Article
State building through building for the state: Foreign and domestic expertise in Tudor fortifications
Osiris
(2010)
Abstract
Fortification became a geometrical science throughout the sixteenth century, and England struggled with where to find men expert in this new art to build or remodel its defenses. After initially importing and relying on Continental experts under Henry VIII, a tense arrangement, the state later turned to domestic experts who gained experience and hence expertise in the Dutch Wars at the end of the century. Investigating the men to whom the English state turned for fortification expertise, and especially focusing on midcentury debates over the fortifications at Berwick-upon-Tweed, this essay examines the different status of experts-by-experience versus experts-by-knowledge, ultimately leading to a category that offers a better understanding of expertise in general: experts-in-context. Fortifi cation engineers such as Giovanni Portinari and Jacopo Aconcio exemplify early- and midcentury imported foreign expertise, while Thomas Bedwell and Paul Ive represent later domestic experts, although these last two men also highlight the difference between expertise gained through experience versus expertise gained through learning.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2010
DOI
10.1086/657263
Publisher Statement
© 2010 by The University of Chicago. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1086/657263
Citation Information
Steven A. Walton. "State building through building for the state: Foreign and domestic expertise in Tudor fortifications" Osiris Vol. 25 Iss. 1 (2010) p. 66 - 84 ISSN: 0369-7827 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/steven-walton/2/