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[Position] Earl of Cornwall
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The Castles | Cornwall and the Kingdom: Connectivity, Cohesion, and Integration, c. 1300-c. 1420
extract from Cornwall and the Kingdom: Connectivity, Cohesion, and Integration, c. 1300-c. 1420
Samuel John Drake Royal Holloway, University of London Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017
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The Castles
The earldom-duchy likewise held Cornwall’s four chief castles – Launceston,
Restormel, Tintagel, and Trematon – with these structures forming a network
of administration, control, and defence. 194 The earl-duke appointed a
constable to each and in the case of Launceston this man generally managed
the gaol, while the constable of Restormel often held Restormel Park.195 All
these castellans received livery robes to the value of 13s. 4d. along with an
annuity, some 20 marks for Launceston but only 50s. 8d. for the others.196
While at times the earldom-duchy assigned considerable sums for the
maintenance of these fortifications, Tintagel proved to be particularly
dilapidated.197
Some thirteen men are known to have held Launceston during this
period, with the castle annexed to the sheriff-stewardship from 1331 to 1337.
All except three of the constables held other offices in the county and only
five were Cornishmen, including Sir John Petit. Fourteen men held
Restormel, four of whom hailed from Cornwall, and nine of them also held
other offices in the peninsula; as was the case with Launceston, the castle and
the sheriff-stewardship proved to be attached from 1315 to 1331. Some fifteen
men served as constable of Tintagel, four originating from the peninsula and
twelve serving in other county posts. Bishop Stapeldon and John Holand, earl
of Huntingdon, both held this fortification at different times, but as men of
high rank, they employed deputies. In 1337, however, the castle chaplain had
the keeping of Tintagel without wages.198 Finally, Trematon saw fourteen
192 Lewis, Stannaries, p. 86.
193 RBP, ii, 149.
194 I. D. Spreadbury, Castles in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Redruth, 1984), pp. 14-35;
there was a long-running dispute over Trematon’s ownership, Elliott-Binns, Medieval
Cornwall, pp. 161-162.
195 RBP, ii, 186; SC6/816/11 m. 1r; CPR 1334-1338, 383.
196 SC6/811/7 m. 2r; E372/152B m. 9; SC6/1094/13; CIPM, iii, 548; Tintagel was held
without fee for a time, RBP, ii, 14.
197 SC8/327/E796; SC6/811/12 m. 1r; SC8/327/E818; RBP, ii, 2, 9.
198 CS, 142.
castellans pass through its gates, five of them Cornishmen and seven holding
no other position in the county. Evidently some of these men enjoyed great
stature, employing under-constables to perform their duties, whereas others
emerge as being of little substance. All, however, held significant places in
the administration of the shire-franchise.
extract from Cornwall and the Kingdom: Connectivity, Cohesion, and Integration, c. 1300-c. 1420
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