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 one aspect 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 the ordinary 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.
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
Reviews for Castles in Medieval Society: Fortresses in England, France, and Ireland in the Central Middle Ages
...There can be no doubt that this is an important, agenda-setting work...nobody with any interest in the medieval castle can afford to ignore it.
