A Few Well-Positioned Castles

Despite years of castle studies, the strategies, tactics, and stratagems that underpinned Norman castle warfare remain largely unexplored. This book outlines a strategic approach to castles, arguing that "it was not what was built, but where it was built" that was the key to Norman success. Castles are placed into context via landscape archaeology, and a study of contemporary and later sources. Castle positioning in the landscapes of Somerset, Monmouthshire, and County Meath are examined in detail. Above all, the author argues, it is necessary to see the Normans as part of a wider European phenomenon that drew its inspiration from the Roman Empire.