In this guest article, historian Colin Describe explains how Caversham grew in prominence during the Norman period. 

Caversham was already a place where pilgrims began flocking to as the dagger that killed King Edward 'the Martyr' was stored there. 

People believed the dagger had miraculous properties. But did you know even more amazing relics became stored in Caversham as well?

Colin Describe writes....

In 1066, the Normans invaded England, with King William the Conquerer becoming the first Norman king. 

Walter Giffard his cousin, who was close to King William was given estates as a reward for the successful conquest. He was granted the Feudal barony of Long Crendon which included Caversham. 

The area incorporated what used to be the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. Areas north of the River Thames, so Caversham, were in Mercia, and areas south of it, Reading, were in the old Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex.

The Normans preceded to reorganise the Kingdom of England, which culminated in the completion of the Doomsday Book in 1086 in which both Reading and Caversham are mentioned. 

King William died in 1087, with the throne passing to King William II, who himself died in a hunting accident in 1100. 

This caused conflict, as Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy and the eldest son of King William was returning from an adventure in the First Crusade. 

At that time, his brother Henry seized the English crown, becoming King Henry I.

Robert Curthose felt he had a claim to the throne of England. 

Duke Robert landed in Portsmouth in 1101 in an attempt to seize England, but due to a lack of support he skulked back to Normandy. 

Then, in 1106, King Henry I invaded Normandy, imprisoning Robert. King Henry then took the title of the Duke of Normandy for himself. Robert was imprisoned in Cardiff Castle where he died in 1134. His body is buried in Gloucester Cathedral. 

But prior to all of this, Robert took part in the First Crusade, and supposedly obtained the spearhead that pierced the flesh of Jesus Christ while he was on the Cross, and part of the noose which Judas hung himself with in guilt for betraying Jesus. 

At the time, Caversham was possessed by Walter Giffard the younger, who was the First Earl of Buckingham, whose wife Agnes was a mistress of Duke Robert. 

Duke Robert gave the relics to Agnes in 1106, who stored them with the dagger that killed King Edward the Martyr. 

The stashing of these relics in Caversham led thousands to flock there. Later, the dagger that killed King Henry VI in May 21, 1471 was added to this trove of historic items.