Wherein a bit of historic scene-setting before we get silly …
During the reign of Henry the First (d. 1135 of a surfeit of lampreys as you'll recall), the twenty-three acre castle precinct, including the mound, two large baileys, barbican ditch and moats, was enfeoffed as a feodum castelli, the Castle Fee.
The Fee boundaries can be seen on the above map.
The Fee gave the feofees (the population of the castle precinct) the right to freehold property in exchange for their pledged service. In this talk we're going to take a look at what they got up to.
In times of rebellion - which was just about all the time in mediæval Norwich - the people of the fee were drawn up on the castle mound to defend the walls.
At other times, their trades were used for the benefit of the castle and of the Earl of Norfolk, good old Hugh Bigod.
The mediæval social strata in Norwich from top to bottom, consisted:
The Earl of Norfolk together with his household and the castle garrison; then the rich priors and monks of the large monastic institutions; then the population of the Castle Fee; followed by the general Norman population in the French Quarter; who relied on the Jews in Jewry, the financial quarter; and at the bottom of the heap was the Anglo-Scandinavian population of pre-Conquest Norwich.
The Anglo-Scandinavian folk of Norwich, a mixture of North German Saxons and Vikings who moved here in successive waves after the Romans left, lived in two burhs, north and south of the river, as can be seen above.
The Scandinavians tended to cluster north of the river, in a ramparted village called Norvic (from the North Vicus or place) roughly centred on present day Magdalen Street; this was later known as Norvic Ultra Aquam, or Norwich Across the Water.
[NB: these talks were given to the Norwich Castle project team and assume an intimate knowledge of Norwich's streets and quarters … sorry about that].
Back then, the only bridge across the Wensum was where Fye Bridge now stands, but was then a timber structure built as a long causeway across the marshes from Tombland to Colegate, the river being much wider at that time.
From the north end of the bridge the major churches and high-status buildings were strung westward along Colegate, while the wharves and trades yards extended eastward along Fishergate to what would soon become Whitefriars. Whitefirars Bridge and Bishopgate Bridge would follow in later Plantagenet times along with the building of the first City Wall.
The Saxon community lived south of the river as far as where John Lewis now stands, bounded on the east by the marshes along Mountergate and on the west by the Great Cockey stream, which we shall explore a little later. This area was centred around Ber Street and known as Needham (poor town or poor grazing land).
Next time: some more scene-setting; this time for post-Conquest Norwich. Then we can have some fun.
Sources:
East Anglian Archæology Vol. 132: Norwich Castle: Excavations and Historical Survey: 1978-1988: Part 1: Anglo-Saxon to c.1345: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2009
The Norman Connections - Castle: Part 1: Norwich Castle: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2010
Mediæval Norwich: ed: Carole Rawcliffe & Richard Wilson: 2004
Eastern Daily Press website: "13th century cat and goat hide shop excavated."
A Brief History of Arrowmaking: Veronica-Mae Soar; Clerk to the Craft Guild of Traditional Bowyers and Fletchers: The Worshipful Company of Fletchers: online resource
East Anglian Archæology Vol. 112: Dragon Hall, King Street, Norwich: Excavation and Survey of a Late Mediæval Merchant's Trading Complex: Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Trust
East Anglian Archæology Vol 28: Excavations Within the North-East Bailey of Norwich Castle: 1979
Francis Blomefield: An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 3: The History of the City and County of Norwich: 1753 to 1775
The Oxford History of England: 1087-1216: From Domesday to Magna Carta: Austin L. Poole (ed): 1951
The Pipe Roll Society: Archive Editions (various): online resource
6 comments:
I've been looking at pictures of Fye Bridge. Do you know how old the current bridge is? (Doesn't look new, exactly.)
Hi, Petrea. The current Fye Bridge is 19th century. Bishopsgate Bridge is the only surviving mediæval bridge in Norwich, though the gatehouse that sat astride it is long collapsed. https://smallglassplanet.blogspot.com/2011/09/change-of-scenery.html
I need another computer to have a goggle map open, so I can look at the images/scene as I read! (thanks, Petrea for that tip) xo
I must confess it's pretty dumb of me to post these for folk who don't know Norwich. Hee hee.
Get some local readers! This stuff is gold and needs a big audience. I told my friends at my local historical novel chapter.
Hee hee, Petrea. I'd be so chuffed if any of this forms the basis for an historical novel. You might enjoy the stuff on Kett's rebellion when we get there.
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