The medieval palace

Palaces have long been symbols of authority and rule though the word derives from a hill above the Roman Forum. Since the Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, palaces have formed the setting and backdrop for regal events, ritual and ceremony. They have also been places of intrigue! The palaces of medieval Europe were no exception though their ancestry was more complicated. To a great extent the legacy of Rome and the Byzantine Court influenced both western churchmen and rulers by direct contact or by emulation such as the Norman Court in Sicily. But Northern European society also derived its ruling structures and their architectural settings from Germanic traditions, based on the great hall and central hearth.

This course will examine both the transmission of Roman and Byzantine palaces through Islam to Spain, while other classes will explore the more northerly traditions. We shall travel from Spalata to Anjar and Cordoba, and from the Vikings to the Normans to the sophistication of the Court of St Louis in 13th-century Paris.