Note 421 — Chapter VII · FROM THE ELECTION OF EADWARD TO THE BANISHMENT OF GODWINE.[1] 1042–1051. (continued 3)

The word “castel” evidently appears at this stage to denote some new thing, quite distinct from the familiar “burh” of earlier times. So Orderic (511 C), in speaking of the rarity of castles in England before the Norman Conquest, speaks of the name as something specially French; “Munitiones (quas castella Galli nuncupant) Anglicis provinciis paucissimæ fuerant.” He adds, “ob hoc Angli, licet bellicosi fuerint et audaces, ad resistendum tamen inimicis exstiterant debiliores.”