Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Third - Life in the Mediæval Castle Fee - Chapter V

Hold your noses, for now we shall step back in time nigh on nine-hundred years and join Mister Tanner and his boy as they return from Mister Skinner's yard with a cart heaped high with fresh-flayed cowhides, splashing their merry way through the pismire to their own yard along the Great Cockey; perhaps in Jarrold's 'Mac' make-over salon or where Patisserie Valerie now dispenses expensive cakes or further up Haymarket under Pret a Manger's kitchen (I do enjoy wandering around Norwich and London, knowing what went on at various locations beneath my feet in the good old days).

I love my job.

Pic courtesy the interweb.

Mister Skinner had left all the bits that couldn't be sold as meat still attached to the hides, so first up, Mister Tanner set his boy to trimming off horns, hooves and the unusable portions of the hide from the belly, head, legs, udders and raggedy edges. Then a good wash in the Great Cockey to get rid of the worst of the blood, dirt and dung.

The horns … ox, cattle, ram and goat, were sold on to horners, who used the outer layers for making such things as combs and small boxes, so for a moment we shall wander away from Mister Tanner's yard and follow Mister Horner with his bag of freshly cut horns to his workshop, also on the Cockey stream.

Mediæval road found in the Castle Fee during excavations in the north-east bailey. Photo courtesy EAA 28

To give some impression of the conditions around the pits and sheds of the tanneries, the photo above is the preserved surface of a road in part of the Castle Fee dating from this time. Those are ox and horse hoof-prints squished into the mud.

When he reached his yard, Mister Horner's first job would be to remove the soft core of the horns (technically known as spongy, brown yucky stuff). Mediæval horners found that the best method for preparing horn in bulk was to soak the horns in tubs of water for a few months.

This smells BAD. Once the blood and mush has rotted and reeked, Mister Horner would use a wooden scraper to remove as much of the mess from inside the horn as he could.

Mealworms, courtesy of the good old interweb.

I have consulted some modern crafters who work with horn and they describe the process as "really disgusting" and "nasty" and they admit that the modern craft method is to go to Pets-R-Us and get a plastic box of live mealworms, wrap them and the horn in an old pair of tights and leave them for a week or so. It still stinks but it saves months … and of course it makes for happy pet mealworms.

The next step is to clean away the rotten membrane from the outside of the horn and then to scour the inside. This was achieved by putting some gravel into the stinky horn once the worst of the soft core was removed and then shaking it like maracas. You worked with finer and finer gravel until the last shakes were done using sand.

Cheers!

Trim off the upper lip to give a thicker edge, less prone to splitting and you have a drinking horn (yay)!

These were a rich man's item and out of the reach of the common folk who used wooden bowls. If you're offered a drink from a horn at a cosplay "Mediæval Banquet" (such as will be held in the restored Great Hall at Norwich Castle in a couple of years' time) you'll know just what you're putting to your lips.

For most purposes, however, the cleaned horns were boiled for a few hours to soften them and then cut. The tips and trimmings Mister Horner would sell to Mister Fletcher for making arrow nocks. The horn was then pressed between two boards and, once it had dried flat, could be cut into shapes to make combs or boxes or simply left flat and used as lamp glass. Horn was the plastic of its day/ Perhaps a return to the stinky old ways would help save the planet.

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

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Third - Life in the Mediæval Castle Fee - Chapter IV

Norwich Castle from the steps of City Hall. Photo: courtesy Old Dive.

The archæological record shows that prior to the Norman Conquest there were no wells in the valley of the Great Cockey. After the Conquest, however, wells got dug left, right and centre. As you're about to find out, once the Normans got settled in nobody wanted beer or laundry from Cockey water any more.

The west elevation of Norwich Castle directly overlooks the Norman marketplace across the Great Cockey valley. Stand on the steps of City Hall today (or last winter, as the photo above) and you're looking straight at the castle's eight great poop chutes, down which poured the effluent from the sixteen communal garderobe toilets. Using those toilets would be the earl and his household and staff, any visiting nobles and their retinues, plus the three-hundred-or-so soldiers garrisoned there and any artisans working in the castle. Pretty much a constant flow … ew.

The eight great poop chutes of Norwich Castle.

Photo: courtesy Old Dive. The rubble you can see is archæological spoil awaiting sieving for artifacts.

We're talking a section of the castle wall around ten yards wide by five yards tall, which would have been permanently covered in a vaguely fan-shaped shit-stain with fæcal effluvia shooting from the chutes, slopping and splashing into a wet pond of pee and poo underneath; all ready to be collected up by some poor sod with a barrow, sieved for dropped valuables and then wheeled down the hill for sale to the tanners.

The stench from this, however, would not be noticed in the marketplace as between it and the castle lay the Great Cockey valley and this stretch of it, from the gloriously-named Rampant Horse Street to the back of Jarrold's [see later map], was used almost exclusively for slaughtering, skinning and tanning. The castle's poop chutes would have been a breath of fresh air by comparison.

