Medieval knight's castle diagram. How to build a medieval castle. Eltz Castle, Germany

People at all times had to protect themselves and their property from the encroachments of their neighbors, and therefore the art of fortification, that is, the construction of fortifications, is very ancient. In Europe and Asia, one can see fortresses built in antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as in the New and even the Newest time, everywhere. It may seem that the castle is just one of all the other fortifications, but in reality it is very different from the fortifications and fortresses that were built in previous and subsequent times. The large Iron Age Celtic "duns" and "campuses" of the ancient Romans, built on the hills of Ireland and Scotland, were fortifications, behind the walls of which, in case of war, the population and armies took refuge with all their property and livestock. The Burghs of Saxon England and the Teutonic countries of continental Europe served the same purpose. Aethelfred, daughter of King Alfred the Great, built the burgh of Worcester as "the refuge of all the people". The modern English words "borough" and "burgh" come from this ancient Saxon word "burn" (Pittsburgh, Williamsburg, Edinburgh), just as the names Rochester, Manchester, Lancaster come from the Latin word "castra" which means "fortified camp" . These fortresses should by no means be likened to a castle; the castle was a private fortress and the residence of the lord and his family. In European society during the late Middle Ages (1000-1500), in a period that can rightfully be called the era of castles or the era of chivalry, the rulers of the country were lords. Naturally, the word "lord" is used only in England, and it comes from the Anglo-Saxon word hlaford. Hlaf is “bread”, and the whole word means “distributing bread”. That is, this word was called a kind father-protector, and not a martinet with iron fists. In France, such a lord was called seigneur in Spain senor, in Italy signor, and all these names are derived from the Latin word senior, which means "senior" in translation, in Germany and the Teutonic countries the lord was called Herr, Heer or Her.

The English language has always been distinguished by great originality in word formation, as we have already seen in the example of the word knight. The interpretation of a sovereign lord as a lord distributing bread was generally true for Saxon England. It must have been difficult and bitter for the Saxons to call by this name the new powerful Norman lords who began to rule England from 1066 onwards. Exactly these lords built the first large castles in England, and until the XIV century, the lords and their knightly retinue spoke exclusively Norman-French. Until the thirteenth century they considered themselves French; most of them owned lands and castles in Normandy and Brittany, and the names of the new rulers themselves came from the names of French cities and villages. For example, Baliol is from Belleux, Sachevrel is from Sote de Chevreuil, as well as the names of Beauchamp, Beaumont, Bur, Lacey, Claire, etc.

The castles we know so well today bear little resemblance to the castles that the Norman barons built for themselves, both in their own country and in England, as they were usually built of wood rather than stone. There are several early stone castles (the great tower of the Tower of London is one of the surviving and almost unchanged examples of such architecture that have survived to this day), built at the end of the 11th century, but the great era of building stone castles did not begin until about 1150. The defenses of the early castles were earthworks, the appearance of which has changed little in the two hundred years that have passed since the construction of such fortifications on the continent began. The first castles in the world were built in the Frankish kingdom to protect against Viking raids. Castles of this type were earthen structures - an elongated or rounded ditch and an earthen rampart, surrounding a relatively small area, in the center or on the edge of which there was a high mound. From above, the earthen rampart was crowned with a wooden palisade. The same palisade was placed on the top of the hill. A wooden house was built inside the fence. Except for the bulk hill, such buildings are very reminiscent of the houses of the pioneers of the American Wild West.

At first, this type of castle dominated. The main building, erected on an artificial hill, was later surrounded by a moat and an earthen rampart with a palisade. Inside the square, bounded by a rampart, was the courtyard of the castle. The main building, or citadel, stood on top of an artificial, rather high hill on four powerful corner pillars, due to which it was raised above the ground. The following is a description of one of these castles, given in the biography of Bishop John of Terwen, written around the 1930s: “Bishop John, going around his parish, often stopped at Marcham. Near the church there was a fortification, which with good reason can be called a castle. It was built according to the custom of the country by the former lord of the area many years ago. Here, where noble people spend most of their lives in wars, they have to defend their homes. To this end, a mound of earth is made as high as possible, and surrounded by a moat, as wide and deep as possible. The top of the hill is surrounded by a very strong wall of hewn logs, with small turrets around the circumference of the hedge - as many as funds allow. Inside the hedge they put a house or a large building, from where you can observe what is happening around. You can enter the fortress only by the bridge, which starts from the counterscarp of the moat, supported by two or even three pillars. This bridge goes up to the top of the hill. The biographer goes on to relate how one day, as the bishop and his servants were climbing the bridge, it collapsed, and people from a height of thirty-five feet (11 meters) fell into a deep ditch.

The height of the bulk hill usually ranged from 30 to 40 feet (9-12 meters), although there were exceptions - for example, the height of the hill on which one of the Norfolk castles near Thetford was built reached hundreds of feet (about 30 meters). The top of the hill was made flat and the upper palisade surrounded a courtyard of 50-60 square yards. The vastness of the yard varied from one and a half to 3 acres (less than 2 hectares), but was rarely very large. The shape of the territory of the castle was different - some had an oblong shape, some - square, there were courtyards in the form of a figure eight. Variations were very diverse depending on the size of the host state and the configuration of the site. After the site for construction was chosen, it was first dug in with a moat. The excavated earth was thrown onto the inner bank of the ditch, resulting in a rampart, an embankment called scarp. The opposite bank of the moat was called, respectively, the counterscarp. If it was possible, then the ditch was dug around a natural hill or other elevation. But as a rule, the hill had to be filled, which required a huge amount of earthwork.

Rice. 8. Reconstruction of the castle of the XI century with an artificial hill and a courtyard. The courtyard, which in this case is a separate closed area, is surrounded by a palisade of thick logs and surrounded on all sides by a moat. The hill, or embankment, is surrounded by its own separate moat, and on the top of the hill there is another palisade around a high wooden tower. The citadel is connected to the courtyard by a long suspension bridge, the entrance to which is protected by two small towers. The upper part of the bridge is lifting. If the attacking enemy captured the courtyard, then the defenders of the castle could retreat over the bridge behind the palisade on top of the bulk hill. The lifting part of the suspension bridge was very light, and retreaters could simply throw it down and lock themselves behind the upper palisade.

Such were the castles built everywhere in England after 1066. One of the tapestries, woven a little later than the event depicted, shows how Duke William's men - or, more likely, the Saxon slaves gathered in the district - are building the castle mound at Hastings. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1067 tells how "the Normans build their castles all over the country and oppress the poor people." There is a record in the Domesday Book of houses that had to be demolished to build castles - for example, 116 houses were demolished in Lincoln and 113 in Norwich. It was precisely such easily erected fortifications that the Normans needed at that time in order to consolidate the victory and subdue the hostile English, who could quickly gather strength and rebel. It is interesting to note the fact that when a hundred years later the Anglo-Normans, under the leadership of Henry II, tried to conquer Ireland, they built exactly the same castles on the occupied lands, although in England itself and on the Continent, large stone castles had already replaced the old wood-and-earth fortifications with bulk hills. and palisades.

Some of these stone castles were completely new and built on new sites, while others were rebuilt old castles. Sometimes the main tower was replaced with a stone one, leaving the wooden palisade that surrounded the castle courtyard intact, in other cases a stone wall was built around the castle courtyard, leaving the wooden tower intact on top of the bulk hill. For example, in York the old wooden tower stood for two hundred years after a stone wall was erected around the courtyard, and only Henry III between 1245 and 1272 replaced the wooden main tower with a stone one, which has survived to this day. In some cases, new stone main towers were built on the tops of old hills, but this only happened when the old castle was built on natural elevation. An artificial hill, poured only a hundred years ago, could not withstand the heavy weight of a stone building. In some cases, when the man-made mound had not settled sufficiently by the time of construction, the tower was erected around the mound, including it in a larger foundation, as, for example, in Kenilworth. In other cases, a new tower was not built on the top of the hill, but instead the old palisade was replaced with stone walls. Residential buildings, outbuildings, etc. were erected inside these walls. Such buildings are now called fences(shell keeps) - a typical example is the Round Tower of Windsor Castle. The same ones are well preserved in Restormel, Tamworth, Cardiff, Arundel and Carisbrooke. The outer walls of the courtyard supported the slopes of the hill, preventing them from slipping, and were connected on all sides with the walls of the upper enclosure.

For England, the main buildings of castles in the form of towers are more characteristic. In the Middle Ages, this building, this main part of the citadel, was called a donjon or simply a tower. The first word in the English language has changed its meaning, because in our time, hearing the word "dungeon" (dungeon), you imagine not the main tower of the castle citadel, but a gloomy prison. And of course, the Tower of London retained its former historical name.

The main tower formed the core, the most fortified part of the castle citadel. On the ground floor there were storage rooms for most of the food supplies, as well as an arsenal where weapons and military equipment were stored. Above were the premises of the guards, kitchens and living quarters for the soldiers of the castle garrison, and on the upper floor lived the lord himself, his family and retinue. The military role of the castle was purely defensive, since in this impregnable nest, behind incredibly strong and thick walls, even a small garrison could hold out for as long as food and water supplies allowed. As we shall see later, there were moments when the main towers of the citadel were attacked by the enemy or damaged so that they became unsuitable for defense, but this happened extremely rarely; usually castles were captured either as a result of treason, or the garrison surrendered, unable to withstand hunger. Problems with the water supply were rare, as there was always a source of water in the castle - one such source can still be seen today in the Tower of London.

