This original and pioneering book examines the role of the castle in the Norman conquest of England and in the subsequent administration of the country. The castle is seen primarily as an instrument of peaceful administration which rarely had a garrison and was more often where the sheriff kept his files and employed his secretariat. In most cases the military significance of the castle was minimal, and only a very few ever saw military action. For the first time, the medieval castle in England is seen in a new light which will attract the general reader of history and archaeology as much as...

This wide-ranging book traces the development of popular culture in England from the Iron Age, when it first became apparent as a whole, to the eighteenth century. The book deals in depth with the essential foundations--shelter and housing, warmth and security, furnishings and domestic convenience, food and its preparation, and ultra-familial and ultra-communal relations. A separate chapter is devoted to the culture of towns. The text is illustrated throughout by objects, artifacts and structures, many of which are visual representations of earlier cultures, notably in sculpture and...

This 1973 book seeks to examine the complex of natural and man-made features which have provided the background of European history.