Dover castle, Keeper | Atlas of 1200

Dover castle on its chalk cliff commands the shortest crossing to Wissant and Boulogne, the road every king, legate and messenger uses.

Henry II rebuilt it from 1179 to 1188 with the great square keep and the inner bailey, and Richard added to the outer walls. It is kept for the king by a constable and guarded by knights owed by a group of Kentish and south-eastern baronies, each responsible for a section of the walls (Hasted, following the antiquarian tradition, names John de Fiennes as the Conqueror's constable with eight knights under him: William d'Avranches, Fulbert of Dover, William d'Arsic, Geoffrey Peverel, William Maminot, Robert de Port, Hugh de Crevecoeur and Adam FitzWilliam, whose baronies kept the duty). The town and port below it are a Cinque Port with their own court and liberties (see the Dover town record).

The constable is not yet the warden of the Cinque Ports: that joint office comes later in the century.

Who he is

Name: Not pinned: William of Wrotham in the antiquarian lists
Title: Keeper (constable) of Dover castle
Since: 1195 by those lists
Born: Not known
Family: William of Wrotham, the name in the old lists, was a clerk of a Kentish family, warden of the stannaries from 1197 and later archdeacon of Taunton and keeper of the king's ports and galleys.
Confidence: low

The lists of the constables of Dover and wardens of the Cinque Ports (printed by antiquaries and reproduced on Wikipedia) give Matthew de Clere to 1195, William of Wrotham from 1195 to 1201, Thomas Basset 1201-02 and Hubert de Burgh 1202-03. They are late and not reliable year by year: William of Wrotham was sheriff of Devon and Cornwall and warden of the stannaries in 1198-99, and his modern biography does not mention Dover at all, so his keeping of Dover is doubtful. We found no record placing a named keeper in the castle on 1 January 1200.

The GM may rule a keeper (William of Wrotham by the old lists, or a royal constable not named).

Overlord

King John

What it holds

The castle, its keep and baileys and the church of St Mary in Castro
The castle-guard owed by the Dover baronies (Peverel of Dover, Fiennes, Avranches of Folkestone, Crevecoeur of Leeds, Fulbert of Dover of Chilham, Maminot and others)
Oversight of the passage of the Channel at Dover

How it was acquired

Royal castle since the Conquest; the custody is at the king's will.

Allies and rivals

The barons of Dover (the townsmen), who have their own liberties; the castle-guard barons; the archbishop of Canterbury's knights at Saltwood nearby.

How things stand that morning

Royal, garrisoned, at peace. The barony of Peverel of Dover that owed guard here is not pinned to a holder in 1200.

Wealth

The castle draws on the Exchequer and the castle-guard rents.

Military

The strongest fortress in the south-east; numbers of the garrison not known. It holds out for John against Prince Louis in 1216 under Hubert de Burgh (far ahead).

Threats

A French landing
Neglect of the castle-guard by the baronies

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1201-1202The custody changes hands (Thomas Basset, then Hubert de Burgh by the antiquarian lists).Depends on: The king's will Stopped by: Any other appointment

Places of note

Dover castle keep: Henry II's great tower

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Thick for the castle and its works; thin for the keeper on 1 January 1200.

On the map: A disc for the castle; the town is a separate record.

Primary sources for England

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, Jocelin of Brakelond (about 1198 to 1203). An inside account of Bury St Edmunds under Abbot Samson, written while the events were fresh. Read online
Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
Chronicle of the Princes, Anonymous (Welsh translation of a lost Latin chronicle kept at Strata Florida) (Latin original to about 1282, compiled from contemporary annals; Welsh versions about 1300 and later). The native Welsh record of the year. Read online
Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online
Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online
Images of History, Ralph de Diceto (about 1188 to 1202). A London view of the year from the dean of St Paul's, who knew the justiciar and the bishops personally. Read online

22 more in the sources library for The British Isles.

Sources and studies

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.