Relaunched in 2021, the trail commemorates East Sussex‘s association with the Norman conquest. The path is waymarked by 10 sculptures created by local artist Keith Pettit, each inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry.

If split into two days of 15 or so miles, the first day sees the walker set off from Pevensey, where William’s Norman army landed on 27 September 1066, and head to Battle, where the Battle of Hastings took place on 14 October 1066.

The Normans occupied the castle at Pevensey in 1066, which was once a Roman fortress and whose surviving, impressively robust curtain wall is originally Roman. The 1066 Country Walk picks up across the road where a shady corridor opens onto the Pevensey Levels. This Site of Special Scientific Interest is traversed with a steady plod over flat paths intersecting wetland meadows. The path ascends into the woody and gently rolling hills of the High Weald and soon passes directly in view of the 15th century, brick-built Herstmonceux Castle.

A few hours after setting off, I set myself down on a bench atop Tent Hill, a rise in the former medieval deer park of Ashburnham Estate. The Ashburnham family established themselves on this land a few decades after the Norman conquest, and the grounds of the grand Ashburnham Place were designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in 1767. More tantalising is the suggestion that the English or Norman armies may have pitched up here, with views stretching to the South Downs, on the eve of the Battle of Hastings.

A few more miles took me alongside Senlac Hill, the generally accepted site of the Battle of Hastings. Battle Abbey was built on its summit on the orders of King William to mark the battle and perhaps compensate, spiritually-speaking, for all the killing it involved. Battle offers plenty of rooms in hotels, inns and private apartments if prepared in advance. In warmer months, there are also campsites a taxi journey away.

Battle Great Wood; Farbanks Henge

Image Credit: Kyle Hoekstra

On the other hand, perhaps a more authentic means of bedding down on the route is to pitch surreptitiously beneath the conifers of Battle Great Wood, an old woodland criss-crossed by wide, muddy tracks. The early medieval English made use of the woods for charcoal and the iron industry. As the last light was split by pines, I claimed a well-drained patch between their roots onto which I unfurled a pocket-sized tent, stretched out and lit my stove.

The following morning I wriggled from my sleeping bag to a quiet dawn chorus. Overnight rain had made gummy bog of the morning’s tracks which headed south and east towards Rye. At one moment, I had to remove my bag to crawl beneath a tree that had been wrenched over a walkway. When I was far from woods and marshland, I made coffee and porridge in a field beside a big oak.

A regular sight along the 1066 Country Walk are converted oast houses, elsewhere called hop kilns. These singular, cowled buildings, where hops were dried and stored for brewing, allude to the centuries of rural hop-growing which preceded 20th century industrialisation.

The walk soon broke onto open pasture and delivered me to a sculpture known as Farbanks Henge, a circle of oak monoliths inspired by trees on the Bayeux Tapestry. Here I met Peter, a local of Battle, and walked with him on the subsequent miles of country lanes and meadows through Icklesham to Winchelsea.

As we approached Winchelsea, he pointed out the isolated ruins of a gatehouse. I was already attuned to the town’s intriguing past. Over the past day I’d listened to Alex Prestons’ 2022 novel Winchelsea, which depicts the smuggling operations which ran rife in the area in the 18th century. The town was an important node in cross-Channel trade and became affiliated with the confederation of ‘Cinque Ports’. The present town was assembled on a grid in 1288, after ‘Old’ Winchelsea was abandoned to the sea – its name plausibly deriving from language for the marshland (‘qwent’) and the beach (‘chesil’).

Rye, East Sussex, England

Image Credit: Shutterstock

I watched Peter walk eastwards for Rye, which sits on a ridge above the intervening marshland. Rye is a substantially larger town with impressive historic remains. Its photogenic streets climb from venerable inns towards the Citadel, which contains St Mary’s Church, whose origins are Norman, and Ypres Tower, built to protect Rye and its harbour from later French raiders.

I chose to wait in Winchelsea a little longer. I ate lunch while looking over its striking, half-ruined church and contemplating the extensive wine cellars which run under the town. The sun was still high, and on Winchelsea’s Beacon Hill I dropped my bag by the remains of a mill destroyed by the Great Storm of 1987, which was once also the site of a Saxon church. I looked over the way I had come, at how the Weald comes to kneel at the sea. Then I lay with my back on the old mill stone, my mind alive to the tales I had gathered over the past two days.

