The Early Castles
Until 10C castle building was a prerogative of the king but thereafter the right was usurped by powerful lords; small strongholds proliferated under the designation 'towers', the keep had been invented. The keep was built either as the last place of refuge. In several castles, the keep protected a residential building. By 11C some castles had defensive works built of stone. The keep was still the strongest point and took the form of a massive quadrangular structure.
CHILLON (Switzerland) - the first fortress was built in the 9C and became the property of the Bishops of Sion, who extended it, and then of the Counts of Savoy from 1150. Postmark: CHILLON, 2.10.47, regular. Card published by Jaeger, Genève. Postage stamp issued in 2 November 1936.
HALLWIL (Switzerland) - this castle spreads over two islands in the river Aare. Built and enlarged from the 11-16C, then restored, it houses a museum of popular art. Postmark: HALLWIL, 26.5.1977. Card published by H. Schmidli and Nussbaumen, No. 204.
Selected MCs from my exhibit 'FROM DEFENSE TO COMFORT AND DECORATION'.
Palmares:
- 1991, ISRAEL - POLAND, BiNational, Haifa, Israel, SILVER
- 1993, ISRAEL - ROMANIA, BiNational, Tel Aviv, Israel, VERMEIL
- 1995, JERUSALEM 3000, European Stamp Exhibition, Israel, VERMEIL
- 1996, ROMANIA - ISRAEL, BiNational, Bucharest, Romania, LARGE VERMEIL
- 1997, INDEPEX'97, World Stamp Exhibition, New Delhi, India, LARGE SILVER
- 1998, ISRAEL'98, World Stamp Exhibition, Tel Aviv, Israel, LARGE SILVER
Copyright 2004-2008 by Lucian Millis. Please do not use these images without permission.
