|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
More likely just a little hump.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
You boys are being SOOOOO bad! I still have my soap, you know. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
I still have my soap, you know.Just make sure you don't drop it. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
We need an architecture historian here...
You rang, my dear? The problem with architectural words is that it is often so hard to decide exactly what a particular building feature should be called because different authorities use different rules. Cupola/lantern is one such tricky divide: a lantern is usually considered a cupola with windows and no floor, so it can light the interior of the building, but some call any cupola with windows a lantern, and others don't call anything a lantern and stick with cupola. The exact dividing line between a bay window and an oriel is equally tricky to spot.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
While I'm no architectural historian, I have taken a fair amount of interest in castles. In 1998 when we were touring Britain, we visited fifteen castles. My wife talked about ABC, "another bloody castle"!
[rabbit]
Many "castles" were just manor houses with defences which might or might not have any relevance to warfare. Often, they were built as homes first, with a bit of defensive walling added on as an afterthought. Often it was just affectation - the defences would have held up any determined attacker for all of five minutes at the most, and usually only that long because they would have hurt from laughing.
One of the most impressive castles, although it's not really as famous as Warwick Castle or the Edwardians in Wales, is Kenilworth in Warwickshire. It was built originally by one of Bill Clinton's ancestors (presumably complete with humidor) in the twelfth century. In the fifteenth it was the home of John of Gaunt (Henry IV's father and Henry V's grandfather). Robert Dudley had it in the sixteenth.
Kenilworth was a home (or more of a palace) as much as a defensive castle. The descriptions from the fifteenth century include mention of the hangings in the Great Hall. These were very expensive tapestries and were effective draught-catchers. They were also a form of conspicuous consumption and portable wealth. The windows were usually "glazed" in the bigger castles, although this could have merely been done with animal skins scraped thin (like vellum) in the meaner sort of castle.
They may not have been cosy retreats, but the castles which were also palaces were probably quite comfortable - at least for the owner and his family. This double use was quite common from the thirteenth century through to the early seventeenth. You should also remember that when war was not imminent, the owners of castles often either lived in smaller buildings within the bailey or close by. The Earl of Leicester actually built a manor house within the bailey of Kenilworth when he had the castle in the late 1500s. Great for bird-pulling, and the bird he was trying to pull was Elizabeth I. Didn't do him much good, did it? Henry V built a retreat outside the walls of Kenilworth and lived there for some time after Agincourt, but he was still within a very short distance of safety. Others may not have even lived in their castles at all except under wartime conditions. John of Gaunt lived in London quite a lot rather than at Kenilworth when he was in England, where he had an inn named, from memory, Cold Harbour. This was just a large house or inn-type building with no real defences at all.
[/rabbit]
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Oh do tell more about how John of Gaunt, who died in 1399-- (the last year of th 14th century) made his home in Kenilworth-- In the fifteenth it was the home of John of Gaunt (Henry IV's father and Henry V's grandfather). Robert Dudley had it in the sixteenth.-- no wonder SWMBO was complaining about another ABC!
in the early years, John of Gaunt had a very luxurious castle in London, on the Strand-- the Savoy, it was very close to the location of the church of St Clemen(t) the Dane (as in Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St Clemin's) which is in the middle of the Strand..
sorry, but one of my favorite books is Katherine by Anya Seton, the story of Katherine Swynford, John's long time mistress, and third wife, (and grandmother to Henry V.) The london hotel, the savoy is close at to the site too, but the castle was on the river side of the strand, and the hotel is further in.. lovely place, spent christmas of 1972 there!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I hate to admit it, but it was only a few years ago that I learned he was so named because he was born in or at least owned land in Ghent. At least I didn't think it meant he looked undernourished.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Okay, okay, I was doing it from memory. John of Gaunt was a real rogue, a mercenary dressed up in diplomat's clothing. My knowledge of Kenilworth's denizens comes from reading about Bolingbroke and that ne'er-do-well son of his'n, Henry V. They were definitely 15th century characters. Possibly Bolingbroke and Hal had the use of Cold Harbour - certainly Henry V spent a lot of time there while his father was still alive and rotting away. I assumed that John of Gaunt owned it. Certainly the Hollands (close relatives) did for a while, but I'm not sure when. There is still a Cold Harbour Lane or Street in London. My history references are still packed away and are likely to remain there for some time. And beware the factual accuracy of novels anyway. Authors of fiction have been known to twist facts to suit themselves, you know ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
220
guests, and
2
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
