Rape (county subdivision)
A rape was a traditional sub-division of the county of Sussex in England. Their origin is unknown, but they appear to predate the Norman Conquest.[1] Each rape was split into several hundreds. The rapes may derive from the system of fortifications devised by Alfred the Great in the late ninth century to defeat the Vikings.[2] Alternatively, King Alfred's system may in turn have its roots in an earlier age. If so, the Sussex Rapes, like the Kentish Lathes, go back to the dawn of English history when their main function would have been to provide food-rents and military manpower to the king.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Etymology
One suggested etymology of the word is in the Icelandic territorial division hreppr; however this is rejected in the New English Dictionary. F.E. Sawyer's derivation from the Saxon rap, a rope, suggesting that ropes were used to mark out territory,[4] was well countered by J.H. Round, asking "do those who advance such views realize the size of the districts they have to deal with?"[5]
[edit] Norman castleries
At the time of the Norman Conquest there were four rapes: Arundel, Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings. The rape of Arundel consisted of the entire area of Sussex west of the River Adur, corresponding to the boundaries of both the western division of the church in Sussex (the forerunner to the archdeaconry of Chichester)[6][7] and the boundaries of the traditional western area of the Sussex dialect.[6] By the time of the Domesday Book, William the Conqueror had created the rape of Bramber as an afterthought out of parts of the Arundel and Lewes rapes, so that the Adur estuary could be better defended.[7][8][9]
In the Domesday survey, five great Norman lords held the rapes into which Sussex was divided, four of them giving their names to four of the five divisions as they were called in Domesday Book; at the accession of Henry I of England in 1100[10]they were Robert of Bellême in Arundel rape,[11] Robert's nephew William, Count of Mortain in Pevensey,[12] William of Warenne in Lewes,[13] the count of Eu in Hastings and, the only fully trustworthy Sussex lord at the time, Philip de Braose[14] in Bramber.[15] These lords had succeeded, not to similar Anglo-Saxon magnates, but to a crowd of lesser landholders:[16]each also held lands in the rapes of others.
Under the Normans each traditional rape was now centred on a castle: Sir Henry Ellis's observation that the rapes "were military districts for the supply of the castles which existed in each" applied to the Anglo-Norman period[17] Each rape had a single sheriff and ran as a strip, north-south, from the Surrey/Kent border to the English Channel. The castles of Arundel, Bramber and Lewes were sited on positions overlooking the rivers Arun, Adur and Ouse respectively, while those at Chichester, Hastings and Pevensey overlooked the coast. This formation was a creation of William I of England, presumably designed to protect routes to Normandy.
Between 1250 and 1262, the rape of Chichester was created from the western half of Arundel rape.[7] From this time onwards, Sussex was divided into—from west to east—Chichester, Arundel, Bramber, Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings rapes.
| Name | Castle | Hundreds | Towns and cities | Highest point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rape of Chichester | Chichester Castle | Aldwick, Bosham, Box and Stockbridge, Dumpford, Easebourne, Manhood, Westbourne and Singleton | Bognor Regis, Chichester, Midhurst, Selsey | Blackdown (280m) |
| Rape of Arundel | Arundel Castle | Avisford, Bury, Poling, Rotherbridge, West Easwrith | Arundel, Littlehampton | Glatting Beacon (245m) |
| Rape of Bramber | Bramber Castle | Brightford, Burbeach, East Easwrith, Fishersgate, Patching, Singlecross, Steyning, Tarring, Tipnoak, West Grinstead, Windham and Ewhurst | Crawley, Horsham, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing | Chanctonbury Hill (242m) |
| Rape of Lewes | Lewes Castle | Barcombe, Buttinghill, Dean, Fishersgate, Holmstrow, Poynings, Preston, Street, Swanborough, Whalebone, Younsmere | Brighton and Hove, Haywards Heath, Lewes | Ditchling Beacon (248m) |
| Rape of Pevensey | Pevensey Castle | Alciston, Bishopstone, Burleigh Arches, Danehill Horsted, Dill, East Grinstead, Eastbourne, Flexborough, Hartfield, Longbridge, Loxfield Dorset, Loxfield Pelham, Pevensey Lowey, Ringmer, Rotherfield, Rushmonden, Shiplake, Totnore, Willingdon | East Grinstead, Eastbourne, Uckfield | Crowborough (242m) |
| Rape of Hastings | Hastings Castle | Baldstrow, Battle, Bexhill | Battle, Hastings, Rye | Brightling Down (197m) |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The origin was still reported as "contested" as late as 1942 (Helen Maud Cam (preface dated 1942), Liberties & communities in medieval England: Collected Studies in Local Administration and Topography, 1944:193).
- ^ Domesdaybook.net: Rape
- ^ Domesdaybook.net: Rape
- ^ F.E. Sawyer "The rapes and their origin", Archaeological Review 1 (1888), p. 54-59.
- ^ Round, letter in Archaeological Review 1 (1888), p. 229.
- ^ a b Hare, Chris (1995). A History of the Sussex People. Worthing: Southern Heritage Books. ISBN 978-0952709701.
- ^ a b c "Victoria County History - The rape of Chichester". British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41682. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ Brandon, Peter (2006). Sussex. Phillimore. ISBN 9780709069980.
- ^ "Victoria County History - The rape and honour of Lewes". British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56907. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ Henry's dealings with the lords of the rapes is discussed in Judith A. Green, The Government of England Under Henry I 1989:115.
- ^ Confiscated by Henry in 1102 and held by the Crown through his reign (Green 1989)
- ^ Pevensey was confiscated by Henry in 1102 and regranted to Gilbert de l'Aigle (Green 1989).
- ^ William transferred his allegiance to Henry and remained a stalwart supporter (Green 1989) as Earl of Surrey.
- ^ Philip's revolt against Henry came a decade later.
- ^ Eleanor Searle , Lordship and community: Battle Abbey and its banlieu, 1066-1538, 1974:208.
- ^ Noted by Round .
- ^ Ellis,quoted in Norman John Greville Pounds, The medieval castle in England and Wales: a social and political history 1993:17.
