Wingfield

Wingfield Castle seems full of contrasts. On the one hand is the defensive Wingfield, with its moat surrounding an allured curtain wall, arrow slits and sturdy gatehouse. On the other is the domestic, with the almost delicate Tudor residence built into one corner with large windows and decorated

Flint flushwork ornament below the battlements. Wingfield was a fortified home, a manor house calling itself a castle.

The licence to crenellate Wingfield was granted to Michael dc la Pole by Richard II in 1382, the year after the Peasants’ Revolt. Michael was the son of

William de la Pole, who had been a rieh merchant in Hull and had been created the first mayor in 1331. William had grown rich by lending money to Edward III for campaigns and had in return been knighted and granted trading privileges. The family became exceptionally wealthy and influential. William was buried in Holy Trinity church, Hull.

After an initial spell at sea, in 1376 Michael became Mayor of Hull, where he established a Carthusian priory and a home for old people called Maison Dicu, now the Charterhouse. In 1383 he became Lord Chanccllorof England and in 1385 Earl of Suffolk. His connection with Suffolk came about through his marriage to Katherine, the daughter and heiress of Sir John Wingfield who had been chief councillor to the Black Prince. Sir John had died in 1362 and is buried in the church. It would appear that Michael wanted to establish himself first at Haughicy Castle, but circumstances were not right so Wingfield was built. The castle was almost certainly built on the site of an earlier manor house of which only the 10-foot (3 m) high ramparts on the edge of the north side of the moat seem to exist.

Michael was not able to enjoy his new home for long. His closeness to Richard II, as one of four personal advisers, annoyed parliament greatly and he was seen as a major obstacle to their ambitions. In

1387 they demanded Michael’s removal. The King’s reply angered parliament: T will not dismiss one of my scullions at parliament’s command.’ However, de la Pole was impeached and imprisoned. In November, he escaped abroad and was to die in exile in Paris in 1389.

He was succeeded by his son, another Michael and 2nd Earl of Suffolk. He had married Katherine, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, and their wooden effigies lie in the church.

Michael accompanied Henry V to France in 1415. However, he died of fever at the siege of Har-flcur. His eldest son, yet another Michael, was to become 3 rd Earl of Suffolk for less than a month as he was one of the very few English killed at the Battle of Agincourt in October. (There is a fine speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V given by Essex about Michael’s death.) His brother William became 1st Duke of Suffolk and the most powerful man in England.

William de la Pole married Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of the poet. He was commander in chief of the expedition which led to the siege of Orleans in France. This was to be a turning point in the so-called Hundred Years’ War as his opponent was the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc. When totally surrounded William refused to surrender to anyone but Joan and called her ‘the bravest woman on

Earth’. He was only released after the paying of a phenomenal ?20,000 ransom, leaving his younger brother as hostage.

William’s defeat did not seem to affect his royal favour and he was quickly back reorganising state affairs in England. However, events did not favour him in the future. He was heavily criticised for arranging unfavourable terms for the marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou, and people jealous of his influence with the king slowly undermined his authority. He was impeached on feeble charges but was found neither guilty nor innocent. The king, in a dilemma, exiled him for five years but de la Pole was murdered by beheading on a ship at Dover and his naked body flung into the sea. The story is told in Shakespeare’s Henry VI. William de la Pole’s body was carried to Wingfield and buried in the church.

William’s successor was John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk. He married the sister of Edward rv and died in 1491. His second son, Edmund, succeeded to the earldom but not the dukedom.

Edmund found the political climate in England difficult. Henry VII had beaten the Yorkist king Richard III to claim the throne for what was in effect the Lancastrian cause. The new Tudor monarch tolerated his old enemies, but was constantly nervous that the Wars of the Roses might flare up again.

Edmund was the nephew of the Yorkist king, Edward IV, and chose self-imposed exile for fourteen years. In 1513, four years into the reign of Henry VIII, he returned. It was a bad decision; seen as a potential rival for the throne, he was executed by Henry VIII for treason. Richard, Edmund’s other brother, succeeded him but spent the rest of his life out of England, dying in 1525 fighting for Francis I of France. The castle then passed to the Catclyn family, who erected the present Tudor farmhouse. The castle then passed through various families.