Arundel Castle, South East England

The castle is situated on a high and narrow ridge above the town of Arundel.  Although there was a wooden fortification at Arundel in the reign of Edward the Confessor, the lands were given to Roger de Montgomery who was a trusted supporter of William the Conqueror. When William sailed to England to take the throne, Roger was left as co-regent of Normandy with the Conqueror’s wife, Matilda of Flanders.  By the end of 1067, William gave his trusted friend a large portion of the county of West Sussex, which included 83 manors according to the Domesday Book, and Roger was also given estates in Shropshire. It was Roger who created the first Norman castle at Arundel, and the oldest part of the castle, the motte, which the current keeps sits upon, was built by him. 

The motte at Arundel is a man-made mound of earth, over 100 feet high, and was always surrounded by a dry moat.  Roger de Montgomery, who built the motte, married Mabel de Belleme, who was an heiress to a large territory located in the border region between Normandy and Maine. Mabel has a contemporary chronicler in Orderic Vitalis, who wrote that Mabel was:

‘Ready enough to do evil, shrewd and jocular, extremely cruel and daring.’ 

He goes on to tell us how she tried to poison a rival from a noble family, but ended up killing her own brother-in-law by mistake. Later, she seized a nearby stronghold, which saw her undoing. When the man she unseated, Hugh Burel, gained admittance, he is said to have cut of her head with his sword while she was in her bedchamber. 

After the death of Mabel de Belleme, her eldest son, Robert de Belleme, took control of her estates on the continent, but he is also said to have taken after his mother. In 1092, when William Rufus was on the throne of England, and his younger brother Henry was landless and in Normandy, Henry was offered the castle of Domfront by the townspeople, as they said they could take no more of the vicious rule of Robert de Belleme.  Although de Belleme had not yet inherited lands from his father, he was already a formidable aristocrat having inherited his mothers’ estates.  The contemporary chronicler Orderic Vitalis calls him:

‘proud and evil in every way.’

It is said that de Belleme chose not to ransom his prisoners, which was the normal custom, and instead he preferred to keep victims on hand for torture and mutilation.  Contemporary sources are unanimous in their condemnation of de Belleme.  Henry of Huntingdon, writing at the time, notes that de Belleme enjoyed thinking of excruciating ways to inflict pain on captives of both sexes.  He tells us that he impaled men and also women on stakes. That he took pleasure in the horrible butchering of men.  William of Malmesbury, also writing, tells us of de Belleme’s rage when the father of his own godson, who he was holding hostage, confronted him and in retribution he tore out the boy’s eyes with his fingernails.  

Despite de Belleme’s well-earned nickname of Robert the Devil, he was on good terms with King William Rufus.  De Belleme married Agnes, who was an heiress of the Count of Ponthieu.  De Belleme kept his wife locked up in one of his castles until she managed to escape, taking refuge with the Conqueror’s youngest daughter, Adela, the Countess of Blois.  When de Belleme’s father, Roger de Montgomery died, his lands were divided between his sons, with his eldest son Roger de Belleme inheriting the majority of his estates, which included the castle at Arundel.

When Henry I came to the throne in 1100, he would not forget Domfront and the cruelty that Robert de Belleme showed to the people there.  While the de Belleme’s were one of the richest and most powerful families of the time, King Henry seems determined from the start to rid England of them.  When Robert de Belleme built a castle at Bridgenorth in Shropshire, without obtaining a royal license first, King Henry saw his opportunity.  The King took his time and compiled his case, listing forty-five offences de Belleme was charged with. Rather than appear before the King when summoned, de Belleme prepared for military action, calling on his family and hired mercenaries, as he had few who would speak for him. As de Belleme refused to answer the charges, the King laid siege to de Belleme’s Castle of Arundel, which fell to King Henry in April 1102, after three months of resistance. The King continued to lay siege to his other strongholds, and cut down de Belleme’s army by paying off the Welshmen who were assisting him. The King caught up to de Belleme in Shrewsbury where he surrendered, humiliated and defeated.  The King allowed de Belleme and his brother safe passage to Normandy, but confiscated all of their English estates. Arundel Castle was now in the possession of the Crown. 

