Beboelsestårn

Hospental beboelsestårn i Schweiz. Tårnet menes at være opført omkring 1226.

Et beboelsestårn er en bestemt art stenbygning der er opført med beboelse for øje; mange af disse har tillige tjent som forsvarsværker.[1]

Historie

Beboelsestårne begyndte at dukke op i Middelalderen specielt i bjergrige eller svært fremkommelige egne, da de således kunne kontrollere og forsvare strategiske punkter med en begrænset styrke. De kunne samtidig tjene som en adelsmands residens, hvorfor en slotsby ofte blev bygget omkring tårnet.

Efter deres oprindelse i Irland, Skotland, Baskerlandet og England i senmiddelalderen blev der også bygget beboelsestårne i andre dele af Vesteuropa, især i dele af Frankrig og Italien.

Eksterne henvisninger

Referencer

  1. ^ Sidney Toy, Castles: Their Construction and History, (1985), Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0486248984 (engelsk)

Medier brugt på denne side

Attinghausen-Schweinsberg.jpg
Forfatter/Opretter: Roland Zumbuehl, Licens: CC BY-SA 3.0
Der Wohnturm Schweinsberg in Attinghausen
San Gimignano.JPG
Forfatter/Opretter: No machine-readable author provided. RicciSpeziari~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., Licens: CC BY-SA 3.0

It shows the view at the city of San Gimignano.

Source: photo uploaded by User:RicciSpeziari. Photographer: Basilio Speziari
VaronakoDorretxea.jpg
Casa-Torre de Varona
Hospental-Wohnturm-1.jpg
Forfatter/Opretter: Roland Zumbuehl, Licens: CC BY-SA 3.0
Langobardenturm in Hospental
Borthwick Castle, Midlothian.jpg
Forfatter/Opretter: Kim Traynor, Licens: CC BY-SA 3.0
The fortified tower house was the classic Scottish solution to the problem of building defensible structures in a country where warfare was endemic for centuries. The Scottish Lowland landscape is peppered with many fine examples, to the extent that the 16thC historian, John Major, could write,
"There are in Scotland for the most part two strongholds to every league, intended both as a defence against a foreign foe, and to meet the first outbreak of a civil war." (History of Greater Britain, 1521).
Scotland's Stewart monarchs explicitly forbade the Scottish nobility to imitate the fortifications of their royal castles. Most 'castles' in Scotland are in fact tower houses which have been expanded by additional ranges which can often conceal the original tower at first sight. Borthwick is a unique example of twin towers.