Ratæ, if not founded, was occupied and fortified, by the Romans. The line of the wall, on the usual rectangular plan, has been traced upon the north, south, and east sides, the western defence being formed by the river, and both city and suburb are fruitful in pavements and other Roman remains. There is, however, some doubt as to whether the wall actually reached the water at the south-west angle. If, as is supposed, though upon very insufficient evidence, the fragment of Roman masonry known as the Jewry wall was really a part of the town wall, it follows that the wall was present on the west side, and there was a space between that defence and the river, and that the castle, which occupies the south-west angle, was outside the town. Ratæ, under the name of Leicester, was also a town of great importance among the Saxons, and was nearly central in the kingdom of Mercia. It is mentioned in a Saxon charter of 819, and is said to have given the title of earl to Leofric, A.D. 716, to Algar in 838, and to other Algars and other Leofrics, and to Leofwin, the Saxon line ending with Earl Edwin, who was slain in 1071. The town, during the Danish interregnum, was one of the five burghs; and the castle, like those of Tamworth and Tutbury, is said to have been either founded or restored by Æthelflæd in 913–4, though for this solid evidence is wanting. Nevertheless, that Saxon Leicester was the seat of a very important earldom is very certain, and the residence of the lords was most probably the castle. The town and castle were placed by the Conqueror in charge of Hugh de Grentmaisnil, lord of the neighbouring Honour and castle of Hinkley, where also is a fine mound; and whose son Yvo was vice-comes of the county under Henry I. The actual property of the Grentmaisnils, in Leicester, was one-fourth of the town; but it does not appear how this and much more of the other parts were acquired by Robert de Bellemont, Earl of Mellent, who became Earl of Leicester, and died 1118, in possession of the castle and Honour. “Juxta et infra castellum,” which may conveniently be rendered, “outside, but just beneath the castle wall,” was a collegiate church, of Saxon foundation, dedicated to St. Mary. This Robert was probably the builder, between 1106 and 1118, of the castle, including the hall, the chapel, and a tower upon the mound. Robert Bossu, the second earl, took the part of Henry I. He strengthened and enlarged the castle. He was the founder of St. Mary de Pratis, outside the town; and, to endow this, he diminished the ecclesiastical staff, and diverted some of the lands from his father’s foundation by the castle. He died 1167.