Norman Conquest: Castles

What is a burh?

A fortified town

What were burhs like in Anglo-Saxon England?

• Walled towns provided defences in case of Viking attacks

• Centres of royal administration

What was a burh-geat?

A fortified dwelling of a Saxon thegn

What was uncovered at Goltho in Lincolnshire?

• Archaeologists found an egg-shaped enclosure about the size of a football pitch

• Surrounding the enclosure was a two-metre-deep ditch and a two-metre-high earth bank

• Archaeologists think there was a wooden palisade on top of the Earth bank which added another two metres to the height of the defences

What was the purpose of burh-geats and how can we infer this?

They were symbols of status and dominance. We can see this through:

• Other archaeological digs showing burh-geats often contained impressive multi-storeyed gatehouses

• Impressive features in the landscape caused by the construction of burh-geats

How was the word ‘castle’ first used in England?

• In 1051, a monk from Peterborough Abbey complained of some Norman friends of Edward the Confessor causing trouble in Herefordshire

• The monk was surprised by the new building the Normans had built- these were huge mounds of earth with wooden towers

• The monk used the foreign word ‘castle’ to refer to it

When had the word ‘castle’ been used outside of England?

200 years before in France

When and where did William, Duke of Normandy build his first castle in England?

• In September 1066, William landed in Pevensey

• In the third century, Romans had built a large fort- the ruins contained massive walls and towers which proved useful for the Normans

How was Hastings castle built soon after William landed in England?

• They used the same approached they had with Pevensey, creating a strongly defended site in the corner of an Iron Age fort

• This time however, the Normans built a motte

How did William seize London after the Battle of Hastings?

During the autumn of 1066, a Norman army marched through south-east England, devastating the territory around the capital, London

What steps did William and his army take to capturing London?

• First they went to Dover where they defeated a remaining Saxon garrison and built their third castle

• William’s army then marched through Kent and the Thames Valley- surviving mottes at Canterbury, Wallingford and Berkhamsted may have been built at this time

• Upon arriving in London, William built a castle in the corner of the city

What do excavations reveal about castles built at Dover, Pevensey and London?

• These were simple enclosures called ‘ringworks’

• These may have been built because they were more effective than building a motte and bailey castle that they had built in other places

Why are some early castles motte and bailey and others ringworks?

Normans built whatever was easiest and most effective to conquer England

When were more castles beginning to be built across the south of England and who by?

• March 1067, when William returned to Normandy

• William put Odo of Bayeux (his half brother) and his trusted friend William FitzOsbern in charge of the country

• They began building castles across the south of England

Why were Norman castles detested by the English?

• Norman castles caused much suffering

• The English were forced to build in places where their houses had been demolished to make space for a castle

• Norman soldiers may and ridden out from a castle, committing acts of plunder, rape and violence against the local people

How did William respond to the major rising in the west using castles?

• William crushed English revolts and established royal castles in many towns

• 1068-71: castles built at Exeter, Warwick, Nottingham and York

• York was the most important town in the north of England, so William built a motte between the rivers Ouse and Foss; this castle was huge with a 60 metre wide base

How did William protect roads to the North in response to uprisings in the south?

• The King protected the roads by building royal castles at Lincoln, Cambridge and Huntingdon

• These royal castles were key to conquering England, as the castles towering above the landscape reminded the local population of the King’s power and right to rule

How did William use noblemen for castle-building during the early years of the Norman Conquest?

• William divided Sussex into 6 new lordships and granted each one to a baron who each built a castle

• These were vital for protecting routes from Normandy to London

Where were early castles placed and why?

• The positions were carefully chosen to control river routes and roads- they may have been built near these rivers and roads

• They were often built on top of important Saxon sites as the Normans wanted to demonstrate their power and control

What did castles in Norman England look like?

• Most were probably timber motte and bailey structures but the layout varied from place to place

• Up to a quarter were ringworks, simple enclosures often built in the corner of an existing fortress like ones at Pevensey and London

• A small number of castles, such as ones in London and Chepstow were built in stone

What was the purpose of castles after 1071?

To settle the land as well as keep the country under control

How many castles were built between 1066-71?

Around 35 castles

How many castles were built from 1071-87?

Around 500

Key features of castles

This is a motte and bailey castle built at Goltho in 1080

Who was building castles between 1071-87

• A number of castles were built on William’s orders such as the motte and bailey castles at Roman forts at Cardiff and Newcastle in 1080

• Most of the castles build in this time belonged to the King’s barons and knights as William gave large areas of land to them after the defeat of English rebellions

  • This was to maintain control of territories

What are varying opinions on the purpose of Norman castles by historians?

• Some think they were defensive military fortresses as warfare dominated the lives of the English at this time

• Some believe that they are purely for spectacle and they do not have any military significance or strategic placement- they were made to intimidate and subdue the people

Why is the gatehouse at Exeter so important?

• It was made of stone meaning it would not rot unlike wood

• This means it is one of the few Norman structures we can analyse

How was the castle at Exeter built?

• In 1068, after William defeated English rebels at Exeter, he ordered his men to build a castle in the north-east corner of the city

• The gatehouse was built facing into the city

• Above the entrance was a chamber with two large triangular-headed windows- an Anglo-Saxon design

• It’s design was much like the gatehouses of Saxon thegns leading historians to believe it was not a defensive structure

What were most Norman castles built with?

Earth and timber

How many earthwork castles still survive today and who were they found by?

• Around 700 earthwork castles

• Found by Historic England, an organisation that looks at these historic sites

What were ringworks?

• Simple enclosures

• Often oval but varied in shape

• Soil from a ditch was used to make a large inner bank which would be topped with a timber palisade

• The ring could be fully completed, but some were partial by using natural features or existing fortifications

What were mottes?

• Built from soil thrown up from a surrounding ditch

• Formed from natural hills or prehistoric burial mounds

• Some were steep and narrow, others were low and broad

• Some stood alone and other linked to one or two baileys

How does the landscape around Norman castles support the idea that they had little military use?

• More than 80% of castles were in the countryside and many of these rural sites were not well defended and it was hard to find any military explanation for their location

• Castles were inserted into Saxon landscapes and sometimes were built near to burh-geats which belonged to Saxon thegns

• Norman Lords began to change the landscape to make their castles look more impressive like Castle Arce in Norfolk

What was dug up and found at Hen Domen?

• On the top of the motte, there was a tower which would have given a distant view of the surroundings

• Castle defended by double ramparts and deep ditches making it very difficult to attack

• Contains a great hall, a granary (place for storing grain), a cistern (a stone container for water) and several small buildings that were probably workshops

• There were a few small finds such as jewellery, coins and a bucket showing this was probably a military site as it did not contain many luxurious items

What were the physical effects of castle building?

• Destruction of houses

• Castles built by Saxons

• Provided work for people

• Protected the Norman lord

• Altered the landscape

What were the psychological effects of castles?

• Anglo-Saxons would lose the will to fight and submit to their Norman lords

• Made Normans AND Anglo-Saxons feel safe- remember people were worried about Viking invasion at this time

• Intimidated and deterred people from attacking the Norman lord

• Constantly reminded people who was in charge