Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/70

 54 MedicEval Military Architecture in England, seat of Castle Gary, of which the earthworks cover a hillside ; secured Harptree by surprise, and thence doubled back upon Hereford, which won, he next recovered the old British and English fortress of Pengwern or Shrewsbury. Bristol alone held out, strong in its newly-built keep, and in the presence of Robert Earl of Gloucester, its builder. The "battle of the Standard," A.D. 1138, was fought in the open field, under the leadership of D^Aumale ; but it was also named from North Allerton, where, intersected by the rail- way, are still seen formidable earthworks far older than Bishop Puiset's castle which surmounted them, and which was after- wards entirely razed by Henry H. The victory of North Allerton was enhanced by the capture of Dover by Stephen^s Queen. The castle of Carlisle still remained in the pos- session of King David, and thence he renewed the war, and in the following year obtained for his son Henry the earldom of Northumberland ; with the exception, however, of the castles of Newcastle and Bamburgh. When, in 1 1 39, Stephen's change of policy lost him the support of the clergy, led by his ambitious brother the Bishop of Winchester, his first blow was struck at the episcopal castles. Of these, the Devizes, Sherborne, and Malmesbury belonged to Bishop Roger of Sarum. Malmesbury, an epis- copal encroachment upon the adjacent Abbey, was wholly the Bishop's work, and is now utterly destroyed. Sherborne, a very ancient episcopal seat, still retains its early earthworks, and a keep and gatehouse, the work of Bishop Roger ; and although of the Devizes there remain but a few fragments of its circular keep, the earthworks (the grandest in England) show that it may well have deserved its great reputation. These Stephen seized upon, and he also took Newark-upon- Trent, still admired for its lofty and extended front, and for its magnificent Norman entrance. With Newark fell Sleaford, both built by Bishop Alexander of Lincoln, nephew of Bishop Roger, and also a great builder of castles. Sleaford is utterly demolished, and being entirely post-conquestal, had scarcely any earthworks to preserve its memory. Among the events of this important year were the taking of Nottingham and Marlborough Castles by Stephen ; his attack on Ludlow ; the appearance on the scene of his rival, the Empress Matilda ; and his siege of Arundel, in which castle she took refuge with D'Albini aftd Queen Adeliza his wife, Nottingham is gone. Of Marlborough only a fine mound remains, upon which stood its circular keep. Much of Ludlow, especially its rectangular keep, played a part in Stephen's siege, as did a part of the existing exterior wall.