A collection of the most significant articles in castle studies, with contributions from scholars in history, archaeology, historic buildings and landscape archaeology.
The castles of the late medieval period represent some of the finest medieval monuments in Britain, with an almost infinite capacity to fascinate and draw controversy. They are also a source of considerable academic debate.
The contents of this volume represent key works in castle scholarship. Topics discussed include castle warfare, fortress customs, architectural design and symbolism, spatial planning and the depiction of castles in medieval romance. The contributions also serve to highlight the diversity of approaches to the medieval castle, ranging from the study of documentary and literary sources, analysis of fragmentary architectural remains and the recording of field archaeology. The result is a survey that offers an in-depth analysis of castle building from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, and places castles within their broader social, architectural and political contexts.
Table of contents
Robert Liddiard 'Introduction'
Charles Coulson 'Fourteenth-Century Castles in Context: Apotheosis or Decline?'
Nicola Coldstream 'Architects, Advisors and Design at Edward I's Castles in Wales'
Philip Dixon and Beryl Lott 'The Courtyard and the Tower: Contexts and Symbols in the Development of Late Medieval Great Houses'
P.A. Faulkner 'Castle Planning in the Fourteenth Century'
Graham Fairclough 'Meaningful Constructions: Spatial and Functional Analysis of Medieval Buildings'
Philip Dixon 'Mota, Aula et Turris: the Manor-Houses of the Anglo-Scottish Border'
John Goodall 'Lulworth Castle, Dorset'
Charles McKean 'A Scottish Problem with Castles'
Charles Coulson 'Structural Symbolism in Medieval Castle Architecture'
Charles Coulson 'Specimens of Freedom to Crenellate by Licence'
Charles Coulson 'Some Analysis of the Castle of Bodiam, East Sussex'
Michael Prestwich 'English Castles in the Reign of Edward II'
T.E. McNeill 'Castles of Ward and the Changing Pattern of Border Conflict in Ireland'
Philip Dixon 'The Donjon of Knaresborough: the Castle as Theatre'
Richard K. Morris 'The Architecture of Arthurian Enthusiasm: Castle Symbolism in the Reigns of Edward I and his Successors'
Christopher Taylor 'Medieval Ornamental Landscapes'
Muriel A. Whitaker 'Otherworld Castles in Middle English Arthurian Romance'