“Gwenta urbs est nobilis atque valens, cives ac finitimos habet divites, infidos, et audaces: Danos in auxilium ceteris recipere potest: a mari quod Anglos a Danis separat millia passuum quatuor-decim distat. Hujus quoque urbis intra mœnia, munitionem construxit, ibidem Gulielmum reliquit Osberni filium præcipuum in exercito suo, et in vice sua interim toti regno Aquilonem versus præesset.” And Ordericus Vitalis states:— “Intra mænia Gwentæ, opibus et munimine nobilis urbis, et mari contiguæ, validem arcem construxit, ibique Gulielmum Osberni filium in exercitu suo præcipuum reliquit, eumque vice sua toti Regno versus Aquilonem præesse constituit.” And Mr. Gurney proceeds:— “Taking, then, Norwich for the Venta Icenorum of the Romans—called Caer Guntum by the British, and Northwic by the Saxons and Danes—you find the Capital of the Iceni, founded on the shoulder of the promontory overlooking the Wensum, towards the great estuary, which formed a natural stronghold for successive races of inhabitants. Whilst the Romans, fixing their permanent camp at Caistor, on the Taes, where that river joined the estuary, into which the Wensum, the Taes, and the Yare, all discharged themselves, would command the passage into the interior of the country; and taking Caistor for the ‘Ad Taum,’ you will find the distances sufficiently to agree with the Roman Itineraries.” “The Camp at Caistor contains an area of about thirty-five acres, and the Roman station at Taesborough, on another promontory higher up upon the stream, has an area of about twenty-four acres.” Another strong point in favour of Norwich having been the Venta Icenorum is, that all the roads radiated from the city to all parts of East Anglia. In tracing the rise and progress of the city we must remember that it was in the centre of a vast common, and that it was the nucleus of an agricultural community, at first without any trade or any kind of manufactures. It was merely a collection of huts or a fishing station, near the banks of a river or arm of the sea. The social state of the place should be considered with reference to the progress of agriculture at different periods in the surrounding district. Norwich was for ages only a small market town, with a very small number of inhabitants. CHAPTER IV. Norwich in the Anglo-Saxon Period.