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A Photo in Passing - Durham Cathedral

October 12, 2013, 6:18 am
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Durham is a train stop on the way from Newcastle to York and I was lucky to catch one unblurred shot the moment the train passed the shrubs at the station, and the view to the cathedral opened, before the train took up too much speed.

Durham Cathedral

Carla has a post about it here. The Cathedral, a Norman building that was begun in 1093 (the year King Malcolm III of Scotland and his son Edward were killed in battle at Alnwick), played an important role in the history of Northumberland and I keep coming across it in my research about said history.
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Northumbrian Castles - Malcolm III and the First Battle of Alnwick

October 26, 2013, 11:24 am
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This is getting really big, so I’ll post the history of Alnwick Castle in several parts; that way you’ll at least get a new post occasionally. *grin* Since the posts extend to the overall history of Northumbria, there will be some photos of other historical sites as well.

One should think that the beginning of a huge and important castle like Alnwick would be better documented than the obscure keeps dotting German hills, but unfortunately, information about the beginnings of the castle is nonexistant, though it may have predated the first evidence in 1096 where it is mentioned as in possession of one Ivo (Yves) de Vescy, who built part of the castle still in existence.

The castle guards the crossing of the river Aln and since it is so close to the Scottish border, it saw a fair deal of action during history. The first owner may have been Gilbert de Tesson (Tyson) who was the standard bearer of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. But in 1095, he - or his descendant - participated in a rebellion against William Rufus and lost the fief which was then given to Yves de Vescy, together with the title Baron of Alnwick.

View to Alnwick Castle from the gardens

Alnwick had come into focus already two years earlier, when King Malcolm III Canmore and his oldest son and heir Edward were killed in a battle or ambush; the sources are not clear about the details. The relationship between King Malcolm III of the Scots and William the Conqueror and his successor William Rufus, was always uneasy as we will see, and the battle of Alnwick not the only military action in Northumberland during Malcolm’s reign.

Malcolm, the son of King Duncan of Macbeth fame, was still a child when his father was killed in 1040, and he and his brother Donald Bán spent many years in exile. It has long been assumed they went to England to the court of Edward the Confessor, but recent research opens the possibility that Malcolm went to Orkney and found shelter with its earl Thorfinn Sigurdsson. There certainly was a connection with Orkney since Malcolm later married Thorfinn’s widow Ingibjorg with whom he had a son, Duncan, but he also had a keen interest in AngloSaxon culture and administration and was fluent in English. Donald Bán may have spent part of his exile in the Isles.

The details of Malcolm’s rise to power are contradictory and obscure, so I’ll spare you a lengthy discussion. But by April 1058, Macbeth and his stepson Lulach were dead and Malcolm was crowned king. He conducted a raid into Northumbria in 1061 but this was likely a border conflict caused by some Northumbrian nobles and not an attempt at expanding power.

Alnwick Keep seen from the inner bailey

After the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066, Scotland became a place of exile, first for the deposed Earl Tostig Godwinson of Northumbria, a sworn friend of King Malcolm, though Malcolm did not partake in the Battle of Stamford Bridge where Tostig and King Harald III Hardrada of Norway were killed by Harold Godwinson of England. Two years later, the widow of Edward the Confessor’s nephew and her children, among them Edgar Ætheling and Margaret, fled to Scotland in the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings. In the group of exiles accompanying them was Earl Gospatric of Northumbria.

The sources can't agree when Malcolm married Edgar's sister Margaret, 1068 or 1070 (the date of Inigibjorg's death is not documented, either), and neither is it clear whether or not he supported the 1069 rising in Northumberland. We also get two different shipwrecks, and sources that - because of their anti-Celtic Church stance - present Margaret as the queen who basically introduced civilisation to 'barbarian' Scotland. Several chronicles were also written long past the events. For me, the more likely scenario is that the shipwreck that brought Edgar and his family to Scotland happened in 1068, because at that time they may indeed have planned to return to Hungary where they had spent their exile prior to 1057. The events from 1070 are more likely a flight to the nearmost shelter.

The AngloSaxon Chronicle presents Edgar as having but reluctantly agreed to the marriage to some obscure king, but I'm not sure Malcolm was as obscure and uneducated as the Chronicle presents him. It can well be Edgar saw the advantage of becoming the brother-in-law of a king who at least lived north of England (instead of Flanders, Hungary or wherever) and who already was acquainted with the English culture and language. Margaret's dowry was Malcolm's right to Cumbria.

Malcolm was careful, it seems, but he also was ambitious, and with the moral backing of restoring Edgar, and by this his own future offspring with Margaret (who were to bear AngloSaxon, not Celtic, names), to kingship, he may have put his weight behind a Northumbrian invasion in 1069, when he did not risk to support his - obviously unpopular - friend Tostig a few years earlier.

Alnwick Castle, the ramparts in the inner bailey

The events are a bit of a mess in the sources as well as the - often contradictory - secondary literature, so I'll present a version I think plausible:

In January 1069, the Northumbrians killed the earl King William the Conqueror had foisted upon them, and soon there was a major rebellion. Edgar Ætheling and Gospatric went to join the fun and managed to conquer York (probably with some of Malcolm's troops involved; I don't think there were enough English exiles and disgrunteld Northumbrians to make an army) which Edgar intended to turn into a basis for further conquest. But King William rushed north with an army and retook the town and built a castle; Edgar had to flee back to Scotland.

But the Northern Alliance had made a pact with the Danes under Sveyn Estridson who had a claim to the English crown, too, and who came with a fleet in August. Luck turned towards Edgar and his supporters, and by October of the year William's position looked pretty uncomfortable. Edgar held York, Gospatric was again earl of Northumbria and sat in Bamburgh Castle, King Malcolm held Cumbria in the west, the Danes patrolled the east coast, and the Earls Edwin and Morcar of Mercia were negotiating an alliance.

But William didn't play by the rules and launched a winter campaign. The Danes had set to winter in Lincolnshire and left York to the AngloSaxons. So William surrounded the Danes, cutting them off supply, and reconquered York, forcing Edgar's army to retreat further north.

Next spring William gave Sveyn a a bag full of shiny coins and merry farewell banquet, at which point the Danes packed their axes and returned home. Then he pushed further north all the way to Hexham, and forced Gospatric to surrender. William then reinstalled him as Earl of Northumbria and sent him harrying Cumbria to keep Malcolm busy. Edgar Ætheling had no choice but to flee back to Scotland. I don't think a flight to the continent would have proven easy at that point, with no access to ships or harbours not controlled by his enemies.

In June 1070, William could leave a subdued Northumbria behind and return south. Malcolm plundered the lands of Gospatric in retaliation for his changing sides. Not a nice thing to do in a land already harried by war, but it was a point of Medieaval honour. An attempt to gain Northumbria on his own seems not likely. While Malcolm had the army Edgar lacked, he could not have hoped to achieve more than his brother-in-law without further support.

Inner bailey; view towards Ravine Tower

We can only speculate how the Norman lord of a castle like Alnwick fared in such unruly times, but at least Gilbert seems to have kept his hold on it, or was able to return from a period of exile. At that time, its strategic position and likely also its defenses were inferior to places like Bamburgh or York, so Edgar, Gospatric or whoever may not have had a very great interest in it.

After Edgar also got involved with Hereward and a fugitive Morcar of Mercia in Ely, and William had to subdue another rising, the Conqueror finally had enough of this nest of rebels at the Scottish court. In 1072, he invaded Scotland from both land and sea, much like Æthelstan did in 934 against Constantine. Malcolm did not want to risk the loss of Lothian or Fife and opened up negotiations pretty fast.

At the Treaty of Abernethy (September 1072) Malcolm “became William’s man” as the AngloSaxon Chronicle says, a rather undifferenciated expression that surely did not imply a feudal relationship to Malcolm and his successors (nor did it mean much to Constantine who had made the same agreement with Æthelstan in 934), though it may have meant more to the Norman William. Malcolm also gave his eldest son Duncan as hostage. But he was not forced to deliver Edgar Ætheling to William; Edgar and Gospatric, whom William meanwhile had replaced as Earl of Northumbria, fled to Flanders.

Two years later, Edgar and Gospatric returned to Britain after a failed attempt to win the French king’s assistance and another shipwreck (seriously, what sort of sailor was Edgar?). Edgar made his peace with William and gave up his claim to the English throne, while Gospatric got land in Dunbar from Malcolm. In 1079, Malcolm used the quarrel between William and his eldest son Robert for another push into Northumbria which was countered by Robert; negotiations ended with the status quo ante.

Robert erected a castle at Tynemouth / Newcastle, though. There would be peace for several years until the death of William the Conqueror in 1087.

Newcastle upon Tyne, the main gate

The Conqueror’s death changed the political landscape, because his sons weren’t really happy about the succession plans: The oldest son, Robert Curthose, was to get Normandy, the second, William Rufus, England; and the youngest, Henry, was left with some minor bits of land. But Robert wanted to inherit the whole cake. Edgar Ætheling, who seems to have spent at least part of his time in Normandy, supported him, whereof his lands in Normandy were confiscated by William Rufus. Edgar fled once again to Scotland, and that would bring Malcolm into the fray as well.

In May 1091, Malcolm used the chance that William was busy putting Robert on a potty in Normandy, and marched south to besiege Newcastle (or Durham, as other sources say, but I think that less likely since Malcolm venerated St.Cuthbert). William Rufus took the threat seriously enough to return from Normandy in September, after he made peace with his brother. So Malcolm withdrew and William followed all the way to Falkirk. Thanks to negotiations led by Robert and Edgar, a reconciliation was reached between William and Malcolm (where Malcolm likely became William Rufus’ “man”). Can we detect a pattern here, lol?

The clashes between William Rufus and Malcolm were not only caused by both sides’ interest in Northumberland and in Cumbria but also by the Irish/Norse/Gaelic/Welsh alliances that kept forming along the west coast and isles; and whose leaders wanted neither a Norman nor a Scottish overlordship if they could get away with it. It seems that William feared a possible alliance of these unruly lords with Malcolm and invaded Cumbria in 1092, building the castle at Carlisle. He also set up some powerful nobles in castles in Northumbria and endorsed their raids northward.

Malcolm considered that as breach of the 1091 agreement. A second reason to add to the grievances could have been a planned marriage between William and Malcolm’s daughter Edith that William went back on. Moreover, Robert thought that William was slow to honour their agreements made in Normandy and returned back to the continent. Edgar went with him.

Alnwick Castle, the keep from the other side

Malcolm, who was in his 60ies by now and who may have realised that a military action would not achieve anything, was willing to discuss the question with William Rufus. He even travelled to Gloucester to meet the king there in August 1093. But William refused to negotiate, maybe interpreting Malcolm's actions as weakness; he asked for Malcolm's full surrender as vassal, and the matter to be judged by his barons right there. Malcolm wanted a court of the barons of both England and Scotland, situated at the border of their realms. William didn't give in and Malcolm left Gloucester in a very sour mood.

Whether or not William intended to provoke war (the AngloSaxon Chronicle is a bit optimistic if it seriously thinks Malcolm would have swallowed those insults), war came. And like the Conqueror earlier, Malcolm too, decided not to care about the proper seasons for a war and started one in late autumn. He was accompagnied by his sons Edward, the oldest and tanaiste (designated heir), and Edgar.

They took to the usual harrying tactics for the most, but the details are not clear. The Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, didn't manage to call upon a sizeable host in a short time to counter the Scots, and William Rufus was still in the south. Malcolm seems to have avoided to get near Bamburgh Castle which may have withstood a siege, but if he laid siege to Alnwick Castle instead or was just camped near the town is not sure. What we do know is that the steward of Bamburgh Castle, Arkil Morel (possibly a nephew of Robert de Mowbray), caught up with Malcolm's army at Alnwick on November 13, 1093, either to relieve a siege or to lay an ambush. He succeeded in cutting Malcolm and his sons - and probably their personal guards - off the main host and killed Malcolm and Edward. Edgar escaped to Scotland wounded, and the rest of the army snuck back as well.

Queen Margaret, who had been ill for a time, died at Edinburgh Castle when she heard the news. Scotland was left with an inheritance struggle between the surviving sons of Malcolm and Margaret, Malcolm's oldest son (with Ingibjorg) Duncan, and his brother Donald Bán.

