Hello, dear reader!
After all, medieval architects in Europe were geniuses - they built castles, luxurious buildings that were also extremely practical. Castles, unlike modern mansions, not only demonstrated the wealth of their owners, but also served as powerful fortresses that could hold a defense for several years, and at the same time life in them did not stop.
Medieval castles
Even the very fact that many castles, having survived wars, natural disasters and the carelessness of their owners, still stand intact, suggests that more reliable housing has not yet been invented. They are also incredibly beautiful and seem to have appeared in our world from the pages of fairy tales and legends. Their tall spiers remind of the times when the hearts of beauties were fought for, and the air was saturated with chivalry and courage.
To get you into the romantic mood, I have collected in this material 20 of the most famous castles that still remain on Earth. You will definitely want to visit them and, perhaps, stay to live.
Reichsburg Castle, Germany
The thousand-year-old castle was originally the residence of King Conrad III of Germany and then King Louis XIV of France. The fortress was burned by the French in 1689 and would have sunk into oblivion, but a German businessman acquired its remains in 1868 and spent most of his wealth to restore the castle.
Mont Saint Michel, France
The impregnable castle of Mont Saint-Michel, surrounded on all sides by the sea, is one of the most popular attractions in France after Paris. Built in 709, it still looks stunning.
Hochosterwitz Castle, Austria
The medieval castle of Hochosterwitz was built back in the 9th century. Its towers still vigilantly monitor the surrounding area, proudly towering above it at an altitude of 160 m. And in sunny weather they can be admired even at a distance of 30 km
Bled Castle, Slovenia
The castle is located on a hundred-meter cliff, hanging menacingly over Lake Bled. In addition to the magnificent view from the windows of the castle, this place has a rich history - the residence of the Serbian queen of the dynasty, and later of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, was located here
Hohenzollern Castle, Germany
This castle is located on the top of the Hohenzollern mountain, 2800 meters above sea level. During its heyday, the castle in this fortress was considered the residence of the Prussian emperors.
Barciense Castle, Spain
Barciense Castle in the Spanish province of Toledo was built in the 15th century by a local count. For 100 years, the castle served as a powerful artillery fortress, and today these empty walls attract only photographers and tourists.
Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
The romantic castle of the Bavarian king Ludwig II was built in the middle of the 19th century, and at that time its architecture was considered very extravagant. Be that as it may, it was its walls that inspired the creators of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland
Methoni Castle, Greece
Since the 14th century, the Venetian castle-fortress of Methoni has been the center of battles and the last outpost of Europeans in these parts in the battles against the Turks, who dreamed of capturing the Peloponnese. Today, only ruins remain of the fortress.
Hohenschwangau Castle, Germany
This castle-fortress was built by the Knights of Schwangau in the 12th century and was the residence of many rulers, including the famous King Ludwig II, who hosted the composer Richard Wagner within these walls
Chillon Castle, Switzerland
This medieval bastille resembles a warship from a bird's eye view. The castle's rich history and distinctive appearance have served as inspiration for many famous writers. In the 16th century, the castle was used as a state prison, as described by George Byron in his poem “The Prisoner of Chillon.”
Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland
The castle, located on a rocky island in the Loch Duich fjord, is one of Scotland's most romantic castles, famous for its heather honey and legends. Many films have been filmed here, but most importantly, the castle is open to visitors and everyone can touch the stones of its history.
Bodiam Castle, England
Since its founding in the 14th century, Bodiam Castle has seen many owners, all of whom enjoyed fighting. Therefore, when Lord Curzon acquired it in 1917, only ruins remained of the castle. Fortunately, its walls were quickly restored, and now the castle stands as good as new.
Guaita Castle, San Marino
The castle has been located on the top of the inaccessible Monte Titano mountain since the 11th century and, together with two other towers, protects the oldest state in the world, San Marino.
Swallow's Nest, Crimea
Initially, there was a small wooden house on the rock of Cape Ai-Todor. And “Swallow’s Nest” received its current appearance thanks to the oil industrialist Baron Steingel, who loved to vacation in Crimea. He decided to build a romantic castle that resembles medieval buildings on the banks of the Rhine River
Castle Stalker, Scotland
Castle Stalker, which means "Falconer", was built in 1320 and belonged to the MacDougall clan. Since that time, its walls have survived a huge number of strife and wars, which affected the condition of the castle. In 1965, the owner of the castle became Colonel D. R. Stewart from Allward, who personally, together with his wife, family members and friends, restored the building
Bran Castle, Romania
Bran Castle is the pearl of Transylvania, a mysterious fort museum where the famous legend of Count Dracula - the vampire, murderer and commander Vlad the Impaler - was born. According to legend, he spent the night here during his campaigns, and the forest surrounding Bran Castle was Tepes’s favorite hunting ground.
Vyborg Castle, Russia
Vyborg Castle was founded by the Swedes in 1293, during one of the crusades against Karelian land. It remained Scandinavian until 1710, when the troops of Peter I threw the Swedes back far and wide. From that time on, the castle managed to be a warehouse, a barracks, and even a prison for the Decembrists. And today there is a museum here.
Cashel Castle, Ireland
Cashel Castle was the seat of the kings of Ireland for several hundred years before the Norman invasion. Here in the 5th century AD. e. Saint Patrick lived and preached. The castle walls witnessed the bloody suppression of the revolution by the troops of Oliver Cromwell, who burned soldiers alive here. Since then, the castle has become a symbol of the cruelty of the British, the true courage and fortitude of the Irish.
Kilhurn Castle, Scotland
The very beautiful and even slightly creepy ruins of Kilhurn Castle are located on the shores of the picturesque Lake Euw. The history of this castle, unlike most castles in Scotland, proceeded quite calmly - numerous earls lived here, who replaced each other. In 1769, the building was damaged by a lightning strike, and soon it was finally abandoned, as it remains to this day.
Lichtenstein Castle, Germany
Built in the 12th century, this castle was destroyed several times. It was finally restored in 1884 and since then the castle has become a filming location for many films, including the film “The Three Musketeers”.
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INTRODUCTION
Selecting a Theme "Medieval castle: secrets of fortification" was no coincidence.
The Middle Ages is a majestic mystery, largely unsolved by medievalists. One of the components of the Mystery is medieval castles: magnificent monuments of architecture and fortification art.
These citadels, which arose as a refuge for the feudal lord, his family and at the same time indicators of the wealth and strength of the owner, which became widespread in the first half of the era, gradually turned into fortresses and were mostly destroyed during numerous wars.
We really wanted to learn more about these impregnable structures than what is written in textbooks, and to answer the question: what allowed the defenders of the castles to withstand a long siege and what secrets of castle architecture helped them in this.
Relevance: from Today, medieval castles and their fortification architecture are becoming objects of close attention not only by scientists and tourists, but also by authors of computer games, strategies, books and films in the “fantasy” style, where events develop in ancient fortified palace-fortresses. This develops our interest and curiosity, the desire to learn more than is written in educational literature about the castles of the Middle Ages surrounded by mystery.
