Worcester Castle

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Reconstruction of Worcester Castle as it was in 1250 (Worcester City Museums).

Worcester Castle was a Norman fortress in Worcester in the English county of Worcestershire . Urse d'Abetot had it built at the behest of William the Conqueror in 1068 and 1069. The moth was on the south side of the Anglo-Saxon settlement, partly on the site of the cathedral . Royal castles belonged to the king personally and were administered by an appointed constable on his behalf . In Worcester, this task was fulfilled by the Beauchamp family and there passed from father to son. So they always had control over the castle and considerable power in the city. The castle played an important role in the wars of the 12th and early 13th centuries. B. in anarchy and in the first war of the barons .

In 1217, the government under King Henry III decided. break the power of the Beauchamps and reduce the ongoing military threat the castle posed by returning most of the outer bailey to the cathedral. Without a functioning outer bailey, the castle no longer had any military value, but it still played a minor role in the second barons' war in the 1260s. In the early 13th century, a prison was built at Worcester Castle and the castle remained Worcestershire County Jail until the 19th century. Then a new prison was built on the north side of the city, the old castle was torn down and built over. With the exception of Edgar's Tower, nothing remains of the castle today. In place of the former entrance to the castle, the gatehouse of the cathedral now stands .

history

11th century

Worcester Castle was built in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Worcester after the Norman conquest of England . It was built in 1068 and 1069 on the orders of William the Conqueror, along with a number of other royal castles in major Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlements across England. The moth was made of wood and there were berths both south and north of the mound . Later sources indicate that the mound had a circular area around 5.5 meters in diameter at the top. The castle was well defended on the east bank of the Severn in the southwest corner of the district and used the walls and moats of the old Burh . Urse d'Abetot was appointed Sheriff of Worcester and constable of the new castle.

Worcester Castle was a city castle that was built within the existing settlement. Many of these castles had to be demolished, but in Worcester it was particularly noteworthy that the outer bailey encroached on the cathedral graveyard. It is not known whether the cemetery was still in use at the time, but this desecration resulted in Ealdred , the Archbishop of York , who had extensive interests in Worcester, complaining about the land grab and literally cursing Urse d'Abetot .

12th and 13th centuries

Ground plan of the castle before 1217: A - water gate; B - Mound; C - moat; D - outer bailey; E - frog mill; F - gatehouse; G - city wall

Worcester Castle remained a royal castle, but within a few years the offices of sheriff and constable became hereditary in the Beauchamp family , the successors of Urse d'Abetot . D'Abetot's son Roger inherited it; he was followed by Walter de Beauchamp , who married d'Abetot's daughter, then William de Beauchamp . The castle was effectively run by the Beauchamps, largely independent of the king. Despite controlling Worcester Castle, the Beauchamps preferred Elmley Castle, 20 km away, as their primary residence. In 1113 Worcester was attacked by Welsh soldiers who broke into the outer bailey and set the buildings there on fire. The wooden castle was destroyed and had to be rebuilt, again in wood.

At the end of the 1130s a civil war, known as anarchy , broke out in England , in which the factions of King Stephen and Empress Matilda fought for supremacy in the empire. Worcestershire became the main battlefield in that war. The first attack on Worcester itself came in late 1139 when an army from the House of Anjou of Gloucestershire attacked the city. After an unsuccessful attempt to take the castle on the south side of the city, the Gloucestershire army invaded the city from the north, looted it and burned it down. As a result, Walter de Beauchamp sided with Matilda. Worcester became the base for Stephen's troops for a time and King Stephen had Walter de Beauchamp exchanged as constable for Walram of Beaumont . The town and castle were later reclaimed for Empress Matilda by Robert of Gloucester . In response, King Stephan stormed the city for the first time in 1148 and then attacked it again in 1150, shortly before the end of the conflict. As part of these operations, King Stephen built two siege fortresses nearby, including Worcester Castle itself, one on Henwick Hill and the other on Red Hill . After the Civil War, Walter de Beauchamp was finally confirmed as constable of Worcester Castle by King Henry II , son of Empress Matilda.

