From the time the first castle was built, in the late eleventh century, until the late fifteenth century, Middleham Castle served as an important locus of local and regional power, and -- despite no longer being occupied by powerful local lords -- continued as an administrative center through the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Although the castle never had to withstand a siege and was directly involved in actual civil war in only a limited fashion, it was in the center of national affairs during the Wars of the Roses as the headquarters of the powerful Neville earls of Salisbury and Warwick and of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III.

The chronology that follows traces the development of the castle and provides some information on its owners. Dates are drawn principally from the English Heritage guidebook prepared by John Weaver.

Lands granted to Alan the Red, one of the chief supporters of William the Conqueror and son of Count Eudo of Penthièvre in Brittany. Alan's castle at Middleham was probably secondary in importance to him, with precedence going to the castle he built at Richmond.

Some time before 1086, Alan the Red granted the castle to his brother Ribald. The castle remained in this family until the death of Ralph FitzRanulph without a male heir in 1270.

Through Ralph FitzRanulph's daughter, Mary, who married Robert de Nevill, the castle passed into Nevill ownership. Their son Ralph, first Lord Nevill of Raby (d. 1331) also inherited castles and estates in Raby, Brancepeth, and Sheriff Hutton. He is thought to have replaced wooden palisades around the keep with a stone curtain wall and corner towers, and to have added the chapel on the east side of the Keep. The entrance to the castle was from the east; both the castle and the eastern complex (outer courtyard and forebuildings) were protected by surrounding ditches.

Ralph's son, also Ralph, served Edward III at the sieges of Dunbar and Tournai, and at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346.

Ralph's son John, third lord Nevill, was active in Edward III's service in several campaigns in France with John of Gaunt. His administrative abilities are reflected in various appointments:

• Steward of the royal household (Edward II)
• Seneschal of Gascony (Richard II)
• Warden of the East March

Active in Border affairs for most of his life, Ralph, first Earl of Westmoreland was a significant political presence in the North, making a successful transition from a supporter of Richard II to one of the Lancastrian regime, and serving both Henry IV and Henry V.

In the year of his inheritance, he obtained a grant for Middleham to hold a weekly market and an annual fair on November 5, St. Alkelda's Day.

No records survive, but it is theorized based on architectural evidence that Ralph began a building program that would transform the castle into a principal residence and center of a large estate, apparently to provide for his son, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury. The improvements included:

• Rebuilding the south and west ranges, increasing the height of the buildings from one storey to two and raising the curtain walls
• Linking the new chambers and lodgings to the keep by means of timber bridges, possibly roofed, at the first storey level
• Additions to the southwest ("Prince's") and northwest towers
• Conversion of the northeast tower into the present gatehouse

The fact that Henry IV visited Raby Castle in 1405 and Middleham Castle in 1410 suggests that the building program was complete by this latter date.

Ralph married twice. He had nine children by his first wife. By his second wife, Joan Beaufort, he had fourteen. He took great pains to secure Middleham for Richard Neville, his eldest son from his second marriage, rather than to his heirs from his first marriage. Rivalry between the "senior" and "junior" branches of the Nevill family thus created contributed to the political turmoil in the north of England preceding and during the Wars of the Roses. Ralph died in 1425 and is buried with his two wives at St. Mary's Church, Staindrop (in County Durham).

Richard Neville, born about 1400, married Alice Montacute, heiress of Thomas, Earl of Salisbury, and was granted the title Earl of Salisbury in 1429. He inherited Middleham Castle from his mother, Joan Beaufort, on her death in 1440 and made it his chief residence.

Improvements during his tenure are believed to have included:

• Building the north range, raising the northwest tower to its present height, remodeling the upper part of the gatehouse
• Rebuilding the upper part of the chapel block
• Raising the staircase tower of the keep
• Adding the large new window to the Great Chamber on the western side of the keep

This Richard Neville was granted the title Earl of Warwick in right of his wife, Anne Beauchamp. His support of Edward IV gave him the name of "Kingmaker" and his shift in allegiance from Edward IV to Henry VI in the late 1460s opened the second phase of the Wars of the Roses. He was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. On his death Middleham was awarded to Edward IV's younger brother, Richard duke of Gloucester, who later married Anne Nevill, Warwick's younger daughter.

During this period, Middleham was both the center of power for the North of England, under both the Kingmaker and the duke of Gloucester, and a frequent focus for national affairs. The young Richard spent time in Middleham in the tutelage of the Earl of Warwick in the 1460s, and was regularly in residence in the 1470s and early 1480s. Richard's only legitimate son, Edward, was born here in the mid 1470s and died here in April 1484. For more information on Richard III, see the Richard III Society web site.

Richard may have been responsible for the second storey addition to the keep, which offered abundant light and commanding views of the Wensleydale countryside.

After Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the castle and its estates were seized by Henry VII. Although not used as a royal residence, it continued to serve as an administrative center for the north. The castle remained under royal ownership until 1604, when it was granted to Sir Henry Linley. Additional owners included:

• Edward, Viscount Loftus (married Jane Linley), 1613
• Edward Wood and subsequent members of the Wood family, 1662-1889
• Samuel Cunliffe-Lister (later first Lord Masham) 1889-1906
• The second Lord Masham, 1906-1925 (repairs made under his ownership under supervision of the architect Walter Brierley of York)
• Office of Works, 1925-1984 (more repairs)
• English Heritage, 1984-present

Sources for this abbreviated history:

• William Page, Victoria History of the County of Yorkshire, North Riding, London: Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1968. (Reprinted from the original edition of 1914 under the auspices of the Institute for Historical Research, University of London.)
• John Weaver, Middleham Castle. English Heritage, 1993.

For additional reading on the North of England during the later fifteenth century, see:

• A. J. Pollard, "The Richmondshire Community of Gentry during the Wars of the Roses," in C. D. Ross (ed.), Patronage, Pedigree and Power in Later Medieval England. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1979.
• A. J. Pollard, The Middleham Connection, Hawes: The Wensleydale Press, 1983.
• Rosemary Horrox, ed., Richard III and the North, Studies in Regional and Local History No. 6, University of Hull, 1986.
• A. J. Pollard, North-eastern England during the Wars of the Roses: Lay Society, War, and Politics 1450-1500, Oxford University Press, 1990.
• A. J. Pollard, ed. The North of England in the Age of Richard III, Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1996.