History Essay About Warwick Castle

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be royalty? For the past kings, queens, and earls of Warwick Castle, this was their reality. They had this massive castle, beautiful gardens, and all were very wealthy. The history of Warwick Castle is truly fascinating with the hierarchy, architecture, and mysteries hidden behind stone walls.

When Warwick Castle was first built, it was said to be a Celtic settlement. This Celtic settlement was made into a fortress which is what we now know as Warwick Castle. This was converted all by Roman invaders (Hall 397).

The castle is placed in the middle of England (Wilson). In addition, Warwick is the most completed castle in England with a lot of the artifacts still remaining (Huntley). With Warwick Castle being only used for battle at first, they set the location on top of a cliff (Jones). The castle was put here to guard the beautiful River of Avon since it was a river crossing (Ellis). This very river was extremely close to Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon (Huntley).

Warwick has been through a lot through the millennia, so there have been many renovations to the fortress (Hall 420). For instance, there has been the addition of towers, including Guy’s tower which has 500 uneven steps leading up to it (Ellis).

Although these renovations have happened, Warwick Castle still keeps the ancient look that it has had since 1068 (Jones). Sir Walter Scott had once said, “the fairest monument of ancient and chivalrous which remains uninjured by time” (Hall 401). 

In almost every castle there is a dungeon, and Warwick is no exception. The Beauchamps, one of the longest running earldom, created this dungeon for prisoners of battle (Jones).

 Where you will find Warwick Castle is down an old Roman road called Fosseway (Wilson). This road winds down to the castle and you enter through a passageway made of stone (Hall 418).

When the castle first ever came to be, King Guthelyne was ruler. Alongside him was the first ever Earl of Warwick Castle, Sir Guy. As Guy was an important part of Warwick Castle’s earldom, he had a cliff named after him when he died (Hall 401-402).

As king of all of England, King Edward I, had a lot of power. He appointed one of his most trusted advisors, “William the Conqueror” also known as William Beauchamp, who controlled areas surrounding Warwick Castle, as the 9th Earl of Warwick Castle. In relation to being close to the crown, the Beauchamps were a very wealthy family. They held the earldom for more than 200 years (Jones).

In more recent years, from 1911 to 1984, Charles Guy or better known as an actor that went by the stage name, “Michael Brooke”, was the 7th Earl of Warwick Castle. “Brooke” was a movie actor because he needed money and a lot of it to keep Warwick Castle alive. Since “Brooke” was really rich, he had 200 servants working under him (Jones).

The first castle ever was built by William the Conqueror. After he had built the castle, he set off North, leaving behind his most trusted men as constables of Warwick Castle (Jones).

As it was a castle, there were ancient artifacts inside. There is a suit of armor worn by Montrose, a warrior, there. He helped win the 100 Year War for Warwick. There is also a breech-loading musket that was used in battle some hundreds of years ago. Another artifact among these is horse armor used in battle many years ago to fight the French during the 100 Year War. These artifacts still remain there today (Hall 421).

In addition, there are many fables surrounding Warwick Castle (Hall 435). One of them being that the Loch Ness Monster lives in the castle’s moat. The castle is also said to be haunted by Moll Bloxham, a woman thrown into a dungeon for stealing. This woman killed the castle’s dog at that time. This dog is said to be heard throughout the castle and in the yard. On top of that, the ghost of Greville, who was once a ruler, is said to be heard in the tower where he had died (Huntley).

Since the castle was used for battle, then there must have been battles that happened there. The most well known battle was Wars of the Roses. This war was between Lancaster and York. Lancaster and York had been enemies with each other for hundreds of years. They fought this war to end their feud (Huntley). Wars of the Roses was helped by one of the Beauchamps, Thomas Beauchamp (Jones).

There was also the 100 Year War. The war was in France. This war was because Edward III believed that he had the right to become king. Warwick helped fight against the French (Jones).

There are secrets that lie beneath Warwick Castle’s exterior. The secrets of Warwick Castle include murder, forbidden love, and banishment. 

The first people are Edward II and Gavestone. Edward II was obsessed with Gavestone, a French knight. Edward II succeeded the throne when Prince Edward died so Edward II had all the responsibilities. Gavestone distracted Edward II from his duties and Gavestone made fun of the royal family. The earls knew this had to be stopped so they brought a list of ordinances to Gavestone’s attention. This list required that Gavestone leave the royal family and never return (Jones).

Although these rules were meant for forever, Gavestone returned in 1312. The same year, the Earls kidnapped him and put him on trial. This trial was held in the Great Hall of the castle. Gavestone lost the trial and his punishment was death by beheadment (Jones).

One of the most feared dungeons was that of Warwick Castles. It was created by the Beauchamps to keep prisoners of war and to put people who were against the King away (Jones).

The prisoners in this dungeon were usually never heard of again. If you were put into this dungeon, you would have a very small chance of making it out alive (Jones).

The reason they wouldn’t make it out alive is because they would be thrown into a hole and forgotten. The thing about this hole is that this was the castle’s sewer. If you were thrown down there, you would die anywhere from 3 weeks to a couple of months from some disease or starvation (Jones).

In later years, a knight named Richard Neville was envious of King Edward for the crown. Neville decided to commit treason for the crown. This didn’t work out as planned. Edward decided to marry which took any power Neville may have been able to have. Neville was very angered by this so he wanted revenge (Jones).

This revenge involved declaring war on Edward for the crown. Neville achieved his goal and had taken Edward as prisoner. Many of the nobles did not like Neville as ruler so they decided to let Edward go and overthrow Neville (Jones).

Edward now wanted  his revenge so he conjured up the plan to kill Neville. After Edward succeeded, that wasn’t enough so he took the body of Neville to a chapel in England to show everyone what he had done (Jones).

Many years after the events of Edward and Neville, there was another murder in the castle. An old ruler named Lord Reveler owned the castle in the 1700’s. This man was close to poets and was a poet himself. He had many servants including a servant who held a grudge against Reveler. Reveler was a very rich man but in his will, it was said that servants were left very little when Reveler passed. This made the man servant angry so he decided to get revenge on Reveler (Jones). 

The thing the servant did was unthinkable. He was washing Reveler up when out of nowhere, he stabbed Reveler twice in the chest. The servant then regretted his decision so he turned the knife on himself and died. Although being stabbed near the lungs twice, Reveler was still alive and he was taken to get the best medical care possible at that time (Jones).

Back then, they didn’t have methods of healing stab wounds. The doctors decided to fill Reveler’s wounds with animal fat. This, of course, wasn’t going to work and Reveler lived 2-3 months after in agony. He then died in the castle (Jones). 

This castle has much history behind its towering stone walls that no one really sees. The hierarchy, architecture, and mysteries are what makes Warwick Castle, Warwick Castle. With the heirarchy, there were many kings, queens, and earls that once ruled Warwick Castle. Then there is the architecture where the ancient state of the castle kept its original look. There are then the mysteries behind the castle with death and rivalries.

All things considered, there is more to a castle than what meets the eye. If you were to come upon a castle, then maybe think about what the history behind the grand structure is. Also, think about how the castle came to be there and how the castle has affected the area. This will really give you a perspective on the castle that you never even knew could be possible. You may just appreciate the castle a little more.