Bamburgh Castle |
Twelfth century words included: chastel,(Fr) castellum, arx, mota, turris, oppidum, munitions, firmitas and municipium (all Latin). Sometimes, we use one of the rare medieval terms today without realising we are doing so. London’s castle is called The Tower of London; and the name comes from its medieval name Turris Londiniensis.
Nowadays, some people talk of Real Castles when they mean a
private and fortified residence of a lord. When that term is used, then other castles have to be given another name, or else be deemed a fake. The Anglo-Saxon
chronicler who wrote of Dover’s castelle
in 1051, before the Norman conquest, and before the introduction of feudalism
and the concept of “castle,” was actually
talking about what should technically be called a fortified settlement or burh.
Modern historians also talk of castles of display, or
chivalric castles and they mean buildings that have crenellations but no proper
fortifications. These, Goodall says, are the castrati among castles– appealing but singing in the wrong
register.
There’s also the confusion about manors, which are also seats
of lordly authority. When is a manor distinct from a castle? Again there is
confusion. In 1521 the Duke of Buckingham’s new residence was described as the manor or castell. Sir John Paston’s will dated 31/10/1477 refers to Caister
in Norfolk, usually called a castle as “my
seid maner and fortresse.”
But whatever the correct technical term, the medieval and
early modern nobility of England occupied buildings we call castles, and from
1066 to 1640 a nobleman without a castle was like a knight without a horse.
1 comment:
Thanks, Jen.
You learn something new every day. I'd always thought a castle was a castle, and of course every Englishman's home!
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