Castles

16/07/2024, 17:54 Castle - Wikipedia
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during
the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or
royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually
consider a castle to be the private fortified residence
of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion,
palace and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively
for pleasance and are not primarily fortresses but
may be fortified.[a] Use of the term has varied over
time and, sometimes, has also been applied to
structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-
century homes built to resemble castles. Over the
Dating back to the early 12th century, the
Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they
Alcázar of Segovia, Spain, is one of the most
took on a great many forms with many different
distinctive castles in Europe.
features, although some, such as curtain walls,
arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace.
European-style castles originated in the 9th and

10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian
Empire resulted in its territory being divided among
individual lords and princes. These nobles built
castles to control the area immediately surrounding
them and the castles were both offensive and
defensive structures: they provided a base from
which raids could be launched as well as offered Built in 1385, Bodiam Castle in East Sussex,
protection from enemies. Although their military England, is surrounded by a water-filled moat
origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the
structures also served as centres of administration
and symbols of power. Urban castles were used to control the local populace and important travel
routes, and rural castles were often situated near features that were integral to life in the
community, such as mills, fertile land, or a water source.
Many northern European castles were originally built from earth and timber but had their defences
replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as
towers and arrowslits and relying on a central keep. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a
scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an
emphasis on flanking fire. Many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence –
several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the
castle's firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology
from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, and inspiration from earlier defences, such as
Roman forts. Not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices
such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand
castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle 1/33
Although gunpowder was introduced to Europe in the 14th century, it did not significantly affect
castle building until the 15th century, when artillery became powerful enough to break through
stone walls. While castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal
with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result,
true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery star forts with no role in civil
administration, and château or country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century
onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of mock castles, part of a
Romantic revival of Gothic architecture, but they had no military purpose.
Definition
Etymology
The word castle is derived from the Latin word
castellum, which is a diminutive of the word
castrum, meaning "fortified place". The Old English
castel, Occitan castel or chastel, French château,
Spanish castillo, Portuguese castelo, Italian castello,
and a number of words in other languages also derive
from castellum.[2] The word castle was introduced
into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to
denote this type of building, which was then new to
England.[3] The Norman White Tower, the keep of the Tower
of London, exemplifies all uses of a castle
including city defence, a residence, and a place
Defining characteristics of refuge in times of crisis.
In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle

accepted amongst academics is "a private fortified residence".[4] This contrasts with earlier
fortifications, such as Anglo-Saxon burhs and walled cities such as Constantinople and Antioch in
the Middle East; castles were not communal defences but were built and owned by the local feudal
lords, either for themselves or for their monarch.[5] Feudalism was the link between a lord and his
vassal where, in return for military service and the expectation of loyalty, the lord would grant the
vassal land.[6] In the late 20th century, there was a trend to refine the definition of a castle by
including the criterion of feudal ownership, thus tying castles to the medieval period; however, this
does not necessarily reflect the terminology used in the medieval period. During the First Crusade
(1096–1099), the Frankish armies encountered walled settlements and forts that they
indiscriminately referred to as castles, but which would not be considered as such under the
modern definition.[4]
Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, and
domestic. As well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a
base of operations in enemy territory. Castles were established by Norman invaders of England for
both defensive purposes and to pacify the country's inhabitants.[7] As William the Conqueror
advanced through England, he fortified key positions to secure the land he had taken. Between
1066 and 1087, he established 36 castles such as Warwick Castle, which he used to guard against
rebellion in the English Midlands.[8][9]
Towards the end of the Middle Ages, castles tended to lose their
military significance due to the advent of powerful cannons and
permanent artillery fortifications;[10] as a result, castles became
more important as residences and statements of power.[11] A
castle could act as a stronghold and prison but was also a place
where a knight or lord could entertain his peers.[12] Over time
the aesthetics of the design became more important, as the
castle's appearance and size began to reflect the prestige and
Windsor Castle in England was
power of its occupant. Comfortable homes were often founded as a fortification during the
fashioned within their fortified walls. Although castles still Norman Conquest and was one of
provided protection from low levels of violence in later periods, the principal official residences of
eventually they were succeeded by country houses as high- Queen Elizabeth II during her reign.
status residences.[13]
Terminology
Castle is sometimes used as a catch-all term for all kinds of
fortifications, and as a result has been misapplied in the
technical sense. An example of this is Maiden Castle which,
despite the name, is an Iron Age hill fort which had a very The medieval Vidin Castle built in
different origin and purpose.[14] the 9th century on the banks of the
Danube in the old capital city of
Although castle has not become a generic term for a manor Vidin.
house (like château in French and Schloss in German), many
manor houses contain castle in their name while having few if
any of the architectural characteristics, usually as their owners
liked to maintain a link to the past and felt the term castle was
a masculine expression of their power.[15] In scholarship the
castle, as defined above, is generally accepted as a coherent
concept, originating in Europe and later spreading to parts of
the Middle East, where they were introduced by European
Crusaders. This coherent group shared a common origin, dealt
with a particular mode of warfare, and exchanged São Jorge Castle in Lisbon,
influences.[16] Portugal, with a bridge over a moat
In different areas of the world, analogous structures shared

features of fortification and other defining characteristics associated with the concept of a castle,
though they originated in different periods and circumstances and experienced differing evolutions
and influences. For example, shiro in Japan, described as castles by historian Stephen Turnbull,
underwent "a completely different developmental history, were built in a completely different way
and were designed to withstand attacks of a completely different nature".[17] While European
castles built from the late 12th and early 13th century onwards were generally stone, shiro were
predominantly timber buildings into the 16th century.[18]
By the 16th century, when Japanese and European cultures met, fortification in Europe had moved
beyond castles and relied on innovations such as the Italian trace italienne and star forts.[17] Forts
in India present a similar case; when they were encountered by the British in the 17th century,
castles in Europe had generally fallen out of use militarily. Like shiro, the Indian forts, durga or
durg in Sanskrit, shared features with castles in Europe such as acting as a domicile for a lord as
well as being fortifications. They too developed differently from the structures known as castles
that had their origins in Europe.[19]
Common features
Motte
A motte was an earthen mound with a flat top. It was often
artificial, although sometimes it incorporated a pre-existing
feature of the landscape. The excavation of earth to make the
mound left a ditch around the motte, called a moat (which
could be either wet or dry). Although the motte is commonly
associated with the bailey to form a motte-and-bailey castle,
this was not always the case and there are instances where a
motte existed on its own.[20] The wooden palisades on top of
mottes were often later replaced
"Motte" refers to the mound alone, but it was often surmounted with stone, as in this example at
by a fortified structure, such as a keep, and the flat top would Château de Gisors in France.
be surrounded by a palisade.[20] It was common for the motte
to be reached over a flying bridge (a bridge over the ditch from
the counterscarp of the ditch to the edge of the top of the mound), as shown in the Bayeux
Tapestry's depiction of Château de Dinan.[21] Sometimes a motte covered an older castle or hall,
whose rooms became underground storage areas and prisons beneath a new keep.[22]
Bailey and enceinte

