Robert Fitzharding - Barony of Berkeley

Barony of Berkeley

In the conflict of The Anarchy(1135-1154), Bristol Castle was held by Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester(d.1147) for the Plantagenet cause against King Stephen. In 1152 Roger de Berkeley was dispossessed by Plantagenet forces of the fee-farm of Berkeley Castle, held from King Stephen, for refusing to give allegiance to the Plantagenet cause. These lands included Berkeley, Filton, Horfield, Almondsbury and Ashleworth, and other English and Welsh possessions including land in Gwent and Glamorgan. This left Roger de Berkeley with a truncated barony centred on Dursley. Following the victory and crowning of King Henry II(1154-1189), Fitzharding was rewarded by the king for his support with the grant of a feudal barony which comprised lands which had formerly been held at fee-farm from Stephen by Roger de Berkeley, including Berkeley Castle itself, which became the caput of the new barony. Fitzharding made further endowments to St Augustine's Abbey from these territories.

In 1153–54 Fitzharding received a royal charter from Henry II giving him permission to rebuild the castle at Berkeley. The previous castle was originally a motte-and-bailey built by William FitzOsbern shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and had been rebuilt in the 12th century by the dispossessed Roger de Berkeley and his father. Fitzharding built the shell keep between 1153–56, on the site of the former motte. The building of the curtain wall followed, around 1160–90.