155-468: Carlisle Castle is a stone keep medieval fortress located in the city of Carlisle near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall . First built during the reign of William II in 1092 and rebuilt in stone under Henry I in 1122, the castle is over 930 years old and has been the scene of many episodes in British history . This Castle played an extremely important part in the wars between England and Scotland (
310-514: A bretasche , a square structure that overhung from the upper floors of the building, enabling better defences and a more sturdy structural design. These wooden keeps could be protected by skins and hides to prevent them from being easily set alight during a siege. One contemporary account of these keeps comes from Jean de Colmieu around 1130, who described how the nobles of the Calais region would build "a mound of earth as high as they can and dig
465-802: A donjon carré or donjon roman in French – and circular shell keeps . The reasons for the transition from timber to stone keeps are unclear, and the process was slow and uneven, taking many years to take effect across the various regions. Traditionally it was believed that stone keeps had been adopted because of the cruder nature of wooden buildings, the limited lifespan of wooden fortifications and their vulnerability to fire, but recent archaeological studies have shown that many wooden castles were as robust and as sophisticated as their stone equivalents. Some wooden keeps were not converted into stone for many years and were instead expanded in wood, such as at Hen Domen . Nonetheless, stone became increasingly popular as
620-433: A building material for keeps for both military and symbolic reasons. Stone keep construction required skilled craftsmen. Unlike timber and earthworks, which could be built using unfree labour or serfs, these craftsmen had to be paid and stone keeps were therefore expensive. They were also relatively slow to erect, due to the limitations of the lime mortar used during the period – a keep's walls could usually be raised by
775-408: A central keep. Military factors may well have driven this development: R. Brown, for example, suggests that designs with a separate keep and bailey system inherently lacked a co-ordinated and combined defensive system, and that once bailey walls were sophisticated enough, a keep became militarily unnecessary. In England, gatehouses were also growing in size and sophistication until they too challenged
930-463: A central, rectangular courtyard, and built a wall around them to form a castle. The result, illustrated initially at Yonne , and later at Château de Farcheville , was a characteristic quadrangular layout with four large, circular corner towers. It lacked a keep, which was not needed to support this design. The end of the medieval period saw a fresh resurgence in the building of keeps in western castles. Some castles continued to be built without keeps:
1085-576: A circular keep was built with four round turrets; internally, however, the structure remained conventionally square. A few years later, Château d'Étampes adopted a quatrefoil design. These designs, however, remained isolated experiments. In the 1190s, however, the struggle for power in France began to swing in favour of Philip II , culminating in the Capetian capture of Normandy in 1204. Philip II started to construct completely circular keeps, such as
1240-554: A degree of medieval allure to their owners. Some keeps were modified to exaggerate this effect: Hawarden , for example, was remodelled to appear taller but also more decayed, the better to produce a good silhouette. The interest continued and, in the late 18th and 19th century, it became fashionable to build intact, replica castles in England, resulting in what A. Rowan has called the Norman style of new castle building, characterised by
1395-504: A distinctive Romanesque style, often reusing Roman materials and sites, and were almost certainly intended to impress and generate a political effect amongst local people. The political value of these keep designs, and the social prestige they lent to their builders, may help explain why they continued to be built in England into the late 12th century, beyond the point when military theory would have suggested that alternative designs were adopted. The second early stone design, emerging from
1550-442: A ditch about it as wide and deep as possible. The space on top of the mound is enclosed by a palisade of very strong hewn logs, strengthened at intervals by as many towers as their means can provide. Inside the enclosure is a citadel, or keep, which commands the whole circuit of the defences. The entrance to the fortress is by means of a bridge, which, rising from the outer side of the moat and supported on posts as it ascends, reches to
1705-460: A fresh style was clearly political, an attempt to demonstrate his new power and authority over his extended territories. As historian Philippe Durand suggests, these keeps provided military security and were a physical representation of the renouveau capétien , or Capetian renewal. Keep design in England began to change only towards the end of the 12th century, later than in France. Wooden keeps on mottes ceased to be built across most of England by
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#17327718804311860-690: A generous civil list (a fixed annual amount set by Parliament for the king's official expenditure) of £800,000, equivalent to £141,200,000 today. Walpole commanded a substantial majority in Parliament and George had little choice but to retain him or risk ministerial instability. Compton was ennobled as Lord Wilmington the following year. Walpole directed domestic policy, and after the resignation of Lord Townshend in 1730 also controlled George's foreign policy. Historians generally believe that George played an honorific role in Britain, and closely followed
2015-472: A keep, rather than to a place of imprisonment. While the term remains in common academic use, some academics prefer to use the term donjon , and most modern historians warn against using the term "keep" simplistically. The fortifications that we would today call keeps did not necessarily form part of a unified medieval style, nor were they all used in a similar fashion during the period. The earliest keeps were built as part of motte-and-bailey castles from
2170-573: A key part of the motte-and-bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England, Portugal, south Italy and Sicily. As a result of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, use spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries, including Norman keeps, with
2325-424: A maximum of only 12 feet (3.6 metres) a year; the keep at Scarborough was not atypical in taking ten years to build. The number of such keeps remained relatively low: in England, for example, although several early stone keeps had been built after the conquest, there were only somewhere between ten and fifteen in existence by 1100, and only around a hundred had been built by 1216. Norman keeps had four sides, with
2480-406: A new castle development. By the 15th century, it was increasingly unusual for a lord to build both a keep and a large gatehouse at the same castle, and by the early 16th century, the gatehouse had easily overtaken the keep as the more fashionable feature: indeed, almost no new keeps were built in England after this period. The classical Palladian style began to dominate European architecture during
2635-568: A record of their current condition. The Castle houses Cumbria's Museum of Military Life. The museum "relates the history of Cumbria’s County Infantry Regiment, the Border Regiment and the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment and local Militia", according to Visit Cumbria guide. Governors appointed by: The post of Governor of Carlisle was abolished in 1838 . In a 14th century poem, legend has it that Sir Gawain, one of
2790-526: A resurgence in the building of keeps. In France, the keep at Vincennes near Paris began a fashion for tall, heavily machicolated designs, a trend adopted in Spain most prominently through the Valladolid school of Spanish castle design. Meanwhile, tower keeps in England became popular amongst the most wealthy nobles: these large keeps, each uniquely designed, formed part of the grandest castles built during
2945-456: A sequence of circular keeps as part of his bid to stamp his royal authority on his new territories, while in England castles were built without keeps. In Spain, keeps were increasingly incorporated into both Christian and Islamic castles, although in Germany tall fighting towers called bergfriede were preferred to keeps in the western fashion. In the second half of the 14th century, there was