Rice. 9. Pembroke Castle; shows a large cylindrical keep built in 1200 by William Marshal.

Enclosures were very common, probably because it was the easiest way to rebuild an existing castle with a courtyard and mound, but still the most typical feature of a medieval, and especially English, castle is a large square tower. It was the most massive building that was part of the castle buildings. The walls were gigantic in thickness and were set on a powerful foundation, capable of withstanding the blows of picks, drills and battering rams of the besiegers. The height of the walls from the base to the crenellated top averaged 70-80 feet (20-25 meters). Flat buttresses, called pilasters, supported the walls along their entire length and at the corners, at each corner such a pilaster was crowned with a turret on top. The entrance was always located on the second floor, high above the ground. An external staircase led to the entrance, located at a right angle to the door and covered by a bridge tower, installed outside directly against the wall. For obvious reasons, the windows were very small. On the first floor there were none at all, on the second they were tiny and only on the next floors they became a little larger. These distinguishing features - the bridge tower, the outer staircase and the small windows - can be clearly seen at Rochester Castle and Headingham Castle in Essex.

The walls were built of rough stones or rubble, lined with hewn stone inside and out. These stones were well worked, although in rarer cases the outer facing was also made of unhewn stones, for example in the white Tower of London. At Dover, a castle built by Henry II in 1170, the walls are 21-24 feet (6-7 meters) thick, at Rochester they are 12 feet (3.7 meters) thick at the base, gradually decreasing towards the roof to 10 feet (3 meters). The upper, non-endangered parts of the walls were usually somewhat thinner - their thickness decreased on each successive floor, allowing a little gain in space, reducing the weight of the building and saving building material. In the towers of such large castles as London, Rochester, Colchester, Hedingham and Dover, the internal volume of the building was divided in half by a thick transverse wall that ran through the entire building from top to bottom. The upper parts of this wall were lightened by numerous arches. Such transverse walls increased the strength of the building and facilitated flooring and roofing, as they reduced the spans that had to be blocked. In addition, the transverse walls were beneficial in a purely military sense. For example, in Rochester in 1215, when King John was besieging the castle, his sappers dug under the northwest corner of the main tower, and it collapsed, but the defenders of the castle moved to the other half, separated by a transverse wall, and held out for some more time.

The more massive and tall main towers were divided into a basement and three upper floors; in smaller castles, two floors were erected on the basement, although there are, of course, exceptions. For example, Corfe Castle - very tall - had only two upper floors, just like Guildford, but Norchem Castle had four upper floors. Some castles, such as Kenilworth, Rising, and Middleham, all of which were elongated and not particularly high, had only a basement and one upper storey.

Rice. 10. The main tower of Rochester Castle, Kent. Built in 1165 by King Henry II, this castle, besieged in 1214 by King John, was taken after a mine was dug under the northwest corner tower. The modern round tower was completed to replace the collapsed one by Henry III (the original text says that this happened in 1200, which is impossible, since Henry was born in 1207. - Transl.). The bridge tower is visible on the right in the figure.

Each floor was one large room, divided in two if the castle had a transverse wall. The basement was used as a storeroom: they kept provisions for the garrison and fodder for horses, food for servants, as well as weapons and various military equipment, among other things, necessary to ensure the life of the castle in peacetime and wartime - stones and wood for repairs, paints, lubricants, leather, ropes, bales of fabrics and linen, and, probably, supplies of quicklime and combustible oil, which were poured on the heads of the besiegers. Often the uppermost floor was divided by wooden walls into smaller rooms, and in some castles, such as Dover or Hedingham, the main room - the hall of the second floor - was made double-height; the hall had a very high vault, and galleries ran along the walls. (The main tower of the castle in Norwich, which is now a museum, is arranged in this way and gives an idea of ​​what it looked like in real life.) Fireplaces were installed in the larger main towers on the upper floors, many of the early examples of which survive to this day.

Rice. 11. The main building of Hedingham Castle in Essex, built in 1100. On the left side of the picture you can see the stairs leading to the front door. Initially, as in Rochester, this staircase was covered by a tower.

Stairs leading to all floors of the main building were arranged in its corners, they led from the basement to the turrets and went out to the roof. The stairs were spiral, twisted clockwise. This direction was not chosen by chance, since the defenders of the castle had to fight on the stairs if the enemy broke into the castle. In this case, the defenders had an advantage: naturally, they tried to push the enemy down, while the left hand with the shield rested against the central pillar of the stairs, and there was enough space for the right hand, which acted as a weapon, even on a narrow staircase. The attackers, on the other hand, were forced, overcoming resistance, to make their way up, while their weapons constantly ran into the central pillar. Try to imagine this situation, being on a spiral staircase, and you will understand what I mean.

Rice. 12. The main hall of Hedingham Castle in Essex. The arch, stretching from left to right in the figure, is the upper part of the transverse wall dividing the castle volume into two halves. The transverse wall, very thick in the basement, turns into an arch in the upper floor, which makes it possible to lighten the weight of the building and make the main hall more spacious.

In the upper floors of the main building, many small rooms were arranged directly in the wall. These were private quarters, rooms in which the lord of the castle, his family and guests slept; latrines were also located in the thickness of the walls. The toilets are very elaborate; medieval ideas about sanitation and hygiene are not as primitive as we tend to think. The latrines of medieval castles are more comfortable than the latrines still found in rural areas, and besides, they were easier to keep clean. The toilets were small rooms that protruded from the outer wall. The chairs were made of wood, they were located above the hole that opened outward. All, so to speak, waste, as in trains, poured directly into the street. Restrooms in those days were evasively called wardrobes (translated from French, “wardrobe” literally means “take care of the dress”). In Elizabethan times, the euphemism for the word lavatory was jake, just as we in America call the lavatory john, and the English use the word lu for the same purpose.

The source or spring was extremely important for the survival of the inhabitants and the defenders of the castle. Sometimes, as was the case in the Tower, the source was located in the basement, but more often it was brought to the living quarters - this was more reliable and convenient. Another detail of the castle, which at that time was considered absolutely necessary, was the house church or chapel, which was located in the tower in case the defenders were cut off from the courtyard if it was captured by the enemy. An excellent example of a chapel is located in the main tower of the white Tower of London, but more often the chapels were located at the top of the porch that covered the front door.

At the end of the 12th century, important changes were planned in the architecture of the main tower of the castle. Rectangular in plan, the towers, despite the fact that they were very massive, had one significant drawback - sharp corners. The enemy, remaining practically invisible and inaccessible (it was possible to shoot only from the turret located at the top of the corner), could methodically remove stones from the wall, destroying the castle. In order to do away with this inconvenience and reduce the risk, they began to build round towers, such as the main tower of Pembroke Castle, built in 1200 by William Marshal. Some towers had an intermediate, transitional look, a compromise, so to speak, between the old rectangular design and the new cylindrical one. These were polygonal towers with beveled obtuse corners. Examples include the towers of Orford Castle in Suffolk and Conisborough in Yorkshire, the former built by King Henry II between 1165 and 1173 and the latter by Earl Gamlin de Weyrenne in the 1290s.

The stone walls that replaced the old palisades around the castle courtyards were built based on the same military engineering considerations as the main towers. The walls were built as high and as thick as possible. The lower part was usually wider than the upper part, in order to provide strength to the most vulnerable section of the wall, and also to make the wall surface sloping so that stones and other projectiles dropped from above would bounce off the lower part, ricochet and hit the besieging enemy harder. The wall was serrated, that is, it was crowned with structural elements, which we now call loopholes, located between the battlements. Such a wall with loopholes was arranged as follows: a fairly wide passage or platform stretched along the top of the wall, which in Latin was called alatorium, from which the English word is derived allure- wall balustrade. From the outside, the balustrade was protected by an additional wall 7 to 8 feet (about 2.5 meters) high, interrupted at equal distances by transverse slot-like openings, openings. These openings were called embrasures, and the sections of the parapet between them were merlons, or teeth. The openings allowed the defenders of the castle to shoot at the attackers or drop various projectiles on them. True, for this, the defenders had to show themselves to the eyes of the enemy for some time before hiding behind the battlements again. To reduce the risk of being hit, narrow slits were often made in the battlements through which the defenders could fire their bows while still in cover. These slots were located vertically in the wall or in the battlement, had a width of no more than 2-3 inches (5-8 centimeters) on the outside, and were wider on the inside to make it easier for the shooter to manipulate the weapon. Such shooting slots were up to 6 feet (2 meters) high and were provided with an additional transverse slot just above half the height of the slot. These transverse slots were intended to enable the shooter to throw arrows laterally at an angle of up to forty-five degrees to the wall. There were many designs of such slots, but in fact they were all the same. One can imagine how difficult it was for an archer or crossbowman to get an arrow into such a narrow gap; but if you visit any castle and stand at the shooting gap, then you will see how clearly the battlefield is visible, what a magnificent view the defenders had and how convenient it was for them to shoot through these cracks with a bow or crossbow.

