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The
Lincoln Castle of Sir Thomas Burgh
On
October the 20th 1460 Sir Thomas Neville, son of
the earl of Salisbury (a brother of Warwick the Kingmaker), was
appointed Steward of the Honor of Bolingbroke, the Duchy of Lancaster
lands and estates in Lincolnshire. With this appointment went the
Constableship of Lincoln Castle and the Bail.
Lincoln Castle in 1460 was the centre of shire government for the county
of Lincolnshire, the Sheriff of Lincolnshire having his headquarters
here, and the county court and gaol also being located within the great
walls. As the Yorkist government tightened its grip on England during
1460 Thomas Burgh esq., a trusted local man, was made Sheriff, thus
giving vital support to the narrow Yorkist power base in a largely
Lancastrian/royalist Lincolnshire. In December 1460 Sir Thomas Neville
was killed at the Battle of Wakefield,
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and
his father the earl murdered.
In the confusion after this Yorkist defeat Thomas Sharp
esq. An usher of the Kings Chamber appears to have taken over
the Constableship (He had in fact been granted the office in
reversion for life after William Percy, Constable from
1421-1447). After the Battle of Towton on Palm Sunday 1461 and
the establishment of Yorkist control under the new king Edward
IV, there followed a period of consolidation, and on the 3rd
December Thomas Burgh esq. Was appointed Steward of the Honor of
Bolingbroke and Constable of Lincoln Castle for life. It was to
the Castle that all government directives, commissions, and laws
were sent, into the hands of the government appointed Sheriff
for action. It was also in the castle that major military
musters or Commissions of Array were held for the county, with
Burgh and his associates, and senior officers of his affinity in
command.
The
Constable was responsible for the castle itself and the Bail,
which at this time covered the entire North-West quarter of the
City, a massive area within the bounds of the north and western
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City
walls, and to the east by the Cathedral Close walls, to the south by the
original roman south city wall.
Lincoln City was thus split into four separately governed
areas; the Castle and Bail, the Cathedral, the Beaumont Fee, and the
City itself. It was, at
times, a stormy relationship. Within Sir Thomas Burghs Bail were many
houses, paying rent to the Honor, and the Cathedral, whilst the regular
markets held there also brought in lucrative tolls and fines from the
market courts. For escapes of prisoners from his gaol Sir Thomas was
granted regular pardons, but it was financially well worth it.
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The
Constable also made money from the Sheriff, the gaol and the
county court but little was spent in the upkeep and maintenance
of the castle fabric. Although
tales were often told about the siege of Lincoln and the Battle
of Lincoln Fair, these actions had taken place hundreds of years
before, and were only memories, the West Gate had been blocked
up in the 1320’s, whilst the massive motte with the Lucy tower
on top had become fallen and overgrown, full of doves, pigeons.
Within its walls the Castle had a thriving village of employees
and their families; stables, workshops, gaol, shire court,
county court, and the Porter in the massive East Gate barbican
complex. Orchards, cottage gardens, a brew house and several
clean wells serviced this lively community, which swelled
greatly during county and shire court sittings. On January 31st
1469 Sir Thomas arranged for his eldest son Edward to join him
as joint Constable
for life (Edward being aged only five!), and this was confirmed
again in 1473. With
so many other offices, and especially his Mastership of the
Kings Horse, |
Burgh
had to appoint working deputies for the Honor, allowing him to attend
the King, Sir William
Skypwith and John Stanlowe served until1485 when Richard III was
defeated at the Battle of Bosworth by Henry VII the first Tudor King.
On the 10th October 1485 John, Viscount Welles
(a direct relative of the new King) was appointed Steward of Bolingbroke
ending thirty years of Burgh dominated office.
It is not certain that Sir Thomas lost the Constableship in 1485 but it
is not until 1501 that Sir Robert Sheffield and Robert Sutton are
recorded taking a lease of twenty years of the custody of the castle
with its gaol and prisoners, Burgh died in 1496.
For
more information on Lincoln Castle, its early and later history go to
Lincoln Castle
Sources:
Sommerville - History of the Duchy of Lancaster Vol I
F.Hill -
Medieval Lincoln.
Calendars of Letters Patent - Henry
VI, Edward IV, Richard III, Edward V, and Henry VII
Calendars of Close Rolls
- Henry VI, Edward
IV, Richard III, Edward V, and Henry VII
P.R.O Kew - Lists of Sheriffs
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