The town kept, until about a hundred years
ago, its old style "The Devizes"--Ad Divisas,[4] the place where the
boundaries of three manors met. This is the generally accepted
explanation of the name, though there is still room for conjecture.
Remains, considerable in the aggregate, of the Roman period have been
discovered in the town and immediate neighbourhood. It is quite
possible that a Roman origin of the town itself may be looked for; but
it is as a feudal stronghold hold that Devizes began to make its
history and as a humble dependency of that stronghold the modern town
took its beginning. The castle was built by Bishop Roger in the early
years of Henry I, and its chief function seems to have been that of a
prison. Robert, the eldest son of the Conqueror, was shut up in it.
Soon afterwards, its builder, having taken the side of Maud in her
quarrel with Stephen, was imprisoned in a beast house belonging to the
castle, when the king, in one of his smaller successes, took
possession. Another notable prisoner was Hubert de Burgh, who escaped
and flew to St.
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