Derived down to us, and received

In a succession, far the noblest way,

Of breeding up our youths in letters, arms,

Fair mien, discourses, civil exercise,

And all the blazon of a gentleman.

Where can he learn to vault, to ride, to fence,

To move his body gracefully; to speak

His language purer; or to tune his mind

Or manners more to the harmony of Nature,
Than in these Nurseries of Nobility?

BEN JONSON's New Inn. Act I. Scene 3.

THE CASTLE OF ARUNDEL,

Sussex,

PRINCIPAL SEAT OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORFOLK, K. G.

sessor.

THE Castle of Arundel enjoys a twofold celebrity, in its great antiquity and in its peculiar privilege of conferring the title of Earl on its posThe former reverts to a period much anterior to the Conquest; the latter was hereditary in the eleventh century, and confirmed by Act of Parliament in the sixth year of the reign of Henry the Sixth. But its chief and enduring interest is derived from the long list of warriors and statesmen whose names are identified with the place; and whose deeds, during the lapse of eight centuries, have shed lustre on the national history.

1066.

{

The earliest recorded notice of Arundel occurs in the will of the Great Alfred, in which he bequeaths it, along with other lordships, to his brother's son Athelm. It is described in that document as a manor, but without any specific distinction in its privileges from those of Aldingbourn, Compton, and Beeding, with which it is associated; and to Godwin and his son Harold, who were successively earls of Sussex †, it passed, in all probability, in the same form. It was not till the overthrow of the Saxon dynasty +, however, that Arundel assumes a prominent station in history as a native fortress of strength and importance. Among the train of warlike barons who attended the Norman in his successful expedition to our coast, was Roger de Monte Gomerico, or Montgomery, nearly related to the Conqueror by blood, and possessing extensive territories in Normandy. At the battle of Hastings, which placed the British crown on the head of William, Montgomery led the centre division of the army, and contributed to the victory. In return for this important service, and to bind him more firmly to his interests, the Conqueror four years afterwards bestowed upon him the two comtés, or earldoms, of Shrewsbury and Arundel. Of the six rapes § into which Sussex is divided, two, comprising Chichester and Arundel, and calculated to contain eighty-four knights' fees || and a half, were set apart to form the honour of Arundel. Of this and his other princely territories, Montgomery retained possession during a period of twenty years; and the ample revenues which they produced enabled him to support that dignity, splendour, and host of retainers which bespoke the rank of one of the great vassals of the crown. He was a man, according to Orderic **, of exemplary prudence and moderation; a great lover of equity, and of discreet and modest persons. When he

1070.

LARCHER.

* Camden.

+ Simeon Dunelm. 184. According to an Enquiry' instituted by government in 1580-Reg. Elizab.-for the establishment of this fact," it was fullie agreed on bothe pites that the erledome of Arundell was by prescripcōn, the begyninge whereof could not be shewed; and that the same was appurtenant and belonginge to the Castell of Arundell, in such sorte as hereafter yt is declared." "Yt appeared also by divers recordes and evidences that Roger Montgomery was Erle of Arundell in respecte that he was lorde and owner of the Castell of Arundell, and that he was erle thereof in William the Conqueror's tyme." The above inquiry was entrusted to Bromley the Lord Chancellor, and Burleigh the Treasurer.-Tierney, 1. 129.

...

§ Every one of which, besides its hundreds, contains a castle, a river, and a forest belonging to it. Similar districts in other counties are called tithings, lathes, or wapentakes.

Memorand. Quod Ao. Dni. 1071. Rogerus de Montegomerici, Comes Arundel, fuit pacificè seizit', &c. Imprimis de Castro Arundell, forest' Warren' hundr' et aliis libert' spectant' ad Honorem Castri, &c. Fitzalan MS.-Tierney's Arundel, 1. 14. Estimated at 57.460 acres.

Honour, in this sense, means a superior Seigniory

to which other lordships and manors owe suit and service, and which itself holds only of the Sovereign. **Orderic, 522.

CASTLE.]

MONTGOMERY-ALBINI-HENRY.

9

perceived his end approaching, the attachment which he had always felt for a religious life induced him to solicit admission to the Abbey of Shrewsbury, which he had founded; and there, three days after he had assumed the monastic habit, he expired in the month of July 1094, leaving a family of five sons and four daughters.

1098.

