Book
Castle
First published 2003
Marc Morris traces the development of the castle in Britain from the earth-and-timber strongholds introduced on a large scale after the Norman Conquest to the immense stone keeps, curtain walls and increasingly comfortable residences of the later Middle Ages. Architecture is explained through the political and military circumstances that produced it, including conquest, baronial rivalry, royal expansion and the need to control towns, roads and frontiers.
The book also treats castles as homes, administrative centres and public statements of rank rather than simply machines of war. Kitchens, halls, chapels, chambers and household organisation reveal the daily lives concealed behind battlements. Case studies range from Norman motte-and-bailey sites and the unlicensed castles of the Anarchy to Edward I’s fortresses in Wales and strongholds adapted for gunpowder warfare. Their decline and reuse during the early modern period complete a history of buildings that shaped both landscape and government.
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