Edinburgh Castle, St.Margaret's chapel

Robert de Mowbray, a powerful Norman nobleman, had joined Robert's rebellion against William Rufus in 1088, but was pardoned and given - or restored to - the position as Earl of Northumbria. He joined another conspiracy in 1095 which aimed to hand the crown to Stephen of Aumale, a cousin of William Rufus and Robert Curthose. Gilbert de Tesson, likely a vassal of Mowbray, must have been involved in the conspiracy as well, and if it is correct that Malcolm had laid siege to Alnwick Castle in 1093 when he was killed, we can assume there was a Norman motte and bailey construction of some sort at the time.

It is difficult to say who far-spread the rebellion was in the beginning (comparable to the 1088 one?), but when push came to shove, most barons abandoned Robert de Mowbray and his ally Guillaume d'Eu, which makes the final events look more like a local quarrel gone bad. Mowbray seized four Norwegian vessels anchoring in the Tyne; the merchants complained to the king, William Rufus called Mowbray before court, but the earl refused to attend. When William led an army into Northumbria, Mowbray took shelter in Bamburgh Castle. But at some point he broke through the siege with a small following of knights, William in hot pursuit. Mowbray, wounded in the leg, came as far as Tynemouth (Newcastle) but was captured after a short siege and taken back to Bamburgh. His wife surrendered the castle when William threatened to blind her husband.

Robert de Mowbray forfeited his estates and spent the rest of his life in prison. The date of his death is unsure (1106 or 1125). Guillaume d'Eu fared even worse; he lost the trial by combat, was castrated and died.

Bamburgh Castle, view to the keep

We don't know what happened to Gilbert Tesson, but it is likely he got executed as traitor. William gave Alnwick and the baronial title to Yves de Vescy. Yves was likely responsible for expanding the castle and giving the older part of it its shape until today. Alnwick Castle also appears more frequently in the sources.

Next time we'll look at King David of Scotland who continued the Into Northumbria Out Of Northumbria-game, with Alnwick playing a larger role than under Malcolm.


Main Sources
Frank Barlow: The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216. 5th edition, Edinburgh 1999
Richard Oram: David, The King Who Made Scotland. Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2004
Richard Oram: Domination and Lordship, Scotland 1070-1230. The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh 2011
Frank Stenton: AngloSaxon England. 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1971
Ian W. Walker: Lords of Alba, The Making of Scotland. Sutton Publishing, 2006
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Crossing the Pentland Firth

November 15, 2013, 7:58 am
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Hi, just a photo post today. I'm doing Nano again, plus I had a special qualifications course for work that left me pretty braindead in the afternoons. We'll be back to Alnwick Castle in December.

John O'Groats House

There are several ways to cross from the mainland to Orkney; the best known is the car ferry from Scrabster to Stromnes. But I took the bus from Inverness which connects to the person ferry from John O'Groats to Burwick (and another bus to Kirkwall). It's a nice way to see a lot of landscape.

The beach at John O'Groats

The Pentland Firth, the sea dividing the mainland from Orkney, has a pretty bad renown as being a brewery for some nasty storms, but while there were some nice waves, I would have not call it bad, and I doubt the inhabitants of Orkney would.

Lighthouse at the Caithness coast

Since the waters of the North Sea and the Atlantic meet in the firth, there are some currents as well, which likely were fun for the Viking ships (not so much of a problem for modern ferries). The storms and currents did not prevent the Vikings from using the firth as passage to Ireland and the Hebrides, though.

Passing some island

So I got a tour along the scenic Caithness coastal route and then along the WW2 fortifications at Scapa Flow to Kirkness. The day was on the sunny side and I managed to snatch some photos from out of the bus. Material for another post.

The cliffs of Hoy

My first impression of Orkney was: it's incredibly green. And that will say something in a land that's overall more verdant than Germany. The names are mostly Norse, and the Orkney flag could be a twin of the Norwegian one. The Vikings have left more than a few traces behind.

Coming into the harbour at Burwick

The evening sun made for some lovely pics of the crossing, though the wind on the outer deck was cold; it felt like coming right away from Greenland or so. But I love the sea so much that I suspect there must be Vikings somewhere in my ancestry. :-)

Sunset in Kirkwall Harbour

After a long day traveling from Stonehaven (near Aberdeen) to Kirkwall, I was looking forward to a good dinner, which I got down at the harbour. *grin* But that way of traveling gives you a better feel of distances and a lot more landscape than a flight would have.

Duncansby Head / Caithness (I took that one on my way back)

BTW, I said I participated in Nano again, as 'rebel' this time since I work on an ongoing project, but it's not going as well als last year. I got a bad start due to a cold the first weekend and I may also have set my expectations too high after last years success, so I keep felling dissatisfied. But every word written is still a gain, right?
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Happy Thanksgiving

November 29, 2013, 7:51 am
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I wish all of my readers who celebrate it a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the turkey.

Here the decorations in town and stores are very Christmas-y for some time now. I'm already tired of Jingle Bells. And the crowds.

Lake at Oberdorla / Thuringia

Nano didn't go as well as last year, but I got the average of what I got when I did it a few times some years ago. That's at least some more words than I usually get in a month, and I did get a grip on the prologue of Never to Return which had refused to cooperate last time, so I'd skipped it.

Autumn in the Harz

I've also been reading up on King David of Scots. King Malcolm left behind several sons with Margaret, one with Ingibjorg (who had a son in turn), and a brother. Add to this interfering Norman kings of England - can we say: trouble? *grin* David certainly had to wait his turn.
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Scottish History: Struggle for the Scottish Throne – Malcolm III to David I

December 11, 2013, 10:47 am
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The death of both King Malcolm III and his designated heir Edward at Alnwick in November 1093, as well as Margaret who might have been able to keep the remaining family together, soon thereafter, led to the usual succession quarrels. Malcolm’s brother Donald Bán came out of the woodwork (or wherever he had spent the last twenty or so years) and claimed the throne. Since primogeniture was not yet established in Scotland, he had a valid right to it, and he got the backing of those Scots who didn’t like the strong English element at Malcolm’s court.

The remaining sons of Malcolm and Margaret were forced to flee to England, to William Rufus. One can only imagine what they thought about having to seek shelter with the man who indirectly was to blame for their father’s and brother’s death. Moreover, while William took them in generously enough, he already was backing a Scottish king-to-be against the anti-English Donald Bán: Duncan, Malcolm's eldest son with Ingibjorg. William Rufus had fred Duncan from his status as hostage when he came to power in 1087, but Duncan, thoroughly Normanized, prefered to stay at William’s court. Duncan also cemented his position in Northumbria by marrying the granddaughter of Earl Gospatric, Octreda. Since they already had children in 1094, the marriage must have taken place earlier - an attempt of William to already groom Duncan as successor to the Scottish throne when his problems with Malcolm III increased?

So Duncan went north with the support of several Norman and Northumbrian nobles, and accompagnied by Edgar Ætheling and probably the Margaretsons as well. He managed to oust Donald Bán, but since William needed his army in Normandy (where his brother Robert kept causing trouble) and the Scottish lords would only accept him if he sent his English supporters home, Duncan had not the power to hold his position He ended up killed in late 1094, together with a number of his retainers; his wife and infant son fled to Northumbria, and Donald was back on the throne.

Another view of St.Margaret's Chapel
The area was also the place of David's castle that later got expanded and few of the old buildings remain.

At that point, Edmund must have decided he had better chances with Donald than with King William and changed sides. The sources are a bit unclear, but it seems Edmund was either proclaimed tanaiste or maybe even co-ruler of Donald for whom he held Lothian. William Rufus was very much not happy. He finally sent his brother on crusade with a bag full of money, to have him out of his hair in Normandy, and went back to the problems in Wales and Scotland.

He now backed Edgar, another son of Malcolm and Margaret (one brother had obviously entered orders, and Alexander and David were too young). Donald Bán and Edmund sided with Robert Earl of Mowbray who at that time had gone into full rebellion against William. Makes you wonder how Edmund felt about siding with the man responsible for his father’s death.

While King William fougth Robert de Mowbray, eventually capturing him in Tynemouth and forcing Bamburgh to surrender in 1095, Edgar son of Malcolm, his brothers (that David was in the north is proven by him co-signing a charte in Durham) and Edgar Ætheling dealt with Donald, though it took until September 1097 to gain the final victory. The sources disagree about Donald’s fate; the likeliest version is that he was captured an executed by Edgar. The whereabouts of Edmund are not sure; he may have died a monk in a monastery in Somerset. William of Malmesbury says that David captured Edmund, which would have been quite a feat for a thirteen year old.

With Donald dead and Edmund captured, Edgar was now King of Scots though dependant on the support of King William. He may even have become William’s vassal, but the only time we can trace him in England is in May 1099 when he carried the sword at William's annual crown-wearing in Westminster. Edgar made his brother Alexander tanaiste while David, still basically a teenager, went back south with William. We don’t hear of him again until 1100.

There followed a few years of peace under Edgar who obviously had less problems with the Gaelic nobles than Duncan. He also got involved in the politics on Orkney and made peace with King Magnus Barelegs of Norway, ceding the Hebrides to him - or basically confirming the fact that those islands were under Norse dominion anyway. The role of Scandinavia and Ireland at the west coast, especially the Hiberno-Norse alliances with the Welsh princes of Gwynedd was a constant source of concern for the Norman kings of England, and the kings of Scotland.

Edinburgh Castle, the Middle Ward

David meanwhile lived as a young, not very wealthy nobleman at the court of King William and joined the military and administrative education of other young men in the same situation. He likely also followed the itinerant king around in England and to Normandy, and got thoroughly acquainted with the AngloNorman culture, like Duncan did before. He may have thought to carve out a place for himself in that area, since his chance at a position in Scotland was slim.

Things took a different turn in 1100 when King William Rufus died of a hunting accident in the New Forest and his younger brother Henry, until that moment landless and politically insignificant, snatched the crown, leaving poor Robert out again. One step to consolidate his power was a good marriage, and his choice fell on Edith, a sister to David and Edgar. As descendant from Alfred the Great, she would reinforce his claim to the English throne.

There was just one little problem. Edith had spent most of her life in nunneries and had on some occasions been seen wearing the veil. The sources – esp. those written much later – try to circle the problem quite nicely. He aunt made her, Edith told archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, to 'protect her from the lust of the Normans'; and her father had been very angry to see her with a veil when he visited her in Wilton on his way to Gloucester in 1094. She never wanted to become a nun and had never professed herself. If there’s any truth to her talk with Anselm, she must have been quite a spirited woman. There had also been negotiations in 1093 about her marrying Alan of Brittany Duke of Richmond, a marriage King William would never have agreed to since Alan held vast lands in the north, too, and the Scoto-Northumbrian connections and royal English blood of Edith would have made him too powerful.

In the end it was decided that Edith had not entered orders, and the marriage between her – now taking on the name Margaret – and Henry went ahead.

Glasgow Cathedral, the so-called Lower Church
A foundation of David, though the present buildings date from the 13th and 15th century

That changed David’s status from just another impoverished nobleman to ‘brother of the queen’. He soon came into the inner circle of Henry’s advisors. Moreover, King Edgar of Scots died in 1107. He had bequeathed David the lands and lordship of Cumbria, though Alexander, the new king, obviously was unwilling to hand over such a large and strategically important bit of land.It would take until 1113 before David could take up his inheritance.

Instead, he accompanied Henry to Normandy where the king had to deal with yet another rebellion. This time he defeated Robert for good at the battle of Tinchebrai (September 1106) and kept him prisoner until his death in 1134. David got some land in the Contentin and finally an independent income. One of his tenants was Robert de Bruce who would later play an important role as David's supporter. Soon thereafter, David was also rewarded with the Hallamshire lands in Yorkshire, where Henry redistributed the possessions of nobles who had supported Robert, which shows that Henry thougth him capable of administering a strategically important fief.

1113 was a good year for David in other respects, too. King Henry arranged his marriage to the widowed Mathilde of Senlis, the daughter of Waltheof of Northumberland and William the Conqueror’s niece Judith. With her came the lands of Huntingdon/Northampton, and the claim to the defunct earldom of Northumberland.

