The Edictum Pistense of Charles the Bald, in 864 (cap. i.), expressly orders all “Castella et firmitates et haias,” made without his license, to be destroyed, “disfactas,” because they were injurious to the district. “Vicini et circummanentes exinde multas deprædationes et impedimenta sustinent” (“Rerum Gallicarum Scriptores,” vii., 677). Hedges therefore were not always mere enclosures, but sometimes a military defence.

These mounds, where they have descended to us, and have undergone no change at the hands of the Norman architect, are mere green hillocks, clear indeed in their simplicity, though having lost by time the sharpness of their profile, and more or less of their height and of the depth of their ditches. No masonry has ever been observed upon them which could by any possibility be attributed to their founders, or which could be supposed to be part of their original design. It is evident, however, that the earthwork was only the support of some additional defence. On the mound was certainly a residence, and both its crest and base, as well as the appended courts, must have been encircled by some sort of barrier besides the earth-bank. We read that Towcester was defended by a wall, which however was built very quickly, and probably was like a field wall, without mortar. But with or without mortar, no wall could have been placed upon a fresh heap of earth, and that spoken of must have stood upon the natural ground at or around the base of the mound. No doubt Exeter was walled by Æthelstan, and Colchester had walls, partly, as we see, Roman, but partly no doubt, English; and Derby had gates, though of what material is not stated. At Corfe is some masonry, certainly older than the Conquest, and part of its outer defences; but Corfe is a natural hill. It is well known that the English were from a remote period conversant with masonry, and constructed churches of stone or timber as suited them best; and nothing is more natural than that they should have employed the former where the object was to resist an attack. But upon a burh, or upon an artificial earthwork of any height, masonry of any kind was obviously out of the question. Timber, and timber alone, would have been the proper material. Timber was always at hand, and it was a material of which, possibly from their early maritime habits, the English were very fond. Also the rapidity with which these burhs were constructed shows that timber must have been largely employed. They were thrown up, completed, attacked, burnt, and restored, all within a few months.

There are not wanting descriptions of these timber-defended works. M. de Caumont cites a curious passage from Ernaldus Nigellus, an author of the ninth century, who relates an expedition under Louis le Debonnaire against the Breton king, Marman, whose strongholds were protected by ditches and palisades.

“Est locus hinc silvis, hinc flumine cinctus amoeno.

Sepibus et sulcis atque palude situs.”

Intus opima domus....

This however was a Breton work, and there is no mention of a mound. Two centuries later the mound was in general use, and another quotation, taken also from M. de Caumont, from the life of John, a canonised prelate of the church of Terouane, by Archdeacon Colmier, gives an account of the fortress of Merchen, near Dixmude, in which the material employed and the mode of construction are clearly set forth. The original, taken from the “Acta Sanctorum,” is appended to this paper, and is in truth a description of a moated mound, with its fence and turrets of timber, its central dwelling, and the bridge across the ditch rising to the top of the mound. The description is illustrated by the representation of the taking of Dinan, in the Bayeux tapestry. There is seen the conical mound surmounted by a timber building, which two men with torches are attempting to set on fire, while others are ascending by a steep bridge which spans the moat, and rises to a gateway on the crest of the mound.

Many of these mounds under the name of motes (motæ) retained their timber defences to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and that too on the Shropshire and Welsh border, crowded with castles of masonry.

Ducange defines mota as “Collis, seu tumulus, cui inædificatum est castellum. Olim castella numquam nisi in eminentissimis locis extruebantur. In Flandria vero, humili ac planissima regione, congestis undequaque terrarum molibus, fieri solebant motæ, quibus arces imponerentur”; and adds that mota is the same work known in Dauphigny as “poypia,” and in Auvergne as “mote seigneuriale.” From Lambertus Ardensis he quotes: “Motam altissimam, sive dunjonem eminentem in munitionis signum firmavit, et in aggerem coacervavit.” And Orderic tells that, in 1098, Pain de Mont-Doubleau delivered up to William Rufus, “Fortissimam, quam apud Balaonem possidebat, motam, per quam totum oppidum adversariis subactum paruit.” And in 1119, Fulk of Anjou, with 500 knights laid siege, “ad motam Galterii,” which the king had fortified. Also near Ponte-Corvo was “Motam magnam, quam faciebat facere Dominus Canis cum mulfossis et tajatis ad claudendum Paduanos,” like the great mound at Rochester, just outside the city wall. In the Roman de Rou:—

“Hubert de Rie est à sa porte