The history of medieval Lincoln was extremely well covered by Sir Francis Hill whose Medieval Lincoln, published in 1948, has stood the test of time, and it has now been joined on the shelf by the four volumes of the Civic Trust’s Survey of Ancient Houses in Lincoln (chapter 1 above). Archaeology too has added to our knowledge of medieval Lincoln in the past thirty years, and the account that follows represents a considerable revision of the narrative presented by Hill. This success has been made possible through conscious targeting of areas where there are no sources other than archaeo-logical ones. Apart from occasional references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and in one or two other sources, for the first 150 years of Anglo-Scandinavian Lincoln, results from excavations are the only reliable sources of evidence. From the middle of the 11th century onwards, however, it is possible to make closer associations between surviving monuments and land-scape features in documentary sources, and to make reasonable conjectures about the topography of the city based on the post-medieval street pattern and early modern plot boundaries (Fig. 9.1). However, to provide a more detailed chronological explanation for how this map developed we require archaeological evidence, and in particular pottery. Jane Young has divided the pottery of the mid 9th to mid 12th centuries into eleven Ceramic Horizons, including transitional horizons and the beginning and end of the period (Fig. 9.2).
The archaeology of the long period between the re-emergence of the town at the end of the 9th century and the disintegration of the urban economy in the early 14th century is discussed here as a continuum although, naturally, different phases are easily de-tectable during its course. Strangely enough, although the greatest political change within the Era – the
Fig. 9.1. Lincoln in the High Medieval Era, showing its principal elements. The topography and street pattern incorporates the most recent opinions, discussed in this volume, but some elements remain entirely conjectural (drawn by Dave Watt, copyright English Heritage).
well be that there was little to choose between Lincoln and other ecclesiastical and aristocratic centres in Lindsey, or elsewhere in the East Midlands. By the end of the 12th century, however, Lincoln was undoubtedly the largest urban centre in the East Midlands, far exceeding Nottingham, Derby and Leicester in size. It grew to become comparable to places such as York, Norwich, Chester and London, all towns which acted as the central place for a large region and which, by dint of their size, also acted as markets for rural produce and the products of rural and urban artisans. One of the tasks for urban archaeology is to chart the city’s phenomenal growth and to find explanations for it.
Politically, the primary event as far as the city was concerned was the arrival of the Viking Army in 873/4 and the subsequent division of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia into English Mercia, which within a generation had been adsorbed into a Greater Wessex, and Danish Mercia. The internal organisation of the flourishing independent Viking states, of which Danish Mercia was composed in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, is poorly known. The Viking Nor-thumbrian state was certainly heavily centralised and based on the city of York, whilst the East Anglian Kingdom under the Vikings was probably centred on Ipswich. There was occupation at Norwich during the Viking period but it appears to have been small scale – the medieval town’s origins are much later, in the late 10th or early 11th centuries. Danish Mercia, however, seems to have been more federal in its organisation. The frequent references to the Mercian Danes in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mention the armies of several towns (such as Bedford, Leicester and Northampton) but no king or other pre-eminent leader. It is likely, therefore, that royal power did not survive the dismemberment of Mercia and that either new structures were set up or power reverted to the second level, that of the province or region. As far as Lincoln is concerned, this would have meant that the Trent was a major boundary as, presumably, was the river Witham. Thus, Lincoln would have been on the southern fringe of the territory it controlled, standing in a similar relationship to Lindsey as Stamford did
to the territory it controlled – later known as Kesteven.
Exactly where the southern boundary of the army of Lincoln’s territory ran may have vital significance for the development of the early town, since a strict interpretation would place the suburb of Wigford within Kesteven, the territory of the army of Stamford.
In fact a similar situation existed at Stamford, where the Welland probably formed the boundary between territory looking to Stamford and that looking to Northampton, isolating Stamford’s southern suburb in a separate polity (Mahany et al. 1982, 2–10, 178).
In the second decade of the 10th century, between 911 and 923, the English won back much of Mercia, including Nottingham and Stamford in 921 but there is no record of the capture of Lincoln. Furthermore, stray coin finds indicate that Lindsey was strongly linked economically with the Viking Kingdom of York (Blackburn et al. 1983, 13) whilst Everson and Stocker’s analysis of stone sculpture emphasises this same alignment (Everson and Stocker 1999, 80–84). In 923 Edward was accepted as overlord by the Vikings of Northumbria and there seems to have been peace between the Danes and the English for a couple of decades, until 943, when Anlaf Sihtricson came south to fight the English at Leicester. Hostilities lasted until 954, when Eric Bloodaxe was deposed as King of Northumbria, marking the end of the Kingdom, which henceforth was ruled by English kings.
