Knowledge, constraint, and power in inaction: The defenseless medieval wall

Abstract

This paper offers some analytical approaches to the social history of medieval walls around towns, castles, villas, monasteries, and fields, using the themes of symbolism, knowledge, constraint, power, and conflict. Walls separate space into the inside and outside, each rife with symbolic meaning, defining areas of authority or symbolizing possession. Walls constrain movement, and through the physical obstacle created, walls remove ambiguity from passage; they impart knowledge of “illegal” entry or exit. Such knowledge is power, but more power is conferred by the ability to control movement, whether of political foes or of merchants wishing to trade. Because walls symbolize authority and power to control or rights of ownership, they frequently are the center of social tension and conflict. These topics are discussed with the recurring subtheme of the relationship of feudal and capitalist political and economic systems to walls around towns and around fields.