Middle Ages King William Essay - 1,206 words

Was Rochester Castle an Important Military Site in the Middle Ages? Rochester Castle was built in 1088, by the Bishop of Rochester - Gundulf. It was known that the Bishop owed the King - King William Rufus, a sum of 100. To settle the dispute the King ordered Gundulf to build a motte and bailey castle at Rochester. Th cost was 60, and the money came from Gundulf. The structure of the castle consisted simply of a single stone wall.


In 1122, a square stone keep was built inside the bailey, by John of Worcester. In 1230 a cross wall was built. It divided the Bailey into two parts - the outer bailey and the inner bailey. This information was extracted from the Textus Roffensis - Register of Rochester castle.


During it's existence, Rochester Castle was speed three times. Once in 1088, then 1215 and finally in 1264. The siege in 1088 was against King William II, as his brother, Robert and his uncle, Odo, wanted to overthrow him and place Robert on the throne. The plan failed and Robert remained king.


The siege in 1215 was against King John because he refused the nomination of Simon Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton became Archbishop, and was appointed to 'look after the castle', but the king asked for it to be returned himself as the agreement to which this adhered to had expired. Langton refused the order and so a siege took place. According to Roger of Wendover, the king undermined the east tower and set fire to it.


This shows that the King valued the castle a lot as he was prepared to fight for it. In 1264 another siege occurred. There was a civil war between he king and his subjects, so they capture Rochester Castle. However when they heard that the king was returning to Rochester accompanied by his son, they abandoned the siege and fled. I think that the reason for the abandonment of the siege was that they did not think that they had a chance against the king and his son. From each of these sieges we can see that the opponents used the castle as a 'lever' against the king to get what they wanted.


They had the king's 'prize possession' and would not return it until they had what the desired. For example from the 1264 siege the outcome was that the king lost control over Rochester Castle and did not rule for one whole year as he was imprisoned, and the Barons ruled the country during this time. This shows that Rochester Castle was an important military site as people considered it worth singing, although their plans were often not effective. The king also obviously thought it was an important military site as he was prepared to defend it. The fact that in 1216, King Louis of France also speed the castle, although by this time the castle had been reduced to a ruin after the siege of 1215, shows that people overseas also thought of the castle as important.


We now know that Rochester Castle was an important military site during the middle ages, but what were the reasons? During the middle ages, the main means of transportation was by ship or boat. Anyone intending to get to London from the south coast of England had to pass through Rochester first. Rochester was located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is also situated next to the River ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: king john, set fire, castle, king william, middle ages

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