ABSTRACT
The story of the Norman castle in England in the eleventh and twelfth centuries mirrors faithfully the turbulent political events of the period. The earliest castles were those associated with the conquest of southern England in the months following the battle of Hastings, built at the same time as the Anglo-Saxon nobles were making their reluctant peace with William. From the time William the Conqueror inherited Normandy in 1035, castles had played a major role in the warfare on the southern borders of his duchy. The first castles were built in the frontier districts, for instance, in Maine at the time Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou began to push northwards. Many of the more permanent timber castles were later rebuilt in stone, to add to the range of stone castles already in existence. The building of stone castles in Britain began a dozen or so years after 1066.