At the end of the 13th century, William de Beauchamp , the grandson of Walter de Beauchamp , controlled the castle for the king. There was a trend in England in the 12th century to replace castles made of wood and earth with castles made of stone, and in 1204 King John Ohneland ordered the Sheriff of Worcester to make the gatehouse "now made of wood, with good and beautiful stone" to replace. The work for Johann Ohneland cost £ 25 and was only part of the improvements made during this period: for example, £ 1183 was spent on maintaining the castle, while £ 1192 was spent on the interior of the building and £ 1203 on the building Stables £ 6 3 p.

John Speed's illustration of the mound (left) and the outer bailey (right) from 1610

In 1215 a civil war broke out again, the first war of the barons, this time between forces devoted to King Johnann Ohneland and rebellious barons, supported by Prince Ludwig of France . King John appropriated the castle in 1214 and William de Beauchamp sided with the rebels in 1216. King John responded by sending troops who attacked the castle and took it back for the king. Despite Johann Ohneland's death, the war raged on until troops brought in Johann's underage son Heinrich III. were finally loyal to a victory over the rebels in 1217.

In the meantime, the 11th century dispute over the cathedral's cemetery continued unabated and in 1217 the government of Henry III decided to announce that the disputed site would be awarded to the cathedral. A commission met to determine exactly how the land should be divided up, and it was agreed that the border should run right through the outer bailey. The outer part was returned to the cathedral, rendering the rest of the castle unusable for military purposes. So King Henry made himself popular with the church and broke the Beauchamp's power in the city by crippling their local fortress.

However, the castle remained in use for a while, also because the Worcestershire County Jail was in the outer courtyard. Such a prison was first mentioned in a document in 1221; it is noted that a porter also served as a prison guard. The prison seems to have been built of wood in the Middle Ages. Escapes remained a problem. Some were recorded in the 1220s, and in the Second Barons War, Worcester was captured and all prisoners released. Later in the same war, King Henry III. imprisoned there for a while by Simon de Montfort . The castle also served as a location for the Worcestershire County Court and for the election of local officials.

14th - 19th century

Worcester Castle 1651 with redoubt on top of the mound

The Worcestershire Sheriffs continued to control the castle as constables and the property was inherited within the Beauchamps and then to the Earls of Warwick until Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick , also known as the "Kingmaker", died in 1471 in the Wars of the Roses . The victorious Edward IV divided up the numerous estates Neville owned and gave the castle to his son, strengthening the connection between Worcester and the Earldom of Warwick. The last constables were appointed in the 1540s, then the practice of appointing constables ceased entirely. Building blocks were removed from the walls of the castle, the mound was used to keep cattle and only the sheriff's county prison remained untouched. The historian John Leland noted in the 1540s that the castle was "now completely demolished" and that the mound was still impressive in size but heavily overgrown. A gatehouse, called Edgar's Tower , was built by the cathedral in place of the castle's previous gatehouse to guard the entrance to the former outer bailey.

In 1628 the Crown loaned the castle grounds to Giles Clutterbuck . The local gentry complained about this, which led to a court hearing in which the castle grounds were awarded to the county. In 1642 England slipped into the English civil war between the royalist supporters of Charles I and those of Parliament . Worcester's city walls were strengthened and a rampart, or small fort, was built on top of the mound of Worcester Castle.

