Editing Newark-on-Trent (section)

===Medieval to Stuart period===
[[Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire|Newark Castle]] was originally a fortified [[manor house]] founded by the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Elder. In 1073, [[Remigius de Fécamp]], Bishop of Lincoln, put up an [[Earthworks (engineering)|earthwork]] [[motte and bailey|motte-and-bailey]] fortress on the site. The river bridge was built about this time under a charter from [[Henry I of England|Henry I]], as was St Leonard's Hospital. The bishopric also gained from the king a charter to hold a five-day fair at the castle each year, and under King [[Stephen of England|Stephen]] to establish a mint. [[John, King of England|King John]] died of [[dysentery]] in Newark Castle in 1216.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Watson |first1=Greig |title=King John: Dysentery and the death that changed history |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-37641202 |publisher=BBC |access-date=11 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111204955/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-37641202 |archive-date=11 November 2017 |date=19 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-11-18 |title=Let's move to: Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire |url=http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/nov/18/lets-move-to-newark-nottinghamshire|access-date=2021-08-06 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>Cornelius Brown, A History of Nottinghamshire, (1896) Retrieved on the 28th April 2023</ref>

[[File:Newark Castle - geograph.org.uk - 6368033.jpg|thumb|[[Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire|Newark Castle]]]]

The town became a local centre for the wool and cloth trade – by the time of [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] a major market was held there. Wednesday and Saturday markets in the town were founded in the period 1156–1329, under a series of charters from the Bishop of Lincoln.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/notts.html |title=Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs to 1516: Nottinghamshire |first=Samantha Letters (content); Olwen Myhill |last=(web) |date=18 June 2003 |website=history.ac.uk |access-date=5 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027181417/http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/notts.html |archive-date=27 October 2017}}</ref> After his death, [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] tried to bring order to the country, but the mercenary Robert de Gaugy refused to yield Newark Castle to the [[Bishop of Lincoln]], its rightful owner. This led to the [[Dauphin of France]] (later King [[Louis VIII of France]]) laying an eight-day siege on behalf of the king, ended by an agreement to pay the mercenary to leave. Around the time of [[Edward III of England|Edward III]]'s death in 1377, "[[Tax per head|Poll tax]] records show an adult population of 1,178, excluding beggars and clergy, making Newark one of the biggest 25 or so towns in England."<ref>[http://www.newarkfuture.net/Exhibition%20Boards%20-%20final.pdf ''Newark Future,'' 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722174154/http://www.newarkfuture.net/Exhibition%20Boards%20-%20final.pdf |date=22 July 2011}}</ref>

In 1457 a flood swept away the bridge over the Trent. Although there was no legal requirement to do so, the Bishop of Lincoln, [[John Chadworth]], funded a new bridge of oak with stone defensive towers at either end. In January 1571 or 1572, the composer [[Robert Parsons (composer)|Robert Parsons]] fell into the swollen River Trent at Newark and drowned.<ref name=Humphreys>{{Cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=Maggie |last2=Evans |first2=Robert |title=Dictionary of composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland |date=1997 |publisher=Mansell |location=London |isbn=9780720123302 |edition=1. publ.}}</ref>

[[File:Newark - Newark Castle - 20240224171244.jpg|
thumb|[[Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire|Newark Castle – interior]]]]
After the [[English Reformation|break with Rome]] in the 16th century, the establishment of the [[Church of England]], and the [[dissolution of the monasteries]], [[Henry VIII]] had the Vicar of Newark, Henry Lytherland, executed for refusing to acknowledge the king as head of the Church. The dissolution affected Newark's political landscape. Even more radical changes came in 1547, when the [[Bishop of Lincoln]] exchanged ownership of the town with the Crown. Newark was incorporated under an [[alderman]] and twelve assistants in 1549, and the charter was confirmed and extended by [[Elizabeth I]].

[[Charles I of England|Charles I]] reincorporated the town under a [[mayor]] and aldermen, owing to its increasing commercial prosperity. This charter, except for a temporary surrender under [[James II of England|James II]], continued to govern the corporation until the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]].