The Norman conquest of England may
have started with the Battle of Hastings in 1066
but it did not end there.
As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records,
to consolidate his victory and suppress rebellious subjects,
"William built castles far and wide throughout this country",
including at Windsor.
The first Norman castles were built at Hastings and Pevensey
on the South Coast in 1066 with further waves of Castle
building typically following rebellions.
They were a crucial if not the only means
of making the conquest permanent.
These castles, which came in various sizes
and were normally first made of wood
and then rebuilt with stone, were imposing and unfamiliar
in design.
They had two distinctive features --
the motte and the bailey.
The latter was a defensible area closed off by ditches, moats,
and wooden palisades.
The motte within this area was a raised mound of Earth,
on top of which stood a structure called the donjon.
The word "donjon" comes from the Latin word 'dominium'
meaning lordship.
This gives us an idea as to their purpose, not just
as defensive strongholds, but as symbols
of the power and authority of the new regime.
It was no accident that the most impressive
looking side of the Tower of London
faces in toward and would have loomed over the city.
Windsor Castle still retains its motte, the largest in England,
on which now sits the Round Tower, one of the most
iconic donjons in the world.
As William of Poitiers wrote of the fortifications in London,
Norman castles were first and foremost built as a defense
against "the inconstancy of the numerous and hostile
inhabitants."
It is sometimes forgotten that the conqueror faced many years
of resistance to his rule.
Norman castles don't seem to have been built according
to any grand national strategy, but rather
for a range of reasons, and typically
as a response to local circumstances,
with many being built atop existing Saxon defenses,
sometimes recycling building materials.
This was not just more efficient but helped
stamp Norman authority over past symbols of Anglo-Saxon power
and the settlements that had been developed
around these structures.
This approach also provided the Normans
with a ready-made source of rents and services
to support their castles.
Castle building also had a huge impact
on patterns of settlement with new villages and towns
growing around them, including at Windsor.
It is estimated that 3/4 of all towns
founded in England between 1066 and 1150 adjoined castles.
The reasons for this are easy to understand.
A castle provided a ready-made market
for craftspeople and traders.
At the same time, towns provided castles
with a source of labor, services, and income
from rents and tolls.
Castle building also led to disruption and destruction
though, as recorded in the Domesday Book, William
the Conqueror's great survey of what his new kingdom was worth.
27 houses were destroyed to make way
for a new castle in Cambridge, 16 in Gloucester,
166 in Lincoln, and 98 in Norwich.
Not even sacred ground was spared.
In 1069 the Archbishop of York complained
to the Sheriff of Worcester that the town's new castle cut off
part of the cathedral cemetery.
What then was the purpose of Windsor Castle?
The castle does not seem to be in a particularly strategic
location.
It is roughly a day's march from London,
but there are more direct routes to the city.
Similarly, while its placement on a hill
provides a good vantage point to survey the surrounding area,
hills were rarely a determining factor
in where the castles were built.
A clue perhaps lies in nearby Old Windsor
in a field called Kingsbury.
This name derives from the Anglo-Saxon word
"burh," which were fortified settlements.
Kingsbury was therefore the burh of the King,
meaning Old Windsor was the site of a royal residence.
There is evidence of a settlement
at Old Windsor dating back to the seventh century,
with a palace at least since the reign of Edward the Confessor
While the clay and sandy soil made for poor farmland,
as a charter from William's reign reveals,
Old Windsor seemed "suitable and convenient
for royal retirement on account of the river and its nearness
to the forest."
Richard Fitzneale added that the forest was "the sanctuary
and special delight of kings", "where,
laying aside their cares, they withdrew to refresh themselves
with a little hunting."
Norman kings may have liked coming to Windsor
to share in the delights of the forest enjoyed
by their Saxon predecessors but building a castle here
was also about asserting the power of England's new rulers.
The same is true of the decision to hold crown wearing
ceremonies in Old Windsor.
Such ceremonies were another important way
of asserting William's authority and that of his successors.
Work on the castle in the parish of Clewer began in 1070
and took 16 years to complete.
The rebellion of Hereward the Wake
may also have prompted William to order
the construction of a castle here
to help guard the Western approach to London.
But like others, it also served as a center
of administration and justice.
A year after Windsor Castle was recorded in the Domesday Book,
William died.
He was succeeded first by his first son, William,
and then by the conqueror's youngest son, Henry.
The chronicler, Henry of Huntington,
records that Henry I, who got married in the castle chapel,
also held his whitsuntide court for the first time
at New Windsor.
This suggests that, at least from 1110 onward,
Windsor Castle itself was now a royal residence
of great importance, beginning its 9th-century long
association with the monarchy.