In Meet the Normans, a new two-part series on History Hit, Dr Eleanor Janega sets out across Normandy to discover who the Normans really were. Here are just three things we learned from the series.

1. The Seine was essentially a Viking highway

Through the 8th century, the Vikings increasingly came into contact with northern Europeans through trading and raiding. Eventually, the rich lands, cities and rivers of northern France became a magnet for Vikings.

“The Vikings had already been raiding up and down the coast of the North Sea,” explains Eleanor. “But by 790 they set their sights on the Seine because this is an incredibly fertile and wealthy part of the world.

“From 790 the locals have to essentially put up with summer being the ‘Viking season’. Yes, you’ve got a great farm, but at any moment a band of warriors might come burn it down and enslave you.”

From longboats, with their distinctive shallow hulls and flexible, overlapped planks, Vikings laid waste to and sought treasures from monasteries such as Fontenelle Abbey. By the mid-9th century, Viking incursions had become a fact of life in the lower Seine valley. But the rewards of living in this region meant it was arguably worth putting up with this kind of terror.

2. Legend surrounds the origins of one of the most important Normans who ever lived

Weakened by internal divisions, the Carolingian rulers of northern France struggled to manage the Viking incursions. One Viking leader, Rollo, seized on this fragility, leading to an exceptional event in Rouen in 912 where he was baptised as a Christian alongside hundreds of his Viking retainers.

In a powerful demonstration of Rollo’s intention to establish himself and his family in the area, Franks and Vikings would have mixed in the medieval cathedral with pagan warriors queuing up to join the Christian community.

Not only did he embrace the Christian church and cultivate local nobility, Rollo adopted the name Robert. In doing so he became the first leader of Normandy. But his life prior to his violent arrival and later ascendance in Normandy is masked in mystery.

“Rollo is arguably one of the most important Normans to ever live,” says Eleanor, “but paradoxically we don’t actually know that much about him until he comes here to Normandy.”

In the 11th century, it was claimed he was a Danish nobleman whose brother had got in trouble with the king. A century later, Rollo was cast as a dignified nobleman with Norwegian ancestry. By the 13th century, the Icelandic saga writer Snorri Sturluson called him Rolf the Walker, a man so large that he couldn’t ride a horse.

“These are all light on actual facts, but what it shows us is that Rollo was an important enough person in the Middle Ages that if they didn’t have facts, they were willing to make them up.”

3. Tutoring the young William the Conqueror was incredibly dangerous

When the later Duke Robert of Normandy died on pilgrimage in the Holy Land around 1043, he left the duchy in a disastrous state with his seven-year-old heir, the future William the Conqueror, in grave danger from jealous rivals.

In this state of affairs being a tutor to the young duke was dangerous. Three of the duke’s tutors were killed while looking after him. Such was the peril that myths emerged portraying late-night escapes from castles, dressing up as a commoner and William waking to discover his tutor slain beside him.

“For a young child, seven [or] eight, to see that his own tutors had been killed before him would have traumatic effects on his psyche and it probably made him grow up much faster than he would have,” says historian Mathias Dilys, Educational Officer at Falaise castle.

“It sort of desensitised him, in a way. But he also had a keen sense of recapturing things that had been taken away from him, because he spent his childhood basically seeing other people taking things that belonged to him.”

William survived murder attempts and revolt, but they left scars on his personality. Before he mustered the strength to go overseas, he spent years hunting down rebels and securing his borders.

Both episodes of Meet the Normans are available to watch now on History Hit.

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In October 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor and believing he had claim to the throne, William invaded England, leading an army of Normans to victory at the Battle of Hastings, defeating the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson.

William’s coronation was monumental for England, ending more than 600 years of Anglo-Saxon rule and seeing its first Norman king. Norman rule in England would continue until 1154. It was also monumental for Normandy. From that point on, the duchy of Normandy was mostly held by kings of England until 1204 when it was captured by France.

Here are 5 of our top podcasts about William the Conqueror and the impact of the Norman Conquest.

1. William: Conqueror, Bastard, Both?

Dr Marc Morris is an historian and broadcaster, specialising in the Middle Ages. He is the author of ‘William I: England’s Conqueror’.

