History
A 19th-century engraving showing Blanche Arundell leading the defence of Wardour Castle

Blanche Arundell, Defender of Wardour Castle

Lady Blanche Arundell was an aristocrat who led the defence of her home, Wardour Castle, during a Civil War siege. Between 2 and 8 May 1643, while her husband was away in Charles I’s army, she and her household – her daughter-in-law, grandchildren, several maidservants and about 25 men – held out in the face of a besieging Parliamentarian army. Forced to surrender, she became famous among her fellow Royalists for her courageous stand.

An engraved portrait of Blanche Arundell, based on a drawing by William Hilton
An engraved portrait of Blanche Arundell, based on a drawing by William Hilton
© National Portrait Gallery, London

Early life and marriage

Blanche was born in 1583 or 1584, the daughter of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, and Lady Elizabeth Hastings. She grew up at the family seat of Raglan Castle in Wales. Although her father supported the new Protestant religion of Queen Elizabeth I, her mother remained a Catholic. Blanche, along with most of her numerous brothers and sisters, grew up a Catholic, practising her faith in semi-secrecy to avoid the fines and other punishments imposed during the reigns of Elizabeth (1558–1603) and James I (1603–25).

In 1607 Blanche married Thomas Arundell, the eldest son of the recently ennobled 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour (also called Thomas). Like the Somersets, the Arundells remained Catholics. When his father died in 1639, the younger Thomas succeeded him as 2nd Baron Arundell, and lived at the castle with Blanche.

A print depicting Charles I in Parliament in about 1640
A print depicting Charles I in Parliament in about 1640
© Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

Civil War

The reign of Charles I (1625–49) was characterised by political arguments over religion, tax and foreign policy, with a gulf opening up between king and Parliament. Charles did not create all these problems but undoubtedly exacerbated them. Events in Scotland (his other kingdom) and his province of Ireland added to the dangerous mix.

In January 1642 the dispute between king and Parliament spiralled out of control when Charles tried – and failed – to arrest his leading opponents. Charles fled London, eventually raising the royal standard in a declaration of war in August 1642.

Many English men and women chose, or were forced to choose, a side in the ensuing Civil War. For many, the decision depended on where local loyalties lay, or where in the country they lived. Some made a definite choice: most radical Puritan Protestants supported Parliament, whereas aristocrats and the wealthier gentry generally supported the king.

For Catholic aristocrats such as Blanche and Thomas Arundell, the decision was easy. They naturally supported Charles, who was married to the Catholic Henrietta Maria.

Read more about the civil wars
The entrance façade of Old Wardour Castle, which Sir Matthew Arundell modernised in the 1570s
The entrance façade of Old Wardour Castle, which Sir Matthew Arundell modernised in the 1570s

Lead-up to siege

Following the inconclusive first battle of the Civil War in October 1642 at Edgehill, Warwickshire, the two sides gradually solidified their control of the land. The king soon held northern England and the west Midlands, including his headquarters at Oxford, as well as Wales and Cornwall. Parliament held most of southern England and the east Midlands.

In spring 1643 Thomas Arundell went to Oxford to assist the king, leaving Blanche in charge at Wardour. Parliamentarian and Royalist forces fought several small battles in the west Midlands and the south-west. In Wiltshire, Sir Edward Hungerford’s Parliamentarian militia were gathering strength and had moved from Salisbury to Devizes to Bath.

By the end of April their sights were set on the Arundells’ medieval stronghold, where the lord and lady were known to be Royalists and Catholics. And there were also suspicions that other Royalist sympathisers in the county had placed plate and money at Wardour for safe keeping.

Originally built in the late 14th century, the strong, thick-walled castle had been modernised in the 1570s by Sir Matthew Arundell, Thomas’s grandfather. The changes he made, including creating round-headed windows to let in more light, made the castle harder to defend, but it was still an impressive stronghold.