3100-489: A small number of keeps on a much larger scale than before, in England sometimes termed tower keeps, as part of new palace fortresses. This shift reflected political and social pressures, such as the desire of the wealthiest lords to have privacy from their growing households of retainers, as well as the various architectural ideas being exchanged across the region, despite the ongoing Hundred Years War between France and England. The resurgence in French keep design began after
3255-490: A social event to disprove the gossip-mongers. When the Prince of Wales applied to Parliament for an increase in his allowance, an open quarrel broke out. The King, who had a reputation for stinginess, offered a private settlement, which Frederick rejected. Parliament voted against the measure, but George reluctantly increased his son's allowance on Walpole's advice. Further friction between them followed when Frederick excluded
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#17327718804313410-446: A square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps . Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take a decade or more to build. During the 12th century, new designs began to be introduced – in France, quatrefoil -shaped keeps were introduced, while in England polygonal towers were built. By the end of the century, French and English keep designs began to diverge: Philip II of France built
3565-416: A tall, square, stone-built, crenelated building; Scottish and Ulster tower houses were often also surrounded by a barmkyn or bawn wall. Most academics have concluded that tower houses should not be classified as keeps but rather as a form of fortified house. As the 16th century progressed, keeps fell out of fashion once again. In England, the gatehouse also began to supplant the keep as the key focus for
3720-414: A wall-walk around them, and the outer walls of the motte and the wall-walk could be strengthened by filling in the gap between the wooden walls with earth and stones, allowing it to carry more weight – this was called a garillum . Smaller mottes could only support simple towers with room for a few soldiers, whilst larger mottes could be equipped with a much grander keep. Many wooden keeps were designed with
3875-410: Is better than deception, "His temper was warm and impetuous, but he was good-natured and sincere. Unskilled in the royal talent of dissimulation, he always was what he appeared to be. He might offend, but he never deceived." Lord Waldegrave wrote, "I am thoroughly convinced that hereafter, when time shall have wore away those specks and blemishes which sully the brightest characters, and from which no man
4030-474: Is gone. I know I did not love my children when they were young: I hated to have them running into my room; but now I love them as well as most fathers." In 1754 Pelham died, to be succeeded by his elder brother, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle. Hostility between France and Britain, particularly over the colonization of North America , continued. Fearing a French invasion of Hanover, George aligned himself with Prussia (ruled by his nephew, Frederick
4185-534: Is none other than Camelot , the mythical seat of King Arthur's court. Keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility . Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep , but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed
4340-505: Is one of only 104 recorded examples, most being found on the Welsh border. The act of driving out the Scots from Cumberland led to many attempts to retake the lands. The result of this was that Carlisle and its castle would change hands many times for the next 700 years. The first attempt began during the troubled reign of Stephen of England . On 26 March 1296, John 'The Red' Comyn , since
4495-407: Is totally exempt, he will be numbered amongst those patriot kings, under whose government the people have enjoyed the greatest happiness". George may not have played a major role in history, but he was influential at times and he upheld constitutional government. Elizabeth Montagu said of him, "With him our laws and liberties were safe, he possessed in a great degree the confidence of his people and
4650-623: The Act of Settlement 1701 , therefore, the English Parliament designated Anne's closest Protestant blood relations , George's grandmother Sophia and her descendants, as Anne's heirs in England and Ireland. Consequently, after his grandmother and father, George was third in line to succeed Anne in two of her three realms. He was naturalized as an English subject in 1705 by the Sophia Naturalization Act , and in 1706 he
4805-479: The Bastille in the 1370s, for example, combined a now traditional quadrangular design with machicolated corner towers, gatehouses and moat; the walls, innovatively, were of equal height to the towers. This fashion became copied across French and in England, particularly amongst the nouveau riche , for example at Nunney . The royalty and the very wealthiest in France, England and Spain, however, began to construct
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4960-722: The Battle of Oudenarde in the vanguard of the Hanoverian cavalry; his horse and a colonel immediately beside him were killed, but George survived unharmed. The British commander, Marlborough , wrote that George "distinguished himself extremely, charging at the head of and animating by his example [the Hanoverian] troops, who played a good part in this happy victory". Between 1709 and 1713 George and Caroline had three daughters: Anne , Amelia , and Caroline . By 1714 Queen Anne's health had declined, and British Whigs , who supported
5115-502: The Battle of Plassey . George's son William commanded the King's troops in northern Germany. In 1757 Hanover was invaded and George gave his son full powers to conclude a separate peace, but by September George was furious at William's negotiated settlement , which he felt greatly favoured the French. George said his son had "ruined me and disgraced himself". William, by his own choice, resigned his military offices, and George revoked
5270-810: The Catholic claimant to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart , led by James's son , attempted and failed to depose George in the last of the Jacobite rebellions in 1745 . Prince Frederick died suddenly in 1751, before his father, and George was succeeded by Frederick's eldest son, George III . For two centuries after George II's death, historians tended to view him with disdain, concentrating on his mistresses, short temper, and boorishness. Since then, reassessment of his legacy has led scholars to conclude that he exercised more influence in foreign policy and military appointments than previously thought. George
5425-570: The Tour Jeanne d'Arc , with most built in his newly acquired territories. The first of Philip's new keeps was begun at the Louvre in 1190 and at least another twenty followed, all built to a consistent standard and cost. The architectural idea of circular keeps may have come from Catalonia , where circular towers in castles formed a local tradition, and probably carried some military advantages, but Philip's intention in building these new keeps in
5580-711: The War of Jenkins' Ear , became part of the War of the Austrian Succession when a major European dispute broke out upon the death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1740. At issue was the right of Charles's daughter, Maria Theresa , to succeed to his Austrian dominions. George spent the summers of 1740 and 1741 in Hanover, where he was more able to intervene directly in European diplomatic affairs in his capacity as elector. Prince Frederick campaigned actively for
5735-518: The 10th century onwards – a combination of documentary and archaeological evidence places the first such castle, built at Vincy , in 979. These castles were initially built by the more powerful lords of Anjou in the late 10th and 11th centuries, in particular Fulk III and his son, Geoffrey II , who built a great number of them between 987 and 1060. William the Conqueror then introduced this form of castle into England when he invaded in 1066, and
5890-632: The 1150s, although they continued to be erected in Wales and along the Welsh Marches . By the end of the 12th century, England and Ireland saw a handful of innovative angular or polygonal keeps built, including the keep at Orford Castle , with three rectangular, clasping towers built out from the high, circular central tower; the cross-shaped keep of Trim Castle and the famous polygonal design at Conisborough . Despite these new designs, square keeps remained popular across much of England and, as late as
6045-593: The 1170s, square Norman great keeps were being built at Newcastle . Circular keep designs similar to those in France really became popular in Britain in the Welsh Marches and Scotland for only a short period during the early 13th century. As with the new keeps constructed in France, these Anglo-Norman designs were informed both by military thinking and by political drivers. The keep at Orford has been particularly extensively analysed in this regard, and although traditional explanations suggested that its unusual plan