When I were a lad you could stand at the Haymarket end of Gentleman's Walk and inhale the piquant mingling of aromas from the fish market on your right and the chocolate factory on your left. It appears that this part of Norwich has been stinking fit to gag a rat for nigh on a thousand years. If you know anyone in Norwich named Tanner, you're about to find out just what their ancestors were up to along the Great Cockey.

Tanners were the only trade allowed to buy the skins of cattle from the skinners for leatherworking. The skinners, however, didn't just skin cattle; they skinned horses, donkeys, sheep, pigs, goat, deer, rabbits, dogs, cats and rats for the tawyers, who dealt in the lower end leathers and the fur trade.

Norwich Haymarket around 1825 looking north toward Gentleman's Walk with St.Peter Mancroft on the left and the Haymarket hill in front of it. The Great Cockey ran under the back of the buildings on the right, most of which are still there today. Pic: courtesy the interweb.

Cattle, old horses, sheep, pigs and goats were herded into the marketplace, driven down to the Great Cockey and slaughtered in heaps. Some blood was kept for making puddings but most of it, together with the more disgusting bodily fluids, went bubbling and steaming straight into the Great Cockey and flowed downhill to the River Wensum.

The meat and offal went a few yards uphill to be sold at the butchers' stalls on the marketplace and the bones went in pits or were boiled for glue-making.

The good folk of Norman Norwich took sacks of dogs, rabbits, cats and rats to the slaughterer and skinner who sold the meat on to the butchers while the tawyers then scraped the skins clean of blood, dirt and manure and any remaining fat and meat before soaking them in a mix of potash alum and salt, adding egg yolks and flour to improve the fur.

This was called 'tawing' and produced a furred hide rather than a leather, which was still putrescible when wet. Furs in Norman times smelled pretty rank.

Jon Snow's putrescible direwolf cloak … Stinky when wet. Pic: courtesy the interweb.

Jon Snow must have stunk to high heaven when it rained on that direwolf cloak.

The tawyers' waste products of blood, dirt, manure, rancid fat and rotting meat got tipped straight into the Great Cockey and washed downstream. Are you gagging yet? If not, this'll help …

During the archæological dig for the Rose Lane multi-storey car park, as reported in the Eastern Daily Press, a "13th century cat and goat hide shop" was excavated.

They found in particular, among the pits of cat bones, a great proliferation of "cut juvenile bone" which suggests that kittens (KITTENS!) were skinned to make fur trims for leather gloves and hats ;

Kitten mittens, anyone?

Kitten Mittens.

You know you want them.

Photo courtesy (where else) the interweb.

Less creepily, they found evidence that the tawyery was of high quality, producing goat and kid skin for vellum, which was sold to the adjacent friaries of Franciscans and Augustinians.

The one thing that was absolutely essential for tanning and tawing (as well as slaughtering and skinning) was a good source of running water, so the tanneries followed the course of the Great Cockey inside the city and also the banks of the Wensum on Oak Street to the north and Mountergate to the east, where the tawyery above was discovered.

If you think that was gross, just wait for the next post …

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

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Third - Life in the Mediæval Castle Fee - Chapter III

Curious to find out more about flirting (see previous post: incorrectly fletched arrows not flying true) I consulted the oracle of the interweb and, after numerous pages of inappropriate content, discovered the Worshipful Company of Fletchers and was amazed at the sheer amount of work that goes into making a mediæval longbow arrow (if you're really unlucky I might go into detail at the end of this talk so that those of you who may be inclined to do so can make their own arrows).

With regards the feathers used for fletching, Veronica-Mae Soar, Clerk to the Craft Guild of Traditional Bowyers and Fletchers tells us - among a great many other strange and wondrous things in A Brief History of Arrowmaking:

"Contrary to some belief it is not necessary to set fletchings on the slant in order to make the arrow spin. Provided that each feather is from the same wing, right or left, the arrow will spin because the feather has a rough side which produces lift and a smooth side over which air flows freely."

Now we know that, let us take a look at mediæval life along the Great Cockey, the stream running along the western boundary of the Castle Fee and home as well as bowmaking and fletching to some of the most truly gross and stinky goings on.

The "Lost" Rivers of Norwich, showing the route of the Great Cockey.

Gotta love that Norman Knight north point.

Courtesy EAA 132

The Great Cockey rose at a place called Jack's Pit, shown on the map above, about at the top of the current All Saints' Green, just inside the line of the later city wall. Jack's Pit was a deep, muddy pool "caused by the conflux of the water of several kennels" (Kirkpatrick: 1889). A "kennel" being a channel or canal, so several dtches or small streams came together at Jack's Pit and out flowed the Great Cockey.

This flowed down All Saints' Green and Westlegate, where it formed Needham Slough, a large marshy pool between what is now M&S and Debenhams. Here it was joined by a tributary stream coming down St. Stephen's Street.

Above this point, along Surrey Street and Queen's Road, there were tenter fields, where washing was hung out to dry, the archæological evidence suggests tha the water above Needham Slough was clean enough for washing and brewing.

The Great Cockey, running north between Norwich Castle and the Norman Market on the left.

You can see Needham Slough on the lower left of the map. The grey lines are the current street plan.

