Berkeley Castle has been inhabited by the same family for almost 900 years, longer than any other fortress in England, and can trace their ancestory back to before the castle was built, to Eadnoth, a noble at the court of Edward the Confessor in the 11th century. Today the castle provides a beautiful setting for film makers and visitors alike.

~ History ~

1067 ~ The year after the Battle of Hastings William FitzOsbern erects a motte-and-bailey castle at Berkeley on land held by Eadnoth 'the Staller", a Saxon Theyn of the deceased King Edward the Confessor, who has pledged his loyalty to the Norman Duke William the Conqueror, now King of England. Eadnoth's loyalty to the Norman cause allows him to hold the castle for KIng William.

1068 ~ Rebelious Saxon forces still loyal to King Harold's sons, who have seen their father killed at the Battle of Hastings by King William, attack Bristol but are beaten back by its citizens. Eadnoth leads an army of English levies to relieve the citizens and force the Saxon rebels back into their ships. In doing so both Eadnoth and Magnus Haroldson are killed in battle. Bristol is saved, leaving the Saxon fleet to ravage the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, before returning to Ireland with their plunder. Eadnoth is succeeded by his son Harding who is too young to inherit his fathers estates and in time sees much of it pass to the Norman Earl Hugh of Chester. Harding leaves to make a successful career as a lawyer and businessman in Bristol.

1152 ~ The Berkeley family who have held and rebuilt the castle since its construction, are dispossed for withholding their allegiance from Empress Matilda during the civil war with her cousin King Stephen. The barony is granted to Robert Fitz~Harding, a wealthy burgess of Bristol, who has used his wealth to finance men-at-arms for Matilda's son Henry, and his subsequent invasion of England. At Christmas in the same year King Stephen is forced to proclaim Henry as his heir to the throne. Berkeley Castle and its estates are Robert's reward for his loyalty, and in doing so reclaim his inheritance from his ancestor's Harding and his father Eadnoth. 

1153 ~ Robert Fitzharding receives a royal charter from King Henry I to rebuild the castle in stone. The circular shell keep is completed within three years on the site of the former motte. The building of a stone curtain wall to further protect the keep begins a further six years later by Robert and then by his son Sir Maurice, wh takes the name Berkeley after the castle.

1189 ~ The rebuilding of Berkeley Castle in stone is complete.

1200's ~ During the troubled reign of King John, the Berkeley's have their castle and estates confiscated and returned to them.

1322 ~ Maurice III Lord Berkeley is amongst a number of barons who have rebelled against King Edward II. He forfeits his castle and estates and later dies in prison.

1326 ~ Maurice's son Thomas, escapes from imprisonment and joins King Edward's rebellious Queen Isabella in her successful invasion of England with her lover Roger Mortimer, to remove Edward from the throne, and so he is reistated to his castle and lands as his reward.

1327 ~ As Thomas's wife is the daughter of Roger Mortimer and having already demonstrated his loyalty to the Queen's cause to remove her husband from the throne, they are entrusted with the custody of the deposed King Edward II at Berkeley Castle.

Edward is held at Berkeley Castle for five months. During this time a band of Edward's supporters attack and enter the castle to rescue him, only for the King to be recaptured. The King is secretely moved between several castles to make further rescue attempts more difficult. On return to Berkeley Castle Mortimer orders that King Edward II is murdered to remove the growing royalist threat to his and Queen Isabella's rule.

Thomas is later chrged with complicity in the murder, but eventually the charges are dropped.

1340 ~ Thomas Berkeley spends huge sums of money rebuilding and enlarging the castle.

1399 ~ Henry Bolingbroke invades England in pursuit of his claim to the throne through his father, King Edward III's son John of Gaunt. He meets many ofthe country's leading barons at Berkeley castle before deposing King Richard II to become King Henry IV.

1415 ~ King Henry V departs England to persue his claim to the throne of France, leaving the ageing Thomas IV Lord Berkeley as one of the key nobles charged with overseeing the government of England in his absence.

1417 ~ Lord Thomas Berkeley dies sparking an inheritance dispute that lasts fifty years, including armed skirmishes culminating in the Battle of Nibley Green, when William Lord Berkeley's men kill the rival claimant Lord Lisle.

1492 ~ To spite his brother, William Lord Berkeley gives away all his estates including Berkeley Castle to King Henry VII and his male heirs, and so the castle becomes Crown property for the next sixty years.

1553 ~ King Edward VI dies childless enabling Henry Lord Berkeley to recover the estates and castle.

1572 ~ The valuable Berkeley estates catch the eye of Queen Elizabeth's favourite, the Earl of Leicester. He persuades the Queen to claim them for herself and then togrant her 'rights' over to him. As a direct descendant from Lord Lisle's family, the 'Great Dispute' is reignited, at a cost to Henry Lord Berkeley of tens of thousands of pounds.

1640's ~ During the English Civil War the castle changes hands five times and is sacked at least once in this time. Much of its furnishings are are either lost or taken to Scotland by the Parliamentary garrison.

1646 ~ George Lord Berkeley regains teh castle, but only on condition that he breached the keep wall so that it can never again be used as a fortress.

1679 ~ George II Lord Berkeley is granted an Earldom by King Charles II.

1688 ~ At the 'Glorious Revolution' when King James II's son-in-law William of Orange is invited to invade, forcing the Catholic King James to flee the country, George Lord Berkeley is one of the nobles who governs the country until William andMary, King James daughter, are proclaimed joint monarchs. Charles, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, is appointed one of the governors of Ireland.

1714 ~ Admiral James Berkeley, 3rd Earl, accompanies King George I when he sails from Hanoverto succeed Queen Anne.