Castles: An Anthology
Reviewed by Kellie S. Meyer (kellie.meyer@lmc.gatech.edu)
'Oh!' cried Mrs. Skewton, with a faded little scream of rapture, 'the
Castle is charming!—associations of the Middle Ages—and all that—which is so
truly exquisite. . . . Such charming times! . . . So full of faith! So vigorous
and forcible! So picturesque! So perfectly removed from commonplace! Oh dear!
If they would only leave us a little more of the poetry of existence in these
terrible days!' . . . 'Those darling byegone times . . . with their delicious
fortresses, and their dear old dungeons, and their delightful places of
torture, and their romantic vengeances, and their picturesque assaults and
sieges, and everything that makes life truly charming! How dreadfully we have
degenerated!'
— Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, ch. 27
While Dicken’s Dombey and Son is not one of the books included in
Castles: an Anthology, Mrs’ Skewton’s medievalist rhapsody may well have
been the guiding principle behind the selection of the 160 items included in
this online collection from the British Library, which includes archaeological
treatises, antiquarian histories, images, Gothic romances and pseudo-histories
featuring picturesque dungeons, sieges, knights and fair maidens. With three
exceptions from the 18th-century and one from the 17th-century (Dryden’s King
Arthur, 1691), all of the items in the Castles Anthology are
digitized 19th-century primary sources. The reader is therefore
introduced not only to histories, images and fiction associated with medieval castles,
but experiences these sources through the lens of Victorian culture and
taste. Hence the result is a fascinating glimpse of Victorian
medievalisms, viewed through a 21st century interface.
The Interface: The Castles Anthology is available through the free
BiblioBoard app, part of the British Library 19th-Century Historical Collection
App for iPad, an initiative made possible through a partnership with the
Charleston, South Carolina company BiblioLabs. Currently available only
to iPad users, beta testing has recently ended for PC platforms, promising
universal access in the near future. The Castles Anthology is one
of three free offerings; otherwise, use of the app costs $2.99 a month for
general access to the historical and antiquarian collection, or $9.99 for
specific anthologies. My initial resentment at having to use an
iPad to access the anthologies aside, I think this price is well worth
it. As the creators of the app state, “the visual interface creates
an experience that’s the next best thing to having the original item in your
own hands.” My experience with the anthology bears out this assertion. In fact,
access to the original 19th-century sources, many of which are so obscure they
foiled any attempts to garner further information about them (either through
standard internet research or more specialized research through university
research databases), might even be worth the price of an iPad!
Being a parsimonious medievalist however, I shall have to wait until the
app is available on a PC platform.
Contents: This very large collection is organized into eight categories: Highlights,
Fiction and Poetry, Days of Chivalry, British Castles, European
Castles, Books, Images, and Articles. As it is
impossible to discuss all of the items, or, indeed, to even list all of their
titles, the following simply attempts to provide an overview of the contents
along with some comments about a few selections I found particularly
intriguing.
Highlights: Asserting that “with this collection, readers will be able to revel in a
time past,” the curator of the Castles Anthology has selected six works
to highlight with introductory notes. These include John Dryden’s 17th-century King
Arthur, A Guide to Nottingham Castle, Churches and Castles of
Mediaeval France, as well as an 18th-century collection of extant poems,
songs and ballads written about Robin Hood. Two additional entries caught
my eye; the first in regards to its introduction. To wit, after pointing out a
few historical facts, the curator’s introduction to A Guide to Alnwick
Castle stresses how the castle acted as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter
films, sure to attract any fans of the books or movies. Furthermore, the
curator capitalizes on the current obsession with all things Princess Catherine
(neé Kate Middleton), gushing that Alnwick, “is the majestic edifice that
George Percy, Pippa Middleton’s friend and former roommate, will inherit one
day.”
