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FORTRESS STUDY GROUP
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Casemate 77 |
Bloody Meadows:
John and Patricia Carman. HB, 242 pp. Colour plates, b/w photographs, diagrams, tables, index, bibliography. ISBN 0.7509.3734.3. £20.00. Published by Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2006.
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The Bloody Meadows Project (BMP), '..focuses on the battlefield as a place'. So say the authors, who are joint directors of the BMP which they founded in 1998. Their approach therefore takes a completely different view from the conventional military history 'blow by blow' account. They consider the battlefield as landscape. Both authors come from an archaeological background and have utilised the new technology and thinking now associated with landscape archaeology. They use 'Feet-On' research, having walked over the battlefields described in Bloody Meadows. The result is a detailed and refreshingly new approach to battlefield studies. Anyone deceived by the title into thinking that this book equates with recent light-hearted television programmes, should think again. This is a profoundly scholarly work.
In Chapter One, Researching Battlefields, the authors set out their philosophy and methodology: it is crucial to understanding what follows. Chapter Two, Understanding Battlefields develops the idea of the historic battlefield with its impact on the world of the time - why it was chosen; what were the repercussions for that place - and how we look at the same place today. What is our viewpoint? Is it cultural, or is it an exercise in landscape archaeology? Is it simply a way of encouraging tourism, or generating income, or has it shaped the way the nation exists today and is recognised as such? These are important issues connected with the way battlefields are marked and preserved (or not, taking into account motorways and housing development). The chapter ends with the BMP's Approach to Visiting a Historic Battlefield., which taken together with the Project's research questions form most helpful material for anyone visiting a battlefield. In passing, I remark that nowhere in Bloody Meadows could I find any reference to the Battlefields Trust - to me an odd omission.
There follows a series of 23 battlefield reports. They are confined to Western Europe and are the products of the authors' research between 1998 and 2001. In alphabetical order, they follow the same format ie:
Chapter Four, Interpreting Battlefields groups the battlefields in Chapter Three by historical period, location and other factors. It considers the battles as set-piece or encounter battles, or other, and looks at how the terrain - high ground, dead ground, ditches, cultivated or wild land - affected the outcome. Most visitors see battlefields by walking round the boundaries, but Experiencing Battlefields (Chapter Five) takes you inside the battlefield to appreciate the importance of roads where present, and the heights and depths of hills and ravines for example. Urban sites are not neglected.
Chapter Six, Marking Battlefields sees them from a present day perspective. It looks at land use, commemorative events, monuments and information boards and the management of battlefields and their significance to the heritage/tourism industry.
The final chapter, Going Forward, examines the future of the BMP and poses thought-provoking questions about what there is left to discover of the battlefields themselves and how they have shaped our culture and history. It acknowledges that such conclusions as have been drawn, remain provisional until more work has been done in periods other than those covered in Bloody Meadows (10th to 19th centuries).
It is enough to say that the book is very well presented in terms of illustrations for all the 23 battles, and in the many tables (features present, for example). There is an extensive bibliography. No colleague with an interest in battlefields should omit to read Bloody Meadows.
Gil Dowdall-Brown.