We know that King Henry I spend money on Arundel Castle in 1135, but we have very few records from his reign. After his only legitimate son and heir died on the sinking of the White Ship in 1120, the King decided to remarry as he now had only one legitimate living child, his daughter, Matilda. He chose for his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain, and they were married at Windsor on the 24th of January 1121, only two months after the sinking of the White Ship. When after 5 years this marriage had not produced a child, the King looked to re-marrying his daughter Matilda, who had been the widowed Empress of Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire. For her second husband, the King chose Geoffrey of Anjou.  An alliance with Anjou was something the King had pursued previously, when he arranged the marriage of his then heir, to Geoffrey’s sister.  Now that King Henry I only had one legitimate child alive, he named his daughter Matilda as his successor, and did everything in his power to make sure there would be a smooth transition of power after his death, as he had all his nobles swear their loyalty to Matilda.  The strange irony of all this being that King Henry I also had 21 illegitimate children and, while Norman custom may have accepted a bastard son to inherit, (after all his own father had been illegitimate), the rise in the power of the church in England, as well as English custom, meant that England would never accept this.  An heir of his blood meant that Matilda was his only choice. 

The Empress Matilda had moved to Germany at a young age, before her first marriage. Half of her upbringing occurred in Germany, and she may have picked up some of their accent as well. King Henry did his best to teach her, at his side, in the few short years before her second marriage, but he also had to remarry her or his line would come to an end.  At the time of her marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou, Matilda was twenty-six years of age and Geoffrey was just fourteen. They were married on the 17th of June 1128, in the newly built cathedral at Le Mans. Their age difference may account for why it wasn’t until the 5th of March 1133 that their first son was born, also in Le Mans, he was named Henry after his grandfather.  

The keep at Arundel is one of the oldest and best-preserved stone keeps in Britain.  It is however uncertain who built it. It may have been built by Henry I, or by its next owner, William d'Albini, shortly after King Henry’s death in 1135. Although it has also been argued that it could have been Henry II who built it, after coming to the throne in 1154. We do know that it was certainly rebuilt in stone in the 12th Century. After the death of King Henry I, his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain, was given Arundel Castle in her dower. Three years later she married William d’Albini, and their primary residence was Arundel Castle.

Henry of Huntington, writing at the time of the death of King Henry I in 1135, tells us that: 

‘he ate a surfeit of lampreys’

This is certainly possible as lampreys are a water creature, which resemble an eel, and they were highly prized in the Middle Ages. However, if great care is not taken in their preparation, they can be poisonous.  The King may have had a reaction to this dish before, as his physicians are said to have previously told him never to consume lampreys again. The King however, ordered them to be served, and two days later he was dead. He was buried in Reading Abbey. After the King’s death, the Empress Matilda and her husband Geoffrey, the Count of Anjou were in control of Normandy, but in England everything was about to change.  King Henry’s nephew, Stephen, was the third son of his sister Adela, the Countess of Blois. Stephen had vowed to be loyal to his cousin Matilda and support the Kings wishes for the succession, however, temptation seems to have got the better of him and, encouraged by his brother the Bishop of Winchester, he quickly had himself crowned King of England. Ironically, Stephen was supposed to travel on the infamous White Ship which sank in 1120, he had even boarded, but found that he was ill with stomach pains and disembarked before the ship sailed, thus avoiding the tragic ending of many others.  The nobles of England had decided that a man who was known to them, was a better choice than a female who they hardly knew. Matilda was not going to sit back and lose her inheritance, however, around the time of her father’s death, she had just given birth to her second son Geoffrey, and had a difficult recovery.  It wasn’t until 1139 that she would manage to land in England, and fight for her right to rule.

