Rochester Castle - King John

King John

Custody of Rochester Castle remained with the Archbishops of Canterbury until the end of the 12th century. Despite ascending to the throne in 1199 King John did not confirm Hubert Walter as the castle's custodian until July 1202. John may have wished to regain direct control of what was an important castle. The crisis of John's rule began in 1212 with the discovery of a plot to overthrow him. Defeat at the Battle of Bouvines in July 1214 marked the end of John's ambitions to retake Normandy and exacerbated the situation in England. He returned to England in October and a few months later barons in the north of England were actively challenging his rule. A group of barons renounced their feudal ties to John in May 1215, and they captured London, Lincoln, and Exeter. John persuaded Stephen Langton, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, to cede control of Rochester Castle to a royal constable, Reginald de Cornhill. Under the agreement, when the terms expired in Easter 1215 the castle was to revert to the control of the archbishop. The period was later extended to Easter 1216. Letters patent dated 25 May 1215 requested that other royal constables would take over from Cornhill. The castle would still be returned to the archbishop when the agreement expired or if peace was restored to the kingdom before Easter 1216. In the meantime, control reverted to Langton who John asked to hold the castle "in such a way that by it no ill or harm shall come to us or our kingdom".

John met the rebel barons at Runnymede, and on 19 June 1215 they renewed their vows of fealty. A peace treaty, which later became known as Magna Carta, was sealed. Shortly after the treaty the agreement between John and Langton to appoint a royal constable in charge of Rochester Castle was dissolved, returning control to the archbishop. The peace did not last and the First Barons' War broke out. A group of rebels headed to Rochester to hold the city against John. The events surrounding the rebels' takeover of the castle are unclear, but contemporary chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall recorded that the king demanded Langton hand over the castle to royal control and the archbishop refused. Although Langton held out against the king's demands, the rebels feared he would eventually cave to pressure from the king and seized control of Rochester Castle for themselves. According to Ralph of Coggeshall, this was done with the consent of the castle's constable, Reginald de Cornhill, who seems to have switched allegiance from the king to the archbishop after John appointed him as royal constable of the castle. Langton left the country that same month, leaving the castle in the hands of the king's enemies. In a letter that year to justiciar Hubert de Burgh John expressed his anger towards Langton, calling him "a notorious traitor to us, since he did not render our castle of Rochester to us in our so great need." After this point, Rochester Castle was no longer considered to be in the perpetual custody of the archbishops of Canterbury.

At the time, John was in south-east England recruiting mercenaries in preparation for his war with the barons. Rochester blocked the direct route to London, which was also held by the rebels. According to Roger of Wendover, the rebels at Rochester were led by William d'Aubigny, lord of Belvoir. Estimates of the size of Rochester's garrison vary, with the chroniclers' figures ranging from 95 to 140 knights, supported by crossbowmen, sergeants, and others. Hearing the news that the city was in enemy hands, John immediately rode to Rochester and arrived on 13 October. Royal forces had arrived ahead of John and entered the city on 11 October, taking it by surprise and laying siege to the castle. Rochester bridge was pulled down to prevent the arrival of a relief force from London. The siege that followed was the largest in England up to that point, and would take nearly two months.

Boley Hill to the south of the castle may have been used as John's headquarters during the siege. According to the Barnwell chronicler, five siege engines hurled a barrage of stones at the castle's wall day and night. These were supported by missiles from smaller bows and crossbows. Though the Barnwell chronicler claimed they smashed a hole in the castle's outer walls, Roger of Wendover asserted they were ineffective and that John turned to other methods to breach the defences. A letter dated 14 October indicates John was preparing to undermine the castle's walls. He wrote to Canterbury, asking for the production "by day and night of as many picks as you are able" and that they be sent to Rochester. On 26 October a relief force of 700 horse was sent from London. They turned back before arriving, perhaps because they heard the king was advancing to meet them.

When the castle's outer walls were eventually breached, the defenders retreated to the relative safety of the keep. It too withstood the efforts of the siege engines, and once again John turned to mining to bring down the walls. The mine was dug beneath the south-east corner of the keep. A letter sent from Rochester on 25 November offers insight into the methods of medieval siegecraft. John ordered Hugh de Burgh to "send to us with all speed by day and night forty of the fattest pigs of the sort least good for eating to bring fire beneath the tower". The wooden props supporting the tunnel dug beneath the keep were set alight to collapse the mine, bringing down one corner of the keep. Still the garrison held out and sought safety behind the stone partition or cross-wall in the keep, abandoning half the building. The Barnwell chronicler remarked that "for such was the structure of the stronghold that a very strong wall separated the half that had fallen from the other".

Conditions within the keep worsened by the day and the garrison were reduced to eating horse flesh. In an attempt to reduce the demand on limited provisions, some members were sent out of the keep, beginning with those least capable of fighting. Some sources record that they had their hands and feet amputated by the besiegers. On 30 November the garrison eventually surrendered and were taken captive. Initially John wanted to execute them all as was the custom of the time when a garrison had forced a long and bloody conflict. Savaric de Mauléon, one of John's captains, persuaded the king otherwise, concerned that similar treatment would be shown to royal garrisons by the rebels. Only one person was executed: a crossbowman who had previously been in the service of the king since childhood was hanged. Many of the rebels were imprisoned, sent to royal castles such as Corfe for safe-keeping. Of the siege the Barnwell chronicler wrote, "Our age has not known a siege so hard pressed nor so strongly resisted ... Afterwards few cared to put their trust in castles". Prince Louis of France, son of Philip II, was invited by the barons to become the new leader of the rebellion and become king in the event of their victory. In 1216 he arrived in England and captured Rochester Castle; it is not known how, however, as no documentary evidence recording the event survives.