 |
While
first mentioned by chroniclers in 1138, Ludlow was
probably begun not long after 1066 when the property was
acquired by the de Lacy family. Ideally situated on a 100
foot level promontory overlooking the Rivers Teme and
Corve, the castle was usually in the thick of wars
between the Welsh and the English. When the last male de
Lacy heir died about 1240, the estates were divided
between the two daughters. Maud [Matilda] de Lacy married Geoffrey de
Geneville, an Angle-French noble and staunch supporter of Henry III.
Ludlow castle was briefly captured by Simon de Montfort during a
baronial uprising in 1264. However, in 1283 Geoffrey moved to
Ireland to oversee his vast holdings there, and gave Ludlow to his son,
Peter, who began building a fine range of domestic buildings at Ludlow.
Peter's daughter Joan married Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, who led
another baronial uprising, this time against King Edward II. King
Edward also briefly captured Ludlow, but was eventually dethroned.
The last of the Mortimers died in 1425 and Ludlow passed to nephew,
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York.
|
 |
