Blanche Arundell, Baroness Arundell of Wardour
Lady Blanche Arundell (née Somerset) (1583 or c. 1584 – 28 October 1649) was an English noble, known as the defender of Wardour Castle.
She was born to Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester and Lady Elizabeth Hastings.
On 11 May 1607 (date of settlement for the marriage) she married Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, son of Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron and Lady Mary Wriothesley.
From 2 May 1643, during the absence of her husband, she defended Wardour Castle, near Tisbury, Wiltshire, for nine days[1] with only herself, her children, a few maid-servants, and twenty-five men against the Parliamentary forces of thirteen hundred men[2] and artillery commanded by two Parliamentary officers, Sir Edward Hungerford and Colonel Edmund Ludlow. She finally was forced to surrender on honourable terms. However the terms were not honoured, with the castle being sacked, and she was removed as a prisoner to Dorchester. But on her husband's return the parliament forces were soon dislodged.
She died at Winchester, Hampshire, and was buried at Tisbury. Her will dated 28 September 1649 was probated on 2 November 1649.
Notes
References
- Thompson Cooper (1873). A New Biographical Dictionary: Containing Concise Notices of Eminent Persons of All Ages and Countries: and More Particularly of ... Great Britain and Ireland. Bell. p. 86.
- Edward Hungerford Goddard (1881). The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. Devizes: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. p. 41.