influence of the Earl, Henry I endowed Geoffrey de Clinton with a position of power comparable to the Earl. The lands he got also included Kenilworth Castle - a castle of comparable size, cost, and importance that was built by Clinton and located about five miles north. Warwick Castle is approximately 1 km from Warwick Railway Station and less than 2 miles from Junction 15 of the M40 , and is also a short distance from Birmingham International Airport .
history
Previous buildings
On the initiative of Ethelfleda , daughter of Alfred the Great , an Anglo-Saxon burh (fortified place) with fortifications was created on the site in 914 . The burh she founded was one of ten who defended Mercia against the marauding Danes. Its position made it possible to dominate the Fosse Way as well as the river valley and ford over the River Avon. Although the moth southwest of today's castle is now called "Ethelfleda's Hill", it is actually part of the later Norman fortifications, and not of Anglo-Saxon origin.
middle Ages
After the Norman conquest of England , William the Conqueror had a castle moth erected in Warwick to control the Midlands in 1068 as he advanced north. The construction of a castle in an already existing settlement could make it necessary to demolish older buildings on the planned site. In the case of Warwick, the least documented of the city's 11 castles in the 1086 census , four houses were demolished to make way for the castle to be built. A castle moth consists of a hill, on which there is usually a donjon or tower, and an outer bailey , which consists of a walled courtyard. William appointed Henry de Beaumont , the son of a powerful Norman family, to be captain of the castle. In 1088, Henry de Beaumont was named first Earl of Warwick. He founded the Church of All Saints in the castle complex until 1119, which the Bishop of Worcester removed in 1127-1128 because he believed the castle was an unsuitable place for a church.
In 1153, the wife of Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, was led to believe that her husband had been killed and then handed control of the castle to the invading army of Henry of Anjou , later King Henry II. According to the Gesta Regis Stephani, a historical document from the 12th century, Roger de Beaumont died after hearing that his wife had handed over the castle. Heinrich later gave the castle back to the Counts of Warwick because they had been supporters of his mother, Empress Matilda , during the anarchy of 1135-1154 .
Since 1088 the castle has traditionally belonged to the Earl of Warwick and served as a symbol of his power. The castle was taken in 1153 by Heinrich von Anjou, who later became Henry II. It was used to hold prisoners, including some from the Battle of Poitiers in the 14th century and King Edward IV of England in the 15th century .
During the reign of King Henry II (1154–1189), the castle moth was replaced by a stone castle. This new construction phase took shape in the form of a castle complex , in which all buildings were built with their backs against the outer ring wall . During the Baron Revolt of 1173–1174, the Earl of Warwick remained loyal to King Henry II and the castle was used to store supplies. The castle and the lands associated with the county were inherited by the Beaumont family until 1242. When Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick , died, the castle and lands passed to his sister, Lady Margery , Countess of Warwick in her own right. Soon after, her husband died too, and while she looked for a suitable new husband, the castle remained the property of King Henry III. When she married John de Plessis in December 1242, the castle was returned to her. During the second uprising of the barons in 1264–67, William Mauduit, 8th Earl of Warwick , was a supporter of King Henry III. The castle was taken from Kenilworth Castle in a surprise attack in 1264 by the forces of Simon de Montfort , 6th Earl of Leicester . The castle walls on the northeast side of the castle were razed to make them unusable for the king. Mauduit and his wife were taken to Kenilworth Castle and held there until a ransom was paid. After the death of William Mauduit in 1268, the title and the castle passed to his nephew William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick . After William's death, Warwick Castle was passed on to the Beauchamp family for seven generations, who made most of the castle's additions over the next 180 years. In 1312, Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall , was captured by Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick , and held at Warwick Castle until his execution on June 9, 1312. A group of magnates, led by Warwick and Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster , accused Gaveston of stealing the royal treasure.
Under Thomas de Beauchamp, the 11th Earl , the castle was fortified in the years 1330-1360 on the northeast side with the addition of a gatehouse, a barbican (a form of a fortified gate) and two towers called the Caesar Tower and the Guy Tower. Tower, considerably reinforced on both sides of the rebuilt wall. The water gate tower (Watergate Tower) also dates from this period. The Bear Tower and Clarence Tower were built by King Richard III. built in the 1480s.