An engraving from 1841 showing Lady Blanche (right) leading the defence of the castle
An engraving from 1841 showing Lady Blanche (right) leading the defence of the castle
© English Heritage Trust

The People of the Siege: Inside the Castle

  • Lady Blanche Arundell, aged about 60
  • her daughter-in-law, Cicely Compton, about 33
  • Blanche’s young grandchildren Thomas (about 9), Henry and Cicely
  • John Falconer, the Arundells’ Jesuit Catholic chaplain
  • about 25 male servants and local men, including the Arundells’ black servant (whose name is unknown)
  • several maidservants (‘valiant beyond their sex’, according to a Royalist account)
The effigy of Sir Edward Hungerford on his tomb at his family home, Farleigh Hungerford Castle. He is shown in full armour, holding the commander’s baton
The effigy of Sir Edward Hungerford on his tomb at his family home, Farleigh Hungerford Castle. He is shown in full armour, holding the commander’s baton

The besiegers

  • Sir Edward Hungerford, MP and leader of the Wiltshire militia, aged about 47
  • Colonel William Strode, leader of a Somerset infantry regiment, about 54
  • Captain Edmund Ludlow, captain of a troop of horse serving Hungerford, about 26
  • Captain Bean, captain of an infantry company in the Wiltshire militia
  • Parliamentarian soldiers. A Royalist source alleged that there were 1,300 of them, but this is an exaggeration.

 

THE SIEGE DAY BY DAY

Tuesday 2 May 1643

Sir Edward Hungerford’s Parliamentarian forces arrive at Wardour and demand that Lady Blanche hand over the castle. She refuses, saying she ‘had a command from her lord to keep it, and she would obey his command’. Hungerford calls for reinforcements.

A field gun dating from 1638 of the type probably used in the siege of Wardour Castle
A field gun dating from 1638 of the type probably used in the siege
© Royal Armouries

Wednesday 3 May

Two small Parliamentarian field guns arrive and are probably placed on the hill to the north-east of the castle (shot damage can still be seen on the castle’s north-east façade).

The besiegers set up their temporary base, perhaps in and around the stables east of the castle. To provide more cover from Royalist fire, they dig earthworks such as trenches to protect the foot soldiers and parapets for the field guns.

Damage to the castle wall near the main entrance, which may have been caused by enemy fire
Damage to the castle wall near the main entrance, perhaps caused by enemy fire

The Parliamentarians offer to spare the lives of Lady Blanche, her daughter-in-law, the children and maids, but not the lives of the fighting men. Blanche and Cicely refuse, choosing ‘bravely … rather to die together than live on so dishonourable terms’. 
   

Later that week

The light artillery fire has little impact on the castle walls, although one shot smashes through a window and damages an elaborate fireplace. The besiegers place gunpowder at the end of an old tunnel leading to the castle from the south-east. Again, the explosion causes little damage.

The Parliamentarians then mine towards another part of the castle, probably branching off from the passage to reach a latrine shaft on the south side. They place two or three barrels of gunpowder here. When they set off the charge, an explosion passes up through the shaft, which ‘did much shake and endanger the whole fabrick’ of the castle.

As the days pass the besieged male servants and soldiers tire, ‘distracted between hunger and want of rest’. Lady Blanche orders the maids to take charge of reloading the defenders’ guns with powder and bullets.

Captain Edmund Ludlow
Captain Edmund Ludlow, a Parliamentarian officer who wrote an account of the 1643 siege
© National Portrait Gallery, London

Monday 8 May

The Parliamentarians place another gunpowder charge – either (according to the Royalist account) attached to the ‘garden-door’ of the castle (probably the smaller door on the north side) or (according to Edmund Ludlow) by another latrine shaft, perhaps on the castle’s north-west side.

Detail from the May 1643 issue of the Royalist newspaper ‘Mercurius Rusticus’ showing Lady Blanche (left) after surrendering the castle
Detail from the May 1643 issue of the Royalist newspaper ‘Mercurius Rusticus’ showing Lady Blanche (left) after surrendering the castle
© Folger Shakespeare Library

They set an hourglass in motion and threaten to set off the gunpowder charge after one hour. This touch of drama has the desired effect: Lady Blanche asks for talks.

