Castles In Context

"The last decade has seen a revolution in our understanding of the castle. Previously scholars have viewed it as essentially a military structure: a building where the need to resist a siege determined both architecture and site. Academics now paint a more complex picture, emphasizing the castle's symbolic projection of power, its position in the wider landscape and even its aesthetic role. This wide-ranging book makes this re-evaluation available to a new generation of castle enthusiasts. Focusing on the rich heritage of castle archaeology in England and Wales, the author offers a fresh and holistic perspective on these enigmatic medieval buildings. He examines not just the architecture but its wider social and landscape context. As well as offering new insights into familiar themes such as the Norman Conquest and siege warfare, he also covers in detail more original areas of study: the designed, ornamental landscapes that have been found at castle sites; the depiction of castles in literature; and the symbolic values that found expression in castle architecture. His aim is to understand how people experienced castles in the Middle Ages, and therefore to explain why they were such potent icons of lordship."--Back cover.

Wide-ranging studies offer an in-depth analysis of castle-building 11th - 12th centuries and place castles within their broader social and political context. The castles of the eleventh and twelfth centuries remain among the most visible symbols of the Anglo-Norman world. This collection brings together for the first time some of the most significant articles in castle studies, with contributions from experts in history, archaeology and historic buildings. Castles remain a controversial topic of academic debate and here equal weight is given to seminal articles that have defined the study of the subject while at the same time emphasising newer approaches to the fortresses of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy. The studies in this volume range from discussions of the residential and military role of the castle to architectural symbolismand royal attitudes to baronial fortification. The result is a survey that offers an in-depth analysis of castle-building during the eleventh and twelfth centuries but which also places Anglo-Norman castles within their broader social, architectural and political context. Contributors: ANN WILLIAMS, RICHARD EALES, DEREK RENN, LAWRENCE BUTLER, ROBERT HIGHAM, MARJORIE CHIBNALL, R.ALLEN BROWN, CHARLES COULSON, SIDNEY PAINTER, FREDERICK C. SUPPE, GRANT G. SIMPSON, BRUCE WEBSTER, J.R. KENYON, THOMAS McNEILL, T.A. HESLOP, PHILIP DIXON, PAMELA MARSHALL, JOHN BLAIR, CHARLES COULSON, ROBERT LIDDIARD

A collection of the most significant articles in castle studies, with contributions from scholars in history, archaeology, historic buildings and landscape archaeology.

This paperback edition of a book first published in hardback in 2002 is a fascinating and provocative study which looks at castles in a new light, using the theories and methods of landscape studies.

This original and pioneering book examines the role of the castle in the Norman conquest of England and in the subsequent administration of the country. The castle is seen primarily as an instrument of peaceful administration which rarely had a garrison and was more often where the sheriff kept his files and employed his secretariat. In most cases the military significance of the castle was minimal, and only a very few ever saw military action. For the first time, the medieval castle in England is seen in a new light which will attract the general reader of history and archaeology as much as the specialist in economic and social history.

The castles of Ireland are an essential part of the story of medieval Europe, but were, until recently, a subject neglected by scholars. Dr McNeill weaves the evidence from the castles into the story of lordship and power in medieval Eire.

Despite an ever-expanding literature on Irish castles, the relationships between the castle building tradition in Ireland and those of contemporary Europe have attracted very little attention among Irish scholars. This book seeks to remedy this by approaching the corpus of Irish castles as a non-Irish scholar might do. Is there a case for dating the first castles in Ireland to the tenth century in line with the revised chronology of castle-building on the Continent? Are castles in Ireland typical of their periods by contemporary standards in England and France in particular? Are any castles in Ireland genuinely innovative or radical by those contemporary standards? What inferences about Ireland's place in medieval Europe can be drawn from the evidence of its castles and their forms?

A new way of looking at the medieval castle - as a cultural reflection of the society that produced it, seen through art and literature.