Farmlingham Castle: The Howard Family and beyond

 

The Howard Family

John Howard succeeded to a portion of the Mowbray estates.  He was created the 1^st Duke of Norfolk.  Between1483-1485, John Howard probably began the sequence of improvements to the castle.   Under the Howards, the castle was extensively modernized; fashionable brick was used to improve parts of the castle; ornamental chimneys were added; the battlements were reduced in size to exaggerate the apparent height of the walls, and the Howard coat of arms was added to the gatehouse.  The Great Chamber was probably built across the Inner Court at this time, linking the Great Hall with the chapel and chambers on the east side of the castle, and by 1524 there were at least 29 different rooms in the castle.  On 22 August 1485, John Howard killed at Bosworth Field during the War of the Roses between the Yorkist, which side Johnn Howard chose and the Lancastrians, and his estates passed to his son.

Sir Thomas Howard (b. 1443) became the 2^nd Duke of Norfolk, who commissioned a hanging or 
tapestry depicting Hercules for the Great Chamber. Thomas married Lady Elizabeth Tilney, (ancestor, thru her 1^st marriage).  In 1487 upon the Lancastrian Victory, Sir Thomas Howard was attained and forfeited his lands and titles and placed in the Tower of London.  King Henry VII then gave the castle to John de Vere.  In 1513, Thomas Howard gained favor with King Hery VIII. after fighting at the victory of Flodden.  Framlingham was returned to Thomas and the Duke spent his retirement there; he decorated his table at the castle with gold and silver plate that he had seized from the Scots at Flodden.  The castle was expensively decorated in a lavish style during this period, including tapestries, velvet and silver chapel fittings and luxury bed linen.   A hundred suits of armor were stored in the castle and over thirty horses kept in the stables. Thomas and Elizabeth Howard were the grandparents of Queen Catherine Howard and Queen Anne Boleyn, wives of King Henry VIII.  Sir Thomas Howard died on 21 May 1524 at Framlingham Castle and his estates passed to his eldest son,

Sir Thomas Howard, 3^rd Duke of Norfolk (b. 1473).  Thomas made little use of the castle.  He married Anne Plantagenet, a daughter of King Edward IV in 1495.  In 1547, Sir Thomas Howard was attained, out of fears from his rivals lead by Edward Seymour that the Howards aspired to claim the crown.  All his honors were forfeited, and he was ordered to be executed.  However, King Henry VIII died the day before Thomas was to be executed.  King Henry VIII’s son, King Edward VI kept Thomas imprisoned at the Tower and gave Framlingham castle to his half-sister, Mary, who would become the 1^st Queen of England.

1553 Queen Mary gathered her supporters at Framlingham Castle to protest the claim to the throne by 
Lady Jane Grey and led a successful march on London and proclaimed Queen of England. Mary returned the castle to Thomas Howard for his loyalty.  Thomas did not return to Framlingham and the castle was leased out.  In 1558 Queen Mary of England died and she was succeeded by her half-sister Queen Elizabeth I.  In 1572, Thomas Howard was executed for treason by Queen Elizabeth I of England. Repairs to the castle appear to have been minimal from the 1540s onwards, and after Queen Mary left Framlingham, the castle went into a fast decline.  A survey in 1589 noted that the stonework, timber and brickwork all needed urgent maintenance, at a potential cost of £100.   The Great Park was turned into fields in 1580.  As religious laws against Catholics increased, the castle became used as a prison from 1580 onwards; by 1600 the castle prison contained 40 prisoners, priests and recusants.  

In 1613, King James I returned the castle to Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, but the castle was now derelict.  His son, Theophilus Howard sold the castle for £14,000 to Robert Hitcham in 1635, who died a year later leaving the castle to Pembroke College with the proviso that the inner buildings be destroyed and a workhouse be built inside. Over the following centuries the castle was used as an isolation ward for victims of the plague in 1666, storehouse during the Napoleonic Wars, later as a local jail.

The castle workhouse

In 1913, an act by Parliament to secure ancient monuments and buildings resulted in Pembroke College giving guardianship of the castle to the Commissioner of Works.  Today the castle is managed by English Heritage as a tourist attraction.

Panoramic View of the interior

Here ends the history of Framlingham castle and any connection my family had with the castle.

