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The town of Malmesbury was an important settlement in the early medieval period, both as a trading centre and as the site of Malmesbury Abbey

Malmesbury Abbey

Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, was founded as a Benedictine monastery around 676 by the scholar-poet Aldhelm, a nephew of King Ine of Wessex. In 941 AD, King Athelstan was buried in the Abbey. By the 11th century it contained the second largest library in Europe and was...

. Early in the 12th century the Abbey came under the control of Bishop Roger of Salisbury

Roger of Salisbury

Roger was a Norman medieval Bishop of Salisbury and the seventh Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England.-Life:...

 who built a motte and bailey castle close to the abbey adjacent to the church. In 1139 King Stephen of England

Stephen of England

Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...

 had become concerned about the loyalty of Roger and several other bishops and seized their castles, including Malmesbury. The civil war of the Anarchy

The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...

 broke out shortly afterwards between Stephen and the rival claimant for the throne, the Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...

, in which Malmesbury Castle played an active part.

At the start of the Anarchy, the local baron Robert fitz Hugh seized Malmesbury Castle from Stephen in 1139, but the king recaptured it shortly afterwards, sacking the town in the process. The castle became used by local royal forces to raid the surrounding countryside, much to the complaint of contemporary chroniclers. In 1144 Robert of Gloucester

Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester

Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England. He was called "Rufus" and occasionally "de Caen", he is also known as Robert "the Consul"...

 unsuccessfully besieged the castle, and it remained in royal hands until taken by the future Henry II

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

 in 1153 towards the end of the civil war. In the reign of King John

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

the local monks petitioned to have the castle destroyed; the king agreed and it was demolished in the early 13th century.

Today no remains of the castle survive, and archaeology has yet to precisely identify the site of the castle within the modern town.