At Easter in 1139, Pope Innocent II had summoned hundreds of churchmen to the Second Lateran Council. Matilda sent advocates to plead for Papal condemnation of Stephen’s actions, in breaking his vows to her father, and stealing the throne of England. Stephen also had an advocate there, who did not argue against the charges as they were indefensible, but instead claimed that Matilda was herself illegitimate as her mother had taken Holy Orders, an accusation that was put to bed many years before, after a church investigation before her mother’s marriage to Henry. The Pope failed to find decisively in either parties favour.  Matilda had little options left but to come to England, and fight for the crown herself. On the 30th of September 1139, Empress Matilda landed in England with her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, 140 knights, and 3,000 infantry.  They headed to Arundel castle, where her step-mother Adeliza welcomed her.  Adeliza must have been very aware of her late husband’s wishes for Matilda to succeed him, but when King Stephen arrived outside the castle with a large army, Adeliza had second thoughts and wished for Matilda to seek refuge elsewhere.   Adeliza’s husband, d’Albini, had been a supporter of Stephen and this may also have caused problems within the castle.  

It should have been important to King Stephen to extinguish the threat Matilda posed, as quickly as possible, before this invasion could take root, but he must have still had some respect for the old King, as he allowed Matilda safe passage right through his army, so that she might join her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, in Bristol.  She was escorted to Bristol by Stephen’s own brother Henry, the Bishop of Winchester. Stephen’s failure to take Matilda captive when he had the chance, was greeted with disbelief by his followers. Thus began the period known as The Anarchy, which really took hold in England in 1139 on Matilda’s arrival, and continued until 1153, when Matilda’s son, Henry, landed in England with his own army. An agreement was finally reached whereby Stephen would remain King for the rest of his life, but Matilda’s son Henry would succeed him, and become Henry II of England.  While the nobles may have been reluctant to accept a woman as ruler, they had no such trouble accepting the grandson of Henry I, and by 1153 they were all tired of the fighting. Both parties travelled to London, where King Stephen declared:

‘Know that I King Stephen establish Henry, Duke of Normandy, after me as my successor in the kingdom and as my heir by hereditary right, and in so doing I give to him and his heirs the kingdom of England’.

It was only a few months later that Stephen caught a fever and died.

After King Henry II came to the throne in 1154, he confirmed William d’Albini II as the Earl of Arundel, with the honour of the castle. However, after Adeliza’s death the castle, which was held in dower, reverted to the Crown, but a few years later Henry II gave the castle back to D’Albini. D’Albini had helped to arrange the truce with King Stephen, which gave Henry the right to the throne.  This was the Treaty of Winchester, which affectively ended the Anarchy. The treaty set out other stipulations, as well as Henry becoming the next King.  Stephen promised to listen to Henry’s advice, Stephen's remaining son, William, would do homage to Henry and renounce his claim to the throne, in exchange for lands and titles.  Certain royal castles would be held on Henry’s behalf by guarantors.  The foreign mercenaries, on both sides, would be sent home. Although Adeliza was married to King Henry I for fourteen years, the marriage never produced any children, even though it was known that the King kept her by his side and travelled with her.  Adeliza’s marriage to William d’Albini had been much more fruitful, and together they had seven surviving children. Their eldest son, William d’Albini II, would inherit the castle after the death of his father in 1176.  The castle remained in the d’Albini family until 1243.

The barbican at Arundel, was the medieval entrance into the castle's inner ward. This is thought to have been built at the end of the 13th Century, while Richard Fitzalan was Lord of the castle. The barbican was equipped with a drawbridge and portcullis. This was all built in front of the original Norman gateway. The medieval keep is accessed through the Norman gatehouse.

The great hall at Arundel today, while magnificent, is only a neo-gothic representation of a great hall, it's roof timbers all coming from the estate. This romantic idea of a medieval hall was created between 1890 and 1903.

For nearly 1,000 years now, there has been a castle at Arundel.   The castle came into the possession of the Howard family in the 16th Century. The main buildings of the castle today, are a re-creation which was built by Henry, the 15th Duke of Norfolk, who created the large gothic revival castle at Arundel in the 19th Century. Most of Arundel Castle today is not medieval, but there still small parts of it which are not only medieval, but excellent examples, most notably the keep.