Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/185

 THE CASTLE OF EXETER. 129 determined at once to crush this rising spirit of resistance, and to visit them with exemplary vengeance. In the spring of 1068, he advanced towards Exeter with a numerous army, a great part of which was composed of Enghshmen. At some distance he was met by the magistrates, who implored his clemency, proffered the surrender of the place at discre- tion, and gave hostages for their fidelity. With five hundred horse, he approached one of the gates, and, to his astonish- ment, found it barred against him, and a crowd of combatants bade him defiance from their walls. It was in vain that, to intimidate them, he ordered one of the hostages to be deprived of his eyes. The siege lasted eighteen days : the Royalists suffered severe loss in different assaults; but, as we learn from the Domesday Survey,^ forty-eight houses (about a sixth part of the whole city) were destroyed. At last the citizens submitted, but on conditions wdiich could hardly have been anticipated. They took, indeed, an oath of fealty and admitted a garrison ; but their lives, their property, and municipal privileges were secured : and, in order to prevent the opportunity of plunder, the besieging army was removed from the vicinity.^ In the following year, Exeter was besieged by the mal- contents of Cornwall ; but, in return for the sovereign's clemency and confidence, the citizens offered a gallant resist- ance, and at length were relieved by the fleet of Brian and the forces of William Fitz-Osbern, Earl of Hereford, the king's relative and most favoured general, whose brother shortly after was aj^pointed the second bishop of our diocese. A site had been selected by the king for his citadel within the walls, and admirably adapted to overawe and protect the town. It was on the north-east summit of its highest ground, called Rougemont, from the redness of its soil. In deeds of the thirteenth century, in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, we find it described as "• rubeus mons extra portam aquilonarem civitatis Exonia? ;" and William of Worcester, in his Itinerary of 1478, designates the castle itself by the name of Rougemont. " Castrum de Excestre vocatur Castellum Rougemont." De la Beche, in his Report ' This record shows that Lidford did Norman invaders, not submit to the Conqueror until forty " For the correctness of this narrative, houses of the burgesses were demolished, Dr. Lingard, in his History of William I., nor Barnstaple until twenty-three houses refers to Orderic and the Clironieon were laid waste ; a proof of the deadly Lombardi. hatred of the townsmen against the