DANISH FORTIFICATIONS
We must now inquire into the nature of the fortifications built by the
Danes in England, which are frequently mentioned in the _Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle_. It has often been asserted, and with great confidence, that
the Danes were the authors of the moated mounds of class(_e_); those
in Ireland are invariably spoken of by Lewis in his _Topographical
Dictionary_ as "Danish Raths." This fancy seems to have gone somewhat
out of fashion since Mr Clark's _burh_ theory occupied the field,
though Mr Clark's view is often so loosely expressed as to lead one to
think that he supposed all the Northern nations to be makers of mottes;
in fact, he frequently includes the Anglo-Saxons under the general
title of "Northmen"![118] We must therefore endeavour to find out what
the Danish fortifications actually were.
The _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ mentions twenty-four places where the
Danes either threw up fortifications (between 787 and 924) or took up
quarters either for the winter, or for such a period of time that we
may infer that there was some fortification to protect them. The word
used for the fortification is generally _geweorc_, a work, or _fæsten_
(in two places only), which has also the general vague meaning of a
_fastness_. There are ten places where these works or fastnesses are
mentioned in the _Chronicle_:--
1. NOTTINGHAM.--We have already seen that the Danish host took up their
winter quarters here in 868, and that there is the highest probability
that the borough which Edward the Elder restored was first built by
them. We have also seen that it was a camp of roughly rectangular form,
and enclosed a very large area, necessary for great numbers.[119]
2. ROCHESTER.--This city was besieged by the Danes in 885, and they
fortified a camp outside. As the artificial mound called Boley Hill is
outside the city, most topographers have jumped to the conclusion that
this was the Danish camp. But the character of the Danish fortification
is clearly indicated in the _Chronicle_: "they made a work around
themselves," that is, it was an enclosure.[120] They could hardly have
escaped by ship, as they did, if their camp had been above the bridge,
which is known to have existed in Saxon times. But Boley Hill is above
the bridge.
3. MILTON, in Kent (Middeltune).--Hæsten the Dane landed at the mouth
of the Thames with 80 ships, and wrought a _geweorc_ here in 893. Two
places in the neighbourhood of Milton have been suggested as the site
of it, a square earthwork at Bayford Court, near Sittingbourne, and
a very small square enclosure called Castle Rough. Neither of these
are large enough to have been of any use to a force which came in 80
ships.[121] Steenstrup has calculated that the average number of men in
a Viking ship must have been from 40 to 50; Hæsten therefore must have
had at least 3200 men with him. It is therefore probable that the camp
at Milton has been swept away.
4. APPLEDORE.--A still larger Danish force, which had been harrying
the Carlovingian empire, came in 250 ships, with their horses, in 893,
and towed their ships "up the river" (which is now extinct) from Lymne
to Appledore, where they wrought a work. There are no earthworks at
Appledore now, but at Kenardington, 2 miles off, there are remains of
"a roughly defined rectangular work, situated on the north and east of
the church, on the slope of the hill towards the marsh, a very likely
place for an entrenchment thrown up to defend a fleet of light-draught
ships hauled up on the beach."[122] The enclosure was very large, one
side which remains being 600 feet long.[123]
5. BENFLEET.--Here Hæsten wrought a work in 894; here he was defeated
by Alfred's forces, and some of his ships burnt. Mr Spurrell states
that there are still some irregular elevations by the stream and about
the church, which he believes to be remains of the Danish camp.[124]
"As the fleet of ships lay in the Beamfleet, it is obvious that the
camp must have partaken of the character of a fortified _hithe_, with
the wall landward and the shore open to the river and the ships." He
also learned on the spot that when the railway bridge across the Fleet
was being made, the remains of several ancient ships, charred by fire,
and surrounded by numerous human skeletons, were found in the mud.[125]
Benfleet must have been a very large camp, as not only was the joint
army of Danes housed in it, that from Milton and that from Appledore,
but they had with them their wives and children and cattle.
