I went to Cardiff Castle many years ago, and loved it. I read all about the owners and occupiers of the building and the renovations carried out up into the twentieth century. But did you know that, among its many owners, there were a number of women?
In an 1862 edition of the Archaeological Cambrensis, there was an account of some of the medieval owners of the castle, and I was surprised to find so many of them were women. Like Mabel, the heiress of Robert Fitzhamon. Robert was a Norman aristocrat, Lord of the Honour of Gloucester and of Morgan and Glamorgan who owned the castle since 1090. Mabel inherited the castle after his death, and because of medieval laws, its ownership transferred to her husband Robert Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I. Robert was tasked with making sure Henry's brother Robert Curthose remained imprisoned at Cardiff Castle, and Mabel would have observed the arrangements of how the prince was kept captive. Robert Consul and Mabel are also credited with some of the Norman building works carried out in the early 1100s. The castle transferred to their son William, Earl of Gloucester, who died in 1173. The castle then passed into the hands of the future King John.
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| Cardiff Castle, Jo Romero |
In the early fourteenth century, the castle passed to Eleanor de Clare, who married Hugh le Despenser the Younger in 1320. Eleanor and Hugh were the subject of some scandal, because of Hugh's close relationship with King Edward II. Hugh was the king's Lord Chamberlain, and attracted the jealousy and anger of various nobles because of his underhand dealings, wielding of power and having no regard for the law. Even in his own lifetime there were rumours that his relationship with Edward II was more than that of a courtier and a king. Edward was forced to stand down as king and allow his young son Edward III to take his place. Hugh was arrested and charged with a number of serious offences, then hanged, drawn and quartered in Hereford Market Place.
The couple's great-great-grandchild, Richard Despenser, died unmarried in 1414, and his sister Isabel le Despenser inherited his estate. She was born at Cardiff Castle, and worked on improving its strength and appearance, most likely in works undertaken after 1425. She married twice - first to Richard Beauchamp Earl of Worcester who died in 1421, and then Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick. The men were cousins. With Warwick, she had a son named Henry, who succeeded his father in 1439, but died in 1446.
The next woman to inherit the castle was Anne Beauchamp, Henry's sister and the wife of Richard Neville Earl of Warwick, 'The Kingmaker' during the Wars of the Roses. A charter dated 1451 to the castle survives, granted by Richard Earl of Warwick and Anne. Anne was to have a difficult time during the 1470s, when her husband was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, having switched sides to the Lancastrian cause against King Edward IV. She spent her later years fighting for the return of her Despenser lands from the seclusion of Beaulieu Abbey in the New Forest. The castle though, fell to their youngest daughter Anne, who married Richard Duke of Gloucester. Gloucester therefore owned Cardiff Castle through his wife, and later became Richard III with Anne his queen, in 1483. Anne died before Richard, who was killed in August 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth against Henry Tudor. The rights to the castle then transferred to the throne, and the Tudors seem to have kept it within their crown lands.
Liked this? You might also like The Warrior Women of the Wars of the Roses, The Welsh Legend of Nelferch and Eight Welsh Castles to Put on Your Travel Bucketlist.
Interested in more women who held, lived in and defended castles? You might like my book Forgotten Women of the Wars of the Roses, which takes a look at the roles of women - royal and non-royal - during the conflict. Order your copy here at the Pen and Sword website.
Source: Archaeological Cambrensis, 1862, Volume 8, Third Series. J. Russell Smith, London.
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