The Castles of the Rhine: Recreating the Middle Ages in Modern Germany by Robert R. Taylor (review)

234 LETTERS IN CANADA 1998 compelling case for the inclusion of aboriginal legal history in Canadian legal history and the inclusion of aboriginal law in Canadian law. Only in the fashioning of a new common law - a common law that bridges the gulf between aboriginal and non-aboriginal societies in Canada- will webe able finally to begin to address deeper questions raised by the fact of coexistence , such as the nature and scope of aboriginal and Crown title and the nature and scope of aboriginal and Canadian sovereignty. White Man's Law lays an important historical foundation for a new jurisprudence on these fundamental questions. (PATRICK MACKLEM) Robert R. Taylor. The Castles ofthe Rhine: Recreating the Middle Ages in Modern Germany Wilfrid Laurier University Press. xviii, 390 . $54.95 With this book on the castles of the Rhine, Taylor continues his work on the ideological significance of architecture, a theme he had already explored in two earlier books (The Word in Stone: The Role ofArchitecture in the National Socialist Ideology and Hohenzollern Berlin: Construction and Reconstruction). His specific purpose is to complement a study by Ursula Rathke, which describes in detail the history of three castles (Preussische Burgenromantikam Rhein. Studien zum Wiederaujbau von Rheinstein, Stolzenfels and Sooneck [18231860 ], with a work covering much more ground. There is a risk in such an endeavour of providing so many snippets of information that the reader feels overwhelmed by the wealth of detail. Taylor does not always escape this danger, but, on the whole, I found the book enjoyable and informative. I should add that the title is slightly misleading. Taylor does not look at all the castles in the Rhine valley but almost exclUSively at the castles of the best-known part, the Middle Rhine, the stretch between Mainz and Bonn. Some brief comments which link the reconstruction and restoration of these castles to the present-day North American conservation movement provide a frame. In the body of the text, Taylor deals with his material twice. In part I, he gives a general overview of the history of these castles from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. In parts 2, 3, 4, and 5 he fleshes out his scheme and provides the supporting evidence for his thesis 'that the rebuilding of ruined castles and the construction of faux-castles was a response to the sweeping political, cultural, social, and economic changes in the nineteenth century.' Pictures of the castles, often showing their state before and after reconstruction, help the reader to imagine the rebuilding process. The modem history of these castles starts around 1800. By that time, all but two of them were in ruins. They had lost their function, their upkeep was expensive, they were not regarded as either precious or especially usefuL and they were often used as stone quarries. This situation'changed HUMANITIES 235 at the end of the eighteenth century when Romantic writers and painters pointed out the emotional appeal of these ruins, their connection to local legends, and their role as concrete evidence of a glorious German past. This caught the attention of the Hohenzollem princes, for whom castle rebuilding was a part of Prussian domestic and foreign policy. They were the first ones to acquire some of these ruins and to have them restored, mostly in a rather ahistorical manner. Their example was followed by the aristocracy and eventually by rich members of the middle class. As these castles and their history became better known and as they caught the eye of scholars, more and more attention was paid to historically correct reconstruction or restoration. In addition to the romantic and political interest, other motives started to play a role. With the rise of German nationalism after the Napoleonic wars, these castles became symbols of national pride. An ever-increasing number of tourists came to visit them as steamships and railroads facilitated traveL This in tum strengthened local interest. Associations for the. restoration of castles were formed and museums were establishedin some ofthem. Eventually, itwas also thought that they could assist in the patriotic education of the young, and, partly to this purpose, some of the castles were converted into youth hostels. Taylor succeeds in...