posted 04-30-2004 03:54 AM            

From my point of view, your question should be answered different for different kingdoms/countries. In the medieval holy roman empire (including what today is Germany, Switzerland, northern Italy, Austria and also parts of France, Polonia, the Czech Rep. and Hungary), the right to build castles was a royal one. But only in theory. Already in the 12th century, noblemen started to build castles without the expilicit allowance of the king, esp. the earls, counts and bishops. During the 13th century, it became even worse because there as no king that was realy accepted (esp. during the Interregnum 1254-1273)...