A bailey, also called a ward, was a fortified enclosure. It
was a common feature of castles, and most had at least
one.[23] The keep on top of the motte was the domicile of
the lord in charge of the castle and a bastion of last
defence, while the bailey was the home of the rest of the
lord's household and gave them protection. The barracks
for the garrison, stables, workshops, and storage facilities
were often found in the bailey. Water was supplied by a
well or cistern. Over time the focus of high status
accommodation shifted from the keep to the bailey; this
A courtyard of the 14th-century Raseborg
resulted in the creation of another bailey that separated Castle in Finland
the high status buildings – such as the lord's chambers
and the chapel – from the everyday structures such as the
workshops and barracks.[23]
From the late 12th century there was a trend for knights to move out of the small houses they had
previously occupied within the bailey to live in fortified houses in the countryside.[24] Although
often associated with the motte-and-bailey type of castle, baileys could also be found as
independent defensive structures. These simple fortifications were called ringworks.[25] The
enceinte was the castle's main defensive enclosure, and the terms "bailey" and "enceinte" are
linked. A castle could have several baileys but only one enceinte. Castles with no keep, which relied
on their outer defences for protection, are sometimes called enceinte castles;[26] these were the
earliest form of castles, before the keep was introduced in the 10th century.[27]
Keep
A keep was a great tower or other building that served as the
main living quarters of the castle and usually the most strongly
defended point of a castle before the introduction of concentric
defence. "Keep" was not a term used in the medieval period –
the term was applied from the 16th century onwards – instead
"donjon" was used to refer to great towers,[28] or turris in
Latin. In motte-and-bailey castles, the keep was on top of the
motte.[20] "Dungeon" is a corrupted form of "donjon" and
The 14th-century keep of Château
means a dark, unwelcoming prison.[29] Although often the de Vincennes near Paris towers
strongest part of a castle and a last place of refuge if the outer above the castle's curtain wall. The
defences fell, the keep was not left empty in case of attack but wall exhibits features common to
was used as a residence by the lord who owned the castle, or his castle architecture: a gatehouse,
guests or representatives.[30] corner towers, and machicolations.
At first, this was usual only in England, when after the Norman
Conquest of 1066 the "conquerors lived for a long time in a constant state of alert";[31] elsewhere
the lord's wife presided over a separate residence (domus, aula or mansio in Latin) close to the
keep, and the donjon was a barracks and headquarters. Gradually, the two functions merged into
the same building, and the highest residential storeys had large windows; as a result for many
structures, it is difficult to find an appropriate term.[32] The massive internal spaces seen in many
surviving donjons can be misleading; they would have been divided into several rooms by light
partitions, as in a modern office building. Even in some large castles the great hall was separated
only by a partition from the lord's chamber, his bedroom and to some extent his office.[33]
Curtain wall
Curtain walls were defensive walls enclosing a bailey.
They had to be high enough to make scaling the walls
with ladders difficult and thick enough to withstand
bombardment from siege engines which, from the
15th century onwards, included gunpowder artillery.
A typical wall could be 3 m (10 ft) thick and 12 m
(39 ft) tall, although sizes varied greatly between
castles. To protect them from undermining, curtain
walls were sometimes given a stone skirt around their
bases. Walkways along the tops of the curtain walls Beaumaris Castle in Anglesey, North Wales,
allowed defenders to rain missiles on enemies below, with curtain walls between the lower outer
and battlements gave them further protection. towers, and higher inner curtain walls between
Curtain walls were studded with towers to allow the higher inner towers.
enfilading fire along the wall.[34]

Arrowslits in the walls did not become common in Europe until
the 13th century, for fear that they might compromise the wall's strength.[35]
Gatehouse
The entrance was often the weakest part in a circuit of
defences. To overcome this, the gatehouse was developed,
allowing those inside the castle to control the flow of traffic. In
earth and timber castles, the gateway was usually the first
feature to be rebuilt in stone. The front of the gateway was a
blind spot and to overcome this, projecting towers were added
on each side of the gate in a style similar to that developed by
the Romans.[36] The gatehouse contained a series of defences A 13th-century gatehouse in the
to make a direct assault more difficult than battering down a château de Châteaubriant, France.
simple gate. Typically, there were one or more portcullises – a It connects the upper ward to the
wooden grille reinforced with metal to block a passage – and lower one.
arrowslits to allow defenders to harry the enemy. The passage
through the gatehouse was lengthened to increase the amount
of time an assailant had to spend under fire in a confined space and unable to retaliate.[37]
It is a popular myth that murder holes – openings in the ceiling of the gateway passage – were
used to pour boiling oil or molten lead on attackers; the price of oil and lead and the distance of the
gatehouse from fires meant that this was impractical.[38] This method was, however, a common
practice in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean castles and fortifications, where such resources
were abundant.[39][40] They were most likely used to drop objects on attackers, or to allow water to
be poured on fires to extinguish them.[38] Provision was made in the upper storey of the gatehouse
for accommodation so the gate was never left undefended, although this arrangement later evolved
to become more comfortable at the expense of defence.[41]
During the 13th and 14th centuries the barbican was developed.[42] This consisted of a rampart,
ditch, and possibly a tower, in front of the gatehouse[43] which could be used to further protect the
entrance. The purpose of a barbican was not just to provide another line of defence but also to
dictate the only approach to the gate.[44]
Moat
A moat was a ditch surrounding a castle – or dividing one part
of a castle from another – and could be either dry or filled with
water. Its purpose often had a defensive purpose, preventing
siege towers from reaching walls making mining harder, but
could also be ornamental.[45][46][47] Water moats were found in
low-lying areas and were usually crossed by a drawbridge,
although these were often replaced by stone bridges.[45] The
site of the 13th-century Caerphilly Castle in Wales covers over
Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland is

surrounded by a moat.
30 acres (12 ha) and the water defences, created by flooding the valley to the south of the castle, are
some of the largest in Western Europe.[48]
Battlements
Battlements were most often found surmounting curtain walls and the tops of gatehouses, and
comprised several elements: crenellations, hoardings, machicolations, and loopholes. Crenellation
is the collective name for alternating crenels and merlons: gaps and solid blocks on top of a wall.
Hoardings were wooden constructs that projected beyond the wall, allowing defenders to shoot at,
or drop objects on, attackers at the base of the wall without having to lean perilously over the
crenellations, thereby exposing themselves to retaliatory fire. Machicolations were stone
projections on top of a wall with openings that allowed objects to be dropped on an enemy at the
base of the wall in a similar fashion to hoardings.[49]
Arrowslits
Arrowslits, also commonly called loopholes, were narrow vertical openings in defensive walls
which allowed arrows or crossbow bolts to be fired on attackers. The narrow slits were intended to
protect the defender by providing a very small target, but the size of the opening could also impede
the defender if it was too small. A smaller horizontal opening could be added to give an archer a
better view for aiming.[50] Sometimes a sally port was included; this could allow the garrison to
leave the castle and engage besieging forces.[51] It was usual for the latrines to empty down the
external walls of a castle and into the surrounding ditch.[52]
Postern
A postern is a secondary door or gate in a concealed location, usually in a fortification such as a city
wall.[53]
Great hall
The great hall was a large, decorated room where a lord received his guests. The hall represented
the prestige, authority, and richness of the lord. Events such as feasts, banquets, social or
ceremonial gatherings, meetings of the military council, and judicial trials were held in the great
hall. Sometimes the great hall existed as a separate building, in that case, it was called a hall-
house.[54]
History
Antecedents
Historian Charles Coulson states that the accumulation of wealth and resources, such as food, led
to the need for defensive structures. The earliest fortifications originated in the Fertile Crescent,
the Indus Valley, Europe, Egypt, and China where settlements were protected by large walls. In
Northern Europe, hill forts were first developed in the Bronze Age, which then proliferated across
Europe in the Iron Age. Hillforts in Britain typically used earthworks rather than stone as a
building material.[58]
Many earthworks survive today, along with evidence of

