Note 617 — Chapter VII · THE CASTLES OF THE NORMANS IN ENGLAND (continued 2)

“In pulchriore parte civitatis Hrouecestre.” Textus Roffensis, p. 145. Mr Freeman and others have noticed that the special mention of a stone castle makes it probable that the first castle was of wood. Mr Round remarks that the building of Rochester Castle is fixed, by the conjunction of William II. and Lanfranc in its history, to some date between September 1087 and March 1089. Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 339. Probably, therefore, it was this new castle which Bishop Odo held against Rufus in 1088. Ordericus says that “cum quingentis militibus intra Rofensem urbem se conclusit.” P. 272.