HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2

Prepared by:
ARCHT. JEYCARTER A. TILOY, UAP
Castles in Medieval Europe

Medieval castles in Europe were built over a period of more than 500 years - from
around 1000 AD to 1550 AD.

Indeed they were built so well that many medieval castles (or at the very least
their ruins) can still be seen today.

Their design is interesting as it saw dramatic changes over the years - from early
motte and bailey castle design through to large concentric castle building.

Indeed, medieval castle design probably reached its peak in the 14th century with
the great castles of Wales built by King Edward I of England.

In the 500 or more years that medieval castles were built, architects displayed
great ingenuity and working on castle plans effectively became a science.
 Hill Forts
The history of the castle goes back to the Hillforts of the
Bronze Age ( 1800 - 600 BC ).
Small Hillforts developed out of a need to defend small
homesteads and even small villages
Hillforts were built as an enclosed area which was used for:
• A meeting place for trading
• A permanent home
• A safe retreat against raids from other tribes
• Shelter for rising population levels
• Shelter against harsh winters and wild animals
• a place for safe animal compounds or enclosures
What weaknesses did they have?
 Better Castles:
Motte and Bailey

Developed from hillforts around the 11th century.

They allowed a safer place for villages to go to when
attacked. They also provided a larger fortified
village.
Features:
• Hill fort
• Moat (motte)
• Gatehouse (bailey)
• Walled village
• Bridge

• What weaknesses
were there?
FORTIFICATIONS & TOWN WALLS
• All over Europe - 1500 castles in England in 11th and 12th centuries

• Began as motte and bailey earthworks

• Later became citadels with stone curtain walls
The motte and bailey
 Curtain Wall Castles

• The need to include surrounding buildings and allow for

space to accept refugees led to concentric castles with a
series of progressively smaller walls.
• The attackers would not only have to make more breaches
but the design of the walls could force them into areas
where they could be massacred.
• A particularly effective development was the barbican
which is a walled courtyard in front of the castle gateway.
CASTLES
• Built on mounds above rivers
• Thick walls and small windows to resist attack

• Many were adapted to make convenient residences in

later periods

Carcassone
• built in 13th Century AD
• double wall, inner one made in 600 AD
• 50 towers and moat
• two gateways guarded by machicolations, drawbridge
and portcullis
 Towers

• Towers were impressive buildings to

defend a country and to dominate
the population
• Overhanging towers provided clear
lines of sight for the archers
• Attackers had to fight uphill
• Spiral Staircases made it hard to
swing a sword or smash in the gate
• Supplies of food and water could be
kept in the cellar
Weaknesses?
 The Keep
The castle’s keep is easy to find. The largest building
standing in the heart of the castle. It was built higher
than the rest of the castle so people inside could see out.
 Moat
The moat of a castle is a large ditch, filled with water to
keep the enemy at a distance.
 Great Hall
• A place where banquets were held and people ate
together.
 Gatehouse
The gatehouse guarded the entrance of the castle or its
town. The portcullis inside the gatehouse was extremely
heavy and was used to close the entrance. Behind the
portcullis would usually be a thick, heavy wooden door.
 Curtain wall
Castles had thick, stone walls.
The walls would have parapets on top, where the defending
soldiers would patrol.
 Drawbridge
The drawbridge was often made of wood and would swing
up and down like a see-saw to let people in or out of the
castle entrance.
 Portcullis
A strong gate that hangs above the entrance
to a castle. It can be closed to keep out
enemies. It was made of wood and metal
and had points at the bottom.
 Bailey

• The bailey was an enclosed courtyard

 Battlements
• These were pathways built around the top of a castle
with regular gaps for firing arrows. The gaps between
them were used for firing arrows through.
 FORTIFIED TOWNS

A defensive wall is
a fortification used to defend a city
or settlement from potential
aggressors.
TYPES OF CASTLES
 PILGRIMS FORT- Sited and designed to secure the routes
from coastal ports to Jerusalem. The installation included a
thin curtain wall with rectangular corner towers of small
projection, a large fosse or ditch, and an outer earth rampart.
In some cases was a central citadel. These forts were of no
very great strength and relied upon relatively plentiful
manpower.
 COASTAL FORTIFICATION – The levantine coastal ports
were fortified to secure the sea links with the west. They took
the form either of a bastide town – a civil settlement under the
protection of a castle.
 STRATEGIC INLAND CASTLES – The principal functions of
these great castles were to protect the coastal road. A large
part of the strategic strength of the crusader castles lay in an
elaborate system of communication between them by means
of carrier pigeon and visual signalling.
 Fortified Town
Monterriggioni, 13th C Sienna
In the heart of Tuscany, in the southwest corner of the Chianti region, Monteriggioni
castle was built in the second decade of the thirteenth century by the Republic of
Siena. Its original purpose was as a defensive outpost against Siena’s rival,
Florence.
The Carcassonne, France 1226AD

Since the pre-Roman period, a fortified

settlement has existed on the hill where
Carcassonne now stands. In its present
form it is an outstanding example of a
medieval fortified town, with its massive
defences encircling the castle and the
surrounding buildings, its streets and its
fine Gothic cathedral.
La Zisa, Palermo (A.D. 1154-66), is a rectangular, three-storey Norman castle
with battlemented parapet, and shows the influence of Saracenic art.
 Building type-Castles
Rochester Castle, Kent,
England 1130AD
Cardiffe Castle, England
1091AD
Peniscola, Spain, 1294AD

Peniscola, often called the

"Gibraltar of Valencia," is a fortified
seaport, with a lighthouse, built on a rocky
headland about 67 m high, and joined to
the mainland by only a narrow strip of land.
 The Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, France,
1017AD

A Benedictine Abbey, Normandy, France. It is unquestionably the finest example

both of French medieval architecture and of a fortified abbey. The buildings of
the monastery are piled round a conical mass of rock which rises abruptly out of
the waters of the Atlantic to the height of 300 feet, on the summit of which
stands the great church.
Avila, Spain, 1090AD
Founded in the 11th century to protect the
Spanish territories from the Moors, this
'City of Saints and Stones', the birthplace
of St Teresa and the burial place of the
Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, has kept its
medieval austerity. This purity of form can
still be seen in the Gothic cathedral and the
fortifications which, with their 82
semicircular towers and nine gates, are the
most complete in Spain.