Chapter X
., p. 307.
APPENDIX B
WATLING STREET AND THE DANELAGH
It has been pointed out by Schmid (_Gesetze der Angelsachsen_, xxxviii.) that the document called _Alfred and Guthrum's Peace_ cannot belong to the year of Guthrum's baptism at Wedmore; and Mr J. R. Green (_Conquest of England_, p. 151) goes further, and doubts whether the boundaries laid down in this deed refer to anything except to the East Anglian kingdom of Guthrum. But Mr Green gives no adequate reason for rejecting the generally accepted conclusion that the Watling Street was the boundary between English and Danish Mercia, which is borne out by the following facts: (1) the Danish confederacy of the five boroughs, Lincoln, Stamford, Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby, pretty well covers the part of Mercia north of Watling Street, especially when Chester is added, as it sometimes is, to the list; (2) the division into wapentakes instead of hundreds, now believed to be of Danish origin, is found in Lincolnshire, Notts, Derbyshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire. Staffordshire, it is true, is not divided into wapentakes, but it was apparently won by conquest when Ethelfleda fortified the town. Chester was occupied by her husband in 908. Watling Street furnishes such a well-defined line that it was natural to fix upon it as a frontier.
APPENDIX C
THE MILITARY ORIGIN OF ALFRED'S BOROUGHS
Keutgen (_Untersuchungen über den Ursprung der Deutschen Stadtverfassung_, 1895) appears to have been the first to notice the military origin of the Old Saxon boroughs; and Professor Maitland saw the applicability of the theory to the boroughs of Alfred and Edward the Elder. (_Domesday Book and Beyond._) The _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, in 894, speaks of "the men whose duty it was to defend the towns"; this proves that Alfred had made some special arrangement for the defence of the towns; and this arrangement must have been something quite apart from the ordinary service of the _fyrd_ or militia, which was only due for a short time. It must have been something permanent, with an adequate economic basis, such as we have in Henry the Fowler's plan.
APPENDIX D
THE WORDS "CASTRUM" AND "CASTELLUM"
If we take the chroniclers of the reign of Charlemagne and his successors in the 9th century, we find the word _castrum_ constantly used for places such as Avignon, Dijon, Macon, Rheims, Chalons, Cologne, Andernach, Bonn, Coblenz, etc., all of which are known to have been Roman _castra_, when there can be no doubt that the _city_ is meant. Take, for instance, the _Annales Mettenses_ (Pertz, i., 326), 737: Karl Martel hears that the Saracens have taken "castrum munitissimum Avinionem" (Avignon); he marches against them, and "_predictam urbem_ obsidione circumdat." But these cities are not only called _castra_, they are also called _castella_. Thus the chronicle ascribed to Hincmar calls Macon both _castrum_ and _castellum_ in the same breath. (_Migne_, 125, 1298.) The fortifications built by Charlemagne against the Saxons are called _castra_, _castella_, and _civitates_. (_Chron. Moissiacense_, Pertz, i., 308. _Ann. Einhardi_, ibid., 196, 204.) The camps of the Northmen, which as we have seen, were of great size, are also called not only _castra_, but _civitates_, _castella_, _munitiones_, _oppida_. (_Annales Fuldenses_, Pertz, i., 397.) The camp built by Charles the Bald at Pistes in 868 is called a _castellum_, though it was evidently an enclosure of great size, as he measured out quarters in it for his nobles, and formed an elaborate scheme for its maintenance. (Hincmar, _Migne_, 125, 1242, 1244.) Coming to the 10th century, the following passage from Flodoard will show the vagueness of the words in common use for fortifications: "Heribertus Ansellum Bosonis subditum, qui prædictum custodiebat _castrum_ (Vitry), cum ipso _castello_ recipit, et Codiacum S. Remigii _municipium_ illi cum alia terra concedit. Nec longum, Bosonis fideles _oppidanorum_ proditione Victoriacum (Vitry) recipiunt, et Mosonum fraude pervadunt. At Heribertus, a quibusdam Mosomensibus evocatus, supervenit insperatus, et entrans _oppidum_, porta latenter a _civibus_ aperta, milites Bosonis, qui ad custodiam loci residebant, ibidem omnes capit." (_Migne_, 135, 297.) Here it is clear that _castrum_, _castellum_, _municipium_, and _oppidum_ all mean the same thing, and the one word _civibus_ betrays that it is a _city_ which is meant. Undoubtedly the chronicler thinks it elegant to change his words as often as he can. _Munitio_ is another word frequently used; in classical Latin it means a bulwark, a wall or bank; in the chroniclers of the 10th century it is used indifferently for a town or castle, though certain passages, such as "subversis multarum munitionibus urbium" (Flodoard, i., vi.), show that the right sense is not far from the mind of the writer. The numerous passages in which we are told of monasteries being enclosed with walls and converted into _castella_, show that the _enclosure_ is the chief idea which the chroniclers associate with this word. The citations made above are not exceptional, but typical, and could be paralleled by countless others.