The period following the incorporation of Nor-thumbria and the East Midlands into England is seen by some historians, notably David Roffe (2000), as being the time when many of the administrative institutions seen in the mid 11th century in Domesday Book came into existence. Counties, for example, replaced the old regions during this period and in parts of old Mercia these new divisions seem to have cut across old boundaries. Lincolnshire, however, may initially have equated to the boundaries of Lindsey, with the southern part of the county, Kesteven, forming a ‘Stamford-shire’. There is, however, no documentation for this intermediate stage of development, and before 1066 Lincolnshire had assimilated Kesteven and assumed the form which was to last until 1974. This had the Fig. 9.2. Pottery groupings between c.850–c.1150 (source, Vince and Young forthcoming).
Ceramic Horizon Suggested absolute dates Comments
ASH 6 Mid to late 9th century Transitional phase. No clean assemblages in the city.
ASH 7 Mid/late to late 9th century Type fossil: LG ASH 8 Late 9th to early 10th century Type fossil: LSLS
ASH 9 Early/mid to mid 10th century LKT dominant
ASH 10 Mid to late 10th century LKT dominant
ASH 11 Late 10th century First appearance of TORK and SNLS
ASH 12 Early to early/mid 11th century LKT out of use
ASH 13 Early/mid to mid/late 11th century Mainly distinguished from ASH12 by the fabric of the Stamford wares
ASH 14 Mid/late 11th to early 12th century TORK and SNLS out of use
MH1 Early/mid to mid 12th century Glazed wares become common (NSP)
MH2 Mid 12th to mid/late 12th century Locally produced glazed wares appear (LSW1)
effect of shifting Lincoln itself from a peripheral position in relation to its administrative territory to a more central one. To judge by later disputes over the southern administrative boundary of the city, the presence of an ancient boundary along the Witham continued to affect the development of the city until modern times, causing the Wigford suburb to be given special treatment. For example, the open fields of
Lincoln are all to the north of the river, which might imply that they were allotted in the late 9th or early 10th century, before the occupation of the Wigford suburb (Fig. 9.3).
Superimposed upon the county level of organisation was the earldom, introduced by Cnut in the early 11th century and replacing the ealdormanries of the 10th century. The position of the earl was equivalent to the
Fig. 9.3. The layout of Lincoln’s medieval open fields, meadows and the extent of its medieval parishes, in relation to modern administrative boundaries (sources, Hill 1948 and others – drawn by Dave Watt).
ealdorman of earlier times but there was a shift in power towards the King so that the earl was a more powerful figure, owing less to local factions than his predecessors and in general commanding a larger area.
To what extent this increase in power was reflected in the topography of the city is a further area of interest.
In particular we might expect the layout of the Upper City to be affected by the introduction of a new centre of county administration.
Many aspects of the Old English state survived the Norman Conquest and Domesday Book provides de-tailed evidence for the state of Lincoln in 1066 and 1086. Local power, in the main, seems to have remained in the hands of the Anglo-Danish elite but the impact of the conquerors should not be down-played. Nor-mans and their allies formed an important new element in the land-holding elite and it is to be expected that these newcomers were not alone. Their retinues could have provided a channel for new ideas and fashions.
Some indication of the continuity before and after the Conquest is provided by the list of Lawmen given in Domesday Book (Fig. 9.4). Four of the twelve lawmen served both under Edward and William and a further
four inherited their positions from their fathers. In two cases, Wulfnoth the priest and Leodwine son of Rafn, there is no obvious connection between the holders of the position under William and their predecessors but the later holders were Anglo-Scandinavian and in only two cases were the later holders obvious newcomers:
Norman Crassus and Peter of Valognes. Both were members of the Norman court (Hill 1948, 52), but whereas Norman Crassus may well have been resident in Lincoln, Peter of Valognes clearly acquired the office of lawman along with the lands of Godric son of Eadgifu. It may well be, therefore, that even the two lawmen seemingly unrelated to their predecessors in Domesday Book held their positions through holding the lands of Siward and Halfdan. In this regard we should also note that Siward’s heirs (his wife and son Norman) were in dispute with Wulfnoth over Siward’s share of a carucate in the fields of Lincoln (ed. Morgan and Thorn 1986, 336b).