6200-460: The 11th century, either as part of motte-and-bailey designs or, as part of Hohenburgen castles, with characteristic inner and outer courts. Bergfriede , which take their name from the German for a belfry , had similarities to keeps, but are usually distinguished from them on account of Bergfriede having a smaller area or footprint, usually being non-residential and being typically integrated into
6355-415: The 12th century onwards, was the shell keep , a donjon annulaire in French, which involved replacing the wooden keep on a motte, or the palisade on a ringwork , with a circular stone wall. Shell keeps were sometimes further protected by an additional low protective wall, called a chemise , around their base. Buildings could then be built around the inside of the shell, producing a small inner courtyard at
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6510-524: The 12th century, however, the influence of France and the various military orders was encouraging the development of square keeps in Christian castles across the region, and by the second half of the century this practice was spread across into the Islamic kingdoms. By contrast, the remainder of Europe saw stone towers being used in castles, but not in a way that fulfilled the range of functions seen in
6665-445: The 13th century was another development that removed the need for a keep. Castles had needed additional living space since their first emergence in the 9th century; initially this had been provided by halls in the bailey, then later by ranges of chambers alongside the inside of a bailey wall, such as at Goodrich . But French designs in the late 12th century took the layout of a contemporary unfortified manor house, whose rooms faced around
6820-565: The 16th century, the English word keep has commonly referred to large towers in castles. The word originates from around 1375 to 1376, coming from the Middle English term kype , meaning basket or cask, and was a term applied to the shell keep at Guînes , said to resemble a barrel. The term came to be used for other shell keeps by the 15th century. By the 17th century, the word keep lost its original reference to baskets or casks and
6975-472: The 17th and 18th centuries or incorporated into gardens as an alternative to follies . During the 19th century, keeps became fashionable once again, and in England and France, a number were restored or redesigned by Gothic architects. Despite further damage to many French and Spanish keeps during the wars of the 20th century, keeps now form an important part of the tourist and heritage industry in Europe. Since
7130-478: The 17th century onwards, some keeps were deliberately destroyed. In England, many were destroyed after the end of the Second English Civil War in 1649, when Parliament took steps to prevent another royalist uprising by slighting , or damaging, castles so as to prevent them from having any further military utility. Slighting was quite expensive and took considerable effort to carry out, so damage
7285-407: The 17th century, causing a further move away from the use of keeps. Buildings in this style usually required considerable space for the enfiladed formal rooms that became essential for modern palaces by the middle of the century, and this style was impossible to fit into a traditional keep. The keep at Bolsover Castle in England was one of the few to be built as part of a Palladian design. From
7440-512: The 20th century caused damage to many castle keeps across Europe; in particular, the famous keep at Coucy was destroyed by the German Army in 1917. By the late 20th century the conservation of castle keeps formed part of government policy across France, England, Ireland, and Spain. In the 21st century in England, most keeps are in ruins and form part of the tourism and heritage industries, rather than being used as functioning buildings –
7595-703: The Border Regiment until 1959, when the regiment amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) to form the King's Own Royal Border Regiment . The Army Reserve still use parts of the castle: 8 Platoon C Company 4th Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment are based within the Burma Block alongside a Multi Cap-Badge detachment of the Army Reserve, including Medics, Engineers, Logisticicians, Intelligence and Infanteers from other Cap Badges. Carlisle Castle
7750-561: The British throne. George married Princess Caroline of Ansbach , with whom he had eight children. After the deaths of George's grandmother and Anne, Queen of Great Britain , George's father, the Elector of Hanover , ascended the British throne as George I in 1714. In the first years of his father's reign as king, Prince George was associated with opposition politicians until they rejoined the governing party. As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which
7905-748: The Castilian Crown during the period. Henry IV of Castile responded in the 15th century by creating a sequence of royal castles with prominent keeps at the Castle of La Mota , Portillo , and Alcázar of Segovia : built to particular proportions, these keeps became known as a key element of the Valladolid school of Spanish castle design. Smaller versions of these keeps were subsequently built by many aspiring new aristocracy in Spain, including many converted Jews , keen to improve their social prestige and position in society. The French model of tall keeps
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#17327718804318060-525: The Duke at the christening, which the Duke misunderstood as a challenge to a duel. George and Caroline were temporarily confined to their apartments on the order of the King, who subsequently banished his son from St James's Palace , the King's residence. The Prince and Princess of Wales left court, but their children remained in the care of the King. George and Caroline missed their children, and were desperate to see them. On one occasion, they secretly visited
8215-481: The Edwardian designs at the end of the 14th century. In the 15th century, the fashion for the creation of very expensive, French-influenced palatial castles featuring complex tower keeps spread, with new keeps being built at Wardour , Tattershall , and Raglan Castle . In central and eastern England, some keeps began to be built in brick, with Caister and Tattershall forming examples of this trend. In Scotland,
8370-606: The Elder as Secretary of State for the Southern Department . In April the following year George dismissed Pitt in an attempt to construct an administration more to his liking. Over the succeeding three months attempts to form another stable ministerial combination failed. In June Lord Waldegrave held the seals of office for only four days. By the start of July, Pitt was recalled and Newcastle returned as prime minister. As Secretary of State, Pitt guided policy relating to
8525-546: The Elder in the Cabinet, which would have broadened the government's support base. The King disliked Pitt because he had previously opposed government policy and attacked measures seen as pro-Hanoverian. In February 1746, Pelham and his followers resigned. George asked Lord Bath and Carteret to form an administration , but after less than 48 hours they returned the seals of office, unable to secure sufficient parliamentary support. Pelham returned to office triumphant, and George
8680-489: The French reneged on a promise of help. Losing morale, the Jacobites retreated back into Scotland. On 16/27 April 1746, Charles faced George's military-minded son Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, in the Battle of Culloden , the last pitched battle fought on British soil. The ravaged Jacobite troops were routed by the government army. Charles escaped to France, but many of his supporters were caught and executed. Jacobitism
8835-575: The Great ), Austria's enemy. Russia and France allied with Austria, their former enemy. A French invasion of the British-held island of Minorca led to the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756. Public disquiet over British failures at the start of the conflict led to Newcastle's resignation and the appointment of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire , as prime minister and William Pitt
8990-604: The Hanoverian succession, thought it prudent for one of the Hanoverians to live in England to safeguard the Protestant succession on Anne's death. As George was a peer of the realm (as Duke of Cambridge), it was suggested that he be summoned to Parliament to sit in the House of Lords . Both Anne and George's father refused to support the plan, although George, Caroline, and Sophia were all in favour. George did not go. Within
