APPENDIX M

THE CASTLE OF SLANE

MR WESTROPP says that the "great earthworks and fosses" on the Hill of Slane are mentioned in the "Life of St Patrick " (Journ. R. S. A. I., 1904, p. 313). What the Life really says is : "They came to Ferta Fer Fiecc," which is translated "the graves of Fiacc's men"; and the notes of Muirchu Maccu-Machtheni add, "which, as fables say, were dug by the slaves of Feccol Ferchertni, one of the nine Wizards" (Tripartite Life, p. 278). It does not mention any fort, or even a hill, and though Ferta Fer Fiecc is identified with Slane, there is nothing to show what part of Slane it was.

APPENDIX N

THE WORD "DONJON"

PROFESSOR SKEAT and The New English Dictionary derive this word from the Low Latin, dominionem, acc. of dominio, lordship. Leland frequently speaks of the keep as the dungeon, which of course is the same word. Its modern use for a subterranean prison seems to have arisen when the keeps were abandoned for more spacious and comfortable habitations by the noble owners, and were chiefly used as prisons. The word dunio, which, as we have seen, Lambert of Ardres used for a motte, probably comes from a different root, cognate with the Anglo-Saxon dun, a hill, and used in Flanders for the numerous sandhills of that coast.

APPENDIX 0

391

APPENDIX O

THE ARRANGEMENTS IN EARLY KEEPS

WE get a glimpse of these in a story given in the "Gesta Ambasiensium Dominorum," D'Archery, Spicilegium, 278. Sulpicius the Treasurer of the Abbey of St Martin at Tours, an important personage, built a stone keep at Amboise in 1015 (Chron. Turonense Magnum), in place of the "wooden house" which his brother had held. In the time of Fulk Rechin (1066-1106), this keep was in the hands of the adherents of the counts of Blois. Hugh, son of Sulpicius, with two other men, hid themselves by night in the basement, which was used as a storehouse; it must therefore have had an entrance from outside. With the help of ropes, they climbed up a sewer into the bedchamber, which was above the cellar, and evidently had no stair communicating with the cellar. Here they found the lady of the house and two maids sleeping, and a watchman who was also asleep. While one of the men held these in terror with a drawn sword, the other two climbed up a ladder and through a trap-door up to the roof of the tower, where they unfurled the banner of Hugh. Here we see a very simple keep, which has only one storey above the basement; this may have been divided into two or more apartments, but it was thought a fitting residence for a lady of rank. It had no stairs, but all the communications were by trap-doors and ladders. We may be quite sure that the people of rank of the IIth and 12th centuries were content with much rougher accommodation than Mr Clark imagined. Even Richard I.'s much admired keep of Chateau Gaillard appears to have had no communication but ladders between the floors.

1

APPENDIX P

KEEPS AS RESIDENCES

THE description of a keep which we have already given from Lambert of Ardres (Chap. VI.) is sufficient to prove that even wooden keeps in the 12th century were used as permanent residences, and this is confirmed by many scattered notices in the various chronicles of France and England. It was not till late in the 13th century that the desire for more comfortable rooms led to the building of chambers in the courtyard.

APPENDIX Q

CASTLES BUILT BY HENRY I.

THE castles, which according to Robert de Monte, Henry I. built altogether [ex integro] were Drincourt, Chateauneuf-surEpte, Verneuil, Nonancourt, Bonmoulins, Colmemont, Pontorson, St Denis-en-Lyons, and Vaudreuil. Many of these may have been wooden castles; Chateauneuf-sur-Epte almost certainly was; it has now a round donjon on a motte. The "Tour Grise" at Verneuil is certainly not the work of Henry I., but belongs to the 13th century.

APPENDIX R

393

APPENDIX R

THE SO-CALLED SHELL KЕЕР

We have three accounts of motte-castles from the 12th century: that of Alexander Neckham, in the treatise De Utensilibus; that of Laurence of Durham, cited in Chapter VII., p. 147; and the well-known description of the castle of Marchem, also cited in Chapter VI., p. 88. All these three describe the top of the motte as surrounded by a wall (of course of wood), within which is built a wooden tower. The account of Marchem says that it was built in the middle of the area. This supports the conjecture in the text. Mr H. E. Malden has shown (Surrey Archæolog. Collections, xvi., 28) that the keep of Guildford is of later date than the stone wall round the top of the motte. Remove this tower, and there would be what is commonly called a shell keep. It would appear, therefore, that it was a common practice to change the bank or stockade round the top of the motte into a stone wall (no doubt as a defence against fire), leaving the keep inside still of wood. Four of the pictures from the Bayeux Tapestry (see Frontispiece) all give the idea of a wooden tower inside a stockade on a motte.

APPENDIX S

PROFESSOR LLOYD'S "HISTORY OF WALES"

I REGRET that this valuable work did not appear until too late for me to make use of it in my chapter on Welsh Castles. It is worth while to note the following points in which Professor Lloyd's conclusions differ from or confirm those which I have been led to adopt.

Aberystwyth and Aberrheiddiol. -" After the destruction of the last Aberystwyth Castle of the older situation in 1143, the chief stronghold of the district was moved to the mouth of the Rheiddiol, a position which it ever afterwards retained, though people still insisted on calling it Aberystwyth" (514). "The original castle of Aberystwyth crowned the slight eminence at the back of the farm of Tan y Castell, which lies in the Ystwyth valley miles S. of the town. There is the further evidence of the name, and the earthworks still visible on the summit" (426, note).

Carreghova. I ought perhaps to have included this castle in my list, though on the actual map its site is within the English border; but as there are absolutely no remains of it [D. H. M.] it does not affect the question I am discussing.

Cardigan and Cilgerran.-" Dingeraint cannot be Cilgerran, because Cilgerran is derived from Cerran, with the feminine inflection, not from Geraint; nor is Cilgerran 'close to the fall of the Teifi into the sea,' as the chronicler says Dingeraint was. The castle built by Earl Roger was probably Cardigan" (401). Professor Lloyd afterwards identifies Cilgerran with the castle of Emlyn (661). This seems to me questionable, as the "New Castle of Emlyn," first mentioned in Edward I.'s reign, presupposes an older castle, and as I have stated, a mound answering to the older castle still exists not far from the stone castle. Carmarthen.-Professor Lloyd thinks this castle stood at the present farm of Rhyd y Gors, about a mile below the town; but I see no reason to alter the conclusion to which I was led by Mr Floyd's paper, that the Rhyd y Gors of the castle was a ford at Carmarthen itself. The fact that Henry I. founded a cell to Battle Abbey at Carmarthen (431) seems to me an additional piece of evidence that the castle was there; castle and abbey nearly always went together.

Dinweiler. - Professor Lloyd assumes Dinweiler to be the same as the castle in Mabudryd built by Earl Gilbert, and to be situated at or near Pencader (501). It should be noted, however, that Dinweiler reads Dinefor in MS. B. of the Brut, in 1158. I am in error in supposing St Clair to be the castle of Mabudryd (following a writer in Archæologia Cambrensis), as St Clair is not in that commote. Professor Lloyd's map of the cantrefs and commotes differs widely from that of previous writers.

Llangadoc.-" Luchewein" should not be identified with this castle; Professor Lloyd thinks it may refer to a castle at Llwch