And finally Henry III. in 1227, confirmed the “translatio de castro nostro Saerisberiæ ad locum inferiorem,” and declared the city “quæ dicitur nova Sarisbiria, sit libera civitas.” The city had thus followed in the train of the cathedral. The taxation accounts of the reigns of Richard and John show it to have been but moderately populous, but it probably took some time to remove, for it was 44 Henry III., 1260, before the new city was granted by the king to the bishop “in capite,” as parcel of the temporalities of the see, the citizens being the demesne men of the bishop.
All parties gained greatly by the change. The new church was constructed at one period, and in a very pure style, and has ever since been regarded as the pride of the Western counties. The citizens exchanged an arid and stormy position for one sheltered and fertile, watered by the confluence of three streams, and shaded by forest trees of uncommon grandeur. The lords of the castle had no longer a cause for their perpetual disputes with the clergy and the burghers, and held their watch and ward undisturbed by chants and processions. Circumstances, however, rendered the castle, as a military post, of less importance than heretofore, and, though the powerful earls who bore its title were even more distinguished than their predecessors, their distinction was but little associated with their castle, which fell gradually into disuse. The Montacutes, indeed, continued to possess it, but the Nevills concentrated their power on the Midland and Northern counties, and Warwick, Raby, and Middleham were to them what Sarum had been to their precursors in the title. Finally, when arms yielded to the gown, and the great minister of the great Queen chose, under her successor, Salisbury for his title of honour, he had more regard to the thriving city, or to the greatness attached to the name, than to the ruined fortress, of which he was not even the possessor.
Considering the importance of the castle, and the power of those who bore its name, it is surprising that so little should be known of its history. Mr. Nichols, in an excellent paper printed in the volume of the Archæological Institute for Salisbury in 1851, enters upon the history of the earldom, and shows that, beginning with the Conqueror’s sheriff, who must have taken his name from the place, there was a second Edward de Salisbury, whose successor was Walter, a baron under King Stephen, the father of Patrick, the first earl, whose son, William, the second earl, was father of the celebrated Countess Ela. All these lords seem to have held the castle under the Crown, themselves appointing castellans.
Ela, the heiress of William of Salisbury, the second earl, laid the fifth stone of the new cathedral. She married William with the Long Sword, son of Henry II., who became earl in her right, and held the castle. He was much abroad, and the castellan, his deputy, resided. This officer, in King John’s time, was Robert de Vipont, and Irish prisoners were kept here. In 1208 the Sheriff of Wilts was to repair the bridge, the ditch, and the houses in the castle. In 1266 the king addressed the earl as his brother on matters relating to the castle; and in the reigns of Richard and John occasional payments were made for repairs, and for the sustenance of the soldiery there. The king’s houses in the castle are mentioned, and wine stored there is issued to Gloucester and Bristol, treasure was sent thence to Southampton, and plate to Westminster for the coronation. King John had a balistarius in pay there at 9d. a day, 100 hogs were supplied to Vipont, and in 3 John the earl gave thirty marcs to have the county, town, and custody of the castle; and Walter, the son of Albreda, gave 76s. 8d. for the charge of the prison. The earl (William) was then sheriff, and was allowed for £29. 6s. 8d. spent by the king’s order in work at the castle.
Earl William died in the castle in 1226, when Ela, his widow, had custody of it. Her son and grandson seem to have claimed, but never to have obtained, the earldom, though, when the latter died in 1256, his daughter Margaret, who married Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, was known as Countess of Salisbury, probably on the death of Countess Ela in 1261. In 39 Henry III., 1254, an Inquisition declares that no fiefs are held by castle guard of the castle; and, in 52 Henry III., the bridge within the castle was under repair, and that and the gate were reparable by the Abbess of Shaftesbury. In 3 Edward I., the castle and manor were in the Crown, and two years later mention is made of the mill near the castle, no doubt the same that is entered in Domesday, and still remains at Stratford.
In 5 Edward III., 1332, the king granted licence to the bishop, dean, and chapter of Sarum to remove the walls of the cathedral and canonical houses within his castle of Old Sarum, and to employ them in the repairs of the church and close of New Sarum. No doubt, under this licence the whole material was removed down to the ground level or even below it, and probably the licence was held to include the outer wall also. At the same time, the bishop, &c., had leave to rebuild a certain chantry on a part of the old cathedral, and to use it.
In 1337 Edward’s son-in-law, William Montacute, was created Earl of Salisbury, and 15 Edward III., 1341–2, an Inquisition was taken as to whether the earls were seized in demesne as in fee of the castle and vill of Old Sarum, and how they lost it. Probably this was connected with a suit brought by Bishop Wyvil against the earl on a writ of right as to his title to the castle. In this Inquisition we find the seizure of the castle, &c., by King Henry III. from Earl William, the son of the Countess Ela, thus described: “Et Juratores dicunt quod tempore ipsius Willielmi junioris, propter diversas discenciones motas inter Henricum Regem Anglie tercium proavum domini Regis nunc et predictum Willielmum juniorem, maxime pro eo quod idem Willielmus contra defensionem dicti Regis Henrici exivit regnum Anglie licencia Domini Regis non optenta, Dominus Rex Henricus seisire fecit in manum suam dicta castra villam et officium et ea in manum suam retinuit.” The matter was at first to have been tried by battle, and each party named a champion; but finally it was settled by a compromise, the bishop paying 2,500 marcs, and the earl quitting the castle to the see for ever. This probably severed the connection between the earls and the earldom in the feudal sense.
When the castle proper was dismantled has not been discovered. The views occasionally exhibited of it seem taken from the representation of Sherborne upon Bishop Wyvil’s brass in the cathedral. In Leland’s time the ruins were considerable; there was a lady chapel, part of the old cathedral, the parish church of Holy Rood, and the remains of a chapel over the east gate. Also in the east suburb, outside the gate, stood a chapel, the remains of the parish church of St. John, and dotted about were a sufficient number of wells of sweet water to throw a doubt upon the validity of a part of the alleged grievance of the ecclesiastics. Probably, as the new city expanded, the value of the old material rose, and the destruction went forward with accelerated speed. It seems probable that, with a very little labour, the foundations of the inner ward could be cleared, and the well opened. It is also much to be regretted that the outer ward should be under the plough. The loss upon laying it down in turf would be trifling, and it is not too late to preserve the remaining inequalities of the surface.