Castles in Medieval Society: Fortresses in England, France, and Ireland in the Central Middle Ages [Hardcover]

Charles Coulson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0198208243 | ISBN-13: 978-0198208242

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. Going back to the original sources, he 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...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.

About the Author

Charles Coulson is at Honorary Research Fellow, School of History, University of Kent.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 456 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198208243
• ISBN-13: 978-0198208242
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,007,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars detailed view of place of castles in European society, October 28, 2004

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Castles in Medieval Society: Fortresses in England, France, and Ireland in the Central Middle Ages (Paperback)

Coulson seeks to revise the understanding of castles as basically military structures to an understanding of them as images of the primary factors and the complexity of European society in the time from the fall of Rome to the late Middle Ages. This society was basically hierarchical and aristocratic. Today's conventional conception of a castle as more or less a fortification is a largely romantic notion bearing little relation to the true place of castles in medieval society. In medieval Europe, towns, ecclesiastical areas, estates and mansions, and even temporary earthworks of a traveling army were regarded as castles. The word "fortalicium" originally used for "castle" meant "element" or "sign" of fortification more than strictly a military fortification. In the medieval society, this was understood to mean above all "a symbolism of aristocratic armed power." As symbols of this power, castles were also social centers where most of the interaction of the different social classes took place. As Coulson remarks, there is no military history associated with most castles. In his revision of the conception of castles, the author elaborates on the presence of high-rankng women in many of them. Coulson is a research fellow at England's U. of Kent. He does not undercut the significance of castles in medieval society; rather, he shifts the understanding of what their significance was.

5.0 out of 5 stars High Hopes, May 10, 2004

By 

Richard R. Carlton (Ada, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Castles in Medieval Society: Fortresses in England, France, and Ireland in the Central Middle Ages (Hardcover)

I met Dr. Coulson at the parish church in Nonington several weeks ago and have since had one of the staff at the Center for Kentish Studies recommend his book so I'm really looking forward to getting it. Coulson is history staff at the University of Kent. The recommendation I received was based on his attention to daily life and the social implications of what we might call "Castle culture" in the localities. We will see......I will post again after the book arrives.