Castle studies and the European medieval landscape: traditions, trends and future research directions

Gender and medieval archaeology: storming the castle

“…Understanding the issues in relation to gender within castle studies requires some reflection; while this article does not provide a full historiography of castle studies, brief commentary is necessary (Barry 2008; O'Conor 2008; Creighton 2009; Hansson 2009). As with archaeology more generally, castle studies requires an interdisciplinary approach to explore the past in full; the application of necessary methods, however, has been limited.…”

“…While these methodologies were at one time beneficial, they are now problematic. Landscape studies are based on macro-scale approaches that concentrate on displays of power, economic production, ecological exploitation and diet (Liddiard 2005; Creighton 2009; O'Conor et al . 2012; Swallow 2014; Beglane 2015).…”

‘Riding like Alexander, Hunting like Diana’: Gendered Aspects of the Medieval Hunt and its Landscape Settings in England and France

“…74 It may be suggested, then, that the enclosure of English hunting spaces led to a gendering of the landscapes in which the hunt was performed, the forms of hunting that took place in them and even of the animals hunted, based on the 'common seigneurial spatial ideology' observed in the subdivision of interior space. 75 This is significant in that parks could be, and often were, spaces of conflict and contention.…”