After Henry marched an army north to show Alexander that he better hand over Cumbria now, David became Prince of Cumbria and thus lord over lands that incompassed the old kingdom of Strathclyde (minus Galloway proper and Carlisle) and stretched all the way from Glasgow and the Solway coast of Annandale in the west to Berwickshire in the east, and the Anglo-Scottish border in the south. That way Henry got a reliable ruler in an area that had been contested and potentially troublesome for a long time. In addition, David held Huntingdon and lands in Normandy.

View from Inchcolm Abbey to the Firth of Forth
Alexander stranded on the island and vowed to build a chapel, but it fell to David to fulfill that promise

Neither Alexander nor Edgar are easily to trace in their movements within Scotland and their rule gets overshadowed by David’s kingship, but there is no sign that any of both went into a formal feudal relationship with King Henry.

David held Cumbria independently, but was the vassal of his brother Alexander for southern Lothian and the Tweeddale and vassal of King Henry for Huntingdon. The relationship between the brothers seems to have been rather formal. Alexander accompagnied Henry on a war in Wales to put down the rebellion of Gruffud ap Cynan, likely to get back into the good grace of the king. He also married Henry’s illegitimate daughter Sybilla.

In 1118, Henry’s wife Margaret (formely Edith) died, but that did not change his relationship with David. David had a son with Mathilde whom he named Henry in honour of the king. For a time it looked like David would be Prince of Cumbria and Alexander King of Scots, with sons to come, and perhaps Duncan’s son William in the line of succession as well. But in 1122, Sybilla died childless. Alexander had son named Malcolm, though, who will play a role later on. He is usually claimed to have been illegitimate.

There was a flurry of activities of Henry in the north in the years to follow. For example he received back Carlisle Castle from Ranulph le Meschin who became Earl of Chester instead, and had the castle fortifications strengthened. He also gave castles and land in Northumbria to other faithful followers, among them Eustace fitz John who married the daughter of Yves des Vescy and got Alnwick Castle. This has been interpreted as a growing dissent between King Henry and David, but is is more likely (according to Oram) that Henry wanted to secure the west coast which, as mentioned above, was threatened by the Irish and Norse, and to show enough of a presence to bully Alexander into naming David as tanaiste. And giving castles to followers was a perfectly normal practice - Eustace may even have been a friend of David; they were both members of the same group at court since David's youth.

Stirling Castle, the North Gate (14th century, with view to great hall),
The oldest surviving part of the castle though it already was a royal residence at the time of David.

David continued to administer his lands and serve king Henry at court and, at times, in Normandy where Henry kept being obliged to put down rebellions. But everything changed when Alexander died unexpectedly in 1124, and David, the youngest son of Malcolm III and Margaret of Wessex, found himself King of Scots. He had left the country as child and probably was not at all acquainted with the Gaelic culture of the majority of its people. William of Malmesbury called him ‘more courtly' than his brothers, he had 'rubbed off all the tarnish of Scottish barbarity.'

Nevertheless there seems to have been an overall acceptance at first; David was of royal blood after all, an experienced warrior and administrator. And since he had the backing of King Henry, a refusal may have meant war. David was crowned King of Scots in Scone in May 1124. The coronation ceremony seems to have been alien to him, used to the more religious Norman ceremonies, but in the end David could be convinced to undergo the secular ritus.

David bought William fitz Duncan, the son of his older half-brother, off with the promise of tanistry since his own son was still too young, and maybe other concessions as well. William would be content with his position during David's reign (maybe he was not the ambitious type). A first attempt of Malcolm, the illegitimate son of Alexander who had a claim according to Scottish law and the backing of some conservative Gaelic chiefs, was repelled by David's more experienced army, though Malcolm himself escaped.

Remains of the Royal Guesthouse in Dunfermline Abbey

One of David’s first acts as king we can trace in documents is a feudal transaction: He gives the Annandale to Robert de Bruce. It actually may have been a confirmation of an act from 1122. The charte is signed only by Norman noblemen, among them Eustace fitz John; there is none of the Gaelic magnates on the list. Bruce also held lands in Yorkshire from King Henry.

David would also come to prefer to live in the southern, more Anglicised part, of his kingdom, with the centre at Roxburgh and a new abbey at Kelso. While he took interest in elevating Dunfermline from priory to abbey, he cannot be traced to having spent much time north of the Firth of Fourth, the ancient heartlands at Dunkeld and Scone during the first years of his reign. This may partly be due to the incomplete information about his itineraries but it seems that he felt most secure in Lothian and Strathclyde. We can find a number of chartes and grants for that area, fe. he elevated the status of Edinburgh, Stirling and other places to burgh (some sort of market and administration centre); a concept new to Scotland.

One of David’s interests was to create an unitary ecclesiastical authority for his realm, independent of the Archbishop of York. After all, the Church owned land, or got grants from him, and David wanted to have men on that land he could rely on. He ran into some trouble with the papal legate because the bishops John of Glasgow and Robert of St. Andrew refused to swear obedience to Archbishop Thurstan of York (this was the time of expanding papal authority and the investiture controversy in Germany that ended with Concordat of Worms 1122 ). But David managed to get the backing of King Henry, and finally the legate and the pope had to give in and the bishops got consecrated in 1127.

There may have been a connection with the sinking of the White Ship in 1120, insofar as Henry after the death of his only son William Adelin and his childless second marriage was eager to have the succession of his daughter Mathilda confirmed. David was the first great lord of the realm, in his position as Earl of Huntingdon and King of Scots, to swear the oath and set an example at the meeting in London January 1127, thus earning Henry's gratitude. David also may have accompagnied Henry to Normandy to put down yet another rebellion in 1124, this time led by Robert’s son William Clito.

Dunfermline Abbey, the Refectory

The Church issue settled, David went into a flurry of founding new churches and monasteries, among them Melrose and Inchcolm. He also succeeded in having Dunfermline elevated from priory to abbey, and this time we can trace some Gaelic bishops and magnates in the witness list, among them the 'earls' (earl is an AngloNorman representation of a Gaelic title, perhaps mormaor or rí) of Ross, Fife, Strahearn, Mar, and Maddad of Atholl, David’s kinsman.

The next years David seems to have been mostly in Scotland, but since he also held a position at the English court, he served there as justiciar in spring 1130 and was present at the dedication ceremony for the new cathedral in Canterbury. He also needed to administer his Huntingdon lands. David was back in Scotland in summer1930; at that time his wife died (she is sadly neglected in the sources and historiography and we know little about her).

But some of the Gaelic lords thought that a more ‘Scottish’ king might be the better choice. The rí Angus of Moray who was related to the family of MacBeth’s wife (he was the grandson of Lulach who was killed together with his step-father MacBeth by Malcolm III) put forth his claim. Among his supporters was Malcolm, Alexander’s son – I assume he spent the time after his escape among the Gaelic nobility, and his mother may have come from that group as well. They used David’s absence to move south.

The man to deal with Angus’ rising was one Constable Edward, whom Oram has identified as a descendant of Eadric Streona of Mercia. Edward brought Angus to battle at Stracathro where Angus was killed together with a large part of his army, but Malcolm escaped again, and according to the Annals of Ulster, Edward's / David's army suffered considerable losses, too.

Moray Firth (photo taken through the bus window)

After that, David took more attention to the north and brought Moray firmly into the fold of the kingdom. He gave some of earl Angus’ land to Dunfermline and had a church built at Urquhart (which was a nice trick since Angus’ family could not well claim church lands). There is also the curious case of William fitz Duncan who is claimed to be the ancestor of the MacUilleim and married to a woman of Scottish royal blood, likely of the Moray family and descendant of Lulach, with whom he had a son, Domnall. But what we know of him is his marriage to Alice de Rumilly, a northern-English heiress, in 1137. Yet a prior marriage and children born of it would well be possible. Also, the time of William’s assumed connection with Moray coincides with the coming of age of David’s son Henry, which would have made William’s position as tanaiste moot. David may have compensated him with a position in Moray. William is given the title ‘earl’ only in later sources, but that doesn’t mean he could not have been a lord of Moray (since David certainly would not use the title of rí) under David.

It is only after William focused his interests on his wife’s northern English lands that David took hold of Moray himself and enfeoffed men in his entourage with parts of it – the oft-cited Normainzation of Scotland. It was acutally less dramatic than it is often stated since the Normans wanted arable land, while the Gaelic chiefs and farmers wanted grazing lands for their cattle, and those are found in different places. There likely was a good deal of co-existence, and certainly intermarriage.

Caithness and Orkney had a more loose connection with King David’s influence, for example by marriages. David married his kinsman Maddad of Atholl to Margaret - yes, I know *sigh* -, the daughter of Hakon Pálsson, earl of Orkney (well, half of it), and he held some sort of formal overlordship over Caithness that did not mean much actual power. Those alliances still led to a stable relationship for several years until the power balance changed with the death of Rognvald, who ruled the other half of Orkney for the king of Norway, in 1136. David would rearrange alliances then, but the Orkney / Caithness history is a topic of its own.

View from Urquhart Castle to Loch Ness
The Castle is younger than David's time, but there already was a settlement.

The situation in the west was complicated as well. I’ve already mentioned that the ever changing Hiberno-Welsh-Gaelic alliances were a cause for concern for the kings of England and Scotland. David was involved in the mess already as Prince of Cumbria, and his enfeoffment of Annandale to Robert de Bruce may date from that time.

Malcolm got part of his support, and a place of exile, in that area. He married a daughter of the semi-legendary Gillebrigte rí of Argyll and father of Somarled (Somhairle), who would become one of the key players in the Western Isles. Though the relationship can not be simply interpreted along the lines Norman versus Gaelic culture; two ambitious men whose lands happened to share a border met in David and Somarled, and there was bound to be trouble.

King Henry had a hand in west couat politics, too. He married one of his illegitimate daughters to Fergus of Galloway; and Olaf Godredsson of Man spent some time at his court when the Norse ousted his family. Later, Olaf would side with King Stephan rather than Mathilde and David, and marry his daughter to Somarled, but since he in turn was married to Efraic, daughter of Fergus of Galloway, his alliances ran both ways, to put it politely. :-)

The marriage of Malcolm with Somarled’s sister must have taken place sometime around 1130 since his sons were adults when they rebelled against King Malcolm IV in 1153. Even with the battle of Stracathro won, the fugitive Malcolm and his western allies caused David trouble for several more years. What we can infer from the information given by Ailred of Rievaulx and the Annals of Ulster is that the fight against Malcolm involved the combined use of land forces, obviously led by Robert of Bruce, and a fleet (courtesy of Fergus of Galloway maybe?) and in the end, Malcolm was captured by treason. He would spend the rest of his days as prisoner in Roxburgh Castle. Somarled accepted David as overlord but else was still a more or less independent ruler of his island realm. But he sent troops to fight alongside David at Northallerton in 1138 (as did Fergus of Galloway).

Melrose Abbey
Another of David's foundations (the photo is a scan of an old one I took 1998).

When King Henry I died in December 1135, David had solidified his position in Scotland well enough that he could become a player in Northumberland with the backing not only of his Anglo-Norman lords and retainers but also a considerable following from the Gaelic parts of his kingdom.


Main Sources
Frank Barlow: The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216. 5th edition, Edinburgh 1999
Robert Bartlett: England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225. 5th edition, Oxford University Press, 2003
Richard Oram: David, The King Who Made Scotland. Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2004
Richard Oram: Domination and Lordship, Scotland 1070-1230. The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh 2011
Ian W. Walker: Lords of Alba, The Making of Scotland. Sutton Publishing, 2006
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Merry Christmas

December 23, 2013, 6:12 am
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I wish everyone a blessed and merry Christmas.

I hope you'll find time in all that Christmas stress to curl up in your favourite spot for a bit, with a glass of wine, some gingerbread (or whatever you like), and a good book.

Candelabra in the cathedral of Speyer, by Burghildis Roth

I'm waiting for the chronicle of Ailred of Rievaulx to arrive in the library (someone else reads it right now; how dare they, lol) because it's supposed to have a detailed account of the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton where King David fought against King Stephen's army - the topic of my next post.
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Gnisvärd Ship Setting / Gotland

February 21, 2013, 1:54 pm
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How about some sunny pics in this grey February? I swear the sun's off vacationing somewhere else in the galaxy, having some drinks in the Milky Way Bar or whatever. But at least she sent a comet mail.