2. How & Why History: William the Conqueror

On 14 October 1066, Norman invaders led by Duke William of Normandy won a decisive victory over the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson. But why did William have a claim on the English throne? How did the Battle of Hastings unfold? And how did William the Conqueror change England forever? To answer the big questions about this decisive battle, Rob Weinberg talks to Professor Virginia Davis, of Queen Mary University of London.

3. 1066: Battle of Hastings with Marc Morris

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 miles northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.

4. The Normans

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 was one of the great milestones of English history but there were in fact many Norman invasions and their influence reached from Northern Europe through the Mediterranean and into the Middle East and North Africa. They were a phenomenon emerging in the 10th century but had disappeared by the middle of the 13th century.

In this brief period though, their influence was massive – creating new kingdoms, re-shaping societies and leaving behind impressive architectural, linguistic and cultural influences. In this episode, Dan speaks to historian Trevor Rowley author of The Normans: The Conquest of Christendom about their origins, how and why they spread so far, what their legacy is and why their influence was so short-lived.

5. Gone Medieval: The Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the world’s most prominent pieces of medieval art. Depicting the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England, the tapestry tells a story through detailed embroidery. But what can we learn about the Norman Conquest and the people being it through this skilful art?

In this episode, Matt is joined by David Musgrove, who helps us explore the lavish narrative behind the embroidery and the circumstances behind it. David Musgrove is the co-author of The Story of The Bayeux Tapestry: Unravelling the Norman Conquest, published by Thames and Hudson Ltd.

In October 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. He then suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.

Here are 5 of our top documentaries about William the Conqueror and the Norman Conquest’s impact.

1. 1066: The Year of Conquest

1066 – one of the most famous years in English history. In a succession crisis like no other, three warlords separated by hundreds of miles and savage seas vied for control of the English throne in a series of bloody battles.

From Harald Hardrada’s crowning victory at Fulford to the renowned Battle of Hastings, Dan Snow travels across England to visit the places where history was made. With the help of experts, including Marc Morris, Emily Ward and Michael Lewis, he discovers the story behind the battles and the tales from inside the walls of power. This is the story of 1066.

2. Conquest 1066: Told By the Teacher You Wish You’d Had 

If you went to school in the UK, chances are you spent hours of class time learning about 1066. Whether they’re fond memories or times you’d rather forget, revisit the Norman Conquest with us now. Enjoy an entertaining lesson, featuring exciting reconstructions, with Martyn Whittock, the teacher you’ll wish you’d had. You there at the back – stop talking!

3. Uncovering The Bayeux Tapestry

One of the world’s most famous and well-preserved pieces of medieval embroidery, the 70-metre-wide Bayeux Tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, culminating in the Battle of Hastings.

To this day, the tapestry remains one of the most valuable sources historians can analyse when understanding the events that led up to the Battle of Hastings, and the battle itself – which saw the Anglo-Saxon shield wall final succumb to the might and shrewd strategy of William’s Norman Army and King Harold being struck by an arrow in the eye… or so it seems…

In this documentary Professor Michael Lewis and Dr Emily Ward dissect the nuanced and, at times, controversial history of the Bayeux Tapestry and what it means to audiences today.

4. Securing his Kingdom: William’s Methods of Control 

This series is centred around how William secured control of England after the Norman invasion and defeat of Harold Godwinson in 1066. It follows a story of conquest and strategic restructuring, but also of brutality and death. It is a story of numerous remarkable methods William used to control England. Each episode has a key focus. The theme that connects all the episodes is methods of control. These episodes are written and presented by history teacher Jack Pettitt, and include:

Castles

As soon as William entered England, he started to build the ultimate tool of control: castles. These symbolic powerhouses display how William stamped his authority on England. In this episode, Jack visits Buckenham Castle to gain a better understanding of a typical Norman castle.

Marcher Earldoms

The Welsh presented problems for the Anglo-Saxons; William wanted to further strengthen this border, so created the Marcher Earldoms. In this episode, Jack visits a castle in Herefordshire, still displaying signs of its construction in 1067.

Dealing with Resistance

The north of England still shows signs of the infamous Harrying of the North. In this episode, Jack explores the reasons why it happened, situated between two villages listed to have been scorched by Norman soldiers.

Revolt of the Earls

Three earls in 1075 decided to rebel against William, but this was not like the revolts before. In this episode, Jack visits Norwich to show explores the reasons why it happened, situated between two villages listed to have been scorched by Norman soldiers.