palisades to accompany the ditches. In central and
western Europe, oppida emerged in the 2nd century BC;
these were densely inhabited fortified settlements, such
as the oppidum of Manching.[59] Some oppida walls were
built on a massive scale, utilising stone, wood, iron and
earth in their construction.[60][61] The Romans
encountered fortified settlements such as hill forts and
oppida when expanding their territory into northern
Daorson, Bosnia, built around a prehistoric
Europe.[59] Their defences were often effective, and were
central fortified settlement or acropolis
only overcome by the extensive use of siege engines and
(existed there cca. 17/16th c. to the end of
other siege warfare techniques, such as at the Battle of the Bronze Age, cca. 9/8th c. BCE),
Alesia. The Romans' own fortifications (castra) varied surrounded by cyclopean walls (similar to
from simple temporary earthworks thrown up by armies Mycenae) dated to the 4th c. BCE.[55][56]
on the move, to elaborate permanent stone constructions,
notably the milecastles of Hadrian's Wall. Roman forts
were generally rectangular with rounded corners – a
"playing-card shape".[62]
In the medieval period, castles were influenced by earlier

forms of elite architecture, contributing to regional
variations. Importantly, while castles had military
aspects, they contained a recognisable household
structure within their walls, reflecting the multi-
functional use of these buildings.[63]
Borġ in-Nadur fort in Malta, built during the
Tarxien phase and used until the Bronze
Origins (9th and 10th centuries)
Age.[57]
The subject of the emergence of castles in Europe is a
complex matter which has led to considerable debate.
Discussions have typically attributed the rise of the castle to a reaction to attacks by Magyars,
Muslims, and Vikings and a need for private defence.[64] The breakdown of the Carolingian Empire
led to the privatisation of government, and local lords assumed responsibility for the economy and
justice.[65] However, while castles proliferated in the 9th and 10th centuries the link between
periods of insecurity and building fortifications is not always straightforward. Some high
concentrations of castles occur in secure places, while some border regions had relatively few
castles.[66]
It is likely that the castle evolved from the practice of fortifying a lordly home. The greatest threat
to a lord's home or hall was fire as it was usually a wooden structure. To protect against this, and
keep other threats at bay, there were several courses of action available: create encircling
earthworks to keep an enemy at a distance; build the hall in stone; or raise it up on an artificial
mound, known as a motte, to present an obstacle to attackers.[67] While the concept of ditches,
ramparts, and stone walls as defensive measures is ancient, raising a motte is a medieval
innovation.[68]
A bank and ditch enclosure was a simple form of defence, and when found without an associated
motte is called a ringwork; when the site was in use for a prolonged period, it was sometimes
replaced by a more complex structure or enhanced by the addition of a stone curtain wall.[69]
Building the hall in stone did not necessarily make it immune to fire as it still had windows and a
wooden door. This led to the elevation of windows to the second storey – to make it harder to
throw objects in – and to move the entrance from ground level to the second storey. These features
are seen in many surviving castle keeps, which were the more sophisticated version of halls.[70]
Castles were not just defensive sites but also enhanced a lord's control over his lands. They allowed
the garrison to control the surrounding area,[71] and formed a centre of administration, providing
the lord with a place to hold court.[72]
Building a castle sometimes required the permission

of the king or other high authority. In 864 the King of
West Francia, Charles the Bald, prohibited the
construction of castella without his permission and
ordered them all to be destroyed. This is perhaps the
earliest reference to castles, though military historian
R. Allen Brown points out that the word castella may
have applied to any fortification at the time.[73]
In some countries the monarch had little control over

lords, or required the construction of new castles to The Bayeux Tapestry contains one of the
aid in securing the land so was unconcerned about earliest representations of a castle. It depicts
attackers of the Château de Dinan in France
granting permission – as was the case in England in
using fire, a major threat to wooden castles.
the aftermath of the Norman Conquest and the Holy
Land during the Crusades. Switzerland is an extreme
case of there being no state control over who built castles, and as a result there were 4,000 in the
country.[74] There are very few castles dated with certainty from the mid-9th century. Converted
into a donjon around 950, Château de Doué-la-Fontaine in France is the oldest standing castle in
Europe.[75]
11th century
From 1000 onwards, references to castles in texts such as charters increased greatly. Historians
have interpreted this as evidence of a sudden increase in the number of castles in Europe around
this time; this has been supported by archaeological investigation which has dated the construction
of castle sites through the examination of ceramics.[76] The increase in Italy began in the 950s,
with numbers of castles increasing by a factor of three to five every 50 years, whereas in other parts
of Europe such as France and Spain the growth was slower. In 950, Provence was home to
12 castles; by 1000, this figure had risen to 30, and by 1030 it was over 100.[77] Although the
increase was slower in Spain, the 1020s saw a particular growth in the number of castles in the
region, particularly in contested border areas between Christian and Muslim lands.[78]
Despite the common period in which castles rose to prominence in Europe, their form and design
varied from region to region. In the early 11th century, the motte and keep – an artificial mound
with a palisade and tower on top – was the most common form of castle in Europe, everywhere
except Scandinavia.[77] While Britain, France, and Italy shared a tradition of timber construction
that was continued in castle architecture, Spain more commonly used stone or mud-brick as the
main building material.[79]
The Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century introduced a style of building
developed in North Africa reliant on tapial, pebbles in cement, where timber was in short
supply.[80] Although stone construction would later become common elsewhere, from the
11th century onwards it was the primary building material for Christian castles in Spain,[81] while
at the same time timber was still the dominant building material in north-west Europe.[78]
Historians have interpreted the widespread presence of

castles across Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries as
evidence that warfare was common, and usually between
local lords.[83] Castles were introduced into England
shortly before the Norman Conquest in 1066.[84] Before
the 12th century castles were as uncommon in Denmark
as they had been in England before the Norman
Conquest. The introduction of castles to Denmark was a
reaction to attacks from Wendish pirates, and they were
usually intended as coastal defences.[74] The motte and
Built in 1138, Castle Rising in Norfolk,
bailey remained the dominant form of castle in England,
England is an example of an elaborate
Wales, and Ireland well into the 12th century.[85] At the
donjon.[82]
same time, castle architecture in mainland Europe
became more sophisticated.[86]
The donjon[87] was at the centre of this change in castle architecture in the 12th century. Central
towers proliferated, and typically had a square plan, with walls 3 to 4 m (9.8 to 13.1 ft) thick. Their
decoration emulated Romanesque architecture, and sometimes incorporated double windows
similar to those found in church bell towers. Donjons, which were the residence of the lord of the
castle, evolved to become more spacious. The design emphasis of donjons changed to reflect a shift
from functional to decorative requirements, imposing a symbol of lordly power upon the
landscape. This sometimes led to compromising defence for the sake of display.[86]
Innovation and scientific design (12th century)