In addition to the 12 lawmen of Lincoln, Domesday Book lists some of the major landholders, before and after the Conquest. (Fig. 9.5). As Hill notes (1948, 42), they were probably only listed because they were
Estate owner 1066 Estate owner 1086 Outline of holding
Tochi son of Outi Geoffrey Alselin and his nepos Ralf Hall, 30 messuages, 2.5 churches. The 30 messuages held on privileged terms
Merlesuen Ralf Pagenel 1 messuage (quit of all custom)
Earl Morcar Earnwine the Priest 1 messuage (with sake & soke)
Ulf Gilbert of Gant 1 messuage (with sake and soke)
Earl Harold Earl Hugh 1 messuage (with sake and soke)
Suen son of Suaue Roger de Busli 2 messuages (with landgable)
Stori Countess Judith 1 messuage (with sake and soke)
Probably not a single Bishop Remigius 1 messuage (without sake and soke)
holding before 1072 1 little manor with 1 carucate (with sake, soke, toll and team);
1 messuage (with sake and soke and not subject to King’s geld);
2 messuages (with sake and soke and subject to King’s geld);
2 churches (with sake and soke). Soke of 78 messuages but suject to King’s geld).
Lawman in 1066 Lawman in 1086 Comments
1 Harethaknutr Svertingr son of Harthaknutr Inherited
2 Svertingr son of Grimbald Svertingr Survived
3 Svartbrandr son of Ulf Svartbrandr son of Ulfr Survived
4 Valhrafn Agmundr son of Valhrafn Inherited
5 Alwold Alwold Survived
6 Beorhtric Godwine son of Beorhtric Inherited
7 Guthrothr Crassus Evidently an Anglo-Scandinavian replaced by
a Norman incomer
8 Wulfbert Wulfbert Survived
9 Godric son of Eadgifu Peter of Valonges The Norman Peter also acquired Anglo-Scan-dinavian Godric’s carucate in the fields
10 Siward the priest Wulfnoth the priest ? Inherited
11 Leofwine the priest Burgwald son of Leofwine Inherited
12 Halfdan the priest Leodwine son of Rafn Descent not known
Fig. 9.5. The fates of major Anglo-Scandinavian landholdings in Lincoln after 1066 (source, Foster and Longley 1924).
Fig. 9.4. The fate of Lincoln’s 12 ‘Lawmen’ (Laguna, ides habentes sacam et socam) between 1066 and 1086 (source, Foster and Longley 1924).
holding land exempt from various duties, but they are nevertheless probably representative of the un-recorded remainder. The Anglo-Scandinavian aristo-cracy as a whole seem to have fared much worse than the lawmen and Earnwine the priest is the only one of the pre-Conquest elite listed (and even he seems to have lost heavily – Ibid., 42). All of these landholders held rights of sake and soke and toll and team. These rights indicate that occupants on these lands were subject to a private court and had to pay toll to the landholder on goods sold, as well as fines for breaches of toll. The rights were always separately itemised in Domesday Book since they affected the royal income from law courts and markets. Consequently Tochi, son of Outi, the main landholder noted in the Lincoln entry in Domesday Book, would have been able to hold two courts, one concerning his tenants, transgressions of the law and the other concerning disputes arising from trading. Furthermore, he would have had the right to hold his own market. The holders of single properties, most of whom have been shown by Hill (Ibid.) to be the holders of large rural estates, may have used the right to toll and team to hold markets in Lincoln at which produce from those estates could be sold. Alternatively, perhaps such landowners simply used their right to hold markets in the city open to any traders who would pay their tolls.
Francis Hill and others have tried to establish the location of these Domesday Book estates. The de-scription of Toki’s holdings is difficult and has been read differently by Hill and Morgan and Thorn (Hill 1948, 369; ed. Morgan and Thorn 1986, 336a). Hill understood the relevant entry to state that Toki had 60 messuages, differing in the terms by which they were held, whereas Morgan and Thorn interpret the text as meaning that there were only 30 messuages, from which he had rent and a tax called landgable. The status of these holdings was disputed, with the burgesses stating that the King held the rights to toll and forfeiture whereas Wulfgeat the Priest claimed that this was not the case. For reasons which were not explained the Cathedral held these messuages in 1086 leaving Geoffrey Alselin with one messuage of Toki’s outside the wall. Hill identified these Cathedral lands as their estate at Much Lane (St Mary’s Sty), in the parish of St Peter-at-Arches, outside the wall of the Lower City, to the west of the High Street (1948, 132).