Framlingham Castle: The Mowbray Family

 

The Mowbray Family

Ancestors of my grandfather, Donald Smith

Thomas de Mowbray (Born 1366) was created the1^st Duke of Norfolk on 39 September 1397.  His mother being Lady Elizabeth Seagrave, 5^th Baroness Seagrave (b 1338) who married Lord John de Mowbray, 4^th Baron Mowbray. The Mowbrays seem to have used Framlingham Castle as their main seat of power for most of the 15th century. Thomas de Mowbray had a daughter, Isabel Mowbray (b. 1400), who was my direct ancestor.  Thomas was accused of treason which led to his banishment and his land was confiscated in 1398. He was allowed £1000 a year to support himself in exile.  In October 1398, he left for a trip to the Holy Land. On his return trip, he died of pestilence in Venice, Italy on 22 September 1399.  The creation of the dukedom was annulled by Parliament on 6 October 1399.  Reducing his widow's tilte to Countess of Norfolk.

Thomas’ eldest son Sir Thomas Mowbray, (born in 1385), Earl of Norfolk.  Thomas was involved in the Scrope conspiracy in 1405 (a plot to murder King Henry V by Lord Henry Scrope).  Thomas was executed without trial on 8 June 1405.  His brother was his heir.

Sir John de Mowbray was born on 3 August 1390 and succeeded his brother as heir to Framlingham Castle from his great-grandmother's estate.  The title of Duke of Norfolk was restored to him 30 April 1425.  He served as Earl Marshal at the coronation of King Henry VI. In 1432, Sir John Mowbray died, and the castle passed to his son.

Framlingham Castle, Mowbray family seat

Sir John de Mowbray (b, 1415) was the 3^rd Duke of Norfolk and inherited Framlingham Castle.  He was appointed Ambassador to France in 1439.  He served as Earl Marshal at the coronation of King Edward IV in 1461.  Sir John Mowbray died on 6 November 1461.

Sir John Mowbray (b. 1444) succeeded his father as 4^th Duke of Norfolk and to Framlingham Castle and died there on 16 or 17 January 1476. 

His daughter, Lady Anne Mowbray, (b. 1472) was betrothed to Richard, Duke of York, which they became Duke and Duchess of York and Norfolk as children. Lady Anne Mowbray died in 1481, and Richard died in 1483, ending the dukedom of Norfolk.  Anne was co-heir with a cousin, John Howard (b1425), a descendant of her great-grandfather’s sister, Margaret de Mowbray (b 1388-d. 1459).  The castle would again change family hands.

Framlingham Castle: The Plantagent Family

 

The Plantagenet Family 

Ancestors of Donald Smith & Ethelyn Skinner

King Edward I

    Upon the death of  Roger Le Bigod, 7th Earl of Norfolk in            1306, Framlingham Castle reverted to the Crown, under the        King  Edward I.  There is no information if any of the royal            family resided there at any time after the Bigod's death. 

King Edward II

When King Edward I died in 1307 and his son, King Edward II succeeded him to throne of England.  Again the Crown retained control of Framlingham Castle.  King Edward held the castle until 1310.

 

Lord Thomas of Brotherton

   King Edward gave the castle in 1310 to his half-brother, Thomas     of Brotherton (b. 1 June 1300), the son of King Edward I and his     2^nd wife, Marguerite of France.  He was granted the Earldom and     became the Earl of Norfolk.   Records show that Framlingham was     only partially furnished around this time, although it is unclear if        this was because it was in limited use, or because fittings and            furnishings were moved from castle to castle with the owner as he     traveled, or if the castle was simply being refurnished. The castle        complex continued to thrive. On 23 August 1338, Lord Thomas of     Brotherton, died at Framlingham Castle. The castle then passed to     his widow, Lady Mary de Brewes.  She died on 11 June 1362. 

King Edward III

King Edward II died in 1327 and his son, King Edward III became the King of England.  Upon the death of Lady Mary, Countess of Norfolk. King Edward III then granted the castle to William de Ufford, 2^nd Earl of Suffolk (b. 1338; d. 1382).  It appears it was still within the Royal Family's properties for KIng Edward to grant it to another Royal descendant.

Image of William in stained galsss

    William de Ufford had married Joan de Montagu, the                           granddaughter of Lord Thomas of Brotherton and daughter of            Alice of Norfolk (King Edward III’s first cousin).   William de            Ufford’s sisters, Cecily and Margaret de Ufford are direct                ancestors of my grandfather, Donald Smith.  Although William de     Ufford and his wife Joan had five children, none of them survived     childhood.  