At the same time, the castle becomes for us not only a place of exciting adventures and battles together with the heroes of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Warmachine, Kings of War, Confrontation, “Games of Thrones”, “Robin Hood”, “The Lord of the Rings” and other fantasy novels, films and wargames, but also that calling card of the Middle Ages, which helps to comprehend its content, opening one of the most interesting pages of history.
This judgment is justified, since the Middle Ages went down in history as a period of endless wars, not only interstate, but also internecine and feudal. Under these conditions, the knight's (feudal) castle became a reliable fortification, and the features of its fortification structure helped the owner and the garrison withstand a long siege of the enemy.
As we can see, from the point of view of relevance, the study acquires a special meaning. And if earlier researchers and authors of projects talked mainly about the castle - a masterpiece of medieval architecture, today - about the secrets of architecture for special, military purposes, turning a home, the center of civilization of a single feudal estate into a citadel.
Object of study
A medieval castle as a dwelling, refuge and palace of a feudal lord.
Subject of study
Elements of castle fortification architecture and the secrets contained in them.
Purpose of the study
Find out the structure of the most important parts of a medieval castle-fortress and their special purpose in defense against the enemy.
To achieve this goal, the following were set: tasks:
Study literature containing information about medieval castles, the history of their construction, and purpose.
Find out the features of the fortification purpose of the elements of a knight's castle.
Educational (problematic) question
1. What fortification secrets allowed the defenders of the castles to withstand a long siege?
Research methods: collection and study of information; generalization and description of the fortification features of the medieval castle.
Research Products
1. Model of a medieval castle.
2. Book - manual "Medieval castle: secrets of fortification."
3. Medieval castle (crossword puzzle “on the contrary”).
The work consists of an Introduction, three sections, a Conclusion, a list of references and an Appendix.
The Introduction substantiates the relevance of the study, defines the purpose, objectives, object and subject of the study.
Section 1, “Knight’s Castle of the Middle Ages: a bit of history,” discusses the general idea of the time and necessity of the appearance of knight’s castles in Europe, the general principles of location and arrangement.
In section 2 " Essential Elements castle and “traps” for the enemy”, fortification details, tricks and their purpose are considered.
Section 3, “Approbation of research materials and conclusions,” presents diagrams illustrating students’ knowledge indicators before and after familiarization with the research materials we prepared (Manual book “Medieval Castle: Secrets of Fortification”).
The “Conclusion” summarizes the general results of the work, outlines the conclusions, and substantiates practical use and the significance of the work.
The “Bibliography” reflects the sources that we used to conduct our research.
The “Appendix” contains testing materials, separately - the book-guide “Medieval Castle: Secrets of Fortification”, diagrams reflecting the level of knowledge of students BEFORE and AFTER getting acquainted with our work, as well as a “crossword puzzle in reverse” as material for reflection.
SECTION 1. Medieval knight's castle: secrets of fortification
Medieval castle: a little history
Our history teacher often repeats that the causes of phenomena and events must be sought not only in the era, contemporary event, but in what preceded it, even if such a connection is hidden under the curtain of many years...
Indeed, slavery and Antiquity were born from primitiveness, which had outgrown itself, and the distant Middle Ages - from Greco-Roman civilization, when it had exhausted its capabilities...
But it would seem that it is either impossible or very difficult to find similarities between Roman times and the European Middle Ages in particulars and details. What if you take a closer look?
And if you look closely, the theme of our work “A medieval castle and its fortification features” in the main detail - “the purpose of the castle” - takes us back to the structure of a Roman camp, the direct purpose of which was to protect its inhabitants.
Judge for yourself, the site of the Roman legionnaires is a fenced area, inside of which there is a tent camp. A medieval fortification is a complicated version of such a shelter.
Based on the experience of defensive structures of the past, aware of the danger of the Norman invasion, people at the beginning of the 12th century began to build shelters that could protect him from external invasion. At first, he fences a fortress house on a hill with a palisade, digs a ditch around it and supplies water to it, and then, realizing that wood and limestone are unreliable materials, he begins to build a fortress out of stone and surround it not just with a fence - with a wall, the height and thickness of which is now measured in meters.
With each new castle on the map of Europe, a new design of its structure appears, the main purpose of which is not only to prevent enemy plans, but also to stop the enemy, defeat him, if not on the approaches to the citadel, then inside it, using the tricks of fortification architecture.
Today we are playing computer games, empathizing with the heroes of fantasy films, putting together puzzles, we partially delve into the meaning of the construction of huge defensive structures, analyze the internal structure and system of fortifications, often asking ourselves: what is there, behind the stone barrier standing in the way of the conquerors, why did the knights build not just beautiful and good houses, but shelters, fortresses?
The conclusion suggests itself: the wars prompted them to do this! With whom? With everyone! In particular, and among themselves for land, peasants, wealth, prestige, honor...
The 12th century came to Europe as a time of disasters and great bloodshed and made you think about whether a rival of superior strength might come and take a fancy to your home, forest, river, fields?
And then, like mushrooms after a good warm rain, such castles appear that even today inspire awe, respect, and sometimes serious fear: will a ghost in armor emerge from the wall with a rusty sword in his hands?..
The owner of the citadel clearly knew what he wanted: the castle should be inaccessible to the enemy, provide surveillance of the area (including the nearest villages belonging to the owner of the castle), have its own source of water (in case of a siege) and show the power and wealth of the feudal lord.
The location was chosen based on these requirements: a mountain, a high rock, in extreme cases a hillock, it would be good not far from the water. The construction of the main dwelling, the donjon, began. The matter is troublesome, slow, and carefully planned. While the builders were erecting walls and digging a well (a source of water, and therefore life!), local people (from the owner's artisans, warriors, peasants) guarded the approaches to the future fortification and paved roads to it. The road necessarily contained numerous obstacles that only knowledgeable person(camouflaged pits, false crossings across rivers and large streams, ambushes with cleared sectors for shelling the enemy...). Required condition- the road must twist so that the horseman or foot warrior certainly ends up with his right, unprotected side towards the citadel.
Having completed the construction of the donjon, they began to build defensive walls. The richer owners built several obstacle walls, the poorer ones made do with one, but it was always powerful, high, with towers and loopholes, strong gates, a protruding barbican, a drawbridge over a moat filled with water.
It also happened the other way around: they started with a moat and walls, and ended with a donjon. But, most importantly, the outcome was always the same: another fortress appeared, an impregnable citadel, striking in its power, beauty or architectural inventiveness. Take a look at these European castles.
Amazing, isn't it?
SECTION 2. “The most important elements of the castle and “traps” for the enemy”
Loopholes, their types and purpose
A medieval castle with its fortifications, which had a specific defensive purpose, is not today’s rich “antique” house. A medieval castle is a formidable, often gloomy fortress with towers and sentries warily surveying the surroundings from their eye sockets.
The towers were built hollow; inside they were divided into floors by floors made of wooden planks with a hole in the center or on the side. A rope passed through them to lift shells to the upper platform in case of defense of the castle.