See also maison forte, French article here
Until the 12th century, stone-built and earth and timber castles were contemporary,[88] but by the
late 12th century the number of castles being built went into decline. This has been partly
attributed to the higher cost of stone-built fortifications, and the obsolescence of timber and
earthwork sites, which meant it was preferable to build in more durable stone.[89] Although
superseded by their stone successors, timber and earthwork castles were by no means useless.[90]
This is evidenced by the continual maintenance of timber castles over long periods, sometimes
several centuries; Owain Glyndŵr's 11th-century timber castle at Sycharth was still in use by the
start of the 15th century, its structure having been maintained for four centuries.[91][92]
At the same time there was a change in castle architecture. Until the late 12th century castles
generally had few towers; a gateway with few defensive features such as arrowslits or a portcullis; a
great keep or donjon, usually square and without arrowslits; and the shape would have been
dictated by the lay of the land (the result was often irregular or curvilinear structures). The design
of castles was not uniform, but these were features that could be found in a typical castle in the
mid-12th century.[93] By the end of the 12th century or the early 13th century, a newly constructed
castle could be expected to be polygonal in shape, with towers at the corners to provide enfilading
fire for the walls. The towers would have protruded from the walls and featured arrowslits on each
level to allow archers to target anyone nearing or at the curtain wall.[94]
These later castles did not always have a keep, but this
may have been because the more complex design of the
castle as a whole drove up costs and the keep was
sacrificed to save money. The larger towers provided
space for habitation to make up for the loss of the donjon.
Where keeps did exist, they were no longer square but
polygonal or cylindrical. Gateways were more strongly
defended, with the entrance to the castle usually between
two half-round towers which were connected by a passage
above the gateway – although there was great variety in
the styles of gateway and entrances – and one or more Albarrana tower in Paderne Castle,
Portugal
portcullis.[94]
A peculiar feature of Muslim castles in the Iberian

Peninsula was the use of detached towers, called Albarrana towers, around the perimeter as can be
seen at the Alcazaba of Badajoz. Probably developed in the 12th century, the towers provided
flanking fire. They were connected to the castle by removable wooden bridges, so if the towers were
captured the rest of the castle was not accessible.[95]
When seeking to explain this change in the complexity

and style of castles, antiquarians found their answer in
the Crusades. It seemed that the Crusaders had learned
much about fortification from their conflicts with the
Saracens and exposure to Byzantine architecture. There
were legends such as that of Lalys – an architect from
Palestine who reputedly went to Wales after the Crusades
and greatly enhanced the castles in the south of the
country – and it was assumed that great architects such
as James of Saint George originated in the East. In the
mid-20th century this view was cast into doubt. Legends The gatehouse to the inner ward of
Beeston Castle in Cheshire, England, was
were discredited, and in the case of James of Saint George
built in the 1220s, and has an entrance
it was proven that he came from Saint-Georges-
between two D-shaped towers.[96]
d'Espéranche, in France. If the innovations in
fortification had derived from the East, it would have
been expected for their influence to be seen from 1100 onwards, immediately after the Christians
were victorious in the First Crusade (1096–1099), rather than nearly 100 years later.[97] Remains
of Roman structures in Western Europe were still standing in many places, some of which had
flanking round-towers and entrances between two flanking towers.
The castle builders of Western Europe were aware of and influenced by Roman design; late Roman
coastal forts on the English "Saxon Shore" were reused and in Spain the wall around the city of
Ávila imitated Roman architecture when it was built in 1091.[97] Historian Smail in Crusading
warfare argued that the case for the influence of Eastern fortification on the West has been
overstated, and that Crusaders of the 12th century in fact learned very little about scientific design
from Byzantine and Saracen defences.[98] A well-sited castle that made use of natural defences and
had strong ditches and walls had no need for a scientific design. An example of this approach is
Kerak. Although there were no scientific elements to its design, it was almost impregnable, and in
1187 Saladin chose to lay siege to the castle and starve out its garrison rather than risk an
assault.[98]
During the late 11th and 12th centuries in what is now south-central Turkey the Hospitallers,
Teutonic Knights and Templars established themselves in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, where
they discovered an extensive network of sophisticated fortifications which had a profound impact
on the architecture of Crusader castles. Most of the Armenian military sites in Cilicia are
characterized by: multiple bailey walls laid with irregular plans to follow the sinuosities of the
outcrops; rounded and especially horseshoe-shaped towers; finely-cut often rusticated ashlar
facing stones with intricate poured cores; concealed postern gates and complex bent entrances
with slot machicolations; embrasured loopholes for archers; barrel, pointed or groined vaults over
undercrofts, gates and chapels; and cisterns with elaborate scarped drains.[99] Civilian settlement
are often found in the immediate proximity of these fortifications.[100] After the First Crusade,
Crusaders who did not return to their homes in Europe helped found the Crusader states of the
Principality of Antioch, the County of Edessa, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the County of
Tripoli. The castles they founded to secure their acquisitions were designed mostly by Syrian
master-masons. Their design was very similar to that of a Roman fort or Byzantine tetrapyrgia
which were square in plan and had square towers at each corner that did not project much beyond
the curtain wall. The keep of these Crusader castles would have had a square plan and generally be
undecorated.[101]
While castles were used to hold a site and control movement of armies, in the Holy Land some key
strategic positions were left unfortified.[102] Castle architecture in the East became more complex
around the late 12th and early 13th centuries after the stalemate of the Third Crusade (1189–1192).
Both Christians and Muslims created fortifications, and the character of each was different.
Saphadin, the 13th-century ruler of the Saracens, created structures with large rectangular towers
that influenced Muslim architecture and were copied again and again, however they had little
influence on Crusader castles.[103]
13th to 15th centuries

In the early 13th century, Crusader castles
were mostly built by Military Orders
including the Knights Hospitaller,
Knights Templar, and Teutonic Knights.
The orders were responsible for the
foundation of sites such as Krak des
Chevaliers, Margat, and Belvoir. Design
varied not just between orders, but Krak des Chevaliers in Syria is a concentric castle built with
between individual castles, though it was both rectangular and rounded towers. It is one of the best-
common for those founded in this period preserved Crusader castles.[104]
to have concentric defences.[105]
The concept, which originated in castles such as Krak des Chevaliers, was to remove the reliance on
a central strongpoint and to emphasise the defence of the curtain walls. There would be multiple
rings of defensive walls, one inside the other, with the inner ring rising above the outer so that its
field of fire was not completely obscured. If assailants made it past the first line of defence they
would be caught in the killing ground between the inner and outer walls and have to assault the
second wall.[106]
Concentric castles were widely copied across Europe, for instance when Edward I of England –
who had himself been on Crusade – built castles in Wales in the late 13th century, four of the eight
he founded had a concentric design.[105][106] Not all the features of the Crusader castles from the
13th century were emulated in Europe. For instance, it was common in Crusader castles to have the
main gate in the side of a tower and for there to be two turns in the passageway, lengthening the
time it took for someone to reach the outer enclosure. It is rare for this bent entrance to be found
in Europe.[105]
One of the effects of the Livonian Crusade in the Baltic

was the introduction of stone and brick fortifications.
Although there were hundreds of wooden castles in
Prussia and Livonia, the use of bricks and mortar was
unknown in the region before the Crusaders. Until the
13th century and start of the 14th centuries, their design
was heterogeneous, however this period saw the
emergence of a standard plan in the region: a square
plan, with four wings around a central courtyard.[107] It
was common for castles in the East to have arrowslits in
the curtain wall at multiple levels; contemporary builders The design of Edward I's Harlech Castle
(built in the 1280s) in North Wales was
in Europe were wary of this as they believed it weakened
influenced by his experience of the
the wall. Arrowslits did not compromise the wall's Crusades.
strength, but it was not until Edward I's programme of
castle building that they were widely adopted in
Europe.[35]
The Crusades also led to the introduction of machicolations into Western architecture. Until the
13th century, the tops of towers had been surrounded by wooden galleries, allowing defenders to
drop objects on assailants below. Although machicolations performed the same purpose as the
wooden galleries, they were probably an Eastern invention rather than an evolution of the wooden
form. Machicolations were used in the East long before the arrival of the Crusaders, and perhaps as
early as the first half of the 8th century in Syria.[108]
The greatest period of castle building in Spain was in the 11th to 13th centuries, and they were most
commonly found in the disputed borders between Christian and Muslim lands. Conflict and
interaction between the two groups led to an exchange of architectural ideas, and Spanish
Christians adopted the use of detached towers. The Spanish Reconquista, driving the Muslims out
of the Iberian Peninsula, was complete in 1492.[95]
Although France has been described as "the