9145-513: The Holy Roman Empire". When George became Prince of Wales in 1714, he was granted the royal arms with an inescutcheon of gules plain in the Hanoverian quarter differenced overall by a label of three points argent . The crest included the single arched coronet of his rank. As king, he used the royal arms as used by his father undifferenced. Caroline's ten or eleven pregnancies resulted in eight live births. One of
9300-456: The Italian for to hold or to keep . By the 19th century, Victorian historians incorrectly concluded that the etymology of the words "keep" and tenazza were linked and that all keeps had fulfilled this military function. As a result of this evolution in meaning, the use of the term keep in historical analysis today can be problematic. Contemporary medieval writers used various terms for
9455-456: The King and Queen from the birth of his daughter in July 1737 by bundling his wife, who was in labour, into a coach and driving off in the middle of the night. George banished him and his family from the royal court, much as his own father had done to him, except that he allowed Frederick to retain custody of his children. Soon afterwards, George's wife Caroline died on 20 November 1737 (O.S.). He
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#17327718804319610-702: The Knights of the Round Table , stayed at the Castle of Carlisle while on a hunting expedition in the haunted Inglewood Forest . He then slept with the Carle's wife and killed him. This poem has strong parallels with another 14th century poem about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The story has since been re-adapted many times most recently in films from 1973 , 1984 and 2021 . By some accounts, Carlisle Castle
9765-515: The Levant. More recent historical analysis, however, has emphasised the political and social drivers that underlay these mid-medieval changes in keep design. Through most of the 12th century, France was divided between the Capetian kings, ruling from the Île-de-France , and kings of England, who controlled Normandy and much of the west of France. Within the Capetian territories, early experimentation in new keep designs began at Houdan in 1120, where
9920-664: The Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart , popularly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland, where support for his cause was highest. George, who was summering in Hanover, returned to London at the end of August. The Jacobites defeated British forces in September at the Battle of Prestonpans , and then moved south into England. The Jacobites failed to gain further support, and
10075-550: The Realm", to govern in his father's absence. He made a royal progress through Chichester , Havant , Portsmouth , and Guildford in southern England. Spectators were allowed to see him dine in public at Hampton Court Palace . An attempt on his life at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane , in which one person was shot dead before the assailant was brought under control, boosted his high public profile. The King distrusted or
10230-521: The Wars of Scottish Independence ). It has been the centre of many wars and invasions. During the Jacobite Rising of 1745–6, Carlisle became the last English fortress to undergo a siege. The castle was listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument on 7 August 1996. Today the property is managed by English Heritage and is open to the public. Until 2006, the castle was the administrative headquarters of
10385-634: The advice of Walpole and senior ministers, who made the major decisions. Although the King was eager for war in Europe, his ministers were more cautious. A truce was agreed in the Anglo-Spanish War , and George unsuccessfully pressed Walpole to join the War of the Polish Succession on the side of the German states. In April 1733 Walpole withdrew the unpopular Excise Bill that had attracted strong opposition, including from within his own party. George lent Walpole support by dismissing
10540-459: The age of 43. George II decided not to travel to Germany for his father's funeral, which far from bringing criticism led to praise from the English who considered it proof of his fondness for England. He suppressed his father's will because it attempted to split the Hanoverian succession between George II's future grandsons rather than vest all the domains (both British and Hanoverian) in a single person. Both British and Hanoverian ministers considered
10695-437: The architect Anthony Salvin was particularly prominent – as illustrated by reworking and heightening of the keep at Windsor Castle , while in France, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc reworked the keeps at castles in locations like Pierrefonds during the 1860s and 1870s, admittedly in a largely speculative fashion, since the original keep had been mostly destroyed in 1617. The Spanish Civil War and First and Second World Wars in
10850-503: The bill's opponents from their court offices . George II's relationship with his son Frederick, Prince of Wales , worsened during the 1730s. Frederick had been left behind in Germany when his parents came to England, and they had not met for 14 years. In 1728, he was brought to England, and swiftly became a figurehead of the political opposition. When George visited Hanover in the summers of 1729, 1732 and 1735, he left his wife to chair
11005-543: The buildings we would today call keeps. In Latin, they are variously described as turris , turris castri or magna turris – a tower , a castle tower , or a great tower . The 12th-century French came to term them a donjon , from the Latin dominarium "lordship", linking the keep and feudal authority. Similarly, medieval Spanish writers called the buildings torre del homenaje , or "tower of homage ". In England, donjon turned into dungeon , which initially referred to
11160-606: The castle and in 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the Cardwell Reforms and the castle became the depot for the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot . Under the Childers Reforms , the 34th and 55th regiments amalgamated to form the Border Regiment with its depot in the castle in 1881. The castle remained the depot of
11315-457: The castle became somewhat neglected, although some minor repairs were undertaken such as that of the drawbridge in 1783. Some parts of the castle were then demolished for use as raw materials in the 19th century to create more or less what is visible to the visitor today. In 1851 the barracks were occupied by the 33rd Regiment of Foot with 10 officers, 150 soldiers, 2 servants and 25 soldiers' wives and children. The Army moved in to take hold of
11470-490: The castle were seized and "fortified" by the Jacobites. However they were driven north by the forces of William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland , the son of George II. Carlisle was recaptured, and the Jacobites were jailed and executed. That battle marked the end of the castle's fighting life, as defending the border between England and Scotland was not necessary with both countries again one in Great Britain. After 1746,
11625-570: The centre. The style was particularly popular in south-east England and across Normandy, although less so elsewhere. Restormel Castle is a classic example of this development, as is the later Launceston Castle ; prominent Normandy and Low Country equivalents include Gisors and the Burcht van Leiden – these castles were amongst the most powerful fortifications of the period. Although the circular design held military advantages over one with square corners, as noted above these really mattered from only
11780-437: The characteristic pilaster buttresses added little real architectural strength to the design. Many of the weaknesses inherent to their design were irrelevant during the early part of their history. The corners of square keeps were theoretically vulnerable to siege engines and galleried mining , but before the introduction of the trebuchet at the end of the 12th century, early artillery stood little practical chance of damaging
11935-465: The concessions demanded by the other, and the idea was shelved. Instead, the prince married Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha in April 1736. In May 1736, George returned to Hanover, which resulted in unpopularity in England; a satirical notice was even pinned to the gates of St James's Palace decrying his absence. "Lost or strayed out of this house", it read, "a man who has left a wife and six children on
12090-455: The construction of Holyrood Great Tower between 1528 and 1532 drew on this English tradition, but incorporated additional French influences to produce a highly secure but comfortable keep, guarded by a gun park. These tower keeps were expensive buildings to construct, each built to a unique design for a specific lord and, as historian Norman Pounds has suggested, they "...were designed to allow very rich men to live in luxury and splendour." At