The stairs were hidden behind partitions in the walls. Take a look: each floor is a separate room in which the soldiers were located. For heating, a fireplace was often built in the thickness of the wall, in which, by the way, it was possible to cook game on a spit...
The only openings in the tower that connected with the outside world were loopholes for archery. Long and narrow openings, they expanded into the room. Typically, the height of such loopholes is 1 meter, and the width is 30 cm on the outside and 1 meter and 30 centimeters on the inside. This design prevented enemy arrows from getting inside, and the defenders had the opportunity to shoot in different directions.
For archers, the loopholes were long narrow slits in the wall, and for the crossbowman there were short loopholes that widened to the sides. They were often called keyholes.
There were also loopholes of a special shape - spherical. These were freely rotating wooden balls with a slot fixed in the wall. They provided the shooter with maximum protection.
The number of loopholes should have frightened the enemy, who understood that the more loopholes, the more defenders, the stronger the defense, of course.
As contemporaries of the Middle Ages, historians and even tourists write, the presence of loopholes became especially important during a war or siege, since in a narrow vertical hole it was not visible whether the shooter was behind it or not. The height of some loopholes was even calculated taking this circumstance into account.
What is interesting for us is the fact that loopholes in walls were not common in Europe until the 13th century, as it was believed that they could weaken their strength. But, regardless of their purpose, the loopholes became mandatory attribute medieval castles dating back to the 13th century.
Secrets of the spiral staircase. Knight's swords*.
Secrets of the spiral staircase.
The Middle Ages are considered to be the time when the technique of constructing a spiral staircase appeared and then flourished. Trying in every possible way to complicate the lives of their enemies, the knights adapted spiral staircases to all structures, and the screw always tightened clockwise.
When advancing to the top of the tower along such a staircase, attackers were waiting for a large number of troubles: steps turning around their axis, a narrow passage, lack of space to swing a sword, open space for an attack from above, repeated at every bend. Under such conditions, even a very modest garrison is able to hold its positions without losses, which would be impossible on an ordinary ladder. You couldn’t shoot through a crossbow or a bow, you couldn’t pierce the steps of the stairs with a spear or a sword, but the holes in the steps made it possible to assess the situation, watch the besieging enemies making their way up, and finally break their legs.
However, there is a castle in Europe in which the stairs twist counterclockwise. This is the ancestral seat of Count Wallenstein in Bohemia. The fact is that this ancient and warlike family became famous not only for its great victories and commanders, but also for its left-handed warriors...
In the Middle Ages, only privileged guilds of craftsmen had the right to build a spiral staircase. Drawings, sketches of stairs and even indirect indications of who and where built the “cunning” structure were kept by the artisans in the strictest confidence.
*Knight's swords (for the most curious). From the 12th century Girdling with a sword and blessing this weapon became a mandatory part of the knighting ritual. Like the king, the knight was entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the world from foreign conquerors, protecting the church from pagans and enemies of the Christian faith. It is no coincidence that sacred inscriptions and religious symbols appeared on the blades of medieval swords, reminiscent of the high service of the Christian warrior, his duty to God and civilians, and the hilt of the sword often became an ark for relics and relics. Throughout almost the entire Middle Ages, the general shape of the sword changed little: it invariably resembled one of the main symbols of Christianity - the cross. The question of geometry, blade profile and its balancing was inherently very important: swords can be adapted for piercing or chopping fighting techniques. The cross-sectional shape of the blade also depended on the use of this sword in battle.
Donjon. Secret passages and chambers in medieval castles
Donjon. Despite the external diversity, all castles are built according to the same plan. Most often they are surrounded by a strong wall with massive square towers at each corner. Well, inside there is a tower - donjon. Initially, these towers had a quadrangular shape, but over time, polygonal or round structures began to appear in order to increase their stability. After all, one of the few ways to take an impregnable fortress was undermining followed by undermining the foundation at the corner of the building. Some towers had a dividing wall in the middle.
An additional level of protection included bars, strong doors and strong locks. The dungeons were very carefully thought out.
Such towers were erected from stone. Wooden fortresses could no longer provide adequate protection from fire, throwing and siege weapons. In addition, the stone structure was much better suited to the nobility: it became possible to make large and safe rooms that were well protected from bad weather and the enemy.
Architects always took into account the terrain during construction and chose the most advantageous places for defense for future castles. The donjons, in turn, rose high even above the level of the fortress, which not only improved visibility and gave an advantage to archers, but made them practically inaccessible to siege ladders.
There was only one entrance to the tower. It was raised above ground level and a ladder or even a ditch with a drawbridge was built so that attackers could not use a ram. The room immediately after entry was sometimes used to disarm visitors. The guards were also stationed here. Food was stored in the basement of the tower, and it was also one of the safest places to store the treasures of the nobility.
On the second floor there was a room for meetings and feasts.
There could have been more floors, but this always depended on the wealth of the owner of the castle and on the ability to separate one floor from another in such a way as to make the upward movement of unwanted guests long and completely unsafe. In addition, some owners of the citadel ordered the construction of entire underground passages leading far beyond the castle... And then the formidable and impregnable structures were overgrown with new creepy stories that chilled the blood...
Secret passages in medieval castles. Medieval castles had ingeniously designed fortifications, which used many ingenious and creative ways protect the castle residents from enemy attacks. Literally everything - from the outer walls to the shape and placement of the stairs - was very carefully planned to ensure maximum protection for the inhabitants of the castle.
Almost every castle had secret passages that only the owners knew about. Some of them were made so that the inhabitants of the castle could flee in case of defeat, and some so that during a siege the defenders would not be cut off from food supplies. Secret passages also led to secret chambers where people could hide or food could be stored and an additional well was dug for water.
One of the striking examples of a castle with many secret rooms and passages is Benrath Castle in Germany. There are as many as seven invisible passages hidden in the walls of the building!
Yes, a medieval castle was much more than just a big glamorous palace with massive stone walls around it. It was a structure designed down to the smallest detail to protect its inhabitants. And each castle was full of its own little secrets.
Ditch and zwinger
Moat. The first barrier guarding the castle was a deep ditch. It was often connected to a river to fill it with water. The ditch made it difficult to access the fortress walls and siege weapons. It could be transverse (separating the castle wall from the plateau) or crescent-shaped (curved forward). Could encircle the entire castle in a circle. Very rarely, ditches were dug inside the castle to make it difficult for the enemy to move through its territory. If the soil under the castle was rocky, then a ditch was not made at all. It was possible to cross the ditch only by a drawbridge hanging on iron chains.
Zwinger. Often the castle was surrounded by double walls - a high external one and a small internal one. An empty space appeared between them, which received the German name zwinger. The attackers, having overcome the outer wall, could not take additional assault devices with them. And, once in the zwinger, they became an easy target for archers (there were small loopholes in the walls of the zwinger for archers). Within the walls of the zwinger, which was also the inner wall of the moat, semicircular towers or bastions were often built to facilitate observation of the moat.
