College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Architecture 170 - Fall 1996 - Dell Upton - November 26
I. THE PEASANT FARMER'S WAY OF LIFE
The cycles of life in the peasant year. The agricultural village. The open-field system and its landscape remnants: strip linchets. Typical Medieval Village.
Peasant housing: human-animal shared spaces. The Prototypical English Longhouse. Example of Longhouse with new roof. The open hearth house. The [open] hall as a basic unit of space. Refinements of space: upper [parlor] and lower [service] ends. The three-part house. Welsh, rectangular hall type.
II. ARISTOCRATIC LIFE
Discontinuity of rule: the feudal system and the delegation of authority. The Bayeux Tapestry, woven at end of 11C, depicting the Norman Conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, illustrates differences in Norman and English military technology, including fortifications.
The castle: imported to England from France at the Conquest. Motte-and-bailey castles the earliest: fortified wooden tower on a mound (motte), with a ditch-and-palisade enclosure (bailey) at foot. Introduction of the rectangular stone tower (keep): shell keeps, keep-and-bailey castles (ex.: Clifford's Tower, York, England, 1245-72 on old motte), concentric walled keeps (ex.: Dover Castle, Kent, England, 1179-91). The Middle Eastern castle type, brought back by Crusaders. Ex.: Krak des Chevaliers, Gebel Alawi, Syria, 1030s. Note: double walled enclosure, round towers, crenellations. (Krak des Chevaliers: Exterior; Plan). New European castles of 13C on this model. Exs.: ch’teau at Angers, France, 13C; Edward I's castles in Wales (James of St. George, engineer) that accompany his bastide towns [Beaumaris Castle, 1295, Exterior, Plan; Caernarvon Castle, 1280-1330, Exterior, Plan; Conway Castle, 1283-87].
The castle as a tool of military/political rule and a status symbol. The end of the castle as a practical military device and its life as a romantic symbol: fortified houses (exs.: Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England; Pau Chateau, France, 1370+). Military symbolism and ritual battle: the tournament.
The aristocratic residence: the role of the hall (exs.: Winchester Castle, England; Conciergerie, Paris, 14C). The three-part house at the aristocratic level (exs.: Bishop's Palace, Wells, England, 1206-1466; Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, England, 14C +). The parlor. Furnishing the aristocratic house: few pieces, confined to heavy storage pieces (cupboards, chests), movable tables, and textiles and other mobile objects. The fold-stool and other chairs as signs of status: the ritual of seating.