Thus the common occurrence of the enriched doorways that have been described is peculiar to England; for though highly-decorated examples are to be found in Normandy, yet they are rare; whereas on our side of the Channel they abound, and seem at all periods to have been respected and thought worthy of preservation, since nothing is more common than to find an enriched Norman doorway remaining in a parish church of which every other part has been altered or rebuilt at a subsequent period. In fact, the exterior of our principal churches of this date is generally in a more decorative style than those in Normandy.

The front of the church of St. Stephen at Caen* (as high at least as the towers) is not merely plain, but mean, especially the windows, to a degree unknown in any English structure of equal importance,-a circumstance difficult to be accounted for, since there is no appearance of parsimony or of imperfection in the style in any other respect; and the instance is by no means singular. On the other hand, the details are more regular, better drawn, and more skilfully executed in Normandy than in England, where we shall seek in vain for so near an approach to the graceful forms of antiquity

⚫ Page 390.

as in the two first examples of capitals. The style of these capitals, and of many other specimens of architectural sculpture to be found in France, may lead to an explanation of the difficulty.

The architectural works of this period, and throughout the middle ages, must have been the result of a division of labour. The share the clerical architect took in the work was probably confined to the general dimensions, outline, and character of the building; the actual construction was the business of the master mason; while the subordinate parts, with their various details, were confided to a class of operative artists unknown in the present age, whose minds as well as hands were Occupied upon the mouldings and decorations, which they invented as well as executed, each man's province being, perhaps, extremely limited. It is difficult upon any other theory to account for the combination of unity of design and prodigious variety of detail in the works of the middle ages. We shall find, upon examination, what has been incidentally noticed in a former Chapter, that Byzantine sculpture abounds in the architecture of this period on the continent, but is of extreme rarity in England. A people so far advanced as the Anglo-Saxons in an original style of decorative painting might be independent of foreign aid in architectural sculpture; general designs would naturally be modified by the means of execution at hand; and we may fairly conclude that, though we undoubtedly owe our greatest works to the energy and magnificence of the Normans, yet much that is valuable about them is due to genuine native talent.

The military structures of this period must not be confounded with the extensive fortified residences which came into vogue toward the end of the thirteenth century. The palatial character of the castles of the feudal barons, the vast halls and lightsome oriels which the records and fictions of chivalry and romance have inseparably associated with them, had no existence in those of the twelfth century, which were essentially fortresses, in which everything was sacrificed to security.

At this period the principles upon which such places were constructed were of necessity essentially different from those adapted to the modern art of war, and in some respects even totally opposite, the chief strength of the fortress lying in the height and inaccessibility of the defences. For resistance to the modes of attack then in use the buildings in question were admirably calculated, and though the form and arrangement of the strongholds of the Anglo-Norman barons were as various as the positions in which they were erected, yet it is not difficult to perceive in their scattered remains a common resemblance from which the general system of their construction may be deduced.

The Anglo-Norman castle occupied a considerable space of ground, sometimes several acres, and usually consisted of three principal divisions,-the outer or lower Ballium (Anglicé Bailey) or court,

A NORMAN CASTLE, From an Ancient Drawing published in Grose's Military Antiquities, 1. The Dungeon. 2. Chapel. 3. Stable. 4. Inner Bailey. 5. Outer Bailey. 6. Barbican. 7. Mount. 8. Soldiers' Lodgings.-The Mount is supposed by Grose to be the Court-hill, where the lord dispensed justice, and where it was also executed.

the inner or upper court, and the keep. The outer circumference of the whole was defended by a lofty and solid perpendicular wall, strengthened at intervals by towers, and surrounded by a ditch or moat. Flights of steps led to the top of this rampart, which was protected by a parapet,* embattled and pierced in different directions by loop-holes or chinks, and œillets, through which missiles might be discharged without exposing the men. The ramparts of Rockingham Castle, according to Leland, were embattled on both sides, "so that if the area were won the castle keepers might defend the walls." The entrance through the outer wall into the lower court was defended by the barbican, which in some cases was a regular outwork, covering the approach to the bridge across the ditch; but the few barbicans which remain consist only of a gateway in advance of the main gate, with which it was connected by a narrow open passage commanded by the ramparts on both sides. Such a work remained until lately attached to several of the gates of York, and still remains, though of a later date, at Warwick Castle. The entrance archway, besides the massive gates, was crossed by the portcullis, which could be instantaneously dropped upon any emergency; and the crown of

See ante, p. 368.

the arch was pierced with holes, through which melted lead and pitch, and heavy missiles, could be cast upon the assailants below.

A second rampart, similar to the first, separated the lower from the upper court, in which were placed the habitable buildings, including the keep, the relative position of which varied with the nature of the site. It was generally elevated upon a high artificial mound, and sometimes inclosed by outworks of its own. The keep bore the same relation to the rest of the castle that. the citadel bears to a fortified town. It was the last retreat of the garrison, and contained the apartments of the baron or commandant. In form the Anglo-Norman keeps are varied, and not always regular; but in those of the larger size rectangular plans are the

most common, and of the smaller class many are circular. The solidity of their construction is so great that we find them retaining at least their outward form in the midst of the most dilapidated ruin. Time and violence appear to have assaulted them in vain, and even the love of change has respected them through successive generations.

