"In this new book Charles Coulson overturns many of the traditional assumptions about the nature and purpose of castle-building in the middle ages." "Going back to the original sources, Dr. Coulson proposes a new and more subtle understanding of the function and symbolism of castles as well as providing vivid insights into the lives of the people who inhabited them. Fortresses were only occasionally caught up in war, but constantly were central to the ordinary life of all classes of the nobility and gentry, of widows and heiresses, of prelates and clergy, of peasantry and townspeople alike. Castles in Medieval Society presents and explores this broad social panorama."--Jacket.

Introduction -- PART I: CASTLES: ANCIENT, VARIOUS, AND SOCIABLE: A fresh look at early castles -- Variety violated: some conceptual problems -- Some social relations of 'castles and fortresses" -- PART II: CASTLES AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST: Noble military 'liberties', ethos, and ethics -- Peacekeeping at home and abroad -- Private property but public utility -- PART III: CASTELLANS, COLONIZATION, AND RURAL COMMUNITY: Castle-lords, castle-lordships, and noble civilization -- Colonialization and fortresses -- Populace and fortresses: protection and perquisites -- PART IV: CASTLES AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF WIDOWS, GUARDIANS, AND HEIRESSES: Female castellans: provision, not prejudice -- Ladies of fortresses and castle-children -- Epilogue.