| Castles remind us of a time that was full of adventure | | | | construction material. Stone became the only material |
| and romance. Castles remind us of a time in history in | | | | to build one's castle out of because it made castles |
| which there was a lack of government and order. | | | | much stronger against attack. The tower of London is |
| Although there was not mass confusion and anarchy, | | | | an example of a masonry castle. The ideal stone for |
| there was less order. Castles were the basis of | | | | castles was the fine limestone of Caen in Normandy. |
| feudalism. Castles can be seen as a manifestation of | | | | This limestone was soft when first quarried, but |
| feudal society. Feudalism started with the rise of | | | | gradually became hard as it was exposed to air. To |
| castles and ended with their end. The castle set the | | | | insulate against the cold stone walls of castles, the |
| tone as the only homestead that nobility would live in | | | | women made tapestries for the walls. The tapestries |
| during this time. Castles were influenced by and | | | | almost always contained a story relating to the castle. |
| influenced many medieval cathedrals in Europe. | | | | One of the most famous tapestries is the Bayeux |
| Although castles served many purposes, their primary | | | | Tapestry. It depicts the Norman knights before |
| purpose was military. At that time, people were not | | | | Hastings in 1066. Since they were now using stone, |
| protected by merely shutting and locking a regular | | | | castle builders were able to integrate defenses into the |
| wooden door. They needed the protection of castles | | | | castles.Castles needed to have defenses. They were |
| and their knights. The lords and constables of castles | | | | not made impregnable. They were made so that it |
| needed serfs to work the land to make revenue in | | | | would take an enormous amount of artillery and |
| order to pay rent to the more important nobles. Given | | | | money to take the castle. They were made so that it |
| the following evidence, it is relatively obvious why | | | | would take a large amount of time to take a castle. |
| castles and castle building played an instrumental role in | | | | The castle of Newcastle at Tyne was far from |
| the development of Western Europe.Castles are | | | | impregnable in 1173, but it was strong enough to make |
| unique to a time in history known as medieval times. | | | | an ill-prepared Scottish King William think twice about a |
| The word medieval in our times is an insult to anything | | | | siege: "Well sees the king of Scotland that he will |
| as is the word feudal. Through the haze and ruins, one | | | | never complete the conquest of Newcastle on Tyne |
| can imagine dungeons, chivalrous knights, and mighty | | | | without military engines" (Ibid 80). Some defenses used |
| Lords who ruled the land and protected the common | | | | by castles were machiolations. Machiolations were |
| peasant from barbarians and other invaders. The rise | | | | projecting battlements to protect against arrows and |
| of castles marked the rise of feudalism. This was all | | | | other weapons. They were at the top of the wall |
| started by the crusades. The majority of the knights | | | | surrounding the castle. Arrowslits or arrow loops were |
| and nobles went to liberate the holy land from the | | | | slits that were cut into stone to allow sharpshooters a |
| Muslims. The Crusades influenced castle builders back | | | | place to shoot. They were angled so that the |
| in Europe. Ideas were gathered from Muslim and | | | | sharpshooter was protected from oncoming |
| Byzantine fortifications. Because of the lack of | | | | projectiles. Another defense used was Greek fire. This |
| protection in Europe, a castle's strength needed to be | | | | was an incendiary device that was used against |
| increased because of the ever-present threat of a | | | | wooden attack machines. The ingredients of Greek |
| Muslim invasion. The end of Feudalism also marked the | | | | fire are a mystery. It is thought that it contained some |
| end of the middle ages and hence the end of the | | | | of the following components: crude oil, refined oil, |
| great castle era.Castles integrated the combination of | | | | naphtha, pitch, resin, sulfur, quicklime, and bitumen. This |
| residence and fortress. The first castle dates back to | | | | deadly mixture was put on an arrow and then shot |
| King Sargon II of Khorsabad in ancient Egypt. He | | | | onto one of the attacking machines and it gave |
| erected a grand palace for himself to protect him and | | | | explosive results. Greek fire was probably developed |
| his subjects. The first recorded references to castles | | | | in the seventh century by the Byzantines for naval |
| was the Edict of Pistes by Charles the Bald, king of | | | | warfare. Greek fire was a morale builder for the |
| the West Franks. "We will and expressly command | | | | defenders during a siege. The Lord of Joinville |
| that whoever at this time has made castles and | | | | described Greek fire as "This Greek fire was suck |
| fortifications and enclosures without our out permission | | | | that seen from the front as it darted towards us it |
| shall have them demolished by the First of August" | | | | appeared as large as a vessel of verjuice, and the tail |
| (Brown Architecture of Castles 13). Other castle laws | | | | of the fire that streamed behind it was as long as the |
| were the Norman Institutions handed down by William | | | | shaft of a great lance. The noise it made in coming |
| the Conqueror after he took over England. One law | | | | was like that of a thunderbolt falling from the skies; it |
| says that no one shall raise castles in Normandy | | | | seemed like a dragon flying through the air. The light |
| without the Duke's license.An ideal castle site was one | | | | this huge, flaming mass shed all around it was so bright |
| that had natural obstacles for defense such as steep | | | | that you could see right through the camp as clearly |
| hillsides and water. Castles that were built on rocks or | | | | as if it were day. Three times that night the enemy |
| islands were especially effective. An example of this is | | | | slung Greek fire at us from their petraries, and three |
| Bodiam in Sussex which was the home of Sir Edward | | | | times they shot it from their arbalestres a tour" (Ibid |
| Dalyngrigge in 1385. A moat offered good protection, | | | | 88).Weapons were used against castles during a siege |
| but building on a lake or river offered better protection. | | | | included the trebuchet, mangonel, belfry, ballista, ram, |
| The site should not be too remote. It should have | | | | and bore. The trebuchet was a big machine that flung |
| water and building material readily available nearby. A | | | | artillery like a catapult. The mangonel was similar to the |
