The history of the castle of Rochester, in the proper sense, begins with the Norman Conquest, but there is something to be said of the preceding earthwork, subsequent to the Roman period. The bishopric, of which the city is the metropolis, was founded in A.D. 600, and Justus, its first bishop, was consecrated in 604. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, was founded by Æthelbyrht, King of Kent, and his charter of 604 mentions certain land as extending from the west gate and the wall of the city, one boundary being “fram Suthgaete west, and langes wealles.” Also, other land granted is said to be, “extra murum civitatis versus aquilonem.” In 673 a synod was held here, says Bede, attended by Putta, “Episcopus castelli Cantuariorum quod dicitur Hrofescæstir;” so that it was then a strong place, and the bishop’s residence, and this whether “castellum” relates to the city, or, which is at least equally probable, to the adjacent fortress.
In 765, Ecgberht, King of Kent, granted by charter to Eardulf of Rochester, his faithful minister and bishop, “terram intra castelli mœnia supranominati, id est Hrofiscestri;” and in 781, Æthelberht, King of the West Saxons, says, “Concedo Hrofensis ecclesiæ ... aliquantulum terræ juris mei intra mœnia supradictæ civitatis in parte aquiloni”; and in 788, Offa, King of the Mercians, granted “terram ... sex aratrorum” at Trotescliff, “ad ecclesiam beati Andræ apostoli et ad episcopium castelli quod nominatur Hrofescester.” Also, in 789, King Offa, in another charter to the same Bishop Weremund, mentions the wall (murus) of the city, and says, “Ecclesia quæ sita est in castro quod nominatur Hrofesceaster.” Further, in 850, Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, mentions “murum civitatis Hroffi;” and in 855 he granted land “Dunne ministro meo ... in meridie castelli Hroffi.”
In 839 and in 885, the city was attacked by the Danes. On the former occasion they took and sacked it, on the latter it was relieved by Alfred. In 986, the city was attacked, but unsuccessfully, by Æthelred, and in 998 with more success by the Danes, who came up the Medway. Boley Hill is said to have been thrown up by the Danes in 884, but the greater part of the hill is natural, though, no doubt, with a very considerable addition; but even the addition would have required more time than was allowed them by Alfred, and a work of such a character would be far more useful for defence than for attack. The towers used in an attack were generally of timber, and so constructed as to admit of being pushed up to the walls. It is more probable that the mount was thrown up as a strong residence for the bishop, to give such personal security as was found necessary at Sherborne.
It is not known in whose hands the fortress of Rochester rested in the times preceding the Conquest, but Earl Godwin had certainly encroached upon the episcopal property; and what more probable than that he should have laid his hands upon a place which, with Dover, would give him the command of the great road from the South to London? We read in Domesday of the episcopal manor of Estockes or Stoke. “Hoc manerium fuit et est de Episcopatu Rofensi, sed Godwinus comes T. R. E. emit illud de duobus hominibus qui eum tenebant de Episcopo et eo ignorante facta est hæc venditio.” So when the term of the tenancy expired the bishop would find that instead of two nameless men ready to give up possession, he would have to deal with a powerful noble claiming the freehold. Stoke passed with Godwin’s Earldom of Kent at the Conquest to Bishop Odo of Bayeux, and was recovered by the archbishop, as Domesday goes on to relate, “Postmodum vero regnante W. Rege diratiocinavit illud Lanfrancus Archiepiscopus contra Baiocensem Episcopum et inde est modo saisita Rofensis Ecclesia.”
It is probable that in some such way Odo received the city with the earldom, and with it the fortress, which the Bishop of Rochester, however, may have recovered possession of in the way shown, and which he certainly afterwards exchanged with the king for land in Aylesford. “Episcopus etiam de Rouecestria pro excambio terræ in qua castellum sedet tantum de hac terra tenet quod xvii solidos et iiij denarios valet.” There never was a castle at Aylesford. The bishop gave up the site of Rochester Castle, receiving for it as much land as was worth 17s. 4d.
