Slighting: Difference between revisions
Closer to what the sources say (they reflect two situations rather than draw conclusions about every slighting) |
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[[File:Corfe Castke 57.JPG|thumb|300px|right|[[Corfe Castle]] was slighted during the [[English Civil War]] so that its defences couldn't be reused.]] |
[[File:Corfe Castke 57.JPG|thumb|300px|right|[[Corfe Castle]] was slighted during the [[English Civil War]] so that its defences couldn't be reused.]] |
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A '''slighting''' is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a [[fortification]] without opposition, to render |
A '''slighting''' is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a [[fortification]] without opposition. Under some conditions, such as the [[Wars of Scottish Independence]] and the [[English Civil War]], the intention was to render the structure unusable as a fortress.{{sfn|Manganiello|2004|p=498}}{{sfn|Lowry|2006|p=29}}{{sfn|Perry|Blackburn|2000|p=321}} |
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==Middle Ages== |
==Middle Ages== |
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Revision as of 23:35, 18 December 2011
A slighting is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition. Under some conditions, such as the Wars of Scottish Independence and the English Civil War, the intention was to render the structure unusable as a fortress.[1][2][3]
Middle Ages
In England during the Middle Ages adulterine (unauthorised) castles if captured by the King would usually be slighted.[4] During the Wars of Scottish Independence King Robert I of Scotland ordered the slighting of many Scottish castles to prevent them being occupied by the English.[3]
Treaty of Treaty of Edinburgh 1560
Under the terms of the The concessions of Francis and Mary to the nobility and the people of Scotland and the Treaty of Edinburgh in July 1560, various fortified places were designated for demolition to prevent their use by French and English forces.[5][6] One of them—in which a token garrison of 60 French solders were allowed to remain for a time—was on the island of Inchkeith. It was slighted in 1567.[7]
English Civil War
During the English Civil War many castles and fortified houses were slighted by the Parliamentarians to stop them being used by the Royalists.[1] Most of the destruction was in Wales, the Midlands, and Yorkshire. The coastal fortifications were spared by the Commonwealth as they might have been useful for hindering a Royalist or foreign invasion.[2]
Burg Rheinfels
Situated on the left bank of the Rhine, Burg Rheinfels was started in 1245 by Count Diether V of Katzenelnbogen, by the late 17th century it was a fortress complex. It was the only Rhineland fortress to hold out against the French in the War of the Palatine Succession(1688–1697). During the French Revolutionary Wars, the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by the French Republic and incorporated into France as the department of Rhin-et-Moselle. under the orders of the French Revolutionary government, Burg Rheinfels was slighted in 1797.[8]
Notes
- ^ a b Manganiello 2004, p. 498.
- ^ a b Lowry 2006, p. 29.
- ^ a b Perry & Blackburn 2000, p. 321.
- ^ Muir 1997, p. 173.
- ^ Flintham 2011, Fortified Places: Edinburgh cites Cullen 1988, p. 1
- ^ Guthrie 1768, pp. 124, ff.
- ^ Pollard & Banks 2009, p. 112.
- ^ Castle 1999, p. 101.
References
- Castle, Alan (1999). Walking the River Rhine trail, Germany. Mountain Walking Series (illustrated ed.). Cicerone Press Limited. pp. 100, 101. ISBN 9781852842765.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Perry, David R.; Blackburn, Mark A. S. (2000). Castle Park, Dunbar: two thousand years on a fortified headland, Part 4. Monograph series - Society of Antiquaries of Scot land. Vol. 16 (illustrated ed.). Society Antiquaries Scotland. p. 321. ISBN 9780903903165.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Lowry, Bernard (2006). Discovering Fortifications: from the Tudors to the Cold War. Discovering Series; 296. Princes Risborough: Shire. p. 29. ISBN 0747806519.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Flintham, David (5 July 2011). Goode, Dominic (ed.). Fortified "Fortified Places: Edinburgh". Fortified Places.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help); External link in|publisher=|ref=harv(help)- Cullen, Douglas W. (1988). The Walls of Edinburgh: A short guide. Edinburgh: Cockburn Association. p. 1.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
- Cullen, Douglas W. (1988). The Walls of Edinburgh: A short guide. Edinburgh: Cockburn Association. p. 1.
- Guthrie, William (1768). A general history of Scotland from the earliest accounts to the present time. Vol. 6. A. Hamilton. pp. 124, ff.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Manganiello, Stephen C. (2004). The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. p. 498. ISBN 0810851008.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Muir, Richard (1997). The Yorkshire Countryside: a landscape history. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 173. ISBN 1853311987.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Pollard, Tony; Banks, Iain (2009). "Bastions and barbed wire". Journal of Conflict Archaeology. BRILL: 112. ISBN 9004173609.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
Further reading
- Johnson, Matthew (2002). Behind the Castle Gate: from medieval to Renaissance. London: Routledge. pp. 173–175. ISBN 0415258871.