This book is a comparative study of how the aristocracy in Western Europe organised space and landscape inside and adjacent to their residences. It discusses examples from Britain, France, Germany and Scandinavia concentrated in the period c. 800–1500. The overall aim is to search for a common aristocratic spatial ideology and to explain its meaning and changes through time, against the background of overall changes in medieval society. Many scholars have studied the medieval aristocracy and chivalrous culture, but this study tries to connect this culture with the landscape. The residences of the aristocracy are studied in the context of their surrounding landscape. The study focuses on six different themes that affected how the aristocracy acted in the landscape. These themes concern the role of the nobleman as warrior, the aristocracy’s use of history and the memory of the place, how the aristocracy tried to isolate themselves in space, the aristocracy’s urge to plan and order space, the ever-present religious dimension in aristocratic life and the importance of the individual agent.
Author(s): Martin Hansson
Series: Lund Studies in Historical Archaeology, 2
Publisher: Almqvist & Wiksell International
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 224
Acknowledgements 7
List of Figures 9
1. Introduction 11
2. Medieval Society – Some Starting Points 25
3. Aristocratic Landscapes – Småland and Norfolk 45
4. The Chivalrous Society – a Martial Dimension 77
5. The Significance of History 87
6. Spatial Distance – Social Distance 105
7. Ordering the Landscape 129
8. A Religious Dimension 161
9. The Individual and the Landscape 183
10. The Spatial Ideology of the Aristocracy 197
References 205
Index 221
