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Medieval Castles In Mathew Johnson's Behind The Castle Gate

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Castles have long been a topic of historical interest as they have greatly influenced societies and in turn been shaped by them. However, this interest has often been met with opposition amongst historians as to what these medieval strongholds symbolize. Published in 2002, Mathew Johnson’s Behind the Castle Gate: From Medieval to Renaissance offers a significantly different interpretation to the traditional viewpoint of castles. He challenges the accepted narrative of castles being merely fortified structures with military purposes or a representation of social standing and power. He advocates that they are none of these things, but rather all of them at once. Albeit a few flaws, Johnson effectively argues that castles are far too complex to …show more content…

As Johnson explains, castles served as stage settings and were all a matter of perspective. For instance, in his chapter Watery Landscapes the author supports his thesis by showing that the landscape and by extension the castle, change their meaning in relation to the observer at hand. Likewise, he links this concept to the importance of social standing and the individual and shows how they must be considered within the broader picture. In a way, observer and social status are interchangeable in this case as the meaning of the castle is a direct reflection of the individuals’ culture, gender and placement in the social scale. Johnson proclaims that the meaning of the landscape changes depending on where the individual finds themselves on the social scale. The castle will ultimately have a different significance to those on the outside as opposed to its inhabitants. Peasants will therefore attribute a different importance to the castle and its landscape than perhaps the lord of the structure. In addition, social standing will determine what parts of the castle will be unveiled to the individual piece by piece. This is explained with the use of Caister Castle, which Johnson describes as a sequential staging in both a social and theatrical sense. The castle discloses itself to a certain few and will

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