The idea of the castle in medieval England
The castle has long been regarded as a practical, military architecture, introduced by the Normans as a tool of feudal control. More recently, castles have been accorded a certain symbolic significance, expressing military and political power. However, this thesis argues that the castle was a meaningful architecture in a much more sophisticated sense than these arguments admit. It discovers complex iconographies of meaning in castle architecture through examination of castle imagery in a wide range of textual and visual sources, and in the architecture of castles themselves. The Introduction reviews the different approaches which medieval architecture of different kinds has attracted in modern criticism. An interdisciplinary approach is advocated, which uses a wide range of sources to build up a composite understanding of architectural meanings. Chapter I problematises accepted definitions of the castle which, through their rigidity, obscure the castle's ideological significance. Linguistic and archaeological arguments are employed to show that the medieval understanding of the word 'castle' was more flexible than is usually recognised. Subsequent chapters explore particular implications of this flexible understanding
Wheatley, Abigail Margaret
History
The idea of the castle in medieval England. The castle has long been regarded as a practical, military architecture, introduced by the Normans as a tool of feudal control. More recently, castles have been accorded a certain symbolic significance, expressing military and political power. However, this thesis argues that the castle was a meaningful architecture in a much more sophisticated sense than these arguments admit. It discovers complex iconographies of meaning in castle architecture through examination of castle imagery in a wide range of textual and visual sources, and in the architecture of castles themselves. The Introduction reviews the different approaches which medieval architecture of different kinds has attracted in modern criticism. An interdisciplinary approach is advocated, which uses a wide range of sources to build up a composite understanding of architectural meanings. Chapter I problematises accepted definitions of the castle which, through their rigidity, obscure the castle's ideological significance. Linguistic and archaeological arguments are employed to show that the medieval understanding of the word 'castle' was more flexible than is usually recognised. Subsequent chapters explore particular implications of this flexible understanding
idea castle medieval_england castle long regard practical military architecture introduce normans tool feudal control recently castle accord certain symbolic significance express military political_power however_argue castle meaningful architecture much sophisticated sense argument admit complex iconography mean castle architecture examination castle imagery wide_range textual_visual source architecture castle themselves introduction_review different_approach medieval architecture different_kind attract modern criticism interdisciplinary advocate use wide_range_source build composite architectural meaning problematises accept definition castle obscure castle ideological significance linguistic archaeological argument employ show medieval word castle flexible usually recognise subsequent explore particular implication flexible