Courtesy EAA 132

From Needham Slough, the Great Cockey became a strong watercourse, cutting a channel up to thirteen feet deep in places (this was excavated under a shop in the middle of the Royal Arcade).

Its course followed the line on the above map, passing Debenhams, dipping down through Primark and Game, across the centre of Royal Arcade and along the line of Little London Street to the side of Jarrold's continuing in a roughly straight line to its outfall into the Wensum, which you can see today as an iron-grated culvert in the river wall opposite Norwich Playhouse.

By 1285, parts of the Great Cockey had already been built over and the stream culverted. Due to the steep slope down from the castle toward the market the western bank of the Cockey was lower than the eastern and so regularly flooded the area between Pret upstream and Jarrold's downstream [I'll mark these on the map of the Norman Market that comes toward the end of the talk, so anyone who doesn't know the area can at least make sense of it].

The flooding was not an issue while it was open land with sheds and pits, used by skinners and tanners (see below), but once it became more built up by around 1420 the whole length of the Great Cockey was buried in a large brick culvert, which was diverted eastward from the centre of the Royal Arcade to what is now Castle Street in front of Waterstone's to allow the old course to be built on.

Recent archæological papers suggest it then kinked across at right angles, left and right, to run down Little London Street on its old course.

But Old Dive knows better … During rebuilding works to the complex of mediæval houses that used to be Hovell's basket shop (thirteen mediæval buildings all on different levels on a steep slope), after a terrible fire in the 1980s, I got the job of architecturally reconstructing what was left.

Hovell's in happier days … it stretched up the hill to the right for another two buildings and down the hill to the left for four more, plus several more stacked in behind. Photo EDP24

 Lo and behold, there, running through the basement, beneath a later timber floor that had burned away, we found the Great Cockey still flowing in a massive brick culvert, suggesting that the archæologists' guess was wrong and that the diverted stream continued in a straight line from the bottom of London Street, down through Hovell's basement, under the Georgian house at the west end of the Bridewell, then on down the hill past St. Andrew's churchyard, under the Festival House and then joined the Wensum at its original outflow.

Analysis of the enrolled deeds from Norman and early mediæval records tells us that the most commonly occurring trade along the banks of the Great Cockey was that of leather-workers, of which more in the next post.

Towering above the Cockey stream were the castle motte and keep and the moats, ditches, mounds and baileys of the Castle Fee; the great earthworks that protected Norwich Castle.

These were not used merely for defence. The vast swathes of grassland were used for the fattening of pigs and cattle for the people of the castle and the Fee.

A Fat Pig … courtesy of the interweb.

People outside the fee were not permitted to graze their animals there, though I learned from the Pipe Rolls that in 1137,  a certain David Monney of Norwich [NB: David Monney was a workmate of Old Dive and present at the lecture, much to the amusement of the other attendees] was fined for fattening his pigs on the castle bailey.

But to return to the early Norman Castle Fee and our stroll along the Great Cockey, it's time to get gross … really gross. You know you want this bit, it's what you came here for … If you've not finished your sandwiches it's too late now …

… and that'll start in the next post. I know, I'm a spoilsport.

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

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Third - Life in the Mediæval Castle Fee - Chapter II

Contrary to popular belief, late Saxon Norwich was a large, thriving town with its own mint and forty-six churches (Domesday Book).

Pre-Conquest Norwich, showing the Fee area and the

Great Cockey stream in the foreground.

Courtesy Norfolk Museums Service.

This number would rise by the fourteenth century to fifty-six or so, hence the local legend "a church for every week of the year and a pub for every day of the year."

Once the Normans moved in, they sited their new marketplace where the current Marketplace and Haymarket still stand and lived in the area leading uphill west from this, between Chapelfield and the Roman Road at Pottergate, known as the French Quarter.

The Jews of Jewry, being under the king's protection and funding his armies, clustered around the southern end of the marketplace, eventually extending from where the Bell Hotel now stands, across the Great Cockey, through the middle of Debenhams and across to the Chapelfield Mall.

The Music House on King Street,

formerly Jurnet's House.

Photo: Old Dive.

'Jurnet the Jew' was the most prominent citizen among them, having his own extremely high status stone-built house on the new waterfront extending along Conesford; what is now King Street. The house substantially survives today as the Music House.

The original Jewish Synagogue was on the site on Haymarket now occupied by cheesy gift shop 'The Card Factory', between Pret a Manger and Primark.

Norwich's Jewish community was one of the largest and most important in England and a great number of their records, writings and poetry fortunately survives today.

Norwich Castle Fee.

Courtesy EAA 132.

The population of the Norwich Castle Fee surrounded the castle mound and a record of their houses is indicated on this map. In East Anglian Archæology no.132, Elizabeth Shepherd Popescu provides a list of the freeholders of each Fee property from Norman times through to the fifteenth century.

There was a well in the Barbican, in the position shown on the above map; originally sited about ten paces south of the western gatehouse at the foot of the Norman bridge (just about where the Tea Junction tea shop now sits in the Castle Mall), and this was used as a water source during the building of the stone keep, bridge and gatehouses, but then fell out of use, much to our own gain through archæological evidence found during the construction of Castle Mall.

