IMS alumna publishes monograph
Dr Audrey M. Thorstad, IMS MA and PhD alumna, published 'The Culture of Castles in Tudor England and Wales' (Boydell & Brewer) in September 2019.
Dr Audrey M. Thorstad’s recent publication The Culture of Castles in Tudor England and Wales (Boydell & Brewer, September 2019) is the first multi-disciplinary study of the cultural and social milieu of the post-medieval castle. Dr Thorstad is currently a Lecturer in Early Modern History at Bangor University and is also an IMS alumna, first completing her MA in Medieval History, followed by her PhD at the University of Leeds in 2015. In addition to teaching at various universities, including Leeds, Sheffield, and Chichester, Dr Thorstad has also been a research assistant at the University of Huddersfield.
Dr Thorstad’s interdisplinary PhD research at the University of Leeds explored the use of space, movement, chamber arrangements, and interaction in late medieval and early modern castles in England and Wales. This research was funded by the British Archaeological Association Ochs Scholarship.
The Culture of Castles in Tudor England and Wales is based on Dr Thorstad’s PhD research. The volume offers the first interdisciplinary study of the socio-cultural understanding of the castle in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, a period during which the castle has largely been seen as in decline. Bringing together a wide range of source material – from architectural remains and archaeological finds to household records and political papers – it investigates the personnel of the castle; the use of space for politics and hospitality; the landscape; ideas of privacy; and the creation of a visual legacy.
The volume offers the first interdisciplinary study of the socio-cultural understanding of the castle in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
By focusing on such an iconic structure, this monograph allows readers to see some of the ways in which men and women were negotiating the space around them on a daily basis; and just as importantly, it reveals the impact that the local communities had on the spaces of the castle.
