A Medieval Life: William de Felton and Edlingham Castle, 1260-1327

This article is from Current Archaeology issue 423

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REVIEW BY ANDY KING

This is a book arising from the author’s excavation of the small castle at Edlingham in Northumberland, and it concerns the life and career of Sir William de Felton, the man who – probably – built the hall house that the ‘castle’ developed from. Its avowed aim is to determine the extent to which it is possible to reconstruct the life of a such a man, and to put the construction of the house into its historical context. It is not ‘a full-blown work of academic history’ (p.xvii), and it is only scantily referenced, though there is a full bibliography and a guide to further reading. Fairclough does, however, take pains to describe his methods, and to emphasise the nature and limitations of the evidence.

In fact, as a member of the household of Edward I, and a prominent member of the royal administration of Northumberland during the first part of Edward II’s reign, Felton is comparatively well documented: the book includes a calendar of 197 surviving records relating to him (though mostly from printed sources). Inevitably, however, much of Fairclough’s reconstruction is speculative, filling out Felton’s career by comparison with his fellow household knights and Northumberland gentry. This necessarily involves a lot of ‘probably he…’, ‘he may have…’, ‘it is likely that he…’, and so on, but the picture of Felton’s career that emerges is entirely plausible. Fairclough also discusses some interesting parallels for the house at Edlingham which Felton may have encountered through his service to the king, particularly while he was with him in Gascony.

Fairclough is perhaps less sure-footed as an historian than as an archaeologist; he might, for instance, have made use of the extensive work by historians such as Andrew Ayton on the reconstruction of military careers in the 14th century. There is perhaps a bit too much discussion of possible aspects of Felton’s career that are then dismissed as being unlikely; and there are some minor issues of editing, notably in the inconsistent spelling of personal names. Overall, though, this is a thorough and convincing reconstruction of the life of a member of the landed gentry, and the circumstances which led him to build his fine house, the picturesque ruins of which still adorn the Northumberland countryside.

A Medieval Life: William de Felton and Edlingham Castle, 1260-1327
Graham Fairclough
Oxbow, Windgather Press (£49.95)
ISBN 978-1914427435