When Medieval Monarchs Spent Christmas in Northamptonshire

1164, Northampton Castle

During the Autumn and Winter of 1164, Northampton stood at the centre of royal drama. King Henry II was at Northampton Castle for one of the most explosive political confrontations of the Middle Ages: the trial of his archbishop, Thomas Becket.

With Becket in exile, tempers high, and royal authority under scrutiny, the king settled into the winter season with his household gathered around him.

Royal Christmases were not quiet religious retreats but major moments of ceremony and patronage. Nobles, clerks and administrators travelled to wherever the court happened to be, seeking favour, gifts and decisions.

Although detailed accounts of the feast itself do not survive, the political mood is unmistakable. The King’s Christmas court in 1164 would have mixed celebration with calculation: a royal household enjoying winter hunting and rich food, while its ruler measured loyalty in the wake of Becket’s defiance.

The castle’s great hall, alive with light, music and warmth, would have hosted a festive display designed to reassure allies and unsettle opponents.

1215

King John spent Christmas Day in Nottingham, but on the way he made a couple of stops in Northamptonshire…

21-22 December, Northampton Castle

When King John rode into Northampton on 21 December 1215, he was not seeking festive peace.

Magna Carta had collapsed, rebellion was spreading across the kingdom, and John was moving fast to secure the Midlands before French or Baronial forces could overwhelm him.

Northampton Castle offered what he needed: a loyal fortress on the northern road, a place to rally royal administrators and plan the next stage of the war.

His two days in the town were almost certainly dominated by orders, writs and military organisation: summoning supporters, demanding resources, and identifying which nobles still held faith in the Crown.

If Christmas goodwill meant anything here, it was measured in oaths, horses, and supplies. Northampton gave John no celebration, but it gave him a Midlands foothold.

23 December, Rockingham Castle

John pushed on to Rockingham Castle on 23 December, strengthening another vital link in his defensive chain. Rockingham, perched above the Welland valley, was one of the old royal hunting lodges; less a centre of ceremony than a strategic retreat with stout walls and loyal officers.

Here, with only a day to spare before Christmas Eve, the King’s business remained grimly consistent: confirm the garrison, secure the stores, and keep the road north open.

Rockingham would never host a festive court, but in the anxious winter of 1215 it mattered in another way. It was a safe stop on a hostile road, a brief pause before John rode on to Nottingham for Christmas, not as a ruler at ease, but as a commander in motion.

1217, Northampton Castle

At Christmas 1217, the young King Henry III and his regents celebrated at Northampton Castle following a series of royalist victories that led to the end of the First Barons’ War.

After the rebellion and the French attempt to seize the throne had been defeated at battles such as Lincoln earlier that year, the royal court had gathered at Northampton over the festive season.

William de Breaute, the King’s loyal commander who had helped secure the victory, hosted the celebration. Chroniclers later noted that such a grand feast like this had never been seen in England.

Barons, Bishops, and Knights assembled for Christmas at Northampton, where the king and his allies sought to reinforce royal authority and demonstrate unity after years of conflict.

1223, Northampton Castle

For Christmas 1223, Henry III again chose Northampton Castle as his base for the Christmas season.

While it was over four decades before the Second Barons’ War, this was a time of renewed conflict between the King and a rebel faction of Barons known as the “schismatics”.

When Henry had been a child, the weaker royal oversight meant the Barons had a great deal of freedom and influence. As Henry was getting older, he and his government started to reassert and re-centralise their authority.

On 23 December 1223, the King arrived at Northampton with Archbishop Stephen Langton and a large council of loyal Earls, Bishops and Knights, intending to spend Christmas there.

The very presence of the King and the Church’s leadership at Northampton at this time underscored the castle’s importance as a royal stronghold and administrative centre in the early years of Henry III’s reign.

1587, Fotheringhay Castle

Perhaps the most tense and grim royal Christmas in Northamptonshire was in 1586.

Mary, Queen of Scots spent that winter as a prisoner at Fotheringhay Castle, charged with treason.

She had been brought to Fotheringhay in late September, interrogated and tried there in October, and kept under close guard through the dark months that followed.

While she was still at the castle over Christmas, there is no suggestion of festivity or ceremony. Mary was allowed books, prayer, limited comforts and the company of her household, but she was a condemned woman in all but name.

The castle that December was not a site of celebration but the final stage before her execution, which would be on 8 February 1587.

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