Rice. 13. Reconstruction of the flank tower and the wall of the castle courtyard of the XIII century. The tower is cylindrical on the outside and flat on the inside. On the inside of the tower, you can see that a small lift sticks out of the wall, with the help of which ammunition was supplied to the defenders who were behind the fence inside the platform on the tower. The high roof is made of thick wooden rafters covered with tiles, flat stones or slate. The crown of the tower under the roof is surrounded by a wooden fence. One can imagine that the attackers, having overcome the moat filled with water, came under fire from the archers who were in the tower on its top and behind the fence of the gallery. A pedestrian platform is shown on the top of the wall, as well as buildings adjacent to the wall in the courtyard of the castle.

Of course, the even wall surrounding the castle has a lot of shortcomings, since if the attackers reached its foot, they became inaccessible to the defenders. Anyone who dares to lean out of the embrasure will be immediately shot dead, while those who would remain under the protection of the battlements could not cause any harm to the attackers. Therefore, the best solution was to dismember the wall and build along its perimeter at regular intervals watchtowers or bastions that protruded forward beyond the plane of the wall in the field, and through the shooting slots in their walls, the defenders got the opportunity to shoot from loopholes in all directions, that is, shooting through the enemy in the longitudinal direction, along the enfilade, as they expressed in those days. At first, such towers were rectangular, but then they began to be erected in the form of half-cylinders protruding from the outer side of the walls, while the inner side of the bastion was flat and did not protrude beyond the plane of the castle courtyard wall. The bastions rose above the upper edge of the wall, dividing the pedestrian parapet into sectors. The path continued through the tower, but if necessary, it could be blocked by a massive wooden door. Therefore, if some detachment of the attackers managed to penetrate the wall, then it could be cut off in a limited section of the wall and destroyed.

Rice. 14. Various types of shooting slots. In many castles in their various parts there were rifle slots of various shapes. Most of the slots had an additional transverse slot, which allowed the archer to shoot not only straight ahead, but also in lateral directions at an acute angle to the wall. However, such slots were also made that did not have a transverse part. The height of the shooting slots ranged from 1.2 to 2.1 meters.

The castles seen today in England are usually flat-topped and unroofed. The upper edge of the walls is also flat, except for the battlements, but in those days when castles were used for their intended purpose, the main towers and bastions often had steep roofs, such as can be seen today in the castles of continental Europe. We tend to forget when we look at such dilapidated castles as Usk at Dover or Conisborough, succumbed to the onslaught of inexorable time, as they were covered with wooden roofs. Very often, the upper part - the parapets and walkways - of the walls, bastions and even the main towers were crowned with long wooden covered galleries, which were called enclosures, or in English hoarding(from the Latin word hurdicia), or sail. These galleries protruded from the outer edge of the wall by about 6 feet (about 2 meters), holes were made in the floor of the galleries, which made it possible to shoot through them at the attackers at the foot of the wall, throw stones at the attackers and pour boiling oil or boiling water on their heads. The disadvantage of such wooden galleries was their fragility - these structures could be destroyed with the help of siege engines or set on fire.

Rice. 15. The diagram shows how fences, or "lintels", were attached to the walls of the castle. Probably, they were placed only in those cases when the castle was threatened with a siege. In many walls of the castle courtyards, one can still see square holes in the walls under the battlements. Beams were inserted into these holes, on which a fence with a covered gallery was placed.

The most vulnerable part of the wall surrounding the castle courtyard was the gate, and at first close attention was paid to the defense of the gate. The earliest way to protect the gates was to place them between two rectangular towers. A good example of this type of protection is the arrangement of gates in the Exeter Castle of the 11th century that has survived to this day. In the 13th century, square gate towers give way to the main gate tower, which is a merger of the two former ones with additional floors built on top of them. Such are the gate towers in the castles of Richmond and Ludlow. In the 12th century, the more common way to protect the gate was to build two towers on both sides of the entrance to the castle, and only in the 13th century did gate towers appear in their finished form. Two flanking towers are now connected into one above the gate, becoming a massive and powerful fortification and one of the most important parts of the castle. The gate and entrance are now transformed into a long and narrow passage, blocked at each end. porticoes. These were doors sliding vertically along the gutters cut in stone, made in the form of large lattices of thick timber, the lower ends of the vertical bars were sharpened and bound with iron, thus, the lower edge porticoes It was a series of pointed iron stakes. Such lattice gates were opened and closed using thick ropes and a winch located in a special chamber in the wall above the passage. In the "bloody tower" of the Tower of London and today you can see portico with a working lifting mechanism. Later, the entrance was protected by mertieres, deadly holes drilled into the vaulted ceiling of the passage. Through these holes, on anyone who tried to break through to the gates by force, objects and substances that were common in such a situation - arrows, stones, boiling water and hot oil - poured and poured. However, another explanation seems more plausible - water was poured through the holes if the enemy tried to set fire to the wooden gates, since the best way to get into the castle was to fill the passage with straw, logs, soak the mixture well with combustible oil and set it on fire; they killed two birds with one stone - they burned the lattice gates and roasted the defenders of the castle in the gate rooms. In the walls of the passage there were small rooms equipped with shooting slots, through which the defenders of the castle could hit from close range with bows a dense mass of attackers who were trying to break into the castle.

In the upper floors of the gate tower there were quarters for soldiers and often even living quarters. In special chambers there were gates, with the help of which a drawbridge was lowered and raised on chains. Since the gate was the place that was most often attacked by the enemy besieging the castle, they were sometimes supplied with another means of additional protection - the so-called barbicans, which began at some distance from the gate. Usually the barbican consisted of two high thick walls running parallel outward from the gate, thus forcing the enemy to squeeze into a narrow passage between the walls, exposing themselves to the arrows of the archers of the gate tower and the barbican's upper platform hidden behind the battlements. Sometimes, to make access to the gate even more dangerous, the barbican was set at an angle to it, which forced the attackers to go to the gate on the right, and parts of the body not covered by shields turned out to be a target for archers. The entrance and exit of the barbican was usually very fancifully decorated. At Goodrich Castle near Herfordshire, for example, the entrance was made in the form of a semicircular vault, and the two barbicans covering the gates of Conway Castle looked like small castle courtyards.

Rice. 16. Reconstruction of the gate and the barbican of the castle of Arc in France. The Barbican is a complex structure with two drawbridges covering the main entrance.

Built in the mid-14th century by Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (Earl Richard's grandfather), the gatehouse watchtower is a good example of a compact watchtower and barbican combined into a superbly designed ensemble. The gate tower is built in the traditional plan in the form of two towers, connected from above over a narrow passage, it has three additional floors with high jagged turrets at each corner, rising above the battlements of the walls. Ahead, outside the castle, two battlements form another narrow passage leading to the castle; at the far end of these barbican walls, beyond them, there are two more towers - smaller copies of the gate tower. In front of them is a drawbridge across a water-filled moat. This means that the attackers, in order to break through to the gates, first had to make their way with fire or a sword through a raised drawbridge that blocked the path to the first gate and the porticos located behind them. Then they would have to fight their way through the narrow passage of the barbican. After that, finally finding themselves in front of the actual gate, the attackers would have been forced to force a second ditch, break through the next raised bridge and porticoes. Having accomplished these feats, the enemy found himself in a narrow corridor, showered with arrows and doused with boiling water and hot oil from numerous mertiers and rifle slots in the side walls, and at the end of the enemy’s path, the following porticoes were waiting. But the most interesting thing about this gate tower was the truly scientific way in which the staggered battlements covered each other. First came the walls and turrets of the barbican, behind them and above them rose the walls and the roof of the gate tower, over which the corner turrets of the gate tower dominated, the first pair was located below the second, from each subsequent shooting platform it was possible to cover the one below. The turrets of the gate fortification were connected by transitional hanging arched stone bridges, so the defenders did not have to go down to the roof to move from one turret to another.

Today, when you enter the gate leading to the courtyard and main tower of a castle such as Warwick, Dover, Kenilworth or Corfe, you are crossing a large expanse of cut grass in the courtyard. But everything here was different in those days when the castle was used for its intended purpose! The entire space of the courtyard was filled with buildings - mostly wooden, but there were also stone houses among them. Numerous covered rooms were located near the walls of the courtyard - some stood next to the wall, some were arranged directly in its thickness; there were stables, kennels, cowsheds, all kinds of workshops - masons, carpenters, gunsmiths, blacksmiths (one should not confuse a gunsmith with a blacksmith - the first was a highly qualified specialist), sheds for storing straw and hay, dwellings of a whole army of servants and hangers-on, open kitchens, dining rooms , stone premises for hunting falcons, a chapel and a large hall - more spacious and spacious than in the main tower of the castle. This hall, located in the courtyard, was used in the days of peace. Instead of grass, there was hard-packed earth or platforms paved with cobblestones or even paving stones, or, in a very few castles, the courtyard was covered with a mess of impassable mud. Instead of tourists idly resting in the shadow of the ruins, people were constantly walking here, busy with their daily work. Cooking took place almost continuously, horses were fed, watered and trained all the time, cattle were driven into the yard for milking and driven out of the castle to pasture, gunsmiths and blacksmiths repaired armor for the owner and the soldiers of the garrison, shod horses, forged iron objects for the needs of the castle , repairing wagons and carts - there was the incessant noise of continuous work.