heartland of medieval architecture", the English were
at the forefront of castle architecture in the
12th century. French historian François Gebelin
wrote: "The great revival in military architecture was
led, as one would naturally expect, by the powerful
kings and princes of the time; by the sons of William
the Conqueror and their descendants, the The northern walls of the Gran Castello in Gozo,
Plantagenets, when they became dukes of Normandy. Malta, were built in the 15th century.[109]
These were the men who built all the most typical
twelfth-century fortified castles remaining
today". [110] Despite this, by the beginning of the 15th century, the rate of castle construction in
England and Wales went into decline. The new castles were generally of a lighter build than earlier
structures and presented few innovations, although strong sites were still created such as that of
Raglan in Wales. At the same time, French castle architecture came to the fore and led the way in
the field of medieval fortifications. Across Europe – particularly the Baltic, Germany, and
Scotland – castles were built well into the 16th century.[111]
Advent of gunpowder
Artillery powered by gunpowder was introduced to
Europe in the 1320s and spread quickly. Handguns,
which were initially unpredictable and inaccurate
weapons, were not recorded until the 1380s.[112] Castles
were adapted to allow small artillery pieces – averaging
between 19.6 and 22 kg (43 and 49 lb) – to fire from
towers. These guns were too heavy for a man to carry and
fire, but if he supported the butt end and rested the
muzzle on the edge of the gun port he could fire the
weapon. The gun ports developed in this period show a Corvin Castle in Transylvania (built
unique feature, that of a horizontal timber across the between 1446 and 1480) was one of the
opening. A hook on the end of the gun could be latched biggest in Eastern Europe at that time.
over the timber so the gunner did not have to take the full
recoil of the weapon. This adaptation is found across
Europe, and although the timber rarely survives, there is
an intact example at Castle Doornenburg in the
Netherlands. Gunports were keyhole shaped, with a
circular hole at the bottom for the weapon and a narrow
slit on top to allow the gunner to aim.[113]
This form is very common in castles adapted for guns,

found in Egypt, Italy, Scotland, and Spain, and elsewhere
in between. Other types of port, though less common,
Castle De Haar, Utrecht, Netherlands.
were horizontal slits – allowing only lateral movement –
and large square openings, which allowed greater
movement.[113] The use of guns for defence gave rise to artillery castles, such as that of Château de
Ham in France. Defences against guns were not developed until a later stage.[114] Ham is an
example of the trend for new castles to dispense with earlier features such as machicolations, tall
towers, and crenellations.[115]
Bigger guns were developed, and in the 15th century became an alternative to siege engines such as
the trebuchet. The benefits of large guns over trebuchets – the most effective siege engine of the
Middle Ages before the advent of gunpowder – were those of a greater range and power. In an
effort to make them more effective, guns were made ever bigger, although this hampered their
ability to reach remote castles. By the 1450s guns were the preferred siege weapon, and their
effectiveness was demonstrated by Mehmed II at the Fall of Constantinople.[116]
The response towards more effective cannons was to build thicker walls and to prefer round
towers, as the curving sides were more likely to deflect a shot than a flat surface. While this sufficed
for new castles, pre-existing structures had to find a way to cope with being battered by cannon. An
earthen bank could be piled behind a castle's curtain wall to absorb some of the shock of
impact.[117]
Often, castles constructed before the age of gunpowder were incapable of using guns as their wall-
walks were too narrow. A solution to this was to pull down the top of a tower and to fill the lower
part with the rubble to provide a surface for the guns to fire from. Lowering the defences in this
way had the effect of making them easier to scale with ladders. A more popular alternative defence,
which avoided damaging the castle, was to establish bulwarks beyond the castle's defences. These
could be built from earth or stone and were used to mount weapons.[118]
Bastions and star forts (16th century)

Around 1500, the innovation of the angled bastion was
developed in Italy.[119] With developments such as these,
Italy pioneered permanent artillery fortifications, which
took over from the defensive role of castles. From this
evolved star forts, also known as trace italienne.[10] The
elite responsible for castle construction had to choose
between the new type that could withstand cannon fire
and the earlier, more elaborate style. The first was ugly
and uncomfortable and the latter was less secure,
although it did offer greater aesthetic appeal and value as
The angled bastion, as used in Copertino
a status symbol. The second choice proved to be more Castle in Italy, was developed around
popular as it became apparent that there was little point 1500. First used in Italy, it allowed the
in trying to make the site genuinely defensible in the face evolution of artillery forts that eventually
of cannon.[120] For a variety of reasons, not least of which took over the military role of castles.
is that many castles have no recorded history, there is no
firm number of castles built in the medieval period.
However, it has been estimated that between 75,000 and 100,000 were built in western
Europe;[121] of these around 1,700 were in England and Wales[122] and around 14,000 in German-
speaking areas.[123]
Some true castles were built in the Americas by the Spanish and French colonies. The first stage of
Spanish fort construction has been termed the "castle period", which lasted from 1492 until the
end of the 16th century.[124] Starting with Fortaleza Ozama, "these castles were essentially
European medieval castles transposed to America".[125] Among other defensive structures
(including forts and citadels), castles were also built in New France towards the end of the
17th century.[126] In Montreal the artillery was not as developed as on the battle-fields of Europe,
some of the region's outlying forts were built like the fortified manor houses of France. Fort
Longueuil, built from 1695 to 1698 by a baronial family, has been described as "the most medieval-
looking fort built in Canada".[127] The manor house and stables were within a fortified bailey, with
a tall round turret in each corner. The "most substantial castle-like fort" near Montréal was Fort
Senneville, built in 1692 with square towers connected by thick stone walls, as well as a fortified
windmill.[128] Stone forts such as these served as defensive residences, as well as imposing
structures to prevent Iroquois incursions.[129]
Although castle construction faded towards the end of the 16th century, castles did not necessarily
all fall out of use. Some retained a role in local administration and became law courts, while others
are still handed down in aristocratic families as hereditary seats. A particularly famous example of
this is Windsor Castle in England which was founded in the 11th century and is home to the
monarch of the United Kingdom.[130] In other cases they still had a role in defence. Tower houses,
which are closely related to castles and include pele towers, were defended towers that were
permanent residences built in the 14th to 17th centuries. Especially common in Ireland and
Scotland, they could be up to five storeys high and succeeded common enclosure castles and were
built by a greater social range of people. While unlikely to provide as much protection as a more
complex castle, they offered security against raiders and other small threats.[131][132]
Later use and revival castles