Upon his death in 1382, the castle was returned to his wife’s family, passing to Margaret of Norfolk (b. c1322), Countess of Norfolk, daughter of Thomas de Botherton and Joan de Montagu’s aunt. She had been born at Framlingham Castle and spent her childhood there. Margaret married John Segrave, the 4th Baron Segrave in 1335 and had four children.  

Framlingham Castle, Margaret's residence

In 1350, she sought an annulment of her marriage claiming she was bethrothed to her husband at an early age and never agreed to live with him.  King Edward III wanted to keep her children legitimate. If her marriage was annulled then her children would be considered illegitimate and ruin his plans to marry her children into other royal Plantagent families.  In 1349, King Edward arranged for a double marriage between two of the Segrave children to two of the Mowbray children.  Two years later in 1351, King Edward III charged Margaret of violating his prohibition of trvaeling to France.  An inquistion revealed she had gone to France unlawfully by crossing the channel with servant of a man who would become her 2nd husband, Sir Walter Manny, 1st Baron Manny. The servant broke hi latern so she would go unnoticed and traveled with her in France.  Before Margaret could receive her annulment, her husband John Segave died in 1253 and she married Sir Walter Manny in 1254 without affected the birth staus of her children.  In 1297, she was created Duchess of Norfolk for life.  Margaret of Norfolk died on 24 March 1399 and her estate passed to her grandson.

Framlingham Castle: The Bigod Family

 

I watched a show on Public Television called “Lucy Worsley investigates Bloody Mary” which the noted British historian reviewed the reign of England’s ruling 1^st Queen Mary I.   At one point, Lucy

Worsley interviews an expert on Mary’s gathering of her supporters to take the throne from the Nine-day Queen, Lady Jane Grey.  They were conducting the interview at Framlingham Castle where her supporters joined her.  I recognized the name of the castle from tracing my English nobility ancestors who at one point owned the castle.   However, doing a Wikipedia check, I realized that several generations of my ancestors had owned and resided in the castle on different family lines of nobility.   I also discovered that my ancestral families lost or gained the castle depending on their support or opposition of the ruling monarch (also my ancestors).  This is an attempt to trace one castle through my family ancestors over many generations.

I soon realized that tracing the castle through various ancestral families over several generations and hundreds of years was more of a daunting task than I thought.   I am breaking up the ownership of the castle by the different families that resided there through the centuries.  As most of my cousins are also descendants of these ancestors, I will include where we diverge from ownership at various times in history.  Direct ancestors will be in bold type.   The information on the history of the castle came from Wikipedia.  My ancestors biuographies came from Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson, [2013] 5 vols.

Wiliam the Conqueror
Ancestor of my grandparents
Donald Smith, Ethelyn Skinner, Harold Strout & Myrtle Multon

I will begin with my ancestor, William the Conquer of England.  William invaded England in 1066 and seized the crown to become King of England.  After his conquest, William granted his Norman supporters titles and vast lands in England.  Richard le Goz, Viscount of Avranches, a Norman noble (and my direct ancestor of my grandfather Donald Smith) provided 60 ships to William to sail his army to England.  Richard is said to have married Emma de Conteville, a half-sister to William the Conqueror.  He was father to Margaret le Goz (where my Smith ancestral line diverges).  Richard le Goz died in 1082.  His son Hugh d”Avranches, Earl of Chester (b. 1047) inherited estates and property of his father.  Hugh was the half-nephew to William the Conqueror.

The Bigod Family
Ancestors of all four of my grandparents 

In 1086, William the Conqueror granted 117 out of 629 manors in Suffolk County that his half-nephew Hugh, controlled to Roger le Bigod, who became the 1^st Earl of Norfolk in 1074.   Roger was born in 1047 and arrived with William during his conquest. 

Around 1100, a ringwork or motte and bailey castle was first built on the present site of the castle .  In 1107, Roger Le Bigod died, his estates and title passed to his son, William Le Bigod, 2^nd Earl of Norfolk.  William drowned on 25 November 1120 in the famous White ship disaster in which almost 300 nobles drowned.    

William’s brother, Hugh le Bigod, born in 1095, became the 3^rd Earl of Norfolk as he inherited the family estates and titles.  Between 1123-1154, Hugh le Bigod was one of a group of dissenting barons during the Anarchy in the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154).   In 1148 is the first mention of a castle at Framlingham completed by Hugh le Bigod.  In 1157, after coming to power King Henry II of England (reigned 1154-1189) attempted to re-establish royal influence across the region. As part of this effort, Henry confiscated the four Bigod castles from Hugh.  During this time, the crown-controlled Framlingham Castle. 

