The Seigneurial residence in Normandy, 1125-1225: an Anglo-Norman Tradition?

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Impey, Edward

Medieval Archaeology, Vol.43 (1999)

Abstract

England and Normandy shared a common (although not exclusive) tradition in the design of seigneurial houses between c. 1125 and 1225, typified by the housing of the hall and chambers in separate buildings, both built to an increasingly standardized pattern. The tradition as known in England is briefly defined and a selection of the Norman evidence presented and discussed in the light of it, identifying a common evolution during the 12th century but some differences in detail. It is then suggested that the pattern may have been particular to England and Normandy and that it originated in an Anglo-Saxon tradition transplanted to Normandy after the Conquest. The Norman impact on domestic building in England is also briefly considered, with particular reference to the Continental storeyed house and its best-known manifestation the residential tower.

Several buildings indicating that the 12th century seigneury of England and Normandy shared at least one tradition in the design of their houses were presented in an article of 1993′ Since then much new evidence has come to light, and what follows is an attempt to describe the nature and development of the shared tradition which can now be identified, and to consider two questions it raises: was the tradition, strictly defined, peculiar to England and Normandy?; and if so, where did it originate?