Sarum

Sarum, the City Sarum is your home base, sitting upon a steep, windswept mound amidst the rolling Salisbury Plain. Educated, Latin-speaking persons call this city Sorbiodunum. Its old Cymric name is Caer Caradduc.

Sarum was first settled centuries ago during the time before iron was used, in the days when people still worshipped the sun at Stonehenge. A series of concentric rings surround the city: a massive ditch on the outside, then a huge rampart, then another large ditch and another rampart. A great curtain wall perches on the inner rampart and overlooks the inner ditch. The wall is 12 feet thick and 40 feet high. Battlements give its top a serrated shape, made by merlons (the upright stone) and crenellations (the breaks or indentations between the merlons).
Two gates, to the east and west, pierce the walls. They are defended by towered gate works, each with its huge iron reinforced portcullis, murder holes, and drawbridges. As with all cities, these are closed at night and normally admit no one.
In the center of the city is a great motte, or artificial mound, upon which sits the large castle of the earl. Four ditch-and-rampart spokes radiate from the castle almost to the outer wall, and divide the city into quarters. The northwestern quarter is given over to the magnificent cathedral and church buildings, a part of the fief of the Bishop of Salisbury. It is occupied by churchmen and the bishop’s retinue. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Mary, the Mother of God.
The city occupies the rest, and it serves as the outer bailey for the castle. It is large and relatively rich. It serves as the trading center for the entire county and the earl receives rich revenues from its taxes, part of which go to the king. A royal mint is here stamps out silver pennies that show King Uther’s image on one side and the name of mint and minter on the other. The earl receives no income from this source.

1. Black Abbey: This place is a small abbey of the Benedictine Order.
2. Castle (a.k.a. Castle of the Rock): A 300-foot-diameter mound stands above the city about it, surrounded by a deep ditch whose dirt made much of the mound. Around the outer edge of the mound is a stout log wall. Entry is possible only through the gateway with its drawbridge, on the east side of the castle. Inside are many buildings, especially the Great Hall. Note, too, the kitchens, guest house, stable, and other buildings. 
3. CathedralMary was established here by Gravaine, a follower of Josephe, the first bishop of Britain. They settled in the Druid’s Quarter. After the Romans destroyed the druids, the quarter became largely Christian. The head of the abbey was later made a bishop, and the church became a cathedral.
4. City Wall: The city is surrounded by a massive ditch and mound surmounted by a city wall. Two gates pierce the walls, each protected by a gate tower. (These are the outer defenses for the castle, detailed above.) The city requires a garrison of 100 to fully man the walls.
5. Eagle Market: In this, the international market, stands a large statue of an eagle that used to speak to the lords of the Belgae. It was a gift of King Belinus, the conqueror of Rome.
6. Earl’s Hall: Salisbury Hall is a stout stone building in Sarum Castle. It is two stories, with the earl and his family living overhead.
7. Fool’s Gate: The eastern gate is called the Fool’s Gate because Queen Cordelia granted living quarters in the ancient gate tower to the fool who helped her crazed old father, King Lear.
8. Josephe Abbey: This is one of the oldest Christian abbeys in Britain, where many brown-robed monks of the Alban order reside and take care of the cathedral.
9. Motte: The castle sits on a raised mound in the center of the city.
10. Quarter Walls: Four walls divide the city into quarters. None have gates but all are open at both ends to allow passage.
11. Damas Gate: Damas was a son of Velanus, and the first Belgae lord of this city and castle. The city thrived so much that he opened the western wall to have this second gate to double the market available to his people.
12. White Abbey: This Cistercian abbey has a couple of hundred of monks, servants and workers.

Type

City

Characters in Location

• Loren Kenithei
• Sir Jeronimus of House Laverstock
• Steward Gobert

Related Reports (Primary)

• Session 2: The Grand Tournment Report - Day 1: Monday