Hertford Castle
Encyclopedia
Hertford Castle was a Norman
castle situated by the River Lea in Hertford
, the county town
of Hertfordshire
, England
.
around 911. By the time of the Norman Invasion
in 1066, a motte and bailey were on the site surrounded by a moat
. William the Conqueror granted the castle to Peter de Valoignes, the High Sheriff of Essex and hertfordshire
.
took a great interest in the castle and its potential and it was practically reconstructed between 1170 and 1174. This included the building of the flint walls, drawbridges and gatehouses. The castle was further strengthened during the reign of Richard I
by his regent
, William Longchamp
. By this time the castle was governed by the Crown after Robert de Valoignes had died in 1184 leaving no male heirs. However it had been claimed by Robert Fitzwalter
, Robert de Valoignes's son-in-law. He seized the castle and installed his own tenants and garrison. Although he was subsequently evicted by King John
, he was eventually appointed governor of the castle. His opposition to the Crown continued and in 1211 he fled to France
and the castle was confiscated.
Following the death of Angelo Salvo in 1216, a French invasion besieged
the castle for a month until the governor, Walter de Godarvil, surrendered. However the country then supported Henry III
and by 1217 the French had left. Following this the castle's military role became secondary to its use as a royal residence and in 1299 Edward I
gave it to his second wife Margaret
.
During the reign of Edward II
the castle saw its first political prisoners, some of the Knights Templar
, in 1309. Edward's wife Isabella
and their son, Edward III
both spent much time in the castle.
During the Hundred Years' War
the castle was used to detain prisoners of royal and noble rank. These included King David II of Scotland
and, in 1359, King John II of France
. The following year the castle was granted to Edward's third son, John of Gaunt
who spent much time there, using it as his chief country home when not abroad on campaigns. The defences were repaired and stengthened again at this time. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard II
seized all the Lancastrian estates, including Hertford Castle, where he installed his new wife, the eight year old Princess Isabella.
The castle continued to remain in royal hands and in 1418 Henry V
granted it to his new wife, Princess Katherine of France
, and they spent much time there together. Henry's son Henry VI
spent much of his infancy at the castle. In 1445 he married Margaret of Anjou
and granted her the castle. However as a result of the Wars of the Roses
the crown went to Edward IV
who granted the castle to his wife, Elizabeth Woodville
.
became king the castle was granted to one of his greatest supporters, the Duke of Buckingham
. After the downfall of Richard III, Henry VII
conferred the castle to his wife in 1487 but Henry himself spent little time at the castle. However his son Henry VIII
spent considerable sums turning the castle into a civilian palace, including building the gatehouse, which still stands. Subsequently Edward VI
granted the castle to Princess Mary
. During her eventual reign, the castle was used to imprison Protestant
martyr
s. Elizabeth I
was a frequent visitor to Hertford.
the castle ceased to be a royal residence and it fell into decay. After Charles I
came to the throne the castle was granted to William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury
. Much of the castle was now in ruins having not having been used since Tudor times. The castle was leased to Sir William Harrington of Hertingfordbury Park, who carried out work to restore the buildings. He then assigned his lease to Sir William Cowper, Collector of Customs at the Port of London. From this time the castle remained in the ownership of the Cecil family, who leased it out to a succession of occupiers, many of them successors to William Cowper. Around 1790 the south wing was added to the gatehouse. Around 1800 a new gateway and lodge were built by the Marquis of Downshire.
Between 1805 and 1809 the castle became the home of the East India Company College
. In 1822 a general dispensary was established at the castle by the Rev. Thomas Lloyd, who was a prime mover in charitable work in the town.
In 1911, the Hertford Corporation leased the gatehouse of the castle (which was all that then remained) from the Earl of Salisbury
to house its administration. The grounds became a public garden. In the 1930s the north wing was added to the gatehouse and subsequently what was left of the castle was given to the town by the Earl of Salisbury. Hertford Castle now houses the offices of the town council.
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
castle situated by the River Lea in Hertford
Hertford
Hertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000...
, the county town
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
of Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Early history
Hertford Castle was built on a site first fortified by Edward the ElderEdward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
around 911. By the time of the Norman Invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066, a motte and bailey were on the site surrounded by a moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
. William the Conqueror granted the castle to Peter de Valoignes, the High Sheriff of Essex and hertfordshire
High Sheriff of Hertfordshire
The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years...
.
Plantagenet era
Henry IIHenry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
took a great interest in the castle and its potential and it was practically reconstructed between 1170 and 1174. This included the building of the flint walls, drawbridges and gatehouses. The castle was further strengthened during the reign of Richard I
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
by his regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
, William Longchamp
William Longchamp
William Longchamp , sometimes known as William de Longchamp or William de Longchamps, was a medieval Lord Chancellor, Chief Justiciar, and Bishop of Ely in England. Born to a humble family in Normandy, he owed his advancement to royal favour. Although contemporary writers accused Longchamp's father...
