Hansson Martin. Aristocratic landscape. The spatial ideology of the medieval aristocracy

Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2006. — 225 р. — ISBN: 91-22-02154-X — (Lund Studies in Historical Archaeology 2).The medieval aristocracy was a small but important group in society. Much research has been focused on different aspects of the aristocracy, and on a European level one might at first think that there were a lot of differences within the aristocracy. It is true that the aristocracy was a very heterogeneous group, not only within different countries and regions, but also within the group. The political, economic and social importance of the aristocracy differed from country to country due to a variety of local and regional conditions such as different state formation processes
and differences in the local economy. It is also true that the aristocracy was a group in change as regards structure, economy and political influence during the Middle Ages. The aristocracy of the fifteenth century was in some ways very different from the aristocracy of the eleventh century. Despite these differences, it seems to be possible to detect a number of common features among the aristocracy. These common features are most apparent on a structural level. The chivalrous society with its glorious knights, chivalric behaviour, tournaments and other attributes that meet us in literature and chronicles all over medieval Europe is perhaps best-known. Throughout Europe it is possible to detect an aristocratic elite culture based on the common concept of chivalry. A closer look also reveals that it is possible to detect similarities in how aristocrats from different parts of Europe acted regarding their built environment, castles and manor houses and in the landscape at large. This is so far, however, a rather untold story of the aristocracy.
The purpose of this book is a comparative study of how the aristocracy in Western Europe organised space and landscape, mainly in connection with their residences. In this text the word Europe is used in the sense of Western Europe.
The study has not involved examples from, or the medieval society of, southern or eastern Europe. The author is however convinced that much of the results of this study are also valid outside Western Europe. This comparison will involve examples from Britain, France, Germany and Scandinavia and will concentrate on the period c. 800–1500. The overall aim is to see whether it is possible to detect a common aristocratic spatial ideology and if so, to explain its meaning and changes through time against the background of overall changes in medieval society. The
word “aristocracy” is used in a wider sense, since it is meant to include the whole nobility, from the mightiest magnates to the poorest village knights. It is also one of the main aims of the study to analyse not just persons and places belonging to the upper nobility, which normally is the case in studies of aristocratic culture, but to extend the study and also include the landscape and places of the lesser nobility. That is why a large amount of the examples that are discussed in the book can be characterised as residences for individuals belonging to the lesser nobility