Moated Manor House or True Castle?
A visit to Bodiam castle is undoubtedly a requirement for all those who want to get as near as they can to the touch and feel of a pivotal time in English history – the late 14th century. When Edward Dalyngrigge built the castle in 1385 (needless to say it was his social inferiors that actually built it) the English aristocracy was in the middle of the hundred years war with their French counterparts over the disputed French crown. Thus, as far as aristocracy was concerned the late 14th was business as usual; fighting over land inheritance and making sure serfs did their part in their Lord’s battles and in the tilling of his land. Dalyngrigge returned from France rich with the spoils of war and further enhanced his social position by marrying into wealth. He got too big for his manor house (and probably for his boots as well) and applied to the King for a license to crenellate his relatively pokey manor house; as the license says:
“…he [Dalyngrigge] may strengthen with a wall of stone and lime and crenellate and may construct and make into a castle his manor house of Bodyham…”
Somehow the ambitious Darlyngrigge managed wangle it so that the Kings permission became a license to build an entirely new castle, which he did further down the valley.
But times were changing. The Black Death in the mid fourteenth century had begun to make it a suppliers market for serf labour and this eventually led to the rise of a middle class of yeoman farmers who started to work in the service of profit rather than the service of noble masters. The peasant’s revolt of 1383 used startlingly modern slogans about the equality of man, and was among the first signs that feudalism was on the wane. But obviously Darlyngrigge, who played his part in the suppression of the revolt, didn’t think so. It is likely that in his mind his new castle was as much a deterrent to an upstart peasantry (or a rising middle class of yeomen) as it was to the French aristocracy.
The best ideas in defense
Bodiam castle is a monument to the fag end of the mediaeval period. There have been remarks to the effect that in the building of the castle Darlyngrigge’s taste for style, statement and comfort compromised its strength; the last of the castles and the first of the stately homes. The castle, situated in its wide moat, certainly conveys a sense of both romance and strength. Its structure incorporated all the best ideas in defense, but it is clear that Darlygrigge wanted to show it off to full effect and visitors coming from the east were taken on a circuitous “best views” sight-seeing tour round the castle before entry could be made. If an appearance of strength acts as a deterrent then Darlygrigge’s eye for theatre could be construed as a psychological defensive measure in itself.
Darlyngrigge, however, really had little time to enjoy that status symbol and fashion statement that was his castle – he died a few years after its completion leaving the legacy of an iconic building for future generations to savor the fancied air of chivalrous nostalgia and mystery. Dalygrigge is a fine example of that well known historical phenomenon whereby those in changing times seem to have no inkling whatever of the direction of historical drift or even that their times are fundamentally changing. From our modern perspective, with as much detachment as we survey his castle, we can survey the sweep of history that swept past Dalyngrigge leaving his castle a romantic and nostalgic ruin. But like many a high flier before and after him Dalyngrigge was a man jealous of his dignity, pride and status, which in turn meant that his emotions, motives and values were very much bound up with the cultural expressions of his day. In spite of his opinion of himself Dalyngrigge, to us, seems an unconscious play thing of history; a man who, in the final analysis, didn’t make history but who was in the rearguard of a culture that history was sweeping away.
And yet in spite of changing times the castle at Bodiam remained a home for aristocrats for more than 200 years – a period of time which measured backwards from our day takes us right back to the first stages of the industrial revolution, and which suggests that times in renaissance England were in, one sense at least, relatively settled. But is history ever settled? I fancy I see cusps of change and turning points everywhere in history, and so I wonder if history ever passes through settled times, times when it is just more of the same. Whatever the answer to that question, it is clear, however, that Dalyngrigge was so taken up with the ephemeral values and ambitions of his times as to be unaware of the greater context that ultimately passes final judgment on his (and our) doings. But far greater dignity and honour comes to those for whom immediate status and position is something they are not enslaved to.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
We think of the medieval world as imbued through and through with Christian religious values – and so it was. And yet the kernel of the Christian message, a message expressed in terms of servant hood, humility, sacrifice and grace was difficult to spot.
Darlyngrigge, however, really had little time to enjoy that status symbol and fashion statement that was his castle – he died a few years after its completion leaving the legacy of an iconic building for future generations to savor the fancied air of chivalrous nostalgia and mystery. Dalygrigge is a fine example of that well known historical phenomenon whereby those in changing times seem to have no inkling whatever of the direction of historical drift or even that their times are fundamentally changing. From our modern perspective, with as much detachment as we survey his castle, we can survey the sweep of history that swept past Dalyngrigge leaving his castle a romantic and nostalgic ruin. But like many a high flier before and after him Dalyngrigge was a man jealous of his dignity, pride and status, which in turn meant that his emotions, motives and values were very much bound up with the cultural expressions of his day. In spite of his opinion of himself Dalyngrigge, to us, seems an unconscious play thing of history; a man who, in the final analysis, didn’t make history but who was in the rearguard of a culture that history was sweeping away.
And yet in spite of changing times the castle at Bodiam remained a home for aristocrats for more than 200 years – a period of time which measured backwards from our day takes us right back to the first stages of the industrial revolution, and which suggests that times in renaissance England were in, one sense at least, relatively settled. But is history ever settled? I fancy I see cusps of change and turning points everywhere in history, and so I wonder if history ever passes through settled times, times when it is just more of the same. Whatever the answer to that question, it is clear, however, that Dalyngrigge was so taken up with the ephemeral values and ambitions of his times as to be unaware of the greater context that ultimately passes final judgment on his (and our) doings. But far greater dignity and honour comes to those for whom immediate status and position is something they are not enslaved to.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
We think of the medieval world as imbued through and through with Christian religious values – and so it was. And yet the kernel of the Christian message, a message expressed in terms of servant hood, humility, sacrifice and grace was difficult to spot.
Status, style and comfort; but that was then
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