He also demonstrated that St Peter-at-Arches is most likely to have been one of Toki’s churches.
The major topographic changes within the Anglo-Scandinavian town following the Norman Conquest, however, were the construction of the Castle and the Cathedral (founded in 1068 and 1072–5 respectively);
events which, it is suggested here, were closely intertwined. The entire area of the Upper City was appropriated from the city to form the Bail, which accommodated these two new institutions. We should expect to find this change reflected in both the ar-chaeological and documentary record and, indeed, we
do (p. 170–2 below; see also Stocker and Vince 1997;
Stocker forthcoming a). Domesday Book famously records that the area occupied in 1086 by Lincoln Castle had previously been assessed as 166 mansurae out of a total for the city of 1150 (calculated as 9×120 plus 70).
This loss of revenue, together with a further 74 residences waste through ‘misfortune, poverty and fire’
meant that Lincoln in 1086 was apparently only 76% of the size it had been in 1066 although the dues owed to the King and the Earl under William amounted to £100 (with a further £75 from the mint?) compared with only £30 under Edward. If we were to take these figures at face value we should be expecting a sharp and significant decline in the city’s prosperity around the middle of the 11th century caused mainly by royal policy. Despite this, it is clear that Lincoln was thriving in the later 11th and 12th centuries and it is in this early Norman period that archaeology provides the first evidence for suburbs at Newport, Newland and Thorngate, as well as for the eastern extension to the Butwerk suburb and, perhaps, the Lower Wigford suburb. The southern boundary of the city, at Bargate, also seems to have been established in this period since the Malandry hospital was founded immediately to its south c.1100 with a second hospital, later merged with St Katherine’s Priory, founded at about the same time on the opposite side of the triangular market place.
Lincoln in the late 11th and early 12th centuries appears to have been reaping the benefits of its increased administrative and ecclesiastical importance.
Lincoln between the mid 12th and the early 14th centuries
In the material culture of the city, the Norman Conquest is visible only through the construction of new insti-tutions such as the Cathedral and the Castle. The life-style of the people seems to have continued on without much of a break until the middle of the 12th century and it is only at this time that the major break with the pre-Conquest period can be seen. Masonry replaced timber as the usual material for construction during the second half of the 12th century, producing very different archaeological strata, and the material culture likewise is marked by a dramatic change, with a greatly increased quantity of glazed tableware in use. Most of the decorative stone mouldings found in excavations in Lincoln or surviving in situ or rebuilt into later structures also date to the later 12th century or later.
With the exceptions of the Cathedral, parish churches and Castle, earlier Norman stone buildings are ex-tremely rare in Lincoln.
Civil war raged in England from 1139 until the death of King Stephen in 1154. Lincoln and its castle played a major role in that war and clearly great importance was attached to possession of the Castle and the city. The history of the city in the Anarchy is summarised by Hill (1948, 177–81). In 1140 the city and Castle were seized by Empress Matilda, recovered
by Stephen – then seized by Ranulph Earl of Chester and his half-brother William de Roumare at the end of the same year. Stephen then arrived and sur-rounded the Castle but Ranulph escaped and sought the help of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, in recapturing Lincoln. The two earls and their army marched on the city from Gloucester, approaching Lincoln by way of a marsh and ford (presumed to be to the west of the Brayford Pool) and were met in battle outside the city. The King’s army was defeated and Stephen himself surrendered to Earl Robert. The citizens fled from the victorious army, attempting to escape by
by Stephen – then seized by Ranulph Earl of Chester and his half-brother William de Roumare at the end of the same year. Stephen then arrived and sur-rounded the Castle but Ranulph escaped and sought the help of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, in recapturing Lincoln. The two earls and their army marched on the city from Gloucester, approaching Lincoln by way of a marsh and ford (presumed to be to the west of the Brayford Pool) and were met in battle outside the city. The King’s army was defeated and Stephen himself surrendered to Earl Robert. The citizens fled from the victorious army, attempting to escape by