Warwick castle and its earls : from Saxon times to the present day . e probable basis of fact underlying the fancifulstories has been indicated in the foot-notes. We gatherfrom them that the town was thought to have been builtin the fourth century , and this is no doubt encampment about this date may yet be traced inthe park, not far from the present castle, and hostiletribes long after occupied and fortified the ridges ofthe valley on either side of the Avon, as witness thelong line of encampments at Loxley and the earlymounds at Welcomb. The rest is partly deliberateinvention
Warwick castle and its earls : from Saxon times to the present day . e probable basis of fact underlying the fancifulstories has been indicated in the foot-notes. We gatherfrom them that the town was thought to have been builtin the fourth century , and this is no doubt encampment about this date may yet be traced inthe park, not far from the present castle, and hostiletribes long after occupied and fortified the ridges ofthe valley on either side of the Avon, as witness thelong line of encampments at Loxley and the earlymounds at Welcomb. The rest is partly deliberateinvention and partly floating tradition, upon which nocertain reliance can be placed. We will not, therefore,dwell further upon the stories, but will proceed to theperiod in which a portion at least of the history isbetter attested. The wars of Saxons with the Britons, or rather Roman-Britons, aresuggested by the legendary Marthrud. ^ Warremund is merely a name invented to account for a name, asRomulus to account for Rome; but it also points to the historic CHAPTER II Ethelfleda, daugliter of Alfred the Great—Her Life and Work—Her Castle atWarwick—Arcliitectural Details—The Saxon Earls of Rous—Were theyreally Earls, or were they Shire-reeves ? SOUND, authentic history, based upon crediblecontemporary documents, only begins for us atthe time when Alfred the Great rolled back the tideof the Danish invasion. There is still a good deal oflegend existing side by side with the history ; but thetwo things can with some confidence be disentangledand kept separate. One name shines prominently in this period—thename of Ethelfleda, eldest daughter of Alfred, sister ofEdward the Elder, the millenary of whose coronationat Kingston-on-Thames was celebrated in 1901, andwife of Ethelred, PZarl of Mercia. She was a greatwoman-warrior—the Boadicea of Saxon times. Assersfamous Chronicle is full of her exploits. She led hertroops in person on the field of battle, liberated Me
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