Normanisation of the Church

It wasn’t just castles that William built to stamp his mark on England. The Normans were Christian: this sees a complete restructuring of the English church as well as new Romanesque architecture. In this episode, Jack visits St Albans Abbey, one of the Cathedrals built under William I.

5. Rebellion in the North: The Harrying of the North

In the winter of 1069–70, William the Conqueror waged a series of military campaigns to subjugate northern England, where the presence of the last Wessex claimant, Edgar Atheling, had encouraged Anglo-Danish rebellions.

In Part 1 of this three part series, Daniel Gray explores the context behind these campaigns and their impact on northern medieval communities.

History of Abbaye aux Dames

Built between 1060-1080, the abbey was consecrated on 18 June 1066, and is a fine example of Norman architecture. Its interior contains a host of details, including an impressive crypt with barrel vaults supported by 16 close-ranked columns, and an 18th-century convent with French-style garden. Queen Matilda died in 1083, and was buried in the choir under a slab of black marble. 

The abbey’s original spires were destroyed in the Hundred Years’ War, and replaced by less striking balustrades in the early 18th century. The French Revolution later saw the nuns dispersed and the abbey suppressed.

In 1823, Caen’s town council decided to transfer the ancient Hôtel-Dieu to the former monastic premises for use as a hospital. The canonesses regular, who had assumed responsibility for the hospital from the two abbeys during the 14th century, established themselves there, operating until 1908 when the facility was given to the Hospice Saint-Louis for use as a nursing home.

Abbaye aux Dames today

Despite losing its original spires, the abbey remains hugely impressive, and its 18th century convent buildings are now home to the Lower Normandy Regional offices. Restoration last occurred in the late 20th century, and today the Abbaye aux Dames is a must-see attraction in Caen. 

The abbey hosts free (pre-booked) guided tours every day (at 2:30pm and 4pm) in both French and English, lasting 1 hour 15 minutes, and is wheelchair accessible.

Getting to Abbaye aux Dames

Abbaye aux Dames is located on Place Reine Mathilde in Caen, less than 1 mile east of Caen Castle. This part of Caen is easy and enjoyable to walk around. A public bike-sharing service station is just outside the abbey.

Berkeley Castle history

Built by William FitzOsbern in 1067, Berkeley Castle was one of many motte-and-bailey castles constructed by the Normans shortly after the Conquest of 1066. Before long it passed into the hands of the Berkeley family and was rebuilt by them in the 12th century.

Throughout its long history, the castle has witnessed a number of dramatic events. It was the centre of a controversy during a period of civil war in Britain known as The Anarchy, when Roger de Berkeley was dispossessed for failing to ally himself with the House of Plantagenet and their heir Empress Matilda.

It was because of this that the castle passed to Robert Fitzharding in 1152, a wealthy burgess of Bristol and supporter of the Plantagenets who founded a new Berkeley line. His descendants still hold the castle now, making it the oldest castle in Britain to be lived in continually by the same family.

Two centuries later, Berkeley Castle was once again a site of intrigue. Early in 1327, Edward II was deposed by his wife Isabella of France, and sent to the castle for imprisonment. On 21 September, he was reportedly murdered within its walls, and though no details are known, popular stories range from suffocation to the use of a red hot poker.

Like many major strongholds in England, Berkeley Castle was also caught up in the English Civil War – the Parliamentarians laid siege to the castle in 1645 and eventually captured it from the Royalist defenders.

Berkeley Castle today

Today, Berkeley Castle provides visitors the opportunity to walk through its thousand-year history, with each room telling part of its fascinating story. The cell where Edward II’s murder is thought to have occurred may be explored, with the echoes of his cries in the 11m-deep dungeon reportedly heard each year on the anniversary of the event.

Berkeley’s sombre past can also been seen in the grand Great Hall, where the last court jester in England, Dickie Pearce, died after falling from the Minstrels’ gallery. In the adjoining chapel, visitors can see some of the more pleasant aspects of the castle however, including painted wooden vaulted ceilings and an illustrated vellum book of Catholic chants.

A walk around the castle reveals a number of tapestries and paintings by English and Dutch Masters, while outside the castle has yet more to offer. Its beautiful Elizabethan gardens are home to Elizabeth I‘s bowling green and a pine that is thought to have originated from a tree at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. To hear the castle’s full history, visitors can embark on an hour-long tour around the site included in the admission price.

