Notices of Archaeological publications.
It is with satisfaction that we invite the attention of the members of the Institute to the transactions of the kindred Society of Sussex, on the completion of a third volume of their Collections. The extensive part of Southern England, to which their labours are devoted, may be regarded as especially claiming the attention of antiquaries, on account of the deficiency of any complete county history, and of the varied subjects of interest, hitherto untouched, which the locality presents. The volumes produced under the auspices of the Society have abundantly shown that it is needful only to break up the soil, in order to bring speedily to light forgotten treasures of the past.
In the volume before us fresh evidence is given both of the varied archaeological resources of the county of Sussex, and of the intelligent energy with which the interest of its antiquities has been appreciated.
In the transactions of the Society an agreeable variety of subject prevails. It deserves notice, that in the illustration of ancient remains of an architectural kind, the technical details of construction, to which frequently too exclusive attention has been devoted, are happily counterbalanced by interesting memorials of an historical nature. Documentary evidences, in connexion both with general and personal history, have been diligently investigated; but matters of this description, which to many readers appear tedious and unattractive, are mingled with the more pleasant fruits of archaeological labour, notices illustrative of the state of society, of peculiar local customs, of the daily life of former times.
The collections under review are thus varied, with due consideration to the diversity of tastes, which must prevail in societies of this nature, in whose ranks also so many archaeologists of the gentler sex are enrolled. The volume opens with some curious notices of the ancient feudal castle of Knepp, once the resort of the sovereign, and whose history recalls the memorable struggle between King John and his bold barons. The documents relating to this stronghold of the Braoses wore collected by Mr. Sharpe, the learned translator of William of Malmesbury, and are here contributed by Sir Charles Burrell, Bart., a name so intimately associated with Sussex archaeology.[1] Of another feudal fortress, remote from the county, but closely connected with the history of its ancient nobles, Mr.
- ↑ We must venture to differ from the earned Secretary of the Society, to whom we are indebted, we believe, for the notes illustrative of this Memoir. In the curious entries relating to the chace, in which John took such delight, the term bernarii is supposed to be synonymous with berroerii, a term retained in the modern Italian sbirri. We think it must be distinct. The Berners were originally the berniers, vassals who paid the brenage, brenagium, a feudal claim exacted for the provender of the lord's