. By this time the castle was governed by the Crown after Robert de Valoignes had died in 1184 leaving no male heirs. However it had been claimed by Robert Fitzwalter
Robert Fitzwalter
Lord Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. was the leader of the baronial opposition against King John of England, and one of the twenty-five sureties of the Magna Carta...
, Robert de Valoignes's son-in-law. He seized the castle and installed his own tenants and garrison. Although he was subsequently evicted by King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
, he was eventually appointed governor of the castle. His opposition to the Crown continued and in 1211 he fled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the castle was confiscated.
Following the death of Angelo Salvo in 1216, a French invasion besieged
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
the castle for a month until the governor, Walter de Godarvil, surrendered. However the country then supported Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
and by 1217 the French had left. Following this the castle's military role became secondary to its use as a royal residence and in 1299 Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
gave it to his second wife Margaret
Marguerite of France (born 1282)
Margaret of France , a daughter of Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant, was Queen of England as the second wife of King Edward I, who was her father's first cousin.-Early life:...
.
During the reign of Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
the castle saw its first political prisoners, some of the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, in 1309. Edward's wife Isabella
Isabella of France
Isabella of France , sometimes described as the She-wolf of France, was Queen consort of England as the wife of Edward II of England. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre...
and their son, Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
both spent much time in the castle.
During the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
the castle was used to detain prisoners of royal and noble rank. These included King David II of Scotland
David II of Scotland
David II was King of Scots from 7 June 1329 until his death.-Early life:...
and, in 1359, King John II of France
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
. The following year the castle was granted to Edward's third son, John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
who spent much time there, using it as his chief country home when not abroad on campaigns. The defences were repaired and stengthened again at this time. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
seized all the Lancastrian estates, including Hertford Castle, where he installed his new wife, the eight year old Princess Isabella.
The castle continued to remain in royal hands and in 1418 Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
granted it to his new wife, Princess Katherine of France
Catherine of Valois
Catherine of France was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, wife of Henry V of Monmouth, King of England, mother of Henry VI, King of England and King of France, and through her secret marriage with Owen Tudor, the grandmother of...
, and they spent much time there together. Henry's son Henry VI
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
spent much of his infancy at the castle. In 1445 he married Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453...
and granted her the castle. However as a result of the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
the crown went to Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
who granted the castle to his wife, Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth Woodville was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Elizabeth was a key figure in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. Her first husband, Sir John Grey of Groby was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans...
.
Tudor period
When Richard IIIRichard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
became king the castle was granted to one of his greatest supporters, the Duke of Buckingham
Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham
Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG , an English nobleman, great grandson of King Edward III on his mother's side, was best known as a military commander in the Hundred Years' War and in the Wars of the Roses....
. After the downfall of Richard III, Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
conferred the castle to his wife in 1487 but Henry himself spent little time at the castle. However his son Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
spent considerable sums turning the castle into a civilian palace, including building the gatehouse, which still stands. Subsequently Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
granted the castle to Princess Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
. During her eventual reign, the castle was used to imprison Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s. Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
was a frequent visitor to Hertford.
Private ownership
However from the reign of James IJames I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
the castle ceased to be a royal residence and it fell into decay. After Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
came to the throne the castle was granted to William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, KG , known as Viscount Cranborne from 1605 to 1612, was an English peer and politician.-Early years, 1591-1612:...
. Much of the castle was now in ruins having not having been used since Tudor times. The castle was leased to Sir William Harrington of Hertingfordbury Park, who carried out work to restore the buildings. He then assigned his lease to Sir William Cowper, Collector of Customs at the Port of London. From this time the castle remained in the ownership of the Cecil family, who leased it out to a succession of occupiers, many of them successors to William Cowper. Around 1790 the south wing was added to the gatehouse. Around 1800 a new gateway and lodge were built by the Marquis of Downshire.
Between 1805 and 1809 the castle became the home of the East India Company College
East India Company College
The East India College was a college in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, England. It was founded in February 1806 as the training establishment for the British East India Company . At that time, the BEIC provided general and vocational education for young gentlemen of sixteen to eighteen years old,...
. In 1822 a general dispensary was established at the castle by the Rev. Thomas Lloyd, who was a prime mover in charitable work in the town.
In 1911, the Hertford Corporation leased the gatehouse of the castle (which was all that then remained) from the Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in British history. It has a complex history, being first created for Patrick de Salisbury in the middle twelfth century. It was eventually inherited by Alice, wife of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster...
to house its administration. The grounds became a public garden. In the 1930s the north wing was added to the gatehouse and subsequently what was left of the castle was given to the town by the Earl of Salisbury. Hertford Castle now houses the offices of the town council.