Fighting yesterday's battle: Beyond war and status in castle studies

Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of medieval castles have transformed the subject over the last quarter of a century and taken it away from its militaristic roots. In Medieval Archaeology 51 (2007) Colin Platt published an article that reasserted defence as the primary motivation in castle building. This paper suggests that continuing 'defence vs symbolism' debates are detrimental to the subject, which needs to develop a distinctive research agenda of its own but also foster greater links with complementary fields of scholarship.

Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of medieval castles have transformed the subject over the last quarter of a century and taken it away from its militaristic roots. In Medieval Archaeology 51 (2007) Colin Platt published an article that reasserted defence as the primary motivation in castle building. This paper suggests that continuing 'defence vs symbolism' debates are detrimental to the subject, which needs to develop a distinctive research agenda of its own but also foster greater links with complementary fields of scholarship.