6. SHOEBURY (Fig. 6).--After the storming of the camp at Benfleet by
the Saxon forces, the joint armies of the Danes built another _geweorc_
at Shoebury in Essex. We should therefore expect a large camp here, and
Mr Spurrell has shown that the area was formerly about a third of a
square mile. About half the camp had been washed away by the sea when
Mr Spurrell surveyed it in 1879, but enough was left to give a good
idea of the whole. It was a roughly square rampart, with a ditch about
40 feet wide, the ditch having a kind of berm on the inner side. The
bank also had a slight platform inside, about 3 feet above the general
level.[126] As Hæsten had lost his ships at Benfleet, there would be
no fortified hithe connected with it, and if there had been, the sea
would have swept it away. The camp was abandoned almost as soon as it
was made, and the Danish army started on that remarkable march across
England which the _Saxon Chronicle_ relates. They were overtaken and
besieged by Alfred's forces, in a _fastness_ at
7. BUTTINGTON, on the Severn.--It has sometimes been contended that
this was the Buttington near Chepstow; but as the line of march of
the army was "along the Thames till they reached the Severn, then up
along the Severn,"[127] it is more probable that it was Buttington in
Montgomery, west of Shrewsbury.[128] Here there are remains of a strong
bank with a broad deep ditch, which was evidently part of a rectangular
earthwork, as it runs at right angles to Offa's Dyke, which forms one
side of it. It now encloses both the churchyard and vicarage. Whether
the Danes constructed this earthwork, or found it there, we are not
told.
8. There appear to be no remains of the _geweorc_ on the river Lea,
20 miles above London, made by the Danes in 896. But 20 miles above
London, on the Lea, would land us at Amwell, near Ware. In Brayley's
_Hertfordshire_ it is stated that at Amwell, "on the hill above the
church are traces of a very extensive fortification, the rampart of
which is very distinguishable on the side overlooking the vale through
which the river Lea flows."[129]
[Illustration: FIG. 6. Shoebury, Essex.]
9. BRIDGENORTH, or Quatbridge.--The Winchester MS. of the _Chronicle_
says the Danes wrought a _geweorc_ at Quatbridge, in 896, and passed
the winter there. There is no such place as Quatbridge now, only
Quatford; and seeing there were so few bridges in those days, we are
disposed to accept the statement of the Worcester MS., which must have
been the best informed about events in the west, that Bridgenorth
was the site of their work, especially as the high rock at Bridgenorth
offers a natural fortification. The only circumstance that is in favour
of Quatford is that it is mentioned as a _burgus_ in Domesday, which
shows that it possessed fortifications of the civic kind; and we shall
see later on, that such fortifications were often the work of the
Danes. But this burgus may more probably have been the work of Roger de
Montgomeri, who planted a castle there in the 11th century.
10. TEMPSFORD.--Here the Danes wrought a work in 918.[130] There is a
small oblong enclosure at Tempsford, still in fair preservation, called
Gannock Castle, which is generally supposed to be this Danish work. The
ramparts are about 11 or 12 feet above the bottom of the moat, which is
about 20 feet wide. There is a small circular mound, about 5 feet high,
on top of the rampart, which appears to be so placed as to defend the
entrance. This mound is "edged all round by the root of a small bank,
which may have been the base of a stockaded tower."[131] This curious
little enclosure is different altogether from any of the Danish works
just enumerated, and it is difficult to see what purpose it could have
served. The area enclosed is only half an acre, which would certainly
not have accommodated the large army "from Huntingdon and from the East
Angles," which built the advanced post at Tempsford as a base for the
forcible recovery of the districts which they had lost.[132] Such a
small enclosure as this might possibly have been a citadel, but our
knowledge of Danish camps does not tell us of any with citadels, and it
is hardly likely that the democratic constitution of these pirate bands
would have allowed of a citadel for the chief. It is far more probable
that this work belongs to a later time, and that the Danish camp has
been swept away by the river.[133]
11. READING.--There is no "work" mentioned by the _Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle_ at this place, which the Danes made their headquarters
in 871, but we add it to the list because Asser not only mentions
it, but describes the nature of the fortification. It was a _vallum_
drawn between the rivers Thames and Kennet, so as to enclose a
peninsula.[134] It had several entrances, as the Danes "rushed out from
all the gates" on the Anglo-Saxon attack. Such a fort belongs to the
simplest and easiest kind of defence, used at all times by a general
who is in a hurry, and it has therefore no significance in determining
the general type of Danish works.