Lady Blanche and the besiegers agree to three articles of surrender. All the men and women are to be spared, the women can leave the castle and be supported by six male servants, and all furniture and goods in the castle are ‘to be safe from plunder’.

Lady Blanche and her household surrender.
    

Monday 8 or Tuesday 9 May

Captain Edmund Ludlow arrives to take charge of the captured castle.

The frontispiece of ‘Mercurius Rusticus’, a Royalist newspaper first published in 1643. The siege of Wardour is depicted on the right
The frontispiece of ‘Mercurius Rusticus’, a Royalist newspaper first published in 1643. The siege of Wardour is depicted on the right
© Folger Shakespeare Library

The view from both sides

Mass propaganda was used in England for the first time during the Civil Wars, with both Parliament and the Royalists publishing pamphlets, newspapers, books and engravings. This was, in a sense, the first media war.

The two main accounts that describe the events of the siege are written from opposing viewpoints. The Parliamentarian officer Edmund Ludlow describes the siege in his autobiography, written in the 1660s. Although he wrote his account later, and didn’t arrive at Wardour until the end of the siege, he would have heard the earlier details from Sir Edward Hungerford and his soldiers.

The Royalist perspective comes from Bruno Ryves, an Anglican clergyman evicted from his London rectory by Parliament in 1643. With financial help from Thomas Arundell, Ryves turned to publishing, producing a Royalist newspaper called Mercurius Rusticus. The May 1643 issue featured news of the siege of Wardour Castle.

Ryves must have heard a first-hand account, perhaps from a servant or even in a letter from Blanche herself. He reported that at least 60 Parliamentarian soldiers were killed in the siege – probably a tenfold exaggeration – with no loss of life to the besieged. Ludlow reports that one of Blanche’s servants was grazed across the face by a bullet.

The siege was, in truth, an order to surrender rather than a major military assault. Had Sir Edward Hungerford really had 1,300 men, he would have stormed the castle on the first or second day. He must have realised that Lady Blanche would not hold out for long, and he had his eyes on capturing the castle intact – along with the Arundells’ valuables.

The signatures and seals of Edward Hungerford and his deputy, William Strode, on the surrender terms agreed with Lady Blanche
The signatures and seals of Edward Hungerford and his deputy, William Strode, on the surrender terms agreed with Lady Blanche

Aftermath

Sir Edward Hungerford only honoured the first of the three articles of surrender, sparing the lives of the household. Lady Blanche, Cicely and her children were taken prisoner to Shaftesbury, with just the clothes they were wearing.

Blanche and Cicely were released in early June and sought refuge in Salisbury. While they were there, Blanche learned that her husband had died on 19 May, after being fatally wounded in battle. The family were eventually allowed an income of one-fifth of the revenues of the Arundell land. The children were initially moved to the care of a Puritan schoolmaster but were released in May 1644 in an exchange of captured children.

Blanche died in late 1649, a few months after the execution of Charles I. She was buried beside her husband in St John Tisbury, the parish church of Wardour Castle.

A reconstruction showing the moment during the second siege in 1644 when the castle was blown up, probably by accident
A reconstruction drawing showing the moment during the second siege in 1644 when the castle was blown up, probably by accident
© Historic England (illustration by Philip Corke)

Wardour’s fate

According to Bruno Ryves, the Parliamentarians ransacked the interior of the castle after capturing it and sold the goods they had seized to raise money. These spoils included five cartloads of the ‘richest hangings and other furniture’, as well as horses, cattle, deer and even the fish in the fishponds and the mature trees from the woods. Edmund Ludlow also discovered £1,200 worth of money, plate and jewels hidden in the castle walls.

Expecting an imminent Royalist counter-assault, Ludlow patched up the castle, levelled the siege earthworks and stocked up on food. By the end of 1643 most of the West Country was back in Royalist hands, except Wardour Castle.

