A Castle in the Air? The Building, Arms, Action and Incident on the Eleventh-Century 'Castle' Capital from Westminster Hall. (2nd July 2016)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- A Castle in the Air? The Building, Arms, Action and Incident on the Eleventh-Century 'Castle' Capital from Westminster Hall. (2nd July 2016)
- Main Title:
- A Castle in the Air? The Building, Arms, Action and Incident on the Eleventh-Century 'Castle' Capital from Westminster Hall
- Authors:
- Impey, Edward
- Abstract:
- Abstract : The restoration of Westminster Hall in the 1830s revealed a number of eleventh-century carved capitals, one depicting, as then described, 'an armed man assailing a castle'. Aided by archaeological evidence from Abinger (Surrey), the 'castle' can be convincingly interpreted as a motte-top tower, carried by earth-fast posts, open-sided below and faced above with boards painted to resemble masonry. It is the only known depiction in elevation of a type of tower that is likely, given its simplicity, to have been widely used in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The assailant, armed with an axe, carrying a round shield and wearing a helmet with nasal, is shown climbing the tower's external stair at the moment of being despatched or wounded by the defender's spear. The incident, an individual action rather than a 'siege' as such, has many oddities, and may represent a topical event or scene from history or mythology. The story of the Trojan War is suggested as a possible source.
- Is Part Of:
- Arms & armour. Volume 13:Number 2(2016)
- Journal:
- Arms & armour
- Issue:
- Volume 13:Number 2(2016)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 13, Issue 2 (2016)
- Year:
- 2016
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2016-0013-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 75
- Page End:
- 97
- Publication Date:
- 2016-07-02
- Subjects:
- castle -- motte -- tower -- false ashlar -- Westminster Hall -- spear -- axe -- shield -- fictive masonry
Armor -- History -- Periodicals
Weapons -- History -- Periodicals
623.405 - Journal URLs:
- http://search.ebscohost.com/direct.asp?db=aph&jid=VS5&scope=site ↗
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/aaa ↗
http://www.maney.co.uk/search?fwaction=show&fwid=464 ↗
http://maneypublishing.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/17416124.2016.1242225 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1741-6124
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 124.xml