The Caesar Tower and Guy Tower are habitable and may have been inspired by French models (e.g. Chateau de Bricquebec ). Both towers are fitted with machicolations , and the Caesar tower has a unique double crenellated crown. The two towers also have stone vaults on each floor. The Caesar Tower contained a dark cellar dungeon; According to local legend, which dates back to 1644 at the latest, it is also called the Poitiers Tower, either because prisoners from the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 may have been locked there or because the ransom money paid after the battle helped to build it to pay. The gatehouse has murder holes , two drawbridges, gates and portcullis, the gates being made of wood and metal. The towers of the gatehouse have machicolations.
The facade overlooking the river was designed as a symbol of the power and wealth of the Counts of Beauchamp and would have had only "little defense value"; this was in line with a trend in the 14th century that castles were more an expression of strength than a military one.
The Earl of Beauchamp line ended in 1449 when Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick , died. Richard Neville became the next Earl of Warwick when he inherited the title from his wife. During the Wars of the Roses , Neville had King Edward IV imprisoned at Warwick Castle in the summer of 1469 . Neville (the so-called "kingmaker") tried to rule on behalf of the king, but ongoing protests from supporters of the king forced the count to release the king. Neville was finally killed in battle against Edward in the Battle of Barnet in 1471 .
Warwick Castle then passed from Neville to his son-in-law, Edward's brother George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence . George was executed in 1478, and his lands passed to his only two-year-old son, Edward , with the lands initially under the care of the Crown. Due to his claim to the throne, Edward was imprisoned in the Tower under the following kings until he was executed in 1499 for high treason by Henry VII ; Edward was the last Earl of Warwick of the first creation.
In the early 1480s, King Richard III initiated the construction of two gun turrets, the Bear Tower and the Clarence Tower, which remained unfinished until his death in 1485; with their own wells and ovens, the towers were fortifications independent from the rest of the castle complex, possibly to protect against garrison mutinies. With the advent of gunpowder in 1486, the position of gunner was created.
16th Century
When the librarian John Leland visited the castle sometime between 1535 and 1543, he found that:
“... the dungeon is now in ruins in the west-northwest part of the castle. There is also a tower to the west-northwest and an iron back gate runs through it. All important accommodations of the castle with the Pallas and the chapel are on the south side of the castle, and here the king incurs high costs for building the foundations in the rock to support this side of the castle, because large pieces were broken out of the rock, who carried the castle. "
Under the care of the Crown, Warwick Castle underwent repairs and renovations using approximately 500 loads of stone. The castle and lands associated with the title of Earl were in the custody of the Crown from 1478 to 1547 when they were transferred to John Dudley along with the second creation of the title of Earl of Warwick. When asking for ownership of the castle, Dudley said of the state of the castle:
"... the castle itself is not enough to provide accommodation for a noble baron and his entourage, because the entire one side of the castle, including the tower with the dungeon, are clearly in ruins and devastated."
Warwick Castle had fallen into disrepair due to its age and lack of maintenance, and despite his remarks, Dudley did not make any repairs on the castle. Queen Elizabeth I visited the castle in 1566 while traveling the country and stayed for four nights in 1572. A wooden house was built in the castle for her stay and Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, left the castle to the Queen for her visits. When Ambrose Dudley died in 1590, the title of Earl of Warwick expired for the second time. A survey in 1590 found the castle was still in disrepair, and also noted that the lead had been stolen from the roofs of some castle buildings, including the chapel. In 1601, Sir Fulke Greville remarked that "the little stone building that was there was in severe disrepair ... so that in a very short time there will be nothing more than the name Warwick".
Warwick Castle was given to Sir Fulke Greville by King James I in 1604.
In the 17th century the outdoor facilities were converted into a park. The castle fortifications were strengthened in the 1640s to prepare the castle for clashes during the English Civil War. Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke, was a MP and royalist forces besieged the castle. Warwick Castle withstood the siege and was later used to imprison prisoners made by the parliamentarians.