Rice. 17. The figure shows one of the ways to construct a drawbridge.

A. An open drawbridge, such as the barbican bridge at Arc Castle. The bridge is attached by a chain to two powerful horizontal beams, each of which is hinged to the tops of pillars dug vertically into the ground. The chains attached to the edges of the bridge were attached with their other ends to the outer ends of the horizontal bars, while weights were attached to their opposite ends, balancing the weight of the bridge. These rear ends of the weighted horizontal bars were connected by chains to winches. Since the weights balanced the weight of the bridge, two people could easily lift it. B. This drawing shows a drawbridge located in front of the actual gates of the castle. The principle of its work is the same. The internal, weighted ends of the horizontal bars are located behind the walls of the castle, the bars themselves are passed through holes in the wall directly above the entrance. The outer ends protrude beyond the walls. When the bridge was raised, the horizontal bars lay in special slots in the wall and were recessed flush with the wall; in the same way, the canvas of the bridge lay in a special recess in the wall, and its plane, in the raised state, merged with the outer surface of the wall. Some drawbridges were simpler - they were raised on chains attached to the outer edge of the bridge deck, passed through holes in the wall and wound around the winch gate. True, the lifting of such a bridge required great physical effort due to the lack of a counterweight.

The huntsmen and grooms were also busy all the time, since there was a whole army of animals in the castle - dogs, falcons, hawks and horses, which had to be looked after and which had to be trained and trained, preparing for hunting. Every day, parties of hunters for deer or small game - hares and rabbits, and sometimes expeditions of hunters for wild boar were equipped from the castle. There were also lovers to hunt birds with a falcon. Hunting, whether driven or falconry, which seemed to be the main leisure activity of the high society of that time, was a much more important part of everyday life than we are inclined to think. With such an abyss of eaters who lived in the castle, all the game obtained during the hunt went into the boiler.

Despite the fact that the type of castle with a courtyard and a main tower was the main one in continental Europe and in England throughout the Middle Ages, one should not think that this type was the only one. The diversity stemmed from the fact that during the 13th century castles began to undergo rebuilding and improvements to keep pace with advances in siege art and innovations in the way fortresses were defended. For example, Richard the Lionheart was an excellent military engineer; it was he who introduced many new ideas into practice, rebuilding such previously erected castles as the Tower of London, and embodying all the innovations in the great castle of Les Andelys in Normandy, in his famous Château Gaillard. The king boasted that he could hold this castle even if its walls were made of butter. In fact, this castle fell only a few years after its construction, unable to withstand the onslaught of the French king, but, as in most such cases, traitors inside the castle opened the gates to the winner.

In that century many of the old castles were enlarged and completed; new towers, gatehouses, bastions and barbicans were erected; There are also completely new elements. The old wooden fences on the walls were gradually replaced by stone hinged loopholes. These loopholes essentially reproduced in stone the shape of old wooden fences - open galleries. Such hinged loopholes are a characteristic feature of castles of the 13th century.

Rice. 18. One of the towers of the castle of Sully-sur-Loire; hinged loopholes are visible around the edge of the roof of the tower and along the upper edge of the wall. In this castle, the ancient roofs of the XIV century have been preserved unchanged to this day.

But at the end of this century, castles of a completely new type appear in England, several of them were built in Wales. After Edward I seized power twice - in 1278 and 1282, this king, in order to keep what he had conquered, began to build new castles, in the same way that King William I began to build two centuries earlier with the same goal. But Edward's buildings were strikingly different from their predecessors - castles built on artificial hills, surrounded by wooden palisades and earthen ramparts. In short, in terms of the new type of architecture, there was no main tower, but the walls and towers of the courtyard were significantly strengthened. In the castles of Conway and Caernarvon, the outer walls reached almost the same height as the former main towers, and the flanking towers became simply prohibitive. There were two more open courtyards within the walls, but they were smaller than those of the older, more extensive and open castles. Conway and Caernarvon were not built according to the correct plan, their architecture was adapted to the features of the terrain on which they were built, but the castles of Harlech and Beaumarie were built according to the same plan - they were quadrangular fortresses with very high strong walls and large cylindrical (drum) corner towers. In the courtyard of the castle there was another concentric wall with bastions. There is no space here to describe in detail the castle architecture of this type, but at least the basic idea is now clear to you.

The same principle formed the basis for the construction of the last real castle in England - powerful high walls connecting the corner towers. At the end of the 14th century, castles of a new type were built - such as Bodiam in Sussex, Nunni in Somerset, Bolton and Sheriff Hatton in Yorkshire, Lumley in Durgham and Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey. The last castle in the plan was not quadrangular, but round, with an inner concentric wall. This castle was razed to the ground by order of Parliament during the English Civil War, and not even a trace remains of it. We know about its appearance only from ancient drawings. The internal structure of these castles is not characterized by buildings scattered around the courtyard or stuck to the walls, all the premises were built into the walls, they were turned into more orderly and convenient places to work and live.

Rice. 19. It is shown how hinged loopholes were arranged.

Later, at the end of the 14th century, the architecture of a classic English castle falls into decay - the place of the castle is occupied by a fortified manor house, for which home comfort and convenience are much more important than defense. Many castles built in the 15th century were quadrangular in plan, and most were surrounded by a moat; the only defensive structure was a double tower that covered the entrance. At the end of this century, the construction of such structures finally stopped, and the Englishman's castle turned into his usual home. From the 16th century began the great era of the construction of English estates.

This remark, of course, does not apply to continental castles; on the continent, the socio-political conditions were quite different. This is especially true of Germany, where internecine wars continued until the end of the 16th century, and castles were still in great demand. In England, however, the need for such fortified buildings remained only in the Welsh Alps and on the Scottish border. In the Welsh Alps, old castles were used for their intended purpose as early as the 15th century; indeed, a completely new castle was built at this time near Raglan in Monmouthshire. It was very similar to the castles of the time of Edward I, and was built around 1400 by Sir William of Thomas, known as the Blue Knight of Gwent, and his son Sir William Herbert, later Earl of Pembroke. One feature strikingly distinguished this castle from the castles of Edward's time - a tower standing separately on a hill, hexagonal in plan, surrounded by its own moat and rampart with bastions. This is a separate castle, standing in front of the main castle. This building went down in history under the name "yellow tower of Gwent". This is a late example of new construction in a region where military clashes could be expected; on the northern borders, wars were fought almost constantly and without interruption. The raids of the Scots, stealing cattle, and the reciprocal punitive raids of the British did not stop. Under such conditions, every estate, every village farm had to be turned into a fortified castle. As a result, so-called saws, small quadrangular fortresses. Usually such a fortress was a solid, dull, simple, but strong tower with a small courtyard, which was more like an ordinary village courtyard, and by no means a castle courtyard, surrounded by a high, flat, crenellated wall. Most of these saws were in fact ordinary farms, and when robbers appeared in the distance, the owner, his family and workers locked themselves in the tower, and the cattle were herded into the yard. If the Scots took it upon themselves to besiege the fortress and break into the courtyard, then people took refuge in the tower - they drove the cattle into the basement, and they themselves went up to the top floor. But the Scots rarely engaged in sieges. They were always in a hurry to swoop in, grab everything that lay badly, and go home.

Rice. 20. Bird's-eye view of Harlek Castle. This is one of the large castles built in the era of King Edward I. A characteristic feature of the building is large, powerful cylindrical towers connected into a quadrangle by massive high walls. The whole castle thus became, to some extent, one large main tower, and the oversized guard tower became the dominant part of the entire structure. In front of the main gate stands another tower, much smaller. There is also a long bridge thrown over the moat, as well as a drawbridge (which is now, of course, replaced by a stationary one). The drawbridge was located at a slight angle to the inner end of the access road. The outer edge of the moat is surrounded by a wall - a counterscarp, and the other wall crowns the steep rocky inner bank of the moat. The castle is built on a high stone cliff, and the only place from where it could be attacked is just visible in the picture. You can imagine how difficult it was to overcome the counterscarp, then the ditch, then climb the steep bank to the high walls, after that - under continuous fire - break through the main wall and only after all approach even higher walls and towers. All residential and utility rooms of the castle Harlek were located outside the main gate, inside the castle.

The great era of castle building almost completely coincides in time with the era of chivalry - from the 11th to the 15th century. Wars, even internecine and private, have become more cunning and less courteous than the wars of former days, becoming the lot of hired professionals. The appearance of cannons made even the strongest and most powerful castles vulnerable. It is curious, however, that two hundred years after the last castle was built in England, and many of them were abandoned and destroyed during the Civil War of 1642-1649, the castles again began to be used for their intended purpose. Some of them withstood long sieges, fired from cannons much more powerful than those used in the 15th century, and none of these castles was ever taken by storm.

Notes:

Counterscarp - the slope of the moat of a long-term or temporary fortification.

Functions

The main functions of the feudal castle with suburbs were:

• military (center of military operations, means of military control over the district),
• administrative and political (the administrative center of the district, the place where the political life of the country was concentrated),
• cultural and economic (handicraft and trade center of the district, a place of the highest elite and folk culture).