Gundulf, the follower and friend of Lanfranc, and consecrated Bishop of Rochester in 1077, was a great architect, and a very remarkable man, well deserving the panegyric bestowed upon him upon his promotion, “Eratque Gundulfus religione plenus, literarum non nescius, in rebus forensibus acerrime elimatus et qui putatus sit divina potissimum electione hunc honorem meruisse.” As to his architectural skill, and his work at Rochester Castle, it is said, “Gundulfus, quia in opere cœmentarii plurimum sciens et efficax erat, castrum sibi, Hrofense lapideum de suo construxit.... Igitur, hoc pacto coram rege inito, fecit castrum Gundulfus Episcopus de suo ex integro totum costamine, ut reor, LX librarum.” This transaction between the bishop and the king occurred about 1076. The king was to restore to the see the manor of Hedenham, in Bucks, and the bishop to employ his skill and spend £60 in building a castle, that is, a tower of some sort. What Gundulf certainly built is the tower which still bears his name, and which seems originally to have been upon the city wall. On the death of William the castle was a very strong place, and was seized upon and held by Odo for Duke Robert. Odo (Judas Iscariot, as he was called by the friends of Rufus), associated himself with Eustace of Boulogne and Roger de Belesme, and garrisoned the castle, storing there the spoil drawn from the adjacent country. Rufus, whose activity was a strong contrast to the indolence of his brother, attacked Rochester, while Odo retired to Pevensey to await succour from Normandy, which never came. Rufus took Tunbridge and Pevensey, and forced Odo to demand the surrender of Rochester by his allies. The garrison understood the sincerity of the demand, sallied out, captured their royal escort and their bishop, and installed him, nothing loth, in the government of the castle. Rufus converted the siege into a blockade of both castle and city, and finally, under the pressure of a pestilence, both were surrendered, and Odo was finally banished. Gundulf died in 1108. This first siege of Rochester is one of the great military events of a very stirring period, and one deserving far more notice than has hitherto been bestowed upon it.
The castle, thus taken in 1088, seems to have remained in the Crown for thirty-eight years, when, in 1126, Henry II. granted “to Archbishop William de Corboil and his successors the perpetual charge and constableship of the castle of Rochester,” thus leaving it in the Church, but detaching it finally from the see of Rochester. The archbishop, we are told, built, in consequence, a handsome tower, “egregiam turrim,” which is, no doubt, the existing keep. William died in 1139, between which date and 1126 the keep was, therefore, built.
Henry II., also alludes to the castle in his confirmation charter to the church of Rochester, “volo etiam et ipsi et homines sui sint liberi et absoluti ab omni opere castelli, et expeditione archisve constructione;” so that, probably, the arx, or citadel, was then in contemplation or in progress. It may be that Gundulph’s Tower was removed to make way for the new keep, but in this case its materials would have been made use of, and some trace of them would be almost certain to be detected. But there is no such trace, so that, probably, the new keep did not supersede the older tower.
The castle, especially with its splendid and very strong keep, was far too important a military post to remain unchallenged in the possession of the see of Canterbury, and both when the see was vacant and at other times the Crown got possession, and its repairs were then entered on the Pipe roll. In 1141, William of Ypres, a Fleming, was its governor for Stephen, and when the Earl of Gloucester was taken he was confined here for a short time—from September to November,—until he was exchanged for Stephen. Various sums were spent upon the castle between 1167 and 1202, when it was again given up to the archbishop, then Stephen Langton. Towards the close of John’s reign the castle was placed by Langton in the hands of William d’Albini, to be held in the interest of the barons, whose army proposed to march from London to its relief. John, however, interposed, and in 1215, after a severe siege of three months, it was surrendered. Wendover expressly states that the military engines employed on this occasion produced but little effect, but that the place was taken by the efforts of the miners, who first undermined and threw down the walls, and then applied the same method of attack against the tower. It was, without doubt, on this occasion that the south-east angle was destroyed. In May, 1216, it was taken, apparently without any difficulty, by the Dauphin, but on John’s death it fell, with other Crown possessions, into the hands of Henry III. Under Henry III. considerable sums were spent upon it in repairs, especially in 1225, when, probably the broken angle was made good. In 1226–7 a bretasche and drawbridge were repaired, and the gutters of the hall in the keep. Unfortunately, here as elsewhere, the repairs were commonly those of buildings in the courtyard, all which are now destroyed. The keep was not used save for stores. In 24 Henry III., the tower was ordered to be whitewashed in those places which had not been so washed before. In 31 Henry III., both chapels were ordered to be wainscotted. One of these, at the least, was pretty sure to be in the outer ward, for the use of the garrison.
In 1264, the castle was in charge of the celebrated Roger de Leybourne, who had just taken part with the king. As de Montfort was supposed to meditate an attack on Rochester, Leybourne defended it with a strong garrison, and stored it with ample provisions. In April, the attack being expected, Warren, Earl of Surrey, Henry’s brother-in-law, came to the castle. The barons laid siege to it just before Easter, and remained before it nearly a week, but without any result, and on their retreat most of the garrison, with Leybourne, joined the king at Lewes, and took part in the battle. The loss of that battle was followed by the surrender of the castle, but after the death of de Montfort and the fall of Kenilworth, Leybourne resumed his governorship. A century later, in 1367–8, extensive repairs were undertaken by Edward III., under Prior John of Rochester as chief clerk of the works. Stone was imported from Beer, Caen, and Reigate, with copings and crests for battlements, probably for buildings in the court. Since that period it has played no part in the transactions of the kingdom, nor is its military history of any special interest. An extant drawing, taken in 1588, shows the turrets domed over and capped with vanes, like those of the White Tower.