The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles.Armitage, Ella Sophia
History
The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles.
Armitage, Ella Sophia
Architecture, Norman; Castles -- Great Britain -- History -- To 1500; Normans -- Great Britain
We can easily test this by comparing Anglo-Saxon history with Norman
of the same period, after castles had arisen in Normandy. Who among
Saxon nobles was more likely to possess a castle than the powerful
Earl Godwin, and his independent sons? Yet when Godwin left the court
of Edward the Confessor, because he would not obey the king's order
to punish the men of Dover for insulting Count Eustace of Boulogne,
we do not hear that he retired to his castle, or that his sons
fortified their castles against the king; we only hear that they met
together at Beverstone (a place where there was no castle before the
14th century)[51] and "arrayed themselves resolutely."[52] Neither
do we hear of any castle belonging to the powerful Earl Siward of
Northumbria, or Leofric, Earl of Mercia. And when Godwin returned
triumphantly to England in 1052 we do not hear of any castles being
restored to him.
Now let us contrast this piece of English history, as told by the
_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, with the Norman history of about the same
period, the history of the rebellion of the Norman nobles against their
young duke, William the Bastard. The first thing the nobles do is to
put their castles into a state of defence. William has to take refuge
in the castle of a faithful vassal, Hubert of Rye, until he can safely
reach his own castle of Falaise. After the victory of Val-ès-Dunes,
William had to reduce the castles which still held out, and then to
order the destruction of all the castles which had been erected against
him.[53]
Or let us contrast the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ of 1051 with that of
1088, when certain Norman barons and bishops in England conspired
against the new king, William Rufus. The first thing told us is that
each of the head conspirators "went to his castle, and manned it and
victualled it." Then Bishop Geoffrey makes Bristol Castle the base of
a series of plundering raids. Bishop Wulfstan, on the other hand, aids
the cause of William by preventing an attempt of the rebels on the
castle of Worcester. Roger Bigod throws himself into Norwich Castle,
and harries the shire; Bishop Odo brings the plunder of Kent into his
castle of Rochester. Finally the king's cause wins the day through the
taking of the castles of Tonbridge, Pevensey, Rochester, and Durham.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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