The first castle built at Bristol was a timber
motte and bailey, presumably erected on the command of
William the Conqueror, who retained the
manor of Bristol within the royal
demesne. One of William's closest allies,
Geoffrey de Montbray,
Bishop of Coutances, appears to have had control of the castle in William's name. The
Domesday Book of 1086 records that he received part of the king's income from the
borough. The castle is first mentioned in surviving records in 1088, when Geoffrey used it as a base in his rebellion against King
William II. After William II triumphed, the English lands of the rebels were redistributed to his loyal followers. Among the recipients was
Robert FitzHamon, who having thus gained a large swathe of
Gloucestershire, including Bristol Castle, founded the
feudal barony of Gloucester. His eldest daughter and heiress Mabel FitzHamon married
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, illegitimate son of King
Henry I. On the death of her father in 1107, Mabel brought to her husband the feudal barony of Gloucester: thus he is generally known as "Robert of Gloucester". This great fortress was to play a key role in the civil wars that followed the death of
Henry I of England. Henry's only legitimate son
William drowned in the wreck of the
White Ship in 1120, so Henry eventually declared his one legitimate daughter
Matilda his heir. However her cousin,
Stephen of Blois,
usurped the throne on Henry's death in 1135. Matilda's half-brother
Robert of Gloucester became her trusted right-hand man – the commander of her troops. Rebels rallied to his castle at Bristol. Stephen reconnoitred Bristol in 1138 but decided that the town was impregnable. As his chronicler reported: "On one side of it, where it is considered more exposed to siege and more accessible, a castle rising on a vast mound, strengthened by wall and battlements, towers and divers engines, prevents an enemy's approach." After Stephen was captured in 1141, he was imprisoned in Bristol Castle until Robert of Gloucester was also captured and an exchange of prisoners was made. Bristol Castle was Robert of Gloucester's principal seat in England. He added greatly to its exterior fortifications and rebuilt the interior. The castle and title of Earl of Gloucester passed to Robert's son,
William. When
Henry the Young King and his brother – princes
Richard and
Geoffrey – rebelled against King
Henry II in 1173 Earl William supported their cause. The rebellion was put down the following year, and William was punished by having Bristol Castle confiscated and taken under royal control. Bristol became one of the most important royal castles in the country.
Henry III, educated there in his youth, spent lavishly on it, adding a
barbican before the main west gate, a
gate tower, and magnificent
great hall. From 1224,
Eleanor of Brittany was strictly confined to the castle under relatively comfortable conditions, with accommodation in the keep, almost to her death in 1241, except for sometime between 1225 and 1227 when she was presumably locked in her tower or room. The two young sons of
Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last princes of
Gwynedd, were imprisoned for life in Bristol Castle after
Edward I's conquest of
Wales in 1283.
William le Scrope, Sir
John Bussy and Sir
Henry Green were executed there without trial in June 1399 by the Duke of Hereford, soon to be King
Henry IV of England, after the latter's successful return from exile. The first detailed description of the castle was written in 1480. By the time the
antiquary John Leland visited
c.1540, Bristol castle was showing signs of neglect. It had "two courts, and in the north-west part of the outer court there is a large keep with a dungeon, said to have been built of stone brought by the red Earl of Gloucester from
Caen in Normandy. In the other court is an attractive church and many domestic quarters, with a great gate on the south side, a stone bridge and three ramparts on the left bank leading to the mouth of the Frome. Many towers still stand in both the courts, but they are all on the point of collapse". By the sixteenth century the castle had fallen into disuse, but the City authorities had no control over royal property and the precincts became a refuge for lawbreakers. In 1630 the city bought the castle and when the
Civil War broke out the city took the
Parliamentary side and partly restored the castle. However
Royalist troops
occupied Bristol and after it was
recaptured in 1645,
Oliver Cromwell ordered the
destruction of the castle to prevents its reuse by Royalists. ==Preservation==