elsewhere. His castle, of which but a few crumbling stones remain, occupied a strong position on the eastern slope of the Vinnall Hill, a lofty ridge which extends southward from Ludlow. An English settler, long before Richard's day, had raised a lofty mound and constructed great earthworks on the site. Of this the Norman took possession. He converted the mound into a keep, and enclosed the outer works with a strong wall. This was the "castle" in contrast with the old English. "fastness," and the manner

Richard's Castle, with its walls and towers, was thus in existence, and a terror to the surrounding country, for some time before the first great fortress was built at Ludlow. For, in spite of the natural advantages of the site, it would seem that no "fastness"-certainly no mound after the English fashion-had been raised at Ludlow before the foundations of the existing castle were laid by Roger de Lacy, between the years 1086 and 1096. There are, as we shall see, some earthworks; but they do not resemble those of Richard's Castle or of Shrewsbury, and they show nothing inconsistent with the belief that they are of Norman origin. Why such a position-so important and so naturally strong-should have been thus neglected it is impossible to say; nor can we say what was the character of the town or settlement at Ludlow, if any existed, before the construction of the Norman castle. The town afterwards became a mere dependency of the castle, and the history of one is the history of the other. Ludlow, under that

LUDFORD AND THE BRIDGE.

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name, is not mentioned in the "Domesday Survey; " but three places named "Lude" occur in that record, one of which has been shown to represent the later Ludlow. "Lud," or "Lude," seems to be a British word, signifying a "ford;" and we have it, with its interpretation, in the neighbouring "Ludford." The castle crowns a rocky promontory, a little south of the junction of the rivers Corve and Teme, whose united streams flow on westward toward the distant Severn, which is reached south of Worcester.

The general

and the Corve, beautiful streams as they are, yield in volume and in dignity to the Greta and the Tees.

A little below the junction of the two rivers, and beyond a deep ravine through which they pass, is the village of Ludford, which has just been mentioned. The "Ford" lies on the direct road between Richard's Castle and Ludlow; and the broad, shallow falls on the stream, above and below the bridge, are favourite haunts of the fisherman, and add greatly to the life and brilliancy of the view on entering the town from this side. The bridge which has replaced the ford, and connects the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire, is picturesque. "There be three fayre arches in this bridge over Teme," wrote Leland, "and a praty chapel upon it of St. Catherine." The little church of Ludford contains the

effigy of Sir Job Charlton, Speaker of the House of Commons in 1685, who entertained James II. in great state at his house here, in 1687. This quaint old house formed part of the Hospital of St. John, founded by a burgess of Ludlow in the thirteenth century. It was sold to the Charltons in 1667.

We cross the bridge, and enter the town of Ludlow, passing up the steep Broad

Street, in the centre of which is the solitary survivor of the seven gates once rising at intervals along the course of the town walls. At the head of the street is an open space, with the castle on our left. Its towers seem to beckon us onward; but while still standing in front of them we may pass in review the history of the great fortress. The re

mains themselves will thus be more easily understood.

We have seen that Ludlow Castle is to all appearance, in its origin, purely Norman. There was no stronghold at "Lude' when Osborne Fitz-Richard-lord of that "Richard's Castle" of which the history has just been told, and the son of its founder -received the land from the Conqueror. He appears as the owner in Domesday; but his tenant was the much more considerable Roger de Lacy, who obtained the lordship from FitzRichard, and founded the castle within ten years after the survey, probably between the years 1086

1096. Roger was a good type of a Marcher lord. Fierce and restless, he rose in rebellion against the Red King, taking the side of Robert Courthose; and, again, joined in the Mowbray rising, after which he was exiled, and died. Rufus allowed his estates to pass to his brother, Hugh de Lacy, who died childless about the year 1121, when Henry I. granted his lands, which had fallen to the Crown by escheat, to Payne Fitz-John, who was killed by the Welsh in 1136, during the great revolt which broke out after the death of King Henry. Stephen seized the lands of Fitz-John, and placed as castellan in Ludlow a Breton knight, whose name was Joyce de Dinan. Of this Joyce we hear much from an historian of the Fitz-Warines, who

were connected with him. As we now have it, this Fitz-Warine history is in prose; but the prose version has been adapted from the poem of a household "trouvére" attached to the family, which must have been written toward the middle of the thirteenth century. It is in the highest degree romantic, and it is by no means easy to say what amount of real history may be contained in it. Some of its statements are undoubtedly true, since they are confirmed from other sources; and the whole gives us a remarkable picture of what, to the poet at any rate, seemed the life of adventure and of danger which might reasonably be expected in a Border castle during the most troubled period of the twelfth century.

