Whittington Castle and the Romance of Fouk Fitz Warine

     Update.  Have just  published a longer Guest post by Adrian Price which has a particular emphasis on Fouk's connections to Wales 

                               Picture of Whittington Castle courtesy of Joy Duddell


I first heard of Whittington Castle,Owestery, Shropshire  via a financial appeal to help manage the impact of lockdown that started to appear on Facebook  Please see appeal update at the end of this post.  It seems most likely that Whittington Castle was built around 1090-1100. In 1138 the Empress Maud fortified the Castle during her war with King Stephen.  The Castle's website has a helpful Timeline  with many references to the Fouke/ Fulk family who gained control of Whittington Castle.

The most famous family members , Fouk II and Fouk III feature in the romance known as 'The History of Fulk Fitz-Warine, an outlawed Baron in the Reign of King John' . The first version  transcribed from the Medieval French   was by one  Thomas Duffus Hardy in 1833 ( BRANDIN) .  Further versions followed, including one by Thomas Wright and published in 1855. Wright dated the manuscript as being written before 1320 ( WRIGHT).

It is not clear who wrote the text  and who the intended readership was. Is it possible that there was some coded subtext, encouraging rebellion against King Edward II. Certainly the author was no admirer of King John, and Fouk III was  presented as a rebel- hero. (From now on will use 'Fouk' to mean 'Fouk III'). In fact King John's reputation was fairly dismal around a century after his death if the sentiments here expressed were typical.

"And King John was a man without conscience. He was wicked, perverse and wanton, and was hated of all good folk. And if he could hear of any fair lady or damsel, wife of daughter of any earl or baron or any other, he desired her for his pleasure, deceiving  her by promises or by gifts. or else by carrying her off by force. And for this he was most hated by many of the great lords of England had renounced their homage to the king,...."

             The romance is worth reading in its entirety , but the tale of Fouk  and King John is particularly remarkable. The young Fouk and John were brought up together in the royal household. A typical boys disagreement over a game of chess got out of hand with John hitting Fouk, who gave John a hefty kick, causing him to hurl backwards against a wall and getting knocked out.  Fouk  revived John by rubbing his ears. John fled and told his father what had happened. Henry II was so cross that John had run off to tell tales that he ordered John to get a beating (CHURCH).

There are some fabulous tales in the text ( KEMP-WELCH/BRANDIN) . Such as the legend of the giant Geomagog who gets killed by one Payn of Peverel only to come back to life after being possessed by Beelzebub. And as an outlaw Fouk  lives in Bradene forest in Wiltshire .Merchants bringing valuable cloth  and spices to King John's court are held up and their goods seized by Fouk and his followers, who then relocate to  the Weald of Kent where they got embroiled in fight a force of 100 knights that King John had mustered to defeat them.

Parallels have been found between the tales of Fouk and Robin Hood. The anthology 'Robin Hood and Other Tales', edited by Stephen Knight and Thomas  H. Ohlgren , first published in 1997, includes the romance of Fouk. This book has now been  digitalised .

Yet the romance also depicts Fouk and his followers as having adventures abroad. which seems to diverge from standard accounts of Robin Hood's escapades. Fouk and his band  spend time at the French court of King Philip ( Augustus ) , then take  to the sea. They  visit the Isle of Orkney, Spain, Morocco, and Fouk  kills a dragon who has been tormenting a king by holding his beautiful daughter captive. At one point Fouk is left on board ship sleeping whilst the rest of the crew are on land. The mooring cable snaps and the Fouk wakes up to find himself on board a ship that is sailing aimlessly and ends up in Carthage .

And in this amazing tale Fouk returns to England, and re-established his band of  outlaws, They discover where King John liked to hunt in the New Fores. Fouk dressed as a charcoal burner, manages to trick the King and lead him into a trap, and the outlaws capture him. John is forced to give Fouk Whittington Castle, and to pardon him and his posse. Fouk marries a local lady  The romance also mentions that Fouk was blind for seven years towards the end of his life.

The historian Sidney Painter  tried to established the essential  facts from the fantasy:  When King John ascended the throne in 1199, Fouk a knight and minor landowner,  claimed that the ownership of Whittington  Castle belonged  to his family. King John transferred the castle to Maurice of Powis on 11th April 1200 for fifty marks, less than the Fouk's family were offering (PAINTER) From 1201 -1203 Fouk became a notorious outlaw,causing havoc in the Marcher area.   Maurice died a few months later, and Whittington Castle passed to his sons . In the romance, Fouk , who formed an outlaw band which also featured his four brothers, killed Maurice. Painter doesn't discount the possibility that Fouk killed Maurice, but argues that this would have to have occurred by August 1200. Sidney Painter also accepted that Fouk and his men were issued with safe conduct passes in August , September and October 1203, then formally pardoned in November 1203. Finally in October 1204, Fouk was given Whittington Castle as his 'right and inheritance' (PAINTER)

The whereabouts of King John in the years 1200- 1204 also need to be considered. John had married Isabelle of Angouleme in 1200, but was spending months at a time  fighting in France, and losing the Angevin held territory there....a timeline can be found in SEEL below. How much time John would have been able to devote to pursing Fouk during these years is questionable.

However  Fouk could not refrain from trouble, and took part in the rebellion again King John in 1215, and was not reconciled to the Crown until 1217, the year after John's death, and may not have died until around 1260 (BRANDIN). According to the Whittington Castle Fouk's son , also named Fouk (IV)  drowned at the Battle of Lewes fighting on the side of the Crown against the de Montfort rebels.


An Appeal -Whittington Castle 

On 26th May 2020 a   Go Fund Me  bid was launched  to support Whittington Castle which is community owned and relies a great deal on a team of dedicated volunteers . Though admittance is free, the Trust that administer the Castle rely on donations from visitors, and revenue from the tearoom to pay for maintenance of the site and other chunky costs such as the public liability insurance bill. The Castle is used for events ranging from historical re-enactments, paranormal evenings through to weddings.

A wet Winter, followed by the Covid 19 crisis and subsequent lockdown meant that no money was coming in whilst the liabilities remain at the same level.

At the time of writing Saturday 25th July 2020, the Castle is open Wednesday-Friday 11-2 and Saturday -Sunday 11-3. The teashop is running a takeaway service only.

Please consider donating.  Please have a look at the short video here ad perhaps offering a 'like' or a comment.
Youtube Whittington Castle appeal


Sources 

'King John, England, Magna Carta, and the Making of a Tyrant'  Stephen Church, Macmillan 1215,

The History of Fulk Fitz Warine  , translated by Alice Kemp-Welch, with an introduction by Louis Brandin

'The Reign of King John' ,Sidney Painter,  John Hopkins Press, 1949

'King John An Underrated King', Graham E. Seel, Anthem Press 2012.

The History of Fulk Fitz Warine  ,Thomas Wright version available via Google Books

FURTHER UPDATE  After completing this post,  have subsequently heard about some research titled 'Whittington Castle: The Marcher Fortress of the Fitz Warin Family by Pete Brown, Peter King, and Paul Remfry  (This article was published in the Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society, Volume LXXIX (2004), pp 106-127.)

It is a superb piece, very informative and well referenced. But not available in digital format at present. It is available as a file via the Completely Castles Facebook group. 

 Other blogs run by Michael Bully 

A Burnt Ship  17th century warfare & literature 

Bleak Chesney Wold  Charles Dickens/'dark' 19th century history.