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| IN DAYS OF OLD WHEN MEN WERE BOLD AND KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER THINGS WERE FAIR , THERE WAS SWEETNESS IN THE AIR IN CAMELOT........ NOT |
| NOT IF YOU THINK OF PLACES LIKE WARWICK CASTLE IN THE 1100'S AND ON THROUGH TO THE 17TH CENTURY. LIFE IN A CASTLE WAS HARD FOR THE EVERYDAY PERSON, THE LABORER, THE SERF, THE WOMEN, EVEN THE TITLED ONES. |
| ON A RECENT VISIT TO ENGLAND WE WERE ABLE TO HAVE A TOUR OF WARWICK CASTLE ON A "RENAISSANCE DAY". IN THIS DAY AND AGE THE REMNANTS OF THE PAST TAKE ON A ROMANTIC AURA, BUT IF YOU REALLY LISTEN TO THE GUIDE AND USE YOUR IMAGINATION WHILE IN THE DUNGEON-LIKE SURROUNDINGS OF THE HOME OF THE KINGMAKER YOU BEGIN TO GET A DIFFERENT PICTURE OF DAILY LIFE |
| LIFE WAS HARD. CRUELTY WAS A WAY OF LIFE ......THEY KNEW NO BETTER.....THERE WERE NO PAIN KILLERS. THERE WERE NO MIRACLE CURES, NO LIFE SAVING OPERATIONS, NO LABOR SAVING DEVICES, NO LIGHTWEIGHT APPLIANCES. NOTHING TO SUGGEST AN EASIER WAY OF LIVING. THE IRONSMITHS' HELPERS FANNED THE FLAMES OF THE FORGE WITHIN THE BLACKENED STONE WALLS OF THE LOWER LEVEL QUARTERS OF THE CASTLE. SMOKE FILLED THE EYES AND NOSTRILS OF THE PEOPLE WORKING AND LIVING THERE NEXT TO THE CELLS OF THOSE COMMON FOLK IMPRISONED (SOME LEFT TO DIE IN A SOLITARY HOLE OR LEFT HANGING FROM THE CEILING IN THE 'IRON MAIDEN') |
| NO WONDER THE FIERY DRAGON HELD SUCH TERROR FOR THE PEOPLE |
| ONLY THE GENTRY WERE CONSIDERED GOOD ENOUGH TO BE IMPRISONED IN ONE OF THE TOWERS AND OVER THE CENTURIES SOME OF THE OWNERS OF WARWICK CASTLE WERE IMPRISONED AND DIED IN OTHER TOWERS THE CRUELTY OF AN INDIVIDUAL WAS RARELY MORE CRUEL THAN THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED. |
| Under construction much more to come |
| THE EARL OF WARWICK KNOWN AS "THE KINGMAKER" WAS PHILLIP NEVILLE WHO HELD SWAY FROM THE LATE 1440'S TO HIS DEATH IN THE BATTLE OF BARNET IN 1471. HE WAS ACTIVE DURING THE WAR OF THE ROSES AND DEPOSED BOTH HENRY VI AND EDWARD IV WHO, UPON NEVILLE'S DEATH, AWARDED THE CASTLE AND THE ESTATES TO HIS OWN BROTHER, GEORGE, DUKE OF CLARENCE. |
| THE FORTIFIED SITE OF WARWICK CASTLE HAD A 500 YEAR HISTORY BY THE TIME OF "THE KINGMAKER". IN 914AD, ETHELFLEDA, DAUGHTER OF ALFRED THE GREAT, WAS CHARGED WITH FORTIFYING THE ANGLO-SAXON SETTLEMENT TO PROTECT IT FROM INVASION BY THE DANES. A RAMPART WAS ADDED TO THE HILLTOP THAT OVERLOOKS THE RIVER AVON |
| A MOTTE AND BAILEY STYLE WOODEN FORT WAS ORDERED BY WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, IN 1068AD, TO SECURE LINES OF SUPPLY FOR THE NORMAN INVASION. |
| LATER IN THE 12TH CENTURY STONE BEGAN TO REPLACE THE WOODEN STRUCTURES. |
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