[164] Chron. Camarense et Atrebatorum, Bouquet, x., 196.
[165] Sismondi, Histoire des Français, ii., 172.
[166] Guizot, Histoire de la Civilisation en France, iii., 311.
[167] Enlart, Manuel d’Archæologie Française, ii., 494.
[168] See Dr Haverfield’s articles in the Victoria County Histories, passim. The late J. H. Burton justly wrote: “We have nothing from the Romans answering to the feudal stronghold or castle, no vestige of a place where a great man lived apart with his family and his servants, ruling over dependants and fortifying himself against enemies.” History of Scotland, i., 385.
[169] Annals of Fulda, 394, Pertz, i.
[170] Cap. Regum Francor., ii., 360.
[171] Thus De Caumont unfortunately spoke of the fortress built by Nicetus, Bishop of Treves, in the 6th century, as a château (Abécédaire, ii., 382); but Venantius Fortunatus, in his descriptive poem, tells us that it was a vast enclosure with no less than thirty towers, built by the good pastor for the protection of his flock. It even contained fields and vineyards, and altogether was as different from a private castle as anything can well be. Similarly the castrum of Merliac, spoken of by Enlart (Architecture Militaire, p. 492) as a “veritable château,” is described as containing cultivated lands and sheets of water! (Cited from Gregory of Tours, Hist. Francorum, liii., 13.) De Caumont himself says: “Les grandes exploitations rurales que possédaient les rois de France et les principaux du royaume du Vième au Xième siècle ne furent pas des forteresses et ne doivent point être confondues avec les chateaux.” Abécédaire, ii., 62.
[172] See [Appendix D].
[173] “Volumus et expresse mandamus, ut quicunque istis temporibus castella et firmitates et haias sine nostro verbo fecerint, Kalendis Augusti omnes tales firmitates disfactas habeant; quia vicini et circummanentes exinde multas depredationes et impedimenta sustinent.” Capitularia Regum Francorum, Boretius, ii., 328.