Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1986 |
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Authors: | Mrs Susan M. Youngs John Clark Dr Terry Barry |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG;2. Department of Medieval Antiquities, Museum of London, London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN;3. Department of Medieval History, 3143 Arts Building, Trinity College, Dublin 2 |
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Abstract: | IT IS BECOMING increasingly apparent that conventional classification schemes for medieval timber and earthwork fortifications in Ireland are compromised by two factors. First they depend upon ethnic categorization, an approach derived from assuming the innovatory ethos of the Anglo-Norman conquest which commenced in 1169. Second, until very recently, the role of the ringwork as a congener to the motte-and-bailey has been ignored. The evidence from western Ireland discussed in this paper points to a pre-Norman development of feudalism and its symbol, the private castle; ultimately, the conceptual and geographical contexts of these innovations are contemporary events elsewhere in the British Isles and northern France. The discussion further points to the probability that shortly after c. 1200, the ringwork—present from or even before 1169—replaced the motte-and-bailey as the customary Anglo-Norman garrisoned fortress in Ireland, thereby providing an explanation for the curious easterly bias in the distribution of the latter. |
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