English Castles 1050-1450

Castles are among the most prominent, interesting, exciting and informative parts of our inheritance from the Middle Ages. This book offers a wide-ranging but detailed study of castles built and used by the English at home and elsewhere for 400 years. Opening with their introduction to England in the mid-11th century, it tells us of the people who created, owned, lived in and worked in them, and the role of castles in the expression of power, government, justice and punishment. It then considers their impact on their environs and on the lives, economy and religious life of people living in their shadow. Generous space is given to the development of the earthworks, walls, gates and towers which defined their form, their moving parts such as the drawbridge and portcullis, and the techniques and equipment of attack and defence. As castles were also houses, a chapter discusses the design and development of their domestic buildings, from the ‘great tower’ and the grandest halls and chambers to their kitchens and store rooms. Space is devoted to building castles and the many skills, processes, people and materials involved, and the book finishes with a chapter on the post medieval fate of the English castle and its cultural legacy.