| site should have a good climate, good pasture, and | | | | trebuchet but smaller and more maneuverable. Its |
| ample fertile land. If a castle had all these things, it | | | | strength was based on the tautness of the hemp, |
| would increase its chances of surviving a siege.A large | | | | rope, or tightly twisted animal sinew. Artillery used by |
| majority of early castles followed the motte and bailey | | | | these weapons include rocks, fireballs, and dead |
| design. These designs utilized earth and timber. A | | | | animals to spread disease. The belfry was a mobile |
| motte and bailey design is a design where the keep is | | | | tower which was built higher than the castle walls in |
| on a hill or motte behind the bailey which is the open | | | | order to scale them during siege. The ballista was |
| area of the castle similar to a town square. A bridge | | | | essentially a large crossbow that hurled rocks and |
| usually connected the motte to the bailey. The motte | | | | other large boulders. The ram was a device that did |
| was a great mound of earth or rock. Sometimes it | | | | what its name says. It was used to knock the portcullis |
| was artificial, but the majority of the time it was | | | | or gate down. The bore was a device used by the |
| authentic. At its base there was a deep trench that | | | | attackers during a tactic known as mining. They mined |
| resembled a moat. This was used as defense. | | | | from their camps to the castle walls. They would set |
| Surrounding the motte was a wall of timber. The | | | | up a support then start a fire to break down the castle |
| motte also contained the keep which is where the lord | | | | walls. The defenders of the castle also used this tactic |
| of the manor and his family lived. The keep was the | | | | to counter the attackers siege. They would watch the |
| innermost part of the castle. It was the last defense | | | | moat to see the vibrations caused by the attackers |
| against attack. The keep has also been referred to as | | | | shovels. Then they would start a counter mine. This |
| the donjon. This is where the French got the word | | | | was the most effective tactic used in a siege but it |
| dungeon meaning the jail or place to hold prisoners. | | | | was the most dangerous. It was dark, had |
| Surrounding the entire premises was a wooden fence | | | | contaminated or little air and there was always a |
| that was at least ten feet in height. These wooden | | | | threat that the tunnel would cave in or be caved in by |
| stakes were then implanted in the ground for support. | | | | the castle's garrison.Castles were not just fortresses |
| The fence sometimes stood upon posts to allow men | | | | but also residences of the nobility. It is this balance of |
| to get through. During a siege, the perimeter would be | | | | military and residential qualities which make a castle so |
| covered with wet animal skins to curb the threat of | | | | different from other fortifications. Castles had all the |
| arson. Most motte and bailey castles were built before | | | | best furnishings and colors. They had chapels because |
| William the Conqueror's conquest in 1066.Walter the | | | | Europe was a Christian continent. They occasionally |
| Archdeacon wrote a biography of John, bishop of | | | | had more than one. On the castle property were |
| Therouanne about 1130. In it he describes Merchem | | | | things like gardens, parks, vineyards, dovecotes, |
| Castle near Dixmude: "There was, near the porch of | | | | fishponds, mills, and stables. Castle were not as |
| the church, a fortress which we may call a castle... | | | | primitive as we think them to be. They had some of |
| exceedingly high, built after the custom of that land by | | | | the conveniences that we have today. They had a |
| the lord of the town many years before. For it is the | | | | form of a toilet. It was a toilet made of stone. People |
| habit of the magnates and nobles of those parts... to | | | | who wished to use it had to bring some material to |
| raise a mound of earth as high as they can and | | | | protect themselves from the cold stone. The waste |
| surround it with a ditch as broad as possible. The top | | | | would eventually drain to a river by way of an |
| of this mound they completely enclose with a palisade | | | | underground pool. These cesspits would often have to |
| of hewn logs bound close together like a wall, with | | | | be cleaned out by dung farmers.Not all castles were |
| towers set in its circuit so far as the site permits. In the | | | | extravagant fortresses that housed kings and all his |
| middle of the space within the palisade they build a | | | | subjects. Many castles were just built for the lord, his |
| residence, or, dominating everything, keep" (Brown | | | | family and a few servants. Other castles that were |
| Architecture of Castles 21)Castle designers saw a | | | | not well protected or had no threat of attack were |
| need for improvement because wood and earth were | | | | called fortified manors. The design of a castle was |
| not strong and were not effective protection against | | | | taken very seriously by the lords. There is reference |
| fire. There was also a need for bigger, grander castles | | | | to Aubree, wife of the Count of Bayeux, executing on |
| because noble visitors did not travel alone so a castle | | | | the spot, Lanfred, her master mason after he |
| would have to have enough room for the occasional | | | | completed her castle. She did this because she was |
| visitor and his or her group. The architects who | | | | so pleased with it that she didn't want him to build one |
| designed castles were known as master masons. | | | | like it for anyone else.Castles were the basis of |
| They saw that stone would be a more effective | | | | feudalism. They controlled the land and all within it. A |
| building material. Although it was cold and hard to work | | | | castle was a lord's response to a mounted cavalry |
| with, it provided the much needed protection against | | | | charge. Castles were effective centers of military |
| fire. These newer castles are called enclosure castles. | | | | power and territorial lordship whether or not the king or |
| Like motte and dailey designs, enclosures castles had | | | | prince was there. Castles are an important part to |
| a wall protecting the perimeter of the manor. However | | | | history. They are phenomenal structures that still |
| these castles were not built upon hills or mottes. The | | | | influence modern houses today.You may visit and for |
| keep of the castle was incorporated into the wall | | | | instant access to over 45,000 plus term papers and |
| surrounding the property. These castles still had a | | | | essays. You may have all of these quality papers for |
| bailey. With this new style of castles came a new | | | | only $19.95. |