After the war, the castle continued to be used as a county prison and in 1653 a new stone and brick prison was built on the castle grounds. In the 1770s, prison reformer John Howard inspected the prison and heavily criticized the facility. In particular, he complained about the basement dungeon, which could be reached via an escape of 26 steps. The room was circular with a diameter of 5.5 meters and secured by an iron gate. Worcester had extensive work done according to this report for £ 3431 (£ 364,000 converted to 2009) and by 1788 the prison had 18 new cells for men and 2 for women in addition to the basement dungeon and infirmary. Nevertheless, at Howard's inspection it had 74 inmates, with two inmates usually sharing a cell and sleeping together on the floor. Like other prisons during the period, Worcester Castle was operated as a private company, in this case by the local butcher who received £ 150 a year (£ 15,400 converted to 2009) to run the facility. The prison is known to suffer from outbreaks of prison fever that cost the life of a local doctor who visited the facility.

A new prison was built in 1814 with a more modern system of radial wings at a cost of £ 20,000 (£ 1.1 million in 2009). It originated on the north side of the city while the street on the castle was named Castle Street . The Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral acquired the old prison in 1823. The outer bailey was called College Green and was accessible through Edgar's Tower . The mound was slowly eroded between 1823 and 1846.

Individual references and comments

  1. ^ NJG Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45099-7 . P. 7.
  2. ^ Nigel Baker, Richard Holt: Urban Growth an the Medieval Church: Gloucester and Worcester . Ashgate, Aldershot 2004. ISBN 978-0-7546-0266-8 . S, 158.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i The city of Worcester: The castle and public buildings . A History of the County of Worcester. Volume 4. 1924. pp. 390-394. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b c James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume 2. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 386.
  5. ^ OH Creighton: Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England . Equinox, London 2005. ISBN 978-1-904768-67-8 . P. 134.
  6. ↑ James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume 2. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 123.
  7. ^ NJG Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45099-7 . Pp. 27, 96.
  8. ^ A b c N. JG Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45099-7 . P. 96.
  9. ^ A b c N. JG Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45099-7 . P. 210.
  10. ↑ James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume 2. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 241.
  11. ↑ Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-52 . The History Press, Stroud 2009. ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 . P. 85.
  12. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l James D. Mackenzie: The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure . Volume 2. Macmillan, New York 1896. p. 387.
  13. ↑ Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-52 . The History Press, Stroud 2009. ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 . P. 156.
  14. ↑ Jim Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-52 . The History Press, Stroud 2009. ISBN 978-0-7509-3793-1 . P. 156, 182.
  15. ^ R. Allen Brown: Allen Brown's English Castles . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004. ISBN 1-84383-069-8 . P. 55.
  16. ↑ It is impossible to compare prices from the 12th and 13th centuries with modern prices. As a comparison, however, £ 25 was about a quarter of a baron's annual income at the end of the 12th century.
  17. ^ NJG Pounds: The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A Social and Political History . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994. ISBN 978-0-521-45099-7 . P. 147.
  18. ↑ Ralph Pugh: Imprisonment in Medieval England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1968. ISBN 978-0-521-08904-3 . Pp. 85, 146.
  19. ↑ Ralph Pugh: Imprisonment in Medieval England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1968. ISBN 978-0-521-08904-3 . Pp. 350-351.
  20. ↑ Ralph Pugh: Imprisonment in Medieval England . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1968. ISBN 978-0-521-08904-3 . Pp. 219, 224.
  21. ^ Ella S. Armitage: The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles . J. Murray, London 1912. p. 241.
  22. ^ Worcester City Defenses: Conservation Management Plan . Oxford Archeology. January 2007. p. 102. ( Memento of the original of March 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 11, 2011.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.worcester.gov.uk
  23. ^ A b The Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline: Remarks on the Form an Construction of Prisons: With Appropriate Designs . The Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, London 1968. p. 1.
  24. ^ A b John Howard: An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe . J. Johnson, C. Dilly, T. Cadell, London 1791. p. 172.
  25. ^ A b c Lawrence H. Officer, Samuel Williamson: Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1264 to Present . MeasuringWorth. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  26. ^ The Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline: Remarks on the Form an Construction of Prisons: With Appropriate Designs . The Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, London 1968. p. 22.

Coordinates: 52 ° 11 '12.1 "  N , 2 ° 13' 20.3"  W.