In 1165, King Henry II returned both Framlingham and Bungay Castles to Hugh le Bigod, on payment of a large fine of £666.  During the 1160s, the first set of stone buildings, including the first hall, were built within the castle.  In 1173, Hugh le Bigod joined the revolt by King Henry II’s sons to overthrow him but failed.  As punishment the King ordered several Bigod castles, including Framlingham, to be destroyed or slighted (the deliberate act of damaging high-status structures to reduce their value). The King's engineer, Alnoth, destroyed the fortifications and filled the moat at Framlingham between 1174 and 1176 at a total cost of £16 11s 12d, although he probably shored up, rather than destroyed, the internal stone buildings.  It was one of at least twenty castles belonging to the rebels to be slighted in the aftermath of the war.

In 1177, Hugh le Bigod died, his son, Roger le Bigod (born 1144), became 4^th Earl of Norfolk, as his heir.  Roger was out of favor with King Henry II, who initially denied him the family earldom and estates such as Framlingham because of his father’s support of his sons who sought to overthrow him. Between 1189-1213, Roger finally regained royal favor when King Richard I succeeded to the throne in 1189 to 1199. Roger then set about building a new castle on the Framlingham site – the work was conducted relatively quickly, and the castle was completed by 1213. 

The plan for Framlingham Castle

The new castle comprised the Inner Court, defended with 13 mural towers: an adjacent Lower Court with smaller stone walls and towers, and a larger Bailey with timber defenses.   By this time, a castle-guard system was in place at Framlingham, in which lands were granted to local lords in return for their providing knights or soldiers to guard the castle.  In 1199, King John I inherited the throne from his brother, King Richard I.  During his reign, he lost most of his ancestral lands in France to King Philip II.  The money King John needed was raised by taxing the nobles which Roger le Bigod opposed.  In “The First Baron’s war” began between King John I and rebel barons who opposed to his rule including Roger le Bigod in 1215.  On 12 March 1216, King John’s army arrives and surrounded the land of Roger.  King John arrived the next day.  Messages were sent on the 14^th and Roger, knowing the outcome of other castles being besieged, agreed to surrender without a fight and King John moved on to other rebel nobles.  On 19 October 1216, King John died, and his son became King Henry III of England.

In 1221, Roger le Bigod died, and his estates and title passed to his son, Hugh le Bigod (born 1182) and became the 5^th Earl of Norfolk.  He is father of Isabel le Bigod (b. 1211) and where my ancestral line ends with this family.  In 1225, Hugh le Bigod died, and the castle passed to his son, Roger.

Framlingham Castle, The Bigods main seat

Roger le Bigod (b. 1209), was now the 6^th Earl of Norfolk.  A large park, called The Great Park, was created around the castle; this park is first noted in 1270, although it may have been constructed somewhat earlier. The Great Park is enclosed 600 acres, stretching 1.9 miles to the north of the castle and was characterized by possessing bank-and-ditch boundaries, common elsewhere in England but very unusual in Suffolk. The park had a lodge built in it, which later had a recreational garden built around it. Like other parks of the period, the Great Park was not just used for hunting but was exploited for its wider resources.  In 1270, Roger le Bigod died without children and the castle passed to his nephew, Roger le Bigod.

Roger le Bigod, (b. 1245), 7^th Earl of Norfolk, was the son of Hugh le Bigod (b.1211-d.1266).  In 1270, Roger undertook extensive renovations there whilst living in considerable luxury and style.  Although still extremely wealthy, Roger was now having to borrow increasing sums from first the Jewish Community at Bungay, England.  In 1272, King Henry III died and his son, King Edward I inherited the throne of England.  King Edward I in 1290 issued an edict of the expulsion of the Jews and Italian merchants by the end of the century. Roger then became heavily in debt to King Edward I.  As a result, Roger led the baronial opposition to Edward's request for additional taxes and support for his French Wars.  

Roger is considered the hero of an disagreement between King Edward I and himself when the King commanded him to serve against the King of France in 1297.  Roger asserted he was only compelled to serve over seas in the company of the King himself.  Upon King Edward responded "By God, Earl, you shall either go or hang!"  Roger replied "By the same oath, O King, I will neither go or hang."

King Edward I threatening Bigod to go to France

Edward responded by seizing Roger's lands and only releasing them on the condition that Roger granted them to the Crown after his death. Roger agreed.  In 1306, Roger le Bigod died without heirs and Framlingham Castle passed to the Crown of England.  This ended the Bigod's family connection to the castle.