[965] "About the Tower," as the chronicle expresses it.
[966] "Henricus Rex circa turrem Rothomagi ... murum altum et latum cum propugnaculis ædificat, et ædificia ad mansionem regiam congrua infra eundem murum parat" (Robert of Torigny, ed. Howlett, p. 106).
[967] I can make nothing of Mr. Clark's chronology. In his description of the Tower he first tells us that "all save the keep [i.e. the White Tower] is later, and most of it considerably later than the eleventh century" (M. M. A., ii. 205), and then that "the Tower of the close of the reign of Rufus" (i.e. before the end of "the eleventh century") ... was probably composed of the White Tower with a palace ward upon its south-east side, and a wall, probably that we now see, and certainly along its general course, including what is now known as the inner ward" (ibid., ii. 253). Again, as to the Wakefield Tower, which "deserves very close attention, its lower story being next to the keep in antiquity" (ibid., ii. 220), Mr. Clark tells us that Gundulf (who died in 1108) was the founder "perhaps of the Wakefield Tower" (ibid., ii. 252); nay, that "Devereux Tower ... may be as old as Wakefield, and therefore in substance the work of Rufus" (ibid., ii. 253); and yet we learn of this same basement, that "the basement of Wakefield Tower is probably late Norman, perhaps of the reign of Stephen or Henry II., although this is no doubt early for masonry so finely jointed" (ibid., ii. 224). In other words, a structure which was "the work of Rufus," i.e. of 1087-1100, can only be attributed, at the very earliest, to the days of "Stephen or Henry II.," i.e. to 1135-1189.
[968] The very same phrase is employed by Robert de Torigny in describing her husband's action at Torigny ten years later (1151): "dux obsederat castellum Torinneium, sed propter adventum Regis infecto negotio discesserat; combustis tamen domibus infra muros usque ad turrem et parvum castellum circa eam" (ed. Howlett, p. 161).
[969] Ord. Vit., ii. 296.
[970] A curious touch in a legend of the time brings before us in a vivid manner the impression that this mighty tower had made upon the Norman mind. Hugh de Glos, an oppressor of the poor, appearing, after death, to a priest by night (1090), declared that the burden he was compelled to bear seemed "heavier to carry than the Tower of Rouen" ("Ecce candens ferrum molendini gesto in ore, quod sine dubio mihi videtur ad ferendum gravius Rotomagensi arce."—Ord. Vit., iii. 373).
[971] W. Rufus, i. 245-260.
[972] "De arce prodiit" (Ord. Vit., iii. 353). Arx, here as above, is used as a substitute for turris.
[973] "Conanus autem a victoribus in arcem ductus est. Quem Henricus per solaria turris ducens" (ibid., iii. 355). "In superiora Rotomagensis turris duxit" (W. Malms.).
[974] W. Rufus, i. 256, 257.