Castle

I

Introduction

Castle (from Latin castellum, “small fortified place”), fortified residence of a feudal lord or monarch, and members of his court, during the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, Europe was in an almost constant state of warfare, and the primary purpose of a castle was to function as a place of refuge and as a military stronghold. Castles were built to withstand attack and siege. As well as protecting the king or lord and his people, castles also served as prisons, as safe places for storing treasure, as arsenals for weapons and the machinery of warfare, and as administrative centres for the surrounding area.

II

The Development of Castles

A

The Ringwork Castle

The first castles in western Europe were built in the 10th century but became much more widespread from 1020. The earliest type of castle consisted of a simple ringwork. The ringwork comprised a circular earth bank surrounded by an external ditch, surmounted with a palisade (a tall, sturdy fence made of wooden stakes). The entrance was a defended gatehouse, and inside the ringwork were wooden buildings, usually dwelling houses, storehouses, and a well. In England about 200 of these ringwork castles were built between 1066 and 1215.

B

The Motte-and-Bailey Castle

The motte-and-bailey castle was a more advanced form than the ringwork castle. The motte was an artificial mound on which stood a wooden tower. The base of the motte was surrounded by a ditch; earth and stones that were dug away to make the ditch were used to build the motte. Just inside the ditch, at ground level below the motte, was the bailey, a courtyard that was usually oval or kidney-shaped, and that was enclosed by another ditch and bank. The bank was fortified with a wooden palisade, or later on, with a stone wall, known as an enceinte or outer wall.

In time, the crude ditches that acted as the outer defences of earlier motte-and-bailey castles were replaced with wide, deep moats that were either dry or filled with water. Access to the castle was by a drawbridge, which could be raised and lowered over the moat from within the castle. Some gateways were protected by a walled outwork known as a barbican. The gateways themselves were often closed by a portcullis—a thick iron-plated wooden door that could be pulled up into a cavity in the wall above or quickly lowered to stop anyone entering the castle.

Today, all that remains of these motte-and-bailey castles are grassy mounds that were once mottes (about 700 of them can be seen in Britain today). However, an idea of what these castles looked like may be gained from the Bayeux Tapestry; its pictorial narrative shows the 11th-century castle of Rennes and Dinan, in Brittany, and of Bayeux, in Normandy.

C

The Keep Castle

The next stage of development was the keep castle. The keep, or donjon, was a rectangular tower built to withstand siege. It had very thick stone walls buttressed at the base with a sloping plinth. There were virtually no windows, and the entrance was by means of a flight of stone steps leading to first-floor level. On the ground floor were a well sunk into the floor of the keep, kitchens, and storage rooms. Dwelling quarters were situated on the floors above and were reached by means of movable ladders, or by staircases built into the walls.

The disadvantage of the rectangular keep was that, from within the walls, it was impossible to see what an enemy was doing round the corner of its angles. One solution to the problem was to build angle turrets, small towers built on to the corners of the keep; however, these were vulnerable to undermining by a skilled enemy. Later keeps were often circular or polygonal. Circular keeps are thought to have originated in France in the 12th century. One advantage of a circular keep was that it made possible all-round vision; another was that cannon fired at the walls tended to glance off the curved walls rather than penetrate them. As time went on, living and administrative quarters were generally moved from the keep to new buildings within the bailey. The keep, which then had a purely defensive purpose, became stronger and smaller.