By the 1170’s Henry, the Second was King of England as was he the count of Maine, count of Anjou, the duke of Normandy, the Duke of Aquitaine and the Duke of Brittany. This was called the Anjevin Empire after his family name Angevin. King John inherited because Phillip- Augustus made an elaborate plan based on divide and conquer as all his older brothers had been killed he inherited this empire, but did not defend it well. In 1204, King Philip-Augustus invaded Normandy and other parts of France. Because of this, Jersey changed from being a backwater in the Anjevin Empire to the front line of the war between England and France, only 14 miles from the enemy.
Because of this, Mont Orgueil was built to defend Jersey from attack. Mont Orgueil was built in Grouville Bay because the east coast of Jersey is one of the easiest places in the Island to attack. King John also thought that he could use the castle as a base to launch an attack on France and recapture the lands that were lost, which never happened. Mont Orgueil’s location is important, as it became the frontline between England and France for the next four centuries while they were at war.
Mont Orgueil was built on a promontory as this makes it easier to defend, as it is surrounded by water on three sides and can only be approached from one side. It was built on a solid rock base, which meant that it could be heavy and would not sink, and could not be undermined. This high rock base also meant that it was higher than the surrounding area and was a good observation point. It could easily see the French and any possible attacks. Its position is also close to French towns such as Cherbourg.
Mont Orgueil is a concentric castle. Originally, it had two layers, but a third lower layer was built later. The castle design changed over the centuries to keep pace with advances in technology. It built an extra ward the Lower Ward, to increase the castle size and population capacity as well as to make it easier to defend – the enemy would have to capture more wards to reach the keep whilst being easy pickings as it turned into a killing zone.
Additions were constantly added to Mont Orgueil over the centuries to keep it up to date with new weaponry and prevent it being easily defeated and captured. For instance, the Cornish Bastion had machiolations built in it so that cannon could fire down onto the Lower Ward from the Middle War although this wasn’t used because it was to unstable.
In England, the period between 1455 and 1485 was known as the War of the Roses. This war was between the Lancastrians the Red Rose, The Yorkists the White Rose. Between 1461 and 1468, Jersey was Lancastrian and Lancastrians ran Gorey Castle. When the Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians in England in 1468, they then came to Jersey to make it Yorkist. Sir Richard Harliston who was Yorkist invaded Jersey and captured Gorey Castle due to its lack of protection from cannon. To protect against counter attack, he built the Harliston Tower house cannon and to defend the castle’s gate against the rising threat of artillery.
The Harliston Tower is 15 metres high and horseshoe shaped. It has extremely thick walls to protect it against artillery. It has the space to house a cannon in it and for a cannon on the roof as well as archers or similar. The tower is horseshoe shaped to deflect cannon balls and to give it no weak spots – corners. This tower is made as strong as possible a castle is only as strong as its weakest point.
The Yorkists did not win the English Civil war – Henry Tudor, Henry the 7th won, and he was Lancastrian. However, he did marry Elizabeth of York, so that the two families did not row over the thrown.
In the 1300s, the Lower Ward was where the common people lived. It housed all of the animals used for meat, and was the workhouse where tallow was made into candles and lead was forged into roof tiles.
The Cornish Bastion is part of the second wall – the Middle Ward. It was built in the 14th century. In the 16th century, Sir Henry Cornish built machiolations into the Bastion, and gave it its name. The Machiolations are holes in the Bastion that cannon can fire through and various things thrown through onto the enemy. However, the cannon were not very successful as they were too heavy for the structure to support and would have made it collapse if they were ever used in it.
Between 1450 and 1600, artillery developed so much that the Somerset Tower although it is actually a wall, in the Middle Ward was built. It is partly a cannon defence - it is 20ft thick in places, so would have been hard to break down.
The Grand Bastion is solely a defence against cannon. It is a mound of earth 20-30 ft wide and 50-60 ft high. It was covered with rocks to prevent it being worn away to quickly.
The keep is the last line of defence, where the noblemen would stay in time of trouble. It is the hardest part of the castle to get to, as to reach it you need to go through the two lower wards. The ancient keep was extended to increase its size to house en suite facilities.
Between the period C1200 – 1600 Mont Orgueil Castle had additions made to it continually to keep it up to date with modern weaponry.
In spite of all the additions and developments, Mont Orgueil was deemed ineffective at its primary role – defence. Due to this, a new castle was built – Isabella Belisimo, later renamed Elizabeth Castle.
Nothing has replaced the castles of the Middle Ages, as weaponry has advanced to the point where defence is almost pointless as it can usually be breached.