Designed to dominate the surrounding area, to house powerful garrisons, offer sumptuous quarters for local nobility, and to discourage and repel enemy attacks, castles dominated England and Wales for more than half a millennium. Though some were built before 1066, the Norman Conquest left a lasting legacy in the form of fortifications ranging from small earthworks now barely discernible, to mighty and dominating stone fortresses. This book examines why castles were so essential to medieval warfare, their importance in domestic politics, and the day-to-day lives of those who lived and worked within them. It also shows how the development of new technologies affected their construction and design, and why they eventually fell into disrepair in the late Middle Ages. Beautifully illustrated with stunning photographs, this is the perfect guide for any castle enthusiast seeking to discover more about medieval fortifications and their inhabitants.

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.

This book provides the visitor to the castles of Wales with a history and description of the main castles open to the public. There is an easy-to-understand outline of how castles developed, as well as features that give more detail of the different parts of a castle, such as keeps and gatehouses.

The widespread construction of castles in Britain began as soon as Duke William of Normandy set foot on the shores of southern England in 1066. The castles that were constructed in the ensuing centuries, and whose ruins still scatter the British countryside today, provide us with an enduring record of the needs and ambitions of the times. But the essence of the medieval castle—a structure that is equal parts military, residential, and symbolic—reveals itself not only through the grandeur of such architectural masterpieces as the Tower of London, and the imposing nature of such royal residences as Windsor, but also in the aging masonry carvings, enduring battlements, and more modest earthen ramparts that have survived alongside them. Through a feature-by-feature account of the architectural elements and techniques used in constructing the medieval castle, author Lise Hull allows the multiple functions of these multifarious forms to shine through, and in so doing, lends a new vitality to the thousand faces that the medieval world assumed to discourage its enemies, inspire its friends, and control its subjects. This compelling investigation takes a unique look at each of the medieval castle's main roles: as an offensive presentation and defensive fortification, as a residential and administrative building, and as a symbolic structure demonstrating the status of its owner. Each chapter focuses on one specific role and uses concrete architectural features to demonstrate that aspect of the medieval castle in Britain. A wealth of illustrations is also provided, as is a glossary explaining the distinct parts of the castle and their functions. This book should be of interest to students researching architecture, the Middle Ages, or military history, as well as general readers interested in castles or considering a trip to Britain to observe some of these magnificent sites themselves.

First multi-disciplinary study of the cultural and social milieu of the post-medieval castle. The castle was an imposing architectural landmark in late medieval and early modern England and Wales. Castles were much more than lordly residences: they were accommodation to guests and servants, spaces of interaction between the powerful and the powerless, and part of larger networks of tenants, parks, and other properties. These structures were political, symbolic, residential, and military, and shaped the ways in which people consumed the landscape and interacted with the local communities around them. This volume offers the first interdisciplinary study of the socio-cultural understanding of the castle in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, a period duringwhich the castle has largely been seen as in decline. Bringing together a wide range of source material - from architectural remains and archaeological finds to household records and political papers - it investigates the personnel of the castle; the use of space for politics and hospitality; the landscape; ideas of privacy; and the creation of a visual legacy. By focusing on such an iconic structure, the book allows us to see some of the ways in which men and women were negotiating the space around them on a daily basis; and just as importantly, it reveals the impact that the local communities had on the spaces of the castle. AUDREY M. THORSTAD teaches in the Department of History, University of North Texas.

England, Scotland, and Wales together possess one of the largest and most impressive collections of castles anywhere in the world. Their names--Kenilworth, Edinburgh, Bodiam, Stirling, Tintagel--conjure images of romance, battles and intrigue. Trace each stage of the castles' development from Norman times through Plantagenet and Edwardian expansion, including their role in strengthening the coastline during the Tudor age, the appalling devastation suffered in the Civil War, and the gradual decay of the castle--and its renaissance.