De Re Militari | Book Reviews
Christopher Gravett
Norman Stone Castles: British Isles 1066-1216 (1)
Norman Stone Castles: Europe 950-1204 (2)
Illustrated by Adam Hook (Fortress 13 & 18). Oxford: Osprey, 2004. Pp. 64 each; ISBN: 1-84176-602-X and 1-84176-603-8.
Medieval castle guides are seldom both detail-oriented and user-friendly. Those attempting to cover the scope of the period with any academic rigor are often expensive and bulky, such as the extremely useful but ponderous Castles of Britain and Ireland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry [1]. The exceptions tend to concentrate on specific periods or themes, thereby reducing their weight to manageable levels. One thinks of R. Allen Brown, for example, as an author able to strike a suitable balance between detail and compatibility by focusing on castles in one region and providing enough images for useful identifications and comparisons [2]. It appears that Osprey Publishing is attempting to proceed in a similar fashion by releasing books that are visually appealing, scholarly in language, and devoted to particular periods. Thus appear Christopher Gravett’s two volumes on Norman castles, first in the British Isles and second on the Continent; the present review concerns the latter.
Osprey’s volumes are marketed to the non-specialist (as evidenced by the perforated inserts containing an illustrated bookmark and postcard), yet Gravett’s contribution to their Fortress series is a smart, specific, and concise examination of the practical aspects of Norman castles. He is an able student of medieval fortifications, knowledgeable in medieval arms and armor, and has published on siege warfare in the Middle Ages [3]. In these two Osprey volumes, one is immediately struck by his direct language and academic tone that seems uncharacteristic for a book that includes a glossary on its title page. Then again, given that the glossary includes such specialist terms as machicolation, counterscarp, and enceinte, not to mention introductory remarks identifying castles as castellum, munitio, municipium or oppidium, the book can hardly be dubbed "popular" in the derisive sense.
Following an introduction on Normandy and the genesis of the stone castle, Gravett provides a short chronology from 911 to 1194, a curious range given the book’s title. Five of the unnumbered chapters then focus on castles in a broad sense. “Design and Development” is the primary historical discussion, and Gravett uses shaded inserts to highlight items of interest, such as a blurb on Orderic Vitalis and brief chronologies on the Norman invasions of Italy and Sicily, These are undoubtedly useful to readers not familiar with the subject on more than a cursory level. These inserts, however, do not appear for the remainder of the book.
The fourth chapter and perhaps the most interesting is a case study labeled “Tour of a Castle: Château-Gaillard” (22-27). Beginning with Richard I’s decision to build a fortress on the Seine in 1194, Gravett offers a strictly architectural history of the castle that concentrates upon the defensive purpose of its courtyards, towers, and battlements. Several excellent photographs and a centerfold illustration by Adam Hook complement what is an interesting and detailed discussion. Here Gravett reveals his interest in castles built in Normandy as opposed to castles built by Normans in other duchies. Clearly this is an issue of space–Osprey’s volumes are all similar in length at under a hundred pages apiece–yet one might wonder just how “Norman” a castle Château-Gaillard really is. Richard himself was no Norman but an Angevin who honed his siege tactics in Aquitaine and encountered eastern military architecture on the Third Crusade. Accordingly, some attention to foreign architectural influences in Normandy would be a welcome addition.
In the chapter “Principles of Defence” the focus is on defensive architecture, leaving siege tactics to be addressed in the chapter “Castles at War,” a sensible division of material. “Life in a Norman Castle” is a useful inclusion of interest to the non-specialist. The final chapter, “Fate of the Castles,” is the only portion of the book that suffers from a lack of pertinent detail; Gravett explains neither the tactical reasons behind the rise of cylindrical towers nor why thirteenth-century castles are not “Norman” in an architectural sense. A concluding section titled “Visiting the Castles Today” is a handy list for the modern tourist containing locations and descriptions of notable sites in Normandy, Southern Italy, and Sicily. A bibliography and index complete the volume.
Throughout the text, Hook’s illustrations provide detailed images of different castles at the height of their Norman development, an interesting approach that allows the reader some comparison with the oft-disheveled appearance of the structures today. Visually, they are of the idealized storybook variety and perhaps off-putting to scholars. When combined with Gravett’s tidy descriptions of each image, however, they serve a useful function by allowing the reader to walk through the important features of the fortress. All of the illustrations and some of the photographs are accompanied by architectural floor-plans which, regrettably, are rather small and lacking in detail. Given the purpose of the volumes this is less a criticism than a regret.
Periodic gaps in explanation and a small lack of detail ought not to detract too seriously from the value of Gravett and Hook’s book. Norman Stone Castles approaches its subject in a logical and measured fashion and is more useful to castle enthusiasts than other comparable texts. The reader is provided with a well-rounded survey of the role of castles in the tenth through twelfth centuries, and in this regard the book serves its intended purpose admirably.
NOTES
[1] Plantagenet Somerset Fry, Castles of Britain and Ireland: the Ultimate Reference Book – a Region-by-Region Guide to over 1,350 Castles (New York, 1997).
[2] R. Allen Brown, English Medieval Castles (London, 1954).
[3] Christopher Gravett, Medieval Siege Warfare (London, 1990).