Jumping from contemporary medievalisms back to the Victorian, The
Particulars of the Devizes Castle Estate, 1883, provides a fascinating
demonstration of 19th century real-estate chicanery. Put up for sale in
1883, the castle, including antique furniture, works of art and 120 acres of
land with pleasure gardens and a farm, is described within the pamphlet as a
“most complete purchase for any nobleman or lady or gentleman of taste.” Along
with a brief history of the castle (constructed in 1107 with a subsequent role
in both the 12th-century and 17th-century civil wars, and dismantled following
the latter) the pamphlet features striking tinted photos of such highlights as
the “The Ladies’ Gate”, “The Norman Arcade”, and “The Queen’s Oriel.”
These are particularly interesting because they highlight the
pervading subterfuge offered throughout the pamphlet, that this edifice is an
“authentic” medieval castle, when, in fact, the castle was razed in 1648,
leaving only traces of the original. Rebuilt by the current owners (of whom no
information is provided) the real estate agents assert that “The remains of the
old Castle have been carefully preserved and restored where practicable.” The
result, (bolded, italicized and in a larger typeset than the other text in a
bit of graphic design worthy of 21st- century technical writers) is a castle of
“Imposing Elevation in the Norman Castellated Style.” Other
statements in this style (both verbal and graphic) follow, such as how the
castle is “one of the best modern examples of an Ancient Feudal Castle to
be found in this country,” Even better is the description
of a sliding panel in the Drawing Room which leads to a “Secret
Chamber in the old Ivy Tower, containing a valuable collection of Ancient
Pottery, Bronze Implements & other British, Roman, Saxon, Norman, Early
English, & Mediaeval Antiquities, which have been found in the ruins of the
old Castle.”
In essence then, this pamphlet reveals how the Victorian fascination for
the medieval period is not limited to its fiction, and that the medieval
provided a powerful selling point.
Fiction and Poetry features twenty four novels and poems and includes such relatively well-known works as Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent novels and Thomas Peacock’s Maid Marian and Crotchet Castle, but, rather surprisingly, does not include either Anne Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolfo, or Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto, though the latter is available in the Days of Chivalry section. Other titles in this section are extremely obscure, and would certainly reward further research by Victorianists. Of special interest to medievalists is the 18th-century title, listed as The Complaint of the Black Knight by John Dart (1716). Investigation of this work revealed a “modern” verse paraphrase of a poem mistakenly attributed to Chaucer up through the 19th century. Now known to have been written by Lydgate, this poem is a fascinating piece of Chaucerian apocrypha and provides an interesting glimpse into an 19th-century antiquarian translation.
Fiction and Poetry features twenty four novels and poems and includes such relatively well-known works as Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent novels and Thomas Peacock’s Maid Marian and Crotchet Castle, but, rather surprisingly, does not include either Anne Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolfo, or Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto, though the latter is available in the Days of Chivalry section. Other titles in this section are extremely obscure, and would certainly reward further research by Victorianists. Of special interest to medievalists is the 18th-century title, listed as The Complaint of the Black Knight by John Dart (1716). Investigation of this work revealed a “modern” verse paraphrase of a poem mistakenly attributed to Chaucer up through the 19th century. Now known to have been written by Lydgate, this poem is a fascinating piece of Chaucerian apocrypha and provides an interesting glimpse into an 19th-century antiquarian translation.
Days of Chivalry: While the aforementioned Castle of Otranto seems
somewhat oddly placed in this section (with few to none of its characters
acting the least bit chivalrously!) most of its other 17 offerings securely
exemplify the proclaimed parameters of works devoted to King Arthur, Robin Hood
and assorted knights and dragons. Within this collection, titles by
Arthur Edward Waite and Samuel Page Widnall are especially intriguing.
Aficionados may be familiar with Waite as the member of the occult
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the co-creator of the Ryder-Waite Tarot
deck; his Belle and the Dragon: An Elfin Comedy is a lighthearted work
of fiction that is nevertheless imbued with his spiritualist beliefs. The
inclusion of Widnall’s A Mystery of Sixty Centuries, or, a Modern St. George
and the Dragon in this anthology is somewhat baffling, as it has nothing to
do with the medieval era at all, beyond its subtitle. Instead, it is an
adventure novel along the lines of the Victorian writer H. Rider Haggard,
detailing an expedition to Africa that uncovers a hidden valley with
prehistoric men and pterodactyls, one of which provides the skeletal head
featured on the cover as the titular “dragon”. While certainly not
medieval, this novel does point to a very early connection between medieval-themed
fantasy and Victorian science fiction.
