ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the medieval aristocracy used space and landscape as valuable assets in the struggle to maintain and reproduce lordship. The territorialization of lordship and a feudal society based on different areas of regulated space also led to a hierarchy of spaces. The landscape approach to castles has led to one of the most interesting discoveries within British medieval archaeology during the last two decades: the recognition of so-called designed or ornamental landscapes surrounding castles. It is evident that the aristocracy became more and more spatially isolated, both in the landscape and inside their residences. A striking feature when studying aristocratic residences throughout Europe is the close spatial relationship between residence and church. In a longer-term perspective, responsibility for religious affairs is something that was central to the concept of being lord. The lord was expected to fulfil the religious needs of the people.
