Biology

08.02.202327.05.2017

Not every castle is actually a castle. Today, the word “castle” is used to describe almost any significant structure of the Middle Ages, be it a palace, a large estate or a fortress - in general, the home of a feudal lord in medieval Europe. This everyday use of the word “castle” is at odds with its original meaning, because a castle is primarily a fortification. Inside the castle territory there could be buildings for different purposes: residential, religious, and cultural. But still, first of all, the main function of the castle is defensive. From this point of view, for example, the famous romantic palace of Ludwig II, Neuschwanstein, is not a castle.

Location, and not the structural features of the castle are the key to its defensive power. Of course, the layout of the fortification is important for the defense of the castle, but what makes it truly impregnable is not the thickness of the walls and the location of the loopholes, but the correctly chosen construction site. A steep and high hill, which is almost impossible to get close to, a sheer rock, a winding road to the castle, which is perfectly visible from the fortress, determine the outcome of the battle to a much greater extent than all other equipment.

Gates- the most vulnerable place in the castle. Of course, the fortress had to have a central entrance (in peaceful moments, sometimes you want to enter beautifully and solemnly; the castle is not defended all the time). When captured, it is always easier to break through the entrance that already exists than to create a new one by destroying massive walls. Therefore, the gates were designed in a special way - they had to be wide enough for the carts and narrow enough for the enemy army. Cinematography often makes the mistake of depicting a castle entrance with a large wooden gate that can be locked: such would be extremely impractical for defense.

The interior walls of the castle were colored. The interiors of medieval castles are often depicted in gray-brown tones, without any cladding, simply as the inside of bare, cold stone walls. But residents of medieval palaces loved bright colors and lavishly decorated the interior of their living quarters. The inhabitants of the castles were rich and, of course, wanted to live in luxury. Our ideas stem from the fact that in most cases the paint has not stood the test of time.

Large windows are a rarity for a medieval castle. As a rule, they were absent altogether, giving way to multiple small window “slots” in the castle walls. In addition to their defensive purpose, narrow window openings protected the privacy of the castle's inhabitants. If you come across a castle building with luxurious panoramic windows, most likely they appeared at a later time, as, for example, at the Roctailade castle in the south of France.

Secret passages, secret doors and dungeons. When walking around the castle, know that somewhere underneath you lie corridors hidden from the eyes of the average person (perhaps someone still wanders through them today?). Poterns - underground corridors between the buildings of the fortress - made it possible to move around the fortress or leave it unnoticed. But it’s a disaster if the traitor opened the secret door to the enemy, as happened during the siege of Corfe Castle in 1645.

Storming the castle was not such a fleeting and easy process as it is portrayed in the movies. A massive attack was a rather extreme decision in an attempt to capture the castle, exposing the main military force to unreasonable risk. Castle sieges were carefully thought out and took a long time to implement. The most important thing was the ratio of the trebuchet, the throwing machine, to the thickness of the walls. To make a hole in the castle wall, a trebuchet needed from several days to several weeks, especially since just a hole in the wall did not guarantee the capture of the fortress. For example, the siege of Harlech Castle by the future king Henry V lasted about a year, and the castle fell only because the city ran out of provisions. So the rapid attacks of medieval castles are an element of film fantasies, not historical realities.

Hunger- the most powerful weapon when taking a castle. Most castles had rainwater tanks or wells. The chances of the castle residents to survive during the siege depended on the supplies of water and food: the option of “waiting it out” was the least risky for both sides.

For castle defense it didn't require as many people as it seems. Castles were built in such a way as to allow those inside to calmly fight off the enemy, making do with small forces. Compare: the garrison of Harlech Castle, which held out for almost a whole year, consisted of 36 people, while the castle was surrounded by an army numbering hundreds, or even thousands of soldiers. In addition, an extra person on the territory of the castle during a siege is an extra mouth, and as we remember, the issue of provisions could be decisive.

You write about a baron in a castle - at least have a rough idea of how the castle was heated, how it was ventilated, how it was lit...
From an interview with G. L. Oldie

When we hear the word “castle,” our imagination conjures up an image of a majestic fortress - the hallmark of the fantasy genre. There is hardly any other architectural structure that would attract so much attention from historians, military experts, tourists, writers and lovers of “fairy-tale” fiction.

We play computer, board and role-playing games where we have to explore, build or capture impenetrable castles. But do we know what these fortifications actually are? What interesting stories are associated with them? What do the stone walls hide behind - witnesses of entire eras, grandiose battles, knightly nobility and vile betrayal?