White Watch of Norwich Fire Brigade spraying the loose earth around the newly-discovered well prior to stabilisation and excavation (during Castle Mall construction).

Photo courtesy EAA 132.

Elizabeth Shepherd Popescu gives us an account of the feofees, based on what they threw down the disused well:

"A wide range of artisans worked around the fringes of the castle and waste from virtually all of these trades found its way into the Norman well at the foot of the castle bridge, perhaps suggesting that the disposal was licensed.

Numerous trades and professions were active within the Fee, including silkmen, armourers, blacksmiths and swordsmiths, bow makers, fletchers, leather-colourers, spur makers and saddlers.

Section through the well, from EAA 132.

The prolific dumping of waste from these trades into the well (around 181 tonnes) may be a reflection of the city authority's attempts to keep the barbican and motte ditches clear: archæological evidence indicates that - despite the documentary references to its continued occurence - very little waste of that period was present in the barbican ditch which remained substantially open at this time. By the sixteenth century the sheriff was still spying on those dumping muck into the motte and barbican ditches.

Highlighting just one aspect of the massive assemblage from the well, the most conclusive evidence from the animal bone refuse of a particular craft is provided by the remarkable group of goose wing bones. Goose wing tips were valued for their primary feathers and a minimum of 270 left and 122 right wing tips were recovered from the well, along with many other wing bones and matted lumps of feathers.

The bias toward the left wing may indicate that these are the residue from a quill-dresser workshop, these being the preferred wing for right-handed quill users (as the feather curves away from the eye).

An alternative is that the bias may link to the fletching of arrows, during which feathers from a single wing would have been used. The behaviour of incorrectly fletched arrows, which do not fly true, is known among archers as 'flirting'.

Evidence for arrow manufacture in the locality comes both from documentary evidence for the presence of fletchers and bowyers and from the discovery of part-made armour-piercing arrows within the well fills.

This was the period of the longbow, when arrows were in high demand and when arms and raw materials had to be supplied to the crown for its military campaigns. In 1417, six feathers from every goose within twenty southern English counties were to be supplied to the Tower, while the following year, sheriffs were commanded to supply 1,190,000 goose feathers by Michaelmas (Ca; Pat. Rills, 1416 - 22, 178: cited in Hardy, 1994, p.168)."

In the next post, discover more about 'flirting' and the lost rivers of Norwich and things will start to get gross.

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

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Third - Life in the Mediæval Castle Fee - Chapter I

 Wherein a bit of historic scene-setting before we get silly …

Norwich Castle Fee.

Courtesy EAA 132 (see Sources)

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.

Early occupation zones … the grey roads are the modern street plan.

Courtesy EAA 132

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.

The main Viking and Saxon settlement areas, pre-Conquest.

Courtesy EAA 132 with overlays by Old Dive.

[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

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Second - Anarchy in the UK - Appendix: Let's Invade England

So … just how many times has England been invaded since 1066?

Rather a lot, it turns out. Here's my best guestimate … and at least five of these were successful invasions resulting in a change of monarch:

1066: Sweyn and his Viking army - defeated by King Harold Godwinson at Stamford Bridge.

1066: William the Bastard and his Norman army. Defeated and killed Harold. William becomes King William the First of England.

1067: Edgar the Atheling invades the west country - twice.

1070s: Sweyn Estridsson invades the north of England, then invades and plunders East Anglia, the git.

1100: Robert Short-Arse invades. Failed due to lack of interest.

1135: Stephen of Blois invades and is crowned King Stephen the First of England. This was just as successful an invasion as 1066, but it - in common with several others - gets fat all press in comparison … weird.

1136: David the First of Scotland invades in support of Empress Matilda. Repulsed by Stephen.

1138: David the First of Scotland has another go. This time he's successful and holds the north of England for Empress Matilda until 1157.

1139: Empress Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet invade, kicking off the Anarchy.

1149: Henry FitzEmpress (yes, really) invades. Son of Empress Matilda and future King Henry the Second of England.

1208: Eustace the Monk seizes the Channel Islands.

1216: Louis the Eighth of France (AKA Louis the Lion) invades in cahoots with Alexander the Second of Scotland during the First Barons' War, which saw Louis crowned by the barons and the London Mob as King Louis. It was rumoured he was also King of the Swingers and the Jungle VIP.

King Louis storms and takes Norwich Castle and sacks and burns Norwich. What an arsehole … Little wonder we hate the French.

Anyhoo, when King John died (for a while we'd had two kings at the same time), the barons switched their allegiance to nine-year-old Henry the Third, thinking they could control him. Louis got his arse kicked at the Second Battle of Lincoln and his navy sunk of Sandwich. He was bribed to bugger off back to France and stay there.

1217: Eustace the Monk again; this time invading via Sandwich in Kent.

1314 - 1513: Countless Scottish invasions during the Wars of Scottish Independence, the Hundred Years War and the Anglo-Scottish Wars. Way too many to mention.

1338 / 9: French attacks on Harwich, Southampton, Plymouth, Jersey (twice), Alderney and Sark.

