Warwick Castle: the Wars of the Roses and a tour of the ramparts

This is Kylie writing, just to clarify any confusion over authorship. :-)

This is Warwick Castle on a rare sunny day. Warwick Castle is in the town of Warwick, in the county of Warwickshire (Shakespeare's county, according to the sign posts). It sits on a cliff right next to a bend in the River Avon. It is big. It is old. It is a major tourist attraction.

The photo below is the initial view of the castle keep as you walk up the winding drive. From left to right: Caesar's tower, barbican and gatehouse, and Guy's tower. There are a couple of smaller towers (Clarence and Bear) to the right, but we don't appear to have any photos of them: in the one photo that is in the right direction, they are obscured by a tree. This part of the keep dates from the 14th century. There was originally another keep in the same location that dated from the time of Henry II (1154-89).


There is still an even older ruin of an earlier castle. Somewhere on the mound is the ruins of the wooden motte-and-bailey castle established by William the Conqueror in 1068. It sits on a hill called Ethelfleda's mound. Ethelfleda was the daughter of Alfred the Great, and legend has it that it was she who instigated the construction of an even earlier Anglo-Saxon fortification there to defend Mercia from the Danes. The mound was landscaped in the 17th century.


I feel as though I need to get my head around the history of the place so, at the risk of boring you to tears, here is a summarised history from what I can glean from the fount of all knowledge and of many more wild inaccuracies:

Anglo-Saxon times: an Anglo-Saxon burh is constructed on a mound to protect Mercia from the Danes; no traces remain visible
1068: William the Conqueror establishes a motte-and-bailey castle on mound, appoints Henry de Beaumont to act as constable.
1088: Henry de Beaumont made first Earl of Warwick.
1153: wife of 2nd Earl is tricked into thinking her husband is dead; hands castle over to Henry of Anjou (who becomes Henry II a year later); 2nd Earl dies on hearing the news.
1154-89: Reign of Henry II. Builds keep and, at some point gives the castle back to Earls of Warwick because they had been loyal to his mother, Matilda.
1242: 6th Earl of Warwick dies without issue, title passes to sister, who also ends up dying without issue (in 1253). Title passes to cousin, William Maudit (8th Earl).
1260: Stone replaces wood in the castle's construction.
1267: Death of 8th Earl, title inherited by nephew, William de Beauchamp. Title remains in de Beauchamp family for 7 generations (180 years); most of the additions to the keep made in this time, the money for these coming from the spoils of various battles.
1449: Once Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick (the men are Earls, the women are Countesses) died at age 5, things became bloody (and complicated!) The title was inherited by her Aunt's husband, Richard Neville (also known as "Warwick the Kingmaker"), a cousin of Edward IV. Richard Neville had two daughters, Isabel and Anne, and they married two younger brothers of King Edward IV. He was also responsible for making Edward IV king in the first place whilst Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou, were busy campaigning in the north.

Now, as far as I can work out, there are three sides in this phase of the Wars of the Roses: Henry VI (Lancaster), Edward IV (York), and Warwick the Kingmaker, who at first supported Edward, then became jealous when Edward married Elizabeth Woodville (due to a combination of embarrassment and receding influence) and so supported himself, and then, when that didn't work, decided that Henry VI wasn't so bad after all. His son-in-law (married to Isabel), George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence) seems just as confused in his allegience: he supported Edward IV at first, then became jealous of his brother being King when he wasn't and so supported Warwick, then realised that Warwick wasn't going to make him king either and so supported Henry VI, and then when Henry VI was murdered, decided that being the King's brother wasn't so bad after all. France and Burgundy also rate a mention as places to flee to or to fight against. France was on Henry VI's side; Burgundy was on the side of Edward IV.

Continuing with the timeline...

1469: Richard Neville (Warwick the Kingmaker) rebels against King Edward IV and imprisons him at Warwick Castle; George Plantagenet assists. The aim is to get Edward declared illegitimate so George will become king. Edward IV receives aid from younger brother Richard and many other nobles. Richard arrives at Warwick castle with a large army and liberates Edward IV.
1470: Richard Neville and George Plantagenet flee to France. An alliance is formed with Henry VI. Richard Neville's daughter Anne marries Henry VI's son, Edward; George Plantagenet is named next in line to the throne after Edward. Richard Neville invades England; Edward IV and brother Richard flee to Burgundy. Henry VI restored to the throne of England
1471: Richard Neville plans to invade Burgundy and, instead, Burgundy assists Edward IV to invade England. Richard Neville is killed in the Battle of Barnet fighting against King Edward VI (but on the side of Henry VI); his title is inherited by George Plantagenet. Henry VI's son, Edward, is killed at the battle of Tewkesbury, Henry VI is murdered shortly thereafter.
1478: George Plantagenet is executed for treason; his son, Edward, is only 2 years old when he inherits so The Crown takes custody of the lands. Edward is cared for by his aunt, Anne Neville who, by this time, has married Richard Plantagenet (Edward IV's brother).
1483: Edward IV dies. Richard acts as regent for Edward IV's son, Edward. Richard imprisons both Edward and his brother Richard (this is all rather confusing with them all using the same names) in the Tower of London and becomes Richard III.
1484: Richard III's son dies, and Edward earl of Warwick is named his heir... for as long as his Aunt is alive (a matter of months) and then he is also imprisoned in the Tower of London.
1485: Richard III is killed at the battle of Bosworth. Henry VII takes the throne. The earl of Warwick is left imprisoned and is eventually beheaded for treason in 1499. No more Earls of Warwick for the time being.

Let's take a break from history.

One of the things that you can do at Warwick Castle is climb the ramparts. You start the climb by climbing up to the Clarence and Bear towers, then climb all the way up to the top of Guy's tower (39 metres), down and then along to the gatehouse, and then finally up Caesar's tower. Climbing up Guy's tower was hard work! The winding staircase was steep and narrow; Tom couldn't see where to put his feet because he had Eliza in a baby carrier. We have no idea how the woman in front of him managed the climb - she was wearing 4-inch stilettos. Actually, I still have no idea how she managed to walk in them for the entire day - ouch! Anyway, so when we'd finally go to the top, I was prepared to take my time and enjoy myself. Here I am enjoying the view.


And here is the view from the other side. Nice, huh? The building on the right is part of the actual living quarters.

I ended up taking most of the photos because, it turned out, I was the only one enjoying the view. This is where Tom stayed.


Why (I hear you ask)? Is he afraid of heights? No, not exactly. The engineer in him is... concerned that the structure might fall down, particularly the bits with overhang. Here's another photo of Guy's tower.


See how it overhangs at the top? See the person looking out? That's where I was standing earlier. There are even little grates where you can look down and see the ground. It's really cool! (I would have taken a photo but I didn't think it would focus properly.) However, apparently, even though the tower has been around since 1395, it might fall down, or the top part might fall off or... something. It's not worth risking life and limb by standing too close to the tower wall.

Anyway, we eventually climbed down Guy's tower and continued along the ramparts. I'll leave you with a couple more photos: Tom and Eliza in the gatehouse looking back to Guy's tower; and the view from Caesar's tower of the River Avon and the giant trebuchet.