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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 13, No. 357, February 21, 1829 by Various
page 4 of 52 (07%)
considerable additions and improvements; when Turchill, the then vicomes
of Warwick, was ordered by that monarch to enlarge and repair it. The
Conqueror, however, being distrustful of Turchill, committed the custody
of it to one of his own followers, Henry de Newburgh, whom he created
Earl of Warwick, the first of that title of the Norman line. The stately
building at the north-east angle, called _Guy's Tower_, was erected in
the year 1394, by Thomas Beauchamp, the son and successor of the first
earl of that family, and was so called in honour of the ancient hero of
that name, and also one of the earls of Warwick. It is 128 feet in
height, and the walls, which are of solid masonry, measure 10 feet in
thickness. _Cæsar's Tower_, which is supposed to be the most ancient part
of the fabric, is 147 feet in height; but appears to be less lofty than
that of Guy's, from its being situated on a less elevated part of the
rock.

In the reign of Henry III., Warwick Castle was of such importance, that
security was required from Margery, the sister and heiress of Thomas de
Newburgh, the sixth earl of the Norman line, that she would not marry
with any person in whom the king could not place the greatest confidence.
During the same reign, in the year 1265, William Manduit, who had
garrisoned the castle on the side of the king against the rebellious
barons, was surprised by John Gifford, the governor of Kenilworth Castle,
who, having destroyed a great part of the walls, took him, together with
the countess, his wife, prisoners; and a ransom of nineteen hundred marks
were paid, before their release could be obtained. The last attack which
it sustained was during the civil wars in the seventeenth century, when
it was besieged for a fortnight, but did not surrender.

Few persons have made a greater figure in history than the earls of
Warwick, from the renowned
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