Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 1 (of 2)Clark, George Thomas
History
Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 1 (of 2)
Clark, George Thomas
Architecture -- England; Architecture, Medieval; Military architecture
In 1158 Henry visited various parts of England. At Carlisle, in
January, he knighted Earl Warenne, but refused that honour to Malcolm
King of Scotland. While there he fortified Wark Castle, the sheriff’s
charge for which was £21. 8s. 11d. At Nottingham he gave to Richard de
Haia the custody “castelli _mei_ de Lincoln,” showing that he claimed
it for the Crown. In August he embarked at Portsmouth or Southampton
for Normandy; and while abroad took the castles of Thouars, Amboise,
Fretevel, Moulins, and Bon-Moulins. In 1159 he was occupied three
months at the siege of Thoulouse, which he failed to take. Other
castles in Normandy he took and repaired; others, again, he destroyed;
and he built a few altogether new.
In January, 1163, Becket came to England with the King, and gave great
offence to the baronage by claiming Tonbridge Castle for his see.
Towards the close of the year Henry deprived him of the charge of the
castles of Eye and Berkhampstead; and in December admitted him to a
personal interview at Oxford Castle. In this year Henry was again at
Peak Castle, and in March, 1164, at Porchester. Soon afterwards the
strong castle of Tickhill fell to the Crown by escheat; and Henry spent
Christmas at Marlborough, a royal castle.
In 1165, after a short visit to Normandy, during which the Queen
visited Sherborne Castle, Henry was at Rhuddlan, and caused Basingwerk
and the Flintshire castles to be again put in order. This was
fortunate, for the campaign was unsuccessful. Expenses on that occasion
were allowed at Oswestry (then called Blancmont), Shrawardine, and
Chirk Castles. This was an assertion of ownership on the part of the
Crown, although Oswestry was part of the private estate of William
Fitz-Alan, then a minor. Henry retired to Shrewsbury, and soldiers were
brought up from Worcester and Abergavenny, some of whom were quartered
in the Corbet Castle at Caus. Grosmont, Llantilio or White Castle, and
Scenfrith, the Monmouthshire trilateral, also contributed soldiers.
From Shrewsbury, Henry, reinforced, advanced into Powis-land, and
encamped on the Berwyn Mountain, where he was near being cut off by the
Welsh, and had to take refuge at Shotwick Castle, a small fortress on
the root of the peninsula of Wirrall, whence he retired to Chester, and
returned to London.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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