Bodiam Castle in Sussex demonstrates Matthew Johnson’s point that social and symbolic messages sent out by the castle architecture became more meaningful than its military function. Johnson provides a close analysis of its design. Sir Edward Dallyngrigge (or Dallingridge; spellings were not fixed in those days) built this castle after retiring from almost 30 years of military service. As a younger son, he could not inherit the family estate, but during the Hundred Years’ War soldiers like Sir Edward could make a fortune from booty and ransom. When he settled down, Sir Edward married an heiress who also contributed her dowry to the building program. In October 1385 Sir Edward obtained a license to crenellate, and for the next three years he built his luxury castle. He claimed that he would protect the southern coast from pirates and the king’s enemies—but no pirates ever came.
The visual impression is all-important at Bodiam. The approach to the castle requires the visitor to cross the bridge over the main river, pass the mill pond, and arrive at the moat and bridge (now destroyed) leading to the postern gate on the south. Convenient as the postern was, it was a servants’ entrance, and no important person would use it. The visitors would continue around three sides of the moat, finally reaching a bridge leading to the main gate.
Bodiam Castle has a symmetrical, rectangular plan with crenellated cylindrical corner towers and a rectangular tower in the center of each side, one of which is a fortified gateway and one of which contains the postern gate. A slightly projecting chapel breaks the symmetry of the exterior. The principal domestic buildings lie directly across a square courtyard from the main gate. A passage leading to the postern also acts as a screens passage; as one enters, the hall is on the left, and doors leading to the pantry, kitchen, and buttery are on the right. The lord’s residence is reached from the upper end of the hall, and beyond that are the guests’ quarters and chapel. On the other side, beyond the kitchen, are quarters for servants. The military detachment was housed beside the entrance gate. The castle was beautiful, practical, and convenient. It includes 33 fireplaces and 28 garderobes (which discharged directly into the moat, turning what is today a lily pond into an open sewer). Bodiam has been called “an old soldier’s dream castle.”
In Bodiam Castle’s design we see a perfect example of symbolic architecture. Bodiam could never have withstood a siege. For one, the castle was built in a low-lying place, where a small stream feeds the moat: an attacking enemy would only have had to cut through the earth embankment to drain the moat. Why then was the wide moat constructed? Aesthetic considerations must have played a role. The moat is like a small lake, and the building seems to rise directly out of the water. Reflected in the water, the castle seems to double in size.
Not only could the moat be drained quickly and easily, the walls were too low and too thin (between six and seven feet) to withstand bombardment. Furthermore, large windows in the hall and the chapel destroyed any military effectiveness the walls might have had. The battlements on the walls and towers are purely decorative, as the crenels are not high enough to shield the men standing behind them. Finally, the higher ground around the castle made anyone on the wall-walks vulnerable to crossbow bolts.
These military features do serve a symbolic purpose. Sir Edward Dallyn-grigge built his dream castle at a time when pageantry, excessive attention to the forms of chivalry, and tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table entertained and inspired the aristocracy. Sir Edward had no ancient tower, no ancestral castle like Kenilworth; he had to build his castle from the start, just as he built his own career and fortune. He was an important man in his own locality (he owned the market and a mill), but he was not a landed aristocrat. Just what his own fantasy or intention was in building Bodiam we do not know, but we can imagine that Sir Edward enjoyed the symbolism associated with military architecture. Bodiam’s architectural forms are dictated not by function, but by an imaginary world.
Symbolic Settings: Woods, Forests, and Water Meadows
In the fourteenth century, royal and baronial castles continued to be built, but a new group of newly rich and politically powerful people began to take on the trappings of aristocratic behavior and to build castellated residences. While many castles dominate the countryside from hills and cliffs, these newer castles might also be built in woods, forests, or water meadows.
The forest castle served as a hunting lodge for noblemen and noblewomen who engaged in the sport. At first the hunt, with horses and hounds (a type of hunting known as the chase), kept hunters and their mounts in good physical condition for battle and incidentally augmented the food supply. Later, professional hunters provided most of the deer, boar, and rabbit meat for the cooks. Eventually hunting, as an exclusively noble sport, was surrounded by elaborate rituals. Even cutting up a deer and dividing the meat became a specialized skill, a ceremony known as “breaking the stag.” Nobles fenced and walled large sections of woodland near their castles for their private use in hunts and severely punished peasants who poached game. The stories of Robin Hood and his band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest reflect the importance and exclusive use of the forests. (See the chapter on Robin Hood.) Ladies could join in the hunt with falcons—that is, fowling—and the benefits of hunting with hounds versus birds could be the subject of lively discussion. As early as the eleventh century the image of a figure mounted on a horse and holding a falcon indicated noble status.
Meadows and wetlands may seem like strange places to build castles, but water was an effective barrier. Lake-bounded castles could be impregnable fortresses—unless the lake was artificial and someone cut the dam or dike. The lake castles put the walls beyond the reach of many war engines and prevented both direct assault and mining or sapping operations. Water-filled moats, ponds, and lakes not only protected castle walls, but also provided a natural sewage system, because garderobes could discharge directly into the water. Moats also provided a place to raise frogs and fish for food. Finally, we should not overlook the sheer beauty of the setting used so effectively at castles like Leeds, Bodiam, and Kenilworth. Reflections doubled the apparent size of the castle. Water also lent enchantment; then, as now, it had an almost magical appeal. The castles of Leeds southeast of London and Vincennes in the outskirts of Paris are typical of the new architecture and illustrate the forest and water meadow sites.
World History
