Day 9
On the way to Bamburgh Castle, Sarah Gristwood talked about
Warwick the Kingmaker.
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, 6th Earl of
Salisbury KG (22 November
1428 – 14 April 1471), known as Warwick the Kingmaker,
was an English nobleman, administrator, landowner of the House of
Neville fortune and military commander. The eldest son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of
Salisbury, he became Earl of
Warwick through marriage, and was the wealthiest and most
powerful English peer of his age, with political
connections that went beyond the country's borders. One of the leaders in
the Wars of the Roses, originally on the Yorkist side
but later switching to the Lancastrian side, he was instrumental in
the deposition of two kings, which led to his epithet of
"Kingmaker".
Through fortunes of marriage and inheritance, Warwick
emerged in the 1450s at the centre of English politics. Originally, he was a
supporter of King Henry VI; however, a territorial dispute
with Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset,
led him to collaborate with Richard, Duke of York, in opposing the
king. From this conflict, he gained the strategically valuable post of Captain of
Calais, a position that benefited him greatly in the years to come.
The political conflict later turned into a full-scale rebellion, where in battle York was slain, as was Warwick's
father Salisbury. York's son, however, later triumphed with Warwick's
assistance and was crowned King Edward IV.
Edward initially ruled with Warwick's support, but the two later fell out over
foreign policy and the king's choice to marry Elizabeth Woodville. After a failed plot to
crown Edward's brother, George, Duke of Clarence, Warwick
instead restored Henry VI to the throne. The
triumph was short-lived, however: on 14 April 1471, Warwick was defeated
by Edward at the Battle of Barnet, and killed.
Warwick's historical legacy has been a matter of much
dispute. Historical opinion has alternated between seeing him as self-centered
and rash and regarding him as a victim of the whims of an ungrateful king. It
is generally agreed, however, that in his own time, he enjoyed great popularity
in all layers of society, and that he was skilled at appealing to popular
sentiments for political support.[3]
Wethen had a visit to Bamburgh Castle. It is Northumberland’s most dramatic castle. The oldest surviving aboveground parts date from the 12th century. It was attacked by Edward IV during the Wars of the roses, It was a place where many Northumbrian kings were crowned but sacked by the Vikings ins 993, take by the Normans and rebuilt, and successfully withstood a siege by William II in 1095. The oldest parts of it above ground date from the time of Henry II who became King in 1154, and the principal part that has survived is the keep that was completed in 1164. In 1704 the bishop of Durham, Lord Crewe bought it. In 1894, the site was sold to William Armstrong, an engineer and armaments magnate. His descendants still live at the castle. It must be the largest castle we saw!
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| Grace Darling museum |
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| Inside the castle |
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| Family tree |
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| Medieval deed |
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| I have never seen so much china and expensive china in one place just because they could acquire it! |
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| Our guide was fabulous |
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| View of the North Sea from the castle |
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| Parish Church of St Aidan |
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| Grace Darling's tomb |
We visited the Parish Church of St. Aidan and the small
museum for Garce Darling.
Grace Horsley Darling (also known as
"Amazing grace" (24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an
English lighthouse keeper's daughter. Her participation
in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838 brought her
national fame. The paddlesteamer ran aground on the Farne Islands off
the coast of Northumberland in northeast England; eight
members of the crew and one passenger, Sarah Dawson, were saved.[1][2]
We had tuna salad lunch in the town of Bamburgh which had
wonderful coastal scenery.
On the way out we small, small fishing towns -no wonder they
wanted to be near Bamburgh-amazing!
What a trip!
After lunch, we visited Warkworth Castle, the chief residence
of the powerful Percy family.
Michael Jones and Sarah Gristwood talked about Warkworth and
the Percies.
Warkworth Castle was first documented in a charter of
1157–1164 when Henry II granted it to Roger fitz Richard. The timber castle was
considered "feeble” and was left undefended when the Scots invaded in
1173.
Roger's son Robert inherited
and improved the castle. Robert was a favourite of King John, and hosted him at Warkworth
Castle in 1213. The castle remained in the family line, with periods of
guardianship when heirs were too young to control their estates. King Edward I stayed overnight in
1292 and John de Clavering, descendant of Roger fitz
Richard, made the Crown his inheritor. With the outbreak
of the Anglo-Scottish Wars, Edward II invested in castles,
including Warkworth, where he funded the strengthening of the garrison in 1319.
Twice in 1327 the Scots besieged the castle without success.
John de Clavering died in 1332 and his widow in 1345, at
which point The 2nd Baron Percy of Alnwick took
control of Warkworth Castle, having been promised Clavering's property by Edward III. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of
Northumberland, added the imposing keep overlooking the village of
Warkworth in the late 14th century. The fourth earl remodelled
the buildings in the bailey and began the construction of a collegiate
church within the castle, but work on the latter was abandoned
after his death. Although The 10th Earl of Northumberland supported
Parliament during the English Civil
War, the castle was damaged during the conflict. The last Percy earl
died in 1670. In the mid-18th century the castle found its way into the hands
of Hugh Smithson, who married
the indirect Percy heiress. He adopted the surname
"Percy" and founded the dynasty of the Dukes of Northumberland, through whom
possession of the castle descended.
In the late 19th century, the dukes refurbished
Warkworth Castle and Anthony Salvin was commissioned to restore
the keep. The 8th Duke of Northumberland gave
custody of the castle to the Office of
Works in 1922. Since 1984 English
Heritage has cared for the site, which is a Grade I listed
building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The Percy–Neville feud was a series of
skirmishes, raids, and vandalism between two prominent northern English
families, the House of Percy and the House of
Neville, and their followers, that helped provoke the Wars of the
Roses. The original reason for the long dispute is unknown, and the
first outbreaks of violence were in the 1450s, prior to the Wars of the Roses.
The antagonists would later meet in battle several times during the feud.
This visit was followed by drinks and dinner at Langley Castle.
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| Historian Michael Jones |
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| Julian Humphrys, Alison Weir, Nicola Tallis, Sarah Gristwood, Kate Williams, Michael Jones |
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| Julian Humphrys |
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| Our last night-how fast time goes! |
Built in 1350, this is during the reign of Edward III, it is
one of the few fortified castle hotels in England. We had our gala quiz, took
lots of pictures, and then left for our hotel. I got Eton Mess for dessert and
Michael Jones ate most of it. I love it but it was a lot!
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