Since the above was written, I have read Keutgen's _Untersuchungen über den Ursprung der Deutschen Stadtverfassung_. He remarks that the Latin words for a town (in the 10th and 11th century writers) are _urbs_, _castellum_, _civitas_, sometimes _arx_; for a village, _villa_, _oppidum_, _vicus_. This absolutely agrees with what I have observed in these writers, except that I have certainly found _oppidum_ used for a town, as in the passage from Flodoard cited above.
APPENDIX E
THE BURGHAL HIDAGE
The _Burghal Hidage_ has been printed by Birch, _Cartularium_, iii., 671. The manuscript is very corrupt, and several of the places cannot be identified. Those which can be identified are: Hastings, Lewes, Burpham (near Arundel), Chichester, Porchester, Southampton, Winchester, Wilton, Tisbury, Shaftesbury, Twineham, Wareham, Bridport, Exeter, Halwell, Lidford, Pilton, Barnstaple, Watchet, Axbridge, Lyng (near Athelney), Langport, Bath, Malmesbury, Cricklade, Oxford, Wallingford, Buckingham, Eashing (near Guildford), and Southwark. The list thus seems to give an outline of Alfred's kingdom as it was at his death, or at the beginning of the reign of his son. Dr Liebermann refers it to the latter date. (_Leges Anglorum_, 9.)
APPENDIX F
THELWALL
A writer in the _Manchester Guardian_ a few years ago suggested a new solution of the name Thelwall. He believes that the Thelwall raised by Edward was a boundary wall of timber, stretching from Thelwall to Runcorn. The Mersey, he argues, above Thelwall formerly broadened out into a series of swamps which would effectually defend the frontier towards the east. But westward from Thelwall there were no such obstacles, and it is assumed that Edward made a timber wall from Thelwall to Ethelfleda's fortress at Runcorn. Some support to this hypothesis is given in the names of places between Thelwall and Runcorn: Stockton, Walton (twice), Stockham, Walford, Wallmore, and Wall-hes. Further, when the bed of the Mersey was delved for the Ship Canal, discovery was made of "a remarkable series of submerged piles, 9 feet long, arranged in two parallel ranks which were 30 feet apart. The intervals between the piles varied, but seem to have averaged 5 to 6 feet. Between the ranks were diagonal rows of upright stakes, each stake about 5 feet long, extending from either rank chevron-wise to the middle and there overlapping, so that the ground-plan of them makes a kind of herring-bone pattern. By this plan, anyone passing through would have to make a zigzag course. In some places sticks and sedges were found interwoven horizontally with the stakes, a condition of things which probably obtained throughout the whole series. The tops of the tallest piles were 10 feet below the present surface of the ground, which fact goes far toward precluding the possibility that this elaborate work may have been a fish-weir. The disposition of the stakes points to a military origin. So arranged, the advantage they offered to defending forces was enormous." I think it worth while to reproduce this account, especially because of the place-names, but those who are learned in the construction of fish-weirs may perhaps think that the description will apply to a work of that kind.
APPENDIX G
THE WORD "BRETASCHE"
This word, which also appears as bretagium, britagium, or bristega, evidently means a tower, as is clear from the following passages: Order from King John to erect a _mota et bretagium_ at Roscrea, in Ireland (Sweetman's _Calendar_, i., 412); Order by Henry III. to the dwellers in the Valley of Montgomery "quod sine dilatione motas suas bonis bretaschiis firmari faciant" (_Close Rolls_, ii., 42); Order that the timber and bretasche of Nafferton Castle be carried to Newcastle, and the bretasche to be placed at the gate of the drawbridge _in place of the little tower_ which fell through defect in its foundations (_Close Rolls_, i., 549b).
