Nor was the postponement very serious, for the native fortresses, if well manned, were strong, at least for a limited time. The attacks of the Danes upon Towcester, Bedford, and Wigmore are on record; and yet these, of all of which the earthworks remain, were not burhs of the first class, and certainly would not contain a hundred men,—or, even if the base-court were occupied, more than thrice that number,—and the Danish army could scarcely be less than ten times as numerous. The fact is, however, that such a mound as Arundel or Tonbridge, palisaded, could be held for a short time by three or four score of resolute men against a sharp attack from any number, armed as men were armed in the tenth and eleventh centuries. No doubt, towers of masonry were more secure, because less dependent upon the vigilance of the garrison, less obnoxious to fire, and less liable to be taken by surprise. But the Normans were stout soldiers, well disciplined, and could from the first expect no quarter from the insurgent English. Among the castles ordered by William to be built, one of the most important was York. The order was given in the summer of 1068; and it is known that the new castle was to be upon the old English site, which contained a moated mound of the first class, commanding and protected on one side by the Roman city, and on the others by the swamps and waters of the Ouse and Foss. William’s castle was to be garrisoned by three leaders and five hundred knights, which implied a considerable following. Its area, therefore, must have been spacious, and no doubt included with the mound its ample base-court as seen at the present day. In 1069, the castle was attacked by the citizens in revolt, and was even then capable of being held, and was held, till William came to its assistance. He then ordered a second castle to be constructed upon the Bayle Hill, the mound still to be seen on the opposite or right bank of the river; and this was completed in eight days, before he left the city. A few months later, before September, 1069, the citizens, aided by the Danes, again attacked and burned the castles, which in 1069-70 were again renewed. Now, York was the metropolis of the most disaffected half of the kingdom. There, if anywhere, a castle of stone would be desirable, and stone could readily have been brought by water; and yet York Castle was constructed and made capable of being defended in a few months, and its subsidiary fortress in eight days; and both soon after were taken and burned, and at once ordered to be reconstructed. It is clear, from the time occupied by the whole sequence of events, that these castles were not of masonry. Moreover, the masonry of the present York keep contains nothing that can be attributed to the eleventh century; but much that is far too early to have replaced a really substantial keep or curtain of Norman date had such been built. Upon the great and artificial mound of Bayle Hill, the