Within the circuit
of its walls, it contained some five acres of ground, with sixteen
towers, the outer wall being surrounded by a moat.
The Percys were descended from a Danish chief, who was one of the
conquerors of Normandy, and settled there. The Percy of the time came
over with William the Norman, and obtained from him the gift of large
possessions in the south of England, and in Yorkshire; and, marrying a
great Saxon heiress, added to his wide lands in the north.
One of the Percys, in the reign of Henry the Second, made a journey to
Jerusalem, and died in the Holy Land. None of his four sons survived
him. His eldest daughter Maud married the Earl of Warwick; but, dying
childless, her sister Agnes became sole heir to the broad lands of the
Percys. She married the son of the Duke of Brabant, the condition of
her marriage being that he should either take the arms of the Percys,
instead of his own; or continue to bear his own arms, and take the name
of Percy. He chose the latter alternative. Their son was one of the
barons who forced King John to grant the Magna Carta.
The Percys always distinguished themselves, in the wars against the
Scot; and received, at various times, grants of territory in that
country; one of them being made Earl of Carrick, when Robert the Bruce
raised the standard of revolt against England.
Pages:
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63