Unraveling Location Choice Motives of Castles in the Gorecht seigniory

Castle siting has been a less popular theme in castellology; traditional military motives are often used to explain the location choice of castles by applying modern visions on the medieval society. This article tries therefore to unravel the factors that influenced castle siting by (i) creating a model of the medieval landscape, (ii) examining the written sources and (iii) discussing the material remains in the Gorecht seigniory during 1200-1450 AD. Analyzing the data of different disciplines has revealed that active as well as passive stream valleys and infrastructure, especially crossings with jurisdiction borders, were popular spots in the landscape during the entire research period. In addition, interpretation of contemporary sources has shown that the clients were indeed conscious about the jurisdiction borders and that some sites do fit into the traditional vision. Yet, other motives such as hydraulic reasons must be taken into account too, as is shown by the example of the Gronenburg castle