Main defensive wall of the castle
... In previous blessed times, when neighbors peacefully drank wine at the same table, hunted and competed in strength and dexterity, everything was simpler: a small house surrounded by a palisade. Then a larger house and a wall made of clay and lime blocks. And then, when the war of each against all came knocking on our door, the houses turned into fortresses, and the fences into walls of stone!
Both the castle and the wall were now built in such a way as to withstand a long siege, save from captivity and shame, and stop the enemy! And each element played its important role. This also applied to the main wall of the fortress.
It should be of such a height that attackers could not climb it using ladders or using siege towers, and, of course, very wide and thick. Then you can give up trying to quickly make a hole in it - time will be spent not only in vain, but a lot without an obvious result. Powerful trebuchets can, of course, collapse the roofs of towers or break fortress battlements. Most likely, the enemy will use soldiers with pickaxes, but here the defenders of the castle will be helped by loopholes in which arrows are hidden, and machicolations, from which both boiling water and hot tar will pour on the enemy...
At the top of the wall is laid combat move. All possible weapons will be used here by the defenders of the fortress, hiding behind the battlements of the wall, in order to prevent the enemy from setting up assault ladders, making a tunnel, or breaking through a niche for an explosion.
The builders strongly recommended to fit protruding forwards into the wall. towers with loopholes and walkways. The towers also served to strengthen the corners - the weakest point of the wall, since it was in the corners of the fortress that the most enemy forces and the least defensive forces could be concentrated.
Barbican and wolf pits
Barbican. No matter how strong the castle gates were, they still remained a weak link. Therefore, the builders of the glorious Middle Ages figured out how to protect the entrance to the citadel. And this structure guarding the gate was the barbican - the outer fortification of the city or fortress.
What is the secret of the Barbican? The fact is that you cannot bypass it, if you are going to break open the gates of the citadel, you must go through it!
And here was the cunning of the barbican - the gate tower: this powerful stone structure had a platform at the top on which throwing weapons were placed. Moreover, the barbican had two floors. On the first there is a through passage a little wide more sizes carts. The small detachment, having got here, found itself cut off from the main one by an iron grate falling from above, on the outside, and by a strong gate, locked with a powerful bolt, on the inside!
The guards serving on the second floor, opening the hatches in the floor, could (and did!) pour hot tar or boiling water on the enemies rushing to the main gate.
In fact, the barbican was the only way into the castle and, of course, it was well guarded.
Wolf pits. Another terrible obstacle on the way to the castle were wolf pits - cunning and cruel structures that were invented by the ancient Romans. The pit was arranged in such a way that, firstly, it had inclined (inward) walls. Therefore, getting out of it was not so easy. Secondly, short pointed stakes in several rows were driven into its bottom. Having fallen into this disguised trap, a person almost always lost the opportunity to stay alive, and his soul flew off to God after severe torment of the body.
Enemy infantry was doomed if they fell into the locations of wolf pits. And they were waiting for the victim on the approaches to the castle, and at its walls, and at the gates of the barbican and the fortress itself, and even on the approaches to the donjon.
Medieval castle - main gate
The gate, the most vulnerable part of the castle, was installed in the gate towers. Most often, the gates were double-leaf, and the doors were knocked together from two layers of boards. To prevent them from being set on fire from the outside, they were lined with iron. In one of the gate wings there was a small narrow door through which one could only go through by bending over. An additional strengthening of the gate was a transverse beam, which was inserted into hook-shaped slots on the walls.
Behind the gate was a lowering grate. Most often it was made of wood, with lower ends bound in iron. But there were also iron gratings made from steel tetrahedral rods.
The grate hung on ropes or chains, which in case of danger could be cut off so that it would quickly fall down, blocking the path of the invaders. From the point of view of defense and protection of the castle, the gate had great value. Therefore, the medieval castle was built for a long time, painstakingly, taking into account all the features of the enemy’s military operations.
Drawbridge
The drawbridge, thrown over the moat, rose in case of danger and, like a door, closed the entrance, disconnecting the castle from the outside world. The bridge was driven by mechanisms hidden in the building. From the bridge to the lifting machines, ropes or chains wound around the gates went into the wall holes. The ropes were sometimes equipped with heavy counterweights, taking part of the weight of this structure on themselves. Another way to lift the bridge is with a lever. Both designs facilitated the rapid lifting of the bridge.
The craftsmen who built the bridge, which worked on the principle of a swing, were especially skilled. One of them lay on the ground under the gate, and the other stretched across the ditch. When the inner part rose, covering the entrance to the castle, the outer part (which the attackers sometimes already managed to run into) sank down into the moat, into the “wolf pit”, invisible from the side while the bridge was lowered.
In the middle of the century, the defensive value of drawbridges was very great, but later lost its importance due to the advent of new siege weapons.
In order to understand the role played by the material on the research topic collected, processed and prepared by us in the form of an illustrated book-guide, we invited all those who participated in our survey at the end of 2017 to get acquainted with it and solve the crossword puzzle “Medieval castle” , compiled taking into account the need to know the terms and concepts on the topic. Received positive results are presented in diagrams (indicators are indicated in percentages) in the Appendix and give a clear idea of the role and significance of our research in the learning process.
2.2. conclusions
As a result of processing and analyzing the results obtained, we received evidence of the effectiveness of use in educational process materials of our research.
Level of knowledge and understanding educational material students of class 6B "ANO "SCHOOL "PRESIDENT" who participated in the testing of research materials increased significantly, as can be seen from a comparison of the diagrams. (See also Appendix).
CONCLUSION
The work we did turned out to be very interesting. We were able to answer all the questions that interested us and tried to examine in detail not so much the history of the emergence of knightly castles, but rather the fortification secrets laid down by the architects during their construction.
To touch the Middle Ages, a model of the castle was made. It can be used in lessons about the surrounding world and history. But the most important result of our work was, of course, the illustrated book “The Medieval Castle: Secrets of Fortification”, for the writing of which we collected and systematized material over the course of six months, using available literature and the capabilities of the Internet.
Unraveling the mystery of the fortification of Medieval castles, we reasonably assumed that the research product could be used in Medieval history lessons, MHC and in extracurricular activities. Consequently, the book written by us will contribute to the development of students’ cognitive activity, the formation of their life position, and the development of interest in History.
Thus, we believe that the goals and objectives set before us in the study have been realized, the hypothesis has been confirmed, and the answer to the educational (problematic) question has been received.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ionina N.I. “100 Great Castles”, Veche, Moscow, 2004.
Lavisse E. and Rambo A. “The Age of the Crusades”, Polygon, St. Petersburg 2003.
Razin E.A. “History of Military Art”, Polygon, St. Petersburg 1999.
Taylor Barbara “Knights”, Series “Learn and Make!”, Publisher: Moscow OLMA Media Group 2014, 64 p.
Philippe Simon, Marie Laure Bouet, “Knights and Castles” Series “Your First Encyclopedia”, Publisher: Moscow “Makhaon” 2013, 128 p.
