Castles in Context: Power, Symbolism and Landscape, 1066 to 1500Windgather Press, 2005 - 178 pages Castle studies have been transformed in recent years with a movement away from the traditional interpretation of castles as static military structures towards a wider view of castles as aesthetic symbols of power, with a more complicated relationship with the landscape. Supported by numerous colour photographs of the most `tangible' remains of the Middle Ages, this clearly written and very accessible study makes the most current ideas about the role of the castle available to a wider and more general readership. Robert Liddiard discusses the history of castle building before and after the Norman Conquest, considering the Norman and medieval definition of the castle, and he reassesses the military defensive capabilities of castles, demolishing the idea that they were built in response to military policy. Instead, they proved a very effective means for aristocrats to display their status. Liddiard evaluates the role of the castle in warfare and the extent to which sieges played a part in conflicts before turning his attention to the varied role of the castle in the landscape (and in the lives of those who lived in and around it) and its relationship to its environment, arguing that the aesthetic setting of many castles was not a happy accident. Throughout, the study is supported by numerous case studies which examine the archaeological, architectural and historical evidence for numerous castles. |
From inside the book
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Page 79
... forces live off the countryside : medieval soldiers often marched on what they had plundered . Advancing across Normandy in 1346 , the English boasted that their army was despoiling the land for five or six miles around their line of ...
... forces live off the countryside : medieval soldiers often marched on what they had plundered . Advancing across Normandy in 1346 , the English boasted that their army was despoiling the land for five or six miles around their line of ...
Page 80
... forces properly supplied . Thus medieval warfare was characterised by skir- mishes and raiding as armies attempted to engage small numbers of opponents detached from their larger formations while the numerical odds were in their favour ...
... forces properly supplied . Thus medieval warfare was characterised by skir- mishes and raiding as armies attempted to engage small numbers of opponents detached from their larger formations while the numerical odds were in their favour ...
Page 83
... force could thus be left around a castle by attackers , enabling the remainder of the army to continue on its way ... forces besieging Windsor and Dover Castles.44 In the event , he was defeated in Lincoln and his invasion came to ...
... force could thus be left around a castle by attackers , enabling the remainder of the army to continue on its way ... forces besieging Windsor and Dover Castles.44 In the event , he was defeated in Lincoln and his invasion came to ...
Common terms and phrases
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman Castles Anglo-Norman Studies Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Architecture and Power aristocratic attacks bailey Bodiam Bodiam Castle Boydell Press building built Castellarium Castle Acre Castle Acre Castle Castle Hedingham Castle in England castle studies castle-building Castles and Landscapes Castles in Context chapter Château-Gaillard Chronicle Conquest construction Coulson crenellate deer park defence designed landscapes Domesday Book donjon dovecote Dover Edward eleventh England and Wales example Excavations Experiencing Castles fifteenth centuries Figure fishponds fortifications fourteenth century Framlingham Framlingham Castle garden garrison gatehouse hall Hedingham Hen Domen Henry Hertfordshire King later medieval London Lordly Landscapes lords lordship major manor manorial Medieval Castle medieval period medieval warfare Middle Ages motte motte and bailey noble Norfolk Orderic Vitalis Oxford Peddars ponds probably raised reprinted in Liddiard residence ringwork role royal seigneurial settlement Shropshire social Stokesay structures Suffolk suggested surrender Symbolism and Landscape thirteenth century tower town twelfth century visitor visual walls Welsh William Woodbridge
References to this book
Castles from the Air: An Aerial Portrait of Britain's Finest Castles Paul Johnson No preview available - 2006 |