"William crossed the sea from Normandy and landed at Pevensey,
where he built a strongly defended castle.

Leaving a group of knights there, he rode to Hastings
where he quickly built another one."

William of Jumieges, a Norman monk.



"There were very few castles in the English countryside before
the Normans came.

The king built a castle at Warwick and gave it to Henry Beaumont
to guard.

Then he built Nottingham castle and put William Peverill in
charge of it.

When the men of York heard this they were petrified. They sent
hostages and the keys of the city to the king. The king still
did not trust them, so he had the castle in York strengthened
and he left more knights there."

Written by Ordericus Vitalis in 1125.
He was a monk.
He was half French and half English.

      

The Bayeux Tapestry shows the castle at Hastings being built in 1066.

When the Normans invaded, they built a castle first of all in the
grounds of the Roman fort at Pevensey. 

These castles were put up in a hurry.

They were made of wood. The Normans probably forced the
English to build them.

The Normans may even have built sections in Normandy before the
invasion and brought them with them when they sailed to
England.

The first castles had to be put up in a hurry. The Normans were
in enemy countryside and did not want to be attacked.   

After the battle of Hastings, William marched to Dover, where he
built another castle.

He then marched to London and was crowned king ten weeks later.

In March 1067, William returned to Normandy and left his half-
brother, Odo of Bayeux, in charge of England.
                 


"It is the custom of the French nobles, because they are always
fighting, so that they can be safe, they make a mound of earth
as high as they can. Round this mound they dig a ditch as deep
and as wide as they can afford. Round the top edge of the mound 
they put up a stockade made of logs. In the middle of this they
build a tower or home.

The only entrance is across a bridge."

Walter the Archdeacon, 1100.



What would archaeologists find if they excavated one of these
castles ?



How did castles help the Normans to control England ?



As early as 1067, William was rebuilding important castles in
stone. 

e.g. 1067 Bishop Gundulf, one of William's skilled builders, was
brought over from Normandy to work on the Tower of London.



"In his castles, William put loyal soldiers and guards that he
had brought from Normandy, together with large numbers of
horse and foot soldiers. He distributed the rich land amongst them.
In return they served William."

William of Poitiers.



Most of William's castles were built by his lords and guarded by
their personal armies.


STONE CASTLES

It's a mistake to think of castles as always at war.

In a period of 200 years, they might only see 2 or 3 days
fighting.


1135 Henry I dies. No heir. 20 years of civil war.


'Robber barons' grabbed land from the king and their neighbours
and built their own castles.


1155 King Henry II. Destroyed most of these castles.


60 years later the barons were at war again with King John.


This situation forced castle defences to change - to keep up
with modern warfare.


The influence of the crusades.

___________________________________________________________________

"The three sons of the king of Sweden sailed up the Humber and 
joined with the Northumbrians, to make a huge army.

They then marched on York and destroyed the castle there.

They seized treasure and killed many French men. They also
carried off great number of French in their ships."

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1069.

1070-71 The rising of Hereward the Wake in East Anglia - put
down in 1071.
_____________________________________________________________________

CASTLE TRIVIA
=============

Castle defences - high walls and strong towers, built on a
high or defensible spot, were the secret of a castles defences.

Surprise attacks on castles were unusual - the defenders usually had
time to prepare for an attack.

Castle walls were usually more than 8 feet thick.

Crenels - the gaps between the raised stonework on the top of the walls.

If, during an attack or a siege, food was in danger of running out,
women, children and non-combatants would be put out of the castle.

e.g. 1346, the Siege of Calais, the defenders put out the sick and
injured. The attackers would not let them pass and many of them
starved to death. Those who did not were reduced to eating dogs and rats.

Castle roofs were made of materials that would not burn. e.g. lead.

Portcullis - oak and metal grille that could be lowered to protect the 
castle entrance.

Trebuchet - rather like a catapult, it was used to fire the bodies
of dead animals (bringing disease) or pots of lime (which burned
the skin) into a castle during an attack or siege. Have a look at
the PAINT file called HDS - this shows attackers catapulting
severed human heads into a castle.

Mantlet - a portable wooden barrier that gave shelter and protection
to archers near the castle walls.

Mangonel - this catapulted objects low against the castle walls.

Mining - during a siege, soldiers might dig a mine under the castle walls,
making them collapse.

Cat, rat or tortoise - a wheeled shelter that soldiers could use to get
near the castle walls (rather like a shed on wheels).

The belfry or bell tower - a tower used during a siege. The tower was tall
enough to look over castle walls.

e.g. at the siege of Kenilworth castle in 1266, 200 archers and 11
catapults were in just one belfry.

Nobleman captured in battle were not treated badly - they were looked
after in the castle and a ransom demanded for their release.

Feudalism - the lord of the castle did not 'own' his castle or land.
He earned the right to use the land and build his castle on it
by swearing an oath of loyalty to a baron or to the king. The lord
promised to fight for the king if the king needed him in wartime.
The people on the lord's land paid him a fee or a fine or worked
on his land. In return the lord protected them.

Murder holes - found in gateways. Through them soldiers could
fire arrows or throw stones and gunge at the enemy soldiers below.

Constable - he ran the castle when the lord was absent.

Toilets/latrines/garderobes - hay was used as toilet paper.
It was the job of the 'gong farmer' to clean out the latrines -
smelly and unhealthy ! During one siege at a castle in France
in 1204, the enemy got into the castle by climbing up the
toilet shaft/chimney.

Oubliette - a cell within a cell. Found at the back of a dungeon
or cell. Takes its name from the French word oublier - to forget.
Prisoners could be pushed in there and forgotten.

Dungeons - a lot of the time dungeons were used to store food
and supplies.

Tapestries were hung over doors to keep out draughts.

Making bate - "Tannery workers softened animal skins by soaking them
in bate. This was water mixed with dog excrement from the castle kennels.
After putting this mixture in a tub, a barefoot workman climbed in and
trampled it to a pulp."

The castle cellar housed court documents.

Chandler - made candles for lighting the castle.

Atilliator - crossbow maker.

Ale conner - tested beer for its purity. He would pour some ale onto
a wooden bench and sit on it for half an hour. If at the end of
this his trousers stuck to the bench, the beer was of poor
quality - it had too much suger in it.

Heads - the heads of traitors were displayed from the battlements
of a castle. They were lighlty boiled, before being treated with
tar to preserve them.

For more details get a hold of STEPHEN BIESTEY'S CROSS-SECTIONS
CASTLE. 
______________________________________________________________________

"William went in the spring overseas to Normandy. And Bishop odo
and Earl William stayed behind in charge and built castles far
and wide throughout the land, oppressing the wretched people,
and things went continually from bad to worse."

ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE. 1066-1067.


                                                            