According to archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert
Higham, "the great country houses of the seventeenth to
twentieth centuries were, in a social sense, the castles of
their day".[133] Though there was a trend for the elite to
move from castles into country houses in the
17th century, castles were not completely useless. In later
conflicts, such as the English Civil War (1641–1651),
many castles were refortified, although subsequently
slighted to prevent them from being used again.[134] Neuschwanstein is a 19th-century
Some country residences, which were not meant to be historicist (neoromanesque) castle built by
fortified, were given a castle appearance to scare away Ludwig II of Bavaria, inspired by the neo-
potential invaders such as adding turrets and using small romanticism of the time.
windows. An example of this is the 16th century Bubaqra
Castle in Bubaqra, Malta, which was modified in the 18th
century.[135]
Revival or mock castles became popular as a

manifestation of a Romantic interest in the Middle Ages
and chivalry, and as part of the broader Gothic Revival in
architecture. Examples of these castles include
Chapultepec in Mexico,[136] Neuschwanstein in
Germany,[137] and Edwin Lutyens' Castle Drogo (1911–
1930) – the last flicker of this movement in the British Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, the
Isles.[138] While churches and cathedrals in a Gothic style neo-classical imperial residence of
could faithfully imitate medieval examples, new country Maximilian I of Mexico in the 19th century.
houses built in a "castle style" differed internally from
their medieval predecessors. This was because to be
faithful to medieval design would have left the houses cold and dark by contemporary
standards.[139]
Artificial ruins, built to resemble remnants of historic edifices, were also a hallmark of the period.
They were usually built as centre pieces in aristocratic planned landscapes. Follies were similar,
although they differed from artificial ruins in that they were not part of a planned landscape, but
rather seemed to have no reason for being built. Both drew on elements of castle architecture such
as castellation and towers, but served no military purpose

and were solely for display.[140] A toy castle is used as a
common children attraction in playing fields and fun
parks, such as the castle of the Playmobil FunPark in Ħal
Far, Malta.[141][142]
Construction
Once the site of a castle had been selected – whether a
strategic position or one intended to dominate the
landscape as a mark of power – the building material had Castello Dei Baroni, a 20th-century country
to be selected. An earth and timber castle was cheaper residence in Wardija, Malta, designed with
castle-like features.
and easier to erect than one built from stone. The costs
involved in construction are not well-recorded, and most
surviving records relate to royal castles.[143] A castle with
earthen ramparts, a motte, timber defences and buildings
could have been constructed by an unskilled workforce. The
source of man-power was probably from the local lordship,
and the tenants would already have the necessary skills of
felling trees, digging, and working timber necessary for an
earth and timber castle. Possibly coerced into working for
their lord, the construction of an earth and timber castle
would not have been a drain on a client's funds. In terms of
time, it has been estimated that an average sized motte –
5 m (16 ft) high and 15 m (49 ft) wide at the summit – would
have taken 50 people about 40 working days. An
exceptionally expensive motte and bailey was that of Clones
in Ireland, built in 1211 for UK£20. The high cost, relative to A 19th-century depiction by Eugène
other castles of its type, was because labourers had to be Viollet-le-Duc of the construction of the
imported.[143] large tower at Coucy Castle in France,
with scaffolding and masons at work.
The cost of building a castle varied according to factors such The putlog holes mark the position of
as their complexity and transport costs for material. It is the scaffolding in earlier stages of
certain that stone castles cost a great deal more than those construction. The tower was blown up
built from earth and timber. Even a very small tower, such in 1917.
as Peveril Castle, would have cost around UK£200. In the

middle were castles such as Orford, which was built in the
late 12th century for UK£1,400, and at the upper end were
those such as Dover, which cost about UK£7,000 between
1181 and 1191.[144] Spending on the scale of the vast castles
such as Château Gaillard (an estimated UK£15,000 to
UK£20,000 between 1196 and 1198) was easily supported by
The Crown, but for lords of smaller areas, castle building
was a very serious and costly undertaking. It was usual for a
stone castle to take the best part of a decade to finish. The
cost of a large castle built over this time (anywhere from Experimental archeology castle building
UK£1,000 to UK£10,000) would take the income from at Guédelon Castle site in France
several manors, severely impacting a lord's finances.[145] (2015).
Costs in the late 13th century were of a similar order, with
castles such as Beaumaris and Rhuddlan costing UK£14,500 and UK£9,000 respectively. Edward
I's campaign of castle-building in Wales cost UK£80,000 between 1277 and 1304, and UK£95,000
between 1277 and 1329.[146] Renowned designer Master James of Saint George, responsible for the
construction of Beaumaris, explained the cost:
In case you should wonder where so much money could go in a week, we would have you
know that we have needed – and shall continue to need 400 masons, both cutters and
layers, together with 2,000 less-skilled workmen, 100 carts, 60 wagons, and 30 boats
bringing stone and sea coal; 200 quarrymen; 30 smiths; and carpenters for putting in the
joists and floor boards and other necessary jobs. All this takes no account of the garrison
... nor of purchases of material. Of which there will have to be a great quantity ... The
men's pay has been and still is very much in arrears, and we are having the greatest
difficulty in keeping them because they have simply nothing to live on.
— [147]
Not only were stone castles expensive to build in the first place, but their maintenance was a
constant drain. They contained a lot of timber, which was often unseasoned and as a result needed
careful upkeep. For example, it is documented that in the late 12th century repairs at castles such
as Exeter and Gloucester cost between UK£20 and UK£50 annually.[148]
Medieval machines and inventions, such as the treadwheel crane, became indispensable during
construction, and techniques of building wooden scaffolding were improved upon from
Antiquity.[149] When building in stone a prominent concern of medieval builders was to have
quarries close at hand. There are examples of some castles where stone was quarried on site, such
as Chinon, Château de Coucy and Château Gaillard.[150] When it was built in 992 in France the
stone tower at Château de Langeais was 16 metres (52 ft) high, 17.5 metres (57 ft) wide, and 10
metres (33 ft) long with walls averaging 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in). The walls contain 1,200 cubic
metres (42,000 cu ft) of stone and have a total surface (both inside and out) of 1,600 square metres
(17,000 sq ft). The tower is estimated to have taken 83,000 average working days to complete,
most of which was unskilled labour.[151]
Many countries had both timber and stone castles,[152] however Denmark had few quarries and as
a result most of its castles are earth and timber affairs, or later on built from brick.[153] Brick-built
structures were not necessarily weaker than their stone-built counterparts. Brick castles are less
common in England than stone or earth and timber constructions, and often it was chosen for its
aesthetic appeal or because it was fashionable, encouraged by the brick architecture of the Low
Countries. For example, when Tattershall Castle in England was built between 1430 and 1450,
there was plenty of stone available nearby, but the owner, Lord Cromwell, chose to use brick.
About 700,000 bricks were used to build the castle, which has been described as "the finest piece
of medieval brick-work in England".[154] Most Spanish castles were built from stone, whereas
castles in Eastern Europe were usually of timber construction.[155]
On the Construction of the Castle of Safed, written in the early 1260s, describes the construction of
a new castle at Safed. It is "one of the fullest" medieval accounts of a castle's construction.[156]
 
The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork, Poland, is an example of medieval fortresses and built in the typical
style of northern Brick Gothic.[157] On its completion in 1406 it was the largest brick castle in the world.[158]
Social centre
Due to the lord's presence in a castle, it was a centre of
administration from where he controlled his lands. He relied
on the support of those below him, as without the support of
his more powerful tenants a lord could expect his power to be
undermined. Successful lords regularly held court with those
immediately below them on the social scale, but absentees
could expect to find their influence weakened. Larger lordships
could be vast, and it would be impractical for a lord to visit all
his properties regularly, so deputies were appointed. This
especially applied to royalty, who sometimes owned land in
different countries.[159]
To allow the lord to concentrate on his duties regarding

