The stately home in the Plantagenet area. Halls, chambers, and towers.
PURennes| N° d'inventaire | 17435 |
| Format | 22.5 x 28.5 |
| Détails | 481 p., color illustrations, publisher's hardcover. |
| Publication | Rennes, 2013 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
While the great medieval monuments—cathedrals, castles, and great abbeys—have attracted the attention of historians since the mid-19th century, the extraordinary wealth of smaller, domestic buildings has recently become the subject of increasing interest. A very large number of these buildings still survive, and their historical interest is remarkable, especially since the medieval origin of many of them has only recently been established. Through the methodical study of surviving features, the preparation of accurate plans, extensive archival research, and, in many cases, the use of dendrochronology to determine their precise age, the history of the civil architecture of Great Britain and France—particularly between the 11th and 15th centuries—is being completely rewritten. The articles in this volume contribute to this reappraisal. They consider the general distribution of architectural forms specific to the aristocratic residence in a vast geographical area once under the political influence of the Plantagenet kings. This empire extended in the 12th century from the border between Scotland and England in the north to the Pyrenees and included western and southwestern France. Some contributions study the evolution of architectural forms and materials used in a region. Others are monographs of particularly interesting but previously little-studied buildings. Still others focus on small residential complexes, including episcopal palaces or fortified mills. The majority of the dwellings considered have a rural base and were built by men who exercised seigneurial authority (from the king down to the lowest nobility), but there is also material on the town houses of the bourgeois elite and on rural manors that were monastic residences. Finally, particular interest is given to the evolution of social conditions as reflected in these buildings, particularly with regard to the growing demand for comfort, hygiene and privacy, as it appears through the analysis of the function and furnishings of each room.
While the great medieval monuments—cathedrals, castles, and great abbeys—have attracted the attention of historians since the mid-19th century, the extraordinary wealth of smaller, domestic buildings has recently become the subject of increasing interest. A very large number of these buildings still survive, and their historical interest is remarkable, especially since the medieval origin of many of them has only recently been established. Through the methodical study of surviving features, the preparation of accurate plans, extensive archival research, and, in many cases, the use of dendrochronology to determine their precise age, the history of the civil architecture of Great Britain and France—particularly between the 11th and 15th centuries—is being completely rewritten. The articles in this volume contribute to this reappraisal. They consider the general distribution of architectural forms specific to the aristocratic residence in a vast geographical area once under the political influence of the Plantagenet kings. This empire extended in the 12th century from the border between Scotland and England in the north to the Pyrenees and included western and southwestern France. Some contributions study the evolution of architectural forms and materials used in a region. Others are monographs of particularly interesting but previously little-studied buildings. Still others focus on small residential complexes, including episcopal palaces or fortified mills. The majority of the dwellings considered have a rural base and were built by men who exercised seigneurial authority (from the king down to the lowest nobility), but there is also material on the town houses of the bourgeois elite and on rural manors that were monastic residences. Finally, particular interest is given to the evolution of social conditions as reflected in these buildings, particularly with regard to the growing demand for comfort, hygiene and privacy, as it appears through the analysis of the function and furnishings of each room.