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Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750

The day-to-day functions of Kenilworth Castle

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

How castles let a few Normans hold England, Geoffrey de Clinton's founding and the Crown's seizure in the 1170s, the castle as a display of power, why kings kept it in loyal hands, estate business, justice, service buildings and changing private living space.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

How did the castle come into the hands of the Crown in the 1170s?

Numbers

Why were kings so anxious to keep Kenilworth in loyal hands?

Key term

What estate business was carried on inside the castle?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did castles allow a small number of Norman invaders to hold down a whole kingdom?

    Model answer

    Each gave a garrison a secure base from which mounted soldiers could ride out and crush resistance, and its bulk reminded everyone nearby who now ruled them.

  2. 2

    Why could an earth-and-timber castle be thrown up so quickly?

    Model answer

    It needed only labour, soil and wood, so forced local labour could raise a mound and palisade in weeks, where a stone tower took years.

  3. 3

    Who founded Kenilworth Castle, and what did his career show about how Norman kings ruled?

    Model answer

    Geoffrey de Clinton, chamberlain and treasurer to Henry I, a man raised up by royal service and planted in the Midlands to serve the king's interest there.

  4. 4

    How did the castle come into the hands of the Crown in the 1170s?

    Model answer

    Henry II took it from the de Clinton family during the rebellion of his sons in 1173–74, and they never recovered it.

  5. 5

    How could a castle display its lord's power to people who never went inside it?

    Model answer

    Through its skyline and the size of its towers, its gatehouse, its lake and its deer parks, all of which announced wealth and lordship long before a visitor reached the door.

  6. 6

    Why were kings so anxious to keep Kenilworth in loyal hands?

    Model answer

    A fortress this strong in the middle of the kingdom was a danger to the Crown if a rebel held it, as the six-month resistance of 1266 proved.

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