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52 Mediceval Military Architecture of England. their remains, that he completed such of his father's castles as were left unfinished. Of baronial castles, the grand for- tress of Kenilworth, by far the most important strong place in the midland counties, was constructed in this reign, though very probably upon an English site, by the founder of the house of Clinton. In this reign also were probably con- structed the masonry of Northampton Castle, by Simon de St. Liz, and that of Old Sarum and Odiham by Bishop Roger. The keep of St. Briavel's, now destroyed, was reconstructed, or built of masonry ; and Ralph P'lambard laid the founda- tions of and seems to have completed the keep of Norham. The issue of the contest between Matilda and Stephen turned very much upon the castles over which each had control. It was again by the seizure of Winchester Castle and its treasure that Stephen was able to celebrate his co- ronation in the adjacent cathedral. It was under the walls of Reading Castle, strongly placed between the meeting of the Kennet and the Thames, that he trusted himself to meet Matilda's adherents, and with them to lay the corpse of her father before the altar of the great Abbey that he had founded, and the ruins of which have long survived those of its secular neighbour. From Oxford, strong in its walled city and partially water-girdled keep, Stephen issued his first charter, so full of promises to his new subjects ; and thence he went to Durham, one of the strongest castles of the North, to meet David of Scotland, who had wasted the border from Carlisle to Newcastle, and taken Alnwick and Norham, though foiled before Wark and Bamborough. One of David's principal concessions was the castle of Newcastle. On the other hand, he obtained the confirmation to him of that of Carlisle, long the gate of Scotland. The two, posted one at each end of the lines of Severus and Hadrian, are still tolerably perfect, as is the impregnable Bamburgh, the Norman keep of which, in Stephen's time, was new. From Oxford, still his central stronghold, on his return to the South, Stephen conceded his second charter, less distinct in its promises as the danger of his position seemed less press- ing. On the report of his death in 1136, it was trust in their strong castles of Exeter, Plympton, Okehampton, Norwich, Framlingham, and Bungay, that encouraged Baldwin de Redvers and Hugh Bigot to rise in arms. Bath had then a castle and was a walled town. Stephen laid siege to and took the castle, and thence, with two hundred horse, rode to Exeter, where Rougemont, its citadel, was strong and well garrisoned. The siege was a remarkable one, and the war- like machines employed both within and without were of a