Wallingford Castle is a medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire), adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Saxon burgh, it grew to become what historian Nicholas Brooks has described as "one of the most powerful royal castles of the 12th and 13th centuries". Held for the Empress Matilda during the civil war years of the Anarchy, it survived multiple sieges and was never taken. Over the next two centuries it became a luxurious castle, used by royalty and their immediate family. After being abandoned as a royal residence by Henry VIII, the castle fell into decline. Refortified during the English Civil War, it was eventually slighted, i.e. deliberately destroyed, after being captured by Parliamentary forces after a long siege. The site was subsequently left relatively undeveloped, and the limited remains of the castle walls and the considerable earthworks are now open to the public.
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👉 Wallingford Castle in the context of William IX, Count of Poitiers
William, Count of Poitiers (17 August 1153 – 1156) was the first son of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine.
William is reported to have died either at the age of 2 in April 1156, or at the age of 3 on 2 December 1156, after suffering a seizure at Wallingford Castle. He was buried in Reading Abbey at the feet of his great-grandfather Henry I.
Wallingford Castle in the context of Treaty of Wallingford
The Treaty of Wallingford, also known as the Treaty of Winchester or the Treaty of Westminster, was an agreement reached in England in the summer of 1153. It effectively ended a civil war known as the Anarchy (1135–54), caused by a dispute over the English crown between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. The Treaty of Wallingford allowed Stephen to keep the throne until his death (which was to come in October 1154), but ensured that he would be succeeded by Matilda's son Henry II.