In Europe’s Middle Ages, castles dominated not just warfare, but society itself.
Strongholds are as old as war, but the medieval castle was unique – a refuge and a projection
of military force… a lordly residence and symbol of power… a centre of justice and
government.
Today, castle ruins are found from the Atlantic coast to the hills of Syria: dramatic and
poignant reminders of a lost feudal world.
There was no single blueprint for the castle: every one was unique.
But by analysing key trends over four centuries, Epic History TV is proud to present its guide
to building ‘the perfect castle’.
The medieval castle was the product of a feudal world…
A world we’ll explore with help from our video sponsor, Crusader Kings 3.
Using the in-game map, we can zoom in on 9th century France, the birthplace of feudalism.
This was a time when royal authority was in crisis, as Frankish kings – the heirs of
Charlemagne - struggled to control unruly nobles, and fight off Viking armies.
Increasingly, the king would grant a piece of land, known as a fief, and the promise
of protection, to a lord.
The lord became the king’s vassal, swearing an oath of loyalty, or fealty, and providing
military service when required.
These feudal lords began to build fortified bases across the land: in which to live, and
from which to impose their authority on their new domains.
These were the first medieval castles.
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When building a new castle, the first and most important consideration is location.
A castle should dominate the landscape, with good views in all directions, so hills are
ideal.
Steep slopes and river bends can be used to limit approach routes, making the site easier
to defend.
And for building work, a local source of stone, wood and soil is essential, as transporting
these materials over medieval roads is more expensive than the materials themselves.
There must also be a secure, local source of fresh water and food to sustain the castle’s
occupants.
A reliable starter castle is the motte-and-bailey, popular with the Normans, who built hundreds
across England and Wales during the Norman Conquest.
The motte is a mound, either natural or built by hand, as seen here in the Bayeaux Tapestry.
It’s not just a pile of mud though: these coloured bands are thought to represent alternating
layers of stone and clay, which will increase stability.
Sometimes they even used stone or timber foundations.
A typical motte is 8 metres high, and up to 50 metres across.
Its top can be defended by a simple wooden palisade, and a tower: living quarters for
the lord and his entourage, and last refuge in case of attack.
An earth ditch and palisade should enclose the bailey, to protect important buildings,
such as a hall, stables, kitchen, stores and a forge.
Timber palisades are vulnerable to fire and rot, so will ideally be replaced by an enclosing
stone wall, known as a curtain wall, as soon as possible.
This creates the ‘enceinte’, or main defensive enclosure.
A curtain wall should have crenellations, to protect soldiers of the garrison during
an attack, as they shoot their bows or crossbows at the enemy.
A concealed postern gate, or sally port, can be used during a siege to smuggle messages
in and out of the castle, or to launch surprise attacks on the enemy.
In parts of France, such as Anjou and Poitou, castle-builders ignored the motte-and-bailey
approach, and constructed strong stone towers …
In French it’s called a donjon - the origin of the word dungeon.
In England, it’s known as the keep.
A keep offers better security and accommodation than a wooden tower.
But if you try to build one on top of a motte, its weight will cause it to collapse.
Some opt for a compromise: a ‘shell-keep’, which keeps the motte, and replaces its wooden
palisade with a circular stone wall.
But a truly imposing keep will have to be built from scratch on carefully prepared foundations.
A typical early stone keep is rectangular, between two and four stories high, with walls
up to 6 metres thick.
Construction might take up to ten years, and cost a fortune, so large keeps are only built
by monarchs and powerful nobles.
The biggest keeps have towers at each corner.
Within, there might be a hall for meals and entertainment, private apartments, a chapel
and storerooms.
A forebuilding creates an impressive and well-guarded entrance, which should be at first-floor level,
accessed by a wooden staircase which can be removed in case of attack.
If the keep has a cellar, this is an ideal space to store extra provisions, not for chaining
up prisoners, in the dungeons of popular imagination.
Early keeps are square or rectangular, but later come in many shapes and sizes
King Philip Augustus of France was particularly fond of circular keeps.
Perhaps the most eye-catching of all is Castel del Monte in Southern Italy, built by Emperor
Frederick the Second.
Its elaborate polygonal structure reminds us that the perfect castle must be elegant
as well as formidable.
The curtain wall should be strengthened by flanking towers at regular intervals.
These project forward from the wall, so archers can shoot at attacking enemies with enfilade
fire – or put another way, attackers will come under fire from the wall ahead of them,
as well as from towers to the right and left.
