Arundel, Part 1 – Ties to the Throne
Part 1 of a series of 3 Arundel Castle history
Arundel Castle, dating back to the Middle Ages, is the second largest castle in England and boasts some of the strongest ties to the throne. In the 11th century, King William was the first to make a grant of this region, with the strategic hill today figuring above the town of Arundel in West Sussex, to his first cousin and best friend, Roger de Montgomery.
Roger had looked after Normandy while William, then duke, was fighting his way to the throne. William commanded his cousin to build a castle overlooking the Arun River. Roger obliged with a classic motte and bailey constructed of timber.
At his death, Roger’s son, Robert de Belleme, worked on fortifying the castle from attack. When Robert rebelled against King Henry I in 1102 in favor of Henry’s brother Robert, the castle was besieged while its owner was away. After three months, it fell and was taken over by the crown.
When Henry I died in 1135, Arundel passed to his widow, Adeliza of Louvain. In 1138 she married the Norman baron William D’Albini (also referred to as d’Aubigny), a former member of Henry I’s household, and the couple made Arundel their residence. The castle was part of Adeliza’s dowry and William became lord of Arundel in her right.
The title of Earl of Arundel was created for and conferred upon William by King Stephen for William’s loyalty to the crown.
William had innovative ideas about castle construction and gained a prominent reputation as architect. He added the stone shell to the motte in order to increase the defense and status of the castle. He built Arundel’s 27-foot high, irregular oval-shaped Norman keep of Caen stone, which had to be brought from Normandy, as well as of Quarr Abbey stone imported from the Isle of White.
Tradition and loyalty may have prompted the order of Caen stone from France; Quarr stone involved less transportation expenses as well as economic benefit to a local monastery abbey’s trade that had only begun a few years earlier. In any event, stone structures were vastly more defensible than wood and offered the advantage of height to spot enemies at a greater distance.
Arundel’s keep, luxurious by standards of the time, incorporated dramatically narrowing steps (at the top allowing only half a medium foot’s length).
Enemy soldiers, weighed down by chain mail helmets and plated armor, tended to topple backwards upon one another in their mad dash to the top.
This is part one of a short series on Arundel castle.
