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Arundel Castle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arundel Castle's west facade
Arundel Castle's west facade

Arundel Castle in West Sussex, England, is one of the most impressive and complete castles remaining in Britain. Construction on the original fortification began during the reign of Edward the Confessor (r. 1042–1066) and was completed by Roger de Montgomery, who incidentally became the first to hold the earldom by the graces of William the Conqueror.

From the 11th century onward, the castle has served as a hereditary stately home to several families (with a few and brief reversions to the Crown) and is currently the principal seat of the Duke of Norfolk and his family (grid reference TQ019074).

Contents

[edit] Construction

Intersection of the old and new walls
Intersection of the old and new walls

Arundel Castle was built during the reign of Edward the Confessor as a fortification for the River Arun and a defensive position for the surrounding land. The original structure was a Motte and Bailey castle before undergoing an extensive renovation during the reign of William the Conqueror which enlarged the motte and improved the defences. Roger de Montgomery is believed to have been declared the first Earl of Arundel when William the Conqueror granted him the property as part of a much larger package of hundreds of manors. (For other reasons, the generally accepted first creation of the title Earl of Arundel lies in the year 1138 with William d'Aubigny, confirmed in 1155).

When Roger de Montgomery died, the castle reverted to the crown under Henry I. The King, in his will, the left Arundel Castle and the attached land to his second wife Adeliza of Louvain. In 1138, three years after Henry's death, she married William d'Albani II (aka d'Aubigny, the first Earl, of the d'Aubigny family of Saint-Martin-d'Aubigny in Normandy). William was responsible for creating the stone shell on the motte, thus increasing the defence and status of the castle.

[edit] Changes to the castle — Medieval period

 View of Arundel Castle's Norman motte with the quadrangle in the foreground.
View of Arundel Castle's Norman motte with the quadrangle in the foreground.

Arundel Castle and the earldom have passed through generations almost directly since 1138, with only the occasional reversion to the crown and other nobles for a brief time. Since the Aubigny family first received the castle, changes have been made and the castle has been re-structured to meet the requirements of the nobility at the present time.

In 1132, the Empress Matilda was invited to stay at Arundel for some time during her travel to impress her claim to the English throne upon Stephen. The stone apartments constructed to accommodate the Empress and her entourage survive to this day.

In 1176, William d'Aubigny died and Arundel Castle then reverted to the crown, under Henry II, who spent a vast amount of capital re-structuring the building, mainly for domestic needs. When Henry died, the castle remained in the possession of Richard I ("the Lionheart"), who offered it to the Aubigny family line under William III comte de Sussex. The last in the Aubigny male line was Hugh, who died at a young age in 1243. When his sister Isabel wed John FitzAlan of Clun, the castle and earldom returned to him. The FitzAlan family enjoyed an uninterrupted hereditary line until 1555.

Upon the death of the seventh Earl in 1272, Arundel Castle and the earldom passed to his five-year-old son Richard. Thirteen years later, Edward I granted Richard the right to hold two fairs per year at the castle as well as the power to collect taxes. This grant provided funding for the much needed renovation of the castle, which, by this time, had fallen into disrepair. Once sufficient funds were available, FitzAlan added the well tower and re-constructed the entrance to the keep. After Richard's death, his son Edmund was executed for his part in the rebellion against Edward II. Arundel subsequently passed to the 6th son of Edward I who was also executed. The castle and titles passed back to the FitzAlans four years later.

The tenth Earl, Richard, fought at the Crécy with Edward III and the Edward, the Black Prince. FitzAlan was also responsible for the building of the FitzAlan Chapel, built posthumously according to his will.

The eleventh Earl, Richard, was treated harshly by Richard II. At the funeral of the Queen Anne, the Earl was beaten for arriving late and asking to leave early. Richard II eventually grew tired of his treachery and executed the Earl before confiscating his property. Arundel was given by the crown to John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, but when he was executed by Henry IV, Arundel was returned to the FitzAlan line once again. The next earl, Thomas, married the daughter of John of Portugal. The couple eventually became the first members of the FitzAlan family to be buried in the chapel built by Richard FitzAlan, the tenth Earl.

The FitzAlan line ceased when Mary FitzAlan, daughter of the nineteenth earl, married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. The crown seized Arundel upon his execution for conspiring to marry Mary I of Scotland, in 1572.

Arundel town and castle in 1644.
Arundel town and castle in 1644.

[edit] Changes to the Castle — 1572–1787

The castle passed back to the Earl of Arundel, and it remained uninterrupted until 1643. In this year, Arundel was seized by the Royalist army of Charles I during the English Civil War. The 14th Earl was out of the country at the time.

It was between 1643 and 1644 that a bloody siege took place, and much of the Norman Gatehouse bears the remains of that siege, led by Sir William Waller. The castle was in ruin. A journal of the siege recorded "The roofless apartments were left to moulder in neglect or sink beneath the ravages of the elements". This was how the castle would remain, in ruin, until 1716. The 8th Duke was going to construct a house in the place of the dilapidated old castle, but instead rebuilt parts of the south wing.

The successive Dukes of Norfolk used Norfolk House in London as their principal residence until 1787, the year that Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, devised a huge project to rebuild Arundel Castle. He had the backing of the Prince Regent (then George, Prince of Wales) and the total cost was around £600,000.

[edit] The Royal visit of 1846

In 1846, Queen Victoria visited Arundel Castle for a few days. The Duke of Norfolk at the time immediately began plans to rebuild the castle in time for her visit. He was thinking of disposing of some of the 11th Duke of Norfolk's work, as there had been several complaints from the celebrities of the day that it was too cold, dark and unfriendly. The Duke devised a brand new apartment block for the new Queen and her Consort, Prince Albert, commissioning a portrait of the Queen and decorating the block with the finest of Victorian furniture and art. There was also a re-structuring of bedrooms for the court. The Duke spared no expense to make the Queen's visit enjoyable, and he succeeded. The Queen was received on the 1st December 1846 by the Duke and other dignitaries of the town of Arundel, and then she retired to her private apartments. On her visit she walked in the newly designed grounds and visited areas of the county nearby, including Petworth House. Almost every part of the castle that the Queen would visit was re-furbished and exquisitely decorated to meet Royal standards. At the end of her visit, she wrote to the Duke and commented on how enjoyable her visit was, commenting on the "beautiful" castle and the friendliness of her reception. The suite of rooms in which Victoria stayed have remained virtually untouched, they are now called the 'Victoria Rooms'. Among other things on display in these rooms are the Queen's bed, the guest book bearing her and her Consort's signature and her toilet.

[edit] Changes to the castle — 1850 to the present day

The 19th century embellishments had not been completed when this picture was published in 1880.
The 19th century embellishments had not been completed when this picture was published in 1880.

Soon after the Royal visit the 14th Duke began re-structuring the castle once again. The 14th Duke died before its completion, and the work was overseen by his successor, the 15th Duke. Work was completed in 1900, and the castle began to look like the amazing architecture on display today. Changes were made to the grounds and he addressed the dark Victorian gardens and made them exquisitely bright and colourful. The problem of light within the castle itself was addressed by the replacement of windows to make the interior brighter. The keep was restructured later on, but the original keep was kept until then for its antiquity and picturesque setting. Before the reconstruction the Duke's family kept a colony of owls. An owl is said to appear at a window when a family member is about to die. Today, the castle is still the principal seat of the Dukes of Norfolk, also the Earls Marshal of England. Most of the building is open, except for the private apartments within the quadrangle.

[edit] Important events

[edit] External links

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