Synopses & Reviews
In this challenging new book Charles Coulson overturns many of the traditional assumptions about the nature and purpose of castle-building in the middle ages. Going back to the original sources, he proposes a new and more subtle understanding of the function and symbolism of castles as well as vivid insights into the lives of the people who inhabited them.
Synopsis
The vast majority of castles in England, Wales, Ireland, and France have virtually no military history' of sieges or physical conflict across the whole panorama of more than five centuries'. This is quite a sobering thought. But surely castles were built just in case there was an attack and the fact that few were involved in conflict makes no difference? Charles Coulson challenges our perceptions about what a castle was, why they were built and how they functioned. Through a wealth of textual material (with full or long excerpts given) he argues that castles were a different, albeit significant, residence of the aristocracy who had a penchant for crenellation and castellation. Yes they had a defensive function, but Coulson outlines the social realities' of castles and castle-building, and of those who inhabited them - nobility and gentry, widows and heiresses, prelates and clergy, peasants and townspeople all played a role in the life of the medieval castle.
Table of Contents
Part I. Castles: Ancient, Various, and Sociable 1. A Fresh Look at Early Castles
2. Variety Violated: Some Conceptual Problems
3. Some Social Relations of 'Castles and Fortresses'
Part II. Castles and the Public Interest
4. Noble Military 'Liberties', Ethos, and Ethics
5. Peacekeeping at Home and Abroad
6. Private Property but Public Utility
Part III. Castellans, Colonization, and Rural Community
7. Castle-Lords, Castle-Lordships, and Noble Civilization
8. Colonization and Fortresses
9. Population and Fortresses: Protection and Perquisites
Part IV. Castles and Circumstances of Widows, Guardians, and Heiresses
10. Female Castellans: Prevision not Prejudice
11. Ladies of Fortresses and Castle-Children
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index