Warkworth Castle
Warkworth Castle is a medieval castle first built in the 12th century. It is located in Northumbria above the River Coquet. Though the castle was probably a seat of the Saxon earls of Northumbria before the Norman conquest of England, Warkworth initial construction as a motte and bailey castle is credited to Henry, the son of King David of Scotland, after he became Earl of Northumberland in 1139. Henry II, after the death of both King David and his son, repossessed Northumberland after 1150, granting it to Roger fitz Eustace. His son, Robert built the castle we see today starting in 1199. The castle then played an important role not only in the wars with Scotland, but in the internal wars within England, having passed to the powerful Percy family, who played a role in the deposing of Richard III, Read more…
Kilchurn Castle
Kilchurn castle is a medieval castle first built in the middle of the 15th century by the Campbells of Glenorchy. It is located on the northeastern end of Loch Awe in Scotland. From the 1400s, the Campbells were one of the most powerful clans in the Scottlish Highlands. For the next 150 years, they grew in power until they controlled most of the area, with Kilchurn being an important seat. By the 1700s, however, the Campbells were walking a line between support of the Protestant king William and the Catholic Jacobites. The Campbell fortunes went into a steep decline after the English takeover of Scotland, and by 1770, the castle was abandoned. The castle was initially built as a five-story tower house, but was expanded in subsequent years to include a curtain wall that encompassed more structures, including a dining Read more…
Carlisle Castle
Carlisle Castle is located on the western end of Hadrian’s Wall at an old border between Scotland and England. Currently a Norman Castle dating to the 12th and 13th centuries, Carlisle was a palace and seat of the British Kingdom of Rheged until it was conquered by William Rufus in 1092. For hundreds of years, even before the arrival of the Roman legions, a British kingdom was centered on Carlisle. Once the Romans conquered Britian, they made where the castle stands today the nucleus of the fort of Luguvalium, which by the middle of the second century was one of the most important military bases in Roman Britain. The British returned after they left and then in turn were conquered by the Normans. Carlisle was besieged both by Robert the Bruce in the Scottish wars for independence and during the Read more…
Trim Castle
Trim Castle is located on the Boyne River at the edge of The Pale–the border between Norman controlled Ireland and Gaelic Ireland. One of the largest castles in Ireland, it was built by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter in the 12th and 13th centuries. The first Norman conquest of Ireland began in 1171 with the arrival of King Henry II, determined to rein in the power of Strongbow, who had arranged for himself to be King of Leinster by marrying the current king’s daughter. The Normans very quickly carved out a portion of Ireland for themselves, called ‘The Pale’, which included the area from Dublin to the Boyne River. Hugh de Lacy, as one of these original magnates, was granted the Lordship of Meath and effective rule over much of Norman-controlled Ireland. It continued to be a powerful Read more…
Castell Caergwrle
Castell Caergwrle is located on the English/Welsh border in Flintshire. The castle was built by Dafydd ap Gruffydd on land given to him by King Edward after the war of 1277 as a reward for serving him and betraying his brother, Llywelyn. Caergwrle was built on an ancient site that had been occupied since before Roman times. The first reference to the medieval castle states that Edward had sent 100 marks to Daffyd on 12 November 1278 to either start building or repair a castle that is already there. Then, in 1282, after Dafydd rebelled against Edward and started the war anew, the king sent Reginald de Grey to take the castle. But when forces arrived on 16 June, they discovered Dafydd had already retreated and abandoned the location, to the point of filling in the well. Grey immediately set Read more…
Fort Saint-Andre
For Saint-Andre is located in the south of France on the opposite side of the Rhone River from Avignon. The fort is a medieval fortress built by Phillipe le Bel, the King of France. In the Middle Ages, Avignon was a border city and not part of the Kingdom of France. Although Philippe had ceded control of Avignon to his cousin, Charles of Naples in 1292, he wanted to maintain control of the Rhone River, so he was granted permission by monks who’d built a monastery on a bluff opposite Avignon to build a fortress around their monastery. Once the Pope officially moved the papal state to Avignon, the fortress acted as a visible reminder of the power of Philippe, should the papacy make decisions unfavorable to the French crown. Philippe also built a tower at the end of the Read more…