1340: More French raids along the south coast; at least six landings.

1360: French attacks on Sandwich, Rye, Hastings and Winchelsea.

1373: The French invade Jersey (again).

1376: French attack at Rye.

1377: The French attempt invasion at Rye (twice), Rottingdean, Portsmouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Isle of Wight, Winchelsea (again). Folkstone, Southampton and Poole. You can't fault the buggers for lack of trying.

1380: Winchelsea invaded again.

1386: The French invade Winchelsea yet again (they must really like it there) and also landings in Kent.

1408 - 1415: French privateers attack the Isle of Wight and Dartmouth (twice).

1415: French invade the Isle of Wight.

1418: They're back in Winchelsea again.

1461: The French invade Jersey.

1470: French invasion in support of the restoration of Henry the Sixth.

1471: Invasion of Edward the Fourth and defeat of Henry the Sixth.

1485: The Welsh invade England under Harri Tudur, leading to the Battle of Bosworth Field and the death of Richard the Third (AKA Richard Crookback, recently dug up from under a pub car park in Leicester). Harri Tudur anglicises his name and becomes Henry Tudor, King Henry the Seventh of England.

1487: Lambert Simnel invades from Ireland, claiming to be Edward Plantagenet, one of the dead princes in the Tower (he wasn't).

1495: Perkin Warbeck lands at Deal, claiming to be the rightful king (he wasn't either).

1497: Perkin Warbeck's back, this time invading via Cornwall.

1513: The Scots again, under James the Fourth, leading to the Battle of Flodden.

1545: The French invade the Isle of Wight during the Italian Wars. The Mary Rose was sunk in this battle, not by the French, but by stupidity. Overload a top-heavy ship, open the gun ports close to the waterline, turn really sharply and sink.

1588: The Spanish Armada … didn't go so well.

1595: The Spanish invade Cornwall and actually get on shore.

1596: The Second Spanish Armada did even worse than the first.

1597: The Third Spanish Armada got dispersed by storms off The Lizard, but a few Spanish troops managed to land in Cornwall and Wales … to no effect.

1601: The Spanish land at Cork.

1627: Barbary pirates invade and occupy Lundy. Make attacks around Conwy.

1631: Barbary pirates invade and sack Baltimore in Ireland.

1636: Barbary pirates attack and raid Cornwall.

1640: They then do the same to Penzance … Pirates of Penzance, anyone?

1648: Those pesky Scots again, this time in support of Charles the First against Cromwell's Parliamentary Army, and we all know how that went. Defeated at Preston, leading later to Charles the First's beheading (yay).

1667: Dutch landings at Sheerness and Felixstowe.

1685: Invasion by Monmouth during the Monmouth Rebellion.

1688: The Glorious Revolution: William of Orange and Mary Stuart defeat James the Second and take the throne of England. Huzzah!

1690: The French try to invade via Teignmouth in Devon.

1708: James the Second tries to get his throne back with French help … Nope.

1715: The Jacobite Rising: The Scots invade in support of James the Second and are again defeated at Preston. You'd think they'd have learned the first time.

1719: The Spanish land at Loch Alsh.

1744: The French try invading again but call it off.

1745: The Jacobite invasion by Bonnie Prince Charlie and a French army.

1759: Yet another French invasion attempt is sunk by the Royal Navy.

1778 John Paul Jones (NOT the Led Zeppelin bassist) invades Whitehaven and raids the Solway Firth during the American Revolutionary War.

1779: Planned Franco-Spanish invasion in support of America called off. The French raid the Channel Islands instead.

1803 - 1809: Napoleon's planned invasions keep getting sunk by Nelson.

1940: Hitler's Nazis land at Graveney Marsh in Kent. Skirmish ensues.

1940: Operation Sea Lion, Hitler's planned invasion of England, called off when the RAF gained air supremacy in the Battle of Britain.

1940 - 1945: Hitler's Nazis invade and occupy the Channel Islands.

1944: America successfully invades England armed with silk stockings and cigarettes, leading to an epidemic of unwanted pregnancies and G. I. Brides. Then we all get together and invade Normandy, though not in revenge for 1066.

If you're aware of any more, do let me know.

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Second - Anarchy in the UK - Chapter V

Wherein the Anarchy finally burns out, we bid a fond farewell to the battling Matildas and usher in the Plantagenets.

The Triumph of Death by Pieter Breugel the Elder.

Pretty much sums up England during the Anarchy.

 

Ah, the Anarchy … nineteen years of shitty death. 

Here's the Anglo Saxon Chronicle for the year 1137: "Every man built himself a castle and held it against the king; and they filled the whole land with these castles.

They sorely burdened the unhappy people of the country with forced labour on the castles; and when the castles were built they filled them with devils and wicked men.

I do not know how to, nor am I able to tell of all the atrocities nor all the cruelties they wrought upon the unhappy people of this country. It lasted throughout the nineteen years that Stephen was king and always grew worse and worse."

So much for the aristocracy. Was the king any better behaved? Was he buggery.

