Military Architecture in England During the Middle Ages

by A. Hamilton Thompson

Castle of Dinan: from Bayeux Tapestry

In France the mount was usually known as the motte from the turf of which it was composed, and the occurrence of the word Lamotte as part of a place-name is as tell-tale as a name like Mount Bures in England. But a common name for the motte, employed by medieval writers, was the Latin dunio or domgio, a debased form of the word dominio. This became in French donjon, and in English dungeon. The motte at Canterbury is still known by the corrupted name of the Dane John. The mount, the symbol of the dominion of the feudal lord, and the centre of his dominium or demesne, bore his strong tower; and to this tower the name of the mount was transferred. When the tower on the mount was superseded by the heavy and lofty rectangular or cylindrical tower of later times, the new tower kept the old name. By a strange transference of meaning, our English dungeon, frequently applied to the chief tower of a castle until the seventeenth century, became connected with the vaults or store-rooms in the basement of such a tower, and now reminds us less of the dominion of the castle builders than of the cruelty with which they are supposed to have exercised that dominion.

Colchester Castle: great tower or keep.

It may safely be assumed that the very large majority of castles of the eleventh and early twelfth century were constructed on this plan. There were exceptions, and certainly several English castles have stonework of the period of the Conquest. London and Colchester ([47]) had rectangular donjons from the first. At Richmond ([93]) the stonework of part of the curtain and of the lower part of the rectangular tower-keep is unquestionably of the eleventh century, when the castle was constructed by Alan of Brittany. In several other places, in the curtain at Tamworth ([48]) and in part of the curtain at Lincoln, there is eleventh century stonework. But more will be said of these cases later. It is enough to say here that, in most cases, stonework forms a late Norman or Plantagenet addition to early Norman earthwork. At Newcastle part of the early mount remained, side by side with the late twelfth century tower-keep, until within the last hundred years. Warkworth, most instructive of English castles, preserves the base of its mount and the area of its original bailey: the mount bears a strong tower-house of the early fifteenth century; on the line of the bank of the bailey is a stone curtain of about the year 1200; within the area is a series of elaborate and beautiful buildings of two or three dates ([49]). Warkworth is the epitome of the history of the castle, from its Norman origin to its practical identification, in the later middle ages, with the large manor house; and to Warkworth we shall return more than once.

Tamworth; Eleventh Century Stonework

Warkworth; Plan

There are exceptional cases in which two mounts occur. At Lincoln ([40]), the smaller mount is at the south-east corner of the enclosure, and probably may have carried the original donjon. The larger mount, of formidable height and steepness, is west of the centre of the south side. Both mounts, as is usual, are half within and half without the line of the rampart. The stone curtain-wall has been brought up their sides, and the larger mount is crowned by a stone “shell” keep of the late twelfth century. The provision of this second mount was possibly due to the exposed position of the castle, which formed the outer defence of the city on the west and south-west, and needed its greatest strength on that side. At Pontefract and Lewes, again, there were two mounts, one at each end of the enclosure. At both places, the later stone keep was built in connection with the western mount, at the end nearest the town and the slope of the ridge on which it was built. The sites are rather similar, and, in either case, the eastern mount overlooked the river-valley defended by the castle. It is not certain that two mounts ever formed part of an original plan. The natural tendency would be to throw up the mount at first on the side nearer the valley, where the slope was steeper, and the labour required in construction would be less. An attack, however, on the town and castle would come most naturally from the higher ground to the west, which commanded the castle and its defences. A new mount would, in process of time, be constructed on this side, and the old mount would become of secondary importance. At Lewes ([50]), where the slope of the hill is abrupt, the western mount rises from a higher level, and commands a much wider stretch of country than the mount at the north-east angle of the enclosure. At Lincoln, where an enemy’s force had no advantage of higher ground, the larger mount simply occupies the most advantageous position, protecting the most exposed side of the enclosure, and commanding one of the most extensive views in England. The foot of one mount is little more than two hundred feet distant from the foot of the other; while, at Lewes and Pontefract, the length of the whole bailey lay between the mounts. Thus, while it is possible that, at Lewes and Pontefract, both mounts may be original, with the idea of strengthening the enclosure at either end with a donjon, two original mounts at Lincoln would not have this excuse; and we may infer that, at some date later than the foundation of Lincoln castle, the Norman lords of the fortress threw up a new mount at a point from which the slope of the hill and the approaches from the valley of the Trent could be commanded more thoroughly.