(including Mr. T. H. Cole, M.A., in his Antiquities of Hastings) given undue prominence to them.
The Reverend E. Turner, M.A., compiled a very creditable summary of the history available to him of the Castle and Collegiate Church in the year 1861, which was published in Volume XIII. of the Sussex Archaeological Collections, page 132.
Mr. T. H. Cole, above mentioned, had few opportunities of original research, but did useful work in collating the works of some former writers and in offering from his stock of local knowledge suggestions upon them. Lack of knowledge of " Record Latin " led him (and his copyists) into confusion concerning the Royal Free Chapel, causing him to believe that there were two chapels, one of which he knew within the castle-walls, and a more ancient one which he thought existed below the present site. The assumed evidence for the existence of this last-mentioned chapel arose from his mistranslation in the records of the words " infra claustrum," which he read as beneath the fortification ; but the word infra, in Latin of the Records, was nearly always used in the sense of within and not below, for which the Latin word sub was commonly used.
Mr. G. T. Clarke (Medieval Military Architecture of England, 1884, republished from The Builder) wrote what is, in many respects, an excellent if brief description of the architectural details of the Castle and Chapel ; though, as he was wont, he identified the Castle Mount with an Anglo-Saxon keep, which is a matter open to the gravest doubt. As usual, his visit seems to have been a hurried one, or he would not have committed the unpremeditated irreverence of referring to the large circular roof of the modern St. Mary's Church as the local gas-works, a mistake which leads to some topographical confusion ; the latter nourishing concern being situate in an opposite direction. With respect to the materials made use of by the present author down to the reign of Henry IV., they are almost entirely the result of private researches in the public depositories of records in England, assisted by reference to the admirable catalogues and extracts of records compiled by the Royal Historical Commissioners and the Public Record Office ; some, however, are derived from France, and others from diocesan records in England and from private sources.
Hastings Castle having been one of the Royal Castles, held with its Rape as a tenancy-in-chief under the Crown till the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the documents relating to its transfer and to many titular and other proceedings were filed among the Royal records. In the same manner the documents of the Collegiate Church (which had been adopted, though improperly, as a Royal foundation), the visitations and appointments to its prebends, while under the Royal control, were filed among the Sovereign's records. One of the most useful documents relating to the history of the Chapel is one of extraordinary length among the Chancery Miscellaneous Rolls, containing a copy of all the evidence known respecting the jurisdiction of the King and the Bishop of Chichester over the Chapel that could be found in the year 1421, a special search having then been decreed. At this time a dispute had arisen, as before mentioned, between the King and the Bishop, and the document was drawn up on behalf of the King's Clerks in support of their case. It was written upon skins some twelve feet in length, and contains about 13,800 words. By -