The Days of Chivalry section also includes a few historical works
such as Charles Bernard Gibson’s Historical Portraits of Irish Chieftains
and Anglo-Norman Knights, and John Stuart Glennie’s Arthurian Localities.
Stuart-Glennie’s work (also featured as one of the noted Highlights
of the Castles Anthology) argues for the southern Scottish origins of
the Arthurian legend due to the incidence of onomastic geographical features,
local oral traditions, linguistic connections between the various P-Celtic
languages of Great Britain (Bryttonic, Pictish and Manx) and literary
connections to the “Fingalian” tradition espoused by MacPherson’s Ossian
Cycle. This work thus participates in the larger race theory discussions
prevalent amongst the Victorian antiquarians of this time. With plenty of
references to antiquarian standards such as Skene’s Four Ancient Books of
Wales, this work is a wonderful source for Cultural Studies scholars
interested in how the various nations of Great Britain constructed their
nationalities based on their interpretations of the early medieval Picts,
Welsh, Brittons, Celts and Anglo-Saxons.
British Castles contains numerous 19th-century images as well as regional anthologies of ancestral castles and homes in Britain. In addition, over 60 tourist pamphlets, guidebooks, “companion” books and archaeological treatises provide information to the reader interested in specific castles. The Official and Royal Guide to Windsor Castle, a tourist pamphlet featuring 10 pages of advertisements from royally appointed/endorsed merchants was particularly enlightening as a snapshot of Victorian high society. While ads for silk mercers, court dressmakers, milliners, and importers of oriental carpets and antique rugs might be expected, ads for Barlock Typewriters and Perry & Companies’ Electric Light Fittings and Chandeliers reflect the surprising pervasiveness of these technologies in 1895, and provide an unexpected modern portrait of Victorian royal life in contrast to the medieval historical content of the pamphlet.
British Castles contains numerous 19th-century images as well as regional anthologies of ancestral castles and homes in Britain. In addition, over 60 tourist pamphlets, guidebooks, “companion” books and archaeological treatises provide information to the reader interested in specific castles. The Official and Royal Guide to Windsor Castle, a tourist pamphlet featuring 10 pages of advertisements from royally appointed/endorsed merchants was particularly enlightening as a snapshot of Victorian high society. While ads for silk mercers, court dressmakers, milliners, and importers of oriental carpets and antique rugs might be expected, ads for Barlock Typewriters and Perry & Companies’ Electric Light Fittings and Chandeliers reflect the surprising pervasiveness of these technologies in 1895, and provide an unexpected modern portrait of Victorian royal life in contrast to the medieval historical content of the pamphlet.
European Castles contains only four entries, one of them a post card of
Carcassone Castle. The Churches and Castles of Medieval France, The
Castle of Vincigliata and Heidelberg and its Castle round out the
collection.
Books: This section reproduces all of the books from the entire
anthology.
Images: This section reproduces twenty 19th-century postcard
images of British Castles (some unknown), most of which are also available in
the British Castles section.
Articles: This section seems largely superfluous as it
lists only one article, “Castles of Old England” which is also
reproduced in the British Castles section.
Navigability: At times, the visual organization of tabs is somewhat problematic.
Upon initial viewing, there appear to be four main divisions of content: Fiction
and Poetry (novels and poems featuring castles), Days of Chivalry
(Fiction and nonfiction featuring King Arthur, Robin Hood, and assorted knights
and dragons), British Castles (historical and descriptive guides to
castles in Great Britain, and European Castles (historical and
descriptive guides to castles on the Continent). Immediately below these tabs
are a second set of tabs (along with accompanying photographs) that due to
their placement seem to be subcategories of the four collections. For
instance, Highlights appears directly beneath Fiction and Poetry,
Books is placed beneath Days of Chivalry, Images is
under British Castles, and Articles is located under European
Castles. These tabs are not, however, subtopics, but instead are
discrete categories of their own.
For instance, Highlights features items specially selected from
the entire anthology by the curator not just from the Fiction and Poetry section.