Surprisingly, it is a fact - fortified dwellings of feudal lords in different parts of the world (Japan, Asia, Europe) were built according to very similar principles and had many common design features. But in this article we will focus primarily on medieval European feudal fortresses, since they served as the basis for the creation of a mass artistic image of a “medieval castle” as a whole.

Birth of a fortress

The Middle Ages in Europe were a turbulent time. The feudal lords, for any reason, organized small wars among themselves - or rather, not even wars, but, in modern language, armed “showdowns”. If a neighbor had money, it had to be taken away. Lots of land and peasants? This is simply indecent, because God ordered sharing. And if knightly honor was affected, then it was simply impossible to do without a small victorious war.

Under such circumstances, the large aristocratic landowners had no choice but to strengthen their homes with the expectation that one fine day their neighbors might come to visit them, and if they don’t feed them bread, let them kill someone.

Initially, these fortifications were made of wood and did not resemble the castles we know in any way - except that a ditch was dug in front of the entrance and a wooden palisade was placed around the house.

The manorial courts of Hasterknaup and Elmendorv are the ancestors of the 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 European castle has its roots in antiquity. The earliest structures of this kind copied Roman military camps (tents surrounded by a palisade). It is generally accepted that the tradition of building gigantic (by the standards of that time) stone structures began with the Normans, and classic castles appeared in the 12th century.

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

The castle had very simple requirements - it must be inaccessible to the enemy, provide surveillance of the area (including the nearest villages belonging to the owner of the castle), have its own source of water (in case of a siege) and perform representative functions - that is, show the power and wealth of the feudal lord.

Beaumarie Castle, owned by Edward I.

Welcome

We are heading to the castle, which stands on a ledge of a mountain slope, at the edge of a fertile valley. The road goes through a small settlement - one of those that usually grew up near the fortress wall. Simple people live here - mostly artisans, and warriors guarding the outer perimeter of defense (in particular, guarding our road). These are the so-called “castle people”.

Scheme of castle structures. Note that there are two gate towers, the largest one standing separately.

The road is laid in such a way that the newcomers always face the castle with their right side, not covered by a shield. Directly in front of the fortress wall there is a bare plateau, lying at a significant slope (the castle itself stands on an elevation - natural or embankment). The vegetation here is low so that there is no cover for attackers.

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

Sometimes dividing ditches were dug inside the castle, making it difficult for the enemy to move through its territory.

The bottom shape of ditches could be V-shaped or 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, preventing only the advance of infantry (it is almost impossible to dig under the castle wall in the rock - therefore the depth of the ditch was not of decisive importance).

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

A bridge spanning a moat leads to the outer wall of the castle. Depending on the size of the ditch and bridge, the latter is supported by one or more supports (huge logs). The outer part of the bridge is fixed, but the last section (right next to the wall) is movable.

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

Counterweights on the gate lift.

Castle gate.

This drawbridge is designed so that in a vertical position it covers 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 openings. To facilitate the work of people servicing the bridge mechanism, the ropes were sometimes equipped with heavy counterweights, taking part of the weight of this structure on themselves.

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

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

The gate is the most vulnerable part of the castle; it was usually not made directly into its wall, but was located in the so-called “gate towers”. Most often, the gates were double-leaf, and the doors were knocked together from two layers of boards. To protect against arson, they were lined with iron on the outside. At the same time, in one of the doors there was a small narrow door that could only be passed through 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 cross beam could also be inserted into hook-shaped slots on the walls. Its main purpose was to protect the goal from being attacked by attackers.

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

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

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

Tar noses.

All on the wall!

The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on an inclined base. Processed stones or bricks made up its outer surface. Inside it consisted of rubble stone and slaked lime. The walls were placed on a deep foundation, under which it was very difficult to dig.

Often double walls were built in castles - a high external one and a small internal one. An empty space appeared between them, which received the German name “zwinger”. The attackers, when overcoming the outer wall, could not take with them additional assault devices (bulky ladders, poles and other things that cannot be moved inside the fortress). Once in the zwinger in front of another wall, they became an easy target (there were small loopholes in the walls of the zwinger for archers).

Zwinger at Lanek Castle.

At the top of the wall there was a gallery for defense soldiers. On the outside of the castle they were protected by a strong parapet of half human height, on which stone battlements were regularly located. You could stand behind them at full height and, for example, load a crossbow. The shape of the teeth was extremely varied - rectangular, round, swallowtail-shaped, decoratively decorated. In some castles, the galleries were covered (wooden canopy) to protect the soldiers from the weather.

In addition to the battlements, behind which it was convenient to hide, the castle walls were equipped with loopholes. The attackers fired through them. Due to the peculiarities of using throwing weapons (freedom of movement and a certain shooting position), the loopholes for archers were long and narrow, and for crossbowmen they were short, with expansion on the sides.

