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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.

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Key term

Why can a licence to fortify mislead a historian about what was actually built?

Key term

What did the survey made for Parliament in 1649 record?

Key term

What do building accounts reveal about how a castle was being used?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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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