Castles in Northern Britain: From Hadrian’s Wall to Bolton, and Mary, Queen of Scots
Summer Abroad Program
University of California, Davis
June 30-July 28, 2012
Course
Instructor
MEDIEVAL STUDIES 130A: SPECIAL THEMES IN MEDIEVAL CULTURES
Kevin Roddy
General Education: Arts and Humanities;
Writing Experience;
World Cultures
Monday, July 2: Introduction: Background to Fortifications, I
Morning Lecture: Beginning at the End
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 9: The castle in general, pp. 161-171
Meet at 1:30 in the Afternoon for a Tour of Durham
Tuesday, July 3: The Romans
Morning Lecture: Roman Fortifications
Review this website:
Hadrian's Wall
Meet at 1:30 in the Afternoon for a Tour of Durham Cathedral and Library
Wednesday, July 4: The Importance of Being Protected
Castle Tour: Corbridge Roman Site, Chesters, Housesteads, and
Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wal, Pub Lunch
Thursday, July 5: English Castle Construction
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 6: Castle-building, pp. 106-122
Monday, July 9: The Role of the Normans
Morning Lecture: Military Ventures
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 7: The castle in war, pp. 123-149
Review these websites:
Alnwick Castle,Bamburgh Castle,Warkwoth Castle
Wednesday, July 11: Barnard and Raby Castles
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 8: The castle in peace, pp. 150-160;
Review these websites:
Raby Castle,Barnard Castle
Thursday, July 12: The Silver Swan
Barnard and Raby Castles Tour, Pub Lunch
First Paper Due
Monday, July 16: Welcome to York
Morning Lecture: City Fortifications
1:30 Tour of City and York Minster
Classroom:
King's Manor
Exhibition Square,
University of York, York
9:30-12:00
Tuesday, July 17: Decline
Morning Lecture: Revolutions in Society
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 2: The Norman Conquest of England, pp. 21-33
Review these websites:
Middleham Castle,Bolton Castle,Richmond Castle
Wednesday, July 18: Kings, Queens, and Dukes in Death
Morning Lecture: Gradual Changes
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 3: The Norman and Angevin period, 1066-1215, pp. 34-63
Monday, July 23: The Nature of War
Morning Lecture: War and Weapons
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 4: Apogee, pp. 64-88
Review this website:
The Royal Armouries
Tuesday, July 24: Arms and Armor
Tour of The Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, Pub Lunch
Wednesday, July 25: Peaceful Times
Morning Lecture: The Castle always as Manor House
Reading: Allen Brown's English Castles,
Chapter 5: Decline, pp. 89-105
Review these websites:
Pickering Castle Pickering Castle {North Yorkshire Cam]
North Yorkshire Railway
Thursday, July 26: Pickering and Whitby
Tour of Pickering Castle, Passage to Whitby via the North Yorkshire Railway
Second Paper to be sent by email
Evening: Farewell Banquet in Whitby
Paper:
Each student is to select two important Roman, Viking or
Medieval cultural aspects of early fortifications (a work, for
example, of art, a cultivated space or
an architectural monument, from
ca 50-1500). The works will need to be studied entirely from
a cultural point of view--that is, what was the specific importance of the
object or place in that time period, as indicated, perhaps,
by literary piece written during or after that time. Here you may
discuss use, style, signifiance, impact, materials and craft, and
any other contributing factor.
The time-table of a four-week session requires you to choose your topics early.
If, after study, you decide to treat for your first paper, for example, Middleham Castle,
a site we will not be visiting until
July 16th week, please spend some time doing as much research as possible on
Middleham, the House of York, and the reasons for vast success of
this family,
all before you actually visit the site.
This is good advice, in fact, for any artifact
or monument that you wish to see or visit.
What will not be relevant are its present popularity, value today, subsequent
history, or recent owners.
The two papers are to be 5 pages each in length; computers will be
available, but the submissions can be hand-written. To facilitate the process of
writing and revision, I will be meeting with you during the course, to
encourage you as well as offer advice.
Medieval Studies 198 Notebook
For the Group Study (Medieval Studies 198) component of the two courses, you will
keep a research journal. The specific requirements and guidelines are
spelled out in this Summer Abroad site:
What makes this exercise particularly apt for the the study of Medieval York
is that
antiquarians, some of them among the educated elite,
kept such journals faithfully, and as you will see those
writers have furnished us with details about the culture of the past that
would otherwise be undocumented and possibly unknown. Your own journal
will serve a similar purpose: though you may not be aware of it, you are as
much embedded in a specific cultural perspective as were the warriors and
monks of
twelve hundred years ago, and your insights may in time be just as
revelatory and valuable. For this reason, the Medieval Studies 198, while a
pass/no pass course, is just as important for your education as the
Medieval Studies 130A.
In addition, you will be doing some sketching in your journal,
just as those antiquarians did, so keep
that in mind. This will be described in the Introductory Class Section.
Students can fly into
Manchester (Las Vegas,
Philadelphia, New York, Newark),
Leeds,
Durham (Tees Valley),
Newcastle,
Birmingham, or any of the four London Airports. In advance, you should
check on times of trains from those cities to Durham, and you should be
prepared for relatively high prices: fares are not
cheap even if bought on the same day. The last trains on a run usually
leave somewhere around 10 PM. You should be able to buy ahead online as
long as you don't wait too long.
Don't bother with Britrail passes unless
you plan on staying and traveling a lot afterwards, since they are
really expensive.
Unless you are older than 25 you can't even rent a car.
You won't be able to obtain student concessions just on a student body card, so
you may well be stuck with full fare, but you should check with a travel
agency like STA Travel to see if there are options. You might investigate
internet sites that you
can find while in the United States. In any case, take into acount that
rail transportation can be expensive. From Heathrow to King's Cross, the
station that connects London to Durham, the fare is 19.50 pounds.
The trip to Durham could be 100 pounds.
Is of course cheaper to buy a round trip ticket.
Warkworth Castle