Getting to Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle is located in Gloucestershire just west of the A38 off the B4066 road, and there is free parking at the site. The nearest train station is Cam and Dursley, 6 miles away, while bus services stop almost directly outside the castle’s entrance.

A great escape

In the outer bailey, at the far left hand corner as you walk in, is the ruin of St Peter’s Chapel. This is accessible from Mortimer’s Walk, which runs around the outside of the castle walls, and stands next to Mortimer’s Tower. The Mortimer family were powerful barons in the Welsh Marches, the strip of land on the border of England and Wales. It could be a lawless place that attracted hard men out to make their fortunes.

The Mortimer family were originally based at Wigmore Castle, not far from Ludlow, but made Ludlow Castle their powerbase when they acquired it through marriage. They became Earls of March when Roger Mortimer backed Queen Isabella in deposing her husband, Edward II, in favour of her son, Edward III in 1327. Mortimer had previously fallen from favour under Edward II and ended up a prisoner in the Tower of London. He escaped in 1323 after getting his guards drunk and climbing out through a chimney in the kitchens.

Once he had become Earl of March, Roger had St Peter’s Chapel built to celebrate his breakout. The Tower’s chapel is dedicated to St Peter ad Vincula (St Peter in Chains), and Roger had made his daring escape on that saint’s feast day too.

15th-century manuscript illustration depicting Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella in the foreground

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Rebel fortress

In the 1450s, failures in the Hundred Years’ War with France were leading to problems in England that would become the Wars of the Roses. Ludlow Castle was, by this time, in the hands of Richard, Duke of York, the leader of opposition to King Henry VI. York’s mother was Anne Mortimer, and he inherited the vast Mortimer portfolio from his uncle Edmund, 5th Earl of March.

As tensions increased, York moved his family from their home at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire to the more defensible Ludlow in the Marcher heartlands, writing letters from here to gather support. It was here that York mustered his forces in 1459.

This moment is the first time we have a record of all of the sons of York gathered together in one place: the future Edward IV (then Earl of March), Edmund, Earl of Rutland, George, later Duke of Clarence, and the future Richard III. Their cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, remembered as the Kingmaker, was there too. It’s incredible to walk through the grounds today where so many key players in the Wars of the Roses once gathered.

The result of this moment is known as the Battle of Ludford Bridge, named after the bridge not far from the castle. Ludlow was sacked by a royal army and the castle was looted. York and his allies fled, but returned the following year to claim the throne of England. The youngest children, Margaret, George and Richard, were left behind with their mother Cecily and witnessed the carnage that ensued.

Fit for a prince

York and his second son Edmund were killed at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460. In the following year, Edward took the throne and began the rule of the House of York. Although he was ejected from England in 1470 after falling out spectacularly with his cousin Warwick, Edward returned in 1471 to retake his crown, and to find that his wife had given birth to a son and heir in his absence.

Edward had been raised at Ludlow Castle with his brother Edmund, and when his own son was two years old, he was sent to learn to rule in a household here that used Wales to teach the Prince of Wales how to be a king one day.

Edward IV created a set of ordinances to govern his son’s household in 1473. He was to awake at a convenient hour, hear Mass, take breakfast, learn lessons, followed by dinner at 10am. After this, there would be more music, grammar and humanities lessons, followed by physical activities in the afternoon, including horse riding and weapon training suitable to his age. He was to go to bed at 8pm, until he was 12 years old, when he could stay up until 9pm.

Ironically, the king insisted his son should not be in the company of any ‘swearer, brawler, backbiter or common gambler, adulterer or user of words of ribaldry’. It’s ironic, because those were Edward’s favourite kinds of people.

This prince was to become Edward V, briefly proclaimed king but never crowned, and remembered now as one of the Princes in the Tower.

Tudor mystery

Another Prince of Wales was to make a home at Ludlow. Arthur was Edward IV’s grandson, the son of Edward’s oldest daughter Elizabeth of York, who married Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. Unlike the Yorkist Prince Edward, Arthur only arrived in Ludlow at the age of 15, in 1501. In November that year, he was back in London marrying the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon.

The newlyweds made their way to Ludlow where they would establish their court. The castle was extensively refurbished for them. You can still see the Tudor chimney stacks on the apartment block in the Inner Bailey. However, in March 1502 both fell ill with what was described as ‘a malign vapour which proceeded from the air’. Catherine recovered, but on 2 April 1502, Arthur died aged 15. His heart is buried in St Laurence’s Church in Ludlow, and his tomb can be found at Worcester Cathedral.