In those towers much judgment is shown in disposing of the limited space they afford so as to obtain the best accommodation in a manner compatible with security; and as it was also necessary to provide for the subsistence of a garrison independently of all external communication, they invariably contain a well, which is sometimes contrived with a funnel in the wall to supply water to each story separately. There are generally three stories, and often four, of which the lowest is a dark, vaulted basement, traditionally assigned to the custody of prisoners of war. To such a use these dungeons were undoubtedly too often put, but their general destination was more probably for store-rooms. This story communicated from above with the second, on which was the entrance, accessible only by a steep and narrow flight of steps. The upper floor was the principal apartment, and often the only one possessing the advantage either of a window or a chimney. There was always one, and in the larger keeps two rooms, on each floor, as large as the extent within the walls would admit; and, in the upper story, a variety of closets and conveniences contrived in the projections and thickness of the walls. At Conisborough, the keep, which is four stories high, is a circle of about twenty-two feet diameter inside, with walls fifteen feet thick, flanked by six projecting turrets. In this example both the third and fourth stories contain fire-places, and were therefore both intended for lodging rooms, though the former is very imperfectly lighted. From the latter, though the state-apartment has but one window, opens a small but well-decorated hexagon room, occupying one of the turrets, with a closet adjoining. A piscina or basin for holy-water in the wall indicates the former to be the chapel, a necessary appendage to every castle. Six other closets,

opening to the platform on the top of the building, are obtained in the six turrets, which rise above the parapet, one of which, from the appearance of an oven within, seems to have been used as a kitchen. The floors have been of timber, and the stone corbels upon which the beams rested still remain. In its extent and arrangement this building may be taken as a fair representation of the Norman keeps of the smaller class.

The greater keeps are often enormous masses of building. That of the Tower of London is a parallelogram of one hundred and sixteen feet by ninety-six, and sixty-nine high. Rochester occupies a square of about seventy feet, and rises to the immense height of one hundred and four. Dover, Colchester, Castle Rising, Kenilworth, Richmond, Bamborough, and others too numerous to be separately distinguished, are of the same

class and on a similar plan. Their vast surfaces are relieved by shallow buttresses, and in some instances, as at Norwich,* by ornamental arches. Their angles are broken by turrets containing staircases, and a projecting tower of entrance with the chapel in the upper story is a feature common to many. In their internal accommodation they differ from the smaller keeps only in extent. The principal rooms are larger, and the secondary ones more numerous, but they are in no respect more conveniently arranged or less gloomy.

Dark and comfortless as these towers were, the incessant warfare which rendered their construction necessary also compelled the Anglo-Norman baSee ante, p. 380. See ante, r. 395.

rons to inhabit them with their families and retinue. In Scotland, and particularly in the border country, where society long remained in a similar state, even the private houses continued for centuries to be erected in the form of towers, with windows reduced to loop-holes; the ground-floor, strongly barricaded, being used to secure the cattle at night, and the family dwelling in the ill-lighted apartments above, where they were sometimes obliged to shut themselves up for days together. These Peel houses, as they are called, abounded on the frontier; and Hoddam Castle, a fortalice of this description, was erected by John, Lord Herries, as late as the reign of Mary Stuart.

The long continuance of the feudal system in the

northern parts of Great Britain has had the effect of bringing down many ancient customs to a recent date.

As lately as the year 1740, the notorious Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat, maintained all the customs of his ancestors in his residence of Castle Dunie; and his manner of living, described on the authority of Ferguson (the astronomer), who in his youth had passed several months there, may serve to explain by what means the Norman barons and their numerous retainers could find even temporary accommodation in the confined buildings that have been described. "The residence of this powerful laird was a sort of tower, forming at best such a house as would be esteemed but an indifferent one for a private country gentleman in England. It had in all only four apartments on a floor, and none of them large. Here, however, he kept a sort of court and several public tables, and had a very numerous body of retainers always attending. His own constant residence, and the place where he received company and dined with them, was in one room only, and that the very room in which he lodged. His lady's sole apartment was also her bedchamber. The only provision made for lodging either the domestic servants or the numerous retainers was a quantity of straw, which was spread every night over the lower rooms, where the whole of the inferior part of the family, consisting of a very great number of persons, took up their abode. Sometimes above 400 persons attending this petty court were kennelled there."

VOL. I.

It is not, however, to be doubted that the extensive circuit of the Norman castles inclosed subsidiary buildings, and those not always confined to such as were requisite for the mere accommodation of the garrison, their horses, and their live-stock. Portchester Castle protected a religious community within its walls, whose church remains to attest its early date. A similar structure is to be traced at Bamborough. At Okeham Castle, a great hall erected before the end of the twelfth century, is still extant, and Robert Earl of Gloucester, who died in 1147, is said to have built a baronial hall in his castle of Bristol. All such appendages must, however, be absolutely distinguished from those which were afterwards incorporated with the main edifice. The extensive and connected residentiary buildings which form the upper ward of such Norman castles as were subsequently retained for habitation, are invariably in a later style than the keep. The castle of Newark, built by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, is a rare example of any departure from the established system of fortification at that period, and its remains may indicate a first step toward that union of habitable space with strength, which afterwards expanded into the magnificence of Warwick, Kenilworth, and Alnwick.

There are few remains of the domestic buildings of this period, but a sufficient number exist to prove that even those of the greatest extent and solidity were buildings of a character altogether distinct from the

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