Aristocratic Landscape : The Spatial ideology of the Medieval Aristocracy

The purpose of the book is to be a comparative study of how the aristocracy in Western Europe organised space and landscape, especially inside and adjacent to their residences. This comparison will involve examples from Britain, France, Germany and Scandinavia and is concentrated to the period c. 800-1500. The overall aim is to search after a common aristocratic spatial ideology and to explain its meaning and changes through time against the background of overall changes in medieval society. Many scholars have studied the medieval aristocracy and the chivalrous culture, but the present study is the first that tries to connect this culture with the landscape. The word “aristocracy” is used in its widest sense, since it is meant to include the whole nobility, from the mightiest magnates to the poorest village knights. It is also one of the main aims of the study to analyse not just persons and places belonging to the upper nobility, which normally is the case in studies of aristocratic culture, but to extend the study and also include the landscape and places of the lesser nobility.

The book is written from archaeological starting points and uses a variety of materials, but focuses on the material record. An important feature of the book is that the residences of the aristocracy are studied in the context of their surrounding landscape. The location of the residence in relation to contemporary settlements is studied, as well as the layout, “content” and architectural display of the residence in question.