Funken L. and Funken F. “Encyclopedia of weapons and military costume of the MIDDLE AGES”, Astrel, Moscow 2002.
Shpakovsky Vyacheslav Olegovich, “Knights” Series “Discover the World”, Publisher: LLC “Baltic Book” 2014, 96 p.
Internet materials
Architecture of castles. goo.gl/RQiawf
- How castles were built in the Middle Ages. goo.gl/Auno84
- Main elements of a medieval castle. goo.gl/cMLuwn
Knightly traditions. Who are the knights? goo.gl/FXvDFn
Medieval castle: structure and siege. goo.gl/5F57rS
Medieval castle. goo.gl/LSPsrU
As mentioned above, medieval castles and each of their components were built according to certain rules. The following main structural elements of the castle can be distinguished:
Courtyard
Fortress wall
Let's look at them in more detail.
Most of the towers were erected on natural hills. If there were no such hills in the area, then the builders resorted to constructing a hill. As a rule, the height of the hill was 5 meters, but there were heights of more than 10 meters, although there were exceptions - for example, the height of the hill on which one of the Norfolk castles was placed near Thetford reached hundreds of feet (about 30 meters).
The shape of the castle territory varied - some were oblong, some were square, and there were courtyards in the shape of a figure eight. Variations were highly variable depending on the size of the host condition and site configuration.
After a site for construction was chosen, the first step was to dug it in with a ditch. The excavated earth was thrown onto the inner bank of the ditch, resulting in a rampart or embankment called a scarp. The opposite bank of the ditch was called, accordingly, the counter-scarp. If possible, a ditch was dug around a natural hill or other elevation. But, as a rule, the hill had to be filled in, which required a huge amount of earthwork.
The hill consisted of earth mixed with limestone, peat, gravel, brushwood, and the surface was covered with clay or wooden flooring.
The first fence of the castle was protected by all sorts of defensive structures designed to stop too rapid an attack by the enemy: hedges, slingshots (placed between pillars driven into the ground), earthen embankments, hedges, various protruding structures, for example, a traditional barbican that protected access to drawbridge. At the foot of the wall there was a ditch, they tried to make it as deep as possible (sometimes more than 10 m deep, as in Trematon and Lassa) and wider (10 m in Loches, 12 in Dourdan, 15 in Tremworth, 22 m - in Kusi). Typically, moats were dug around castles as part of a defensive system. They made it difficult to access the fortress walls, including siege weapons such as a battering ram or a siege tower. Sometimes the moat was even filled with water. In shape, it more often resembled the letter V than U. If a ditch was dug directly under the wall, a fence, a lower rampart, was erected above it to protect the patrol path outside the fortress. This piece of land was called a palisade.
An important property of a water-filled ditch is the prevention of undermining. Often rivers and other natural bodies of water were connected to ditches to fill them with water. The ditches needed to be periodically cleared of debris to prevent shallowing. Sometimes stakes were placed at the bottom of ditches, making it difficult to overcome by swimming. Access to the fortress was usually organized through drawbridges
Depending on the width of the ditch, it is supported by one or more supports. While outer part the bridge is fixed, the last segment is movable. This is the so-called drawbridge. It is designed so that its plate can rotate around an axis fixed at the base of the gate, breaking the bridge and closing the gate. To set the drawbridge in motion, devices are used both on the gate itself and on its inside. The bridge is raised manually, using ropes or chains running through blocks in slots in the wall. To make work easier, counterweights can be used. The chain can go through blocks to the gate located in the room above the gate. This gate can be horizontal and rotated by a handle, or vertical and driven by horizontal beams threaded through it. Another way to lift the bridge is with a lever. Swinging beams are threaded through the slots in the wall, the outer end of which is connected by chains to the front end of the bridge plate, and counterweights are attached to the rear end inside the gate. This design facilitates rapid lifting of the bridge. Finally, the bridge plate can be designed according to the rocker principle.
The outer part of the plate, rotating around an axis at the base of the goal, closes the passage, and the inner part, on which the attackers may already be, goes down into the so-called. a wolf pit, invisible while the bridge is down. Such a bridge is called a tilting or swinging bridge.
In Fig.1. A diagram of the entrance to the castle is presented.
The fence itself consisted of thick solid walls - curtains - part of the fortress wall between two bastions and various side structures, collectively called
Fig.1.
towers. The fortress wall rose directly above the moat, its bases went deep into the ground, and the bottom was made as flat as possible to prevent possible undermining by the attackers, as well as so that shells dropped from a height would ricochet off it. The shape of the fence depended on its location, but its perimeter was always significant.
The fortified castle did not at all resemble an individual dwelling. The height of the curtains ranged from 6 to 10 m, the thickness - from 1.5 to 3 m. However, in some fortresses, for example, in Chateau-Gaillard, the thickness of the walls in some places exceeds 4.5 m. The towers are usually round, less often square or polygonal , were built, as a rule, on the floor above the curtains. Their diameter (from 6 to 20 m) depended on the location: the most powerful were in the corners and near the entrance gates. The towers were built hollow, inside they were divided into floors by floors made of wooden planks with a hole in the center or on the side through which a rope passed, used to lift shells to the upper platform in case of defending the fortress. The stairs were hidden by partitions in the walls. Thus, each floor was a room where the soldiers were located; it was possible to light a fire in a fireplace built into the thickness of the wall. The only openings in the tower are the archery loopholes, long and narrow openings that widened into the room (Fig. 2).
Fig.2.
In France, for example, the height of such loopholes is usually 1 m, and the width is 30 cm on the outside and 1.3 m on the inside. Such a structure made it difficult for enemy arrows to penetrate, but the defenders had the opportunity to shoot in different directions.
The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on an inclined base. Processed stones or bricks made up its outer surface. Inside it consisted of rubble stone and slaked lime. The walls were placed on a deep foundation, under which it was very difficult to dig.
At the top of the fortress wall there was a so-called sentinel path, protected from the outside by a jagged parapet. It served for observation, communication between towers and defense of the fortress. A large wooden board was sometimes attached to the battlements between two embrasures, held on a horizontal axis, behind which crossbowmen took cover to load their weapons. During the wars, the patrol route was supplemented with something like a folding wooden gallery of the required shape, mounted in front of the parapet. Holes were made in the floor so that the defenders could shoot from above if the attackers took cover at the foot of the wall. Starting from the end of the 12th century, especially in the southern regions of France, these wooden galleries, not very durable and easily flammable, began to be replaced by real stone projections, built along with the parapet. These are the so-called machicolations, galleries with hinged loopholes (Fig. 3). They performed the same function as before, but their advantage was their greater strength and the fact that they made it possible to throw cannonballs down, which then ricocheted off the gentle slope of the wall.
Fig.3.
Sometimes several were made in the fortress wall secret doors for the passage of infantrymen, but only one large gate was always built, invariably fortified with special care, since it was on them that the main blow of the attackers fell.
