Defence of the Realm

Nach dem Mittelalter wandelt sich die Rolle der Burgen in Großbritannien. Sie müssen nun einer neuen Bedrohung standhalten, dem Angriff durch Kanonenfeuer. Die Burgen mussten zu ihrer Verteidigung angepasst und selbst mit Feuerwaffen ausgestattet werden. So überlebten sie bis in die Tudor-Ära, bevor sie von Bollwerken strategischer Macht zu Symbolen für Reichtum und Adel wurden.

Sam Willis explores how, by the Wars of the Roses, castles were under attack from a new threat - the cannon - but survived into the Tudor era only to find their whole purpose challenged. What had once been strategic seats of power now had to keep up with the fickle fashions of the court and become palaces to impress monarchs such as Elizabeth I. Just as castles seemed to have lost their defensive function, the English Civil War erupted. The legacy of that tumultuous period resulted in castles no longer being associated with protection. Rather, their ruins took on a unique appeal, embodying a nostalgia for an age of chivalry that became a powerful part of the national psyche.