So here are some photos from a ship setting on Gotland, taken on a sunny if cold May afternoon.

Bronze Age ship setting at Gnisvärd, Gotland

Ship settings are stone settings in the shape of a boat that mark grave or cremation burials. They are mostly found in the part of Scandinavia that borders the Baltic Sea (Denmark, southern Sweden, Gotland) though some have also been found in the Baltic States, Finland, Russia and Germany. Their size varies from a hundred metres (the remains of the setting at Jellinge is the largest, it may have been 300 m, though other large ones are usually under 100 m) to just a few metres.

View from the side

The larger settings date to the late Bronze and early Iron Age, while the smaller ones are from the Viking time (ca. AD 800-1150*). Ship settings should not be confused with boat burials of the Vendel time (AD 550-800, the best example is Haithabu / Hedeby) and the Viking time (fe. the famous Gokstad ship now displayed in Oslo) where real ships are used as grave and buried under an artificial hill.

View from the other side

Most ship settings consist of erratic boulders - there are plenty of those in lands once covered by glaciers and moraines - set in a boat shape in north-south direction. In some the stones are touching while in others they are a bit apart. Usually, the stones towards the bow and stem are higher than in the middle; in some large variants they can reach up to 4 metres. Some Danish settings have runic inscriptions at the bow.

Closeup of the stones at the stem

A few settings are made of standing limestone plates, and one on Bornholm / Denmark has those plates lying on the ground.

The ships can have extra stones in position of the mast; others have plates inside instead of earth and grass; some had been covered by an earthen mound.

Seen from the other stem

The urns were usually put in boxes and can be found within or without the ship setting. Some of those settings have been used for generations, as urns from several centuries demonstrate, while others demark the grave of but one man, likely a chief. Several ship settings can be found in close proximity; esp. in Gotland they tend to come in groups of 4-5 settings.

Closeup of the bow

Gotland is particularly rich in ship settings; some 350 still remain. Some scientists assume the habit may have started on Gotland and spread from there.

The settings are usually of middle size - the one at Gnisvärd is the largest with 47 metres length and 7 metres width. About hundred stones have been used to shape the ship. Stem and bow are a bit higher than the middle part (1.30 m). There is another, somewhat smaller setting about 100 metres to the south, and east of it is a Bronze Age burial field.

Another view of the Gnisvärd ship setting

The meaning of those ship settings is still disputed. One explanation is that the dead should have everything he needed in the afterworld, though personally I wonder what use a stone ship would have had (the later boat burials may make more sense in that context). What they do show is the fact that ships played an important role in the Scandinavian culture long before the Vikings sailed across half of the world.

A final view

I hope you enjoyed some stones in a typical Scandinavian pine and birch forest. It is a lovely place.

* Though that date is not undisputed, another often suggested date is 793 (attack on Lindisfarne) - 1066 (Norman conquest of England).
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Happy New Year

December 31, 2013, 6:17 am
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I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

May your plans work out and your hopes come true.

Sculpture in the Ice Hotel in Kirkenes

I can't get any winter photo here; with plus 8°C and a mix of rain and sunshine. It's so warm that some plants started to put out buds already. I want snow.
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Highland Landscapes

January 11, 2014, 11:20 am
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I'm still waiting for Ailred of Rievaulx'Life of King David of Scots. You can loan a book for 4 weeks plus one week overtime, and it looks like whoever got it right now is still sitting on it. So here are some landscape photos to tide you over the wait for the next post about King David.

Bridge over the Moray Firth at Inverness

I took all the photos out of the bus, so there may be slight reflections from the window - I got a front seat - and some blurs. I deleted the worst offenders, but overall I'm quite happy how many pics turned out decent.

Sutherland landscape

I took the bus from Inverness to John O'Groats to get the ferry to Orkney. And I was lucky to catch a sunny day - yes, they do occur in Scotland. :-)

Mountains with gorse in the foreground

The sun made the gorse that was blooming in abundance even more cheerful. In early autumn, the heather on the upper part of the hills will bloom and that must be a pretty sight as well.

The road winds around the mountains

As we drove further into Sutherland, the mountains became higher and the landscape more rugged. After passing Cromarty Firth, the road goes along the coast for many miles; one of the most scenic routes.

A view of the sea

Sometimes the bus driver alerted me to a particularly nice view, like this one.

A picturesque valley

And the sea again, this time seen from higher up. The coast is rather steep in many parts.

The sea seen from the road on the cliffs

The weather on the way back was more 'Scottish', with low clouds and a dreary feel, though the sun would come out later back in Inverness.

A road in Caithness

This is the way from Thurso back to the coast; the landscape of Caithness. Miles of hills, a few farms and sheep, and not much more.

Coastal road in Sutherland

Back at the coast and into Sutherland, I caught a glimpse of Dunrobin Castle, with a farmhouse in front of the photo, and the coast to the left. It's rather archetypical.

Dunrobin Castle

I even and even managed a close-up shot of Dunrobin Castle. I've seen photos on the net - it's quite a fairy tale building and not much like the austere stone castles I've seen on my journey else.

More mountains

And more mountains. Because that's what the Highlands are about.

View to the coast again

And a final view to the coast at Berriedale. The sea is never far away. I didn't regret getting to Orkney this way instead of taking a flight from Aberdeen; it was a time well spent.
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Overlooking the Weser - Castle Polle

January 25, 2014, 11:15 am
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The book I was waiting for has finally arrived, but since I meawhile had prepared a post about one of the many German castles I’ve visited and never got around to posting about, I’ll give you some info and photos about Castle Polle first. Because castles are always fun. :-)

Unfortunately, there's not much research material so I have to rely on online information and a few tables set up in the castle which I photographed.

Castle Polle seen from the Weser ferry

Castle Polle is one of the castles in possession of the Counts of Everstein about whom I blogged when I had visited one of their other castles. Other than the Kugelsburg which was held by a chatellain, Polle was frequently inhabited by the family. The castle lies only a few miles south of the main seat at Everstein Castle on the other side of the river (of which almost no traces remain). It occupies a strategically important position on a rocky hill with three steep sides at a bend of the Weser with a good view over the river. It guarded the crossing, and the counts of Everstein also had the right to take a toll from the ships travelling the Weser. No wonder the possession of the castle would not remain uncontested.

Inner curtain wall seen from the outer bailey

The origins of the Counts Everstein is shrouded in documentary darkness. Their first appearance at the Weser is mentioned in Helmold of Bosau’s chronicle where he tells about a future missionary of the Slavic tribes, one Vicelin, who after the death of his parents was raised in Everstein Castle (1122). The count at that time, Albert I, also founded a church in one of the family’s possessions in northern Germany. The family possessions were spread around in northen Germany and what is today Nordrhine-Wesphalia, along the Weser, and as far south as northern Hessia, the site of the Kugelsburg.

Wall with entrance to the inner castle; replacing the fomer gatehouse

I’ve already mentioned the marriage of Albert II and Richeza, a cousin of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, in my post about the Kugelsburg. Their second son Albert III had a number of children who split into several branches of the family, among them the Everstein of Polle.

Otto II; founder of the second line, married Ermengard of Arnstein who was related to House Ascania, one of the great rivals of the Welfen family in eastern Germany. The alliance made sense for the Everstein since they sided with the Staufen in the conflicts between both families. Their son Albert V (1235 – 1274) married Gisela of Büren, related to House Itter (whose heiress Mechthild had married Konrad of Everstein in 1120).

Castle polle, the landward side

Castle Polle is first mentioned in 1285 when their son Otto IV gave lands near Hannover to a monastery; the castle may thus have been built by his father Albert V. The main seat of the family, the Castle of Everstein, had fallen to the Welfen family in 1284, therefore the family made Polle their new main seat.

The Welfen had been on the rise ever since House Staufen died out with the last male member of the family, Konradin of Swabia who was executed d by Charles of Anjou (who at that time with the help of the pope had become King of Sicily, once part of the Staufen realm) in 1268.

Remains of the palas

Another grandson of Albert II and Richeza, Hermann founder of the 4th line, is mentioned to have been born in Polle in 1226, which would put the date of the castle’s foundation further back in time (if you want to trust Wikipedia). His son Otto V would become Marshal of Westphalia for the Archbishop of Cologne in 1290. This Otto again had a bunch of children, but yet the 4th line would be the last to hold the lands and name, though a member of the 3rd branch moved to Nowogard (Naugard) in Poland where the family survived until the 17th century.

With possessions spread over such a wide area, and duties as marshals, reeves and other positions, the counts of Everstein moved around a lot during the summer months, but they may have spent the winters in Castle Polle.

A window of the former palas

Herman III (son of Hermann I) married Adelheid zu Lippe, their son Hermann VII (there were Hermanns in the other branches, too, thus the odd numbers *) had no surviving sons and the other kids didn’t procreate, either. Since the possessions of the Lippe family who had large territories in northwestern Germany, bordered on the Everstein lands at the Weser, it made sense for Hermann VII to conclude a heritage confraternity with Simon III Lord of Lippe in 1403. Simon III was a son of Otto Lord of Lippe, a brother of Adelheid who had married Hermann’s father. Simon would inherit the Everstein lands at the Weser after his cousin Hermann’s death – they would stay in the family, so to speak.

The keep seen from the outer bailey

Hermann VII was married to Ermgard of Waldeck (whose mother was Mechthild of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, to complicate matters, since the Everstein and the Welfen weren't exactly best buddies) and that’s not the only Waldeck connection; Simon’s grandfather (Simon I) had married an Adelheid of Waldeck. We should keep in mind that Hermann VII and Ermgard had a surviving daughter, Elisabeth – she will play a role later on.

The duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg was ruled jointly by Heinrich and Bernhard at that time, and they seemed to have gotten along for a change. They certainly agreed upon that they did not want the Lords of Lippe to get any more lands bordering on theirs. So we’re in for another of those inheritance wars. :-)

The keep seen from the inner bailey, with the well in the foreground

Heinrich and Bernhard invaded the lands of the Lords of Lippe and there was a battle near Hameln (Hemlin) in November 1404. Things went spectacularly wrong for the Braunschweig brothers, though. They lost the battle and Heinrich got captured and dragged away to a castle of the Lords of Lippe where he was held in chains until his brother had paid a huge ransom. Upon release, Heinrich had to swear to forego any revenge and futher military actions.

But as soon as he came home, he wrote letters to the pope and the king, a-whining about his shameful treatment at the hands of Simon of Lippe's retainers. I suspect he forgot to add the little detail about who had started the whole mess, because the King Rupert - still busy sorting out the disorder Wenceslas the Lazy** had left behind, and obviously not really enquiring into the matter - put Simon Lord of Lippe and Hermann Count of Everstein under imperial ban.

Staircase leading to the riverside battlements

The pope followed with the excommunication in 1407 which fred Heinrich from his oath, and at that point the Welfen dukes and some others who had open bills with Lippe and the Everstein, like the Bishop of Paderborn, came swooping down on Simon and Hermann with an army, plundering the countryside, besieging and conquering Castle Polle, and damaging several towns on Lippe territory.

Count Hermann had enough and made his peace with the dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. He married his daughter Elisabeth to Otto, the son of Bernhard, and gave her the county of Everstein including Castle Polle as dowry. Both were still small children at the time but the marriage would eventually take place. Hermann himself spent the rest of his days in exile in Neustadt Palace north of Hannover. I could not figure out what sort of deal Simon of Lippe made but his family continued to rule their lands for generations to come.

The riverside bailey with battlements

Polle was held by a reeve of the dukes of Braunschweig. The castle was plundered and partly destroyed by Tilly's army during the Thirty Years war. The outer bailey was repaired and a new Renaissance style house for the reeve built about 1650, but the inner bailey (Oberburg) remained a ruin.

The castle was again destroyed towards the end of WW2. It was then renovated in 1984-88 to prevent the remains from crumbling further, and the keep was restored so it's possible to climb it. In 2007 and 2009 excavations took place that brought to light some finds being shown in a small museum. The castle is used for theatre performances in summer.

