ANCIENT CASTLES OF DEVON. 137 



ness of Mercia, imitating the example of her unri- 

 valled father, built not less than eight castles, to 

 resist the incursions of the Danes. A still more 

 remarkable instance of the knowledge of castle- 

 building at a short period subsequent to this, may 

 be found in William of Malmesbury : he mentions 

 the rebuilding of Exeter by Athelstan, who died in 

 941. " Urbem illam turribus munivit — or, he forti- 

 fied that city with towers and battlements, construc- 

 ted of squared stones." And from the few remains 

 of the fortifications of this period we find, that the 

 walls precisely answer Malmesbury's description. 



Still the deficiency of strong posts in the island, 

 during every period of the Anglo-Saxon history, may 

 be constantly observed. And it is more than pro- 

 bable that, to this defect, we may attribute the 

 defeat of Harold, since it became necessary that all 

 should be risked upon the issue of a single battle. 

 Conscious of this deficiency, " Willliam," says Mat- 

 thew Paris, " excelled all his predecessors in building 

 castles, and greatly harrassed his subjects with these 

 works;'' all his earls, barons, and even prelates 

 imitated his example ; and it was the first care of 

 every one who received the grant of an estate from 

 the crown, to build a castle upon it for his defence 

 and residence. William Rufus was much addicted 

 to building royal castles and palaces, as that of 

 Windsor, which, in its present state of grandeur and 

 decoration, challenges the preeminence above the 

 proudest mansions of Europe. In the turbulent 

 reign of Stephen, •says the writer of the Saxon 

 chronicle, every one who was able, built a castle, 

 so that the poor people were worn out with the toil 

 of these buildings, and the whole kingdom was 

 covered with castles. " Stephen," says Holinshed, 

 *^ began to repent himself, although too late, for that 

 he had granted licence to so many of his subjects 

 to build castles within their own grounds." 



An art so much practised as architecture was at 

 this period, must have been much improved. That 

 VOL. VII.— -1836. s ' 



