Castles have been, for many centuries, a symbol of great power and wealth. Originally built for protection, many designs of castles focused on defense mechanisms to keep the people of the land safe when under attack (McCulloch). William the Conqueror was the first ruler to bring castles to British lands after he invaded England from France. Building castles was the most efficient way for William to rule over his newly claimed land(Hull). Today, many people visit these castles to experience the greatness and very elaborate designs and tapestries throughout, but many visit also because they were once the sites for many epic battles and events in history. Motte and bailey castles were the first castles built in Great Britain (McCulloch). These particular castles were brought to England by the Normans and used to oversee the native population (Motte). The design of the motte and bailey castle was simple and consisted of only earth and wood (McCulloch). The motte portion of the castle would be raised off of the ground with a wooden tower built atop where the lord would be stationed (McCulloch). The bailey part of the castle was the area of land around the motte. It was believed that the best site for a castle was atop a hill. This gave the lord an advantage such as being able to see oncoming attackers (Stokstad). This was the only benefit of the motte and bailey castles. The specific design for this type of castle did not endure very long because the wood used to build the tower on top of the mound would rot away or catch fire quickly, causing the castle to become unprotected and open for attacks (Hull). In 1067, when the motte and bailey castles failed, William the Conqueror developed a new design for a square, stone castle. Th... ... middle of paper ... ...e.htm. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. "The Tower of London". Britain Express. http://www.britainexpress.com/articles/London/tower-of-london.htm. n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. "Top 16 Best Castles in England with Pictures- Top Castles in England."Anglotopia.net. Rubber Duck and Company. 1 Dec. 2010. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. "St. Michael's Mount". Sacred Destinations. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/st-michaels-mount. Sacred Destinations. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. Stokstad, Marilyn. “Castles.” Art A Brief History. Pearson Education (2004): 272. Print. 13 Dec. 2010. "Windsor Castle." The Official Website of British Monarchy. http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/WindsorCastle/WindsorCastle.aspx. The Royal Household. 2009. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. "Windsor Castle History". Royal Windsor. http://royalwindsor.org.uk/Windsor_Castle_history.htm. Mindblown. 2005. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.
A typical feature of a concentric castle is the protective wood work at the top of the walls. We cannot tell whether this was a feature of Portchester Castle because any evidence would have rotted away.
For many the Cathedral is seen to indicate the grandeur and control of the Normans, who were able to build such monuments to their power despite having only recently conquered England. The precarious situation of being an recently instated alien power was even more pronounced in the north, where even the Anglo Saxon Kings had only had a superficial hold, arguably making the construction of Durham “one of the greatest Anglo-Norman achievements”. This so-called achievement is not restricted to architecture but also refers to the political developments which enabled the Normans to apparently gain enough control to do this within 30 years. However the study of Durham Cathedral alone cannot suffice to give a satisfactory outline of Norman politics and the achievements in Durham and must be put into the context of the region. Hence Durham Cathedral and all its powerful connotations can be argued to only be an anomaly to the reality of Norman England and its politics.
Castles in the Middle Ages were built primarily for defense in war. They were constantly being attacked so they had to be built very strong and almost impenetrable. Castles were very large to protect from invaders, but they were definitely not made for comfort. They were very dirty inside, but their main purpose was for defense. Castles were built with very strong walls. Some of the castles had walls that could be as big as thirty feet thick. They also had multiple walls so that if invaders got past the outer wall they still had to get past one or two more, this made defending the castle much easier. The walls were constructed with narrow, wedge-shaped slits in them for archers to shoot arrows at invaders. The outer walls also had holes in the floors for defenders to drop rocks down on invading people who had gotten through the first wall. These holes were called murder holes. Inside the castle were many knights, archers, and soldiers prepared to defend against anyone who breaks all of the way through the walls and gets inside of the castle. Castles also had very large gates and gatehouses to let people into the castle. There was a gatehouse for each wall. Each gatehouse usually had a very large metal and wooden gate that could be lowered into the opening to stop an enemy from getting in or it could be raised to let friends in. Besides huge gates, outer gatehouses also had drawbridges, which could be lowered across moats to let people into the castle. They were also raised to prevent people form getting across. Castles were also built in strategic places so that they could use natural defenses. For instance, some castles were built on the sides of mountains. Others were built in places with many trees surrounding them. Some were built near lakes and rivers, but most of them had moats dug around them.
