[Bill Ferny]

I see what you are saying about the elves and dwarves, and its perfectly understandable. Though in the case of Rohan, I somewhat disagree. The mounted soldier was the staple of medieval warfare, and as it panned out, the medieval fortification became a necessary expedient of the mounted soldier. The people of Rohan, I’ve been told, were modeled on the Vikings, and as it turns out the Vikings were both accomplished horsemen and builders as well as mariners.

However, after some more thought, I think my original speculation missed the mark anyway. I’ve spent most of my time researching and studying the post-Norman medieval world, not so much the pre-Norman. So I take things like castle building for granted. Though the establishment of fortifications on the continent was wide spread from the Carlovingian period onward mainly due to Viking raiding, it was for the most part absent in Anglo-Saxon England. Before 1066 there were about six timber and earthwork fortifications, one in Dover, one at Arundel in Sussex, three in Hereford, and one in Essex. Even then, only the fortification at Dover was not engineered by Normans.

Of course, the Romans habitually built castri, temporary fortifications of ditches and earth ramparts, and sometimes converted them into more permanent establishments with the addition of stonework. King Harold Godwinson utilized one such ancient Roman site when he built the fortification at Dover. However, such fortifications had little defensive capability without a large professional garrison, and as such were very different from the latter medieval fortifications with which we are familiar, and the type of fortification from the continent with which the Normans were familiar. By 1066, the majority of the Roman castri were either ruins or had long been tilled over. This, of course, had disastrous results for the Anglo-Saxons because their fate hinged on a single engagement with the Normans at Hastings. They lost, had no fortifications to fall back upon, and William was simply able to march through England in a relatively brief amount of time subjecting the better part of the island to Norman rule. William brought with him from the continent the wisdom of the defensive fortification, and thus solidified his rule by placing his followers behind the safety of these forts from which they could exercise control over the surrounding countryside. The number of fortifications in England climbed from six in 1066 to over five hundred by the turn of the century.

I’m sure that Tolkien was well aware of Norman castle building in England, from the remnants of the old motte-and-bailey castles to the massive Edwardian fortresses of the late thirteenth century and everything in between. In only 16 days by bicycle I was able to visit 9 castle sites in Wales (and this included many wasted hours in pubs and bed and breakfasts to boot). Given Tolkien’s attitude about the Normans and the events of 1066 and following, I’m sure he had a different perspective of these Norman castles than I have. He probably saw in them the subjugation of the Anglo-Saxon people. No doubt if he was indeed attempting to resurrect the ancient mythology of his island, the distinctive Norman love affair with castle building would be absent.