Aldred, Archbishop of York, who had crowned the Conqueror, died, about the same time, of grief. He left his malediction, it is said, to William, on account of the wrongs he had inflicted on the people.
The deposing of Stigand gave the king an opportunity of paying a long debt of gratitude to Lanfranc, a Lombard monk, by raising him to the vacant dignity. This friar had been sent by him shortly after his marriage with Matilda to the Court of Rome, to obtain the Papal dispensation for their union, it having been discovered, after the ceremony had taken place, that they were related within the prohibited degree.
The new archbishop showed himself exceedingly unbending, where the prerogatives of the primacy were in question. After a long contest before the Pope, he compelled Thomas, a Norman monk, who had been appointed to the see of York, to acknowledge his superiority, a point which had hitherto been warmly contested between the occupants of the rival sees.
The zeal of the new primate in supporting the interests of Rome met with great success. It is true that William, during his reign, rarely felt inconvenience from it, for with his strong hand and iron will he kept the Church in great subjection to the Crown, and would allow none to dispute his sovereign will and pleasure. He prohibited his subjects from acknowledging any one for pope whom he himself had not previously received: he required that all the ecclesiastical canons, voted in any synod, should first he laid before him, and be ratified by his authority; even bulls, or letters from Rome, could not legally be produced, till they received the same sanction: and none of his ministers or barons, whatever offences they were guilty of, could be subjected to spiritual censures till he himself had given his consent to their excommunication.
CHAPTER XXX.
Reign of William—continued—Erection of Fortresses.
In order to secure the subjection of his new subjects, the Conqueror did not neglect the important means which the erection of castles or fortresses presented. Amongst others, he either built, or caused his great vassals to build, those of Pevensey, Hastings, and the White Tower of London; and repaired that of Dover in 1066.
The castles or stone-built fortresses of England, previous to the Conquest, were few and inconsiderable. Those erected by the Romans had fallen into ruin; and although Alfred the Great had strengthened the defences of the country by upwards of fifty towers of defence, they had not been kept up by his successors: and to this neglect the speedy reduction of the country to the Norman yoke may, in a great measure, be attributed. There were no long and wearisome sieges to undertake; no position capable of delaying an army before it for any length of time: all was left to the chance of an open battle.
At the period of the Saxon supremacy, the castles and places of strength were chiefly of wood, in proof of which the vassals who erected them were required to provide no other tools than a hatchet. William, who perfectly comprehended the policy of the Romans, determined to alter this, and speedily commenced the erection of his strongholds, and in process of time the great feudal barons followed his example.
In order to afford an idea of these structures, we shall, as briefly as possible, give a general idea of a Norman fortress or castle.
It consisted of an enclosure, varying, according to the importance of its position, from five to ten acres of land, and, where circumstances rendered it possible, was surrounded by a moat or artificial canal, on the edge of which was a strong wall enclosing another, and between them was the first ballium, or outer court. Within the second wall, which surrounded the keep, or great tower, were store-houses for the garrison,
Plan of a Norman Castle.
and other offices, as well as lodgings for the troops. In the centre of the interior space stood the citadel, keep, or master tower, in which resided the governor, or feudal possessor; in his absence, the castellan inhabited it, exercising the same authority as his chief. This last edifice was generally erected on an artificial or natural mound, and contained the state apartments, together with the domestic offices; and in the centre, below the foundations, the dungeons for prisoners of war and other captives, such as felons, who had fallen under the jurisdiction of the lord or governor: in many instances there were secret means of access to these prisons by means of narrow passages contrived in the walls. In advance of the moat stood the barbican, or outward defence, with a watch-tower, communicating with the interior by means of a drawbridge, which drew up inwardly, so as to be under the direction of the sentinel or guard. The entrance to the ballium, or outward court, was still further secured by a strong gate, defended by a portcullis,to be raised or lowered as occasion required, by means of strong iron chains and pulleys. The walls were further protected by battlements, perforated by loopholes, through
