Preface
CONCERNING Hastings Castle a recently-published Hastings guidebook informs its readers that " one of the charms of this venerable ruin is, that no authentic record of its history exists." It is, therefore, with some diffidence that the author intrudes upon this state of bliss by presenting to the public a connected series of records, unrivalled in local history, relating to this castle.
The lack of special knowledge and opportunities under which the majority of students of history labour renders it impossible for them to study our ancient chronicles and records in their original form. The extended versions of the records, even when freed of caligraphic difficulties and contractions, do not always bear in their classical construction the mediaeval sense. The author believes that average readers will prefer to read their ancient records and chronicles, in the same way as most persons read their Bibles, that is, by means of a translation, and he has provided accordingly. For the rest, it is hoped that the references given to the original documents will prove sufficient.
The plan of the present work at the outset was an ambitious one, namely, to take as a type an English Castle and Barony, the details of the history of which were almost unknown ; to search out its records in the British and foreign depositories, public and private ; and finally to arrange them in chronological order, interspersed with extracts from contemporary chronicles, in such a manner that the whole collection may tell its own story. Indeed, its author hopes that it may do something more, by disclosing much of the military and fiscal working of a great castle and barony under feudal conditions ; and by following the vicissitudes of its various lords and by the introduction of pertinent matters of contemporary interest, he hopes to throw a strong side-light on the history of England itself.
The history of the Collegiate Church (or " Royal Free Chapel ") founded within the walls of the Castle forms another item of interest ; and, as the documentary evidence is most complete, the author is enabled to introduce ecclesiastical matters of great and unusual interest, both generally and with special regard to the history of this class of foundation.
An account of the Battle of Hastings (one of the " Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World ") is inseparable from the castle which formed its base. In view of what has already been written concerning the battle (educational though such criticisms may be), the author believes that the account will prove clearer and fresher by providing translations of the extracts concerning it, from all the known contemporary and other important chronicles, grouping them in parallel columns -