The most in an early way The gate's defense was its location between two rectangular towers. A good example of this type of protection is the construction of gates in the 11th century Exeter Castle, which has survived to this day. In the 13th century, the square gate towers gave way to the main gate tower, which was a merger of the two previous ones with additional floors built above them. These are the gate towers of Richmond and Ludlow Castles. In the 12th century, the more common way to protect the gate was to build two towers on either side of the entrance to the castle, and only in the 13th century did gate towers appear in their completed form. The two flanking towers now join into one above the gate, becoming a massive and powerful fortification and one of the most important parts of the castle. The gate and entrance now turn into a long and narrow passage, blocked at each end with porticoes. These were doors that slid vertically along gutters carved in stone, made in the form of large gratings made of thick timber; the lower ends of the vertical beams were pointed and bound with iron, so the lower edge of the portico was a series of pointed iron stakes. These lattice gates were opened and closed using thick ropes and a winch located in a special chamber in the wall above the passage. Later, the entrance was protected with the help of "mertières", deadly holes drilled into the vaulted ceiling of the passage. Through these holes, objects and substances usual in such a situation - arrows, stones, boiling water and hot oil - rained down and poured on anyone who tried to force their way through to the gate. However, another explanation seems more plausible - water was poured through the holes if the enemy tried to set fire to the wooden gates, since the most the best way to penetrate the castle was to fill the passage with straw and logs, thoroughly soak the mixture with flammable oil and set it on fire; they killed two birds with one stone - they burned the lattice gates and fried the castle defenders in the gate rooms. In the walls of the passage there were small rooms equipped with rifle slits, through which the defenders of the castle could use their bows to shoot at close range the dense mass of attackers who were trying to break into the castle. In Fig.4. Various types of shooting slits are presented.
In the upper floors of the gate tower there were rooms for soldiers and often even living quarters. In special chambers there were gates, with the help of which the drawbridge was lowered and raised on chains. Since the gate was the place that was most often attacked by the enemy besieging the castle, they were sometimes provided with another means of additional protection - the so-called barbicans, which began at some distance from the gate. Typically, the barbican consisted of two high, thick walls running parallel outward from the gate, thus forcing the enemy to squeeze into the narrow passage between the walls, exposing himself to the arrows of the archers of the gate tower and the upper platform of the barbican hidden behind the battlements. Sometimes, to make access to the gate even more dangerous, the barbican was installed at an angle to it, which forced attackers to go to the gate on the right, and parts of the body not covered by shields became targets for archers. The entrance and exit of the Barbican were usually very intricately decorated.
Fig.4.
Each more or less serious castle had at least two more rows of defensive structures (ditches, hedges, curtains, towers, parapets, gates and bridges), smaller in size, but built on the same principle. A fairly significant distance was left between them, so each castle looked like a small fortified city. Freteval can again be cited as an example. Its fences have a round shape, the diameter of the first is 140 m, the second is 70 m, the third is 30 m. The last fence, called the “shirt,” was erected very close to the donjon in order to block access to it.
The space between the first two fences constituted the lower courtyard. There was a real village there: the houses of peasants who worked on the master's fields, workshops and dwellings of artisans (blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, carvers, carriage makers), a threshing floor and stable, a bakery, a community mill and press, a well, a fountain, sometimes a pond with live fish, washroom, traders' counters. Such a village was a typical settlement of that time with chaotically located streets and houses. Later, such settlements began to go beyond the castle and settle in its surroundings on the other side of the moat. Their inhabitants, as well as the rest of the inhabitants of the seigneury, took refuge behind the fortress walls only in case of serious danger.
Between the second and third fences there was an upper courtyard also with many buildings: a chapel, housing for soldiers, stables, kennels, dovecotes and a falcon yard, a pantry with food supplies, kitchens, and a pond.
Behind the “shirt,” that is, the last fence, stood the donjon. It was usually built not in the center of the castle, but in its most inaccessible part; it simultaneously served as both the dwelling of the feudal lord and the military center of the fortress. Donjon (French donjon) is the main tower of a medieval castle, one of the symbols of the European Middle Ages.
It was the most massive structure that was part of the castle buildings. The walls were gigantic in thickness and were installed on a powerful foundation capable of withstanding the blows of pickaxes, drills and battering guns of the besiegers.
It surpassed all other buildings in height, often exceeding 25 m: 27 m in Etampes, 28 m in Gisors, 30 m in Udun, Dourdan and Freteval, 31 m in Chateaudun, 35 m in Tonquedec, 40 in Losches, 45 m - in Provins. It could be square (Tower of London), rectangular (Loches), hexagonal (Tournoel Castle), octagonal (Gisors), four-lobed (Etampes), but more often round ones with a diameter of 15 to 20 m and a wall thickness of 3 to 4 m are found.
Flat buttresses, called pilasters, supported the walls along their entire length and at the corners; at each corner such a pilaster was crowned with a turret on top. The entrance was always located on the second floor, high above the ground. An external staircase led to the entrance, located at right angles to the door and covered by a bridge tower installed outside directly against the wall. By for obvious reasons the windows were very small. On the first floor there were none at all, on the second they were tiny and only on the next floors they became a little larger. These features- the bridge tower, outer staircase and small windows - can be clearly seen at Rochester Castle and Hedingham Castle in Essex.
The shapes of donjons are very diverse: in Great Britain, quadrangular towers were popular, but there were also round, octagonal, regular and irregular polygonal donjons, as well as combinations of several of these shapes. The change in the shape of the dungeons is associated with the development of architecture and siege technology. A tower that is round or polygonal in plan is better able to withstand the impact of projectiles. Sometimes when constructing a dungeon, builders followed the terrain of the area, for example by placing the tower on a cliff irregular shape. This type towers appeared in the 11th century. in Europe, more precisely in Normandy (France). Initially it was a rectangular tower, adapted for defense, but at the same time being the residence of the feudal lord.
In the XII-XIII centuries. The feudal lord moved into the castle, and the donjon turned into a separate structure, significantly reduced in size, but stretched vertically. The tower was now located separately outside the perimeter of the fortress walls, in a place most inaccessible to the enemy, sometimes even separated by a ditch from the rest of the fortifications. It performed defensive and patrol functions (at the very top there was always a combat and patrol platform, covered with battlements). It was considered as the last refuge in defense from the enemy (for this purpose there were weapons and food warehouses inside), and only after the capture of the donjon was the castle considered conquered.
By the 16th century the active use of cannons turned the dungeons, towering above the rest of the buildings, into too convenient targets.
The donjon was divided inside into floors by means of wooden floors (Fig. 5).
Fig.5.