Besides these eleven places where _works_ are mentioned, there are
thirteen places where the Danes are said to have taken up their winter
quarters, and where we may be certain that they were protected by some
kind of fortifications. These are Thanet, Sheppey, Thetford, York,
London, Torkesey, Repton, Cambridge, Exeter, Chippenham, Cirencester,
Fulham, and Mersey Island. Four places out of this list--York, London,
Exeter, and Cirencester--were Roman _castra_, whose walls were still
available for defence. Three--Thanet, Sheppey, and Mersey--were
islands, and thus naturally defended, being much more insular than they
are now.[135] Three--Thetford, Torkesey, and Cambridge--appear as
burgi in Domesday, showing that they were fortified towns. It is highly
probable that the Danes threw up the first fortifications of these
boroughs. There are no remains of town banks at Torkesey; at Cambridge
the outline of the town bank can be traced in places;[136] and at
Thetford there was formerly an earthwork on the Suffolk side of the
river, which appears to have formed three sides of a square, abutting
on the river, and enclosing the most ancient part of the town.[137]
Chippenham and Repton were ancient seats of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and
may have had fortifications, but nothing remains now. Chippenham is
a borough by prescription, therefore of ancient date. At Fulham, on
the Thames, there is a quadrangular moat and bank round the Bishop of
London's palace, which is sometimes supposed to be the camp made by the
Danes in 879; but it may equally well be mediæval. There was formerly a
harbour at Fulham.[138]
It must be confessed that this list of Danish fortresses furnishes us
with a very slender basis for generalisation as to the nature of Danish
fortifications, judging from the actual remains. All we can say is that
in six cases out of twenty-four (not including Tempsford or Fulham) the
work appears to have been rectangular. In the case of Shoebury, about
which we have the best evidence, the imitation of Roman models seems
to be clear. If we turn from remaining facts to _à priori_ likelihoods,
we call to mind that the Danes were a much-travelled people, had been
in Gaul as well as in England, and had had opportunities of observing
Roman fortifications, as well as much practice both in the assault and
defence of fortified places. It may not be without significance that it
is not until after the return of "the army" from France that we hear of
their building camps at all, except in the case of Reading.
As far as our information goes, their camps were without citadels. What
evidence we have from the other side of the channel supports the same
conclusion. Richer gives us an account of the storming of a fortress
of the Northmen at Eu, by King Raoul, in 925, from which it is clear
that as soon as the king's soldiers had got over the vallum, they were
masters of the place; there was no citadel to attack.[139] Dudo speaks
of the Vikings "fortifying themselves, after the manner of a _castrum_,
by heaped up earth-banks drawn round themselves," and it is clear from
the rest of his description that the camp had no citadel.[140]
In no case do we find anything to justify the theory that mottes were
an accompaniment of Danish camps. In five cases out of the twenty-four
there are or were mottes at the places mentioned, but in all cases
they belonged to Norman castles. The magnificent motte called the
Castle Hill at Thetford was on the opposite side of the river to the
borough, which we have seen reason to think was the site of the Danish
winter quarters. Torkesey in Leland's time had by the river side "a
Hille of Yerth cast up," which he judged to be the donjon of some old
castle, probably rightly, though we have been unable as yet to find any
mention of a Norman castle at Torkesey; a brick castle of much more
recent date is still standing near the river, and probably the motte to
which Leland alludes was destroyed when this was built. The motte at
Cambridge is placed inside the original bounds of the borough, and was
part of the Norman castle.[141] We have already dealt with the Boley
Hill at Rochester, and shall have more to say about it hereafter. The
rock motte at Nottingham was probably not cut off by a ditch from the
rest of the headland until the Norman castle was built.
[Illustration: FIG. 7. Willington, Beds.]
It seems highly probable that besides providing accommodation in their
camps for very large numbers of people, the Danes sometimes fortified
the hithes where they drew up their ships on shore, or even constructed
fortified harbours.[142] We have already quoted Mr Spurrell's remark
on the hithe[143] at Benfleet (p. 51), and there is at least one place
in England which seems to prove the existence of fortified harbours.