administration, he had a household of servants to take care of
chores such as providing food. The household was run by a
chamberlain, while a treasurer took care of the estate's written
records. Royal households took essentially the same form as
baronial households, although on a much larger scale and the
positions were more prestigious.[160] An important role of the The Château de Saumur set against
household servants was the preparation of food; the castle an agricultural scene, as depicted in
the Très Riches Heures du Duc de
kitchens would have been a busy place when the castle was
Berry. Early 15th century.
occupied, called on to provide large meals.[161] Without the
presence of a lord's household, usually because he was staying
elsewhere, a castle would have been a quiet place with few residents, focused on maintaining the
castle.[162]
As social centres castles were important places for display. Builders took the opportunity to draw
on symbolism, through the use of motifs, to evoke a sense of chivalry that was aspired to in the
Middle Ages amongst the elite. Later structures of the Romantic revival would draw on elements of
castle architecture such as battlements for the same purpose. Castles have been compared with
cathedrals as objects of architectural pride, and some castles incorporated gardens as ornamental
features.[163] The right to crenellate, when granted by a monarch – though it was not always
necessary – was important not just as it allowed a lord to defend his property but because
crenellations and other accoutrements associated with castles were prestigious through their use
by the elite.[164] Licences to crenellate were also proof of a relationship with or favour from the
monarch, who was the one responsible for granting permission.[165]
Courtly love was the eroticisation of love between the nobility. Emphasis was placed on restraint
between lovers. Though sometimes expressed through chivalric events such as tournaments, where
knights would fight wearing a token from their lady, it could also be private and conducted in
secret. The legend of Tristan and Iseult is one example of stories of courtly love told in the Middle
Ages.[166] It was an ideal of love between two people not married to each other, although the man
might be married to someone else. It was not uncommon or ignoble for a lord to be adulterous –
Henry I of England had over 20 bastards for instance – but for a lady to be promiscuous was seen
as dishonourable.[167]
The purpose of marriage between the medieval elites was to secure land. Girls were married in
their teens, but boys did not marry until they came of age.[168] There is a popular conception that
women played a peripheral role in the medieval castle household, and that it was dominated by the
lord himself. This derives from the image of the castle as a martial institution, but most castles in
England, France, Ireland, and Scotland were never involved in conflicts or sieges, so the domestic
life is a neglected facet.[169] The lady was given a dower of her husband's estates – usually about a
third – which was hers for life, and her husband would inherit on her death. It was her duty to
administer them directly, as the lord administered his own land.[170] Despite generally being
excluded from military service, a woman could be in charge of a castle, either on behalf of her
husband or if she was widowed. Because of their influence within the medieval household, women
influenced construction and design, sometimes through direct patronage; historian Charles
Coulson emphasises the role of women in applying "a refined aristocratic taste" to castles due to
their long term residence.[171]
Locations and landscapes

The positioning of castles was influenced by the available
terrain. Whereas hill castles such as Marksburg were
common in Germany, where 66 per cent of all known
medieval were highland area while 34 per cent were on
low-lying land,[173] they formed a minority of sites in
England.[172] Because of the range of functions they had
to fulfil, castles were built in a variety of locations.
Multiple factors were considered when choosing a site,
balancing between the need for a defendable position
with other considerations such as proximity to resources.
For instance many castles are located near Roman roads, Highland castles such as Château de
Montségur in southern France have
which remained important transport routes in the Middle
become the popular idea of where castles
Ages, or could lead to the alteration or creation of new should be found because they are
road systems in the area. Where available it was common photogenic, where in reality castles were
to exploit pre-existing defences such as building with a built in a variety of places due to a range of
Roman fort or the ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort. A considerations.[172]
prominent site that overlooked the surrounding area and
offered some natural defences may also have been chosen
because its visibility made it a symbol of power.[174] Urban castles were particularly important in
controlling centres of population and production, especially with an invading force, for instance in
the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century the majority of royal castles
were built in or near towns.[175]
As castles were not simply military buildings but centres

of administration and symbols of power, they had a
significant impact on the surrounding landscape. Placed
by a frequently-used road or river, the toll castle ensured
that a lord would get his due toll money from merchants.
Rural castles were often associated with mills and field
systems due to their role in managing the lord's
estate,[176] which gave them greater influence over
resources.[177] Others were adjacent to or in royal forests
or deer parks and were important in their upkeep. Fish
ponds were a luxury of the lordly elite, and many were Srebrenik Fortress in Srebrenik, Bosnia:
inaccessibility of location with only a
found next to castles. Not only were they practical in that
narrow bridge traversing deep canyon
they ensured a water supply and fresh fish, but they were provides excellent protection.
a status symbol as they were expensive to build and
maintain.[178]
Although sometimes the construction of a castle led to the destruction of a village, such as at Eaton
Socon in England, it was more common for the villages nearby to have grown as a result of the
presence of a castle. Sometimes planned towns or villages were created around a castle.[176] The
benefits of castle building on settlements was not confined to Europe. When the 13th-century
Safad Castle was founded in Galilee in the Holy Land, the 260 villages benefitted from the
inhabitants' newfound ability to move freely.[179] When built, a castle could result in the
restructuring of the local landscape, with roads moved for the convenience of the lord.[180]
Settlements could also grow naturally around a castle, rather than being planned, due to the
benefits of proximity to an economic centre in a rural landscape and the safety given by the
defences. Not all such settlements survived, as once the castle lost its importance – perhaps
succeeded by a manor house as the centre of administration – the benefits of living next to a castle
vanished and the settlement depopulated.[181]
During and shortly after the Norman Conquest of

England, castles were inserted into important pre-
existing towns to control and subdue the populace. They
were usually located near any existing town defences,
such as Roman walls, although this sometimes resulted in
the demolition of structures occupying the desired site. In
Lincoln, 166 houses were destroyed to clear space for the
castle, and in York agricultural land was flooded to create
a moat for the castle. As the military importance of urban
castles waned from their early origins, they became more Almourol Castle in Portugal, which stands
on a small islet in the Tejo River.
important as centres of administration, and their
financial and judicial roles.[182] When the Normans
invaded Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the 11th and 12th centuries, settlement in those countries
was predominantly non-urban, and the foundation of towns was often linked with the creation of a
castle.[183]
The location of castles in relation to high status features, such as fish ponds, was a statement of
power and control of resources. Also often found near a castle, sometimes within its defences, was
the parish church.[186] This signified a close relationship between feudal lords and the Church, one
of the most important institutions of medieval society.[187] Even elements of castle architecture
that have usually been interpreted as military could be

used for display. The water features of Kenilworth Castle
in England – comprising a moat and several satellite
ponds – forced anyone approaching a water castle
entrance to take a very indirect route, walking around the
defences before the final approach towards the
gateway.[188] Another example is that of the 14th-century
Bodiam Castle, also in England; although it appears to be
a state of the art, advanced castle it is in a site of little
strategic importance, and the moat was shallow and more
likely intended to make the site appear impressive than as Tavastia Castle in Hämeenlinna, Finland,
one of the northernmost castles in Europe.
a defence against mining. The approach was long and
The exact date of construction of the castle
took the viewer around the castle, ensuring they got a
is unclear, as far as it is known to have
good look before entering. Moreover, the gunports were been built in the late 13th century,[184] but
impractical and unlikely to have been effective.[189] the first mention of it in contemporary
documents is from 1308.[185] It was built
close to Lake Vanajavesi.
 
