Raised above the Avon, Warwick Castle is one of the most imposing medieval fortresses in England. In Tudor and Stuart times, it came through the whole period: from the cannon towers left unfinished by Richard III to the saving of the castle by the poet and statesman Fulke Greville, under James I.
From Richard III to the Dudleys
On the eve of Bosworth, Richard III had begun at Warwick the building of two cannon towers — the Bear and Clarence towers —, left unfinished at his death in 1485. Under the Tudors, the castle passed to the Dudleys: John Dudley received the title of Earl of Warwick in 1547, before becoming Duke of Northumberland and the strong man of Edward VI's reign. His son Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, received Elizabeth I here during her visits (1566, 1572): a special wooden building was even erected to lodge the queen, so uncomfortable had the castle become.
Fulke Greville's rescue
After the death of Ambrose Dudley without heir in 1590, Warwick fell into decay: a survey then describes it as a ruin, and the poet Sir Fulke Greville wrote in 1601 that it was collapsing. In 1604, James I granted the castle to Greville — a man of letters, friend of Philip Sidney and great servant of the state —, who undertook at great expense to transform it into a pleasure residence, saving it from ruin. Warwick thus illustrates the fate of the great fortresses at the hinge of the Renaissance: abandoned by war, they survived only by becoming houses of state. To see: Caesar's Tower and its dungeon, Guy's Tower, Richard III's unfinished towers (Bear and Clarence), the chapel.
Did you know?
When Elizabeth I came to Warwick, the old castle had become so uncomfortable that a wooden lodging had to be built for her in the court, specially to house her. To receive the queen demanded such a level of luxury that even a powerful medieval fortress no longer sufficed: a new house had, literally, to be built for her for the time of a visit.
Notes
Warwick Castle lies at Warwick, Warwickshire, by the Avon; a castle open to the public (today a historical attraction). Hours to check.
Quiz
- Which towers did Richard III leave unfinished at Warwick?
- The Bear and Clarence towers
- Big Ben
- The White Tower
- Which family received the earldom of Warwick under the Tudors?
- The Dudleys
- The Percys
- The Seymours
- Who saved the castle from ruin from 1604?
- Sir Fulke Greville
- Walter Raleigh
- Cardinal Wolsey