Arthur’s untimely death made his younger brother, the future Henry VIII, heir to the throne. Henry would marry his brother’s widow Catherine. When he ultimately sought an annulment of their marriage, part of his claim was that Arthur and Catherine had consummated their union. Part of the testimony at the trial to annul the marriage was that Arthur had claimed ‘I have been in the midst of Spain last night’ and that ‘having a wife is a good pastime’. Catherine denied that they had slept together until her dying day. If only Ludlow Castle’s walls could talk.

Ludlow Castle

Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

The Council of the Marches

The remainder of the 16th century saw Ludlow Castle go from strength to strength. As other fortresses declined, its role as the focus of the Council of the Marches meant that it was used and well maintained, particularly when Sir Henry Sidney became President of the Council in 1560. A keen antiquarian, he oversaw a great deal of refurbishment.

In 1616, James I and VI declared his son, the future Charles I, to be Prince of Wales at Ludlow Castle, reinforcing its importance. Like many castles, it held for the royalist cause during the civil war but fell to a Parliamentarian siege.

When Charles II came to the throne, he re-established the Council of the Marches, but it was officially disbanded in 1689. Without such a vital use, the castle declined. Owned today by the Earl of Powis, it is open to the public, and is a stunning place to visit and to be amongst such a long and fascinating history.

Here are ten of the most important.

1. Bertha of Kent

Bertha, a Frankish princess, was born in the early 560s to Charibert I, King of Paris, and a woman named Ingoberga. She was married off to King Æthelberht of Kent, an Anglo-Saxon pagan. In 597, St Augustine arrived in England to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.

Bertha is depicted in a stained glass window of the Chapter House, Canterbury Cathedral. Image source: Mattana / CC BY-SA 3.0.

It is widely believed that Bertha was instrumental in persuading her husband to embrace the new religion, as all accounts of St Augustine’s work named her as a prominent figure. Pope Gregory wrote to Bertha in 601, praising what “great succour and what charity you have bestowed upon Augustine”. She was compared to Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, who persuaded her son to convert to Christianity.

2. Æthelflæd

The eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, Æthelflæd was born in 870, a time when Viking invasions were at their height. By 878, East Anglia and Northumbria were conquered, meaning most of England was under Danish Viking rule.

Æthelflæd in the 13th century Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings.

Æthelflæd’s father, Alfred, married her to Æthelred to cement a strategic alliance between the surviving English kingdoms. After Æthelred’s death in 911, Æthelflæd ruled Mercia as Lady of the Mercians, where she would transform the balance of power.

She embarked on a defensive rebuilding programme in towns such as Tamworth, Warwick and Bridgnorth, recaptured Derby and was offered loyalty by the Viking leaders of York.

3. Matilda of Flanders

According to legend, when the Norman Duke William the Bastard sent his representative to ask Matilda’s hand in marriage, she retorted she was too high-born to marry a bastard. Furious at this snub, William rode to find Matilda, dragged her off her horse by her long braids and threw her down in the street.

A statue of Matilda of Flanders in the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris. Image source: Jastrow / CC BY 3.0.

Whether such rumours are true or not, the marriage to William – who became William the Conqueror – seemed to be successful. Their 9 children were known for being remarkably well educated, and their daughters were educated at Sainte-Trinité in Caen.

4. Matilda of Scotland

Matilda was the daughter of the English princess Saint Margaret and the Scottish king Malcom III. After a messy succession crisis in Scotland, Matilda married the English king, Henry I, and steadied relations between the two nations.

Matilda of Scotland was the mother of William Adelin and Empress Matilda.

In England, she led a literary and musical court, embarked on building projects for the church and ruled in her husband’s name during his absence.

5. Empress Matilda

Matilda of Scotland’s daughter, also named Matilda, was married to the future Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V. When her brother, William Adelin, died in the White Ship disaster of 1120, Matilda returned to England to be nominated heir.

Empress Matilda in ‘History of England’ by St. Albans monks of the 15th century.

She was an unpopular choice in the Anglo-Norman court. When her father died the throne was taken by Matilda’s cousin, Stephen of Blois, who was backed by the English church. Civil war broke out, and the disorder which prevailed gave this period the name of ‘The Anarchy‘.