Movable panorama of the landscape around Leeds Castle in Kent,

England, which has been managed since the 13th century. The
castle overlooks artificial lakes and ponds within a medieval deer
park.[190]
Warfare
As a static structure, castles could often be avoided. Their immediate area of influence was about
400 metres (1,300 ft) and their weapons had a short range even early in the age of artillery.
However, leaving an enemy behind would allow them to interfere with communications and make
raids. Garrisons were expensive and as a result often small unless the castle was important.[191]
Cost also meant that in peacetime garrisons were smaller, and small castles were manned by
perhaps a couple of watchmen and gate-guards. Even in war, garrisons were not necessarily large
as too many people in a defending force would strain supplies and impair the castle's ability to
withstand a long siege. In 1403, a force of

37 archers successfully defended Caernarfon
Castle against two assaults by Owain
Glyndŵr's allies during a long siege,
demonstrating that a small force could be
effective.[192]
Early on, manning a castle was a feudal duty

of vassals to their magnates, and magnates
to their kings, however this was later
replaced with paid forces.[192][193] A garrison An early 13th-century drawing by Matthew Paris showing
was usually commanded by a constable contemporary warfare, including the use of castles (here
whose peacetime role would have been Lincoln Castle), crossbowmen and mounted knights.
looking after the castle in the owner's
absence. Under him would have been
knights who by benefit of their military training would have acted as a type of officer class. Below
them were archers and bowmen, whose role was to prevent the enemy reaching the walls as can be
seen by the positioning of arrowslits.[194]
If it was necessary to seize control of a castle an army could either launch an assault or lay siege. It
was more efficient to starve the garrison out than to assault it, particularly for the most heavily
defended sites. Without relief from an external source, the defenders would eventually submit.
Sieges could last weeks, months, and in rare cases years if the supplies of food and water were
plentiful. A long siege could slow down the army, allowing help to come or for the enemy to
prepare a larger force for later.[195] Such an approach was not confined to castles, but was also
applied to the fortified towns of the day.[196] On occasion, siege castles would be built to defend the
besiegers from a sudden sally and would have been abandoned after the siege ended one way or
another.[197]
If forced to assault a castle, there were many options

available to the attackers. For wooden structures, such as
early motte-and-baileys, fire was a real threat and
attempts would be made to set them alight as can be seen
in the Bayeux Tapestry.[198] Projectile weapons had been
used since antiquity and the mangonel and petraria –
from Eastern and Roman origins respectively – were the
main two that were used into the Middle Ages. The
trebuchet, which probably evolved from the petraria in
the 13th century, was the most effective siege weapon
before the development of cannons. These weapons were A reconstructed trebuchet at Château des
Baux in Bouches-du-Rhône in the south of
vulnerable to fire from the castle as they had a short
France.
range and were large machines. Conversely, weapons
such as trebuchets could be fired from within the castle
due to the high trajectory of its projectile, and would be protected from direct fire by the curtain
walls.[199]
Ballistas or springalds were siege engines that worked on the same principles as crossbows. With
their origins in Ancient Greece, tension was used to project a bolt or javelin. Missiles fired from
these engines had a lower trajectory than trebuchets or mangonels and were more accurate. They
were more commonly used against the garrison rather than the buildings of a castle.[200]
Eventually cannons developed to the point where they were more powerful and had a greater range
than the trebuchet, and became the main weapon in siege warfare.[116]
Walls could be undermined by a sap. A mine leading to the wall would be dug and once the target
had been reached, the wooden supports preventing the tunnel from collapsing would be burned. It
would cave in and bring down the structure above.[201] Building a castle on a rock outcrop or
surrounding it with a wide, deep moat helped prevent this. A counter-mine could be dug towards
the besiegers' tunnel; assuming the two converged, this would result in underground hand-to-hand
combat. Mining was so effective that during the siege of Margat in 1285 when the garrison were
informed a sap was being dug they surrendered.[202] Battering rams were also used, usually in the
form of a tree trunk given an iron cap. They were used to force open the castle gates, although they
were sometimes used against walls with less effect.[203]
As an alternative to the time-consuming task of creating a breach, an escalade could be attempted

to capture the walls with fighting along the walkways behind the battlements.[204] In this instance,
attackers would be vulnerable to arrow fire.[205] A safer option for those assaulting a castle was to
use a siege tower, sometimes called a belfry. Once ditches around a castle were partially filled in,
these wooden, movable towers could be pushed against the curtain wall. As well as offering some
protection for those inside, a siege tower could overlook the interior of a castle, giving bowmen an
advantageous position from which to unleash missiles.[204]
See also
Middle Ages portal
Types of castles: Lowland castle Battlement Similar structures:

Alcázar Ordensburg Drawbar (defense)
Burgstall Ridge castle Drawbridge African castles
Cave castle Spur castle Dungeon Dzong architecture
Concentric castle Toll castle Hoarding Forts in India
Fortified house Water castle Keep Fortified church
Hill castle Medieval Gusuku
Castle features:
Hillside castle fortification Japanese castle
Island castle Arrowslit Murder hole Tower house
Footnotes
a. A 'pleasance' is a style of walled-in royal or noble residence, used by some nobility in the late
medieval period. In particular, a 'pleasance' necessarily had extensive, elaborate gardens;
these are sometimes called by the modern descriptive phrase "stately pleasure gardens". They
were built in northern Europe after gunpowder and cannon had obsoleted the early medieval
military castles. In general, a 'pleasance' was intentionally built to resemble a militarily-
functional castle, so that it could serve as what one could call "landscape propaganda" – a
reminder to those viewing it from the outside of the superior power and status of the resident
nobility which had been dispatched from castle garrisons in the prior generation(s). And a
'pleasance' was built to resemble those remembered castles, even though to reduce expense,
the walls were not adequate as fortifications, as-built;[1] with the possible exception of those (if
any) made by remodelling obsolete, formerly functional castles.
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Further reading
Gravett, Christopher (1990). Medieval Siege Warfare. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-
85045-947-8.
Johnson, Matthew (2002). Behind the Castle Gate: From Medieval to Renaissance. London,
UK: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26100-7.
Kenyon, J. (1991). Medieval Fortifications. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-
7185-1392-4.
Mesqui, Jean (1997). Chateaux-forts et fortifications en France (https://archive.org/details/chat
eauxfortsetf00mesq) [Castles and Fortifications in France] (in French). Paris, FR: Flammarion.
ISBN 2-08-012271-1.
Monreal y Tejada, Luis (1999). Medieval Castles of Spain (English ed.). Konemann. ISBN 3-
8290-2221-2.
Pounds, N.J.G. (1994). The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: A social and political
history. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45828-5.
Thompson, M.W. (1991). The Rise of the Castle. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-37544-4.
Wheatley, Abigail (2004). The Idea of the Castle in Medieval England. York, UK: York Medieval
Press.
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16/07/2024, 17:54 Castle - Wikipedia

European-style castles originated in the 9th and

In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle

In different areas of the world, analogous structures shared

Bailey and enceinte

enfilading fire along the wall.[34]

Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland is

Many earthworks survive today, along with evidence of

In the medieval period, castles were influenced by earlier

Building a castle sometimes required the permission

In some countries the monarch had little control over

Historians have interpreted the widespread presence of

Innovation and scientific design (12th century)

A peculiar feature of Muslim castles in the Iberian

When seeking to explain this change in the complexity

13th to 15th centuries

One of the effects of the Livonian Crusade in the Baltic

Although France has been described as "the

This form is very common in castles adapted for guns,

Bastions and star forts (16th century)

Later use and revival castles

Revival or mock castles became popular as a

as castellation and towers, but served no military purpose

as Peveril Castle, would have cost around UK£200. In the

To allow the lord to concentrate on his duties regarding

Locations and landscapes

As castles were not simply military buildings but centres

During and shortly after the Norman Conquest of

that have usually been interpreted as military could be

Movable panorama of the landscape around Leeds Castle in Kent,

withstand a long siege. In 1403, a force of

Early on, manning a castle was a feudal duty

If forced to assault a castle, there were many options

As an alternative to the time-consuming task of creating a breach, an escalade could be attempted

Types of castles: Lowland castle Battlement Similar structures:

"Time Team: Tregruk" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130123125628/http://www.channel4.com/

34. Friar 2003, p. 86

103. Cathcart King 1988, pp. 81–82

179. Smail 1973, p. 90

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