Defining characteristics

There is a widespread notion that castles only existed in Europe, where they originated, and in the Middle East, where they were moved by the Crusaders. Contrary to this view, similar structures appear in 16th and 17th century Japan, where they develop without direct contact and influence from Europe and have a completely different history of development, are built differently from European castles and are designed to withstand attacks of a completely different nature.

Elements

Hill

A mound of earth, often mixed with gravel, peat, limestone, or brushwood. The height of the embankment in most cases did not exceed 5 meters, although sometimes it reached 10 meters or more. The surface was often covered with clay or wooden decking. The hill was round or nearly square at the base, and the diameter of the hill was at least twice its height.

At the top, a wooden, and later a stone, defensive tower was erected, surrounded by a palisade. Around the hill there was a moat filled with water or dry, from the earth of which a mound was formed. Access to the tower was through a swinging wooden bridge and a staircase built on the hillside.

Courtyard

A large courtyard with an area (with rare exceptions) of no more than 2 hectares, surrounding or adjacent to the hill, as well as various residential and outbuildings - the dwellings of the owner of the castle and his soldiers, stables, a forge, warehouses, a kitchen, etc. - inside it. From the outside, the court was protected by a wooden palisade, then by a moat, which was filled from the nearest body of water, and by an earthen rampart. The space inside the courtyard itself could be divided into several parts, or several adjoining courtyards were built near the hill.

donjon

The castles themselves appeared in the Middle Ages and were the dwellings of the noble feudal lords. Due to feudal fragmentation and, as a result, frequent internecine wars, the dwelling of the feudal lord had to perform a defensive task. Castles were usually built on high ground, islands, rock ledges, and other hard-to-reach places.

With the end of the Middle Ages, castles began to lose their original - defensive - task, which has now given way to a residential one. With the development of artillery, the defensive task of castles disappeared completely; features of castle architecture were preserved only as decorative elements (French castle Pierrefonds, late XIV century).

A regular layout with a pronounced symmetry prevailed, the main building acquired a palace character (Madrid Castle in Paris, XV-XVI centuries) or Nesvizh Castle in Belarus (XVI century). In the XVI century, castle architecture in Western Europe was finally replaced by palace architecture. The defensive task was preserved for the longest time by the castles of Georgia, which were actively built until the 18th century.

There were castles that belonged not to one feudal lord, but to a knightly order. Such castles were larger, as an example, the Königsberg Castle.

Castles in Rus'

The main part of the medieval castle was the central tower - donjon, which served as a citadel. In addition to its defensive functions, the donjon was the direct dwelling of the feudal lord. Also in the main tower there were often living rooms of other inhabitants of the castle, a well, utility rooms (food warehouses, etc.). Often in the donjon there was a large front hall for receptions. Donjon elements can be found in the castle architecture of Western and Central Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, etc.

Wasserschloss in Schwerin

Usually the castle had a small courtyard, which was surrounded by massive battlements with towers and well-fortified gates. This was followed by the outer courtyard, which included outbuildings, as well as the castle garden and vegetable garden. The whole castle was surrounded by a second row of walls and a moat, across which a drawbridge was thrown. If the terrain allowed, then the moat was filled with water and the castle turned into a castle on the water.

The centers of defense of the walls of the castle were the towers protruding beyond the plane of the walls, which made it possible to organize flanking shelling of those going to attack. In Russian fortification, sections of the walls between the towers were called paraslas. In this regard, the castles were in terms of a polygon, the walls of which followed the terrain. Numerous examples of such structures have survived to this day in Great Britain, Germany, France, Ukraine and Belarus (for example, Mir Castle in Belarus or Lutsk Castle in Ukraine).

Over time, the structure of castles became more complex; the territory of the castles already included barracks, a court, a church, a prison and other structures (Cousy Castle in France, XIII century; Wartburg Castle in Germany, XI century; Harleck Castle in Great Britain, XIII century).

Rosenberg Castle in Kronach. moat and ventilation towers of the auditory gallery

With the beginning of the mass use of gunpowder, the decline of the era of castle building begins. So, the besiegers began to carry out, if the soil allowed it, sapper work - quietly dig saps, which made it possible to bring large explosive charges under the walls (storming the Kazan Kremlin in the 16th century). As a measure of struggle, the besieged dug an underground gallery at a considerable distance from the walls in advance, from which they listened in order to detect tunnels and destroy them in a timely manner.

However, the development of artillery and the increase in its destructive effect eventually forced the abandonment of the use of castles as the basis of defensive strategy and tactics. The time has come for fortresses - complex engineering structures with a developed system of bastions, ravelins, etc.; the art of building fortresses - fortification - developed. The recognized fortification authority of this era was the chief engineer of Louis XIV, Marshal of France Sebastien de Vauban (1633-1707).

Such fortresses, sometimes developed over time from castles, were also used during World War II to pin down enemy forces and delay his advance (see: Brest Fortress).

Construction

The construction of the castle began with the choice of location and building materials. A wooden castle was cheaper and easier to build than a stone castle. The cost of building most castles has not survived to this day; most surviving documents on the topic are from royal palaces. A castle made of wood with a motte and a bailey could have been built by unskilled labor - peasants dependent on the feudal lord who already had the skills necessary to build a wooden castle (they knew how to cut wood, dig and work with wood). Forced to work for the feudal lord, the workers most likely were not paid anything, so building a castle out of wood was cheap. According to experts, it took 50 workers and 40 days to build a medium-sized hill - 5 meters high and 15 meters wide. The famous architect en: James of Saint George, responsible for the construction of the Beaumaris castle, described the costs associated with the construction of the castle:

A study was conducted examining the costs associated with the construction of the castle of Lange, built in 992 in France. The stone tower is 16 meters high, 17.5 meters wide and 10 meters long with walls averaging 1.5 meters. The walls contain 1200 square meters of stone and have a surface of 1600 square meters. It was estimated that the tower took 83,000 man-days to build, most of which required unskilled labor.

Stone castles were expensive not only to build but also to keep in good condition because they contained a large amount of timber, which was often unseasoned and in need of constant care.

Medieval machines and inventions proved indispensable during construction; antique timber frame construction methods have been improved. The search for stone for construction was one of the main problems; often the solution was a quarry near the castle.

Due to the scarcity of stone, alternative materials were used, such as brick, which was also used for aesthetic reasons, as it was in vogue. Therefore, even despite the sufficient amount of stone, some builders chose brick as the main material for building the castle.

The material for construction depended on the area: in Denmark there are few quarries, so most of its castles are made of wood or brick, in Spain most castles are made of stone, while in Eastern Europe castles were usually built using wood.

Castles today

Nowadays, castles perform a decorative function. Some of them are turned into restaurants, others become museums. Some are being restored and sold or rented.

The Middle Ages in Europe was a turbulent time. The feudal lords, for any reason, arranged small wars among themselves - or rather, not even wars, but, in modern terms, armed “showdowns”. If a neighbor had money, they had to be taken away.

Lots of land and peasants? It's just indecent, because God ordered to share. And if knightly honor is hurt, then here it was simply impossible to do without a small victorious war.

Initially, these fortifications were made of wood and did not resemble the castles known to us in any way - except that a moat was dug in front of the entrance and a wooden palisade was erected around the house.

The lordly courts of Hasterknaup and Elmendorv are the ancestors of castles.

However, progress did not stand still - with the development of military affairs, the feudal lords had to modernize their fortifications so that they could withstand a massive assault using stone cannonballs and rams.

The besieged castle of Mortan (withstood the siege for 6 months).

Beaumarie Castle, owned by Edward I.

Welcome

We are on our way to the castle, which stands on a ledge of a mountain slope, on the edge of a fertile valley. The road goes through a small settlement - one of those that usually grew up near the fortress wall. Common people live here - mostly artisans, and warriors guarding the outer perimeter of protection (in particular, guarding our road). This is the so-called "castle people".

Scheme of castle structures. Note - two gate towers, the largest stands separately.

The first barrier is a deep ditch, and in front of it is a rampart of excavated earth. The moat can be transverse (separates the castle wall from the plateau), or sickle-shaped, curved forward. If the landscape allows, the moat encircles the entire castle in a circle.

The shape of the bottom of the ditches could be V-shaped and U-shaped (the latter is the most common). If the soil under the castle is rocky, then ditches were either not made at all, or they were cut down to a shallow depth, which only hindered the advancement of infantry (it is almost impossible to dig under the castle wall in the rock - therefore, the depth of the moat was not decisive).

The crest of an earthen rampart lying directly in front of the moat (which makes it seem even deeper) often carried a palisade - a fence of wooden stakes dug into the ground, pointed and tightly fitted to each other.

A bridge over the moat leads to the outer wall of the castle. Depending on the size of the moat and bridge, the latter supports one or more supports (huge logs). The outer part of the bridge is fixed, but its last segment (right next to the wall) is movable.

Scheme of the entrance to the castle: 2 - gallery on the wall, 3 - drawbridge, 4 - lattice.

Counterweights on the gate lift.

