British Castles Essay Research Paper BRITISH CASTLESGreat

British Castles Essay, Research Paper

BRITISH CASTLES

Great Britain s castles exemplify artistic characteristics and were essential elements in the lives of kings, lords, nobles, and chieftains. The word castle means a building or group of buildings usually intended as a residence of a king, lord, noble, or chieftain. There are many different types of castles, and the features about them are simply amazing. Warfare was also an important issue involving castles. They had to have some means of protection.

The castles reached their fullest development in the medieval period, even though fortified building had been around much earlier. The castles created a feudal system, which gave them their greatest importance. The feudal system was divided into three classes: the knights and nobles, clergy, and peasants. The knights and nobles job was to defend society, the clergy was to pray, while the peasants had the duty to till the soil and support other classes (Collier s Encyclopedia 532). The origin of has been traced back to the late Roman times when men placed themselves under a man stronger and wealthier than themselves (Rowling 31). The knights lived in castles built upon hilltops or in the bend of rivers. There they received vessels, held meeting: and upon occasion, defended themselves from rivals.

There are many different general styles of castles in Britain. One of the styles is a motte and bailey, which was one of the first types of castles built. The castle was made of a motte, which was a large man-made mound of earth. The top of the mound was surrounded by wooden palisades, which were like logs. Within those logs was a wooden keep. This was used as a lookout tower and a last refuge or keep (Farndon 7). The only way to get into the motte was across a sloping bridge, placed on high pillars. The bailey was next to the motte, and wooden palisades also surrounded it. A ditch of water protected the bailey. The motte and bailey were connected by a flying bridge that could be torn down if the bailey was not needed anymore. Since the motte and bailey were made of wood and earth none of the castles have survived completely today (Remfry 1). Norman s were few so they must have had to force people to help build it (Farndon 6). By the eleventh century the motte and bailey form of castle was widely spread (Alistair 3).

Another type of castle is a shell keep. This was one of the first stone castles built. The keep was a circular wall that had buildings surrounding it. The keep was surrounded by an open-courtyard. This had the advantage of clustering the major components of the castle into a single strong, easily defensible keep (Remfry, Types of castles 1). Due to the fact that the shell keep was light enough to be supported by a man-made mound, many of the keeps were added to the existing motte and bailey castles. This keep was so much stronger and larger that it took longer to build than a motte or bailey.

A Masonry Tower was a square that was 30 or 40 feet high. This tower was made of paste and stones, but brick and rubble were often used to fill walls at times. These towers were freestanding and the stone led to a better defense if needed. A later development of the design was a Welsh D-Tower which is a combined square keep with a round tower that made the masonry tower even stronger. The Tower of London is the most famous of these Towers (Remfry, Types of castle 2).

A donjon was quite common and found in many shapes. The donjon

Was considered to be a last line of defense. They were surrounded by a stone curtain wall, which was defended by several towers. The wall was very thick, as, much as nine or ten feet thick and maybe 40 foot in height. The wall has an apron like based on it to thicken the wall base, and causing solid or liquid material (Simpson 14). A later design to these towers was a gatehouse. The gate caused a weak defense so they later surrounded it by a pair of Towers. These other towers would allow attackers to be defeated from above or on the side of the gatehouse. A portcullis was also used to protect the gate with a metal grate (Remfry 2).

Finally, a concentric castle was an unusual type of castle. It represented the highest form of a castle. It usually consisted of a donjon and curtain wall, even two or more walls. The second wall was lower than the first, allowing archers to drop from both walls and fire upon attackers. The tower also consisted of round towers, large moats, and gatekeeps. If the first tower was destroyed, the attacker was still faced with a whole other complete castle. If the castle were constructed properly, it would be invincible. Edward I built a majority of the castles to put down the Welsh rebellions (Remfry 2).

Warfare was very important with the lords of the castles. A good built castle could rarely be taken down by a direct attack. During a siege, the attacking army would surround the entrance of the castle and prevent supplies from entering (Mfeinberg 1). The army would literally starve everybody to make him or her surrender. This would take months or even years, and in this time they would demolish the castles appearance with weapons. The most common of these weapons was a catapult, which would hurl stones at the castle wall and at the defenders. A catapult could also be used to hurl other things at the castles such as heads or bodies. That would get very mess