By the Late Middle Ages, however, the walls of these structures grew thicker, their gates became more complex with the additions of the gatehouse and murder hole, and, most importantly, they could now have three or more baileys, making the job of reaching the keep, the castle’s last stronghold in the innermost bailey, an arduous task requiring much determination on the besiegers’ part. In their early stages, these behemoths of rock stacked on rock had, alongside the iconic crenel and merlon, relatively thin walls, simple gates and one or two baileys. Good examples of these are the crusader castles in the Holy Land or the English castles in Wales. Stone castles of the High Middle Ages were a direct result of private warfare among European barons and especially large-scale military campaigns waged ‘twixt puissant princes, kings, emperors, archbishops and popes. In Late Antiquity and much of the Early Middle Ages, stone castles of this sort, with their counter-embattled ramparts and donjons that speared the firmament, had never existed before, although Africa and Asia since ancient times had sported many stone fortresses of similar design. This is when we start to see the classic stone castle we love so much in Disney movies and Game of Thrones, especially as William the Norman brought his architects with him to the British Isles, transforming the Anglo-Saxon landscape with Frankish castles for his vassals. Siege-works such as the trebuchet and battering ram operated by these larger armies rendered motte and bailey castles rudimentary and new innovations in defensive design were needed. Governance in the High Middle Ages became more competent and organized, which meant armies, with their commissariats and battering-trains, became larger. These wooden splendors of architecture, however, would peter out of use as the technology of warfare marched onward. Also, guests traveling from afar, if the lord of the estate knew them or indeed if the traveler was willing to pay a fee, could be welcomed inside for hospitality as a hôte. Motte and bailey castles, much like the later stone castles we will soon discuss, were typically multifunctional, allowing the lord who sometimes took residence in the keep and his serfs and bondsmen who lived in and around the bailey, not to mention the cottars who lived in the immediate area, security from banditry and competing strongmen. These were primarily constructed out of wood and so very few are still extant, but the mottes they were built on, earthworks resembling would-be burial mounds for giants, can still be seen from the sky today alongside the fosses that surround them. Moreover, Julius Caesar became famous for his use of contravallations and circumvallations when besieging a fortress in Gaul, which not only kept his besiegers safe from sorties but safe from outside relief forces as well, preventing all egression in or out of the beleaguered stronghold.Īs the Early Middle Ages neared closer to the High Middle Ages, Celtic and Germanic peoples began to experiment further with their own defensive structure designs, and as one traveled through the European landscape they would see many of what we call motte and bailey castles. In finite terms, these early defensive structures in Europe were a result of foreign invaders traveling into new lands and wishing to keep their conquered possessions secure by having safe bases of operation where soldiers could quickly respond to uprisings and enemy campaigns. Even some famous medieval cities originally grew up within Roman walls. While Western Rome was declining during the Migration Period of the Early Middle Ages, many of the forts and stone walls the Romans had built in Europe remained intact, and most of them were repurposed by Celtic and Germanic peoples. Such structures included walled barracks for the armies to sleep in and watchtowers known as burgus for defending roads and bridges, precursors to the Scottish pele which encompassed the border ‘twixt Scotland and England during the time of Robert the Bruce. In Late Antiquity, the Romans were masters of building defensive structures within several days while on campaign in Gaul and the British Isles. This is because the defensive capabilities of the castle were its main reason for existing, and the castle needed to keep up with siege-craft technology which was evolving just as rapidly throughout the medieval period. Castles throughout the Middle Ages went through immense evolution, especially their defensive structures.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |