Norman Castleries
At the time of the Norman Conquest there were four rapes: Arundel, Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings. The rape of Arundel consisted of the entire area of Sussex west of the River Adur, corresponding to the boundaries of both the western division of the church in Sussex (the forerunner to the archdeaconry of Chichester) and the boundaries of the traditional western area of the Sussex dialect. By the time of the Domesday Book, William the Conqueror had created the rape of Bramber as an afterthought out of parts of the Arundel and Lewes rapes, so that the Adur estuary could be better defended.
In the Domesday survey, five great Norman lords held the rapes into which Sussex was divided, four of them giving their names to four of the five divisions as they were called in Domesday Book; at the accession of Henry I of England in 1100 they were Robert of Bellême in Arundel rape, Robert's nephew William, Count of Mortain in Pevensey, William of Warenne in Lewes, the count of Eu in Hastings and, the only fully trustworthy Sussex lord at the time, Philip de Braose in Bramber. These lords had succeeded, not to similar Anglo-Saxon magnates, but to a crowd of lesser landholders: each also held lands in the rapes of others.
Under the Normans each traditional rape was now centred on a castle: Sir Henry Ellis's observation that the rapes "were military districts for the supply of the castles which existed in each" applied to the Anglo-Norman period Each rape had a single sheriff and ran as a strip, north-south, from the Surrey/Kent border to the English Channel. The castles of Arundel, Bramber and Lewes were sited on positions overlooking the rivers Arun, Adur and Ouse respectively, while those at Chichester, Hastings and Pevensey overlooked the coast. This formation was a creation of William I of England, presumably designed to protect routes to Normandy.
Between 1250 and 1262, the rape of Chichester was created from the western half of Arundel rape. From this time onwards, Sussex was divided into—from west to east—Chichester, Arundel, Bramber, Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings rapes.
| Name | Castle | Hundreds | Towns and cities | Highest point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rape of Chichester | Chichester Castle | Aldwick, Bosham, Box and Stockbridge, Dumpford, Easebourne, Manhood, Westbourne and Singleton | Bognor Regis, Chichester, Midhurst, Selsey | Blackdown (280m) |
| Rape of Arundel | Arundel Castle | Avisford, Bury, Poling, Rotherbridge, West Easwrith | Arundel, Littlehampton | Glatting Beacon (245m) |
| Rape of Bramber | Bramber Castle | Brightford, Burbeach, East Easwrith, Fishersgate, Patching, Singlecross, Steyning, Tarring, Tipnoak, West Grinstead, Windham and Ewhurst | Crawley, Horsham, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing | Chanctonbury Hill (242m) |
| Rape of Lewes | Lewes Castle | Barcombe, Buttinghill, Dean, Fishersgate, Holmstrow, Poynings, Preston, Street, Swanborough, Whalebone, Younsmere | Brighton and Hove, Haywards Heath, Lewes | Ditchling Beacon (248m) |
| Rape of Pevensey | Pevensey Castle | Alciston, Bishopstone, Burleigh Arches, Danehill Horsted, Dill, East Grinstead, Eastbourne, Flexborough, Hartfield, Longbridge, Loxfield Dorset, Loxfield Pelham, Pevensey Lowey, Ringmer, Rotherfield, Rushmonden, Shiplake, Totnore, Willingdon | East Grinstead, Eastbourne, Uckfield | Crowborough (242m) |
| Rape of Hastings | Hastings Castle | Baldstrow, Battle, Bexhill | Battle, Hastings, Rye | Brightling Down (197m) |
Read more about this topic: Rape (county Subdivision)
Famous quotes containing the word norman:
“You’re a woman who’s been getting nothing but dirty breaks. Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you’ll have to stay in the garage all night.”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Arthur Sheekman, Will Johnstone, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Monkey Business, a wisecrack made while trying to woo Lucille Briggs (Thelma Todd)