Great Britain -- History -- Henry III, 1216-1272; Henry III, King of England, 1207-1272
The Legate set out for Nottingham,[165] taking with him the young King.
For the fighting men, the direct route would have been the Foss Way,
which ran in an almost straight line from Newark to Lincoln. But it ran
to the southernmost gate of the city, below the hill; and their aim
was to reach the western side of the castle on the hill-top without
passing through the city, which was in the hands of the enemy. They
therefore fetched a compass to the northward as far as Torksey;[166]
and there, or at Stow[167] hard by, they spent the night. On Saturday
morning (May 20th), after Mass, they drew up in full array for their
final march upon Lincoln.[168] Once more the Marshal bade them fight,
“for honour or Paradise,” against the enemies of God and the Church.
“God has given them into our hands; up and at them! The hour is come!”
“And all who heard him bore themselves joyfully, as if they were
going to a tournament.”[169] Chester led the van; the Marshal and
his sons commanded the next division; Earl William of Salisbury the
third, and Bishop Peter of Winchester the fourth, which consisted of
cross-bowmen.[170] Another body of cross-bowmen--perhaps commanded by
Falkes--seems to have formed an advanced guard which marched a mile in
front of the rest of the host.[171]
The boundaries of medieval Lincoln were determined by those of the
Roman city on the site of which it was built. They formed, roughly
speaking, a parallelogram whose length from north to south was
considerably greater than its width, and whose northern half stood on
the summit of a steep and rocky hill whence the southern half sloped
down almost to the bank of the river Witham; the whole was divided
longitudinally by the Roman road known as Ermine Street. The city
“above hill” represented the original Roman camp; to this the part
“below hill” had been added in the later days of the Roman occupation.
The wall wherewith, in the thirteenth century and for many centuries
after, the whole was encompassed, followed in the main the outlines of
the Roman enclosure thus enlarged. The castle, founded by William the
Conqueror and partly reconstructed in the twelfth century, occupied
the south-western angle of the first Roman city: it was thus enclosed
on the north, east, and south within the later city, from which it was
separated by a wide and deep ditch. This ditch was continued along
its outer or western side; and on this side the walls of castle and
city formed one continuous line, the wall being carried across the
ditch at the north-western and south-western extremities of the castle
enclosure. Immediately north of the ditch at the former of these two
points of junction between the city wall and the castle wall, stood the
West Gate of the city; whether there was also a gate at the southern
junction point is not known. The castle had two main entrances; one
on the east, towards the city; the other on the west side, towards
the open country. The keep was on the south side. Beyond the western
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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