The word is also expressly defined by William the Breton as a wooden castle: "Circuibat castrum ex omni parte, et fabricavit brestachias duplices per septem loca, _castella videlicet lignea_ munitissima." (Bouquet, xvii., 78.)
See also Wright, "Illustrations of Domestic Architecture," _Arch. Journ._, i., 212 and 301. In these papers it is clear that "breteske" means a tower, as there are several pictures of it. At a later period it seems to have been used for a wooden balcony made for the purpose of shooting, in the same sense as the word "hurdicium"; but I have not met with any instance of this before the 14th century.
APPENDIX H
THE WORDS "HURDICIUM" AND "HORDIARI"
These words refer to the wooden galleries carried round the tops of walls, to enable the defenders to throw down big stones or other missiles on those who were attempting to attack the foot of the walls. "Hurdicia quæ muros tutos reddebant." (_Philippidos_, vii., 201; Bouquet, xvii.) The word "alures" is sometimes used in the same sense. See a mandamus of Henry III., cited by Turner, _History of Domestic Architecture_, i., 198: "To make on the same tower [of London] on the south side, at the top, deep alures of good and strong timber, entirely and well covered with lead, through which people can look even to the foot of the tower, and better defend it, if need may be." The alures of the castle of Norwich are spoken of as early as 1187, but this mention, and one of the alures round the castle of Winchester in 1193, are the only ones I find in the 12th century in England.
APPENDIX I
"HERICIO, ERICIO, HERITO, HERISSON"
This is derived from the French word _hérisson_, a hedgehog, and should mean something bristling, perhaps with thorns or osiers. Several passages show that it was a defence on the counterscarp of the ditch, and it may sometimes have been a hedge. Cohausen, _Befestigungen der Vorzeit_, shows that hedges were frequently used in early fortifications (pp. 8-13). The following passages seem to show clearly that it was on the counterscarp of the ditch: "[Montreuil] il a bien clos, esforce e ferme de pel e _hericon_." (Wace, 107.) "Reparato exterioris Ardensis munitionis valli fossato et amplificato, et sepibus et ericiis consepto et constipato." (Lambert of Ardres, 623, _circa_ 1117.) The French poem of Jordan Fantosme, describing the siege of Wark by the Scots in 1174, says the Scots attacked and carried the _hericon_, and got into the ditch, but they could not take the bayle, _i.e._, they could not get over the palicium.
APPENDIX K
THE CASTLE OF YALE
In the year 1693, the antiquary Edward Llwyd was sitting on the motte of Tomen y Rhoddwy engaged in making a very bad plan of the castle [published in _Arch. Camb._, N.S., ii., 57]. His guide told him that he had heard his grandfather say that two earls used to live there. Llwyd called the guide an ignorant fellow. Modern traditions are generally the work of some antiquary who has succeeded in planting his theories locally; but here we have a tradition of much earlier date than the time when antiquaries began to sow tares, and such traditions have usually a shred of truth in them. Is it possible that this castle of Tomen y Rhoddwy and the neighbouring one of Llanarmon were built by the earls of Chester and Shrewsbury, who certainly went on expeditions together against Wales, and appear to have divided their conquests? It is to be noted that the township is called _Bodigre yr Yarll_, the township of the earls.
APPENDIX L
THE CASTLE OF TULLOW OR "COLLACHT," p. 335
This information is kindly supplied by Mr Goddard H. Orpen, who writes to me: "I visited Tullow lately, and asked myself where would a Norman erect a mote, and I had no difficulty in answering: on the high ground near where the Protestant church stands. When I got up there the first thing that I noticed was that the church stood on a platform of earth 10 to 14 feet higher than the road, and that this platform was held in position by a strong retaining wall, well battered towards the bottom on one side. I then found on enquiry that the hill on which it stood and the place to the N.W. of it was called the 'Castle Hill.' On going round to the N.W. of the church I found a horseshoe-shaped space, scarped all round to a height of 6 to 10 feet, and rising to about 16 feet above the adjoining fields. There is no doubt that this was the site of the castle, and that it was artificially raised. To my mind there was further little doubt that it represented an earlier mote. In a field adjoining on the W. I could detect a platform of about 50 to 70 paces, with traces of a fosse round the three outer sides.... This was certainly the Castellum de Tulach mentioned in the deeds concerning Raymond le Gros' grant to the Abbey of St Thomas.--_Dublin Reg. St Thomas_, pp. 111, 113."