12245-499: The construction of a Norman style Motte and Bailey castle in Carlisle on the site of the old Roman fort of Luguvalium , dated by dendrochronology to 72AD, with the castle construction beginning in 1092. In 1122, Henry I of England ordered a stone castle with towers to be constructed on the site. Thus a keep and city walls were constructed. The existing keep dates from somewhere between 1122 and 1135. The tower keep castle
12400-575: The corners reinforced by pilaster buttresses ; some keeps, particularly in Normandy and France, had a barlongue design, being rectangular in plan with their length twice their width, while others, particularly in England, formed a square. These keeps could be up to four storeys high, with the entrance placed on the first storey to prevent the door from being easily broken down; early French keeps had external stairs in wood, whilst later castles in both France and England built them in stone. In some cases
12555-461: The defeat of the royal armies at the battles of Crécy in 1346 and Poitiers in 1356, which caused high levels of social unrest across the remaining French territories. Charles V of France attempted to restore French royal authority and prestige through the construction of a new range of castles. The Château de Vincennes , where a new keep was completed under Charles by 1380, was the first example of these palace fortresses . The keep at Vincennes
12710-482: The design spread through south Wales as the Normans expanded up the valleys during the subsequent decades. In a motte-and-bailey design, a castle would include a mound called a motte, usually artificially constructed by piling up turf and soil, and a bailey, a lower walled enclosure. A keep and a protective wall would usually be built on top of the motte. Some protective walls around a keep would be large enough to have
12865-530: The dwelling and common living-rooms of the residents in which were the larders, the rooms of the bakers and butlers, and the great chamber in which the lord and his wife slept...In the upper storey of the house were garret rooms...In this storey also the watchmen and the servants appointed to keep the house took their sleep." In the Holy Roman Empire , tall, free-standing, wooden (later stone), fighting towers called Bergfriede were commonly built by
13020-710: The economic disaster of the South Sea Bubble allowed Walpole to rise to the pinnacle of government. Walpole and his Whig Party were dominant in politics, as the King feared that the Tories would not support the succession laid down in the Act of Settlement . The power of the Whigs was so great that the Tories would not hold power for another half-century. George I died on 11/22 June 1727 during one of his visits to Hanover, and his son succeeded him as king and elector at
13175-508: The electorate. The British army had not fought in a major European war in over 20 years, and the government had badly neglected its upkeep. George had pushed for greater professionalism in the ranks, and promotion by merit rather than by sale of commissions , but without much success. An allied force of Austrian, British, Dutch, Hanoverian and Hessian troops engaged the French at the Battle of Dettingen on 16/27 June 1743. George personally accompanied them, leading them to victory, thus becoming
13330-460: The emerging new gunpowder weapons was made in these keeps, although later in the century gunports were slowly being added, as for example by Charles VI to his keep at Saint-Malo . The French model spread into Iberia in the second half of the century, where the most powerful nobles in Castile built a number of similar tall keeps, such as that at Peñafiel , taking advantage of the weakness of
13485-453: The end of the 12th century onwards; the major reason for adopting a shell keep design, in the 12th century at least, was the circular design of the original earthworks exploited to support the keep; indeed, some designs were less than circular in order to accommodate irregular mottes, such as that found at Windsor Castle . During the second half of the 12th century, a range of new keep designs began to appear across France and England, breaking
13640-476: The entrance stairs were protected by additional walls and a door, producing a forebuilding. The strength of the Norman design typically came from the thickness of the keep's walls: usually made of rag-stone , these could be up to 24 feet (7.3 metres) thick, immensely strong, and producing a steady temperature inside the building throughout summer and winter. The larger keeps were subdivided by an internal wall while
13795-459: The first official investigation into the historic graffiti and carvings scattered over the castle site, using photogrammetric techniques to record findings. The ‘Prisoners’ Carvings’ in the Keep, and a medieval door covered in etchings, were laser scanned, photographed and filmed, alongside a Roman altar stone, medieval and postmediaeval graffiti and carvings across the complex, to produce 3D models as
13950-647: The first university in the Electorate of Hanover , and visited it in 1748. The asteroid 359 Georgia was named in his honour at the university in 1902. He served as the Chancellor of the University of Dublin between 1716 and 1727; and in 1754 issued the charter for King's College in New York City, which later became Columbia University . The province of Georgia , founded by royal charter in 1732,
14105-438: The former King's Own Royal Border Regiment and until 2019 it was the county headquarters to the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment . A museum to the regiment is within the castle walls. Carlisle Castle was first built during the reign of William II of England , the son of William the Conqueror . At that time, Cumberland (the original name for north and west Cumbria ) was still considered a part of Scotland. William II ordered
14260-430: The former ward of his aunt Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia . The English envoy to Hanover, Edmund Poley, reported that George was so taken by "the good character he had of her that he would not think of anybody else". A marriage contract was concluded by the end of July. On 22 August / 2 September 1705 Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding, which was held the same evening in the chapel at Herrenhausen . George
14415-513: The fourth quarter of 1295 Lord of Annandale, led a Scottish host across the Solway to attack Carlisle. The then governor of the castle, Robert de Brus, deposed Lord of Annandale , successfully withstood the attack, before forcing the raiders to retreat back through Annandale to Sweetheart Abbey . From 22 July to 1 August 1315, Scottish forces laid siege to the Castle. However, the Scottish lacked
14570-403: The guardianship, he established a regency council. In 1720, Walpole encouraged the King and his son to reconcile, for the sake of public unity, which they did half-heartedly. Walpole and Townshend returned to political office, and rejoined the ministry. George was soon disillusioned with the terms of the reconciliation; his three daughters who were in the care of the King were not returned and he
14725-519: The inclusion of large keeps; the final replica keep to be built in this way was at Penrhyn between 1820 and 1840. Where there was an existing castle on a site, another response across 19th-century Europe was to attempt to improve the buildings, bringing their often chaotic historic features into line with a more integrated architectural aesthetic, in a style often termed Gothic Revivalism . There were numerous attempts to restore or rebuild keeps so as to produce this consistently Gothic style: in England,
14880-541: The keep of Windsor Castle being a rare exception. In Germany, large numbers of the bergfried towers were restored as functional buildings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often as government offices or youth hostels , or the modern conversion of tower houses, which in many cases have become modernised domestic homes. George II of Great Britain George II (George Augustus; German : Georg August ; 30 October / 9 November 1683 – 25 October 1760)
15035-473: The keep usually amongst the first parts to be upgraded, while in other cases new keeps were built from scratch in stone. These stone keeps were introduced into Ireland during the 1170s following the Norman occupation of the east of the country, where they were particularly popular amongst the new Anglo-Norman lords. Two broad types of design emerged across France and England during the period: four-sided stone keeps, known as Norman keeps or great keeps in English –
15190-480: The keeps, and galleried mining was rarely practised. Similarly, the corners of a square keep created dead space that defenders could not fire at, but missile fire in castle sieges was less important until the introduction of the crossbow in the middle of the 12th century, when arrowslits began to be introduced. Nonetheless, many stone Norman keeps made considerable compromises to military utility. Norwich Castle , for example, included elaborate blind arcading on
