Battlefields›Siege of Norwich Castle (1075)
Medieval

Siege of Norwich Castle (1075)

1075
Norfolk, England
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Siege
Location
Norfolk, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Ralph de Gael and the rebel garrison, commanded by Emma
VS
Victor
Forces loyal to William the Conqueror
Outcome
The garrison surrendered after three months. Emma and her garrison were granted safe passage out of the country. The rebellion was suppressed and royal control restored.
The Battle

History & Significance

Siege of Aratta (c. 2600 BC) this siege is semi or entirely mythical.

Siege of Rabbah (10th century BC) (Bible reference: II Samuel 11–12)

Siege of Abel-beth-maachah (10th century BC) (Bible reference: II Samuel 20:15–22)

Siege of Gath (city) (ca. 830 BC) (Bible reference: II Kings 12:17/18)

Siege of Samaria (ancient city) (9th century BC) (Bible reference: II Kings 6:24 – 7:7)

Siege of Tyre (724–720 BC) by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V and Sargon II

Siege of Jerusalem (701 BC) by the Assyrians under Sennacherib

Siege of Sparta (272 BC) – Pyrrhus' invasion of the Peloponnese

Siege of Saguntum (219 BC) – casus belli for the Second Punic War

Siege of Carthage (149–146 BC) by Scipio Aemilianus Africanus

Siege of Numantia (134–133 BC) by Scipio Aemilianus Africanus

Siege of Athens and Piraeus (87–86 BC) – First Mithridatic War

Siege of Hatra (193) – by Septimius Severus during Roman–Parthian Wars

Siege of Byzantium (194–196) by forces of Septimius Severus.

Siege of Hatra (197) – by Septimius Severus during Roman–Parthian Wars

Siege of Chencang (229) – Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions

Siege of Theodosiopolis (421) – Roman–Sasanian War (421–422)

Siege of Suiyang (757) – known because of acts of cannibalism.

Siege of Pavia (773–774) – Lombard kingdom conquered by Charlemagne

Siege of Patras (805 or 807) by the Slavs of the Peloponnese

Siege of Bari (870–871) – Frankish conquest of the Emirate of Bari

Siege of Takrit (sometime between 1105 and 1107) – Nizari–Seljuk conflicts

Siege of Alamut (sometime between 1106 and 1109) – Nizari–Seljuk conflicts

Siege of Apamea (1106) – Crusades, conflicts with the Assassins

Siege of Apamea (September 1106) – Crusades, conflicts with the Assassins

Siege of Milan (1158) – part of the wars between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I and the Northern Italy cities

Siege of Crema (1159–1160) – part of the wars between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I and the Northern Italy cities

Siege of Sanjō Palace (1160) – the main action of the Heiji Rebellion took place in Kyoto

Siege of Milan (1161–62) – part of the wars between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I and the Northern Italy cities

Siege of Wexford (1169) – the first major clash of the Norman invasion of Ireland

Siege of Alessandria (1174–1175) – part of the wars between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I and the Northern Italy cities

Siege of Château Gaillard (1203–1204) – French invasion of Normandy (1202–1204)

Siege of Zhongdu (1215) – Genghis Khan conquers Zhongdu, now Beijing

Siege of Rochester castle (1215) – King John's Danish mercenaries attempt to take the castle of Rochester during the First Baron's war.

Siege of Kaifeng (1232–1233) – Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Siege of Norwich Castle (1075) lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.

Buried history

The most striking detail of this siege is the role of Emma, wife of the rebel earl Ralph de Gael. Left in sole command of the garrison while her husband crossed the sea in search of Danish allies, she held Norwich Castle for three months against royal forces. When it became clear that no relief was coming, she did not simply capitulate but negotiated directly with the besieging army, securing a formal guarantee of safety and free passage abroad for herself and every member of her garrison. In an age when garrison commanders who resisted the king could expect harsh treatment, Emma's achievement in extracting such terms was a remarkable feat of nerve and diplomacy.

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Everything a full report reveals about Siege of Norwich Castle (1075)

This page covers Siege of Norwich Castle (1075). A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

Overview
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Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
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A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Siege of Norwich Castle (1075)

St Ethelbert Gate
St Ethelbert Gate
Scheduled monument · ~0 mi

St Ethelbert Gate is a fourteenth-century gatehouse forming part of the precinct wall of Norwich Cathedral. The structure, built of flint with stone dressings, stands as one of the most substantial surviving monumental gateways of its period in East Anglia. It served as the principal entrance to…

Gareth Williams / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Erpingham Gate
Erpingham Gate
Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Erpingham Gate is a medieval gatehouse located in Norwich, Norfolk, built in the early fifteenth century. Constructed of flint and stone, the structure stands as a fine example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture, featuring characteristic pointed arches and decorative detailing. The gate was ere…

Nigel Chadwick / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Old Charnel House, The Close
Old Charnel House, The Close
Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Old Charnel House, The Close is a medieval ossuary building located in Norwich, Norfolk. The structure dates to the medieval period and functioned as a charnel house, a repository for human remains, typically associated with the adjacent cathedral or parish church. The building represents an impo…

Ben Keating / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 mi

Norwich Castle is a Norman keep built in the late eleventh century, constructed shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066 as both a royal fortress and a symbol of Norman authority in East Anglia. The castle's most distinctive feature is its massive stone keep, originally rising over one hundred f…

The original uploader was Bluemoose at English Wikipedia. / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Bishop's Palace gate
Bishop's Palace gate
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 mi

Bishop's Palace Gate is a scheduled ancient monument in Norfolk, England, constituting a substantial surviving gateway structure associated with the medieval episcopal residence at Norwich. The gate dates from the medieval period and represents an important element of the fortified precinct that…

Malc MacDonald / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Norman House, St Martin-at-Palace Plain
Norman House, St Martin-at-Palace Plain
Scheduled monument · ~0.3 mi

Norman House is a substantial stone dwelling located on St Martin-at-Palace Plain in Norwich, Norfolk. The building dates to the early Norman period, likely the twelfth century, and represents an important example of domestic architecture from the immediate post-Conquest era. Constructed of flint…

Gate of Bridewell, part of No 6 St Andrew's Hill
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 miles
The Dominican Friary (Blackfriars) Norwich: Becket’s Chapel, Chapter House, North Range, standing remains in the East Garth, and buried remains
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Siege of Norwich Castle (1075)

Amicable Grant Resistance in Norfolk, 1525
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Danish Raid on Norwich, 1069
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Æthelberht of East Anglia Resists Mercia 792
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