The Power of Place Rulers and Their Palaces, Landscapes, Cities, and Holy Places

The Power of Place explores the nature of power—the power of kings, emperors, and popes—through the places that these rulers created or developed, including palaces, cities, landscapes, holy places, inauguration sites, and burial places. Ranging across all of Europe from the first to the sixteenth centuries—from Prague and Seville to Palermo and the Oslo Fjord—David Rollason examines how these places conveyed messages of power and what those messages were. Rollason draws on the latest research in a range of disciplines—principally archaeology, and the histories of art, architecture, and landscape, as well as historical and literary studies—to investigate what the power of rulers consisted of. Was their power based on impersonal bureaucratic mechanisms, on personal relationships between rulers and subjects, or on strong beliefs in the quasi-divine status of rulers? How did impressive edifices support and emphasize these practices of power? Rollason takes readers to spectacular sites, including the remarkable remains of the tenth-century city of Madinat al-Zahra near Cordoba, the remarkably preserved palace-church of the emperor Charlemagne in Aachen, and the soaring shrine-church of the Saint-Chapelle of King Louis IX. Giving readers the tools to analyze rulers' palaces, landscapes, cities, and holy places, The Power of Place offers a fascinating perspective on the development of power throughout history. David Rollason is professor emeritus of history at the University of Durham. His books include Early Medieval Europe 300–1050: The Birth of Western Society and Northumbria 500–1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom. Endorsements: 'A work of considerable learning and precise scholarship, The Power of Place demonstrates how rulers supported and extended power through the places from which they exercised it. I know of no other book that brings together this topic in such a comprehensive, systematic way. The book's breadth, accessibility, and illustrations make it attractive to a wide audience.'--R. I. Moore, professor emeritus of history, Newcastle University 'This extremely ambitious and appealing book discusses an array of structures and building sites over time, from Roman antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages, and across the face of Western Europe. Richly illustrated, it impressively compiles a wide range of material from a variety of sources and succeeds in examining the nature of power through buildings. No other work on this subject covers this much information.'--Charles B. McClendon, Brandeis University Table of Contents: List of Illustrations ix Preface xix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Part I Palaces 9 Chapter 2 The Power of Design 11 Chapter 3 The Power of Architectural Style and Decoration 59 Part II Landscapes 99 Chapter 4 Gardens, Parks, and Power 102 Chapter 5 The Power of Forests and the Hunt 136 Part III Cities 169 Chapter 6 Cities, Planning, and Power 171 Chapter 7 Triumphs and Entries: The City as Stage Set 202 Part IV Holy Places 241 Chapter 8 Power, Place, and Relics 242 Chapter 9 Churches, Mosques, and Power 273 Part V Inauguration Places and Burial Places 319 Chapter 10 The Inauguration of Rulers: Places and Rituals 320 Chapter 11 Death and Power: The Burial Places of Rulers 344 Chapter 12 Conclusion 387 Research and Reading 391 References 417 Illustration Credits 449 Index 451 Color plates follow page 168. Subject Areas: European History Architecture, Urbanism, And Landscape Archaeology And Ancient History