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

Pedestrian gallery on the wall.

Balconies (the so-called “machiculi”) were installed 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 be adapted for storage. The inner sides of such towers (facing the castle courtyard) were usually left open so that an enemy who broke into the wall could not gain a foothold inside them.

Flanking corner tower.

Castle from the inside

The internal structure of the locks was varied. 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 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, rooms for servants) and a central tower, also known as the “donjon”.

Donjon at Vincennes Castle.

The life of all the inhabitants of the castle directly depended on the presence and location of the well. Problems often arose with it - after all, as mentioned above, castles were built on hills. The solid rocky soil also did not make the task of supplying water to the fortress any easier. There are known cases of castle wells being laid to a depth of more than 100 meters (for example, Kuffhäuser Castle in Thuringia or the Königstein fortress in Saxony had wells more than 140 meters deep). Digging a well took from one to five years. In some cases, this consumed as much money as the entire interior of the castle cost.

Due to the fact that water had to be obtained with difficulty from deep wells, issues of personal hygiene and sanitation faded into the background. Instead of washing themselves, people preferred to care for animals - especially expensive horses. It is not surprising that townspeople and villagers wrinkled their noses in the presence of castle inhabitants.

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 a siege. If, due to the nature 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 into 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 purification - it was filtered through gravel.

The military garrison of castles in peacetime was minimal. So in 1425, two co-owners of the castle of Reichelsberg in the Lower Franconian Aube entered into an agreement that each of them would provide one armed servant, and pay two gatekeepers and two guards together.

The castle also had a number of buildings that ensured the autonomous life of its inhabitants in conditions of complete isolation (blockade): a bakery, a steam bath, a kitchen, etc.

Kitchen at Marksburg Castle.

The tower was the tallest structure in the entire castle. It provided the ability to observe the surrounding area and served as a last refuge. When the enemies broke through all the defense lines, the population of the castle took refuge in the donjon and withstood a long siege.

The exceptional thickness of the walls of this tower made its destruction almost impossible (in any case, it would have taken a huge amount of time). The entrance to the tower was very narrow. It was located in the courtyard at a significant (6-12 meters) height. The wooden staircase leading inside could easily be destroyed and thereby block the attackers' path.

Entrance to the donjon.

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

If there were no prison premises 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, to obtain a ransom or to use the prisoner in a political game. Therefore, VIPs were provided with the highest class - guarded chambers in the tower were allocated for their maintenance. This is exactly how Frederick the Handsome “spent his time” at the castle of Trausnitz on Pfeimde 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 basement, 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 distributed heat only a few meters, so iron baskets with coals were placed further along the hall). Above were the chambers of the feudal lord's family, heated by small stoves.

At the very top of the tower there was an open (less often covered, but if necessary, the roof could be dropped) platform where a catapult or other throwing weapon could be installed to fire at the enemy. The standard (banner) of the owner of the castle was also erected there.

Sometimes the donjon did not serve as a living space. It could well have been used only for military-economic purposes (observation posts on the tower, dungeon, food 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 palaces had a large knightly hall for celebrations. It was very cold in the dungeons and palaces. Fireplace heating helped, but the walls were still covered with thick tapestries and carpets - not for decoration, but to preserve heat.

The windows let in very little sunlight (this was due to the fortification nature of the castle architecture); 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 a unique feeling.

Castle toilet.

Concluding our “tour” of the castle, we cannot fail to mention that it necessarily had a room for worship (temple, chapel). The indispensable inhabitants of the castle included a chaplain or priest, who, in addition to his main duties, played the role of a clerk and teacher. In the most modest fortresses, the role of a temple was played by a wall niche where a small altar stood.

Large temples had two floors. Commoners prayed below, and gentlemen gathered in a warm (sometimes glassed-in) choir on the second tier. The decoration of such rooms was quite modest - an altar, benches and wall paintings. Sometimes the temple served as a tomb for the family living in the castle. Less often it was used as a refuge (along with the donjon).

There are many tales told about underground passages in castles. Of course, there were moves. But very few of them led from the castle somewhere into the neighboring forest and could be used as an escape route. As a rule, there were no long moves at all. Most often there were short tunnels between individual buildings, or from the dungeon to a complex of caves under the castle (an additional shelter, warehouse or treasury).

War on earth and underground

Contrary to popular misconception, the average size of the military garrison of an ordinary castle during active hostilities rarely exceeded 30 people. This was quite enough for defense, since the inhabitants of the fortress were in relative safety behind its walls and did not suffer such losses as the attackers.

