How did William marshal become to own the chepstows castle in 1210?

Answer 1

Chepstow Castle is one of the most famous and formidible fortresses in Wales. The castle is located on the River Wye which divides England from south Wales, near the main road from Gloucestershire into Gwent. Guarding the bridge on the most southern coastal land route into Wales, Chepstow's importance increased because the steep river cliffs of the Wye left no other useable crossing until one reached Monmouth about 15 miles up the river . The castle also guarded the flourishing Norman town of Cheap-stow (= 'the market town') at the mouth of the Wye.

The construction of Chepstow began within months of The Battle of Hastings, when William fitz Osbern was made Earl of Hereford and built Chepstow 1 as his base for the conquest of the Welsh kingdom of Gwent. The Great Keep in the center is the earliest dateable secular building in Britain. Chepstow was granted to the de Clare family about 1115, but no new construction was done until the castle, part of the vast inheritance of Isabella de Clare upon the death of her father Strongbow, passed to William Marshall upon his marriage to Isabella. William's addition of two towers to the vulnerable east end of the castle was greatly augmented by the further additions by 4 of his 5 sons between 1219 and 1245. These improvements included the lower ward with its gatehouse on the east end and the upper ward on the west end with two separate battlemented residential towers. The west end of the Great Tower was heightened as well.

The Marshall brothers all died childless by 1245 and the families holdings were thus divided among the sisters. The eldest, Maud, received Chepstow which she passed upon her death to son Roger Bigod II, the Earl of Norfolk. While the Earl's interests were elsewhere, his son Roger Bigod III was very interested in his Marcher lordship when he inherited Chepstow in 1270. The lower ward of the castle received an enlarged curtain tower and a major residential range, the west end was strengthened further with the barbican gatehouse, and the Great Tower was further embellished. Bigod's numerous building projects left him in debt and Chepstow passed to the king upon his death in 1306. Most major action was avoided at Chepstow until the Civil War, when the castle's impregnable location and medeival defenses quickly succumbed to Cromwellian cannon.