OCR GCSE History A J410
Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750Historic environment
China 1950–1981: The People and the StateDepth study
Germany 1925–1955: The People and the StateDepth study
International Relations: The Changing International Order 1918–1975
Migration to Britain c.1000 to c.2010Thematic study
Personal Rule to Restoration 1629–1660British depth
Power: Monarchy and Democracy in Britain c.1000 to 2014Thematic study
South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the StateDepth study
The English Reformation c.1520–c.1550British depth
The Impact of Empire on Britain 1688–c.1730British depth
The USA 1919–1948: The People and the StateDepth study
The USA 1945–1974: The People and the StateDepth study
Urban Environments: Patterns of MigrationHistoric environment
War and British Society c.790 to c.2010Thematic study
Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750
The evidence historians use for a castle’s changing function
- 3 things to know
- Paper 3
Overview
Licences to crenellate and to enclose a deer park, newsbooks of the 1640s, the parliamentary survey of 1649, building accounts, the stonework, excavation and why no argument rests on one source.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What did the survey made for Parliament in 1649 record?
What do building accounts reveal about how a castle was being used?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What was a licence to crenellate?
Model answer
The king's written permission for a subject to fortify his house, which shows both when a lord wanted defences and that the Crown decided who might have them.
- 2
Why can a licence to fortify mislead a historian about what was actually built?
Model answer
It records permission only: some licensed work was never begun, and some lords fortified without asking, so the licence proves intention rather than construction.
- 3
What does a royal licence to enclose a deer park tell us about a castle's changing use?
Model answer
That the lord was turning the land around it into hunting ground, evidence of a place increasingly used for pleasure and display.
- 4
What can printed newsbooks of the 1640s tell a historian about castles?
Model answer
They report which side held a town or fortress and what was done to it, though each was written for its own side and shaped the news accordingly.
- 5
Why must a newspaper report of an event be checked against other evidence?
Model answer
It was written quickly, often from rumour and with a political purpose, so names, numbers and dates in it can easily be wrong.
- 6
What did the survey made for Parliament in 1649 record?
Model answer
A room-by-room description and valuation of the buildings just before they were wrecked, giving the fullest picture there is of what stood on the site.
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