Castles in Medieval Society Fortresses in England, France, and Ireland in the Central Middle Ages

by Coulson, Charles L. H.

• ISBN13: 9780199273638
• ISBN10: 0199273634
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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. He demolishes the traditional belief that castles were overwhelmingly military in their function, showing how this was simply oneaspect of a more complicated whole. He sets out to recreate the medieval understanding of castles as symbolically fortified places of all kinds, from ancient walled post-Roman towns and prestigious religious enclaves to transitory campaign forts. Going back to the original sources, Dr Coulson 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. Fortresses were only occasionally caught up in war, but constantly were central to theordinary life of all classes: of the nobility and gentry, of widows and heiresses, of prelates and clergy, of peasantry and townspeople alike. Castles in Medieval Society presents and explores this broad social panorama.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION	1	(14)
PART I. CASTLES: ANCIENT, VARIOUS, AND SOCIABLE
1. A FRESH LOOK AT EARLY CASTLES	15	(14)
1. Fortresses in Transition	16	(3)
2. The Carolingian Response to Invasion	19	(5)
3. Castles and Social Reconstruction	24	(5)
2. VARIETY VIOLATED: SOME CONCEPTUAL PROBLEMS	29	(35)
1. The Modern Construct of 'The Castle'	30	(12)
2. Some Contrasts With the Sources	42	(7)
3. Castellaries Were Also 'Castles'	49	(15)
3. SOME SOCIAL RELATIONS OF 'CASTLES AND FORTRESSES'	64	(34)
1. Earthwork and Ashlar: Policing, Hierarchy, and Aesthetics	66	(10)
2. Architectural Eulogy and Noble Ambition	76	(8)
3. Some Incidentals of the Castle Image	84	(7)
4. Conclusions: Part I-Castles 'For All the Folk'	91	(7)
PART II. CASTLES AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST
1. NOBLE MILITARY 'LIBERTIES', ETHOS AND ETHICS	98	(30)
1. Weaponry and Architecture	99	(5)
2. The Aura and the Abuse of Arms	104	(8)
3. 'Adventures', 'Feats of Arms', and Fortresses	112	(5)
4. Castles: Innocent or Guilty?	117	(11)
2. PEACEKEEPING AT HOME AND ABROAD	128	(26)
1. Fortifying and 'Purprestures', 1217-c.1274	128	(7)
2. Pacification and Fortifications, 1217-c.1226	135	(6)
3. The Angevin Record and 'French' Treaties, 1160-1200	141	(8)
4. Anglo-Scottish Affairs, 1209-1388	149	(5)
3. PRIVATE PROPERTY BUT PUBLIC UTILITY	154	(38)
1. Legitimate Sequestration and Improper Demolition	154	(9)
2. Lordly Castles in 'Public' Use	163	(10)
3. Class-Conflict and Fortification	173	(6)
4. Communes and Community	179	(7)
5. Conclusions: Part II-Castles Were Not Anti-Social	186	(6)
PART III. CASTELLANS, COLONIZATION, AND RURAL COMMUNITY
1. CASTLE-LORDS, CASTLE-LORDSHIPS, AND NOBLE CIVILIZATION	192	(32)
1. Some Greater English Castellans: Pride, Responsibility, and Danger	192	(13)
2. Castellation and Jurisdiction As Insignia of Nobility	205	(6)
3. Case-Studies in Seignorial Relations	211	(13)
2. COLONIZATION AND FORTRESSES	224	(28)
1. Castle-Building and Colonization: Ireland	225	(8)
2. Castles and Colonization, Mainly in France	233	(6)
3. Development and Confrontation: Bastides Not 'Fortresses'	239	(13)
3. POPULACE AND FORTRESSES: PROTECTION AND PERQUISITES	252	(45)
1. The Refuge-system in England and the Channel Islands	253	(11)
2. The Refuge-system of Castellaries in France	264	(11)
3. Castle-works and Services, English and Welsh	275	(10)
4. Guet et Garde, Plat Pays, and Forteresse	285	(6)
5. Conclusions: Part III-Noble Rights and Public Advantage	291	(6)
PART IV. CASTLES AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF WIDOWS, GUARDIANS, AND HEIRESSES
1. FEMALE CASTELLANS: PREVISION, NOT PREJUDICE	297	(42)
1. Differentiating Fortress-Factors: Mainly in England	299	(12)
2. The Distinctiveness of Fortresses Under Chatelaines	311	(16)
3. Some Vicissitudes of Heiresses and Dowagers	327	(12)
2. LADIES OF FORTRESSES AND CASTLE CHILDREN	339	(45)
1. Thirteenth-Century Irish and Other Widows, Wards, and Castles	340	(10)
2. Inheritance and Survival, Chiefly in the March of Scotland	350	(16)
3. Chatelaines in Prosperity and in Adversity	366	(16)
4. Conclusions: Part IV-The Social Matrix	382	(2)
EPILOGUE	384	(1)
Bibliography	385	(30)
Index of Persons, Places, and Subjects	415