17th century country house
The conversion of the castle coincided with the decline in the use of castles in the 15th and 16th centuries; many were either abandoned or converted into comfortable residences for the nobility. In the early 17th century, Robert Smythson was hired to draw up a plan of the castle before making any changes. In 1604 the ruined castle was loaned by King James I to Sir Fulke Greville and converted into a country house by him. While the castle was being repaired, it was marginally implicated in the 1605 Gunpowder conspiracy. The conspirators involved waited in Dunchurch, Warwickshire for news of the outcome of their conspiracy. When they heard that the conspiracy had failed, they stole cavalry horses from the stables at Warwick Castle to flee. When the title of Earl of Warwick was created for the third time in 1618, the Greville family was still in possession of Warwick Castle. Fulke Greville spent more than £ 20,000 (the equivalent of £ 3 million in 2013) renovating the castle; according to William Dugdale , a 17th century antiquarian, this transformed it into "a place not only of great strength, but also of extraordinary enjoyment, with the most beautiful gardens, paths and bushes, which is unique in this part of England" . On September 1, 1628, Fulke Greville was murdered by his servant in Holborn: Ralph Haywood - a "gentleman" - stabbed the baron from behind after he had learned that he had not been included in Greville's will. Greville died of his wounds a few days later.
Under Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke, the fortifications of Warwick Castle were reinforced between January and May 1642 in preparation for an attack during the First English Civil War. The garden walls were raised, bulwarks - barricades of beams and earth were erected for the placement of artillery - and gunpowder and wheels for two cannons were purchased. Robert Greville was a parliamentarian and on August 7, 1642, a royalist force besieged the castle. Greville was not in the castle at the time, and the crew was under the command of Sir Edward Peyto. Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton, commanded the royalist force as Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire. William Dugdale acted as negotiator and asked the castle commanders to surrender the castle, but this was refused. The besiegers then opened fire on the castle, but this had little effect. According to Richard Bulstrode:
“… Our capture efforts did little, as we had only two small cannons brought in from Compton House that belonged to the Earl of Northampton, and these were carried to the top of the steeple to fire at the castle which they could not cause any damage, only cause fear within the castle; these in turn shot back into the street, killing several of our men. "
The siege ended on August 23, 1642 when the garrison was appalled by the forces of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, who forced the royalists to retreat to Worcester. After the Battle of Edgehill in 1642 - the first field battle of the English Civil War - prisoners were locked in Caesar Tower and Guy Tower. During the Second English Civil War, prisoners were again held at the castle, including those taken at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. A garrison including artillery and supplies was maintained at the castle between 1643 and 1660, which at the time of its greatest manpower numbered 302 soldiers. In 1660 the English Council of State ordered the castle commander across the street to dissolve the garrison and hand over the castle to Francis Greville, 4th Baron Brooke. The state rooms were out of date and in poor condition at the time. By Roger and William Hurlbutt, master carpenters from Warwick, extensive modernizations of the interior were carried out in 1669–1678. To ensure they were in line with the latest tastes, William was sent to Dorset to make careful notes on the recently completed interiors of Kingston Lacy Castle for Sir Ralph Bankes to designs by Sir Roger Pratt. On November 4, 1695, the castle was in good condition to accommodate a visit from King William III.
Francis Greville, 8th Baron Brooke, undertook a renewed improvement program on Warwick Castle and its grounds. The 8th Baron Brooke was also awarded the title of Earl of Warwick as the fourth creation in 1759. With the re-creation of the title, the castle was once again owned by the Earls of Warwick. Daniel Garrett's work in Warwick is documented for 1748; Howard Colvin attributes the chapel's Gothic decor to him. Lancelot "Capability" Brown had been there since 1749. Brown, who at the time was still the head of gardeners at Stowe and had yet to establish his reputation as the main exponent of English landscaped gardens, was hired by Lord Brooke to give Warwick Castle a "natural" connection with the river. Brown simplified the long, narrow course of the river by redirecting it in bends through the patch of lawn that reached directly to the bank, bounded at each end by thick clusters of native trees. A winding path gave the impression of a greater distance between the front gates and the castle entrance.
Horace Walpole saw Brown's elaborate plans in 1751 and noted in a letter: “The castle is lovely. I liked the sight more than I can say; the river Avon fell at his feet in a waterfall. It is well planned by a certain Brown, who relied on a few ideas from Kent and Mr. Southcote. "
In 1754 the poet Thomas Gray, who was a member of the gothic circle around Walpole, made a contemptuous comment on the activities at the castle:
"... he [Francis Greville] fitted the large apartment with sliding windows ... and since he was told that square sliding windows are not Gothic, he had some inlays put in the windows that were supposed to look like fretwork. Then he hollowed out the massive wall a little to create a niche for his small figure and children, which is hung with paper wallpaper and printed linen and chiseled chimney pieces, just like they did on Berkley Square or the Argyle buildings. "
Gray's mention of the Argyle Buildings in Westminster, London, linked to an inappropriately modern Georgian urban development project, as the buildings on Argyll Street were a reference to the designs by James Gibbs from 1736–1740.
