Siege of Alnwick Castle (Second)
Who Fought
Lancastrian garrison under Hungerford and Whittingham; Yorkist besieging army under the Earl of Warwick, commanded in the field by the Earl of Kent and Lord Scales; Franco-Scottish relief force under George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus and Pierre de Brézé
History & Significance
Alnwick Castle ( ) is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman Conquest and renovated and remodelled several times. It is a Grade I listed building now the home of Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland and his family. In 2016, the castle received over 600,000 visitors per year when combined with adjacent attraction the Alnwick Garden.
Alnwick Castle guards a road crossing the River Aln. Ivo de Vesci, Baron of Alnwick, a nobleman from Vassy, Calvados in Normandy, erected the first parts of the castle in about 1096. Beatrix de Vesci, the daughter of Yves de Vescy, married the Constable of Chestershire and Knaresborough, Eustace fitz John. By his marriage to Beatrix de Vesci, he gained the baronies of Malton and Alnwick. The castle was first mentioned in 1136 when it was captured by King David I of Scotland. At this point, it was described as "very strong". It was besieged in 1172 and again in 1174 by William the Lion, King of Scotland. William was captured outside the walls during the Battle of Alnwick. Eustace de Vesci, lord of Alnwick, was accused of plotting with Robert Fitzwalter against King John in 1212. In response, John ordered the demolition of Alnwick Castle and of Fitzwalter's stronghold, Baynard's Castle, though his instructions were not carried out at Alnwick.
A descendant of Ivo de Vesci, John de Vesci, succeeded to his father's titles and estates upon the latter's death in Gascony in 1253. These included the barony of Alnwick and a large property in Northumberland and considerable estates in Yorkshire, including Malton. As John was underage, King Henry III of England conferred the wardship of his estates to a foreign relative, which caused great offence to the de Vesci family. The family's property and estates had been put into the guardianship of Antony Bek, who sold them to the Percys. From this time, the fortunes of the Percys, though they still held their Yorkshire lands and titles, were linked permanently with Alnwick and its castle and have been owned by the Percy family, the earls and later dukes of Northumberland since. The stone castle Henry Percy bought was a modest affair, but he immediately began rebuilding. Though he did not live to see its completion, the construction programme turned Alnwick into a major fortress along the Anglo-Scottish border. His son, also called Henry (1299–1352), continued the building. The Abbot's Tower, the Middle Gateway, and the Constable's Tower survive from this period. The work at Alnwick Castle balanced military requirements with the family's residential needs. It set the template for castle renovations in the 14th century in northern England; several palace-fortresses, considered "extensive, opulent [and] theatrical" date from this period in the region, such as the castles of Bamburgh and Raby. In 1345 the Percys acquired Warkworth Castle, also in Northumberland. Though Alnwick was considered more prestigious, Warkworth became the family's preferred residence.
The ground they fought on
The site of Siege of Alnwick Castle (Second) lies on Yoredale Group, bedrock that formed in the Bashkirian. The rock here is limestone, argillaceous rocks and subordinate sandstone, interbedded.
The besieged Lancastrian garrison at Alnwick, commanded by Hungerford and Whittingham, held out through starvation while neighbouring castles at Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh submitted to Yorkist terms; only when de Brézé and Angus arrived with their Franco-Scottish relief force on 5 January 1463 did Warwick withdraw, yet the Lancastrians then squandered the moment by retiring and leaving a token force that surrendered to the Yorkists the very next day.
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