Norman Castles - Military fortresses or Status symbols?

Norman Castles - Military fortresses or Status symbols?

1. What was new about Norman castles?

   • Saxon burgh-geats
     • Built by thegns
     • e.g. Goltho in Lincolnshire
     • Key features
       • Defensive ditches
       • Earth bank
         • palisade on top
       • gate houses
         • used to show status - bigger = more important
       • wooden buildings inside to live in
     • NOT called castles
       • Norman word
   • First castles in England
     • Built by Edward the Confessor's Norman friends
     • 3 built before 1066
       • Richard's Castle, Hereford Castle & Ewyas Castle
     • Motte and Baileys
   • Invasion
     • Used old Roman fortifications at Pevensey - added an earth bank and palisade in one corner
       • no motte
     • Built castle at Hastings
       • Motte and Bailey
       • Shown on the Bayeux Tapestry
   • After the Battle of Hastings
     • Following battle Will built castles along his route to London - Dover, Newbury, Oxford
     • Arrived in London - Started work on T of L

2. Where were Norman Castles built and what did they look like?

   • 1068-1071: The rebellion years
     • Castles built in/near places that rebelled
       • Warwick
       • Nottingham
       • York
         • Most important city in north
       • Exeter - Rougemont
     • Castles built to protect road to North
       • Lincoln
       • Cambridge
       • Huntingdon
     • Other castle builders
       • Robert of Mortain (Will's half brother)
         • Montacute Castle
       • William FitzOsborn
         • Will's BFF
         • made Earl of Hereford
         • Built castles on border with Wales
           • Chepstow Castle
             • Stone castle
     • What were the castles like?
       • Most motte & bailey
       • Most made of timber
       • Some just 'ringworks'
         • Pevensey
       • Few made of stone
         • Chepstow, TofL
     • Approx 35 Castles built
       • Way less than after rebellions were over
   • 1071-1087: After the rebellions
     • Approx 500 castles built
       • Way more than when rebellions were happening
     • Most built by Norman barons & knights not by king
     • Nearly all built in countryside
     • little military finction so just for status?

3. What were castles for?

   • Military
     • Castles built near places of rebellion - Exeter, York
     • Castles were built by Norman knights to intimidate peasants and keep control
     • Biggest concentration of castles is on the Welsh-English border
     • Little jewellery found in excavations = military
       • e.g. Hen Domen in Wales
   • Historians disagree - interpretations
     • Traditional interpretations
       • All about defence
     • Revisionist interpretations
       • More about status
     • Recent interpretations
       • Mainly about defence - some use as status symbols
   • Status
     • 80% built in countryside - not strategic positions
     • At Castle Acre in Norfolk created a deer park and diverted a Roman road to give good views
     • Gatehouses often looked like those in Saxon bughs (e.g. Exeter) which were built for status

4. The Tower of London

   • The Keep - The White Tower
     • Entrance on 1st floor
       • Wooden staircase could be removed
     • King's apartments on 2nd floor
     • Fake windows on 'top floor' hide a walkway for patrolling soldiers
   • Dates
     • Begun between 1075 and 1079
     • Finished after William's death in 1087
   • Built on site of existing Roman defences
   • River provides protection
   • Originally built in wood - developed over time

Imagens e arquivos do mapa