The Catalysts and Constraints of Castle-Building in Suffolk C. 1066-1200
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The catalysts and constraints of castle-building in Suffolk c. 1066-1200 Duncan McAndrew Volume I Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD 2008 Institute of Archaeology University College London University of London This dissertation is unrevised examination copy for consultation only and it should not be quoted or cited without permission of the director of the Institute. UMI Number: U591529 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Disscrrlation Publishing UMI U591529 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract Twenty-seven Suffolk castles were built between 1066 and 1200. This thesis summarises the modem multi-disciplinary surveys of six of them, with the objective of identifying their location, morphology, form and function. The majority of Suffolk castles were built between the late 11^ and mid- 12^-century and reached their largest number during the civil wars c.l 135-54. However, a few remained operational after C.1200 and those that did are characterised as either royal or baronial caput castles. Moreover, almost all Suffolk castles were originally earth and timber, whereas the surviving examples were rebuilt in stone before c.l300. Therefore, those castles that survived beyond or were established after c.1200 are unrepresentative. Instead this thesis focuses on the period 1066 to 1200, when the more common sub-baronial, earth and timber Suffolk castles were evidenced. Chapter one identifies the key issues. Chapter two critiques each of the current models in castle studies before rejecting them in favour of a modified Annales model. Chapter three identifies the constraints of the longue durée, identified as the environmental factors, defined as the climate, topography, geology, hydrology and timber supply in the vicinity of the castle. Chapter four identifies societal constraints, which are sub-divided into structural, social and cultural, and focuses on the Abbey of St Edmund’s, its cult, viceroyship, ecclesiastical autonomy and barony, its relationship with the new elite and how it influenced castle building. Chapter five focuses on three of the six surveyed castle earthworks to establish the événement level of the model, which identifies the castle building agents and the specific historical and political context in which these castles were built. Chapter six brings the different sources and levels of data together to offer a new model, a more nuanced definition of a castle and a comprehensive assessment of the conflicting demands of the catalysts and constraints operating upon the construction of castles in Suffolk. In this it is supported by over two hundred figures and plans, numerous tables, a comprehensive set of appendices and an extensive bibliography. Table of contents Volume I Table of contents............................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................30 Notes on abbreviations and references cited in the text ............................................................ 32 Abbreviations ...........................................................................................................................32 Note on Little Domesday Book references............................................................................32 Note on Tables.........................................................................................................................32 Chapter 1.0: Introduction............................................................................................................. 33 Chapter 2.0: Castle Studies ...........................................................................................................39 2.1: Introduction...........................................................................................................................39 2.2: Defining castles.................................................................................................................... 40 2.3: The research context............................................................................................................43 2.4: The current principal models for English castles............................................................... 43 2.4.1 : The social control model............................................................................................. 44 2.4.2: The processual social evolutionary model.................................................................. 44 2.4.3: The symbolic-structuralist model ................................................................................44 2.4.4: The post-modernist/post-processual model................................................................ 44 2.4.5: The geological model...................................................................................................45 2.5: Why these current theoretical explanations are inadequate.............................................. 45 2.5.1 : A critique of the social control model.........................................................................45 2.5.1 a: The location of castles in relation to the Anglo-Saxon population..................45 2.5.1.b: Chronological distribution of castles....................................................................46 2.5.2: A critique of the processual social evolutionary model..............................................46 2.5.3: A critique of the symbolic structuralist model........................................................... 48 2.5.3.a: The assumption that, if not immediately post-Conquest in date, castles are ‘anarchy castles’ (c.l 135 to 1153) and are therefore little more than fieldworks...........48 2.5.3.b: The ‘revisionist’ models of warfare in East Anglia c.l 135-53 ........................ 49 2.5.3.C: Recent innovations in the study of medieval military history............................52 2.5.3.c.i: Participation in medieval warfare..................................................................52 2.5.3.C.Ü: The conduct of medieval warfare .................................................................53 2.5.3.c.iii: The motives for medieval warfare...............................................................54 2.5.3 .c.iv: The technology of medieval siege warfare in the 11* to 13* centuries... 55 2.5.3.C.V: The Church’s attitude to medieval warfare ..................................................56 2.5.3.d: Population, social demographics and castles...................................................... 56 2.5.3.d.i: The total population of a Domesday vill evidencing a castle......................57 2.5.3.d.ii: Rural’ and ‘urban’ castles ...........................................................................57 2.5.3.d.iii: Social demography o f ‘rural’ Domesday vill.............................................59 2.5.3.d.iv: Problems with the model .............................................................................59 2.5.3.d.iv.l: The model is not predictive ..................................................................60 2.5.3.d.iv.2: The number of individual freemen and sokemen in a Domesday ‘rural’ vill ................................................................................................................... 61 2.5.3.d.iv.3: The absolute ‘rural’ Domesday population density of the vill and their hundred.......................................................................................................................61 2.5.3.d.iv.4: The free ‘rural’ Domesday population in the vill and their hundreds62 2.5.3.d.v: The‘aesthetic’ landscape approach .............................................................. 63 2.5.3.d.v. 1 : Pre-Conquest deer parks in Suffolk ...................................................... 63 2.5.3.d.v.2: Post-Conquest deer parks in Suffolk ....................................................64 2.5.3.d.v.3: A data-set of Suffolk deer parks 1066 to 1200 .................................... 66 2.5.3.d.v.4: Summary .................................................................................................67 2.5.3.d.vi: Suffolk castles, baronial caputs and the ‘landscape of Lordship’ ............. 68 2.5.3.e: The post-processual/post-modem model............................................................. 69 2.5.4: A critique of the geological model.............................................................................. 72 2.6: Research question................................................................................................................ 73 2.7: Case selection: Why Suffolk?..............................................................................................73 2.8: The data-set ...........................................................................................................................74 2.9: Towards a new