Roger Bigod was one of the rebels who stood against King John after the Magna Carta in 1215.  The King took umbrage and a year later besieged the castle which was defended by 26 knights, 20 men-at-arms, 7 crossbowmen, a chaplain and 3 others.  After two days Rog surrendered and sat it out until the place was restored to his family after King John's death.

For the next two hundred years the castle was passed around between Royals and their mates, ending up in the possession of the Howard family.  Much of the Tudor modernisation which can be seen as brickwork in the fabric, including the decorative chimneys, was carried out by Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, in the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509).

Framlingham was forfeited to the Crown in the time of Henry VIII and later Edward VI, Henry's son, gave it to Mary, his half-sister.  It was here that her supporters rallied to her in 1533 during the Lady Jane Grey incident which resulted in Mary's eventual accession to the throne of England.  Although Mary restored the castle to the Howard family, it was no longer used as their residence.  Following the execution of the fourth Duke of Norfolk for treason, the castle was forfeited to Elizabeth I and subsequently used as a prison for Catholic priests.

The castle fell into disrepair and returned to the Howard family in 1613 who sold it to Sir Robert Hitcham in 1635.  Sir Robert's name appears all over this website being one of Framlingham's greatest benefactors.  His tomb can be seen in St Michael's church.  A year later he died and left the castle to Pembroke college where he had studied in his youth.  His will indicated that the castle should be demolished and a Poorhouse erected in it's place.  The gradual destruction of the castle's innards was undertaken but the Poorhouse was only partially built 30 years later.  Its worth as a Poorhouse had ended by 1837 and it has been used as a county court, a meeting hall, a fire station, a school, and a drill hall.  It was given to the nation in 1913 and is now managed by English Heritage.

Framlingham Castle is now a shell but a charming shell and there is still a romance to its architecture.  Walking around the moat one can imagine the effort required to storm those mighty towers, armour clad, crossbow bolts and stones raining down, trying to scale those steep banks ...