Tending the ‘Contested’ Castle Garden

Sowing Seeds of Feminist Thought

Bibliographic Data

ID6045136
AuthorsK Dempsey (0000-0001-9025-3535, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume31
Issue2
Pages265-279
Publication date2021-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774320000463
OpenAlexW3128231746
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited55

Medieval women are typically portrayed as secluded, passive agents within castle studies. Although the garden is regarded as associated with women there has been little exploration of this space within medieval archaeology. In this paper, a new methodological framework is used to demonstrate how female agency can be explored in the context of the lived experience of the medieval garden. In particular, this study adopts a novel approach by focusing on relict plants at some medieval castles in Britain and Ireland. Questions are asked about the curation of these plants and the associated social practices of elite women, including their expressions of material piety, during the later medieval period. This provides a way of questioning the ‘sacrality’ of medieval gardening which noblewomen arguably used as a devotional practice and as a means to further their own bodily agency through sympathetic medicine

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Elite · Filial piety · Middle Ages · Period (music · Piety · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Law