. 55 ford, which had been ruined in the Danish wars, and built a new town on the south side of the river, called Mikesgate; bnt the author of the Saxon Chronicle, and other writers, speak of the building on the other side of the river as a fortress only, or citadel. Authors vary considerably also as to the date of this building. l3romton makes it 907, the Saxon Chronicle 919. The Danish army was repulsed by the townsmen of in 921; in 1010 they were more successful, and burned the town. The record of Doomsday speaks of the town of Bedford as being taxed as half a hundred both for soldiers and shipping. Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln, is said to have taken it away from the church of St. Paul, and to have retained it unjustly in his own bands. King William Rufus gave the Barony of Bedford to Pain de Beau. champ, who built a strong adjoining the town. Bedford castle sustained a siege against King Stepben and his army in 1137; but historians differ very much in their acc01mts, both as to the event of the siege, and who were the defenders. Dugdale, quoting ancient autborities, says, that Milo de Beauchamp and his brothers, hearing that the king had bestowed their sister in marriage, together with the whole Barony of Bedford, which had belonged to Simon de Beauchamp, their father, unto Hugh Pauper, brother to the Earl of Leicester, garrisoned the castle of Bedford, then a fort of great strength environed with a mighty rampire of earth, and a high wall, within which was an impregnable tower; so that the king, not bP-ing able to get it by assault, brought his army before it, and, after a long and hard siege, obtainecl it by surrender, through the mediation of his brother, Henry de Blois, bishop of vVinchester, Milo de Beauchamp and his soldiers marching out upon honourable terms. Camden, without entering into particulars, merely mentions that Stephen was the first who took this castle with great slaughter. Holinshed ·informs us, that during the wars between Stephen and David, King of Scotland, Bedford, which had been given to David's son, Henry, as appertaining to the earldom of Huntingdon, was garrisoned by the Scots; and that after being besieged for thirty days together, by Stephen, who every day gave an assault or alarm, it was at length won by him by pure force and strength. The circumstance, of Bedford having been thus for a time annexed to the earldom of Huntingdon, is confirmed by a record of Par­ liament, by which it appears that the abbess of Elstow, in 1327, preferred a petition, claiming the third penny in the town of Bedford, under a grant of Malcolm, King of Scotland and Earl of Huntingdon. The burgesses of Bedford, in reply, affirmed that Malcolm never bad the lordship of the town. It is most probable, that before his time it had been restored to the Beauchamps. In 1190 Simon de Beauchamp gave 100l. for the government of Bedford castle. In 1216 William de Beauchamp, being then possessed of the barony of Bedford, took part with the rebellious barons, and received them as friends into his castle, which they were advancing to besiege. The king having sent his favourite, Faukes de Brent, to summon the castle, it was sur­ rendered within a few days, and given to him for his good services. The king appears to have been there in person the same year. 1\Iatthew Paris informs us that Faukes de Brent (being thus possessed of the barony by