In December, however, Blanche’s 35-year-old son Henry, now 3rd Lord Arundell, arrived at Wardour with a Royalist army. For three months Ludlow and his garrison held out as Arundell’s forces laid siege. Finally, Arundell ordered a mine to be laid under the castle walls, hoping to force the garrison to surrender. The charge was set off – perhaps accidentally by Parliamentarian fire – and one side of the castle was blown up. The second siege of Wardour ended when Ludlow surrendered on 18 March 1644, and although Henry Arundell recovered his castle, it was now ruined beyond repair.

Parliament confiscated the castle and its estate once again when the First Civil War ended in 1646, and Henry Arundell only regained his estate at Charles II’s restoration in 1660. Rather than restore his ruined castle, he built a smaller mansion alongside it. A century later the 8th Lord Arundell built a large country house, New Wardour, and the picturesque ruined castle – now known as Old Wardour – became part of a fashionable landscape garden.

Lady Blanche’s fame

Lady Blanche’s heroic defence of her castle made for some inspiring Royalist propaganda. Ryves’s broadside newspaper had the headline ‘Warder Castle defended by a Lady’. In his account Lady Blanche becomes an exemplar of Royalist virtues. He emphasises the bravery and loyalty of Lady Blanche and her servants, in marked contrast to the Parliamentarians’ cruelty and vandalism.

Lady Blanche was in fact one of many women – on both sides – who played important roles during the Civil War, whether in combat, in defending their homes and communities, or even as spies. The parts they played have often been overlooked since. In the 19th century, however, Blanche was gradually rediscovered as an icon of feminine bravery and patriotic loyalty. Her story appeared in popular historical works such as Matilda Betham’s Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age (1804).

In 1841 Richard Cattermole’s Great Civil War of Charles I and the Parliament featured a striking illustration showing Blanche heroically supervising the defence of her castle, standing proud under enemy fire in front of a window that had been blown in by Parliamentarian infantry fire. Queen Victoria’s mother gave her daughter a copy of the book as a Christmas present that year. Blanche had become a hero for the Victorian age.


By Nick Holder
    

FIND OUT MORE

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    Read more about Old Wardour’s colourful history, from its origins as a medieval castle to becoming a feature in an 18th-century landscape garden.

  • The Civil Wars Explained

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  • WOMEN IN HISTORY

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  • The Siege of Goodrich Castle

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  • A Royal Prisoner at Carisbrooke Castle

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  • Charles II and the Royal Oak

    Find out how the future king escaped from Parliamentarian forces after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, hiding at Boscobel House in Shropshire.

  • Jane Whorwood: Royalist Spy

    Jane Whorwood was one of the agents behind attempts to free Charles I from captivity on the Isle of Wight, notably from Carisbrooke Castle, in 1648.

Further reading

  • The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow (ed. CH Firth, 2 vols, 1894) contain his account of the 1643 siege (vol 1, pp 50–51), the second siege (of 1643–4 (pp 59–80), and his discovery of the hidden money (pp 79, 484). The 1894 edition also includes Bruno Ryves’s account of the first siege as an appendix (pp 447–56) (accessed 10 Jan 2022).
  • A Plowden, Women All on Fire: The Women of the English Civil War (Stroud, 1998) tells the story of Blanche Arundell and several other fighting women.
  • Blanche’s biography is summarised in S Wright, ‘Arundell, Blanche [née Lady Blanche Somerset], Lady Arundell of Wardour (1583/4–1649), royalist noblewoman’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn (subscription required; accessed 8 Feb 2022).
  • The Arundells’ black servant is mentioned in at least one contemporary manuscript. See W Page, The Manuscripts of the Duke of Somerset, the Marquis of Ailesbury, and the Rev Sir THG Puleston, Bart, Historical Manuscripts Commission (15th report, appendix, part 7), 1898 (pp 88–9), who quotes from a legal submission by one of Ludlow’s father’s servants, Phillip Towgood, in which he mentions a ‘blackamoor’ in the service of Lord Arundell.