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racefortheironthrone · 9 months

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Following on the castle question, do more nobles in ASOIAF have castles compared to real life history

It's more the case that most of the nobles we meet in ASOIAF are from the higher end of the nobility - the Lords Paramount and Principal Houses of the Seven Kingdoms - who are more likely to own castles.

By contrast, in the Dunk & Egg stories, we see more of the lower end of the nobility. Given our protagonists' point of view, in these stories we encounter hedge knights and sworn swords and landed knights like Ser Eustace Osgrey, whose Standfast is described as a fortified towerhouse:

This is exactly what a major type of fortified manor house looks like - because the artist probably referenced a photo of a surviving fortified manor house from our world. And in Sworn Sword, we see major intraclass inequality between marginal landed knights like Ser Eustace and the more well-established and well-capitalized small lords like the Webbers of Coldmoat - who can afford to maintain a small castle (with its eponymous moat), which happens to include having enough soldiers to back up its monopoly over the Chequey Water against rival claims.

While George R.R Martin's chops as a medievalist are often called into question, I think his knowledge base is a lot stronger when it comes to topics that older historiography focused on (wars, arms and armor, castles, dynastic politics) and a lot weaker on social history topics that have become more prominent in recent decades (the material life of the masses, medieval race, gender, and sexuality, etc). I would be very much surprised if GRRM hadn't collected the same illustrated books of Arms and Armor, the Medieval Castle, and so forth that I had when I was a young nerd.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #dunk and egg #castles #medieval castles #fortified manor houses #grrm #medievalism #medieval fantasy #medieval history

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pharaohgargamel · 4 months

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Красивые средневековые замки✨🏰

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Beautiful medieval castles✨🏰

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robertocastigliaphotography · 2 years

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Castello Piccolomini di Capestrano. (AQ) Abruzzo. Italy

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rayeshistoryhouse · 1 year

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^Sundial in front of Leeds Castle, Kent, England

The sundial tells the time in Belvoir, Virginia, USA, where Thomas Fairfax (who was born in the castle) lived.

rayeshistory.com

#sundial #leeds castle #kent england #belvoir virginia #medieval castles

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asitrita · 2 years

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Castles for weddings in Spain

Castillo de la Arguijuela

Castillo de Ampudias

Castillo de las Seguras

Castillo de Jarandilla de la Vera

#spain #medieval castles

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merliztales · 2 years

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"Do not be troubled by the wagging of the tongues of those who can never understand. Dwell more on those who care to listen" said her Seeker. And she did.

#Merliztales #celtic folk lore #alchemy #european fables #leather crafting #medieval castles #medieval manuscripts

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arcusxx · 7 months

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art by geokurgan

#dark #my edits #dark art #shadow #photography #dark photo #atmosphere #occult #architecture #gothic #medieval #vampire #demon #black and white photography #black and white #mood #castle #cathedral

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atomic-chronoscaph · 3 months

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Castles - art by Alan Lee (1984)

#alan lee #castles #80s fantasy art #arthurian legends #fairy tales #gormenghast #medieval art #knights #middle ages #fantasy books #david day #1980s #1984

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visitheworld · 2 months

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Almourol Castle / Portugal (by Pedro Grao).

#portugal #visit portugal #travel #europe #medieval #wanderlust #castles #placestovisit

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livesunique · 2 months

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Burg Niederfalkenstein, Obervellach, Carinthia, Austria

Courtesy: Austria Paradise

#art #design #architecture #history #luxury lifestyle #style #luxury house #luxury home #castle #burg #burg niederfalkenstein #carinthia #austria #paradise #medieval #obervellach

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moodboard-d · 4 months

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racefortheironthrone · 9 months

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Did all the medieval nobles in real history have castles like in ASOIAF

All? No.

Castles were very expensive to construct and the right to crenellate was jealously controlled by the monarchy, so it was generally the wealthiest and most powerful among the nobility who had them.

However, a little bit lower down the rungs of the nobility, you had noblemen who could afford to build a castle, but not the crenellation tax that the king collected as his fee, and thus you got "adulterine castles." (To use a modern consumer goods analogy, these are knock-offs compared to the "Gucci" of a licensed castle.)

Yet further down, your broad middle of the nobility would most likely have a fortified manorhouse - which is taking the manor house, the one thing that pretty much all medieval nobles had by definition, and essentially building a thick walled extension and other defenses (like moats or ditches) around the manor house that let the residents withstand a bandit attack or brief siege.

So it's more a spectrum than a binary of castle vs. no castle.

#history #medieval history #nobility #castles #medieval castles #crenellation taxes #adulterine castles #fortified manor houses #manors #license to crenellate

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the-merry-otter · 1 year

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