On one occasion, Matilda was trapped in Oxford Castle, and escaped across the frozen River Isis in a white sheet to avoid capture. Although never officially crowned Queen of England, Matilda was titled Lady of the English, and her son succeeded the throne as Henry II.

6. Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor was born into the House of Poitiers, a powerful dynasty in southwestern France. As a Duchess of Aquitaine, she was the most eligible bride in Europe. Her marriage to Louis VII of France produced two daughters, but was soon annulled on account of consanguinity.

A 14th century depiction of Eleanor marrying her first husband, Louis. On the right, Louis sets sail for the Second Crusade.

Just eight weeks later, she was engaged to the Duke of Normandy. He became Henry II of England in 1154, beaconing a period of stability after civil war had raged.

Eleanor and Henry had eight children, three of whom became kings. Their marriage broke down when Henry imprisoned Eleanor in 1173 for supporting their son’s revolt against him. After her husband’s death, she acted as regent while Richard the Lionheart went on the Third Crusade.

7. Queen Philippa of Hainault

Married to Edward III for 40 years, Phillipa acted as regent for her husband in 1346, and accompanied his expeditions to Scotland, France and Flanders. The eldest of their thirteen children was Edward, the Black Prince.

Her compassion and kindness made her a popular figure, especially in 1347 when she persuaded her husband to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais. The Queen’s College in Oxford was founded in her honour.

8. Isabella of Valois

Miniature detailing Richard II of England receiving his six-year-old bride Isabel of Valois from her father Charles VI of France.

Isabella was the daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. At the age of six, she was married to Richard II, who was then 29.

Despite the union acting as a political exercise to improve French and English relations, Richard and Isabella developed a respectful relationship. He regularly visited her in Windsor and entertained her and her ladies-in-waiting.

Richard’s death cut the marriage short, leaving Isabella widowed at the age of 9. She went on to marry Charles, Duke of Orléans and died in childbirth at the age of 19.

Her sister, Catherine, would briefly marry Henry V and give birth to the future Henry VI. Through her second marriage to Owen Tudor, Catherine became the grandmother of the future Henry VII.

9. Anne Neville

As a daughter of Richard Neville, who was known as ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’, Anne was used as an important bargaining chip in the Wars of the Roses. She was originally betrothed to Edward, Prince of Wales, who was the son of Edward IV.

After the death of Prince Edward, she married the Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III. Anne bore a son, Edward of Middleham, who predeceased his parents. Anne also died of tuberculosis in 1485, and later that year Richard was slain at the Battle of Bosworth.

10. Margaret of Anjou

Margaret married King Henry VI, and ruled as Queen of England and France in accordance with the agreements made by Henry V at the Treaty of Troyes. After her husband suffered from bouts of insanity, Margaret ruled in his place.

The marriage of Henry VI and Margaret would break down when Henry suffered bouts of insanity.

Her provocative actions and position as leader of the Lancastrian cause made her a key player in the Wars of the Roses, although she would never enjoy much success. In her final years, she lived in France as a poor relation of the king, and died there aged 52.

Bamburgh enjoyed the zenith of its power and prestige between the mid-7th and mid-8th centuries AD, when the stronghold was the royal seat of power for the Anglo-Saxon kings of Northumbria. Yet the kingdom’s prestige soon invited unwelcome attention from overseas.

The raid

In 793 sleek Viking warships appeared off Bamburgh’s coast and landed on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. What followed was one of the most infamous moments in medieval English history. Having heard tales of the monastery’s great wealth, the Viking raiders plundered the monastery and killed the monks within sight of Bamburgh’s stone walls. It marked the beginning of the Viking age of terror in Northumbria.

Intermittently over the next 273 years Vikings and Anglo-Saxon warlords vied for land, power and influence in Northumbria. Much of the kingdom fell into Viking hands, though Bamburgh managed to remain under Anglo-Saxon control. The Vikings did sack Bamburgh in 993, but it never came directly under the Viking yoke unlike York to the south.

Viking longships.

Enter the Normans

Having resisted the Viking scourge, the Anglo-Saxon Earls of Bamburgh soon found themselves facing another threat. In the Autumn of 1066 William the Conqueror and his Norman army landed at Pevensey Bay, defeated King Harold at Hastings and subsequently seized the English Crown.