Another inspirational architect in this time was William Kent. His designs using ogee pointed arches with a classical cornice inspired Batty Langley to produce a study in which he analyzed Gothic in terms of classical orders. A comparison with true mediaeval and Gothic architecture at this time shows that at this time all Gothic architecture was a decorative style to be applied as ornament to regular structures and s...
The primary use for all castles, in general, is defense. They were often built on hills, cliffs, islands, swamps, etc. to limit the probability of a siege or uprising, and motte and bailey castles were no different. The motte and bailey castles were first used to protect the nobleman of the Norman fleet, and followed a fairly basic design. Mottes, according to Dr. Reginald Allen Brown, medieval historian with vast knowledge and experience in this field, were artificial mounds constructed by piling consecutive layers of earth and stones. The stones created stability throughout the motte and also helped with drainage. The sides of the motte were often covered with a layer of clay...
Queen Elizabeth had many different palaces, many workers for the palaces, and the many responsibilities of the workers. All the queen’s palaces were extremely ravishing with many embellishments inside the palaces. Lastly, the queen’s palaces had many interesting activities that took place in form entertainment in the palaces. Queen Elizabeth owned fifty houses and sixty castles in total but, "Elizabeth had 14 palaces in regular use at her disposal as well as numerous "stately homes" throughout England owned by noblemen and gentry.” Elizabeth owned Whitehall, the tower, Greenwich, St. James’s, Somerset house, the charterhouse, and Durham place. The night prior coronation, and Durham place was reserved for the ambassadors and guests (Olsen Para 1). Since Queen Elizabeth had many palaces and the palaces were magnificent and fascinating because the queens palaces were filled with many workers, the inside palace was spectacular, and there were many forms of entertainment.
Cothren, M. & Marilyn Stokstad. (2011). Art History, Volume 2, 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Learning Solutions.
Australia has the terrible condition of having an essentially pointless and prefabricated idea of “Aussiness” that really has no relation to our real culture or the way in which we really see ourselves. We, however subscribe to these stereotypes when trying to find some expression of our Australian identity. The feature film, The Castle, deals with issues about Australian identity in the 1990’s. The film uses techniques like camera shots, language and the use of narration to develop conflict between a decent, old fashioned suburban family, the Kerrigans and an unscrupulous corporation called Airlink. Feature films like The Castle are cultural products because they use attitudes, values and stereotypes about what it means to be Australian.
Even thought during 15th century, Northern Europe experienced numerous alterations in representation of pictorial space, this paper will only address two of the major changes. They include “MAN IN A RED TURBAN” which was developed by Jan van Eyck in 1433 and “DIPTYCH OF MAARTEN CAN NIEUWENHOVE” developed by Hans Memling in 1487. In these two arts, the sculptors used colored pigments, drying oils such as walnut, linseed, and poopy-seed oil. The tools included wood panel, canvas, wall, brushes, and spatulas (Pearson, 2005; Fuga, 2006).
As someone with a passion for writing, my final project will be an extended expository essay about the history of homebuilding from ancient to modern times. It will discuss the different types of dwellings throughout recorded human history from the perspective of how art and culture influences building design. This will fulfill my own curiosity to understand the different influences on homebuilding and design over the years and how people have dealt with these changes.
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, serves as the meeting place for the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Old Palace was a medieval building that was destroyed by fire in 1834. After the fire, a competition was held for architects to submit plans for the new building that should be in a Gothic or Elizabethan style hoping to embody the conservative values of England. A Royal commission chose Charles Barry’s designs for a Perpendicular Gothic palace. Barry’s own style was more classical than Gothic, which is why Augustus Pugin’s involvement was so crucial in Barry winning the competition.
Kleiner, Fred, Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Fourteenth Edition The Middle Ages, Book B (Boston: Wadsworth, 2013), 348.
The first castles built (Motte and Bailey) were made of wood and quick to build, but they were burnt and worn down easily, so the next castles were made of stone. (Square keeps) They were tall, strong, large and lasted long, but attackers would surround the castle and wait for ages for the people inside to come out. The third castles (Shell Keeps) were even stronger, but because they were made of heavy stone, they might collapse. So finally, the fourth castles (concentric) were built and they were the strongest, largest most defensive and most expensive castles built.
Architecture in the Carolingian period made good use of wood just as the Celto-Germanic period did. A major difference between the two was that Carolingian architects used stone only for important buildings such as churches and castles. Their buildings and plans for unfinished buildi...
Buckingham Palace – The British Monarchy (2009) History. [Online] Available from: http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/BuckinghamPalace/History.aspx [Accessed: 2nd February 2014]