WILLYBROOK HUNDRED 



envoys of the king of Scotland, as he was commandeJ 

 by Henry III, who wrote saying he had promised to 

 restore the castle and Earl David's lands, and he 

 wonders greatly the earl has not obeyed his command, 

 as longer detention of the castle will be a subversion 

 of the business of his sister's marriage, ' which will 

 remain unfinished to the king's great loss and dis- 

 grace.' ' William gave the castle up, but it was 

 subjected the next year to another outrage by William 

 earl of Albemarle, when it was in charge of Ralph 

 earl of Chester, in trust for John le Scot, the young 

 son of Earl David. William earl of Albemarle, 'a 

 feudal adventurer of the worst type,' enraged at having 

 to surrender his castle, rose in revolt in January, 1 22 1, 

 and after being repulsed at Newark, Sleaford, and 

 Kimbolton, aided by the ice took Fotheringhay, at 

 that time very insufficiently garrisoned, and ravaged 

 the country in all directions. For this he was ex- 

 communicated by the legate ; an expedition led by 

 the king in person proceeded against him, and he was 

 taken at Fountains Abbey in February.' This was 

 the only time in its history that Fotheringhay Castle 

 suffered a siege. In 1237, on the death of John earl 

 of Huntingdon, the castle was again delivered to the 

 king of Scots.' During its tenure by John Balliol 

 it was given up by Richard de Hemmington to 

 Baldwin Wake, an enemy of the king, to the ' great 

 loss ' of John.* In 1 296, when it was forfeited 

 to the king on account of the war with John Balliol, 

 Fotheringhay was first used as a state prison, six Scottish 

 prisoners taken at Dunbar being confined there.' 



The best description of Fotheringhay Castle before 

 its practical rebuilding by Edmund Langley is that 

 taken in 1 341, when the reversion was assigned to 

 William de Bohun. It had a tower of stone and 

 cement, well-built, walled, and crenelated, a ditch 

 well dug out, two chapels, one great hall, two 

 chambers, one kitchen, and one stone oven, one gate- 

 house with a chamber above, under which was a 

 drawbridge. Outside the castle was another place, 

 with various outhouses, called the manor. The 

 whole was worth nothing except repairs.^ This 

 statement is repeated, and it is added that on the 

 death of Mary de St. Pol in 1377' the buildings 

 are weak and ruinous. The castle was entirely rebuilt, 

 according to Camden, by Edmund Langley, with a 

 strong keep in the form of a fetterlock, and (if we 

 may judge from the munificence of the House of 

 York in endowing the college and frequent requests 

 in their wills to be buried at Fotheringhay), it seems 

 to have been a favourite place of residence of that 

 family. Early in the reign of Henry VI, when 

 the heir of this house was a minor, Fothcringh.iy 

 ■was used as the place of confinement of the seven 

 Scotch knights who were hostages for the perform- 

 ance of the treaty of 1424 with the king of Scots.' 

 Some important French prisoners were also confined 

 at Fotheringhay at this period, including Charles 

 duke of Orleans.' 



King Edward IV had much affection for the home 

 of his race, ' the love he bare to Fodringey ' is men- 



FOTHERINGHAY 



tioned by Leland, and he paid the castle at least two 

 visits after he became king — in 1469, when he met 

 his queen there, and in 1482, when the treaty with 

 the duke of Albany, called Alexander king of Scots, 

 was signed at Fotheringhay Castle.'" 



Leland, in 1 546, in describing the castle of Fother- 

 inghay mentions : ' There be very fair lodgyns in 

 the Castel & as I hard Catarine of Spain did great 

 costs in late time of refresching of it.' This statement 

 is borne out by an entry in Catherine's accounts of 

 over j^200 spent on Fotheringhay Castle." In 1539 

 Sir Christopher More visited Fotheringhay and sent 

 an account of the guns and ammunition to Cromwell. 

 The castle seems to have been fairly well equipped, 

 and in an account of the early years of Edward VTs 

 reign it is said to be 'sufficiently maintained." In the 

 reign of Mary it was made the prison-house for a 

 short period of Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon." 



Sir William Fitzwilliam was seneschal of the castle 

 in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and he will ever be 

 remembered for his chivalrous consideration for the 

 unfortunate queen of Scotland, whose unhappy fate 

 cannot but win pity and sympathy whatever opinion 

 may be held of its necessity or justice. A full descrip- 

 tion of Fotheringhay Castle was sent to Lord Burghley 

 just before the removal of Mary thither. The castle 

 at that date was ' environed upon the northe part Si 

 the weste, and some parts of the south, and a litde on 

 the east with a wall.' There were two gates, and the 

 moat which passed round the north and west sides 

 was dry. The wall in parts also was so low that with 

 little help a man might climb over it. There was a 

 second moat in which was some water, but in most 

 parts passable. The river on the south was of no 

 great breadth, and not an effectual barrier. The 

 whole description evidently refers to the security and 

 defensive resources of the castle, which were not thought 

 highly of by the writer." However Mary was removed 

 to Fotheringhay from Chartley, 25 September, 1586, 

 in pursuance of a policy of greater severity towards 

 her in consequence of Babington's conspiracy. On 

 14 and 15 October (N.S. 24 and 25 October) 

 the trial of the queen took place in a large room in 

 the castle next to her apartments," before a com- 

 mission presided over by the Lord Chancellor (Sir 

 F. Bromley), and composed of all the lay peers 

 then available, including Lords Burleigh, Mordaunt, 

 Compton and St. John of Bletsoe, and certain privy 

 councillors, including Sir Christopher Hatton and 

 Sir Walter Mildmay. This commission having 

 adjourned to London and pronounced the queen 

 guilty (25 October, O.S.) the Houses of Parliament 

 demanded Mary's execution (November), and this 

 was announced to her by Lord Buckhurst (20 Novem- 

 ber, O.S.). The warrant of execution was signed by 

 Queen Elizabeth on I February, 1587 (O.S.), and 

 Mary was executed in the great hall of the castle on 

 8 February in the presence of the Earls of Kent and 

 Shrewsbury representing Queen Elizabeth, and under 

 dramatic conditions which have been frequently 

 described. 



* Pat. 4 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 7 ; Royal 

 L. of Hen. ///(Rolls Scr.), No. 624; Close, 

 .4 Hen. HI, pt. i, m. 4. 



" Matt. Paris, Cbron. Maj. (Rolls Scr.), 

 iii, 60 : Ann. Alcn. (Rolls Ser.); Diet. Nat, 

 £iog. 



» Pat. 21 Hen. HI, m. 7. 



* Cal. of Doc. Scotland, i, 488 ; Hht. 



MSS. Com. Rtf. IT, p. 443 ; Rot. Sclccti 

 (Rcc, Com.), p. 206. 



' Close, 24 Edw. I, m. 7, 6. 



' Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 EJw. IH (znd 

 nos.). No. 67. 



; Ibid. 51 Edw. HI, No. 28. 



» Close, 2 Hca. VI, m. 8. 



» Add. Chart. 303. 



573 



"> Itin. !, 5 ; Hht. CrovilanJ (Fulman, 

 Scriptores), p. 542 5 FoeJera, xii, 156. 



" L. and P. Hen. Fill, iv, pt. iii, p. 273 1. 



^^ Ibid. ziT, pt. i, p. 13 ; Rentals and 

 Sur\-. \i. 



" G. E. C. ComfUti Pierage, iii, 109. 



W Lansd. MS. No. 48, p. 31. 



^ Chantclauze, Marie Stuart. 