The Gesta Stephani relates that King Stephen with his mercenary army "… set himself to lay waste to that fair and delightful district, so full of good things; they took and plundered everything they came upon, set fire to houses and churches and, what was a more cruel and brutal sight, fired the crops that had been reaped and stacked all over the fields, consumed and brought to nothing everything edible that they found. They ravaged with bestial cruelty."

Happy days …

King Stephen's glorious reign. Courtesy the interweb.

 

In the midst of all this, in 1147, Robert of Gloucester did something unheard of in these chronicles; he died of natural causes … not a lamprey nor a dribble of arse-gravy in sight.

Still the slaughter continued for another seven long years before Empress Matilda's son, Henry Plantagenet - who had been laying waste to Normandy - was persuaded by Matilda to bring his army over to England and pile into the fray.

Queen Matilda having died two years previously, Empress Matilda and Henry now sought battle with Stephen and William of Ypres. But, having nothing much left to loot or burn, all sides called it a day.

Nobody won …

Two-thirds of the country lay empty and devastated; crops, homes and churches burned, peasants and townsfolk slaughtered.

Empress Matilda and King Stephen made a deal …

Stephen was permitted to stay on as king of England but his sons were disinherited. Empress Matilda was to rule Normandy while her son Henry was declared heir to the English throne. In 1154, Stephen died of apoplexy and King Henry the Second settled his bottom onto the throne of England.

Once his dad had kicked the bucket, William of Blois was booted out of Norwich Castle and Hugh Bigod once more moved in as Earl of Norfolk.

In my next talk we shall discover the fragrant delights of Norman and early mediæval Norwich and learn more about the fate of Norwich Castle.

My next post shall be an Appendix to Part the Second, listing my guess of the post-1066 invasions of England. There are lots.

Sources:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (various): C. Clark (ed): 1970

Historia Novella: William of Malmesbury. In translation as William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen: J. A. Giles: 2016

Historia Anglorum: Henry of Huntingdon: In translation as The History of the English People, 1000 - 1154: Diana Greenway: Oxford World Classics: 2009

The Chronicle of John of Worcester, Volume 3: 1067 - 1140: In translation by R. R. Darlington: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1995

Gesta Stephani: In translation by K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1976 

Feudal Documents from Bury St. Edmunds: British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales: Donald C. Douglas: 1932

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 Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign: Edmund King (ed): 1994

Norwich Castle Keep: Romanesque Architecture and Social Context: T. A. Heslop: 1994

Stephen and Matilda : The Civil War of 1139 - 1153: Jim Bradbury: 2005

The Pipe Roll Society: Archive Editions (various): online resource

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Second - Anarchy in the UK - Chapter IV

1141 … A mere twenty years since the completion of Norwich Castle as Henry the First's Royal Palace.

Empress Matilda holding a suspiciously blank charter.

Courtesy our friends the interweb.

And here we are with Empress Matilda, Henry's nominated successor, about to be crowned Queen of England. The usurper 'King Stephen' is her captive in Bristol Castle, chained and manacled and all Matilda has to do is win over the London Mob. Don't cock it up, Matilda …

Too late … The London Mob loves a good bribe and Stephen had exempted the city from royal taxes. Matilda demands the resumption of taxation and - by contemporary accounts - acts all hoity-toity and empress-y, haughtily haranguing them about her rights and their duties.

The Mob chase Matilda and her entourage out of London and she flees to Oxford Castle. Cue Stephen's wife, Queen Matilda and her Flemish mercenaries under William of Ypres. Queen Matilda promises to restore Stephen's tax bribe and - with the riotous support of the Mob, heads off in pursuit of the Empress. At last, the Matilda versus Matilda smackdown!

Well nearly … Getting back to the whole point of these talks, we (briefly) return to architecture.

Always remember to let go of the trebuchet.

Courtesy of an Arabic mediæval illuminator with a sense of humour.

 

As the Anarchy took hold across England, a siege tactic peculiar to this conflict was born; that of the "counter-castle".

The remains of the counter-castle constructed at Oxford for the siege. Courtesy the interweb.

So many new castles were built during Stephen's reign and so many earldoms granted that inevitably squabbles broke out when the scorched-earth warfare of the Anarchy left the new earls with little to eat and still less to loot. 

Brian FitzCount complained that the destruction of his lands forced him to "take things from other people in order to sustain my life and the lives of my men."

Any earl or baron wishing to rob his neighbour now simply blockaded their castle and built another castle between three and four-hundred yards away (just out of bowshot but ideal for launching siege weapons), as you can see was done at Oxford (above).

Historian and Norman monk Robert of Torigni estimated at the time that as many as 1,115 castles and counter-castles were erected during Stephen's chaotic reign. Most were demolished under Henry the Second but a few mounds, such as at Oxford. still remain.

Empress Matilda Flees Oxford Castle.

Courtesy The British Library's wonderful Flickr resource

of over a million copyright-free vintage illustrations.

Under cover of a snowstorm, Empress Matilda was bundled up in white sheets and sneaked out across the frozen River Thames, heading for Bristol Castle. George R. R. Martin wrote this episode into GoT as Sansa Stark fleeing Winterfell in much the same manner. I wish he'd hurry up and finish Winds of Winter; it's not as if we've run out of history for him to use.

