Whitsuntide

Concerned for his own safety due to the instabilities of his reign, he took up residence there and celebrated Whitsuntide at the castle in 1110.[4] His marriage to Adela, the daughter of Godfrey of Louvain, took place in the castle in 1121.
The earliest surviving buildings at Windsor date from the reign of Henry II who came to the throne in 1154. He replaced the wooden palisade surrounding the old fortress with a stone wall interspersed with square towers; a much-altered part of this defensive wall can be seen on what is today the east terrace. Henry II also built the first stone keep on the irregular mound at the centre of the castle.


An early 18th-century view of Windsor Castle by Kip and Knyff
In 1214, the castle was besieged during the revolt of the English barons against Prince John. The King's Welsh troops (little more than private mercenaries) took flight, and the Prince escaped to France. Later in 1215 at Runnymede, close to the castle, the Prince, now King, was forced to sign Magna Carta. In 1216, again during the First Barons' War, the castle was again besieged, but this time withheld despite severe damage to the structure of the lower ward.





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