A Detailed Analysis Of The History Of Radnor Castle And Barony Between 1066 And 1282 And Its Owners, The Fitz Osberns, Lasnes, Braoses And Mortimers Together With Footnotes To The Original Sources. Includes The Battle Of Radnor In 1196. Gives A Detailed Description Of Castle Site With 13 Black And White Photos, 4 Maps, 1 Plan And A Genealogical Table Of The Lords Of Radnor. Overview; Explores the history of this early castle site dominating the Saxon exploited plain of Radnor. The borough and surrounding castles are examined in a subsequent book, Ten Castles of Radnor Lordship, 1066 to 1304. History; In Pre-history the Radnor Plain abounded in ancient monuments and the importance of the district did not disappear with the coming of the Romans. By the tenth century the district was tilled by Saxons and in the early Norman period a castle was built on the hill overlooking the site of a possible Roman town. In 1196 the castle was sacked before a relieving force under the Mortimers and Says was destroyed in battle beneath the castle walls. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the castle had the unenviable record of being besieged ten times and taken ten times!

The castle became crown land when Edward IV seized the kingdom in 1461. Genealogy; The castle soon passed into the hands of the Braose family and their tangled history is examined from the Norman Conquest of England until the extinction of the Radnor branch in 1230. Such great characters as William Braose Senior and his formidable wife, Matilda St Valery, are met and their battles, victories and defeats recorded. Then, unraveled to some depth, are the mid-thirteenth century campaigns of Radnor's later Mortimer lords, especially the great Roger Mortimer of Wigmore who helped win a kingdom for the Lord Edward (later Edward I) against all the odds and then set his sights upon even higher ambitions. Archaeology; The castle site is examined in detail and an attempt is made to reconstruct its now totally buried masonry remains.