Towers and Households: Eating at Polanen Castle (original) (raw)
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Tower Houses in the Netherlands
The common perception of the tower house in the Netherlands has until recently been associated with the reconstructed castle of Lunenburg, or with a drawing of five tower houses in the southeast of the province of Utrecht as they might have looked like in theMiddle Ages: a square tower of about 10 × 10 metres in plan with a height of about 12 metres. Lunenburg castle is one of that five. The drawing suggests that there are just five tower houses in that area and that they all look alike. First of all, there are more than 35 tower houses in that area and they do not all look alike. Furthermore, they are not representative of the tower house in The Netherlands more generally. This paper offers a report on the investigation of these – and other – tower houses in the past 10 years.
Medieval Archaeology in Scandinavia and beyond. Hisory, trends, and tomorrow, 2015
show great variety among the dwellings and furnishings of medieval nobility. The reason for these differences can only be deduced when different types of source are analysed together. Various parameters influence daily life. However, the interrelations between these parameters, which are apparent from the sources, are best understood by using a model. Analysing the interrelations in a model makes it clear that a holistic approach must be the basis for studies of daily life. The model shows interrelations as a complex system. At the same time the model illustrates aspects of social mobility in medieval society.
The Tower-house in Ireland: Origins, Dating & Function
Irish tower-houses, which are typically dated between c.1400 and c.1600 , are amongst the most common of upstanding archaeological monuments in Ireland, yet many points of contention persist amongst scholars as to their origin, date and function. One particular definition describes the tower-house as ‘a compact fortified house in which the hall is raised above the ground with one or more storeys above it’ . On a considerably smaller scale than the large curtain-walled castles of the thirteenth century, the tower-house was to provide the typical abode of the Gaelic and Anglo-Irish gentry of the fifteenth and sixteenth century . In construction the tower-house, in its simplest guise, was rectangular in plan and was up to six storeys in height with various defensive features including a vaulted roof over the ground floor, which was to theoretically guard against fire spreading to the upper reaches of castle. The ground floor was typically used for storing supplies and was often the first line of defence should the main door be breached, while the second storey provided the main hall, with the remaining storeys usually consisting of the private quarters. For further protection murder-holes were often present between the ground and first floors. The tower-house was sometimes protected by a walled-courtyard (Figs. 2 and 3), though this latter feature does not appear to have been universally constructed of stone and does not often survive into modern times. The study of bawn walls is very limited, as very little archaeological excavation has taken place outside of tower-houses. Significantly, the Civil Survey of the 1650’s mentions bawn walls at only 20% of the towers it lists . Although often regarded, not as true castles but rather as mere fortified houses, the type also includes examples on a very large scale such as those great tower-houses found in Counties Limerick, Clare, Galway and Cork . However, as Colm Donnelly points out, the term ‘tower-house’ is itself of nineteenth century origin and that contemporary historical sources regard these structures simply as ‘castles’ Although the subjects of demographic ethnicity and typology by regional distribution are touched upon in places, they are not specifically treated in this study.
Castle building along the border of Brabant and Holland (c. 1290 - c. 1400) (2014)
Château Gaillard 26. Château et frontière. Actes du colloque international d'Aabenraa 2012 (Caen 2014).
During the 14th century there were some disputes about the exact boundary between Holland and Brabant in the Low Countries. At one point, it was even stated the border ran right through the castle of Strijen at Oosterhout. Historical investigation clarifies the 'juridical perception' in this particular case. The wealthy Willem van Duvenvoorde, holding high offices on both sides of the border, succeeded in bringing the dispute to an end and, furthermore, he greatly modernised Strijen Castle c. 1325. A somewhat comparable situation occurred in the nearby lordship of Loon op Zand. Paulus van Haastrecht, also with high offices in Holland as well as in Brabant, built a strong tower house c. 1385 to strengthen his position to both sides. The last example dealt with in the paper is the strong tower house of Onsenoort at Nieuwkuijk, built after the destruction of its predecessor by Holland in 1370-72. The strong tower houses of Loon op Zand and Onsenoort reflect the turbulent times in this border region by the end of the 14th century. Therefore, they contradict the more general tendency to diminish the wall thickness of new built tower houses seen elsewhere in the Low Countries.