15345-552: The language of diplomacy and the court, until the age of four, after which he was taught German by one of his tutors, Johann Hilmar Holstein. In addition to French and German, he also learned English and Italian, and studied genealogy, military history, and battle tactics with particular diligence. George's second cousin once removed , Queen Anne , ascended the thrones of England , Scotland , and Ireland in 1702. Though she had had seventeen pregnancies, of which five resulted in live births, her only surviving child died in 1700. By
15500-534: The last British monarch to lead troops into battle. Though his actions in the battle were admired, the war became unpopular with the British public, who felt that the King and Carteret were subordinating British interests to Hanoverian ones. Carteret lost support, and to George's dismay resigned in 1744. Tension grew between the Pelham ministry and George, as he continued to take advice from Carteret and rejected pressure from his other ministers to include William Pitt
15655-405: The need for a keep in the same castle. The classic Edwardian gatehouse, with two large, flanking towers and multiple portcullises, designed to be defended from attacks both within and outside the main castle, has been often compared to the earlier Norman keeps: some of the largest gatehouses are called gatehouse keeps for this reason. The quadrangular castle design that emerged in France during
15810-508: The next several years with opposition to George I's policies, which included measures designed to increase religious freedom in Great Britain and expand Hanover's German territories at the expense of Sweden. His new London residence, Leicester House , became a frequent meeting place for his father's political opponents, including Sir Robert Walpole and Lord Townshend , who had left the government in 1717. The King visited Hanover again from May to November 1719. Instead of appointing George to
15965-416: The nineteenth and first part of the twentieth century relied on these biased accounts. Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, scholarly analysis of surviving correspondence has indicated that George was not as ineffective as previously thought. Letters from ministers are annotated by George with pertinent remarks and demonstrate that he had a grasp of and interest in foreign policy in particular. He
16120-581: The north of England during the 14th century, at locations such as Warkworth . They were probably partially inspired by designs in France, but they also reflected the improvements in the security along the Scottish border during the period, and the regional rise of major noble families such as the Percies and the Nevilles , whose wealth encouraged a surge in castle building at the end of the 14th century. New castles at Raby , Bolton , and Warkworth Castle took
16275-541: The opportunity of meeting his bride before any formal arrangements were made. Negotiations from 1702 for the hand of Princess Hedvig Sophia of Sweden , Dowager Duchess and regent of Holstein-Gottorp , came to nothing. In June 1705, under the false name "Monsieur de Busch", George visited the Ansbach court at its summer residence in Triesdorf to investigate incognito a marriage prospect: Princess Caroline of Ansbach ,
16430-475: The opposition but Pelham's party won easily. Like his father before him, Frederick entertained opposition figures at his house in Leicester Square . When Frederick died unexpectedly in 1751, his eldest son, Prince George , became heir apparent. The King commiserated with Frederick's widow, Augusta, and wept with her. As her son would not reach the age of majority until 1756, a new British Regency Act
16585-424: The opposition in the 1741 British general election , and Walpole was unable to secure a stable majority. Walpole attempted to buy off the prince with the promise of an increased allowance and offered to pay off his debts, but Frederick refused. With his support eroded, Walpole retired in 1742 after over 20 years in office. He was replaced by Spencer Compton, Lord Wilmington , whom George had originally considered for
16740-476: The outer defences of a castle, rather than being a safe refuge of last resort. During the 10th century, a small number of stone keeps began to be built in France, such at the Château de Langeais : in the 11th century, their numbers increased as the style spread through Normandy across the rest of France and into England, South Italy and Sicily. Some existing motte-and-bailey castles were converted to stone, with
16895-459: The outside of the building and appears to have had an entrance route designed for public ceremony, rather than for defence. The interior of the keep at Hedingham could certainly have hosted impressive ceremonies and events, but contained numerous flaws from a military perspective. Important early English and Welsh keeps such as the White Tower , Colchester , and Chepstow were all built in
17050-414: The palace without the approval of the King; Caroline fainted and George "cried like a child". The King partially relented and permitted them to visit once a week, though he later allowed Caroline unconditional access. In February 1718, Prince George William died aged only three months, with his father by his side. Banned from the palace and shunned by his own father, the Prince of Wales was identified for
17205-477: The parish ." The King made plans to return in the face of inclement December weather; when his ship was caught in a storm, gossip swept London that he had drowned. Eventually, in January 1737, he arrived back in England. Immediately, he fell ill with a fever and piles , and withdrew to his bed. The Prince of Wales put it about that the King was dying, with the result that George insisted on getting up and attending
17360-474: The peace deal on the grounds that the French had infringed it by disarming Hessian troops after the ceasefire. In the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 British forces captured Quebec and captured Guadeloupe , defeated a French plan to invade Britain following naval battles at Lagos and Quiberon Bay , and halted a resumed French advance on Hanover at the Battle of Minden . By October 1760 George II
17515-596: The period. In the 15th century, the protective function of keeps was compromised by improved artillery . For example, in 1464 during the Wars of the Roses , the keep of Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast, previously considered to be impregnable, was defeated with bombards . By the 16th century, keeps were slowly falling out of fashion as fortifications and residences. Many were destroyed in civil wars between
17670-705: The premiership in 1727. Wilmington, however, was a figurehead; actual power was held by others, such as Lord Carteret , George's favourite minister after Walpole. When Wilmington died in 1743, Henry Pelham took his place at the head of the government. The pro-war faction was led by Carteret, who claimed that French power would increase if Maria Theresa failed to succeed to the Austrian throne. George agreed to send 12,000 hired Hessian and Danish mercenaries to Europe, ostensibly to support Maria Theresa. Without conferring with his British ministers, George stationed them in Hanover to prevent enemy French troops from marching into
17825-493: The previous unity of the regional designs. The use of keeps in castles spread through Iberia, but some new castles never incorporated keeps in their designs. One traditional explanation for these developments emphasises the military utility of the new approaches, arguing, for example, that the curved surfaces of the new keeps helped to deflect attacks, or that they drew on lessons learnt during the Crusades from Islamic practices in
17980-419: The quadrangular castle styles of the south and combined them with exceptionally large tower keeps to form a distinctive, northern style. Built by major noble houses, these castles were typically even more opulent than the smaller castles like Nunney, built by the nouveau riche . They marked what historian Anthony Emery has described as a "...second peak of castle building in England and Wales," following on from
18135-621: The regency council in Britain rather than his son. Meanwhile, rivalry between George II and his brother-in-law and first cousin Frederick William I of Prussia led to tension along the Prussian–Hanoverian border, which eventually culminated in the mobilization of troops in the border zone and suggestions of a duel between the two kings. Negotiations for a marriage between the Prince of Wales and Frederick William's daughter Wilhelmine dragged on for years but neither side would make
