Thesis (M.A.) in French--University of Maine, 2004. / Includes vita. Abstract, table of contents in French and English. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-67).

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1962. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis addresses a neglected area of castles studies - the spiral stair. It studies the origins, evolution, placing, structure, role, significance and meaning of spiral stairs in medieval stone castles between 1066 and 1500, so covering the rise, zenith and decline of the castle in England and Wales. Although focussed upon England and Wales, it has a wider geographical spread across Ireland, Scotland, Europe, the Middle East and Japan with particular regard to castles and on even wider when searching for the origins of the spiral stair, encompassing the whole globe. The date range was also extended, both much earlier than 1066 when searching for these origins and very selectively beyond 1500 when exploring how the spiral was used in the later medieval and early modern periods. It is proposed that the first known spiral stair was employed in Trajan's Column in the first century AD, that it was then used more selectively in secular and later ecclesiastical buildings during the first millennium AD and that, from the eleventh century onwards, the spiral stair became a common feature of the medieval castle. From the emergence of the spiral stair in Rome, this thesis places its principal use in European elite and ecclesiastical structures. Focusing on the castle, this thesis argues that it was employed as a vertical boundary marker to signal and control movement between two different types of spaces, from a more public to a more private space and from a general or less restricted space to a space which was more restricted, often elite domestic quarters. This use of the spiral is seen in and is traced through different types of English and Welsh castles, from stronghold to enclosure and on to the so-called sham or cult castles of the late medieval period. The thesis also looks at the spiral in a range of medieval castles and other defensive buildings outside England and Wales and finds that, in the main, spirals were employed in the same way. It also explores the presence and role of the spiral within other medieval buildings, both in England and Wales and further afield, and argues that, although there are some exceptions and variations, in the main spiral stairs played the same role in those buildings. This thesis interprets the spiral stair within the medieval castle as a key component of the landscape of lordship and argues that the interpretation of this elite landscape, hitherto focused on the environs and outward appearance of the castle, should not stop at the castle gate but should move inside. Accordingly, this thesis takes a step to bring the interior of the castle deeper into research and discussion; to explore individual items and features within the castle; and to consider their placing, access and meaning within the medieval world.

No description available.

The second half of the twentieth century saw a ‘Golden Age’ of castle restoration in Scotland. During this time over one hundred ruined or derelict castles and towers were rebuilt and reoccupied, mostly by private owners who purchased the building with a view to restoring it. This was a far greater number of restorations than at any time in the past, yet the literature on castles has largely by-passed this modern ‘renaissance’ of Renaissance buildings. The majority of the restorers bought a ruinous or derelict building with which they had no family connection - mostly from ‘old’ owners whose family had owned the building for generations - and were often prepared to take substantial financial risks, undergo physical hardships and face considerable uncertainty over planning applications. Clans, charitable trusts and public bodies, such as local councils, also carried out restoration projects, as did a small number of ‘old’ owners. What caused such a proliferation? Two research questions are posed: why were so many Scottish castles restored between 1945 and 2010, and who were the restorers? The question of why so much activity took place in this period is analyzed in terms of the developing ‘restoration climate’, which was increasingly championed by the media, and the interrelationships between social, political and economic factors which allowed it to flourish. At the heart of these relationships are the owners, whose demographic characteristics are surveyed. Their personal qualities and motivations are also examined through an analysis of first person narratives and published interviews with the owners of many of the restored buildings, both in Scotland and beyond its borders, alongside surveys of the architectural features of the castles themselves. It was concluded that the restorations represent a positive benefit to Scotland, through the rescue of an irreplaceable and iconic section of the country’s built heritage which would otherwise have been irretrievably lost. Scotland’s Castles: Rescued, Rebuilt and Reoccupied, 1945 - 2010 Abstract The second half of the twentieth century saw a ‘Golden Age’ of castle restoration in Scotland. During this time over one hundred ruined or derelict castles and towers were rebuilt and reoccupied, mostly by private owners who purchased the building with a view to restoring it. This was a far greater number of restorations than at any time in the past, yet the literature on castles has largely by-passed this modern ‘renaissance’ of Renaissance buildings. The majority of the restorers bought a ruinous or derelict building with which they had no family connection - mostly from ‘old’ owners whose family had owned the building for generations - and were often prepared to take substantial financial risks, undergo physical hardships and face considerable uncertainty over planning applications. Clans, charitable trusts and public bodies, such as local councils, also carried out restoration projects, as did a small number of ‘old’ owners. What caused such a proliferation? Two research questions are posed: why were so many Scottish castles restored between 1945 and 2010, and who were the restorers? The question of why so much activity took place in this period is analyzed in terms of the developing ‘restoration climate’, which was increasingly championed by the media, and the interrelationships between social, political and economic factors which allowed it to flourish. At the heart of these relationships are the owners, whose demographic characteristics are surveyed. Their personal qualities and motivations are also examined through an analysis of first person narratives and published interviews with the owners of many of the restored buildings, both in Scotland and beyond its borders, alongside surveys of the architectural features of the castles themselves. It was concluded that the restorations represent a positive benefit to Scotland, through the rescue of an irreplaceable and iconic section of the country’s built heritage which would otherwise have been irretrievably lost.

Thesis--Frankfurt a. M., 1972. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.A.)--University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse, 2009. / Also available online. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-40).

This thesis considers a little-examined region of medieval Britain through the concept and significance of power and place applied to the architecture and landscapes of castles. Over the last thirty-five years, castle studies have shifted in their interpretations of the defensive, offensive and aesthetic landscape contexts of medieval fortified residences and have adopted a new line of research. It is now understood generally that, apart from occasional military activity, most castles were used less for military purposes and more for administration and display as the lords’ residences. No such study has been made of castles in medieval Cheshire, to critically evaluate and apply new approaches in castle studies to the Cheshire evidence. This thesis concerns the number, location and distribution of castles raised in medieval Cheshire — which included current areas of north-east Wales and Greater Manchester — under the quasi-independent earls of Chester and their tenants, c.1070–1237. The study is primarily one of landscape history and archaeology, which together span many disciplinary boundaries. It draws upon previously un-studied or under-studied documentary and cartographic sources, as well as new interpretations of archaeological features at and around castle sites. An original research approach is thus employed to revisit and reinterpret the changing social, political and historical frameworks of fortified élite residences in medieval Cheshire. Within the context of current debates on the historic landscape, in-depth exploration situates related castle case studies within their respective spatial and temporal environs.