For defensive purposes, its only door was at the level of the second floor, that is, at a height of at least 5 m above the ground. One got inside via stairs, scaffolding or a bridge connected to a parapet. However, all these structures were very simple: after all, they had to be removed very quickly in the event of an attack. It was on the second floor that there was a large hall, sometimes with a vaulted ceiling, - the center of the lord's life. Here he dined, entertained, received guests and vassals, and even administered justice in winter. On the floor above were the rooms of the castle owner and his wife; They climbed there along a narrow stone staircase in the wall. On the fourth and fifth floors there are common rooms for children, servants and subjects. The guests also slept there. The top of the donjon resembled the top of a fortress wall with its crenellated parapet and sentinel path, as well as additional wooden or stone galleries. To this was added a watchtower to monitor the surrounding area.
The first floor, that is, the floor under the large hall, did not have a single opening leading out. However, it was neither a prison nor a stone bag, as archaeologists of the last century assumed. Usually there was a storeroom where firewood, wine, grain and weapons were stored.
In some dungeons, in the lower room, in addition, there was a well or an entrance to a dungeon dug under the castle and leading to an open field, which, however, was quite rare. By the way, the dungeon, as a rule, served to store food supplies for a year, and not at all to facilitate a secret escape, romantic or forced by R.I. Lapin. Article "Donjon". Encyclopedic Fund of Russia. Access address: http://www.russika.ru/.
The interior of the donjon is also of particular interest within the framework of the work.
DONJON INTERIOR
The interior of the lord's home can be characterized by three features: simplicity, modest decoration, and a small amount of furniture.
No matter how high the main hall was (from 7 to 12 meters) and spacious (from 50 to 150 meters), the hall always remained one room. Sometimes it was divided into several rooms by some kind of draperies, but always only for a while and due to certain circumstances. Trapezoidal window openings separated in this manner and deep niches in the wall served as small living rooms. Large windows, rather high than wide, with a semicircular top, were arranged in the thickness of the wall, similar to tower loopholes for archery.
No matter how high it was (from 7 to 12 meters) and spacious (from 50 to 150 meters), the hall always remained one room. Sometimes it was divided into several rooms by some kind of draperies, but always only for a while and due to certain circumstances. Trapezoidal window openings separated in this manner and deep niches in the wall served as small living rooms. Large windows, rather high than wide, with a semicircular top, were arranged in the thickness of the wall, similar to tower loopholes for archery. There was a stone bench in front of the windows, which was used for talking or looking out the window. Windows were rarely glazed (glass is an expensive material, used mainly for church stained glass windows); more often they were covered with a small lattice made of wicker rod or metal, or covered with glued fabric or an oiled sheet of parchment nailed to the frame.
A folding wooden sash was attached to the window, usually internal rather than external; usually it was not closed unless one slept in the large hall.
Even though the windows were few and rather narrow, they still let in enough light to illuminate the hall on summer days. Evening or winter sunlight replaced not only the fireplace fire, but also resin torches, tallow candles or oil lamps, which were attached to the walls and ceiling. Thus, internal lighting always turned out to be a source of heat and smoke, but this was still not enough to overcome dampness - the real scourge of a medieval home. Wax candles, like glass, were intended only for the richest houses and churches.
The floor in the hall was made of wooden planks, clay or, less commonly, stone slabs, however, no matter what it was, it was never left uncovered. In winter it was covered with straw, either finely chopped or woven into rough mats. In spring and summer - reeds, branches and flowers (lilies, gladioli, irises). Fragrant herbs and fragrant plants, such as mint and verbena, were placed along the walls. Woolen carpets and bedspreads made from embroidered fabrics were generally used for seating only in bedrooms. In the large hall, everyone usually sat on the floor, laying down skins and furs.
The ceiling, which is also the floor of the upper floor, often remained untreated, but in the 13th century they began to try to decorate it with beams and caissons, creating geometric patterns, heraldic friezes or ornate patterns with images of animals. Sometimes the walls were painted in the same way, but more often they were simply painted in a specific color (preference was given to red and yellow ocher) or covered with a pattern that imitated the appearance of cut stone or a chessboard. Frescoes depicting allegorical and historical scenes, borrowed from legends, the Bible or literary works, are already appearing in princely houses. It is known, for example, that King Henry III of England loved to sleep in a room whose walls were decorated with episodes from the life of Alexander the Great, a hero who aroused special admiration in the Middle Ages. However, such luxury remained available only to the sovereign. An ordinary vassal, an inhabitant of a wooden dungeon, had to be content with a rough, bare wall, ennobled only by his own spear and shield.
Instead of wall paintings, tapestries with geometric, floral or historical motifs were used. However, more often these are not real tapestries (which were usually brought from the East), but mostly embroidery on thick fabric, like the so-called “Queen Matilda carpet” kept in Bayeux.
Tapestries made it possible to hide a door or window or to divide a large room into several rooms - “bedrooms”.
This word quite often did not mean the room where they slept, but the totality of all the tapestries, embroidered cloths and various fabrics intended for interior decoration. When going on a trip, tapestries were always taken with them, because they constituted the main element of decorating an aristocratic home, capable of giving it individuality.
In the 13th century, only wooden furniture existed. It was constantly moved (The word “furniture” comes from the word mobile (French) - movable. (Note per.)), since, with the exception of the bed, the rest of the furniture did not have a single purpose. Thus, the chest, the main type of furniture, served simultaneously as a wardrobe, table and seat. To perform the latter function, it could have a back and even handles. However, the chest is only an additional seat. Mostly they sat on common benches, sometimes divided into separate seats, on small wooden benches, on small stools without a back. The chair was intended for the owner of the house or an honored guest. Squires and women sat on armfuls of straw, sometimes covered with embroidered cloth, or simply on the floor, like servants and lackeys. Several boards placed on trestles made up a table; during meals it was placed in the center of the hall. It turned out to be long, narrow and somewhat taller than modern tables. The diners sat on one side, leaving the other free for serving dishes.
There was little furniture: besides chests, into which dishes, household utensils, clothes, money and letters were stuffed at random, sometimes there was a wardrobe or sideboard, less often - a sideboard, where the richest placed precious dishes or jewelry. Often such furniture was replaced by niches in the wall, hung with drapery or closed with doors. Clothes were usually not folded, but rolled and scented. Letters written on parchment were also rolled up before placing them in a linen bag, which served as a kind of safe, where, in addition, one or more leather wallets were kept.
To get a more complete picture of the furniture and decor of the main hall of the donjon, you also need to add a few boxes, some trinkets and some religious accessories (relics, crypts). As we see, in this regard it is very far from abundance. The bedrooms had even less furniture: men had a bed and a chest, women had a bed and something like a dressing table. There were no benches or chairs; people sat on straw covered with a cloth, on the floor or on the bed. The huge square bed looked more wide than long. They usually didn’t sleep alone.
Even if the lord of the castle and his wife had separate bedrooms, they still shared one bed. In the rooms of children, servants or guests, beds were also shared. Two, four or six people slept on them.
The lord's bed usually stood on a raised platform, with his head towards the wall and his feet towards the fireplace. A kind of vault was created from a wooden frame, where a canopy was hung to isolate the sleeping people from the outside world. The bedding was almost no different from modern ones. A feather bed was placed on a straw mattress or mattress, and a lower sheet was laid on top of it. She was covered with a top sheet that was not tucked in. On top lay a down or cotton blanket, quilted like modern ones. The bolster and cushions in pillowcases are also similar to the ones we use today. White embroidered sheets were made from linen or silk, woolen bedspreads were lined with ermine or squirrel fur. Less wealthy people used burlap instead of silk, and twill instead of wool.
