Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/236

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220 Mcdiceval Military Architecture. pavilions, and almonds, spice, and ginger for the royal still-room. All the smiths in Northampton who can forge quarrell bolts, or feather them when forged, are to work day and night until 4,000 are ready and despatched. Large quantities of wine from the royal stores in London, at Northampton, and elsewhere, are to be for- warded with speed to Bedford. Knights performing castle guard at Lancaster are ordered up : greyhounds are sent for for sport. The sheriff of Bedfordshire is to supply quarrymen and masons with their levers, hammers, mauls, and wedges, and everything necessary for the preparation of stone shot for the mangojiels and petraries. Miners come from St. Briavels, in the Forest of Dean. Windsor supplies its master-carpenter and his mates. Cambridge sends cord and cable. Charcoal comes with the iron and steel from Gloucester, and the adjacent abbey of Newenham spares a large quantity of raw stone to be converted into shot. The details of the material supplied are recorded in the close rolls of the period. The particulars of the siege itself have been pre- served by the neighbouring monks of Dunstable, from whose town, and probably from whose monastery, the judge had been taken, and whose fellow-townsmen played an important part in the siege. The king brought with him the Archbishop of Canterbury and divers bishops and abbots, by whose interest was granted to him two men from every hyde of their church lands to work the siege engines ; an aid of " carucage " or a mark from each caruca or plough land of demesne, and 2s. from each held in tenancy, gifts which were guarded against being drawn into a precedent by special charter from the king. Falk left his brother to abide the attack, and sought aid on the lands of the Earl of Chester, Ranulph Blundeville. The earl, how- ever, was with the king, together with Peter de Rupibus, bishop of AVinchester, William de Cantelupe, Brian de I'lsle, and Peter de Maulay. All were suspected of disaffection, and in consequence the earl and the bishop left the camp, although the earl was afterwards brought by the Bishop of Chester to his duty. Falk remained at Northampton until he fled to Wales. The siege operations included on the east front a petrary and two mangonels, which daily battered the opposite tower ; on the west front, two mangonels bore upon the old tower ; on the north and south fronts were two mangonels, one on each, and each breached its opposing wall. The operations of these seven pieces of ordnance were materially aided by two large wooden turrets, tall enough to command the whole castle, and supported by other smaller turrets, all charged with archers and crossbow-men. There was also the timber covered-way, known as a cat, by the aid of which miners were able to undermine the wall, while the bowmen cleared the battle- ments above. These works were thickly covered with hides, ren- dering them proof against fire ; and the slingers, of whom there were many, probably kept up a general and incessant shower of pebbles upon all who dared to show themselves on the ramparts.