APPENDIX M
THE CASTLE OF SLANE
Mr Westropp says that the "great earthworks and fosses" on the Hill of Slane are mentioned in the "Life of St Patrick" (_Journ. R. S. A. I._, 1904, p. 313). What the _Life_ really says is: "They came to Ferta Fer Fiecc," which is translated "the graves of Fiacc's men"; and the notes of Muirchu Maccu-Machtheni add, "which, as fables say, were dug by the slaves of Feccol Ferchertni, one of the nine Wizards" (_Tripartite Life_, p. 278). It does not mention any fort, or even a hill, and though Ferta Fer Fiecc is identified with Slane, there is nothing to show what part of Slane it was.
APPENDIX N
THE WORD "DONJON"
Professor Skeat and _The New English Dictionary_ derive this word from the Low Latin, _dominionem_, acc. of _dominio_, lordship. Leland frequently speaks of the keep as the dungeon, which of course is the same word. Its modern use for a subterranean prison seems to have arisen when the keeps were abandoned for more spacious and comfortable habitations by the noble owners, and were chiefly used as prisons. The word _dunio_, which, as we have seen, Lambert of Ardres used for a motte, probably comes from a different root, cognate with the Anglo-Saxon _dun_, a hill, and used in Flanders for the numerous sandhills of that coast.
APPENDIX O
THE ARRANGEMENTS IN EARLY KEEPS
We get a glimpse of these in a story given in the "Gesta Ambasiensium Dominorum," D'Archery, _Spicilegium_, 278. Sulpicius the Treasurer of the Abbey of St Martin at Tours, an important personage, built a stone keep at Amboise in 1015 (_Chron. Turonense Magnum_), in place of the "wooden house" which his brother had held. In the time of Fulk Rechin (1066-1106), this keep was in the hands of the adherents of the counts of Blois. Hugh, son of Sulpicius, with two other men, hid themselves by night in the basement, which was used as a storehouse; it must therefore have had an entrance from outside. With the help of ropes, they climbed up a sewer into the bedchamber, which was above the cellar, and evidently had no stair communicating with the cellar. Here they found the lady of the house and two maids sleeping, and a watchman who was also asleep. While one of the men held these in terror with a drawn sword, the other two climbed up a ladder and through a trap-door up to the roof of the tower, where they unfurled the banner of Hugh. Here we see a very simple keep, which has only one storey above the basement; this may have been divided into two or more apartments, but it was thought a fitting residence for a lady of rank. It had no stairs, but all the communications were by trap-doors and ladders. We may be quite sure that the people of rank of the 11th and 12th centuries were content with much rougher accommodation than Mr Clark imagined. Even Richard I.'s much admired keep of Chateau Gaillard appears to have had no communication but ladders between the floors.
APPENDIX P
KEEPS AS RESIDENCES
The description of a keep which we have already given from Lambert of Ardres (Chap. VI.) is sufficient to prove that even wooden keeps in the 12th century were used as permanent residences, and this is confirmed by many scattered notices in the various chronicles of France and England. It was not till late in the 13th century that the desire for more comfortable rooms led to the building of chambers in the courtyard.
APPENDIX Q
CASTLES BUILT BY HENRY I.
The castles, which according to Robert de Monte, Henry I. built altogether [_ex integro_] were Drincourt, Chateauneuf-sur-Epte, Verneuil, Nonancourt, Bonmoulins, Colmemont, Pontorson, St Denis-en-Lyons, and Vaudreuil. Many of these may have been wooden castles; Chateauneuf-sur-Epte almost certainly was; it has now a _round_ donjon on a motte. The "Tour Grise" at Verneuil is certainly not the work of Henry I., but belongs to the 13th century.
APPENDIX R
THE SO-CALLED SHELL KEEP
We have three accounts of motte-castles from the 12th century: that of Alexander Neckham, in the treatise _De Utensilibus_; that of Laurence of Durham, cited in Chapter VII ., p. 147; and the well-known description of the castle of Marchem, also cited in