Riverside curtain wall

Castle Polle must have been quite large, a complex of buildings on several plateaus rising to the Oberburg (innermost bailey) on top of the hill. Of that one some features remain like part of the palas, the kitchen, and the restored keep, as well as most of the curtain walls. The well has been excavated and a tunnel between it and the keep was discovered.

The bailey right beneath held the outbuildings like horse stables, houses for the retainers and the chapel, and later the reeve's palace. On the next level were granaries and stables for the cattle. There was another small yard with battlements facing the river. The entire complex was surrounded by curtain walls, dikes and drawbridges protected by gatehouses. Some part of the riverward outer defenses and a few foundation walls in the outer bailey remain.


Landside inner curtain wall and side entrance

Notes

* The tables at the castle have him as Hermann VIII but I checked with the family tree and it's definitely Hermann VII, the extra 'I' in need of exorcism is particular to the information from the castle site (I found the same mistake in an old flyer).

** This was the time when the German kings got elected from a pool of candidates from noble houses of pretty much half of Europe (them being intermarried anyway) and thus we got some other names besides Heinrich and Otto. Wenceslas got disposed because he made too good of his nickname. *grin*

There is a vague assertion about the Counts of Everstein being vassals of the Welfen (which would have given them a share of the guilt in starting that war) but the only trace to verify that is that perhaps they swore an oath of fealty to the Duke of Braunschweig when they lost Everstein Castle to him - but in that case they ought to have received it back as fief and that didn't happen.
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Scottish History: King David and the Civil War (Part 1)

February 14, 2014, 9:15 am
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With the conflict between Henry’s daughter and appointed heir, Matilda, and his nephew Stephen who also claimed the throne, things got really interesting in Northumbria.

Among other adventures, Alnwick Castle and its lord Eustace fitz John will come back into focus again. Ivo de Vescy, who had received the castle in 1095, erected the first Norman stone fortifications. His daughter married Eustace fitz John who was given the right to the castle and title. Eustace fitz John made a career under Henry I (I have mentioned him as one of the ‘colleagues’ of David already before he became king of Scots). The marriage to the rich heiress Beatrix de Vescy (before 1130) gave Eustace Alnwick and other lands in Northumbria, another marriage lands in Malton in Yorkshire, and he evolved as one of the key players during the reorganisation of the Northumbrian society under Norman control. Eustace also was one of the justiciars of the North and Keeper of Bamburgh Castle.

When Henry I died in December 1135, Matilda was busy in Anjou where her husband had to teach some barons who was boss. So Stephen de Blois, a grandson of William the Conqueror, acted fast and snatched the crown; the crowning ceremony took place on December 22. Most of the influential lords were willing enough to follow him – likely not wild about a female ruler to begin with, even less one married to an Anjou lord, ancient rivals of the Normans. Among them was Eustace fitz John who swore fealty to Stephen and thus was allowed to keep the honours he held under Henry.

Alnwick Castle

King David of Scots, on the other hand, saw the unrest as chance to expand his territories into Northumbria which he claimed as heritage for his son from the late Matilda of Senlis. The fact that he could use his oath to Matilda (Henry’s daughter; we should start numbering the girls, too) as a pretext for armed action was just the icing on the cake. He swept down south and conquered Carlisle, Wark, Alnwick and Newcastle, though Bamburgh resisted his efforts. Carlise and Newcaste are said to have fallen 'by guile' - maybe the garrisons did not suspect David's real motive for entering town and castle. I don't know if David and his former friend Eustace meet during that campaign; it would have been an interesting encounter, to be sure.

There were men from Galloway and Moray in David’s army, and perhaps from the Isles, too. He really must have called his levies fast, esp. considering travel in winter. The host did a lot of harrying the countryside, and the chroniclers, namely those of Hexham which fell victim to the raids, had no good word to spare for David. No matter the Scottish king was Christian, they came up with all those topoi in Bede's tradition (1), about pagan armies invading Christian England, including the babies torn from their mothers’ wombs and put on spikes, and horses stabled in churches. But since also the pro-David Ailred of Rievaulx makes some critical remarks about the army – though not about David himself; he blames the undisciplined lot from Galloway in for the booty – the campaign certainly was one of the nastier ones and it alienated several Northumbrian and Cumbrian lords who previously had been David’s supporters. David had to take hostages to keep the defeated lords in line.

David came as far south as Durham where he met with the army Stephen had hastily assembled. But instead of fighting a big battle, both men decided to enter negotiations, which was more frequent in the early and high Middle Ages than many people think. They agreed upon a treaty whereby David would retain Carlise while Newcastle and Wark went back to King Stephen (and Alnwick to Eustace). David’s son Henry was granted the title of Earl of Huntingdon which David had forfeited during his rebellion, and Henry would swear fealty to Stephen for Huntingdon and Carlisle. But no oath was required from David, and he also obtained the promise that if the defunct earldom of Northumberland ever were reinstated, Henry would be the prime candidate to hold it. Everyone saved his face; David went back to Scotland, the Galwegians back to Galloway with a sack full of shiny stuff Hexham and other places never got back, while Henry accompagnied Stephen to the Easter Court in Winchester.

Alnwick Castle, Constable’s Tower

Several nobles were not happy about the way Stephen had treated the affair with David; and honouring Henry so highly (fe. giving him the place next to himself at the Easter banquet 1136), among them Simon de Senlis, Henry’s step-brother. He had gotten the Northampton part of his mother’s heritage, but Henry got Doncaster in recompense so overall fared a lot better than Simon. Others were Ranulf II Earl of Chester who wanted Carlisle back, and Archbishop William de Corbeil of Canterbury (no idea what his reason was). Ranulf publicily accused Henry of treason during a banquet, Henry felt dishonoured, Stephen failed to reconcile the men, and David called his son back while Ranulf of Chester left the court in anger as well.

Another relationship that had gone sour for David after the death of King Henry was the one with Archbishop Thurstan of York who now again - and with the backing of Pope Innocent II - claimed metropolitan supremacy over the sees in Scotland. Bishop John of Glasgow was obliged to go into exile for several years since he still refused to swear an oath to Thurstan. The consecration of the new cathedral in Glasgow was overshadowed by these problems. But it's interesting to note who was present at that consecration: besides Earl Henry (David's son) and William fitz Duncan of Moray, there were several Gaelic magnates, the earls (mormaors) of Strathearn and Fife, and Fergus of Galloway, all men who had no immediate connection with the diocese of Glasgow. Notable as well is the absence of several of David's Norman friends, like Robert de Bruce of Annandale; though Hugh de Morville and another Norman lord would join him on his way from Glasgow to Cadzow. The whole affair looks like a war council more than a religious meeting.

Hexham Abbey, east nave

In spring 1137, grievances had added up for David who argued that Stephen had gone back on his part of the treaty. This time Stephen was busy in Normandy dealing with Matilda, and could only send some of his nobles against David. Most of them were Northumbrian lords who had suffered from the raids. The two armies met at Newcastle, but again, a truce was agreed upon, partly due to Archbishop Thurstan. The six months should give Stephen time to decide about the earldom of Northumberland. There was no mention of Matilda's claim to the throne.

At some point during these developments, Eustace fitz John must have changed sides, though I could not find a final argument for the exact date. King Stephen relieved him of the keepership of Bamburgh which likely offended Eustace. It is also possible that he began to see the chance of a strong Northumbria under David as more realistic than Stephen's limited power. Eustace's change of sides also brought some minor lords over to David.

Stephen, who had gained a fair success in Normandy, said no to any claims of Henry of Scots to the earldom of Northumberland, and that was the end of it. So in January 1138, David's host swept south again, plundering and making itself very unpopular by lack of discipline (David had to personally stand in for the safety of Hexham, for example, and William fitz Duncan fought some men over plundering from allies).The army went through the middle of the country, left alone the lands of Eustace fitz John and isolated the pro-Stephen castle at Bamburgh. Walter d'Espec's castle at Wark withstood a siege and David could only leave a besieging force under William when he moved further south to Hexham, but was forced to withdraw on the approach of King Stephen at the end of February.

Stephen retaliated by leading his army up north and into the lands of David, harrying and plundering in turn. He avoided David’s centre at Roxburgh, either because he wanted to escape a trap David is said to have set there, didn't bring siege engines or thought plundering the countryside would bring David back to the negotiation table, or because he just was inept like that. Owan tries to make Stephen look capable here, but I can’t see that.

Bamburgh Castle, the reconstructed King’s Hall

It seems that Stephen’s foray into Scotland only showed David that the king had neither the ability nor the ressources to get through with a defeat of David in his own land, and so David pushed his claim again and set up another grand style invasion northward. This time he came down along the east coast, while William fitz Duncan led an army mostly of men from Galloway through Cumbria and gained a victory against the English at Clitheroe, grabbing lands in Lancastershire which William claimed by his wife Alice de Rumilly of Skipton. He'd married the lady just the year before and one may wonder what politics lay behind a connections that would give David's nephew a claim to lands in Lancastershire. It can't have been to Stephen's liking.

David besieged Bamburgh and managed to break the outer defenses albeit not the inner bailey, but he isolated the castle. He then took Norham Castle that was held for the Bishop of Durham, though failed to turn the bishop over to his cause which meant he could not take Durham itself (where a big castle still sits near the cathedral). The armies united on the way to York and at that point the Northumbrian lords who did not follow David realized that this was more than the average harrying the countryside sort of campaign. David wanted to extend his lands to include Yorkshire and St.Cuthbert's Land (County Durham). Exact numbers of his army can only be estimated; the 22,000 of the sources are likely an exaggeration.

The Northumbrians were led by William Earl of Aumarle and Ralph of Orkney for Bishop Thurstan of York. Other leaders were Walter d'Espec, Robert Bruce (who held land not only in Annandale but also in Cleveland), a member of the Percy family, Richard de Courcy, Roger de Mowbray (2) and others - a close-knit group of Norman landholders in northern England with mutual relationships by marriage.

Both parties met at Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire. We have a detailed description of the ensuing battle by Ailread of Rievaulx (see ‘main sources’ at the end of the text). Of course, Ailred is not unbiased and the speeches of the parties involved are his invention. Speeches attributed to historical characters have been a way for authors to sneak their own ideas into historiography since Tacitus (3), if not earlier.

Rievaulx Abbey, main nave seen from the side
Rievaulx was the house from which David's biographer Ailred of Rievaulx came.

Ailred (born in 1100) was a member of King David's court for ten years until he left to become a monk in Rievaulx in 1134. He knew David, his son Henry, and several other participants in the civil war quite well. Judging by his Lament for King David, he must have genuinely liked the king, religious motives and exaggerations of the lament aside. His historiographic texts (which also include a geneaology of the kings of England and a history of Edward the Confessor) were aimed at Henry II, son of Matilda and named as successor of King Stephen; thus likely written after 1152.

Ailred’s true hero in the Relatio di Standardo (translated as Battle of the Standard) is Henry, the son of King David, who is described as a paragon of Christian virtues and braveness. David’s role was corrupted because of employing those ‘evil Galwegians’ and listening to the wrong advisors (a note we can find in the Lament as well, as only 'sin' David committed).

Negotiations took place before the battle, the delegation may have been led by Robert Bruce, David's old friend. He promised he would argue for Henry's claim to Northumberland with Stephen, but David - correctly, I think - did not believe in any success of such an endeavour. In Ailred's Relatio di Standardo, Robert Bruce gets a nice speech, reminding David of their time together, of the many services he and other Norman lords had lend him when he came to kingship, of the evil of listening to wrong advisors and keeping those 'barbarian Scots' around (well, David was their king, after all). According to Ailred, David was about to embrace Robert, when William fitz Duncan called Bruce a traitor and the peace came to naught. Robert then formally renounced his homage and the lands he held as fief from David. That latter part is confirmed by other sources and would have been the proper way to end a feudal relationship.

The other man who gets a speech by Ailred is Walter d'Espec, founder of Rievaulx Abbey. He was an old man at the time but obviously still able to encourage an outnumbered army. The Scots were many but had brittle spears and no discipline, and the Normans had already defeated a whole list of enemies, often while outnumbered as well. He also refers to the defeat of King Malcolm at Abernethy. The Gauls (as Ailred calls the Normans opposing David) fought for the good cause and God would be with them. God got some assistance by the saints Peter of York, Wilfrid of Ripon, and John of Beverley whose banners had been attached to a ship's mast mounted on a cart, which gave the battle its name. The Normans formed a single wedge with some light cavalry and infantry (mostly archers) flanking.

