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Cirencester Castle was a castle in the town of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England.
The castle was originally built in the 11th century in timber, with a square
The British Gazetteer: Political, Commercial, Ecclesiastical, and Historical.
' London: Collins. *Fuller, E. A. (1890)
Cirencester Castle
'' in ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'', 1890-1, Vol. 15. *Pounds, Norman John Greville. (1990)
The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history.
' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . {{coord, 51, 42, 58, N, 1, 58, 13, W, scale:10000, display=title Castles in Gloucestershire
Cirencester Castle was a castle in the town of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England.
The castle was originally built in the 11th century in timber, with a square keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') 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 c ...
added in stone in 1107. The castle was of primarily local significance, being relatively small. During the Anarchy
The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...
of the 12th century, the castle was seized in the early years of the conflict by Robert, Earl of Gloucester
Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147 David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved ...
on behalf of the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...
. In 1142 King Stephen seized the castle in a surprise attack, setting fire to it afterwards.Clarke, p.662.
Subsequent events are disputed by historians. Most 19th-century historians argued that the castle was subsequently rebuilt and held by William de la Dive, a follower of Robert, Earl of Leicester, then a supporter of the Empress. When Robert came to an agreement with Stephen at the end of the conflict, William surrendered the castle to the king. During the baronial revolt against Henry III the castle was once again garrisoned against the king; once captured by royal forces, Henry ordered it finally destroyed for good. Historian E. Fuller argued in 1890, however, that this later history was a consequence of a misreading of place names, arguing that the history of the castle concluded with its destruction in 1142.Fuller, p.118.
See also
*Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 105 ...
* List of castles in England
This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is not a lis ...
References
Bibliography
*Clarke, Benjamin. (1852)The British Gazetteer: Political, Commercial, Ecclesiastical, and Historical.
' London: Collins. *Fuller, E. A. (1890)
Cirencester Castle
'' in ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'', 1890-1, Vol. 15. *Pounds, Norman John Greville. (1990)
The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history.
' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . {{coord, 51, 42, 58, N, 1, 58, 13, W, scale:10000, display=title Castles in Gloucestershire