It was not long before he set about consolidating his hold on his spear-won kingdom, particularly in the north. Just as the Romans had done some 1,000 years earlier, William quickly realised Bamburgh’s strategic location and how it provided a vital buffer for his domain against the troublesome Scots to the North.

For a time William allowed the Earls of Bamburgh to maintain a relative degree of independence. But it did not last long. Several revolts erupted in the north, forcing the Conqueror to march north and inflict great devastation on his northern lands until near the end of the 11^th century.

In 1095 William’s namesake son, King William II ‘Rufus’ successfully captured Bamburgh after a siege and the stronghold fell into the king’s possession.

The Normans went on to strengthen Bamburgh’s defences to keep watch over England’s northern frontier. The nucleus of the castle that remains today is of Norman design, although Bamburgh’s keep was built by David, a Scottish king (Bamburgh fell into Scottish hands several times).

During the rest of the medieval period Bamburgh Castle witnessed several of the Age’s most famous English figures. Kings Edward I, II and III all ventured to this northern bastion as they prepared to campaign in Scotland, and for a time during the late 1300s, a young, dashing and charismatic commander controlled the castle: Sir Henry ‘Harry’ Hotspur.

Bamburgh Castle’s swansong

By the start of the 15^th century Bamburgh remained one of the most formidable fortresses in Britain, a symbol of power and strength. But in 1463 England was in a state of turmoil. Civil war, the so-called ‘Wars of the Roses’ divided the land between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians.

Prior to 1462 Bamburgh had been a Lancastrian stronghold, supporting the exiled King Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou.

In mid-1462 Margaret and Henry had sailed down from Scotland with an army and occupied the strategically-important castle, but it did not last. King Edward IV, the Yorkist king, marched north with his own force to drive the Lancastrians out of Northumberland.

Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick (better known as the Kingmaker) and Edward’s trusted Lieutenant, besieged Dunstaburgh and Bamburgh: after a brief siege both Lancastrian garrisons surrendered on Christmas Eve 1462. Yorkist control of Northumberland had been secured. But not for long.

Detail from “Bamborough Castle” by John Varley, 1827.

Attempting to reconcile his subjects Edward restored control of Bamburgh, Alnwick and Dunstanburgh – the three main bastions in Northumberland – to Ralph Percy, a Lancastrian who had recently-defected.

Edward’s trust proved misplaced. Percy’s loyalty proved paper-thin, and he betrayed Edward soon after, returning Bamburgh and the other bastions into Lancastrian hands. To strengthen their hold a new Lancastrian force – mainly French and Scottish troops – soon arrived to garrison the castles.

Once again fighting raged in Northumberland as Percy and Henry Beaufort, 3^rd Duke of Somerset, attempted to cement Lancastrian authority in northwest England. It proved to no avail. By 15 May 1464 superior Yorkist forces had crushed the remnants of the Lancastrian army – both Somerset and Percy perished during the campaign. The Lancastrian defeat resulted in the garrisons at Alnwick and Dunstanburgh peacefully surrendering to the Yorkists.

But Bamburgh proved a different story.

1464: The Siege of Bamburgh

Despite being heavily outnumbered the Lancastrian garrison at Bamburgh, commanded by Sir Ralph Grey, refused to surrender. And so on 25 June, Warwick laid siege to the stronghold.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. From the Rous Roll, “Warwick the Kingmaker”, Oman, 1899.

The siege did not last long. Within his army’s ranks Warwick had (at least) 3 powerful pieces of artillery, dubbed ‘Newcastle’, ‘London’ and ‘Dysyon’. They unleashed a powerful bombardment on the fortress. The strong Norman walls proved all-but powerless and soon gaping holes appeared in the stronghold’s defences and the buildings within, causing great destruction.

Soon large parts of Bamburgh’s defences were reduced to rubble, the garrison surrendered the city and Grey lost his head. The 1464 Siege of Bamburgh proved the only set-piece siege to occur during the Wars of the Roses, with its fall signalling the end of Lancastrian power in Northumberland.

Most importantly, it also signalled the first time an English castle had fallen to cannon-fire. The message was clear: the age of the castle was at an end.

Revival

For the next 350-400 years, Bamburgh Castle’s remains fell into disrepair. Fortunately in 1894, wealthy industrialist William Armstrong set about restoring the property to its former glory. To this day it remains the home of the Armstrong Family with a history few other castles can match.