Books and Images are likewise not subcategories of the
collections listed above them (Days of Chivalry and British Castles),
but instead contain all of the books and images from the entire
collection. While this is not really a problem in regards to the images,
this organization creates a bit of confusion for the books, as there is no way
to differentiate between fiction and nonfiction. While some titles are
obviously nonfiction (such as An Archaeological Description of Saltwood
Castle, or An Illustrated Guide to Dudley Castle) others are not so obvious
from their titles, or even, upon exploration, their contents. For
instance, Castle Cornet (with the intriguing subtitle; Or, the
Island’s Trouble in the Troublous Times; which is visible only upon
“opening” the book) appears to be a fictionalized account of the siege of the
castle during the English Civil War. Upon further exploration, the work
is also found under British Castles, misplaced perhaps, since the works
in this section of the anthology are supposed to be histories and historical
guides. Other genre- bending pseudo-histories, such as A Famous Castle: Reminiscences
of the Lovely Dolly Munroe, pepper this category.
The final lower-level tab, Articles located under European
Castles, is also misleading as it contains only one article, Charles
Turner, “The Castles of Old England” contained in The Monthly Illustrator,
4:12 (1894): 26-32, which is likewise reproduced in British Castles.
Overall then, in terms of its navigability, the Castles anthology
is somewhat confusing and with the exception of Highlights, the
lower-level tabs are unnecessary as they simply duplicate what is already found
in the other, more straightforwardly-labeled and organized collections. Indeed,
certain items are completely miscategorized or missing, such as forgetting to
list the Particulars of Devizes Castle in British Castles or
including the Chronicles of Castle Amelroy (a Dutch castle) in British
Castles rather than in the European Castles.
Analysis: This collection is simultaneously captivating and frustrating. The
sheer amount of sources is fabulous, though its organization is quixotic.
Access to 19th-century editions in a format as close as possible to actually
holding the books in your own hands is an invaluable experience and allows for
visceral thrills such as seeing handwritten notes in the margins and
frontispieces, presumably by the librarians or the original owners of the
books. One hardly knows where to begin with the surfeit of stories,
histories, and images offered. From a scholarly point of view, the wealth
of sources is eye-opening and could easily lead to numerous new research
opportunities. My initial attempts at such research proved titillating but
difficult as the vast majority of titles are so obscure they foiled any
attempts to garner further information about them. Particularly
interesting were the plethora of what seemed to be rather lurid Gothic
romances, all written in the late 19th-century, which might belie the common
assertion that the British Gothic genre had ceased to dominate by the
mid-19th-century. (At least one new relatively recent work by Fred Botting and
Dale Townshend, Gothic: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies,
New York: Routledge, 2004, reevaluates this claim, at least in terms of vampire
stories). The inclusion of so many of these romances in the Castles
Anthology may point to a greater popularity of the genre than previously
believed, and opens up new research avenues into Victorian reading tastes,
though of course, the scholar should remember that just because a book is
contained in the British Library archives does not mean it was widely
published, circulated or read.
Issues with organization and subject inclusion or exclusion are likely
due to factors relating to the relatively new creation and exponential growth
of the app creator, BiblioLabs, a hybrid software-media company that, according
to its own website (BiblioLabs.com) “works with leading information
organizations around the world to promote widespread access to rare and
interesting materials in innovative ways,” and which, in 2012, was named the
7th fastest growing media company by Inc. 500. In addition to
partnering with the British Library, Bibliolabs is also working with such
institutions as the Biblioteca Nacional de Columbia and the Louisiana State
Museum, as well as offering its services to university libraries wishing to
create their own anthologies. Further investigation reveals that the
curation of the digital anthologies lies with the company’s own “subject-matter
experts.” It is unclear if this was the situation in regards to the British
Library selections, but may explain some of the incongruities within the Castles
Anthology. In any case, criticisms pale in comparison with the
obvious advantages of placing such a wealth of resources into the hands of the
general public and scholars alike, and any bumps are liable to be smoothed as
the BiblioBoard app continues to be developed.
Kellie S. Meyer
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
