[147] Ordericus Vitalis, on the other hand, says, but he is borne out by no classical authority, that Lillebonne occupies the site of an old Belgic town, called _Caletus_ which was destroyed by Julius Cæsar; who built on its foundation a new one, and named it _Julio-bona_, after himself. The passage, which is curious, is as follows:--"Antiqua urbs fuit, quæ Caletus ab incolis dicta est. Hanc (ut in antiquis Romanorum legitur gestis) Caius Julius Cæsar obsedit, et pro nimia bellatorum obstinatione intus acerrimè repugnantium subvertit. Deinde postquam hostes ibidem ad libitum compressit, considerata opportunitate loci, præsidium Romanorum providè constituit, et a nomine suo Juliam-bonam (quam barbari nunc corrupto nomine Ille-bonam nuncupant) appellavit."--_Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 554. [148] These authors were led to this opinion by the difficulty of reconciling the distances, as stated by Antoninus, between Julio-bona and the adjacent towns, with the actual distance of the same places from the modern Lillebonne. [149] See _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 6, where it is suggested, that the word, _L'Ilebonne_, may be derived from the two Celtic words, _Ile_, signifying a current of water, and _Bonne_, which denotes the termination of any thing. The towns of Bonne, upon the Rhine, and of Libourne, are supposed to have taken their names from these words. [150] _Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p. 126. [151] Figured in the _Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques dans l'Ancienne France, par Nodier, Taylor, et De Cailleux_.--In the section of this publication, comprising Normandy, the authors have devoted nine plates to the illustration of Lillebonne. [152] In the _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 31, it is said on this subject, in speaking of Maurilius, archbishop of Rouen, that "adfuit Juliobonensibus Comitiis pro expeditione Anglicana, in 1066." [153] See _Neustria Pia_, p. 168. [154] _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 488. [155] _Concilia Normannica_, I. p. 67. PLATE LXX. CASTLE OF BRIQUEBEC.[156] [Illustration: Plate 70. CASTLE OF BRIQUEBEC, NEAR VALOGNES.] Briquebec is an extensive parish, situated about seven miles to the south of Valognes, with a population of four thousand five hundred inhabitants, a weekly market on Mondays, and several considerable fairs. Its castle claims an antiquity, nearly, if not altogether, coeval with the days of Rollo. When that Duke, on gaining peaceable possession of Normandy, parcelled out the land among his companions in arms, the portion that included Briquebec was one of the most considerable. The lord of Briquebec held in the Norman exchequer the third place among the barons of the Cotentin, the present department of La Manche.[157] His services and his rank, to which may probably also be added, his relationship to Rollo, entitled him to this proud distinction.