guide to the Romanesque churches of Puglia - Approach Guides

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• Versus the Islamic Saracens. Frederick II was responsible for fortifying the Adriatic coast against Islamic Saracen (North African) incursion, likely done at the behest of the Pope. That said, the Islamic threat was on the wane at this time and there was decreasing need for such fortifications. Further, the Sicilian court in which Frederick II was raised was a heterogeneous, multi-cultural one in which Islamic traditions were respected; although castle construction proceeded at a brisk pace, this somewhat mitigates how greatly Frederick II likely viewed such an external threat. • Versus the Pope. Despite their shared religion, we must not forget that Frederick II was also at constant odds with the Pope, who controlled the lands directly to the north of Puglia. Perhaps fortifications in the South also served to keep the Pope’s forces at a distance. Logistical-communications function Aside from the arrow loopholes and thick walls, Castel del Monte is otherwise not a truly fortified castle, as there is no moat, drawbridge, machiolations, merlons, or underground passageways. This has led to suggestions that it might have been used exclusively as a hunting lodge. That said, it is still located on a strategic, elevated position (540 metres) near the ancient Roman Via Trajana, a road the ran from Benevento (in the west) to Brindisi (on the Adriatic coast), leading one to believe that it at least served a strategic and communications function. PREVIEW COPY
Fig. 46. Courtyard, Castel del Monte, Andria. Decoration • Limestone with colored decorative highlights. The Castle’s primary building material — whitish brown limestone — is enlivened with decorative accents in reddish breccia and white marble. Red breccia stone was used for the courtyard’s window frame in Fig. 46 and the entrance portal in Fig. 47. • The eight walls of the courtyard are framed by large pointed blind arches rising from pilasters. There are lancet windows inside. See Fig. 46. • The grand entrance portal has a dentil-lined lintel resting on fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals; a triangle-shaped pointed arch, also with dentils, rises above (red highlights in Fig. 47). The door frame itself is flanked by two thin colonnettes, each of which is topped by a lion that supports a graceful Gothic pointed arch (yellow highlights in Fig. 47). • On the entrance wall, the spaces between the towers and the portal (green highlights in Fig. 47) are filled with deep, blind stilted arches that, while purely decorative, are in many ways reminiscent of traditional castle machiolations (floor openings that project from the face of defensive wall, through which stones or boiling water could be dropped on attackers at its base). It is almost as if Frederick II is playing with the concept of the castle, replacing what were functional features with decorative ones. PREVIEW COPY
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