A view of a mistry Arundel castle across the River Arun
Probably one of the best-known castles along the south coast, Arundel castle is ancient but largely restored in the c19.
Arundel is the seat of the Norfolks, who would have moved here from Framlingham during the c16. A family with close association with the monarchy, their fortunes rose and fell throughout history.
In 1485, at the battle of Bosworth, they were on the losing side, and lost the Norfolk title. They reverted to the earldom of Surrey.
In 1513, they regained their title of Dukes of Norfolk, after defeating a Scottish Army at Flodden Field in Northumberland. The Scots had invaded England after Henry VIII had invaded France. Catherine of Aragon had despatched the Earl of Surrey northwards to meet the Scottish Threat. After an ingenious manoeuvre whereby the English worked their way round the Scottish position during the night, they approached the Scottish Army from the north, whilst the Scots were entrenched facing south
The result was a massive slaughter of the Scottish nobility including the king James IV, whose body was taken to London and put on show. Scottish losses were about 30,000
The Earl of Surrey was restored to his old title of Duke of Norfolk.
The Norfolks were and still are the leading Catholic family in the land. Their fortunes changed with the religious struggles in the 16c
Today they are often in charge of large events like coronations, and doubtless will be this year too
offtoafineart 
Fascinating history. I first learned about the Norfolks in Shekhar Kapur’s famous film, Elizabeth: the virgin queen. She had executed Norfolk for high treason. He wasn’t happy to see Lord Dudley mix so freely with the queen. However the execution wasn’t because of that. He had indeed tried to remove Elizabeth. Later I came across David Starkey who explained it more fully. He said Elizabeth wasn’t keen to execute Norfolk because at that time he was England’s only Duke and her cousin. But in the end it had to happen.
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Thanks Farzana. The Norfolks wielded great political power which was why they could remain Catholic under Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. One of the Norfolks did die in the Tower and became a catholic martyr, although I forget which one
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That was Thomas Howard, the 4th Duke of Norfolk. Just a quick question: do you have any relatives currently living in India?
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Not that I know of
Any reason?
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I was wondering how to get you the Corbett Omnibus. They are not easily available outside India. I’m such a great fan of his work. He’s as good a hunter as a story teller.
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I see
I’ll see if the mighty Amazon has it
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