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

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

The inhabitants of the castle rarely launched counterattacks. This simply did not make sense - there were fewer of them than the attackers, and they felt much calmer behind the walls. A special case is forays for food. The latter were carried out, as a rule, at night, in small groups that walked along poorly guarded paths to the nearest villages.

The attackers had no less problems. The siege of castles sometimes lasted for years (for example, the German Turant defended from 1245 to 1248), so the question of logistics for an army of several hundred people arose especially acutely.

In the case of the siege of Turant, chroniclers claim that during all this time the soldiers of the attacking army drank 300 fuders of wine (a fuder is a huge barrel). This amounts to about 2.8 million liters. Either the census taker made a mistake, or the constant number of besiegers was more than 1000 people.

The most preferred season for starving a castle was summer - there is less rain than in spring or autumn (in winter, the inhabitants of the castle could get water by melting snow), the crops were not yet ripe, and old supplies had already run out.

The attackers tried to deprive the castle of a source of water (for example, they built dams on the river). In the most extreme cases, “biological weapons” were used - corpses were thrown into the water, which could provoke outbreaks of epidemics throughout the area. Those inhabitants of the castle who were captured were mutilated by the attackers and released. They returned back and became unwitting parasites. They might not have been accepted at the castle, but if they were the wives or children of the besieged, then the voice of the heart outweighed considerations of tactical expediency.

The residents of the surrounding villages who tried to deliver supplies to the castle were treated no less cruelly. In 1161, during the siege of Milan, Frederick Barbarossa ordered the hands of 25 townspeople of Piacenza who were trying to supply food to their enemies to be cut off.

The besiegers set up a permanent camp near the castle. It also had some simple fortifications (palisades, earthen ramparts) in case of a sudden attack by the fortress’s defenders. For protracted sieges, a so-called “counter-castle” was built next to the castle. Usually it was located higher than the besieged one, which made it possible to conduct effective observation of the besieged from its walls and, if the distance allowed, to fire at them from throwing weapons.

View of Eltz Castle from Trutz-Eltz Counter-Castle.

The war against castles had its own specifics. After all, any more or less high stone fortification presented a serious obstacle to conventional armies. Direct infantry attacks on the fortress could well be crowned with success, which, however, came at the cost of great casualties.

That is why, in order to successfully capture the castle, a whole complex of military measures was necessary (the siege and starvation have already been mentioned above). One of the most labor-intensive, but at the same time extremely successful ways to overcome the castle’s defenses was undermining.

Undermining was done for two purposes - to provide troops with direct access to the castle's courtyard or to destroy a section of its wall.

Thus, during the siege of the Altwindstein castle in Northern Alsace in 1332, a brigade of sappers of 80 (!) people took advantage of the diversionary maneuvers of their troops (periodic short attacks on the castle) and over the course of 10 weeks made a long passage through solid rock into the south-eastern part of the fortress .

If the castle wall was not too large and had an unreliable foundation, then a tunnel was dug under its base, the walls of which were strengthened with wooden struts. Next, the spacers were set on fire - just under the wall. The tunnel was collapsing, the base of the foundation was sagging, and the wall above this place was falling apart.

Storming of the castle (14th century miniature).

Later, with the advent of gunpowder weapons, bombs were planted in tunnels under castle walls. To neutralize the undermining, the besieged sometimes dug counter-undermining. Enemy sappers were doused with boiling water, bees were released into the tunnel, feces were poured into it (and in ancient times, the Carthaginians released live crocodiles into Roman tunnels).

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

But the main argument in attacking the castle were siege engines - catapults and rams. The first were not much different from those catapults that were used by the Romans. These devices were equipped with a counterweight, which imparted the greatest force to the throwing arm. With proper dexterity of the “gun crew,” catapults were quite accurate weapons. They threw large, smoothly hewn stones, and the combat range (on average, several hundred meters) was regulated by the weight of the projectiles.

A type of catapult is a trebuchet.

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

Storming a castle using 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 looked like a log suspended on a chain. The besiegers hid inside the tower and swung the chain, causing the log to hit the wall.

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

Having overcome the rampart, broken the palisades and filled in the ditch, the attackers either stormed the castle using ladders or used tall wooden towers, the upper platform of which was flush with the wall (or even higher than it). These gigantic structures were doused with water to prevent the defenders from setting them on fire and were rolled up to the castle along a plank flooring. A heavy platform was thrown over the wall. The assault group climbed up the internal stairs, went out onto the platform and fought into the gallery of the fortress wall. Usually this meant that in a couple of minutes the castle would be taken.