This drawbridge is designed so that in a vertical position it closes the gate. The bridge is powered by mechanisms hidden in the building above them. From the bridge to the lifting machines, ropes or chains go into the wall holes. To facilitate the work of people servicing the bridge mechanism, the ropes were sometimes equipped with heavy counterweights that took part of the weight of this structure onto themselves.

Of particular interest is the bridge, which worked on the principle of a swing (it is called “overturning” or “swinging”). One half of it was inside - lying on the ground under the gate, and the other stretched across the moat. When the inner part rose, closing the entrance to the castle, the outer part (to which the attackers sometimes managed to run) fell down into the moat, where the so-called “wolf pit” was arranged (sharp stakes dug into the ground), invisible from the side, until the bridge is down.

To enter the castle with the gates closed, there was a side gate next to them, to which a separate lifting ladder was usually laid.

Gates - the most vulnerable part of the castle, were usually made not directly in its wall, but were arranged in the so-called "gate towers". Most often, the gates were double-leaf, and the wings were knocked together from two layers of boards. To protect against arson, they were upholstered with iron on the outside. At the same time, in one of the wings there was a small narrow door, which could be entered only by bending over. In addition to locks and iron bolts, the gate was closed by a transverse beam lying in the wall channel and sliding into the opposite wall. The transverse beam could also be wound into hook-shaped slots on the walls. Its main purpose was to protect the gate from their landing attackers.

Behind the gate was usually a drop-down portcullis. Most often it was wooden, with iron-bound lower ends. But there were also iron gratings made of steel tetrahedral rods. The lattice could descend from a gap in the vault of the gate portal, or be behind them (on the inside of the gate tower), descending along the grooves in the walls.

The grate hung on ropes or chains, which, in case of danger, could be cut off so that it quickly fell down, blocking the way for the invaders.

Inside the gate tower there were rooms for guards. They kept watch on the upper platform of the tower, asked the guests for the purpose of their visit, opened the gates, and, if necessary, could hit all those who passed under them with a bow. For this purpose, there were vertical loopholes in the vault of the gate portal, as well as “tar noses” - holes for pouring hot resin on the attackers.

All on the wall!

Zwinger at Laneck Castle.

On top of the wall was a gallery for defense soldiers. From the outside of the castle, they were protected by a solid parapet, half the height of a man, on which stone battlements were regularly arranged. Behind them it was possible to stand at full height and, for example, load a crossbow. The shape of the teeth was extremely diverse - rectangular, rounded, in the form of a dovetail, decoratively decorated. In some castles, the galleries were covered (wooden canopy) to protect the warriors from bad weather.

A special type of loophole - ball. It was a freely rotating wooden ball fixed in the wall with a slot for firing.

Pedestrian gallery on the wall.

Balconies (the so-called “mashikuli”) were arranged in the walls very rarely - for example, in the case when the wall was too narrow for the free passage of several soldiers, and, as a rule, performed only decorative functions.

At the corners of the castle, small towers were built on the walls, most often flanking (that is, protruding outward), which allowed the defenders to fire along the walls in two directions. In the late Middle Ages, they began to adapt to storage. The inner sides of such towers (facing the courtyard of the castle) were usually left open so that the enemy who broke into the wall could not gain a foothold inside them.

Flanking corner tower.

The castle from the inside

The internal structure of the castles was diverse. In addition to the mentioned zwingers, behind the main gate there could be a small rectangular courtyard with loopholes in the walls - a kind of “trap” for the attackers. Sometimes castles consisted of several "sections" separated by internal walls. But an indispensable attribute of the castle was a large courtyard (outbuildings, a well, premises for servants) and a central tower, also known as a donjon.

Donjon at the Château de Vincennes.

The location of the water source depended primarily on natural causes. But if there was a choice, then the well was dug not in the square, but in a fortified room in order to provide it with water in case of shelter during the siege. If, due to the peculiarities of the occurrence of groundwater, a well was dug behind the castle wall, then a stone tower was built above it (if possible, with wooden passages to the castle).

When there was no way to dig a well, a cistern was built in the castle to collect rainwater from the roofs. Such water needed to be purified - it was filtered through gravel.

The combat garrison of castles in peacetime was minimal. So in 1425, two co-owners of the Reichelsberg castle in the Lower Franconian Aub entered into an agreement that each of them exposes one armed servant, and two gatekeepers and two guards are paid jointly.

Kitchen at Marksburg Castle.

Inside the tower there was sometimes a very high shaft going from top to bottom. It served as either a prison or a warehouse. The entrance to it was possible only through a hole in the vault of the upper floor - “Angstloch” (in German - a frightening hole). Depending on the purpose of the mine, the winch lowered prisoners or provisions there.

If there were no prison facilities in the castle, then the prisoners were placed in large wooden boxes made of thick boards, too small to stand up to their full height. These boxes could be installed in any room of the castle.

Of course, they were taken prisoner, first of all, for a ransom or for using a prisoner in a political game. Therefore, VIP-persons were provided according to the highest class - guarded chambers in the tower were allocated for their maintenance. This is how Friedrich the Handsome spent his time in the Trausnitz castle on Pfaimd and Richard the Lionheart in Trifels.

Chamber at Marksburg Castle.

Abenberg castle tower (12th century) in section.

At the base of the tower there was a cellar, which could also be used as a dungeon, and a kitchen with a pantry. The main hall (dining room, common room) occupied an entire floor and was heated by a huge fireplace (it spread heat only a few meters, so that iron baskets with coals were placed further along the hall). Above were the chambers of the feudal lord's family, heated by small stoves.

Sometimes the donjon did not serve as living quarters. It could well be used only for military and economic purposes (observation posts on the tower, dungeon, provisions storage). In such cases, the feudal lord's family lived in the "palace" - the living quarters of the castle, standing apart from the tower. The palaces were built of stone and had several floors in height.

It should be noted that the living conditions in the castles were far from the most pleasant. Only the largest carpets had a large knight's hall for celebrations. It was very cold in the donjons and carpets. Fireplace heating helped out, but the walls were still covered with thick tapestries and carpets - not for decoration, but to keep warm.

The windows let in very little sunlight (the fortification character of the castle architecture affected), not all of them were glazed. Toilets were arranged in the form of a bay window in the wall. They were unheated, so visiting the outhouse in winter left people with simply unique sensations.

Large temples had two floors. The common people prayed below, and the gentlemen gathered in the warm (sometimes glazed) choir on the second tier. The decoration of such premises was rather modest - an altar, benches and wall paintings. Sometimes the temple played the role of a tomb for the family living in the castle. Less commonly, it was used as a shelter (along with a donjon).

War on earth and underground

To take the castle, it was necessary to isolate it - that is, to block all the ways of supplying food. That is why the attacking armies were much larger than the defending ones - about 150 people (this is true for the war of mediocre feudal lords).

The issue of provisions was the most painful. A person can live without water for several days, without food - for about a month (in this case, one should take into account his low combat capability during a hunger strike). Therefore, the owners of the castle, preparing for the siege, often went to extreme measures - they drove out of it all commoners who could not benefit the defense. As mentioned above, the garrison of the castles was small - it was impossible to feed the whole army under the siege.

The attackers had no less problems. The siege of castles sometimes dragged on for years (for example, the German Turant defended itself from 1245 to 1248), so the question of supplying the rear of an army of several hundred people was particularly acute.

In the case of the siege of Turant, the chroniclers claim that during all this time the soldiers of the attacking army drank 300 fouders of wine (a fuder is a huge barrel). This is about 2.8 million liters. Either the scribe made a mistake, or the constant number of besiegers was over 1,000.

View of the castle Eltz from the counter-castle Trutz-Eltz.

The war against castles had its own specifics. After all, any more or less high stone fortification was a serious obstacle for conventional armies. Direct infantry attacks on the fortress could well have been successful, which, however, came at the cost of heavy casualties.

That is why a whole range of military measures was necessary for the successful capture of the castle (it was already mentioned above about the siege and starvation). Undermining was one of the most time-consuming, but at the same time extremely successful ways to overcome the protection of the castle.

Undermining was done with two goals - to provide troops with direct access to the courtyard of the castle, or to destroy a section of its wall.

So, during the siege of the castle of Altwindstein in Northern Alsace in 1332, a brigade of sappers of 80 (!) People took advantage of the distracting maneuvers of their troops (periodic short attacks on the castle) and for 10 weeks made a long passage in the hard rock to the southeastern part fortresses.

If the wall of the castle was not too large and had an unreliable one, then a tunnel broke through under its base, the walls of which were reinforced with wooden struts. Next, the spacers were set on fire - just under the wall. The tunnel collapsed, the base of the foundation sagged, and the wall above this place crumbled into pieces.

Curious devices were used to detect tunnels. For example, large copper bowls with balls inside were placed throughout the castle. If the ball in any bowl began to tremble, this was a sure sign that a mine was being dug nearby.

But the main argument in the attack on the castle were siege machines - catapults and battering rams.

Storming of the castle (miniature of the 14th century).

A type of catapult is a trebuchet.

Sometimes barrels filled with combustible materials were loaded into catapults. To deliver a couple of pleasant minutes to the defenders of the castle, catapults threw the severed heads of captives to them (especially powerful machines could throw even whole corpses over the wall).

Assault the castle with a mobile tower.

