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Medieval CastlesIt is to the Norman invaders that England owes the introduction of Medieval Castles in our sense of the word. There were some strong places before the Norman invasion, but they were very few. Violet le Duc says that the Normans were the first people in Western Europe to build castles, not as isolated fortresses, but as a scheme of general defense, developed as a result of a political idea affecting the geographical distribution of the Medieval Castles, and even their individual planning and arrangement.
Castles were placed in almost all of the large towns. The river valleys, the main channels of traffic, the important fords and bridges ended up being guarded by castles. On the coast, particularly in the south-east, the part most susceptible of invasion, all convenient landing places were similarly protected. Other castles kept open the main lines of communications across country, while in the dangerous districts each large estate possessed a castle primarily built for the protection of the tenant, but also being part of the general defense of the neighborhood. Such castles were especially numerous on the Scottish border and in the Welsh Marches. There are various opinions in classifying the Medieval Castles. Perhaps the best is the one based on the system of defense adopted. According to this system, the presence or absence of the great and distinguishing feature, the keep, divides the castles in two main types:
Keep-less Medieval Castles also can be divided into three groups:
- The growth of luxury and the increasing idea of comfort. - The gradual improvement in methods of attack. - The introduction, through influence of returning crusaders, of the more scientific military architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The first of these led to the disuse of the keep as a place of residence; always cold, inconvenient, and uncomfortable, its cramped accommodation became too limited for the growing numbers of dependants in personal service. Of at least equal importance in the development of the Medieval Castles was the improvement in the art of siege-craft. For all through the medieval period the art of defense was always in front of that of attack, and even the gunpowder did not, for a long time, alter the relation. During the crusades, the soldiers of Western Europe became acquainted with the more advanced art of fortification of the Byzantine Empire. This art was introduced before the reign of Edward I, and the main ward was girt with a high wall, strengthened by a circle of projecting mural towers, so placed that no attacking party could approach the base of the wall without being exposed to an overwhelming fire from them, and further all subordinated wards were so completely dominated by the high wall of the inner ward that even if taken they could not be held against it.
The place of the fortress-type Medieval Castles was taken by the castle-palaces of the last group, quadrangular groups of buildings around a central courtyard, adorned rather then protected by angle towers, gate-house and moat. A marvelous example is Leeds Castle. In exposed situations, some attempt at defensibility was made by the thickness of the outer walls and the absence of any important external openings, but the majority of them had large external windows and walls of no great strength. |
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