In this soft and spacious bed (so wide that it was possible to make it only by helping oneself with a stick), people usually slept completely naked, but with a cap on their head. Before going to bed, clothes were hung on a rod like a hanger driven into the wall, protruding almost to the middle of the room parallel to the bed; only the shirt was left on, but this was also taken off in bed and, folded, placed under the pillow to be put on again early in the morning. , before standing up.
The fireplace in the bedroom was not lit all day. He was divorced only in the evening during a family vigil, which took place here in a more intimate setting than in the large hall. In the hall there was a truly gigantic fireplace, designed for large logs; in front of him stood several benches that could seat ten, fifteen or even twenty people. A conical exhaust hood with protruding posts formed something like a house inside the hall. The fireplace was not decorated with anything; the custom of placing a family coat of arms on it appeared only at the beginning of the 14th century. In some, more spacious rooms, two or three fireplaces were sometimes built, but not against opposite walls, but all together in the center of the room; for their hearth they used a single flat stone of enormous size, and the exhaust hood was built in the form of a pyramid of brick and wood.
The donjon could well have been used only for military and economic purposes (observation posts on the tower, dungeon, food storage). In such cases, the feudal lord’s family lived in the “palace” - the living quarters of the castle, standing apart from the tower. The palaces were built of stone and had several floors in height.
medieval castle residential interior
The castle was the home and refuge of the feudal lord and his family. The first castles that appeared in the 10th century were wooden. Later, castles began to be built from a more durable and strong material - stone. In the 11th–13th centuries, more than 20 thousand stone castles were built in Europe. Construction usually took several years. The cost of construction was very high, so only rich feudal lords could build the castle. Simple knights were limited to fortified houses located on their estates. Kings, dukes and counts had several castles. In the absence of the owner of the castle, all affairs in it were managed by a specially appointed manager.
| Wooden castle from the 10th century |
The main purpose of the castle is defense. Usually it was built on a hill, sometimes on an island in the middle of a river or lake. The main defensive line of the castle consisted of powerful walls. Some castles had two or even three rows of walls. Hiding behind the battlements of the wall, the warriors threw spears and arrows at the besiegers, poured boiling water and threw stones. Mighty towers rose above the walls. This allowed the castle defenders to fire at enemy soldiers if they managed to capture a section of the wall between the towers. A deep ditch was dug around the walls and filled with water. A drawbridge spanned the ditch. In case of danger, he climbed on chains to the castle wall. Powerful oak gates, lined with iron, closed the entrance to the castle. This was also served by an iron grate, which could be raised and lowered at will.
Inside the castle there were economic and residential buildings. There were stables, storage rooms, and a kitchen here. There was also a feudal lord's house, which had many rooms furnished with elegant furniture. The stone walls were covered with luxurious carpets. Scenes of hunting and battles were embroidered on them. Some castles had small garden.Material from the site
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| External and internal views of the donjon |
In the center of the castle stood donjon- the tallest and largest tower. The banner of the castle owner fluttered on it. Here he took refuge during the siege. It was difficult to get into the donjon from the surface of the stone-paved castle courtyard. The entrance was located at the second floor level. It was possible to get here only by a wooden staircase, which was destroyed in case of danger. A spiral staircase led to the top of the multi-story tower. It was twisted in such a way that the warrior defending it had an advantage over the attacker. Inside the donjon there were food supplies and weapons. There was also a chapel in which religious services were held. At the bottom of the donjon there was most often a dungeon where the owner of the castle kept his prisoners.
In peacetime, the castle was garrisoned by several soldiers. Servants and artisans who worked for the owner of the castle also lived here. During the siege, the garrison was increased by the vassals of the castle owner. Peasants from surrounding villages fled here to escape from enemies. Taking the castle by storm was difficult. Only with the invention of cannons did it become possible to destroy castles.
Mein Herz mein Geist meine Seele, lebt nur für dich, mein Tod mein Leben meine Liebe, ist nichts ohne Dich // Shadow Troublemaker
In the Middle Ages, castles were built to protect the inhabitants of the city and to ensure the safety of the feudal lord and his family who lived in it. Most medieval castles were built from the 9th to the 12th centuries in what is now Great Britain, France, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Italy. In its finished form, the castle was a small town where the feudal lord’s family, his servants and workers, as well as other “townspeople” lived.
Where were castles built?
Castles were often built near bodies of water, since seas and rivers provided great review to track down and attack foreign invaders.
The water supply made it possible to preserve ditches and ditches, which were an indispensable part of the castle’s defense system. Castles also functioned as administrative centers, and bodies of water helped facilitate the collection of taxes, since the rivers and seas were important trade waterways.
Castles were also built on high hills or in rocky cliffs, which were difficult to attack.
Castle construction stages
At the beginning of the construction of the castle, ditches were dug in the ground around the location of the future building. Their contents were folded inside. The result was an embankment or hill called a “mott.” A castle was later built on it.
Then the castle walls were built. Often builders erected two rows of walls. The outer wall was lower than the inner one. It contained towers for the castle defenders, a drawbridge and a lock. Towers were built on the inner wall of the castle, which were used for living. The basement rooms of the towers were intended to store food in the event of a siege. The area, which was surrounded by an internal wall, was called a “bailey”. On the site there was a tower where the feudal lord lived. Castles could be supplemented with extensions.
What were castles made of?
The material from which the castles were made depended on the geology of the area. The first castles were built from wood, but later stone was used as a building material. Sand, limestone, and granite were used in construction.
All construction work was done by hand.
Castle walls rarely consisted entirely of solid stone. The outside of the wall was faced with processed stones, and on its inside they laid uneven stones and different sizes. These two layers were connected using lime mortar. The solution was prepared right on the site of the future structure, and the stones were also whitened with its help.
Wooden scaffolding was erected at the construction site. In this case, horizontal beams were stuck into holes made in the walls. Boards were placed across them on top. On the walls of medieval castles you can see square recesses. These are the marks from the scaffolding. At the end of construction, the building niches were filled with limestone, but over time it fell off.
The windows in the castles were narrow openings. Small openings were made on the castle tower so that the defenders could shoot arrows.
How much did the locks cost?
If we were talking about a royal residence, then specialists were hired throughout the country for construction. This is how the king of medieval Wales, Edward the First, built his ring castles. Masons cut stones into blocks of the correct shape and size using a hammer, chisel and measuring tools. This work required high skill.
There were stone castles expensive pleasure. King Edward almost bankrupted the state treasury by spending £100,000 on their construction. About 3,000 workers were involved in the construction of one castle.
The construction of castles took from three to ten years. Some were built in war zones and took longer to complete the work. Most of the castles built by Edward the First still stand.
