Castles at war : The Danish Castle Research Association "Magt, Borg og Landskab" Interdisciplinary Symposium 2013
edited by Rainer Atzbach, Lars Meldgaard Sass Jensen, Leif Plith Lauritsen
Bok · Engelsk · 2015
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| Utgitt | Bonn : Rudolf Habelt , 2015
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| Omfang | 230 pages : ill.
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| Opplysninger | For the last 20 years, archaeological and historic research has dealt with many aspects of castles, their function as a noble family's seat, their role each as an administrative unit's centre, their relevance for trade, craft and consumption, the geographical, typological, and structural appearance of individual castles, and last but not least the castles' symbolic meaning. Beyond this, the oldest and most prominent function of a castle has tended to be neglected in scholarly discourse: its strategic and tactical function as a military stronghold that played a central role in the political strategies of the ruling European elite. Even as a threat of force, a castle had the potential to structure a conflict or to structure the rule of a region. This role of castles in medieval warfare has long been considered to be a topic primarily for a narrow circle of specialists in military history and archaeologists interested in loop-holes and mining technique. However, the picture has been changing, and both historians and archaeologists have started to recognize the critical relevance of strongholds, castles, earthworks, and redoubts in warfare. This volume collects the contributions to that symposium and two additional papers by Jan Kock and Jesper Hjermind. Their range encompasses "The role of castles in political strategy" in the first part including studies that explore the development of fortifications in general. The second part, "Castles during warfare and sieges", presents case studies about individual sieges, weapons, instruments, and strategies of warfare during the period under consideration. Here, a new light is shed on the significant role of non-descript and unimposing earthworks being a part of a besieger's strategy to cut off a castle under siege from communication and supply
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| Emner | |
| Dewey | |
| ISBN | 9783774939783
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