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Clifford Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Clifford which lies four miles to the north of Hay-on-Wye in the Wye Valley in Herefordshire, England (). It was the ''caput'' of the feudal barony of Clifford, a Marcher Lordship (owing allegiance directly to the King, but separate from the rest of the kingdom). ==History== The early motte and bailey castle was built on a cliff overlooking a ford on the River Wye in 1070 by William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, on a wasteland formerly occupied by Browning. The castle was intended to provide protection for a planned Norman settlement above the River Wye of quite a substantial size, with c. 200 plots being intended, running uphill for half a mile towards Llanfair, where the church was sited on the hilltop. St Mary's church remains today, much altered in the Victorian era. The position of the castle as adjacent to the River Wye enabled the seasonal flooding of the river to fill the flood plain around the castle, forming a shallow lake or marsh with the assistance of a dam on the western or upstream side of the site, acting as a further form of defence. After FitzOsbern was slain in battle at Flanders, the castle passed to his son, Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford. Roger forfeited his lands for rebellion against the King in 1075, and the castle was granted to Ralph Tosny who held it directly from the Crown, and it was the Tosnys who rebuilt the castle in stone (in a manner much resembling the Tosny's Conches Castle in Normandy). As the bulk of Ralph's time was spent in Normandy, the castle was rented to Gilbert, Sheriff of Hereford for 60 shillings. After the marriage of Ralph's daughter, Margaret de Tosny, to Walter Fitz Richard, Walter became steward of the lands and estate, later claiming them for himself and taking the name of Walter de Clifford sometime before 1162. It was Walter's daughter, Rosamund Clifford (known for her beauty as the Fair Rosamund), who became famous as the mistress of Henry II, which she remained until her death in 1176 or 1177 when she was buried at Godstow in Oxfordshire. A property near the castle is called Rosamund House today, and one of the surviving towers is known as "Rosamund's Tower." In 1233 Walter's son and heir, Walter II de Clifford, rebelled against the autocratic rule of King Henry III. In early September the king came and besieged Clifford castle, forcing the garrison to surrender after just a few days. Walter Clifford then made his peace with the Crown and led his troops against Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, his father-in-law. Walter's volte-face was doubly dishonourable, as Prince Llywelyn had just entered the field to fight the king in support of Walter. Twenty years later Walter nearly rebelled again, when, in a fit of anger, he forced a royal messenger to eat a royal writ, together with the royal wax seal the size of a dinner plate. For this Walter lost many of his Marcher Lord privileges. Walter II had no male heir, and so Clifford fell to his daughter, Matilda Clifford (widow of the Earl of Salisbury) some time in the 1260s. It was during the Second Barons' War when John Giffard of Brimpsfield took the castle, whereupon kidnapped, raped, and forcibly married Matilda. Though Giffard was fined, Matilda declined any further action and chose to accept her erstwhile abductor as her husband, and they lived together in the Clifford estate until Giffard's death in 1299, whereupon the King granted Clifford to the Mortimers of Wigmore.〔http://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/1144.aspx〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clifford Castle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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