Yvo de Vescy, one of William the Conqueror's Norman barons, erected the earliest part of the present castle in 1096. By the mid-12th century it had taken on substantially the same form as it has today: a circular keep, its twin towers surrounding a courtyard, with two baileys beyond.
In 1297 the castle was left in trust by William de Vescy to the Bishop of Durham, but only 12 years later it was sold to a Yorkshire landowner, Henry de Percy, an early member of what became one of the most powerful families in England.
No other Percy attained the fame of Hotspur although the 5th Earl was known as 'the Magnificent'. The 6th Earl was less glamorously called 'the Unthrifty'. The 7th Earl was beheaded for attempting to place Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, while the 9th Earl's passion for astronomy and chemistry earned him the title 'the Wizard'. The earldom became extinct when the 11th Earl died without a male heir in 1670.
In 1750 Sir Hugh Smithson succeeded to the Alnwick estates and was created Duke of Northumberland some years later for his political services to King George III. The present duke, Ralph, is the 12th Duke of Northumberland.
HOTSPUR
The most famous Percy of them all was Henry de Percy's great-great-grandson Henry, who in 1378, at the tender age of 12, distinguished himself at the siege of Berwick and earned his nickname 'Hotspur'. Ten years later he led English forces in the Battle of Otterburn and in 1399 revolted against Richard II, deposing him in favour of Henry IV. The famous 'Rising of the Percies', immortalized in Shakespeare's Henry IV, ended with Hotspur's death in 1403 at the Battle of Shrewsbury.