Square towers offer large amounts of extra space for living quarters and storage.
But their corners are a weak point that can be targeted by enemy stone-throwing artillery,
such as a trebuchet.
So round towers may be a better option.
The choice is often one of taste, fashion and / or cost.
Square towers… round towers… and D-shaped towers… were all common across Europe, and
many castles feature a mix of types.
In some places, it was possible to cut costs by re-using old Roman fortifications, as at
Pevensey, and Portchester, on England’s south coast.
Here the Normans simply built a stone keep within the walls of an old Roman shore fort,
saving time, labour and money.
Loopholes, or arrow slits, are important additions for any tower or wall section.
The earliest versions are simple vertical slits, but from the 14th century, more decorative
cross-shapes are common.
In the event of a siege, wooden hoardings, sometimes called ‘brattice work’, can
be built out over the walls, to allow the garrison to rain boiling water and rocks onto
the attacking enemy.
The obvious focus for an attack is the castle’s main gate.
So its defences – known as the gatehouse - must be especially strong.
The ideal solution is to add towers on each side of the gateway… to add an outer and
inner gate… and at least one, if not several, portcullises.
These metal, lattice gates can be dropped vertically, to trap attackers in a kill zone.
The garrison can then use ‘murder-holes’ in the ceiling and walls to finish off the
intruders.
The main gate can be further protected by a drawbridge over the outer moat or ditch,
which can be raised by chains as an enemy approaches.
Through the middle ages, gatehouses became increasingly powerful, with multiple drawbridges,
gates, and portcullises… the approach covered by looming towers… and every wall and ceiling
studded with loopholes… and murder-holes.
Some of the most formidable gatehouses are found in the castles built by Edward the First
to subdue Wales in the late 13th century.
Such imposing wall-defences began to make a massive keep seem superfluous, so many of
these castles were built without a keep at all.
Our castle is now an imposing fortress, able to withstand a siege of several months, if
properly provisioned.
But to be considered truly epic, a castle should have a second curtain wall, enclosing
an outer bailey, with its own towers and gatehouse.
Gatehouses should be positioned at angles to the approach route, so any attacker has
to twist and turn, rather than make a direct rush at the gate.
Towers and walls should now feature stone machicolations, for dropping rocks on the
enemy – far more sophisticated than temporary wooden hoardings.
The new outer bailey, or ward, allows more buildings to be brought within the castle’s
defences – not forgetting that a medieval castle is as much a residence as fortification:
perhaps a new, grander hall for entertaining your household and important guests, kitchen
gardens, and extra living quarters.
The outer ditch, or moat, can be flooded with water to create an extra layer of defence.
A water moat also has decorative value, and can be a source of fresh fish.
A final flourish – a barbican, an outlying fortification that adds yet another layer
of defence to the main entrance.
This is now a fine and formidable example of a ‘concentric castle’.
Its design will force any attacker to overcome successive layers of strong defence to reach
the final refuge, the keep.
If properly garrisoned and supplied, a castle like this was virtually impregnable until
the age of gunpowder.
As we have seen, there was no single blueprint for the medieval castle.
Each was built to take advantage of the landscape, to incorporate the latest military thinking,
and reflect regional styles and personal taste.
The most awe-inspiring examples from the castle’s golden age include…
Krak des Chevaliers, the supposedly impregnable crusader fortress of the Knights Hospitaller…
Dover Castle, known as ‘the key to England’…
And Malbork Castle, the gigantic brick-built headquarters of the Teutonic Knights.
By the 15th century, the castle’s role was in steep decline – in part due to the rise
of gunpowder weapons, such as cannon…
but more fundamentally, because the feudal world that gave rise to the castle had fallen
away… to be replaced by professionalised armies, and centralised, royal authority.
As the age of powerful feudal lords ended, so too did the age of the castle.
Most would ultimately slide into ruin…
Their military role replaced by artillery forts.
Their residential role taken over by palaces and stately homes… as the age of the castle
gave way to the age of the château.
Thanks again to our video sponsor Crusader Kings 3.
Use the link in the video description to check out this new medieval strategy game of unrivalled
depth and sophistication.
What we love about this game is the chance to rewrite history:
Epic History TV is currently playing as William the Conqueror – we were hoping for a quick
win over Harold Godwinson at Hastings, but instead it took an alliance with the Viking
king Harald Hardrada, and a gruelling 5-year campaign, to subdue the English.
Now our vassals are restless and our grasping liege lord the King of France is after our
territories in Normandy…
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