Joyce de Dinan, we are told in this history, "finished the castle, and was a strong and valiant knight." In whatever favour he may at first have stood with Stephen, he is speedily found in rebellion, for in 1139, the fourth year after Stephen's accession, the king, on his return from Scotland, whence he brought with him as a hostage the Scottish king's son Henry, laid siege to the Castle of Ludlow, and constructed against it two "counterforts." At this time nearly all the Border castles were fortified against the king, probably under the influence of Robert of Gloucester. In one of the assaults on Ludlow Henry of Scotland, approaching too near the wall, was seized by a grappling-iron thrown out from the castle. He would have been taken prisoner but for the daring and great personal strength of Stephen, who, at the imminent peril of his own life, broke the iron and dragged the young prince away. The castle was not taken; it remained in the hands of Joyce de Dinan at the accession of Henry II., at which time there was open feud between Joyce and his neighbour, Hugh de Mortimer of Wigmore. Joyce could not leave the walls of his castle without danger of being taken by Mortimer's men; but at last he turned the tables on his foe, made him prisoner, and brought him to Ludlow, where, it is said, he was detained in a tower which is still called "Mortimer's." So far we are on tolerably safe ground; but when the historian of the Fitz-Warines proceeds to tell us the adventures of the first Fulke Fitz-Warine and of Arnold de Lisle, we begin to detect the genius of the romancer. Fulke, we are told, was, after the fashion of the time, placed in the household of Joyce de Dinan, to be educated in all knightly exercises, since Joyce was "a knight of good experience." The most deadly foe of Joyce de Dinan was Walter de Lacy, not immediately descended from the former Lords of Ludlow, but perhaps making some claim to their lands and castles. One morning in summer, "when leaves were large and long," Joyce de Dinan, looking from the highest tower of his castle, saw the whole of Whitcliffe covered with an armed host, in the midst of which appeared the banner of the Lacys. He ordered some of his knights to arm and mount in haste, and, taking with them arbalisters and archers, to defend the bridge and ford "below the town." This was successfully done. Then appeared Joyce himself, with five hundred knights, besides the burgesses of Ludlow; and, crossing the water, they engaged and defeated the "host" of the Lacys. Walter de Lacy, seeing that all was over, fled along a path by the banks of the Teme toward Bromfield. Joyce followed him unattended, overtook him in a little valley between the wood and the river, within sight of the castle, and De Lacy was wounded and on the point of being made a prisoner, when three of his knights suddenly made their appearance and came to his aid.

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The "belle dame" of Joyce, with her daughters, had seen all this from a tower in the castle. Terrified at their lord's danger they shrieked aloud, and Fulke Fitz-Warine, He had been left in then about eighteen years of age, hastened towards them. the castle on account of his youth, but the ladies taunted him as a coward who was not ashamed to go up and down safe "while he who cherished and bred thee with so much. care is in danger of his life for want of help." Stung by their words he rushed into the castle hall, where he found a rusty helmet, and seizing a great Danish axe, he ran to

a stable close to the postern which led to the river. There he mounted a cart-horse, and spurring across the river, reached the place where Joyce de Dinan, overcome, was already dismounted and on the ground. With one blow of his mighty weapon Fulke cut in two the backbone of the knight who was securing the Lord of Ludlow. With another he clove the skull of a second adversary. Joyce was remounted; and with Fulke's assistance Walter de Lacy and his remaining knight, Arnold de Lisle, were easily made prisoners. This is such a story as is usually recorded of the hero of a "Chanson de Geste" at There follows the adventure of Arnold de Lisle, who, while a the beginning of his career. prisoner in Ludlow Castle, captivated by his fair words and his goodly presence a "gentle damsel" named Marion of the Heath. She was persuaded to aid the escape of the prisoners After a short time Joyce and Walter de Lacy were reconfrom a window of her tower.