Page 603 - Het middeleeuwse kastelenlandschap van het Oversticht - Diana Spiekhout

Summary
The castle landscape of the Oversticht region in the Middle Ages; the development of episcopal castles, noble houses and fortifications in relation to the landscape and society in the Northeastern Netherlands between 1050 and 1450
The study presented in this dissertation attempts to reconstruct the medieval castle landscape of the Oversticht region (Northeastern Netherlands). For a long period of time, the castles had not been researched in this area, which consisted of almost the entire present-day provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe as well as the former Gorecht area in the present-day province of Groningen and part of the Stellingwerf area in present-day southeast Friesland. The purpose of this study was to make up for this knowledge gap by analysing the development of the castles of the bishop of Utrecht noble houses and fortifications and explaining their relationships with the landscape in this part of the Netherlands between 1050 and 1450.
However, we were soon faced with a problem. A study of the development of castles requires consulting various types of sources: from those in archaeology, history and the history of architecture to those in landscape architecture and art history. Yet the study of European castles does not provide a comprehensive theoretical and methodological framework for an integrated approach to accessing and combining these sources. Some researchers in recent decades have shown that significant insight can be gained into castles and their role in mediaeval society when fortifications are researched in relation to the surrounding landscape. The landscape approach in the study of castles is based on two assumptions: firstly, that the landscape influenced the decision for the location of the castle and secondly, and in turn, that the castle helped to shape its surroundings during the course of its existence. Nevertheless, in studies that took this approach, a research method appeared to be lacking for the systematic study of the versatility of castles from a variety of disciplines.
Inspired by the aforementioned considerations, we decided to introduce a three-part model
of a castle landscape in chapter one as a tool for studying the interaction between castles and landscapes in the Oversticht region. This model is based on the ideas of Danish geographer
Kenneth Olwig and Dutch landscape philosopher Maarten Jacobs. Olwig demonstrated
that the Germanic word lantskip/lantscap, which was generally used in the Middle Ages in
large parts of northwestern Europe, did not only refer to a historical and political territory
with its physical characteristics but also to the corresponding traditional regional society and
its institutes, customs and practices. This concept, as a combination of a tangible physical environment and a more immaterial social and cultural space, was further elaborated by
Jacobs. Based on the three-partite ontology by Habermas, Jacobs developed a three- dimensional model of the various realities of landscapes. The first dimension, according to
him, is the physical landscape (matterscape) that supposedly exists of all types of natural and
cultural physical characteristics, structures and patterns. These can be tested positivistically
using methods from the natural and spatial sciences. Secondly, Jacobs identified a social dimension to the landscape (powerscape), in which all social and economic relations, rights
and cultural aspects, including language, are expressed. This dimension can then be included
in the domain of social studies, economics and humanities. Finally, Jacobs distinguished the individual mental dimension of the landscape (mindscape), as the personal values, thoughts, S feelings and attitudes that individuals possess with regard to the landscape. Research into
these aspects is traditionally the domain of psychology, cultural geography or the arts.
In order to create a reconstruction of the castle landscape in the Oversticht area, definitions are needed of both the landscape and the castle. The current definition used in Dutch castle studies turned out to be less suitable because it excludes many castle sites. For this reason, a broad working definition is drawn up in chapter one, which states that all sites with a functional or symbolic type of defensive architecture that is combined with an economic, administrative/legal, representative or military function – excluding cities and convent outposts – should be viewed as a castle.
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