In addition to the usual ram, pendulum ones were also used. They were mounted on high mobile frames with a canopy and were a log suspended on a chain. The besiegers hid inside the tower and swung the chain, forcing the log to hit the wall.

In response, the besieged lowered a rope from the wall, at the end of which steel hooks were fixed. With this rope, they caught a ram and tried to lift it up, depriving it of mobility. Sometimes a gaping soldier could get caught on such hooks.

Having overcome the shaft, breaking the palisades and filling up the moat, the attackers either stormed the castle with the help of ladders, or used high wooden towers, the upper platform of which was on the same level with the wall (or even higher than it). These gigantic structures were doused with water to prevent arson by the defenders and rolled up to the castle along the flooring of the boards. A heavy platform was thrown over the wall. The assault group climbed up the internal stairs, went out onto the platform and with a fight invaded the gallery of the fortress wall. Usually this meant that in a couple of minutes the castle would be taken.

Silent glanders

Sapa (from the French sape, literally - a hoe, saper - to dig) - a method of extracting a moat, trench or tunnel to approach its fortifications, used in the 16-19 centuries. Flip-flop (quiet, secretive) and flying glanders are known. The work of the crossover glanders was carried out from the bottom of the original ditch without the workers coming to the surface, and the flying glanders were carried out from the surface of the earth under the cover of a pre-prepared protective mound of barrels and bags of earth. In the second half of the 17th century, specialists - sappers - appeared in the armies of a number of countries to perform such work.

The expression to act "on the sly" means: sneak, slowly, imperceptibly go, penetrate somewhere.

Fights on the stairs of the castle

It was possible to get from one floor of the tower to another only through a narrow and steep spiral staircase. The ascent along it was carried out only one after another - it was so narrow. At the same time, the warrior who went first could only rely on his own ability to fight, because the steepness of the turn of the turn was chosen in such a way that it was impossible to use a spear or a long sword from behind the leader. Therefore, the fights on the stairs were reduced to single combat between the defenders of the castle and one of the attackers. It was the defenders, because they could easily replace each other, since a special extended area was located behind their backs.

samurai castles

We know the least about exotic castles - for example, Japanese ones.

Stone castles began to be built at the end of the 16th century, taking into account European achievements in fortification. An indispensable attribute of a Japanese castle is wide and deep artificial ditches with steep slopes that surrounded it from all sides. Usually they were filled with water, but sometimes this function was performed by a natural water barrier - a river, a lake, a swamp.

Inside, the castle was a complex system of defensive structures, consisting of several rows of walls with courtyards and gates, underground corridors and labyrinths. All these structures were located around the central square of the honmaru, on which the feudal lord's palace and the high central tenshukaku tower were erected. The latter consisted of several rectangular tiers gradually decreasing upwards with protruding tiled roofs and gables.

Japanese castles, as a rule, were small - about 200 meters long and 500 wide. But among them there were also real giants. Thus, Odawara Castle occupied an area of ​​170 hectares, and the total length of its fortress walls reached 5 kilometers, which is twice the length of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.

The charm of antiquity

Saumur French castle (14th century miniature).

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When large landowners appeared in Europe, they began to build fortified estates for themselves. The house, outbuildings, barns and stables were surrounded by high wooden walls. In front of them, they usually dug a wide ditch, into which water was diverted from the nearest reservoir. This is how the first castles appeared. But they were fragile, as the tree began to rot over time. Therefore, the walls and buildings had to be constantly updated. In addition, such buildings could easily be set on fire.

The first real knightly castles made of stone, which are well known in our time, began to be built at the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th centuries. In total, 15 thousand such structures were built in Europe. Especially fond of similar buildings in England. On these lands, a building boom began during the time of William the Conqueror in the second half of the 11th century. Stone structures towered at a distance of 30 km from each other. This proximity was very handy in the event of an attack. Horse detachments from other castles could quickly arrive at the defenders.

In the X-XI centuries, protective stone structures consisted of a high multi-tiered tower. She was called donjon and was home to the knight and his family. Food was also stored in it, servants lived, armed guards. A prison was set up in which prisoners were kept. A deep well was dug in the basement. It was filled with groundwater. Therefore, the inhabitants of the donjon were not afraid to be left without water in the event of a long siege.

From the second half of the 11th century, donjons began to be surrounded by stone walls.. Since that time, the defensive capabilities of the castle have increased significantly. Enemies first had to overcome high solid walls, and then also take possession of a multi-tiered tower. And from it it was very convenient to pour hot tar on the heads of the invaders, shoot arrows and throw large stones.

The most active construction of reliable stone structures unfolded in 1150-1250.. It was during these 100 years that the largest number of castles were built. Kings and rich nobles built majestic structures. Small nobles erected small but reliable stone fortresses.

At the beginning of the XIII century, the towers began to be made not square, but round.. This design was more resistant to throwing machines and rams. In the 90s of the XIII century, one central tower was abandoned. Instead, they began to make many towers, and surrounded them with 2 and even 3 rows of walls. Much more attention was paid to the strengthening of the gate.

Previously, knightly castles were protected only by heavy doors and a rising bridge over the moat. Now a powerful metal grate has been placed outside the gate. She could go down and up, and was called gers. Its tactical advantage was that it was possible to shoot arrows through it at the attackers. This innovation was added barbican. It was a round tower located in front of the gate.

Therefore, the enemies first had to take possession of it, then overcome the drawbridge, break the metal grate of the hers, and only after that, overcoming the fierce resistance of the defenders, penetrate the inner territory of the castle. And on top of the walls, the builders made stone galleries with special openings to the outside. Through them, the besieged fired their bows and poured hot pitch on the enemies.

Medieval knight's castle and its defensive elements

In these almost impregnable stone fortresses, everything was subject to maximum security. But they cared much less about internal comfort. There were few windows, and they were all narrow. Instead of glasses, they used mica or intestines of cows, bulls, buffaloes. Therefore, the rooms were twilight even on a bright sunny day. There were a great many different stairs, corridors and passages. They created drafts. And this affected the health of the residents not in the best way.

There were fireplaces in the rooms, and the smoke escaped through the chimneys. But it was very difficult to heat the premises made of stone. Therefore, people have always suffered from a lack of heat. The floors were also stone. They were covered with hay and straw on top. Furniture included wooden beds, benches, cabinets, tables and chests. Hunting trophies in the form of stuffed animals and weapons hung on the walls. And in such decoration lived the families of the nobles with their servants and guards.

Attitudes towards comfort and convenience began to change at the beginning of the 14th century.. Knights' castles began to be built of brick. Accordingly, they became much warmer. Builders stopped making narrow window openings. They expanded significantly, and multi-colored glass replaced the mica. The walls and floors were covered with carpets. Carved wooden furniture and porcelain utensils, brought from the east, appeared. That is, the fortresses turned into quite tolerable places to live.

At the same time, locks retained such important functions as storage for products. They had cellars and cellars. Grain, smoked meats, dried fruits and vegetables were stored in them. There were stocks of wine, fish lay in wooden barrels. Honey was stored in earthenware jars filled with wax. Salo was salted in stone containers.

Halls and corridors were lit with oil lamps or torches. In living quarters candles made of wax or tallow were used. A separate tower was intended for hay. It was kept for horses, which at that time were very numerous. Each fortress had its own bakery. Bread was baked daily for the masters and their servants.

Common people settled around these majestic buildings. In the event of an attack by enemies, people hid behind strong walls. They also sheltered their livestock and property. Therefore, gradually around the knight's castles, first settlements began to appear, and then small towns. Markets and fairs were held right under the walls. The owner of the fortress did not object to this at all, since such events promised him a good profit.

By the 16th century, many knightly castles were completely surrounded by residential buildings. As a result, they lost their military defensive value. At this time, powerful artillery began to appear. She nullified the importance of strong and high walls. And gradually, once impregnable fortresses turned into only places of residence for rich people. They were also used for prisons and warehouses. Today, the former majestic buildings have become history and are of interest only to tourists and historians..

The Norman Conquest of England led to a boom in castle building, but the process of building a fortress from scratch is far from easy. If you want to start building a fortress on your own, then you should read the tips below.

It is extremely important to build your castle on a hill and in a strategically important point.

Castles were usually built on natural elevations, and were usually equipped with a link to the external environment, such as a ford, bridge or passage.

Historians have rarely been able to find evidence of contemporaries regarding the choice of a site for the construction of the castle, but they still exist. On September 30, 1223, 15-year-old King Henry III arrived in Montgomery with his army. The king, who had successfully led a military campaign against the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, was going to build a new castle in this area to ensure security on the border of his possessions. The English carpenters had been given the task of preparing the timber a month earlier, but the king's advisers had only just now determined the site for the construction of the castle.

After a careful survey of the area, they chose a point on the very edge of the ledge above the valley of the River Severn. According to the chronicler Roger of Wendover, this position "looked unassailable to anyone". He also noted that the castle was created "for the security of the region from the frequent attacks of the Welsh."

Tip: identify places where the topography rises above transport routes: these are natural places for castles. Keep in mind that the design of the castle is determined by the place of construction. For example, a castle on a ledge of exposed rocks will have a dry moat.