Empress Matilda now set out with Robert of Gloucester, Henry the First's favourite bastard and the leader of Matilda's army to Winchester in an attempt to secure what was left of Stephen's treasury; they lay siege to Wolvesey Castle.

Queen Matilda gathered up William of Ypres' army and some thousand armed militia from the London Mob and rushed to raise the siege. On September the fourteenth, 1141, in what became known as the Rout of Winchester, they defeated Robert's army and captured him, Empress Matilda managing to escape once more.

Queen Matilda offered to swap Robert of Gloucester for Stephen, still in chains in Bristol Castle, but Empress Matilda was having none of it, intending to hang on to Stephen. Instead she offered a dozen or so earls and a shedload of gold for Robert's release.

While they were haggling, Queen Matilda went behind the Empress' back and got a message to Robert's wife Amabel at Bristol Castle. The two of them agreed to swap Robert for Stephen. Empress Matilda threw a Trump-like tantrum but with no army left she retreated to Anjou to raise more forces.

The result of the smackdown: Queen Matilda, one … Empress Matilda, nil.

King Stephen clambered back onto the throne and there we were, back at the start again. Sheesh!

There followed thirteen more years of dread and terror as the earls and barons, mercenaries and Mob chased one another all over the country, laying waste to towns and villages, burning crops, castles and churches, spending more time robbing, raping and murdering the citizens and peasantry than actually fighting one another.

When they did have a scrap, they wouldn't kill one another … hell no! They were the aristocracy (their worthless descendants still are) and merely captured one another for ransom. It was everybody else who got killed.

The Golden Age of Chivalry was a really shitty time to be alive. Next time, more unpleasantness, but after that we'll relieve things with some gratuitous grossness and the odd giggle. I promise.

Sources:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (various): C. Clark (ed): 1970

Historia Novella: William of Malmesbury. In translation as William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen: J. A. Giles: 2016

Historia Anglorum: Henry of Huntingdon: In translation as The History of the English People, 1000 - 1154: Diana Greenway: Oxford World Classics: 2009

The Chronicle of John of Worcester, Volume 3: 1067 - 1140: In translation by R. R. Darlington: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1995

Gesta Stephani: In translation by K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1976 

Feudal Documents from Bury St. Edmunds: British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales: Donald C. Douglas: 1932

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 Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign: Edmund King (ed): 1994

Norwich Castle Keep: Romanesque Architecture and Social Context: T. A. Heslop: 1994

Stephen and Matilda : The Civil War of 1139 - 1153: Jim Bradbury: 2005

The Pipe Roll Society: Archive Editions (various): online resource

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Second - Anarchy in the UK - Chapter III

And so to the second siege of Norwich Castle … 1136: King Stephen, having survived a brush with death by arse-gravy, entered the city, probably still walking a little gingerly and set out his siege lines.

At which point rebel Earl Hugh Bigod bravely surrendered and pledged fealty to his new sovereign. As you shall learn in coming chapters, the Bigods made an almost obsessional habit of switching sides the wrong way and yet somehow they always managed to survive.

Bungay Castle at the time of Hugh Bigod's big sulk. Courtesy Norfolk Museums Service

Stephen accepted Hugh's surrender but promptly booted him out of Norwich Castle and replaced him with his own son, William of Blois, who now moved in - via Hugh's recently completed flat-roofed porch extension - and was named the new Earl of Norfolk.

The citizens of Norwich had their liberties and benefits removed by King Stephen, which was hardly fair as they hated the Bigods for having robbed them blind for years.

Hugh Bigod was given the meaningless title Earl of the East Angles, deprived of his old income and sent to the family home of Bungay Castle to skulk and sulk.

Three years later, in 1139, Stephen eased up a bit on the citizens of Norwich, granting their liberties back for a bribe of twenty-five pounds, so desperate was he for cash as Matilda had just invaded. 

The good folk of Norwich ponied up and breathed a big sigh of relief, but they sighed too soon, as Hugh Bigod, understandably hacked off at having to live in Bungay, declared for Empress Matilda against the king. Stephen immediately seized back the liberties of Norwich and the citizens rolled their eyes and probably said some nasty words and muttered and rhubarbed amongst themselves.

Their revolt - the first of many … we're pretty revolting around here - will feature in a future chapter.

Meanwhile, King Stephen stomped off to Bungay Castle and took it from Hugh Bigod. Amazingly, Hugh managed to retain his head but was now drafted into the king's army and the next we hear of him he is fighting on the king's side at the First Battle of Lincoln two years later.

Bit of a bummer for Hugh then, that the king lost that one …

King Stephen, his battle axe broken, is unceremoniously bonked on the head with a rock.

Picture courtesy of the good old interweb.

King Stephen by all accounts behaved with honour and bravery that day. After hours of terrible bloodshed and slaughter Stephen was overwhelmed and surrounded, his earls and knights - including with yawning predictability, Hugh Bigod - abandoning him and fleeing the field; the king himself rather heroically berserking on foot until his sword broke and then, having grabbed a battle axe, laying about him until he broke that as well.

