9.15 – 10.00

Kaffe

10.00 - 10.15

Welcome: The past and the future - the intention with this seminar
Jan Kock

10.15 – 11.30

Castle and Space
Thomas Kühtreiber

ABSTRACT:  Space as social category in archaeology has a long scientific tradition in different scales. Different, but sometimes overlapping concepts have been carried out, however, castle studies benefits from all these approaches: Castles as centres of lordship play a crucial role in medieval colonisation, therefore they yield significant data for the penetration and cultivation of land. The way how land was cultivated can be analysed by studying the spatial interweavement of castles, settlements and physical space: By using methods of environmental archaeology we can learn about how seigniorial economy influenced the local ecology and how these changes led to reactions in the economy. By using methods of landscape archaeology we get ideas about the ideological appropriation of space and how the aristocratic elite tried to organize space for their benefit by means of excluding, setting on scene etc. By integrating concepts of architectural sociology we can bring the organization of landscape and the inner organization of castles to a synthesis: Both are means of social design and interact with each other.

11.30 – 12.15

Design and furnishing in Danish castles during the late Middle Ages
Vivian Etting

ABSTRACT: Design and furniture in connection to Danish castles has been a rather subordinate topic in Danish research. This might be due to scattered sources, but nevertheless many observations can be made by studying the castles, the finds and various written sources as inventories and accounts.

12.15 – 13.30

Frokost

13.30 – 14.00

Castles in Danish medieval history – some macroperspectives  and some examples
Anders Bøgh

ABSTRACT: Castles only slowly became the nucleus of royal power in Denmark. Around 1400 the Danish realm was covered by a net of app. 40 royal castles from where almost all of the country was administered. Ironically after that they played only minor military roles and in the beginning of the 16^th century medieval castles became obsolete because of the development of firearms. But before 1400 castles were certainly important. But what was before the castles and why did the situation change? After addressing this question, focus will be on “the century of castles”, the 14^th century, where some well known and some not so well known steps on the way, episodes and examples of the meaning and importance of castles will be touched upon. 

14.00 – 14.30

Royal castle building during the reign of King Hans (1481-1513)
Heidi Maria Møller Nielsen

ABSTRACT: The main focus of the paper is to present an outline of the royal castle building and other royal activities regarding castles during the reign of King Hans (1481-1513). Based on archaeological and written sources etc. royal castle enterprises of the period are tracked down, analyzed and interpreted in order to – if possible – define and explore the “castle strategy” of King Hans. The potential as well as problems of this approach to castle research which offers a broad and “complete” view on a narrow period is discussed.

14.30- 15.00

The castle, the "appartement" and the climatic change
Rainer Atzbach

ABSTRACT: In the late medieval period, the "appartement" appears on castles as a new development of a ground plan. It is defined as a group of adjacent rooms, consisting of a bedroom with privy, a bigger smokefree heated stube and a smaller chancellery. Access to this appartement is restricted and this group of rooms is regarded as the lord's most private zone on a castle. For a long time, the appartement has been regarded as an innovation in French court culture spreading all over Europe. The paper will discuss its origin and its function on the background of court culture and the climatic development between the Medieval Optimum and the Little Ice Age.

15.00 – 15.20

Kaffe

15.30 – 16.00

Regional castle projects as a tool for innovation in national castle research. The Samsø Castle Project as an example
Nils Engberg

ABSTRACT: Castle research in Denmark were for many years carried out mainly by historians and closely related to castle studies in feudal Europe. In the second half of the 20th Century archaeologists have investigated quite a few new castles and moated sites. This has first of all added to our knowledge of the actual moated site but also thrown some light on the way castles have been used as part of the defence system against internal as well as external enemies in Denmark.
The Castle project (by National Museum, Copenhagen; Moesgård Museum, Højbjerg and  Økomuseum Samsø, Tranebjerg) on the island Samsø has been inspired by the project from the islands Langeland and Ærø south of Funen. The archaeological excavations on the five castles and moated sites on Samsø have given surprising new results that draws a very different picture of the castle story on the island, than was previously given. The results shows also on a national basis that we are still at the beginning of really understand the use of castles, big or small, in Denmark during the late medieval period from a. 1100 to 1500 Ad. 

16.00 - 16.15

Stedkontinuitet med Hald som eksempel
Jesper Hjermind

16.30 - 17.00

Diskussion og afrunding

17.00

Forum for fagligt tankespind