Northumbrian landscape
Not the exact place of the Battle of the Standard, but the typical landscape of the area

The scene moves back to David's war council. He wants to deploy the Norman knights on his side in the first rank to meet the knights on the other side, but the Galweginas, emboldened by their victory at Clitheroe, want to have that honour for themselves and insist they will not run. The Earl of Strathearn advises David against it, but the king agrees. I admit I do wonder a bit about that since it was indeed not a tactically sound decision. How strong was the position of Fergus of Galloway?

So the Scottish army deployed its forces in the following manner: First rank the Galwegians under their king Fergus; second rank the men from Cumbria and Teviotdale and probably the minor Northumbrian lords following Eustace (mixed infantry and knights), led by Henry and Eustace fitz John; third rank the men from Lothian and the Isles, the latter probably led by Somarled. King David and his personal entourage (those were of course trained knights) led the last line consisting of men from Moray, Fife and other areas in Scotland proper, to aid whatever group may need it.

The battle took place on August 22, 1138. The Galwegians held the onslaught of the knights and salvas from the archers for some time but eventually broke. If Ailred is to be believed, this was the moment when Henry showed his braveness. He tried to stop the route of the Galwegians and charged deep into enemy lines. King David made an attempt to hold the last two lines that were carried on back by the fleeing Galwegians. What I find odd is that Ailred says he dismounted, but maybe he led the Moray infantry contingent against the oncoming Normans for a while. He was already 58 at the time but not past his fighting years, it seems. David – who I suppose remounted at some point - managed to screen a somewhat orderly retreat since most of the leaders succeeded in leaving the field alive; the only prisoner we know of is William Comyn, David’s chancellor. Eustace fitz John escaped to Alnwick, wounded, most of the others made it to Carlisle.

Henry managed to break through the surrounding enemy with his bodyguard, and then the feigned to join the pursuing Normans. There’s a nice little legend about Henry giving his armour to a poor farmer on the way to Carlisle, but that only covers the fact that the leaders of the Scottish army obviously preferred to not be easily recogisable. Henry was united with his father in Carlisle two days after the battle.

Carlisle Cathedral
It was founded by Henry I and expanded by David

The Battle of the Standard was a defeat, but by no means a decisive one since David kept most of his army intact, and his leading nobles survived. Neither the Normans under William of Aumale nor King Stephen had the strength to take any advantage of their victory and didn’t even try to follow David into Cumbria.

Both sides tried to consolidate their position. The English/Northumbrian lords took Malton Castle, one of Eustace fitz John’s possessions (thogh Alnwick was never threatened) while David continued his siege of Wark, but for most the former borders were respected. In September Alberic Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and legate of Pope Innocent II, came to Scotland to talk with David about religious issues, particularly the bishop of Glasgow, but soon found himself involved in peace negotiations between David and Stephen. David turned out to be quite a fox when it came to getting the best of it. For one, Bishop John of Glasgow was allowed to return from exile, but more, the truce with England allowed him to continue the siege or Wark while the English were bound to forego invasions. In return, David convinced the Galwegians and Islemen to return at least the female prisoners they had taken to be sold as slaves.

The castle finally surrendered in November, after Walter d’Espec gave permission, and David acted generously in providing the garrison with mounts (they had eaten their horses) to travel to Durham; acknowledging their braveness. I suppose the importance of Wark at that point was more a moral than a military one.

Stephen and his lords at first were unwilling to grant David and Henry much; especially the Northumbrian nobles who had seen their lands ravaged by David’s army. But Queen Matilda managed to convince her husband that a war in the north was not worth the effort and that he had more urgent problems in England, with the rebellion of Robert of Gloucester (an illegitimate half-brother of the empress Matilda). A stable buffer zone would be the best solution. Since she also was David’s niece (her mother was David’s sister Mary who had married Eustace of Boulogne), she took an active part in the negotiations. The other Matilda, Henrsy’s daughter, and her claim to the English throne were never mentioned. David knew that Stephen had the actual power to grant him possessions, while Matilda was still rather powerless.

Durham Cathedral,
(Photo taken from the train) Carla has a post about it here

A settlement was agreed upon in Durham on April 9th, 1139 (Second Treaty of Durham). David’s son Henry was finally given the earldom of Northumberland though minus the castles of Bamburg and Newcastle. He was also restored to the earldom of Huntingdon which he had forfeited in 1137, and he did homage to Stephen for all these possessions. The Northumbrian lords in turn had to swear fealty to Henry. David kept Carlisle and Cumbria, got lands in St. Cuthbert's County in recompense for Bamburgh, and promised to ‘remain loyal’ to Stephen, whatever that means. Not much, it would turn out. ;) He also gave some hostages, among them Hugh de Morville, Earl Gospatric II of Dunbar, and - according to Richard of Hexham - Fergus of Galloway, though I'm not sure the latter makes sense, him being an independent king. It was more likely his son Uhtred (4). No hostages provided by Stephen are mentioned.

So David basically got what he set out to gain at the beginning of his conflict with England though he could not extend his lands into Yorkshire; the Tyne would remain the border. Stephen got peace in the north, but a really pissed off Ranulf of Chester who wanted Carlisle back and went into open rebellion. He tried to capture Henry at the siege of Ludlow, but Stephen rescued the young man. Stephen also made sure there were no more incidents like during the Easter celebrations in 1136, and arranged Henry's marriage to Ada de Warenne.

David consolidated his position in Cumbria, expanded Carlisle Castle, and he also issued his own coins (thanks to the silver mines of Cumberland); the first 'Scottish' money.

Then the empress Matilda invaded in September 1139.

Alnwick Castle, keep mit main tower entrance

The peace at Durham had also consolidated the postion of Eustace fitz John. He regained many of his possessions in Northumberland (though I could not figure out if that included Malton Castle in Yorkshire) and got other lands in Henry's earldom of Huntingdon (maybe to make up for Malton?).

In Alnwick Castle, Eustace built the circular keep and the towers surrounding the inner bailey, as well as the outer curtain wall. Parts of the 12th century Norman masonry can still be seen in the curtain wall and other spots like the arch over the inner gate. The size of the castle has not been altered since Eustace's time though the living quaters were modernised, a barbican added and other changes took place over the centuries. Alnwick Castle remained a formidable stronghold during the War of the Roses when the Percy family held it (yeah, there is material for more posts *sigh*).

Alnwick Castle, view from rampart to Postern Tower

Footnotes
(1) Of course, the Picts and Britons invading Northumbria in the 7th century were mostly Celtic Christians, not pagans, but in Bede's view, they were rotten heretics who celebrated Easter at the wrong date and and thus capable of all sorts of atrocities. Richard of Hexham still calls the men from Galloway 'Picts' though they were a mix of Britons, Gaels and Norse at that time and had never been Picts.
(2) Roger de Mowbray was not related to Robert de Mowbray. Robert's wife had been granted annulment of her marriage and married Nigel d'Aubray. But they got a divorce, too, and Nigel married Gundred de Gournay. Their son Roger, ward of the Crown after his father's death in 1129, entered adulthood in 1138 and was given the forfeited lands of Robert de Mowbray (Montbray) in Normandy and Yorkshire, whose name he took.
(3) Most famous are the speeches he gives to Arminius in the Annals and to Calgacus in Agricola which say more about Tacitus’ political sympathies.
(4) According to an endnote in Owan's biography, the passage seems to be corrupted.

Main Sources
Frank Barlow: The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216. 5th edition, Edinburgh 1999
Robert Bartlett: England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225. 5th edition, Oxford University Press, 2003
Richard Oram: David, The King Who Made Scotland. Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2004
Richard Oram: Domination and Lordship, Scotland 1070-1230. The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh 2011
Ailred of Rievaulx: The Historical Works, translated by J.P. Freeland, edited by M.L. Dutton. Cistercian Publications 56, 2005
Ian W. Walker: Lords of Alba, The Making of Scotland. Sutton Publishing, 2006
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Travel Plans

March 2, 2014, 8:54 am
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I'll stay in Germany for my spring tour this year and travel to some places in southern Germany, namely Bamberg, Nuremberg and Regensburg which will bring me all the way to the Danube. There should be old cathedrals, pretty houses, Mediaeval town fortifications and the odd castle. Those towns have a long history going back to early Mediaeval and even Roman (Regensburg) times. I've been to Nuremberg as child and have fond memories of the place - I liked old stuff even then.

The Horseman of Bamberg, early 13th century
(This is a copy from an exhibition in Naumburg we visited in 2012; the original stands in Bamberg Cathedral)

And Aelius Rufus will be glad to hear there should be Roman remains, too. I plan a tour to the cavalry fort and Limesmuseum in Aalen, and there's some fun stuff in Weissenburg, the Roman Biriciana, near Nuremberg. Including the remains of a bath. :-) Regensburg, the ancient Castra Regina, was an important Roman site as well, but is has been built over during the Middle Ages, and so most remains can be only found in the underground, for example under the cathedral (like in York), but I'm not sure if photographing will be allowed there.

Grave monument in shape of a sella curulis
(The decoration of the back shows a battle scene; Varus Exhibition 2009, Haltern.
The monument is usually in Hever Castle)

The tour is scheduled for April (9 days, after Easter) since the were no affordable rooms to be found in Nuremberg during May. Let's hope the weather won't be too bad.
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Built To Protect a Chapel – Krukenburg Castle

March 29, 2014, 12:39 pm
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I know I've been neglecting this blog lately. Poor little blog, here's a new post for you, and my readers. :-)

(left: Krukenburg Castle, the keep)

Getting a cold on top of the spring allergies (which started early this crazy winter) really sucks. But now at least the cotton brain feeling has disappeared, though I suspect the nose won't be up to par for another forthnight. *sigh*

I’ve noticed that some of my older posts are not up to the standard I’ve been trying to set with this blog during the last years. Back when I started this monster in spring 2005 (the Pleistocene of blogging, before homo sapiens facebookiensis evolved) the focus of my blog was somewhat different, and thus some of the castles, cathedrals and other history posts are too short. I’m going to get back to these and rewrite them over the next months, and I’ll also add more photos, though long-time followers may have seen some of the material previously. But in the long run, I want the archive on my sidebar up to the same level of detail and research (1).

(1) That does not include the posts I do immediately after a journey where I present the places I’ve visited. Those were always meant as teasers.

So here's a longer post about Krukenburg Castle, with a few detours beyond the local history to the larger events involving the politics in which the Krukenburg only played a marginal role.

Krukenburg, gate with view to the chapel

The Krukenburg sits on an 80 metres high spur above the village of Helmarshausen, near Karlshafen where the Diemel river confluences into the Weser. The place is a ruin nowadays, but a pretty one – esp. in sunshine – and of somewhat unusual layout. I’ve been there several times, and the last time - in 2010 - I got the digital camera so I could share some photos.

Rotunda of the chapel with remains of the west nave

The oldest dateable building on the hill is the church dedicated to John the Baptist which was built 1107 – 1126. The nearby Benedictine monastery of Helmarshausen is even older; it dates to 997. But it is possible that the place on the spur has been used before esp. for baptism rites (which may have been the reason the chapel was dedicated to John the Baptist), and it may trace back to a pagan religious site. Charlemagne spent quite some time in the area of the Weser and Diemel rivers during his Saxon wars and missions. He may have turned the place to the new worship.

Chapel from the north, with remains of the north transept in the foreground

The design of the chapel is somewhat unusual. Its centre is a rotunda of 13 metres diameter with a cupola roof (instead of the crossing common in Romanesque churches); added to it are a long western nave, a choir with apse to the east and two short transepts. The same layout can be found in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There is a rectangular crypt in the centre of the rotunda, again following the example of the Rock Cave in Jerusalem. It may be even older than the church and had been excavated in the 1930ies, but it turned out too expensive to restore it safely for public access, and so the space was filled in again.

