Scarborough Castle

Today, our holiday took us to the Yorkshire town of Scarborough. The weather was absolutely glorious, sunshine and a balmy sea-breeze. We spent the entire afternoon making a painstaking examination of the nooks and crannies of Scarborough Castle. This, of course, is where Piers Gaveston surrendered to the Earl of Pembroke, beginning his final journey south to meet his eventual doom.

Interestingly, Gaveston's purported cause for surrender was a "lack of provisions." It was not until I visited the castle today that I really appreciated the amount of open land lay behind the castle walls - sixteen acres! 

Now, if Gaveston fled Newcastle on May 4, 1312, he had at least a few days to prepare for the impending siege of Scarborough. What in the world did he use them for? One would well imagine that, not only would he have sent his men to empty the town of foodstuffs, but also to collect every sheep, cow, and pig from the surrounding countryside. Once inside the castle walls, the livestock could have placidly munched away on the acres of grassland. One would imagine the garrison could have held out indefinitely. Instead, Gaveston surrendered just two weeks after fleeing Newcastle! 

Christina will certainly have some sharp comments to make about the horrendous lack of planning on Gaveston's part!