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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1305: Inside and Outside the Medieval European Castle

Wednesday 3 July 2019, 16.30-18.00

Moderator/Chair:Katherine Weikert, Department of Archaeology / Department of History, University of Winchester
Paper 1305-aWhat Happened behind the Walls?: Representation and Private Life in the Grand Master's Palace at Marienburg Castle
(Language: English)
Christofer Herrmann, Instytut Historii Sztuki, Uniwersytet Gdański / Fachbereich Stadt- und Stadtbaugeschichte, Technische Universität Berlin
Index terms: Architecture - Secular, Archives and Sources, Crusades, Daily Life
Paper 1305-bCrime outside the Gates: Cases of Oyer and Terminer in the Duchy of Lancaster
(Language: English)
Dickon Whitewood, English Heritage, Cambridge / University of East Anglia
Index terms: Daily Life, Geography and Settlement Studies, Local History, Social History
Abstract

Paper -a:
The Grand Master's Palace, seat of the Teutonic Order 1309-1457, is one of the most outstanding medieval residential buildings. It impresses with its excellent state of preservation and numerous functional features. In addition, historical sources provide detailed information about the way the residence was used, which concerns both the public events (chapter and council meetings, court dinners, trials, reception of guests and envoys) as well as the Grand Master's private life. The paper will give an overview of these events behind the palace walls and finally describes how particular rooms and building areas were used for the different activities and how they interact with each other.

Paper -b:
Oyer and terminer was a name given to one of the commissions issued to judges to hear and determine a criminal case at the assizes. Recorded into the Patent Rolls, they provide a fascinating insight into criminal activity during the medieval period. This paper looks at those courts summoned on complaint of the earls and dukes of Lancaster in regard to their estates across England. It will analyse cases of crime surrounding castles and manors and place them into a political and social context, providing insights into the impact of these buildings on their surrounding landscape and human inhabitants.