"I went over the castle minutely," Professor Freeman writes, "in May, 1868, with M. Deville's book in hand, and can bear witness to the accuracy of his description, though I cannot always accept his inferences" (N. C., iii. 124, note). He accordingly doubts M. Deville's date for the gateway and walls of the inner ward, but sees "no reason to doubt that the ruined keep is part of the original work" (ibid.). We must remember, however, that the Professor is at direct variance with Mr. Clark on the Norman rectangular keeps, for which he claims an earlier origin than the latter can concede.
Turning now to Mr. Clark himself, we learn from him that—
"it seems probable that the keep is the oldest part of the masonry, and the work of the Conqueror's uncle, Guillaume d'Arques, and it is supposed to be one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the rectangular keeps known" (M. M. A., i. 194).
He adds that the passage in Robert du Mont
"has been held to show that the whole structure was the work of Henry, who reigned from 1105 (sic) to 1135, and the extreme boldness of the buttresses and superincumbent constructions of the keep no doubt favour this view; but, as M. Deville remarks in the same passage, similar reference is made to Gisors, Falaise, and other castles, known to be of earlier date" (ibid.).
To resume. The external or written evidence is as follows. On the one hand, we have the clear and positive statement of a contemporary writer, Robert du Mont, that Henry I. built this keep in 1123. On the other, we have no statement from any contemporary that it was built by William of Arques (in 1039-1043). He is merely credited with founding the castellum, and in none of the contemporary accounts of its blockade and capture by his nephew is there any mention of a turris. The distinction between a castellum and a turris, with their respective independence, has not, as I have shown, hitherto been realized, and it is quite in the spirit of older students that M. Deville confidently exclaims—
"Or, conçoit-on un château-fort sans murailles? Un château-fort sans donjon, dans le cours du XIVᵉ siècle, en Normandie, n'est guère plus rationnel" (p. 310).
As to the "murailles," Mr. Clark has taught us that palisades were not replaced by walls till a good deal later than has been usually supposed; and as to the "donjon," if, as I have established, so important a fortress as Rochester was without a keep in the eleventh, and indeed well into the twelfth century, other castella must have been similarly destitute—probably, for instance, Newcastle, as we have seen, and certainly Exeter, of which Mr. Clark writes: "There is no evidence of a keep, nor, at so great a height, was any needed" (M. M. A., ii. 47). The same argument from strength of position would à fortiori apply to Arques, and there is, in short, no reason for doubting that the castrum of William of Arques need not have included a turris.[1003]
On what, then, rests the assertion that the keep was the work of the Conqueror's uncle? Strange as it may seem, it rests solely on the so-called Chronique de Normandie, an anonymous production, not of the eleventh, but of the fourteenth century! "Si fist faire une tour moult forte audessus du chastel d'Arques," runs the passage, which is quoted by Mr. Clark (i. 194), from Deville (pp. 311, 312), who, however, apologized for appealing to that authority. This "Chronique" is admitted to have been based on the poetical histories of Wace and Benoit de St. More, themselves written several generations later than the alleged erection of this keep. Of the former, Mr. Freeman holds that, except where repeating contemporary authorities, "his statements need to be very carefully weighed" (N. C., ii. 162); and of the latter, that he is "of much smaller historical authority" (ibid.). To this I may add that, in my opinion, Wace, writing as he did in the reign of Henry II., at the close of the great tower-building epoch, spoke loosely of towers, when mentioning castles, as if they had been equally common in the reign of the Conqueror. A careful inspection of his poem will be found to verify this statement. "La tur d'Arques" was standing when he wrote: consequently he talks of "La tur d'Arques" when describing the Conqueror's blockade of the castle in 1053. There is no contemporary authority for its existence at that date.[1004]
And now let us pass from documentary evidence to that of the structure itself. We may call Mr. Clark himself to witness that the presumption is against so early a date as 1039-1043. He tells us, of the rectangular keep in general, that—