{

On the death of Roger Montgomery, his English possessions descended by will to Hugh, his younger son, whose life, like that of his brother Robert, was spent in wars of retaliation and aggression; seconding the enterprises of the turbulent nobles of his period; alternately opposing, and punished by, the king. When an attempt was made upon the island of Anglesea by the king of Norway*, Hugh made all haste to give him a warm reception; but although the enemy was put to flight, one of his arrows taking effect upon the Earl of Arundel, entered at the eye, and passing through the brain, struck him dead from his horse. He was buried in Shrewsbury. From Hugh the earldom passed to his elder brother Robert, Comte of Belesme, in La Perche, on payment of a fine to the king of three thousand pounds-an immense sum at that period. But on the revolt of the latter, his possessions were forfeited to King Henry the First, and the honour and castle of Arundel were resumed as property of the Crown.

1102.

{

By Henry they were settled in dower upon his second queen Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine, who on the death of the king con

veyed them by a second marriage to William de ALBINI, lord of Buckenham in Norfolk, of whose descendants we shall make more deliberate mention hereafter. When the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry the First, and mother of Henry the Second, landed in England in 1139, to assert her claims against the usurper Stephen, she was received, as will hereafter be noticed, at Arundel, and lodged with her retinue in the castle-an event which served greatly to advance and establish the fortunes. of Albini. For the news of her landing having alarmed the Usurper, he drew his forces immediately under the walls, and laid close siege to the castle. Albini, however, not only preserved his royal guest from violence, but, by good generalship or caution, secured for her a safe-conduct to Bristol, from which she took ship and returned to the Continent.

On the accession of her son, Henry the Second, this and other faithful services were not forgotten by the sovereign, who, to testify the sense in which

*Tierney, i. 158.

VOL. I.

C

he viewed Albini's devotion to his cause, confirmed to him and to his heirs for ever the honour and castle of Arundel *. He died in 1176, and William, his son and successor, in 1196.

WILLIAM DE ALBINI, the third in regular descent who enjoyed the earldom of Arundel, is well known in history as one of the barons who signed the Magna Charta, and otherwise evinced himself one of the most talented and enterprising men of his day. He died on his way home through Italy in 1221.

He was succeeded by his son William, the fourth earl, who dying early, without issue, was succeeded by his brother, Hugh de Albini, the last of the race. Hugh died in 1243, leaving four sisters, or their representatives, as his co-heirs, amongst whom, under a special commission from the Crown, his manorial estates were divided-which appear to have been immense.

Of these four sisters, the second, Isabel, had married Fitzalan of Oswaldestre; and to her son John Fitzalan, as nephew to the late Earl Hugh, the castle of Arundel and all its appurtenances descended by inheritance. This was the beginning of a new line of Earls-the Fitzalans of Arundel, six of whom in succession held that distinguished rank in the state.

The FITZALAN family, like those of Montgomery and Albini, was of Norman origin, and descended from Alan, the son of Fleald, who attended the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings, and received, amongst other spoils of the vanquished, the castle of Madoc-ap-Meredith in Wales, with the lordship of Oswaldestre in Salop. His wife was a daughter of Warren-the-Bald, sheriff of Shropshire, and consequently grand-niece of Roger Montgomery. By her he had two sons; William, who, adopting his patronymic, was called Fitzalan ; and Walter, who, pursuing his fortunes in Scotland and being appointed by King David grand-steward of the kingdom, became the progenitor of the royal family of STUART†. William Fitzalan, the elder brother, married Ellen, daughter of William Peverel, and niece of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and with her obtained a large accession of property in Bretagne. He defended. Shrewsbury against Stephen, fought with the Empress Matilda at Winchester, and at the accession of Henry the Second was appointed sheriff of Shropshire. At his death he left an only son, William, whose marriage with Isabel, daughter and heiress of Ingelram-de-Say, added the extensive lordship of Clun to the patrimonial possessions of the family; when the titles of Clun and Osweldastre were first united, and continue in the Howard family to the present day. After the death of William, the first lord of these honours, his

*Tiern. i. 15.

Orderic. 708.

Anno

Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. i. 572—4. 1158. "Ego Milcolumbus, rex, confirmavi Waltero, filio Alani (Fitzalan), Dapifero meo, et heredibus suis, in feodo et hereditate, senescalliam meam ... ..

ita bene et plenarie, sicut Rex David senescalliam suam ei dedit." In consequence of this grant, Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, sold the stewardship as an hereditary possession in 1336 to Edward the Third Pat. X. Ed. III. p. 2. n. 10.