During the past year John had added
to his brother's castle a chapel with an undercroft, placed at the
southeastern corner of the second ward. The fortress, which nature and
art had combined to make impregnable, was well stocked with supplies
of every kind; moreover, it was one of the few places in Normandy
which Philip had no hope of winning, and John no fear of losing,
through treason on the part of its commandant. Roger de Lacy, to whom
John had given it in charge, was an English baron who had no stake in
Normandy, and whose personal interest was therefore bound up with that
of the English King; he was also a man of high character and dauntless
courage. Nothing short of a siege of the most determined kind would
avail against the "Saucy Castle"; and on that siege Philip now
concentrated all his forces and all his skill.
As the right bank of the Seine at that point was entirely commanded by
the castle and its neighbor fortification, the walled town--also built
by Richard--known as the New or Lesser Andely, while the river itself
was doubly barred by a stockade across its bed, close under the foot
of the rock, and by a strong tower on an island in midstream just
below the town, he was obliged to encamp in the meadows on the
opposite shore.
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