Chapel seen from the inside; view to the south transept

How did this unusual layout find its way to Germany? Wino, the abbot of Helmarshausen, traveled to Jerusalem in 1033. He got a commission from bishop Meinwerk of Paderborn to acquire the plans for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for a similar building in Paderborn. The church in Jerusalem had been destroyed in 1009 and rebuilt in slightly altered fashion in the 1030ies; so the plans Wino got were from that period. The bishop then had the Jerusalem Church in Paderborn-Busdorf constructed according to those plans.

Rotunda from the inside

In 1107 Bishop Heinrich II of Paderborn and Count of Werl, from an old and influential family in the area, commissioned the chapel on the Krukenberg hill to compensate for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land he had pledged but could not make due to his age. When the church was consecrated in 1126, Bishop Heinrich was too ill to attend; he died the following year.

In that context, the unusual choice of design makes sense. After the Busdorf Church had been replaced with a more ‘modern’ building after a fire in 1289; the remains of the chapel in the Krukenburg are the only example of an ecclesiastical building of that shape north of the Alpes.

Keep (left) and chapel (right)

The main cupola once had been double the height of the naves and transepts. Those were all covered by a barrel vault roof. One can still find traces of the lips for the ceiling; esp. in the remains of the rotunda and the choir. There are also remains of decorated skirtings.

A rectangular tower with an open hall formed the westwork. Adjacent was a smaller tower with a staircase, so there must have been a second storey – some sort of gallery maybe – at least in the western nave and perhaps the rotunda.

(right: Paderborn House)

In 1126, relationships with the monastery in Helmarshausen seem to have been amiable. Bishop Heinrich granted the monastery several hides of land with the peasants living on it to celebrate the consecration of the chapel on the Krukenberg hill.

But the increasing power play of the bishops of Paderborn endangered the status of Helmashausen monastery, and may have woken memories of Bishop Meinward of Paderborn having transferred the superiority over the monastery to Paderborn a century earlier. There were esp. two bishops whose politics brought them at loggerhead with other speres of clerical influence: Bishop Bernhard II of Ibbenbüren, who took the bailiwick of Paderborn as well (in 1189) and used the combined power to found castles and towns dependant on the see.

The other one was his successor Bernhard III of Oesede. He supported Philipp of Swabia against Otto IV (the son of Heinrich the Lion) in the strive for the German kingship and thus incurred the wrath of the pope, but turned his coat after Otto’s death and got back into papal grace. In 1222, the burghers of Paderborn rose against him, backed by the archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne who in turn wanted to expand his influence.

The monastery in Helmarshausen got dragged into the quarrels between the sees of Paderborn and Cologne. The abbot decided to apply to Archbishop Engelbert for support. It was Engelbert who built the fortifications of the Krukenburg to protect both the monastery and the chapel (1216-1220). The fortifications consisted of a curtain wall with a trench, a double gate with drawbridge as well as two watch towers, but no outer bailey. The other buildings, including the keep, are later additions.

The bailey in the evening sun

Here’s some more historical background to connect my local history with the larger events: Engelbert’s predecessor and cousin Adolf of Altena was one of the men involved in releasing Richard Lionheart from captivity, and he crowned Otto IV of the Welfen family as King of the Germans in 1198; the coronation was confirmed by Pope Innocent III who was interested in balancing the strong position of the Staufen family in Italy. But Otto obviously was not an easy man to get along with, so Adolf started negotiations with Philipp of Swabia and in January 1205 crowned him as well. Ops. :-)

Keep with remains of the Mainzer House (left)

Pope Innocent did not like that one bit, so he sent Adolf a letter of dismissal and banned him. But the Rhineland was mostly pro-Staufen, so Adolf's successor didn't have much success in forcing papal policies against Adolf who refused to pack his laptop and leave his office, thus creating a nice messy schism. Adolf even went to Rome in hope to get reinstalled (which proved vain), but the assassination of the Staufen candidate Philipp of Swabia in June 1208 changed the situation. Adolf submitted to the pope and talked his followers into accepting his successor. He got out of the whole mess with a handsome annual retirement funds, much like failed politicians (or bishops) these days.

(left: Paderborn House, interior)

His cousin Engelbert, provost of the chapter of Cologne since 1198, who supported Adolf during the schism and who had been discharged and excommunicated in 1205 because of the destruction his military actions caused, got away better. He came back into grace and into his position as provost in 1208. It seems he developed a better ear for the political currents and played along.

Otto IV could not resist trying to reconquer Sicily (which had been part of the German realm under his successor, Heinrich VI son of Friedrich Barbarossa) thus breaking his promise to Pope Innocent to stay out of Sicily. That earned him an excommunication. It also gave the Staufen party in Germany a boost. Friedrich II (the son of Heinrich VI) was elected king and Otto was forced to return from Italy to sort out things at home in spring 1212. Friedrich also traveled to Germany to receive the oaths of the princes and nobles, and the conflict continued in Germany both on the political and the battlefield. Otto died, politically isolated in May 1218.

Adolf was in no position to play a role in these conflicts, though he tried to regain his job in Cologne, while Eberhard laid low. His neutrality payed out for Eberhard in 1216. After both bishops claiming the see of Cologne had been dismissed for good, Eberhard was elected archbishop of Cologne in February and consecrated in September 1217 with the blessing of both the new pope, Honorius III, and Friedrich II.

The good relationship with Friedrich would last. Engelbert was named guardian of Friedrich's son Heinrich who was crowned king in 1222, and regent in Germany (Friedrich spent a lot of time in Sicily and on crusade). That made him one of the most influential people of the realm. He was assassinated in November 1225 on his was back from Soest to Cologne.

Gate and curtain wall seen from the bailey

Engelbert used his position to strengthen the dominion of the see and to expand its territories. One wonders how voluntary the pledge of the abbot of Helmarshausen was. The information I got focusses on the increasing power of Paderborn, but that brought the bishopric in conflict with Eberhard of Cologne and it could well have been that he *ahem* suggested they better called for his protection. The monastery of Helmarshausen with its artisans who created beautiful book illuminations (Evangeliar of Heinrich the Lion) was a prestige object worth having.

Curtain wall from the outside; also the out-facing wall of Paderborn house

Engelbert pawned the castle out to Count Hermann of Everstein in 1223; in 1238 it was pawned out to the archbishop of Paderborn who erected the Paderborn House.

Paderborn House is what one may call a tower house. The entrance was in the first storey to make access more difficult. The outer walls only have small windows but the inner side facing the bailey had larger windows and overall gave a rather representative look. Which makes me wonder how safe the place really was when you could throw heavy objects inside. Well, maybe they used thick wooden shutters. Remains of beam holes and fireplaces can still be seen inside. There also was a cellar for storage and perhaps prison.

Paderborn House with the parapet in the foreground

In the following times the castle - and with it the hold over Helmarshausen monastery - changed possession a few times between the sees of Paderborn, Cologne and Mainz, sometimes also in part only, which meant that for a few years there were two bailiffs living in the castle. The Mainzer House was built in 1405 (of this only the cellar and one outer wall that also was the curtain wall, remain).

I could not find much detailed information about the role of the Krukenburg in the later Middle Ages. It was conquered by Ludwig II Landgrave of Hessia who set up a garrison there during a feud with Paderborn in 1465, but the bishop bought it back in 1496 and installed a bailiff again.

Another view from the gate to the chapel

After the Reformation, the monastery of Helmarshausen lost its importance, and with it the Krukenburg which fell into decay after 1617.

The 22 metres high keep has been repaired in 1968. There is a platform on its top with a great view over the Diemel valley, and the forests of Solling and Rheinhardswald. Though it was closed last time I went there.
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Helmarshausen Monastery

April 5, 2014, 10:31 am
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I have mentioned that one of the reasons the Krukenburg fortifications were built was to protect the monastery of Helmarshausen - Helmareteshus - in the valley beneath the castle. Of this monastery not much is left; only the foundations of the church (that have been marked so one can see the layout of the building), and the eastern wing of the adjacent monastery buildings that today houses a youth hostel. Stones from the church, which fell into decay in the 17th century, have been used to build a large barn in 1749.

Helmarshausen, foundations of the monastery church (with the barn in the background)

The monastery was founded by count Ekkehard of Reinhausen and his wife; one source says because they had lost their young son and heir. The foundation was confirmed by Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II in 997. The counts of Reinhausen (today a village near Göttingen) were a branch of the Esicon (sometimes also named Asicon) family which also was the ancestor of the more famous Billung family.

In the beginning, Helmarshausen got the same rights as the famous Benedictine abbey of Corvey, fe. the rights of market and coin, and imperial immediacy. But bishop Meinwerk of Paderborn (the same who obtained the plans of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which later would be used in building the Krukenburg chapel) who consecrated the church of the monastery in 1011, tried to snatch those rights for the see of Paderborn. His superiority over the monastery eventually got confirmed by the pope. The heirs of Count Ekkehard were not happy about that and one Thietmar, a member of the related Billung family, even invaded the lands of Paderborn with an army. A final agreement was reached only in 1024.

Former east wing with the barn in the background

The bishops of Paderborn supported the monastery and laid the groundwork for the scriptorium that would produce those amazing illuminated manuscripts.

Several local nobles - including again, the Counts of Reinhausen - donated lands and money to the monastery. Those were the basis for the expansion of the church to a length of 65 metres and the addition of outbuildings, as well as its rise to one of the centres of Romanesque book illustration and gold- and silversmithing work in Europe between 1120 - 1200, surpassing even Corvey.

East wing seen from the other side

Between 1107 and 1130 the monks in the workshop created a number of portable crucifixes and altars, and books covers which in the Middle Ages often were grand affairs with gold ornaments and jewels.

The scriptorium had close connections with the monasteries and abbeys at the Rhine from where the monks learned the Romanesque style of book illumination, which then spread to Saxony. From the 1150ies onward the number of laymen as patrons rose. Illuminated gospel books, like the one done for Heinrich the Lion and his English wife Matilda, were a typical produce of book art of the time.

But in the 13th century the competition of lay workshops increased; the monks of Helmarshausen failed to adapt to the new Gothic style of illustration, and the political situation of the monastery became uneasy. The role of Helmarshausen declined.

The main gate of the monastery

We know little about the history of the monastery in the years after it came under Paderborn superiority. One fact is the translation of several relics, among them those of St.Modoald from Trier under Abbot Thietmar I (1080 – 1111). Modoald had been a bishop in Trier in the 7th century and not even martyred, so I have no idea how that made him a saint. But his relics did attract pilgrims and that meant money. Tourist trap Medieaval style.

Helmarshausen tried to reagin imperial immediacy in the second half of the 12th century. One abbot even faked chartes to prove the monastery's independence from Paderborn, but Pope Alexander III confirmed the rights of Paderborn in 1160. In 1184, the protector and reeve of the monastery, Heinrich the Lion, lost that position together with his duchy of Saxony and was exiled. As result, Helmarshausen was dragged into the quarrels between Welfen and Staufen (see also the post about the Krukenburg).

Enclosing wall with side entrance (and a corner of the church foundations)

Pope Coelestine III confirmed the privileges of Helmarshausen in 1191. The abbot Thietmar III then refused to get invested by Bishop Bernward of Paderborn who in turn excommunicated him.

No wonder Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne used the chance when it opened. In 1220, he got half of the town of Helmarshausen and in turn promised to protect the monastery. For that, he built the Krukenburg fortifications. Helmarshausen became one of the main positions of Cologne at the Weser.

But after the battle of Worringen in 1288 where the archbishop (Siegfried of of Westerburg: the whole affair was a feud about an inheritance, and of course, power, involving the duke of Brabant and some nobles at the Rhine) was captured by his enemies, the see of Cologne lost its influence at the Weser, and the bishops of Paderborn regained superiority over Helmarshausen monastery. Bishop Bernhard V got he rights on both the monastery and the former Cologne-held part of the town in 1323. The rights to the town were then sold to the archbishop of Mainz, a rival of Cologne.

Helmarshausen parish church, the Romanesque choir

In the 15th century, the landgraves of Hessia gained most of the possessions of the archconvent Mainz, including Helmarshausen (1479). The decline of the monastery had begun in the 13th century already; the income decreased and the bishops of Cologne, Paderborn, or Mainz were obliged to sell or pawn out possessions. One may wonder what had happened if Helmarshausen had never questioned the role of the see of Paderborn and stayed under its protection. Maybe the decline could have pushed back, but it would eventually have come anyway.

