Josh Haase

Mrs. Ramirez

2 May 2018

Medieval Castles

Castles have been used for many centuries not only to house kings and queens but as a

form of protection for the people who build it. The first known castles to be built were in

England around 1066. These castles were known as motte and bailey castles motte meaning

mound and bailey meaning enclosure. The first to build these castles were the normans, a people

from the region normandy in france. The most important part of the castle was the keep also

known as the motte, these were built on steep higher level ground above the rest of the area. In

the bailey portion of the castle was where the soldiers, cooks, and others that maintained the

castle would live and do their duties. Some of the advantages of building these castles over just

building a town or a small camp was that the people would be more protected and that they were

very easy to make.

As time goes by, building castles as become more complex and well structured. From

1100 onword majority of castles began using stone to build a stronger structure. Also as time

went by the way forces attacked castles forced the use of stronger materials to be able to

withstand these attacks. The keeps or main building to the castles were built either rectangular

and later on more rounded. These main buildings were protected by a large tall stone wall which

provided the first defense in case of an attack. Later in 1200 a better castle was made known as a

concentric castle. Concentric castles had a castle surrounding a castle. The walls were thicker,

built with rooms, taller, and with many towers to help keep the main castle more safe. The
insides walls were built much higher than the outer wall to provide the soldiers who were

defending the castle easier access to the enemy. Outer walls were built with multiple walls inside

so if enemies broke through, they would have to go through multiple layers before being able to

access the second castle.

The keep of the castle was usually the largest and most defended part of the castle. The

lord or king and queen of the castle lived in the keep and during attacks the guests and or

important people in the castle at the time would retreat to this area to have the most defense. The

weakest part of the castle was usually the gatehouse. The gatehouse was used for the people

inside the castle to navigate in and out of the castle grounds. Years later the gatehouse was

upgraded with towers to provide more defense making it harder to just rush in and take control of

the castle from the inside. The gatehouse hall was mostly lengthened to make it harder for the

enemies to run in through a small area, while also being attacked from the end of the hall.

Another way castles were built to protects its inhabitants were by having a moat. Moats

were mostly dry ditches but could have water in them. The purpose of moats were to stop the

enemies from getting too close to the castle walls and to also stop siege towers and ladders from

reaching the walls. Moats were made by either flooding an area of creating a man made island in

the middle of a lake. Drawbridges are added to the castle to allow access from across the moat

with many bridges being able to be picked up if necessary. Stone bridges later replace

drawbridges to provide a sturdier and more well built crossing area.

In 1320 gunpowder was brought to europe which led to castles being equipped with

artillery for soldiers to use. Cannons were mounted in towers where a man would hold the end

and fire. The cannons were too heavy for someone to carry but when mounted could be
maneuvered easily. Castles that had these early forms of guns had ports with small slits and a

hole in the middle for the cannon to protrude and the slits for the person manning the gun to be

able to aim. Other castles just had large openings for the gun to shoot from. The use of these

guns allowed castles to have a large advantage for an amount of time before ways to take them

out were developed. Around the 15th century, larger cannons were made which replaced

trebuchets. Trebuchets were a kind of catapult that would launch heavy objects at the walls of

castles to destroy them. With these new and larger guns came more power and longer range to

siege castles.

Moving on to the 16th century, bastions were created an even stronger defensive state for

those protecting the inner castle. A bastion is an angular protrusion from the outer walls which

provided soldiers to not only protect other bastions but also to added more faces to the original

wall. This led to the creation of star forts, a hexagon wall with bastions at the corners. This

allowed for there to be no blind spots and let soldiers fire at spots that before they were unable to

hit. This new style of castle led to a higher status symbol but was not the one chosen to create

most often. Older designs of castles were more secure and stronger making them easier to

defend.

Inside of the castle was nothing like the outside, it was not just all about the fighting but

how to defend the family inside. Inside were a grand hall where special events and or banquets

hosted by the lords family. There was usually a church inside close to wherever the lord lived

and slept. The church was the castle cleanest and best looking room with stained glass windows

and painted walls. There were also kitchens but they were not built near the keep of the castle

because of the chance of catching fire. Despite having all of this, living inside of a castle was not
very enjoyable. In early castles many people would end up sleeping in the great hall on

mattresses or benches. Later around the 12th century there were large fires to keep the

inhabitants warm and candles to provide light. Throughout the centuries castles have not only

developed and upgraded their defenses but have improved the living of the people who reside in

them.

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