Eventually, bloodied, battered and knackered, someone hit him over the head with a rock. All very chivalrous. King Stephen was captured, carted off to Gloucester and then on to Bristol Castle where he was held in chains by Empress Matilda.

Next time: The Matilda versus Matilda Smackdown!

Sources:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (various): C. Clark (ed): 1970

Historia Novella: William of Malmesbury. In translation as William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen: J. A. Giles: 2016

Historia Anglorum: Henry of Huntingdon: In translation as The History of the English People, 1000 - 1154: Diana Greenway: Oxford World Classics: 2009

The Chronicle of John of Worcester, Volume 3: 1067 - 1140: In translation by R. R. Darlington: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1995

Gesta Stephani: In translation by K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1976 

Feudal Documents from Bury St. Edmunds: British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales: Donald C. Douglas: 1932

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 Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign: Edmund King (ed): 1994

Norwich Castle Keep: Romanesque Architecture and Social Context: T. A. Heslop: 1994

Stephen and Matilda : The Civil War of 1139 - 1153: Jim Bradbury: 2005

The Pipe Roll Society: Archive Editions (various): online resource

Old Dive's History of Norwich Castle - Part the Second - Anarchy in the UK - Chapter II

Alas, poor King Stephen, slinking back to England after his army slaughtered itself before his very eyes.

Stephen was not the most proactive of rulers. Having attained the throne by simple bribery, whenever something came up his preferred solution was to rush over and throw money at it. The Gesta Stephani has him "running hither and thither all over England," bribing his uppity aristocracy with gifts of earldoms and castles.

Starting in 1136, the granting of earldoms and castles was soon hopelessly out of control and Stephen's royal power and royal finances disappeared down the shitter in short order.

All hell broke loose. The Welsh rebelled, the Scots invaded and the earls and barons behaved like earls and barons.

Welcome to The Anarchy, England's first, full-on civil war since the Norman Conquest. It lasted nineteen years and trashed most of Britain and Normandy.

The Anarchy was a particularly nasty, brutal, scorched-earth, massacre-and-pillage style war, but apart from a small handbag fight, which we shall outline below, the closest the slaughter came to Norwich was Ely, which bore yet another siege, assault and confiscation of whatever body parts were left after the last cull.

To top it all, in 1139, Empress Matilda and hubby Geoffrey Plantagenet invaded England, in league with Matilda's half-brother, Robert of Gloucester and her Uncle, King David the First of Scotland, who took and held much of northern England in her name.

Yet another invasion. Courtesy the interweb.

Quick digression: I don't know why most folk think that the last time England was invaded was in 1066.

Already, by 1135, we've been invaded by Edgar the Atheling (twice), Sweyn Estridsson (twice), Robert Short-Arse (failed through lack of interest - see Part the First) and in this period, both Stephen of Blois, who invaded and was crowned king by the London Mob after exempting them from royal taxes and now by Empress Matilda.

After that come so many invasions it makes your head spin; I'll add a list of them at the end of Part the Second should anyone wish to discover just how invasion-prone we are.

But back to Norwich, where faithful Hugh Bigod, enjoying being Earl of Norfolk and Constable of Norwich Castle was happy to swear fealty to the newly crowned King Stephen and eager to crack on with his flat-roofed porch extension.

1136, and elsewhere in the kingdom trouble was brewing …

Quite early in the Anarchy, having been haring hither and thither around the country, walloping Welshmen, slaughtering Scots and flattening (or bribing) anyone else who got in his way, King Stephen succumbed to his own fit of arse-gravy mayhem and the rumour swept through England that he had died.

Earl Hugh, on hearing the rumour, immediately claimed Norwich Castle as his own, without waiting for news of Stephen's runny demise.

King Stephen - courtesy the interweb

Big mistake!

Occasionally, even in the twelfth century, people's bottoms dried out and they recovered from dysentery.

Inevitably - and you know there's always an "inevitably" in these talks - this was what happened to Stephen.

Newly dry-bottomed King Stephen - once he could sit on a horse again - brought his army up to Norwich and lay siege to the castle.

I like a cliffhanger. Tune in next time to discover the fate of Hugh Bigod and Norwich Castle.

Sources:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (various): C. Clark (ed): 1970

Historia Novella: William of Malmesbury. In translation as William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen: J. A. Giles: 2016

Historia Anglorum: Henry of Huntingdon: In translation as The History of the English People, 1000 - 1154: Diana Greenway: Oxford World Classics: 2009

The Chronicle of John of Worcester, Volume 3: 1067 - 1140: In translation by R. R. Darlington: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1995

Gesta Stephani: In translation by K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1976 

Feudal Documents from Bury St. Edmunds: British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales: Donald C. Douglas: 1932

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 Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign: Edmund King (ed): 1994

Norwich Castle Keep: Romanesque Architecture and Social Context: T. A. Heslop: 1994

Stephen and Matilda : The Civil War of 1139 - 1153: Jim Bradbury: 2005

The Pipe Roll Society: Archive Editions (various): online resource