18290-576: The reign of Queen Anne, and had been one of Caroline's women of the bedchamber . She was his mistress from before the accession of George I until November 1734. She was followed by Amalie von Wallmoden , later Countess of Yarmouth, whose son, Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden , may have been fathered by George. Johann Ludwig was born while Amalie was still married to her husband, and George did not acknowledge him publicly as his own son. Against Walpole's wishes, but to George's delight, Britain reopened hostilities with Spain in 1739. Britain's conflict with Spain,
18445-667: The resources needed to maintain a siege and withdrew. From the mid-13th century until the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603, Carlisle Castle was the vital headquarters of the Western March , a buffer zone to protect the western portion of the Anglo-Scottish border. Henry VIII converted the castle for artillery, employing the engineer Stefan von Haschenperg . For a few months in 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots
18600-619: The respect of foreign governments; and a certain steadiness of character made him of great consequence in these unsettled times ... His character would not afford subject for epic poetry, but will look well in the sober page of history." In Britain: George II's full style was "George the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of
18755-526: The same time as these keeps were being built by the extremely wealthy, much smaller, keep-like structures called tower houses or peel towers were built across Ireland, Scotland, and northern England, often by relatively poorer local lords and landowners. It was originally argued that Irish tower houses were based on the Scottish design, but the pattern of development of such castles in Ireland does not support this hypothesis. A tower house would typically be
18910-550: The sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle. George donated the royal library to the British Museum in 1757, four years after the museum's foundation. He had no interest in reading, or in the arts and sciences, and preferred to spend his leisure hours stag-hunting on horseback or playing cards. In 1737, he founded the Georg August University of Göttingen ,
19065-644: The smaller versions had a single, slightly cramped chamber on each floor. Usually only the first floor would be vaulted in stone, with the higher storeys supported with timbers. There has been extensive academic discussion of the extent to which Norman keeps were designed with a military or political function in mind, particularly in England. Earlier analyses of Norman keeps focused on their military design, and historians such as R. Brown Cathcart King proposed that square keeps were adopted because of their military superiority over timber keeps. Most of these Norman keeps were certainly extremely physically robust, even though
19220-462: The top of the mound." At Durham Castle , contemporaries described how the keep arose from the "tumulus of rising earth" with a keep reaching "into thin air, strong within and without", a "stalwart house...glittering with beauty in every part". As well as having defensive value, keeps and mottes sent a powerful political message to the local population. Wooden keeps could be quite extensive in size and, as Robert Higham and Philip Barker have noted, it
19375-498: The traditional Bergfriede , which still remained distinct from the domestic keeps used in more western parts of Europe, with the occasional notable exception, such as the large, residential Bergfried at Eltville Castle . Several designs for new castles emerged that made keeps unnecessary. One such design was the concentric approach, involving exterior walls guarded with towers, and perhaps supported by further, concentric layered defenses: thus castles such as Framlingham never had
19530-410: The war. Great Britain, Hanover, and Prussia and their allies Hesse-Kassel and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel fought against other European powers, including France, Austria, Russia, Sweden and Saxony . The war involved multiple theatres from Europe to North America and India, where British dominance increased with the victories of Robert Clive over French forces and their allies at the Battle of Arcot and
19685-550: The western European keeps. In the Low Countries, it became popular for the local nobility to build stand-alone, square towers, but rarely as part of a wider castle. Similarly, square stone towers became popular in Venice, but these did not fulfil the same role as western keeps. In Germany, rectangular stone castles began to replace motte-and-bailey castles from the 12th century onwards. These designs included stone versions of
19840-862: The will unlawful, as George I did not have the legal power to determine the succession personally. Critics supposed that George II hid the will to avoid paying out his father's legacies. George II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 11/22 October 1727. George Frideric Handel was commissioned to write four new anthems for the coronation, including Zadok the Priest . It was widely believed that George would dismiss Walpole, who had distressed him by joining his father's government, and replace him with Sir Spencer Compton . George asked Compton, rather than Walpole, to write his first speech as king, but Compton asked Walpole to draft it. Caroline advised George to retain Walpole, who continued to gain royal favour by securing
19995-534: The year both Sophia and Anne were dead, and George's father was king. George and his father sailed for England from The Hague on 16/27 September 1714 and arrived at Greenwich two days later. The following day, they formally entered London in a ceremonial procession. George was given the title of Prince of Wales . Caroline followed her husband to Britain in October with their daughters, while Frederick remained in Hanover to be brought up by private tutors. London
20150-499: Was King of Great Britain and Ireland , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg ( Hanover ) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 ( O.S. ) until his death in 1760. Born and brought up in northern Germany , George is the most recent British monarch born outside Great Britain. The Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707 positioned his grandmother Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant descendants to inherit
20305-553: Was all but crushed; no further serious attempt was made at restoring the House of Stuart . The War of the Austrian Succession continued until 1748, when Maria Theresa was recognized as Archduchess of Austria. The peace was celebrated by a fête in Green Park, London , for which Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks . In the general election of 1747 , Frederick, Prince of Wales , again campaigned actively for
20460-646: Was also echoed in some German castles, such as that at Karlštejn , although the layout and positioning of these towers still followed the existing bergfried model, rather than that in western castles. An other impressive 15th century metiterenian castle keep is the keep of the Kolossi Castle , in Cyprus , a three floor square keep, 21 meters high. The 15th and 16th centuries saw a small number of English and occasional Welsh castles develop still grander keeps. The first of these large tower keeps were built in
20615-436: Was blind in one eye and hard of hearing . On the morning of 25 October he rose as usual at 6:00 am, drank a cup of hot chocolate, and went to his close stool alone. After a few minutes, his valet heard a loud crash and entered the room to find the King on the floor; his physician, Frank Nicholls , recorded that he "appeared to have just come from his necessary-stool, and as if going to open his escritoire ". The King
20770-522: Was born in the city of Hanover in Germany, followed by his sister, Sophia Dorothea , three years later. Their parents, George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later King George I of Great Britain ), and Sophia Dorothea of Celle , both committed adultery. In 1694 the marriage was dissolved on the pretext that Sophia Dorothea had abandoned her husband. She was confined to Ahlden House and denied access to her two children, who probably never saw their mother again. George spoke only French,
20925-522: Was deeply affected by her death, and to the surprise of many displayed "a tenderness of which the world thought him before utterly incapable". On her deathbed she told her sobbing husband to remarry, to which he replied, "Non, j'aurai des maîtresses!" (French for "No, I shall have mistresses!"). It was common knowledge that George had already had mistresses during his marriage, and he had kept Caroline informed about them. Henrietta Howard , later Countess of Suffolk, had moved to Hanover with her husband during
