Part II
A CHRONICLE AND CHARTULARY OF THE CASTLE AND CHAPEL OF HASTINGS FROM THE CONQUEST OF WILLIAM I. OF ENGLAND TO THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES
CHAPTER I
WILLIAM I
AFTER the battle of Hastings, as William of Poitiers informs us, the Duke "gave the defence of Hastings to an active commander before departing for Romney." This commander, as we learn from Orderic Vitalis (512, B.), was Humphrey of Tilleul[1] (Umfridus de Telliolo), " who had undertaken the custody of the Castle of Hastings from the first day of its building." Probably he continued to strengthen the works of defence at the Castle, and perhaps some of the older Norman building-work which we now see there was erected under his supervision. In March, 1067, William I. returned to Normandy,[2] and, according to Florence of Worcester, he then specially charged Bishop Odo, Earl of Kent, and Osbern, the Dapifer, Earl of Hereford, with the building of fortresses. Humphrey of Tilleul was married to the sister of Hugh Grantmesnil, then Governor of Winchester and of the Hampshire district, whose wife was Adelaide (Adeliza), the beautiful daughter of Ivo of Beaumont. It is narrated by Orderic Vitalis (512) that these two Governors, as well as other Constables, deserted their posts, and returned to Normandy, under the following extraordinary circumstances :-
- "At this time some of the Norman women were so inflamed by passion that they sent frequent messages to their husbands, requiring their speedy return, adding that if they were not immediate, they should choose others. They would not as yet venture to join their lords on account of the sea-voyage, which was entirely new to them. Nor did they like to pass into England, where their husbands were always in arms, and fresh expeditions were daily undertaken, attended with much effusion of blood on both sides. But the king naturally wished to retain the soldiers while the country was in so disturbed a state, and made them great offers of land with ample and great powers, promising still more when the whole kingdom should be freed from their opponents. The lawfully elected barons and leading knights were in great perplexity, for they were sensible that if they took their departure while their sovereign with their brothers, friends, and comrades were surrounded by the perils of war, they would be publicly branded as base traitors and cowardly deserters. On the other hand, what were these honourable soldiers to do when their licentious wives threatened to stain the marriage-bed with adultery, and stamp the mark of infamy on their offspring ? In consequence, Hugh de Grantmesnil, who was Governor of the Gewissae - that is, of the district round Winchester - and his brother-in-law, Humphrey de Tilleul, who had received the custody of Hastings from the first day it was built, and many others,