2) Develop a workable plan

You will need a master mason who can draw plans. An engineer knowledgeable in weapons will also come in handy.

Experienced soldiers may have their own ideas about the design of the castle, in terms of the shape of its buildings and their location. But it is unlikely that they will have the knowledge of the level of specialists in design and construction.

To implement the idea, a master bricklayer was required - an experienced builder, whose hallmark was the ability to draw a plan. With a grasp of practical geometry, he used simple tools such as a straightedge, square, and compass to create architectural plans. Master masons submitted a drawing with a building plan for approval, and during construction supervised its construction.

When Edward II in 1307 began building a huge residential tower at Naresborough Castle in Yorkshire for his favorite Pierce Gaveston, he not only personally approved the plans drawn up by the London master mason Hugh of Tichmarsh - probably made in the form of a drawing - but also demanded regular reports on the construction . From the middle of the 16th century, a new group of professionals called engineers increasingly began to take on a role in planning and building fortifications. They had technical knowledge of the use and power of cannons, both for defense and for attacking castles.

Tip: Plan for slits to provide a wide angle of attack. Shape them according to the weapon you are using: longbow archers need large slopes, crossbowmen need smaller ones.

You will need thousands of people. And not all of them will come of their own free will.

It took a lot of effort to build the castle. We do not have documentary evidence of the construction of the first castles in England since 1066, but from the scale of many castles of that period it becomes clear why some chronicles claim that the English population was under the yoke of building castles for their Norman conquerors. But from the later time of the Middle Ages, some estimates with detailed information have come down to us.

During the invasion of Wales in 1277, King Edward I began building a castle in Flint, northeast Wales. It was erected quickly, thanks to the rich resources of the crown. A month after the start of work, in August, 2300 people were involved in the construction, including 1270 diggers, 320 lumberjacks, 330 carpenters, 200 masons, 12 blacksmiths and 10 charcoal burners. All of them were driven from the surrounding lands under an armed escort who watched so that they did not desert from the construction.

From time to time, foreign specialists could be involved in the construction. For example, millions of bricks for the rebuilding of Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire in the 1440s were supplied by a certain Baldwin "Docheman", or Dutchman, that is, "Dutchman" - obviously a foreigner.

Tip: Depending on the size of the workforce and the distance they had to travel, it may be necessary to arrange accommodation for them on site.

An unfinished castle in enemy territory is very vulnerable to attacks.

To build a castle in enemy territory, you need to protect the construction site from attacks. For example, you can enclose the construction site with wooden fortifications or a low stone wall. Such medieval defense systems sometimes remained after the construction of the building as an additional wall - as, for example, in the castle of Beaumaris, the construction of which was started in 1295.

Also important is secure communication with the outside world for the delivery of building materials and provisions. In 1277, Edward I dug a canal to the river Kluid directly from the sea and to the location of his new castle in Rydlane. The outer wall, built to protect the construction site, extended to the piers on the banks of the river.

Security problems can also arise with a radical restructuring of an existing castle. When Henry II rebuilt Dover Castle in the 1180s, all work was carefully planned so that the fortifications provided protection for the duration of the renovation. According to surviving decrees, work on the inner wall of the castle began only when the tower was already sufficiently repaired so that guards could be on duty in it.

Tip: building materials for the construction of the castle are large and voluminous. If possible, it's best to transport them by water, even if that means building a dock or canal.

When building a castle, you may have to move an impressive amount of land, which is not cheap.

It is often forgotten that the fortifications of the castle were built not only through architectural techniques, but also through landscape design. Enormous resources were allocated for the movement of land. The scale of land works of the Normans can be recognized as outstanding. For example, according to some estimates, the embankment erected in 1100 around Pleshy Castle in Essex required 24,000 man-days.

Some aspects of landscaping required serious skills, especially the creation of water ditches. When Edward I rebuilt the Tower of London in the 1270s, he hired a foreign specialist, Walter of Flanders, to create a huge tidal moat. Digging the ditch under his direction cost £4,000, a staggering amount, almost a quarter of the cost of the entire project.

With the rise of cannons in the art of siege, the earth began to play an even more important role as an absorber of cannon shots. Interestingly, experience in moving large amounts of land has led some of the fortification engineers to find work as garden designers.

Tip: Save time and money by digging out the masonry for your castle walls from the moats around it.

Carry out the mason's plan carefully.

Using ropes of the required length and pegs, it was possible to mark the foundation of the building on the ground in full size. After the foundation ditches were dug, work began on the masonry. To save money, the responsibility for construction was assigned to the senior mason instead of the master mason. Masonry in the Middle Ages was usually measured in rods, one English rod = 5.03 m. At Warkworth in Northumberland, one of the complex towers stands on a lattice of rods, possibly for the purpose of calculating construction costs.

Often the construction of medieval castles was accompanied by detailed documentation. In 1441-42 the tower of Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire was demolished and a plan for its successor was drawn up on the ground. But the Prince of Stafford, for some reason, was not pleased. The king's master stonemason, Robert of Westerley, was sent to Tutbury, where he held a conference with two senior masons to design a new tower at the new site. Westerley then left, and over the next eight years a small group of workers, including four junior masons, built the new tower.

Senior masons could be called in to confirm the quality of work, as was the case at Cooling Castle in Kent, when the royal stonemason Heinrich Javel assessed work carried out from 1381 to 1384. He criticized the deviations from the original plan and rounded the estimate down.

Tip: Don't let the master mason fool you. Make him make a plan so that it is easy to make an estimate for it.

Finish building with elaborate fortifications and specialized timber structures.

Until the 12th century, the fortifications of most castles consisted of earth and logs. And although stone buildings were subsequently given preference, wood remained a very important material in medieval wars and fortifications.

Stone castles prepared for attacks by adding special battle galleries along the walls, as well as shutters that could close the gaps between battlements to protect the defenders of the castle. All this was made of wood. Heavy weapons used to defend the castle, catapults and heavy crossbows, springalds, were also built of wood. Artillery was usually designed by a highly paid professional carpenter, sometimes with the title of engineer, from the Latin "ingeniator".

Such experts were not cheap, but could eventually be worth their weight in gold. This, for example, happened in 1266, when Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire resisted Henry III for almost six months with catapults and water defenses.

There are records of camp castles made entirely of wood - they could be transported with you and erected as needed. One such was built for the French invasion of England in 1386, but the Calais garrison captured it along with the ship. It was described as consisting of a wall of logs 20 feet high and 3,000 paces long. There was a 30-foot tower every 12 paces, capable of housing up to 10 soldiers, and the castle also had an unspecified defense for archers.

Tip: Oak wood gets stronger with age, and is easiest to work with when it's green. The top branches of trees are easy to transport and shape.

8) Provide water and sanitation

The most important aspect for the castle was efficient access to water. These could be wells that supply water to certain buildings, such as a kitchen or a stable. Without a detailed acquaintance with the medieval well shafts, it is difficult to do justice to them. For example, in Beeston Castle in Cheshire there is a well 100 m deep, the upper 60 m of which are lined with hewn stone.

There is some evidence of elaborate plumbing that brought water to the apartments. The tower of Dover Castle has a system of lead pipes that delivers water throughout the rooms. She was fed from a well with a winch, and possibly from a rainwater harvesting system.

Efficient disposal of human waste was another challenge for lock designers. The latrines were assembled in one place in the buildings so that their shafts were emptied in one place. They were located in short corridors that trap unpleasant odors, and were often equipped with wooden seats and removable covers.

Today it is widely believed that latrines used to be called "cloakrooms". In fact, the lexicon for toilets was extensive and colorful. They were called gongs or gangs (from the Anglo-Saxon word for "a place to go"), nooks and jakes (the French version of "john").

Tip: Ask a master mason to plan comfortable and private latrines outside the bedroom, following the example of Henry II and Dover Castle.

The castle not only had to be well-guarded - its inhabitants, having a high status, demanded a certain glamor.

During the war, the castle must be defended - but it also serves as a luxurious home. The noble gentlemen of the Middle Ages expected their dwelling to be both comfortable and richly furnished. In the Middle Ages, these citizens traveled with servants, things and furniture from one residence to another. But home interiors often had fixed decorative features, such as stained-glass windows.

The tastes of Henry III in the setting are recorded very carefully, with interesting and attractive details. In 1235-36, for example, he ordered that his hall at Winchester Castle be decorated with images of a map of the world and a wheel of fortune. Since then, these decorations have not survived, but the well-known round table of King Arthur, possibly created between 1250 and 1280, remains in the interior.

The large area of ​​the castles played an important role in the luxurious life. Parks were created for hunting, a jealously guarded privilege of aristocrats; gardens were also in demand. The extant description of the construction of the castle of Kirby Maxloe in Leicestershire says that its owner, Lord Hastings, began laying out gardens at the very beginning of the construction of the castle in 1480.

In the Middle Ages, rooms with beautiful views were also loved. One of the 13th-century groups of rooms at the castles of Leeds in Kent, Corfe in Dorset and Chepstow in Monmouthshire were called gloriettes (from the French gloriette, a diminutive of glory) for their splendor.

Tip: The interior of the castle should be luxurious enough to attract visitors and friends. Entertainment can win battles without having to expose itself to the dangers of combat.