Despite the persistenee of the notion that castles were hrst and foremost built to defend their inhabitants, this book has endeavored to place Britain’s medieval castles in their larger, and more appropriate, context. True castles were built for several reasons, and not only to thwart sieges or unwanted intrusion. Indeed, I make the case that all castles were about aggression and power. Power and aggression go hand in hand, and the physical makeup of Britain’s medieval castles necessarily and characteristically fulhllcd these two overriding priorities. They were erected as offensive structures which at once established the primacy of an outsider, the lord, over the local population and acted as a base from which the lord could maintain control over the region and stage forays as needed to reiterate his power over his subjects. They were ecpiipped w'ith increasingly sturdy, innovative, and complex defensive structures, which not merely safegnarded the occupants bnt even more so ensured the continuation of the lord’s dominion. As such, castles were primarily offensive buildings. That they protected their inhabitants was largely a secondary consideration.
At the same time, castles w'ere private residences. Even though the lord might be away for a large portion of each year, the castle was ahvays occupied on his behalf by a small yet permanent group of people, including the constable, who managed the military affairs, and the steward, who had control o'cr the household and the surrounding estates. When the lord’s family remained behind, the lad' of the eastle not onl- super'ised the activities of the permanent staff, she also represented her husband in legal, ceremonial, and political matters. She could also be counted upon to be fulh' knowledgeable and to command a garrison during a siege, d'he castle itself proidcd accommodation for its residents —not necessarily the most lavish and comfortable facilities, but at the er- minimum, a floor on which to sleep. Increasinglv, the placement of structures within the castle delineated the social differences between its residents: the lord and his family li ing in the finest, most secure, and most spacious lis ing quarters; and the kwliest serwmts occupied space wherex er the' could find it or to where the' were assigned. One can make the case that even the residential capacih' of the castle functioned in an aggressive —hence, offensixe —wax', heightening and reconfirming the lord’s poxx'cr, cxen within his own home.
World History
