There is no reason to suppose that the Romans had any settlement at Berkeley. Their camps and villas are frequent in the neighbourhood, which was traversed by Roman roads, but of their presence in Berkeley itself there is no other evidence than the fact that the two main streets of the town cross in its centre at a right angle, in the Roman manner.
There is, however, evidence of a religious house at Berkeley in the eighth century. Tilhere, Bishop of Worcester, in 778, seems to have been previously Abbot of Beorclea, as was Etheldune, also his successor at Worcester in 915. Tanner thinks the family at Berclea, mentioned in the Acts of a synod at Cloveshoe in a.d. 824, may refer to a religious house here. There was also a nunnery, for a charter by Adeliza, queen of Henry I., gives to the church of Reading, Berkeley Hern, that is, the church of Berkeley, with its appended prebends, and the prebends “duarum monalium,” which seems to refer to a nunnery. Camden says the nunnery was suppressed by Earl Godwin in the reign of the Confessor, and preserves a scandalous tale thereupon, which derives some support from a curious entry in Domesday, whence it appears that Gytha, the wife of Godwin and mother of Harold, had Ullcestre, near Berkeley, from her husband, he having bought it from Azor that she might live there till she should live at Berkeley. “Nolebat enim de ipso manerio aliquid comedere pro destructione abbatiæ.”
In Domesday, Berkeley appears as a royal demesne and free borough, which had been held by the Confessor, and belonged to William, but was held of him by Roger, called thence of Berkeley. It was the head of a soke or barony, for attached to it were “Berews,” or members, in twenty-one adjacent parishes. The castle is not mentioned, but in “Ness,” probably Sharpness, was a castellum, or castellet, claimed by the same Roger. His holding in the Liber Niger is set down as 2½ knights’ fees. He gave liberally to Stanley Priory, and died there 1096. William, his nephew, succeeded, and had a son Roger, father of Roger, who all held Berkeley, and are designated by its name. This latter Roger was a partisan of King Stephen, and was turned out of Berkeley by Henry, who gave Berkeley to Robert, son of Hardinge, Præpositus of Bristol, who died 1170, 16 Henry II., aged seventy-five, leaving Maurice Fitzhardinge, his son. To stanch the feud between the dispossessed and the new lord, Henry made up a double alliance: Helen, daughter of Fitzhardinge, was married to a son of Roger de Berkeley, and Alice, Roger’s daughter, to Maurice Fitzhardinge of Berkeley. The result was that the old Berkeleys fell back upon their manor of Cuberley, and finally died out, and the Fitzhardinges, with the estate, bore the surname of Berkeley, and have so continued. At that time the Manor or Lordship, sometimes called the Honour of Berkeley, included above thirty parishes, and extended over most of the hundred. It was rated at 160 hides, and paid a chief rent of £70.
Henry, at the time of the gift, was only Duke of Normandy, and weak, and Fitzhardinge was an important man; hence the duke treats as equal with equal, and with the estate makes a promise to build him a castle to his taste. “Et pepigi ei firmare ibi castellum secundum voluntatem ipsius Roberti,” and, on the other hand, Robert promises to be Henry’s liege. Henry visited Berkeley in 1155, when, no doubt, the present castle was begun. Henry’s charter is in excellent preservation, and is kept at Berkeley.
Another charter by Henry, when king, also there preserved, confirms to Robert Fitzhardinge, Berkelai-Herness Manor by the service of one knight, or, if he prefer it, 100 shillings per annum. A third charter is almost a copy of the second, but states the service at five knights, and is silent as to the composition. There is also a charter printed by Dugdale, by which Robert Fitzhardinge grants certain churches to St. Augustine’s at Bristol. These are the earliest title-deeds of the family. St. Augustine’s was founded by this Robert in 1142, and consecrated in 1148. He died 1170.
Maurice, son of Robert, is said to have dug the ditch between the castle and the church. He probably deepened it. He also is reputed to have built the castle exterior to King Henry’s keep, including the two gatehouses. He died in 1189.
Robert, his son, bore the name of Berkeley. He was in arms against John, who held the castle from 1211 till his death in 1216. Lord Robert died 1220. His brother, Lord Thomas, received Henry III. here in 1220. He died 1243. Maurice, his son, here entertained Prince Edward in 1256. He added to the estates, and is said to have strengthened the castle. Thomas, his son, sixth lord, was a great soldier, and served at Bannockburn. He died 1321. Maurice, his son, took part against the Despensers, and was imprisoned by the king till his death, in 1326. Edward seized the castle, which was held by the Despensers. Lord Thomas, his son and successor, received Edward II. here as a captive, 15th April, 1327, and here the king seems to have been murdered by Maltravers and Gournay, 21st September, 1327. A payment was charged to the Exchequer for prayers for his soul in the castle chapel.
Lord Thomas held the castle from 1326 till his death in 1361. He fought at Cressy and Poitiers, and probably made money in the wars, for he is reputed to have made great alterations in the castle, and probably the hall and the Decorated work generally is his doing. He is said to have built Thorpe Tower. He may have raised it, but it is apparently as old as the keep. The Berkeley arch, seen in great perfection in St. Augustine’s Church, now Bristol Cathedral, and here introduced, as was proper, in a plainer form, is attributed to Knowle, Abbot of St. Augustine’s, from 1306 to 1332. The connexion of the Berkeleys with the monks of St. Augustine’s was intimate, and the same architect was likely enough to be employed by both.
Another Thomas, grandson to the former, here received Richard II., in 1386–7. This is the Lord Berkeley mentioned in “Shakespeare’s Richard II.,” when the castle is described as—
“Mann’d with three hundred men, as I have heard,