Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets
Nottingham Castle is well known for tales involving Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. These stories are still an interesting fictional story.
However, in Nottingham Castle, two centuries after the legend of Robin Hood, a true story took place that is worthy of the adventures of the legendary archer; It is even comparable to some of the stories narrated in Game of Thrones.
In 1327 Edward II reigned in England, a weak king who had put the government in the hands of his favorite Piers Galveston and Hugh Despenser. Edward II's wife, Elizabeth of France, and her lover Roger Mortimer lead a rebellion against him.
They get him deposed and Elizabeth's son, the teenage Edward III, crowned in his place. Edward II dies in strange circumstances and Mortimer accumulates land and power at the expense of the new monarch and the nobility that he systematically eliminates.
But Edward III grows up and proves to be a worthy descendant of his grandfather Longshanks (the bad guy from Braveheart). In 1330 two circumstances come together. Several friends of Edward III are summoned to Nottingham on suspicion of plotting against Mortimer and rumors spread that Queen Elizabeth may be pregnant by her lover, posing a threat to Edward III's hereditary rights.
The king decides to take action. Mortimer believes himself safe from any attack entrenched and heavily defended at Nottingham Castle. But he does not have the castle watchman, William Elam, an ally of Edward III and a great connoisseur of the fortress tunnels.
Elam reveals to a group of noblemen trusted by the king, led by William Montagu, the existence of a secret tunnel that leads from the outside of the castle to the private rooms of the queen .
Elam himself is in charge of keeping the access from the tunnel open and the group led by Montagu stop Mortimer. He was tried by Parliament, found guilty of treason, of murdering Edward II, and executed.
Thus began the reign of what was probably the best king of the Plantagenet dynasty… but that's another story.