Roche Castle
Roche Castle is located in Ireland, northwest of Dundalk. It was built by the Verdun family in 1236 as part of the Norman conquest of Ireland that began in 1169. Bertrum de Verdun arrived in Ireland for the first time with Prince John, son of Henry II, before he became king. John had been declared Lord of Ireland by his father in 1177, though he didn’t arrive in Waterford until 1185, at which point Verdun was granted lands and built his first castle. John’s visit did not go well, mostly because John managed to offend all the native Irish leaders by laughing at their looks and promising his Norman barons their land. In addition, he developed an antagonism for Hugh de Lacy, who held the Lordship of Meath and was the most powerful Norman in Ireland. The Verduns managed to Read more…
Carndochan Castle
Carndochan Castle was built between 1215 and 1230 by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, otherwise known as Llywelyn Fawr. It is located in Gwynedd, two miles west of Llanuwchllyn. We know very little about Carndochan, other than it was one of the many castles constructed by Llywelyn Fawr to oversee roads in Gwynedd and to protect his herds of cattle. Like Castell y Bere, which was built around the same time, it occupies a strong defensive position with steep crags on three sides. The area was strategically important dating back to Roman times. One fort, Caer Gai, lies beside the main road a mile north of Llanuwchllyn, and roads are thought to have converged on the fort from Bala, Brithdir, and Tomen-y-mur. The castle is described as ‘ruined’, and is basically a pile of rubble. At one time, it had a D-shaped Read more…
Did Cancer Exist in the Middle Ages?
My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, a few months after my mom had a hysterectomy for uterine cancer. In 2007 at the age of 63, my dad was diagnosed with a second (unrelated) cancer–something horrible called lyposarcoma with a 15 pound tumor in his abdomen. He was given five years to live and made it 4 1/2. A month after my father died in 2011, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, her second (unrelated) cancer. She died in 2019 when it returned. How common was cancer in the past? If cancer is more common now than before it could be because: 1) we’ve polluted our environment 2) we live longer than in the past, so we die from things we wouldn’t have had the chance to die from in the Middle Ages 3) we’ve circumvented natural Read more…
Beaumaris Castle
Beaumaris Castle overlooks the Menai Strait on Anglesey in north Wales and was built by King Edward I in 1295 as part of his Iron Ring of Castles, a series of castles built around Gwynedd to control the Welsh. Beaumaris itself was begun in response to a rebellion led by Madog ap Llywelyn. In order to build Beaumaris, Edward destroyed a Welsh llys (palace), along with the entire Welsh town of Llanfaes, which was the most important trading port in Gwynedd at the time. The people were moved inland to Newburgh, and English settlers were brought in to populate Beaumaris. The English crown spent a total of 15,000 pounds on the castle, but it was never finished, the work finally being abandoned in 1330. Key features to visit within the castle are the many passages within the walls, the numerous Read more…
Skipton Castle
Skipton Castle is located in North Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1090 by a Norman baron, Robert de Romille. The castle occupies a strong, defensible position on a cliff on the south bank of the Eller Beck. While initially a traditional motte and bailey castle, the fortifications were upgraded to stone to withstand increasing raids by the Scots. The castle was expanded and remodeled through the 17th century and is still a private residence. Most of the castle is no longer truly medieval, but you can still see the 12th century chapel, as well as the original kitchen, great hall, withdrawing rooms, and the lord’s bedchamber. Skipton Castle is the seat of a major battle in Champions of Time.
Roscommon Castle
Roscommon Castle is located near the very center of Ireland. The name derives from Coman mac Faelchon who built a monastery there in the 5th century. The woods near the monastery became known as Ros Comáin (St. Coman’s Wood) The castle was built by the Justiciar of Ireland, Robert de Ufford, in 1269, on land seized from the nearby Augustinian monastery that furthermore for centuries was the homeland of the Connachta dynasty. The O’Connors besieged the castle starting in 1272 and it went back and forth between English and Irish control until the O’Connors regained it in 1340. The Irish retained control for the most part until 1652 when it was partially blown up by Cromwellian forces. What to see when you visit: Note the towers, which were built to a design similar to that of Harlech. The associated lake Read more…
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