Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

English Castles 1200-1300 (Fortress) The 13th Century is probably the most interesting period of time in the development of medieval castles as fortresses. It was a period of much activity and it is often considered to be the zenith of the whole castle development history. The end of this century was when William Wallace lived (of Braveheart fame) who was executed in 1301 which pretty much denoted the end of the whole period. During this time there weren’t a whole lot of new castles built. Rather, many of the existing wooden, and motte and bailey castles were upgraded, rebuilt, restored and reinforced. Often upgraded from wood to stone and with sophisticated improvements such as gatehouses, concentric rings of defense, the barbican, circular towers and moats. It was during this time that these improvements in defense were created and instituted into castles.It is also during this time that the role of the fortress changed from a fortification against attack to a place where royalty and others actually lived. This period saw the development of living quarters, gardens and other things that made it a place that could also be comfortably lived in during times of peace.
What’s in the book
This is a small book with only 64 pages but it is very informative and chock full of wonderful information about castles and castle building during this period of time. It has a lot of wonderful pictures and quite a few amazing illustrations that show castle development and castle floor plans. There is also a wonderful list at the end of the book that describes the castles of the period that are still standing (or partially standing) today. With information about where they are if you want to visit them.Castle development was a very expensive and time consuming affair and it is something that the rich and powerful kings, lords and dukes undertook at great expense and the book also takes a look at this aspect of the process . There is a lot of information about the powerful leaders of the time and how they went about consolidating their power and building their castles. And although this part of the history of castles is not particularly interesting to me it was a very important part of the process and it determined a lot of what actually happened during the century.

If you are a big fan of medieval castles this book is a must have. It covers all of the aspects of the development of the fortress during the most important century of their timeline. It covers finances, architecture, the major figures and all of the major castles of the time. It takes a look at how the castles was changed and upgraded for peace, for war and for living arrangements.

This book is available on Amazon.com English Castles 1200-1300 (Fortress)

If you love Medieval Castles check out my website: Medieval Castles

The hotly anticipated cinematic prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy is finally gathering steam. It was announced earlier this year that The Hobbit, the latest silver screen foray into Middle Earth, will be split into two halves, released in December 2011 and 2012. That gives Tolkien fans about two years to speculate and fervently hunt for leaked set images for clues into how this version of Hobbiton, the Blue Mountains, and every place in between, is shaping up.

Following the massive success of Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy tome, it only made sense that a movie version of The Hobbit would follow. In a Star Wars-like move, The Hobbit will go back to before the events in Lord of the Rings took place. Approximately 60 years before the motley group of men, hobbits, elf, dwarf, and wizard formed the Fellowship, in fact.

This time around, though, Jackson won’t be sitting in the director’s chair shouting for “one more take for good luck.” After a messy and lengthy legal dispute with New Line Cinema, which even led New Line’s head executive Robert Shaye to announce that Jackson would “never make any movie with New line Cinema again,” Jackson passed the Middle Earth torch to Guillermo del Toro, the directorial mastermind behind Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy. The Lord of the Rings veteran will instead be donning his producer’s cap for The Hobbit while del Toro takes the directorial reins.

Del Toro is a fitting replacement for Jackson, as he has done his share of fantasy flicks. If the creepy Pan’s Labyrinth is any indicator, The Hobbit may see a darker Middle Earth than Jackson’s, which is not necessarily a bad change. Yet, the movie will still hold a welcome familiarity for fans with a cast mini-reunion of sorts. Andy Serkis will return as the slimy Gollum, and Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving have both expressed interest in reprising their respective roles of Gandalf the Grey and Elrond, though nothing has been officially announced. Interestingly, Dominic Monaghan, who previously portrayed Merry the hobbit, told MTV that the original quartet of hobbits may be returning for the new film. How this would be accomplished without extensive rewriting and a huge flash-forward in the timeline remains to be seen.

This post was contributed by Rose Jensen, who writes about the associates degree. She welcomes your feedback at Rose.Jensen28@ yahoo.com