Greville commissioned the Italian painter Antonio Canaletto to paint Warwick Castle in 1747 when the castle grounds and park underwent landscaping by Brown. Five paintings and three drawings of the castle by Canaletto are known, making the castle the building most frequently depicted by them in Great Britain. Canaletto's works at Warwick Castle have been described as "unique in art history because they are a series of views of an English country house created by a great continental master". In addition to the park, Greville also commissioned Brown to redesign the outer entrance hall and the stairwell to the Great Hall. Brown also contributed Gothic designs for a wooden bridge over the Avon (1758). He was still working on Warwick Castle in 1760. Timothy Lightoler was responsible for expanding the outer entrance hall and adding additional rooms to it between 1763 and 1769, and in the same years William Lindley created a new dining room and other interior changes. In the years 1786 to 1788, the local builder William Eboral was commissioned to build a new orangery, the main decoration of which was the Warwick vase, which had recently been purchased in Rome.
In 1802, George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick, was indebted to the new title creation for £ 115,000 (equivalent to £ 8 million in 2013). The count's estates, including Warwick Castle, were given to the Earl of Galloway and John Fitzpatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory, in 1806, but the castle was returned to the Earl of Warwick in 1813. The Great Hall was redesigned and restored in a Gothic style in the years 1830–1831 by Ambrose Poynter. Anthony Salvin was responsible for the restoration of the Watertor tower in the years 1861–1863. The castle was largely damaged by a fire in 1871 that broke out east of the Great Hall. Although the Great Hall was completely destroyed, the rest of the facility remained intact. Salvin's restorations and repairs during 1872-1875 were supported by public donations totaling £ 9,651 (equivalent to £ 670,000 in 2013).
Beginning of tourism
People had visited the castle since the late 17th century, and this gained in importance in the 19th century. In 1858, Queen Victoria visited the 4th Earl amid great local celebrations. But by 1885 it appeared that the count became more and more of a nuisance to the count, after which the count closed the castle off to visitors, which caused consternation in the city. A local report noted: "On one day last week, eight American visitors staying at one of the main hotels left a bit rushed because they had been denied entry to the castle." It reopened soon after, and from 1900 it had a ticket office and employed a permanent tourist guide. In 1936 Arthur Mee was enthusiastic not only that “these walls have seen some of the splendor of every generation of our [English] history”, with rooms “rich in treasures beyond dreams of greed”, but also that “theirs Spaces are open to everyone who wants to see them ”. The collection of armor on display at Warwick Castle ranks second only to that of the Towers of London.
Throughout the 20th century, successive Counts expanded its tourist potential until, in 1978, after 374 years in the ownership of the Greville family, it was sold to a media and entertainment group, the Tussauds Group, which reopened it as a tourist attraction. Tussauds carried out extensive restorations on the castle and the facilities. In 2001, Warwick Castle was included in the UK Tourist Board's list of 10 Most Beautiful British Historic Buildings and Monuments; the list also includes the Tower of London, Stonehenge and Edinburgh Castle. Warwick Castle was recognized as the best castle in Britain by the Good Britain Guide in 2003. At that time it was visited by more than half a million visitors a year.
Monument protection
As an official historical monument, in recognition of its importance as an archaeological site or historical building "of national importance", the castle is protected against unauthorized modification and is also a listed building of level I, together with its surrounding wall, stables, orangery, mill and garden house.
In May 2007, the Tussauds Group was bought by Merlin Entertainments, who continue to operate the castle for lease after selling ownership of it to Nick Leslaus Prestbury Group on July 17, 2007.
On June 23, 2006, teenage vandals damaged a £ 20,000 stained glass window and stole a ceremonial sword that was soon recoverable.