21080-483: Was designed to reaffirm Angevin authority in a fiercely disputed conflict zone and the keep, although militarily impressive, contained only an anteroom and a royal audience chamber, and was built on soft chalk and without an internal well, both serious defects from a defensive perspective. During most of the medieval period, Iberia was divided between Christian and Islamic kingdoms, neither of which traditionally built keeps, instead building watchtowers or mural towers. By
21235-484: Was forced to appoint Pitt to the ministry. George's French opponents encouraged rebellion by the Jacobites , the supporters of the Roman Catholic claimant to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart , often known as the Old Pretender. Stuart was the son of James II , who had been deposed in 1688 and replaced by his Protestant relations. Two prior rebellions in 1715 and 1719 had failed. In July 1745,
21390-471: Was highly innovative: six stories high, with a chemin de ronde running around the machicolated battlements; the luxuriously appointed building was protected by an enceinte wall that formed a "fortified envelope" around the keep. The Vincennes keep was copied elsewhere across France, particularly as the French kings reconquered territories from the English, encouraging a style that emphasised very tall keeps with prominent machicolations. No allowance for
21545-791: Was imprisoned within the castle, in the Warden's Tower. Francis Knollys described her watching two football matches on a playing green outside the castle's postern gate. Later, the castle was besieged by the Parliamentary forces for eight months in 1644, during the English Civil War . The last battles for the city of Carlisle and its castle were during the Jacobite rising of 1745 against George II . The forces of "Prince" Charles Edward Stuart travelled south from Scotland into England reaching as far south as Derby . Carlisle and
21700-525: Was jealous of George's popularity, which contributed to the development of a poor relationship between them. The birth in 1717 of George's second son, George William , proved to be a catalyst for a family quarrel; the King, supposedly following custom, appointed Lord Chamberlain Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle , as one of the baptismal sponsors of the child. The King was angered when George, who disliked Newcastle, verbally insulted
21855-504: Was keen to participate in the war against France in Flanders , but his father refused to let him join the army in an active role until he had a son and heir. In early 1707 George's hopes were fulfilled when Caroline gave birth to a son, Frederick . In July Caroline fell seriously ill with smallpox , and George caught the infection after staying by her side devotedly during her illness. They both recovered. In 1708 George participated in
22010-516: Was largely controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain . As elector he spent twelve summers in Hanover, where he had more direct control over government policy. He had a difficult relationship with his eldest son, Frederick , who supported the parliamentary opposition. During the War of the Austrian Succession , George participated at the Battle of Dettingen , and thus became the most recent British monarch to lead an army in battle. Supporters of
22165-472: Was lifted into his bed, and Princess Amelia was sent for; before she reached him, he was dead. At the age of nearly 77 he had lived longer than any of his English or British predecessors. A post-mortem revealed that George had died as the result of a thoracic aortic dissection . He was succeeded by his grandson George III, and buried on 11 November in Westminster Abbey. He left instructions for
22320-422: Was like nothing George had seen before; it was 50 times larger than Hanover, and the crowd was estimated at up to one and a half million spectators. George courted popularity with voluble expressions of praise for the English, and claimed that he had no drop of blood that was not English. In July 1716, the King returned to Hanover for six months, and George was given limited powers, as "Guardian and Lieutenant of
22475-635: Was listed as (List Entry Number: 1014579) in August 1996, by what is now Historic England . The listing for the Scheduled Ancient Monument status includes "the upstanding and buried remains of Carlisle medieval tower keep castle, two lengths of Carlisle city wall, a 16th century battery, and the buried remains of much of the Roman fort known as Luguvalium, a large part of which underlies the later castle." In 2016, Historic England undertook
22630-675: Was made a Knight of the Garter and created Duke and Marquess of Cambridge , Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton, and Baron Tewkesbury in the Peerage of England . England and Scotland united in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain , and jointly accepted the succession as laid down by the English Act of Settlement. George's father did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage as he had and wanted him to have
22785-445: Was named after him. During George II's reign British interests expanded throughout the world, the Jacobite challenge to the Hanoverian dynasty was extinguished, and the power of ministers and Parliament in Britain became well-established. Nevertheless, in the memoirs of contemporaries such as Lord Hervey and Horace Walpole , George is depicted as a weak buffoon, governed by his wife and ministers. Biographies of George written during
22940-482: Was often able to prevent the appointment of ministers or commanders he disliked, or sideline them into lesser offices. This academic reassessment, however, has not completely eliminated the popular perception of George II as a "faintly ludicrous king". His parsimony, for example, may have opened him to ridicule, though his biographers observe that parsimony is preferable to extravagance. Lord Charlemont excused George's short temper by explaining that sincerity of feeling
23095-410: Was passed that would make her regent, assisted by a council led by Frederick's brother William in case of George II's death. The King also made a new will, which provided for William to be sole regent in Hanover. After the death of his daughter Louisa at the end of the year, George lamented, "This has been a fatal year for my family. I lost my eldest son – but I am glad of it ... Now [Louisa]
23250-517: Was popularly assumed to have come from the Middle English word keep , meaning to hold or to protect. Early on, the use of the word keep became associated with the idea of a tower in a castle that would serve both as a fortified, high-status private residence and a refuge of last resort. The issue was complicated by the building of fortified Renaissance towers in Italy called tenazza that were used as defences of last resort and were also named after
23405-420: Was possible to build "...very tall and massive structures." As an example of what these keeps may have comprised, the early 12th-century chronicler Lambert of Ardres described the wooden keep on top of the motte at the castle of Ardres , where the "...first storey was on the surface of the ground, where were cellars and granaries, and great boxes, tuns, casks, and other domestic utensils. In the storey above were
23560-444: Was some equivalent destruction of keeps in France in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as the slighting of Montaiguillon by Cardinal Richelieu in 1624, but the catalogue of damage was far less than that of the 1640s and early 1650s in England. In England, ruined medieval castles became fashionable again in the middle of the 18th century. They were considered an interesting counterpoint to Palladian classical architecture , and gave
23715-428: Was still barred from becoming regent during the King's absences. He came to believe that Walpole had tricked him into the rapprochement as part of a scheme to regain power. Over the next few years, he and Caroline lived quietly, avoiding overt political activity. They had three more children: William , Mary , and Louisa , who were brought up at Leicester House and Richmond Lodge , George's summer residence. In 1721,
23870-513: Was the result of an experimental military design, more recent analysis concludes that the design was instead probably driven by political symbolism and the need for Henry to dominate the contested lands of East Anglia . The architecture would, for mid-12th century nobility, have summoned up images of King Arthur or Constantinople , then the idealised versions of royal and imperial power. Even formidable military designs such as that at Château Gaillard were built with political effect in mind. Gaillard
24025-416: Was usually done in the most cost-efficient fashion with only selected walls being destroyed. Keeps were singled out for particular attention in this process because of their continuing political and cultural importance, and the prestige they lent their former royalist owners – at Kenilworth , for example, only the keep was slighted, and at Raglan , the keep was the main focus of parliamentary activity. There
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