This is Willington, on the river Ouse, in Bedfordshire, which has been
carefully described by Mr A. R. Goddard.[144] This "camp" consists
of two wards, and a wide outer enclosure (Fig. 7). "But one of the
most interesting features is the presence of two harbours, contained
within the defences and communicating with the river." Mr Goddard
points out that the dimensions of the smaller one are almost the same
as those of the "nausts" (ship-sheds or small docks) of the Vikings in
Iceland. He also cites from the _Jomsvikinga Saga_ the description of
a harbour made by the Viking Palnatoki at Jomsborg. "There he had a
large and strong sea _burg_ made. He also had a harbour made within the
_burg_ in which 300 long ships could lie at the same time, all being
locked within the burg." The harbours at Willington are large enough
to accommodate between twenty-five and thirty-five ships of the Danish
type. Unfortunately there is no historical proof that the Willington
works were Danish, though their construction makes it very likely. Nor
have any works of a similar character been as yet observed in England,
as far as we are aware.
But if archæology and topography give a somewhat scanty answer to our
question about the nature of Danish fortifications, there are other
fields of research, opened up of late years, from which we can glean
important facts, bearing directly on the subject which we are treating.
Herr Steenstrup's exhaustive inquiry into the Danish settlement in
England has shown that the way in which the Danes maintained their hold
on the northern and eastern shires was by planting fortified towns on
which the soldiers and peasants dwelling around were dependent.[145]
The _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ gives us a glimpse of these arrangements
when it speaks of the Danes who owed obedience to Bedford, Derby,
Leicester, Northampton, and Cambridge.[146] It also tells us of the
Five Boroughs, which, as we have already said, appear to have been a
confederation of boroughs forming an independent Danish state between
the Danish kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria.
The same system was followed by the Danes who colonised Ireland.
"The colony had a centre in a fortified town, or it consisted almost
exclusively of dwellers in one. But round this town was a district,
in which the Irish inhabitants had to pay taxes to the lords of the
town."[147] The Irish chronicle called _The Wars of the Gaedhil and the
Gaill_ says, further, that Norse soldiers were quartered in the country
round these towns in the houses of the native Irish, and it even says
that there was hardly a house without a Norseman.[148] Herr Steenstrup
does not go so far as to assert that this system of quartering obtained
in England also; but he shows that it is probable, and we may add
that such a system would help to explain the speedy absorption of the
Danes into the Anglo-Saxon population, which took place in the Danelaw
districts.[149]
The large numbers of the Danish forces, and the fact that in the second
period of their invasions they brought their wives and children with
them, would render camps of large area necessary. These numbers alone
make it ridiculous to attribute to the Danes the small motte castles of
class (_e_), whose average area is not more than 3 acres.
Finally, the Danish host was not a feudal host. Steenstrup asserts
that the principle of the composition of the host was the voluntary
association of equally powerful leaders, of whom one was chosen
as head, and was implicitedly obeyed, but had only a temporary
authority.[150] We should not, therefore, expect to find the Danish
camps provided with the citadels by which the feudal baron defended his
personal safety. When Rollo and his host were coming up the Seine, the
Frankish king Raoul sent messengers to ask them who they were, and what
was the name of their chief. "Danes," was the reply, "and we have no
chief, for we are all equal."[151] That such an answer would be given
by men who were following a leader so distinguished as Rollo shows the
spirit of independence which pervaded the Danish hosts, and how little
a separate fortification for the chief would comport with their methods
of warfare.[152]
We may conclude, then, with every appearance of certainty that the
Danish camps were enclosures of large area which very much resembled
the larger Roman _castra_, and that, like these, they frequently
grew into towns. Placed as they generally were on good havens, or
on navigable rivers, they were most suitable places for trade; and
it turned out that the Danes, who were a people of great natural
aptitudes, had a special aptitude for commerce.[153] Dr Cunningham
remarks that they were the leading merchants of the country, and he
attributes to them a large share in the development of town life in
England.[154] The organisation of their armies was purely military, but
at the same time democratic; and when it was applied to a settled life
in the new country, the organisation of the town was the form which it
took. The Lagmen of Lincoln, Stamford, Cambridge, Chester, and York are
a peculiarly Scandinavian institution, which we find still existing at
the time of the Domesday Survey.[155]
Thus we see that the fortifications of the Danes, like those of
the Anglo-Saxons, were the fortifications of the community. And we
shall see in the next chapter that this was the general type of the
fortifications which were being raised in Western Europe in the 9th
century.