The Warwick Trebuchet
Since June 2005, Warwick Castle has housed one of the world's largest operational siege engines. The trebuchet is 18 meters high, consists of more than 300 pieces of oak and weighs 22 metric tons. The machine, which was built in Wiltshire, is set up on the bank of the river below the castle. It takes eight men half an hour to load and fire the trebuchet, with four men walking in four-meter high wheels to lift the counterweight, which weighs 6 metric tons. It was developed to be able to throw projectiles with a weight of up to 150 kg over distances of up to 300 m up to a height of 25 meters. On August 21, 2006, the Trebuchet set the record as the most powerful catapult of its kind when it launched a projectile weighing 13 kilograms over a distance of 249 meters at a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour, setting the previous record for a machine hired in Denmark.
Seasonal exhibitions
Further tourist attractions are the "Adlerflug" (a bird show with bald eagles, vultures and sea eagles), archery shows and tournaments, "The Trebuchet Show" and "The Sword-in-Stone Show". The castle is also home to the show "The Castle Dungeon", a live performer attraction similar to the "London Dungeons". Warwick Castle has been the subject of many ghost stories. An example of this is that of Fulke Greville, who is said to have haunted the Watertor tower even though he was murdered in Holborn. The castle's reputation as a haunted castle is used as a tourist attraction with events such as "Warwick's Living Ghosts", a live performance that retells the story of Fulke Greville's murder. Musical events at the castle include Christmas concerts, with performances by bands like the Royal Spa Brass.
Location map
The present castle was built of stone during the reign of King Henry II and is on the same site as the earlier Norman castle moth. A keep originally stood on top of the castle moth, which lies in the southwest of the castle grounds, although most of its buildings are now from the early modern era. In the 17th century, the moth was landscaped with the addition of a path. The outer bailey was included in the new castle and is now framed by stone enclosing walls.
When Warwick Castle was renovated during the reign of King Henry II, it was given a new site plan with buildings leaning against the outer walls. The castle is surrounded on the northern side by a dry moat, where it is not protected by the river or the old castle moth; the walled area is 130 meters long and 82 meters wide. The two entrances to the castle are in the north and west walls. There was originally a drawbridge over the moat to the northeast. In the middle of the north-western castle wall is a gate flanked on either side by the Clarence Tower and the Bear Tower; this gate is an addition to the 15th century fortifications. The apartment buildings line the east side of the castle along the Avon River. These buildings include the Great Hall, the Library, the Bedrooms, and the Chapel.
owner
Over its 950-year history, Warwick Castle has been owned by 36 different individuals, plus four periods as a crown estate under seven different monarchs. It was the ancestral home of three different creations by the Earl of Warwick and has been the residence of members of the Beaumont, Beauchamp, Neville, Plantagenet, Dudley and Greville families. The first founding of the county explicitly included the right to inheritance through the female line, so that the castle was owned three times by a woman (or a girl). Eleven of the owners were under 20 when they inherited it, including a girl aged two and a boy aged three. At least three owners died in the battle, two were executed and one murdered. Extensive construction or adjustments have been made to the castle in every century except the 21st century.
Grounds and parks
The existence of associated gardens was first documented for Warwick Castle in 1534. Garden design in the 17th century added spiral paths to the castle moth as part of Fulke Greville's restoration program. Francis Greville commissioned Lancelot Brown to redesign the castle grounds and the park; he began work on the grounds and in the park in 1749 and completed his work in 1757 after spending approximately £ 2,293 (£ 260,000 in 2013) on the project. The park covers 2.8 square kilometers (690 hectares). Robert Marnock laid out ornamental gardens on the castle grounds in the years 1868–1869. First known as the temple park in 1743, the park now known as the castle park is located in the south of the castle. Its original name is derived from the Knights Templar who owned a mansion in Warwick. The houses on the edge of the park were demolished and the land they were standing on was included in the park. Attempts to make a profit from the park at the end of the 18th century included leasing it as pasture, growing wheat, and raising sheep.
A water-powered mill on the castle grounds was likely built under Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick. In 1398 the mill was moved to a new location just outside the eastern castle wall on the west bank of the River Avon. Both mills were exposed to floods. A machine house had been added to the mill by 1644. After the mill was no longer used for grinding, it was used to generate electricity, but after Warwick Castle was connected to the mains in 1940, the mill was no longer needed and was demolished in 1954. Next to the mill is the mill garden, which is privately owned but can be visited. From this garden there are interesting views of the castle.
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 47.5 " N , 1 ° 35 ′ 3" W.