The monastery was dissoluted during the Reformation (1538) and Landgrave Philipp of Hessia had a tithe office established in the monastery. Today only the east wing and the barn from 1749 (to keep the tithes paid in grain) remain.

The choir seen from the gallery

Close to the monastery is the old parish church of Helmarshausen, a Romanesque building that has undergone several renovations; last time in 1799 when the wooden gallery was added. The tower and the choir still show features of the original Romanesque architecture, though. The church is difficult to photograph from the outside because of other buildings getting the the way.

The church was originally used by the Benedictine monks (since 997) but they soon built a larger one and left this one to the parish. It today displays one of the facsimiles of the Gospel of Duke Heinrich of Braunschweig.
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Happy Easter

April 18, 2014, 6:01 am
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I wish everyone a Happy Easter holiday.

Church in Reinhausen, westwork

Peeking through the shrubs in the westwork of the church in Reinhausen near Göttingen. This is the main church built by the counts of Reinhausen who also founded Helmarshausen Monastery. The church dates to the early 11th century and is a fine example of but lightly altered (the large windows are Baroque) Romanesque style

Church in Reinhausen, seen from the east apse (which is curiously rectangular)

The church sits on a hill above the village of Reinhausen. There had been a castle on the same hill as well, but of that almost nothing remains.

The church celebrates its 1000 year anniversary this year and has undergone renovation. During that process, some murals and reliefs have been found, like the one below showing Christ's way with the cross, dating to about 1400.

Gothic relief, a Good Friday motive

I'll be away after easter to visit some places in southern Germany. I'll be back at the beginning of May.
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Back With Booty - Pretty Views

May 2, 2014, 1:36 pm
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All towns I visited (actually, Nuremberg is a city) date back to at least the Middle Ages and are rich in history, which means rich in old buildings other than the churches and castles. Here are a few.

Bamberg, house of the bridge guard, and town hall (the stone building in the background)
on a islet in the river Regnitz

There was some quarrel about the location of the town hall; old town (the part around the cathedral) or new town (which now is old, too), so an islet in the river was expanded by heavy oak posts rammed into the ground, and the town hall was built right on the boundary.

Bamberg, the Old Palace

The Old Palace is a group of buildings that had been used as residence by the bishop and also served as palatine seat for the emperor upon his visits in the Middle Ages when the king's household was still itinerant. Later, the bishop built a new Renaissance palace at the other side of the cathedral.

Bamberg, 'little Venice' riverfront

Pretty old timber houses lining the Regnitz. Especially lovely in the evening sun.

Nuremberg, view from the town wall to the castle

That is another childhood memory. I climbed the stairs to the battlements of the town wall then as well. You can walk along the part surrounding an extended corner of the old town at the castle. More remains of the wall are further down the hill.

Nuremberg, Artisans' Quarter

The Artisans' Quarter is located directly adjacent another remaining part of the town wall. The little houses are mostly reconstructed and sell kitch or house little pubs, but the atmosphere is somewhat Medieaval with the small spaces between the booths and the wares on display outside. I used to have a beer there on my way back to the hotel after a day of exploring.

Nuremberg, Hangman's Bridge

One of several bridges over the Pegnitz. The other ones are made of stone, and some are modern, but this ancient timber one is the prettiest of the lot.

Weissenburg, town walls

Weissenburg, built on the vicus of the Roman fort, still has a significant part of its town walls intact. The old trench has been refilled with water in one section to make it look even more original.

Near Regensburg, impressions of the Danube

Regensburg lies at the Danube, and I took a two hours cruise on the river. You know how much I like that sort of thing (I did so on the Ouse, Dee, Rhine and Mosel as well).
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Back With Booty - Romans

May 2, 2014, 1:45 pm
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The Limes, the frontier between the Roman Empire and Germania, runs south of Nuremberg and thus I was able to visit some Roman places. And Regensburg is on the Roman side anyway. Aelius Rufus was quite happy, though I had difficulties getting him out of the baths in Weissenburg.

Aalen, foundations of the principia

Aalen was a fort for an ala milliaria, a double cavalry unit. What remains today are the foundations of the principia, the main administrative building in the centre of the fort. One can only try to imagine how large the entire fort had been; part of it is now covered by a cementary.

Aalen, remains of the principia with the shrine of the standards

The closeup shows the aedes principiorum, the shrine of the standards. Here it is a genuine apse, not a rectangular one like in the Saalburg. The unit stationed in the fort was the Ala II Flavia Pia Fidelis Milliaria.

Weissenburg, the baths

Weissenburg, the Roman Biriciana, is a cohort castellum directly at the limes. The foundations have been preserved and one of the four gates reconstructed. Near the fort are the remains of a pretty sophisticated bath complex, almost a spa.

Weissenburg, helmet on display in the museum

The museum is not large, but it got some real shinies from a hidden treasure - probably put in the earth during the Alamannic raids in the 3rd century - that had recently been discovered.

Roman Regensburg underground, parts of a wall of the legionary fort

Regensburg - Castra Regina, named for the river Regen confluencing into the Danube - was a legionary fort for 6,000 soldiers. One can still trace the principal roads in the layout of the old town, and remains of the buildings keep coming up every time a hole is dug in that area. That piece of wall is in a car parking house.

Regensburg, the porta praetoria (one of the gates of the fort)

Some remains have always been visible and integrated into the town architecture, though most of the stones were dismantled and reused. The Porta praetoria is one of the signposts of Regensburg, besides the cathedral and the 12th century bridge (which unfortunately is scaffolded in).
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Back With Booty - Castles

May 2, 2014, 2:07 pm
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Of course, I did some castle hunting as well. Though in case of Nuremberg, the castle is right on the hill towering the old town.

Nuremberg Castle, outer gate

I had been to Nuremberg as child and I remember some features of the castle like the way up to the gate and the fact that some buildings had a half-timbered upper storey. Some things never change, the kids still climb the red sandstone rocks on the hill leading to the gate.

Nuremberg Castle, inner bailey

It was the only day with some rain in the morning (though the next day in Regensburg was overcast as well, the exceptions of an else sunny and warm holiday). It had been a hot summer day when I first visited Nuremberg, that too I remember.

Altenburg Castle near Bamberg

Altenburg Castle is technically part of the town of Bamberg that spreads over seven hills. The cathedral is on one, another holds a monastery now closed for repair, and the hightest hill farthest from the town centre is the place of the Altenburg. As if all that walking around in towns wasn't enough, I got me a veritable hike on top of it. But I can't resist additions to my castle collection.

Coburg Fortress, outer defenses of the old castle

Coburg Fortress (Veste Coburg) was not part of my planned itinerary, but since I covered the important things in Bamberg faster than I had estimated and got an extra afternoon, I decided for a little off the road trip. The regional train connections in the area are pretty good, about 40 minutes to Coburg.

Coburg Fortress, inner bailey

It's one of the largest fortresses in Germany, with origins and buildings dating to the Middle Ages, and additional fortifications during the wars in the 16th and 17th centuries. Definitely worth the detour.

Coburg Fortress, one of the armoury rooms

Several rooms can be visited, among them the armouries with lots of armour, sharp and pointy things, and historical guns of all sorts. My friend Annika will likely drool about the pretty armour. I should ask her to provide me with the correct info for my photos since I can't tell Milanese from English style. ;-)

Castle Donaustauf, second gate

Not far from Regensburg, on a mountain at the Danube, is a beautiful castle ruin. Donaustauf has once been an important castle and the remains are still formidable. And I had it all for myself (while the other places usually were busy with tourists, albeit not as bad as in high season). Maybe it's because the only way up there is to walk, heh.

Castle Donaustauf, upper keep and chapel with view towards the Danube

The castle is a veritable maze of baileys and curtain walls covering the upper part of the mountain - the above photo is the highest point.
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Back With Booty - Churches and Cathedrals

May 2, 2014, 2:37 pm
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I'm back and after sifting though some 2,000 photos, I got the usual overview for you. Since I concentrated on towns this time, I visited quite a few churches, though not every one on the way; only the important ones and those without Baroque 'improvements' inside which is, alas, rather common in southern Germany.

Bamberg Cathedral, view to the west choir

Bamberg Cathedral is a fine example of a double-quired Romanesque church.

I had some bad luck since my camera, trusted compagnon for 8 years, decided to threw a fit right inside the cathedral. Fortunately, I found a store that had one fulfilling my requirements and which is even better, albeit thrice the size of my late one. The above photo is one of the last I shot with the old camera while it still worked.

Nuremberg, St. Laurence Church, westwork

Outside views of churches are often tricky since the houses tend to sit too close, but there's a market place in front of the westwork of St.Laurence in Nuremberg which gives a good view of the fine Gothic tracework.

Nuremberg, St.Sebald Church, high quire

Both St.Laurence and St.Sebald have high quires in the Gothic style. There was a bit of a competition going on between the churches. St.Sebald first erected its soaring choir to enshrine the shrine of Saint Sebald; St.Laurence followed suit.

Nuremberg, chapel in the castle

This one is the upper storey of the double chapel in the castle, in the older Romanesque style. Unfortunately, there is no access to the lower floor wich has a different set of pillars.

Regensburg Cathedral

The cathedral in Regensburg, Germany's finest example of the flamboyant late Gothic style, is a nightmare to photograph. Even the new camera couldn't catch all of it in one pic since it's so huge. And the traffic in front of it didn't help. The town has Unesco World Heritage status and should really do something about the cars racing along its most famous building.

Regensburg Cathedral, soaring spires

A closeup of some of the many details of the facades. Gargoyles, flying buttresses, decorative tracework and figures - you get everything. There's always some scaffolding somewhere, because the old stones need constant care and restoration.

Regensburg, St.Emmeram, crypt

St.Emmeram is the oldest church in Regensburg, but the Asam brethren went crazy on gilded, chubby angel-ed Baroque makeover in the main church in 1732, so the crypt is the only part retaining its Romanesque look.

Regensburg. St.Jacob, main entrance

This one is interesting because it was built in the 11th century by monks from Ireland - Scotia Maior - who brought their Celtic style of decorations and created a church unique for Bavaria. It is usually called the Schottenkirche.

(Dont forget to check below for more posts.)
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Bloggiversary

May 25, 2014, 8:51 am
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This month it's nine years since I started my blog. That makes The Lost Fort if not a dinosaur so at least a mammoth of the blogsphere, though with the difference that it hasn't become extinct. And I plan to keep that prehistorical animal alive for a long time to come - I got enough material for another 500something posts. :-)

The Danube; the southernmost part of my travels

I wanted to celebrate the occasion with a slightly altered layout that takes into account the increasing number of wide screens, and add a second sidebar to the left. But the new templates are all ugly as sin and not really editable, at least not to an extent I wanted to change things (not to mention tons of extra code for display on mobiles and stuff). And my old template from 2005 is an unholy mix of HTML and CSS to begin with and my tampering with it hasn't made it any cleaner, I admit. There's just no way to add a second sidebar; I've tried for hours.

The Barents Sea, the northernmost part of my travels

So I decided for the second best option and split my existing sidebar with some tags usually used to insert tables. That took some code fumbling as well, but I finally got it to display nicely on Firefox (though the display on IE8 sucks, but who's using that one still, lol?). So I got sort of what I wanted: a new look that's not fundamentally different from the old one - I definitely wanted to keep the colour scheme and some other features.

Iona, the western extent of my travels

I've added some photos to this post that illustrate the extent of my travels during the years I've been blogging. I did go further west than Iona during a school trip to Avranches in France, but that's really long ago. That there's water on all of the photos is no chance; I love water and if I can't get to the sea, I try to at least have rivers or lakes on my trips.

From the Danube to the Barents Sea, from Iona to St.Petersburg, encompassing 11 countries (if you count Wales and Scotland as part of the UK), albeit some only for a short visit; going farther east and north than the Romans - not a bad result for nine years of traveling and blogging. :-)

St.Petersburg, the eastern extent of my travels

Some of my readers have followed me from the beginning as I followed their blogs, many have joined me during time. I've met a few of my readers in real life, but what I really gained are a number of online friends from places even beyond my travels. I cherish you all and hope you will stay with me for another nine years.
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