Silent Sapa

Sapa (from the French sape, literally - hoe, saper - to dig) is a method of digging a ditch, trench or tunnel to approach its fortifications, used in the 16th-19th centuries. The switchback (quiet, secretive) and flying glanders are known. Work with a shift gland was carried out from the bottom of the original ditch without workers going to the surface, and with a flying gland - from the surface of the earth under the cover of a previously prepared protective embankment of barrels and bags of earth. In the 2nd 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: to sneak, slowly, unnoticed, to penetrate somewhere.

Fights on the castle stairs

From one floor of the tower it was possible to get to another only by a narrow and steep spiral staircase. The ascent along it was carried out only one after another - it was so narrow. In this case, the warrior who went first could only count on his own ability to fight, because the steepness of the turn was chosen in such a way that it was impossible to use a spear or long sword from behind the leader’s back. Therefore, the battles on the stairs were reduced to single combat between the defenders of the castle and one of the attackers. Namely the defenders, because they could easily replace each other, since there was a special extended area behind them.

In all castles, the stairs twist clockwise. There is only one castle with a reverse twist - the fortress of the Counts Wallenstein. When studying the history of this family, it was discovered that most of the men in it were left-handed. Thanks to this, historians realized that such a design of stairs greatly facilitates the work of the defenders. The most powerful blow with a sword can be delivered towards your left shoulder, and a shield in your left hand best covers your body from this direction. Only the defender has all these advantages. The attacker can only strike to the right side, but his striking hand will be pressed against the wall. If he puts his shield forward, he will almost lose the ability to use weapons.

Samurai castles

Himeji Castle.

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

Initially, samurai and their overlords lived on their estates, where, apart from the “yagura” watchtower and a small moat around the dwelling, there were no other defensive structures. In case of a protracted war, fortifications were erected in hard-to-reach areas of the mountains, where it was possible to defend against superior enemy forces.

Stone castles began to be built at the end of the 16th century, taking into account European achievements in fortification. An indispensable feature of a Japanese castle are wide and deep artificial ditches with steep slopes that surrounded it on all sides. Usually they were filled with water, but sometimes this function was performed by a natural water barrier - a river, lake, 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 Honmaru, on which the feudal lord's palace and the high central tenshukaku tower were erected. The latter consisted of several gradually decreasing rectangular tiers with protruding tiled roofs and pediments.

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.

Ancient charm

Castles are still being built today. Those that were state property are often returned to the descendants of ancient families. Castles are a symbol of the influence of their owners. They are an example of an ideal compositional solution, which combines unity (defense considerations did not allow the picturesque distribution of buildings throughout the territory), multi-level buildings (main and secondary) and the utmost functionality of all components. Elements of castle architecture have already become archetypes - for example, a castle tower with battlements: its image sits in the subconscious of any more or less educated person.

French castle of Saumur (14th century miniature).

And finally, we love castles because they are simply romantic. Knightly tournaments, ceremonial receptions, vile conspiracies, secret passages, ghosts, treasures - when applied to castles, all this ceases to be a legend and turns into history. The expression “the walls remember” fits perfectly here: it seems that every stone of the castle breathes and hides a secret. I would like to believe that medieval castles will continue to maintain an aura of mystery - because without it, sooner or later they will turn into an old pile of stones.

There are few things in the world more interesting than the knightly castles of the Middle Ages: these majestic fortresses breathe evidence of distant eras with grandiose battles, they have seen both the most perfect nobility and the most vile betrayal. And not only historians and military experts are trying to unravel the secrets of ancient fortifications. The Knight's Castle is of interest to everyone - the writer and the layman, the avid tourist and the simple housewife. This is, so to speak, a mass artistic image.

How the idea was born

A very turbulent time - in addition to major wars, the feudal lords were constantly fighting with each other. Like a neighbor, so it doesn't get boring. The aristocrats fortified their homes against invasion: at first they would only dig a ditch in front of the entrance and put up a wooden palisade. As they gained siege experience, the fortifications became more and more powerful - so that they could withstand rams and were not afraid of stone cannonballs. In antiquity, this is how the Romans surrounded their army with a palisade while on vacation. The Normans began to build stone structures, and only in the 12th century did the classic European knightly castles of the Middle Ages appear.

Transformation into a fortress

Gradually, the castle turned into a fortress; it was surrounded by a stone wall into which high towers were built. The main goal is to make the knight's castle inaccessible to attackers. At the same time, be able to monitor the entire area. The castle must have its own source of drinking water - in case a long siege awaits.

The towers were built in such a way as to hold off any number of enemies for as long as possible, even alone. For example, they are narrow and so steep that the warrior coming second cannot help the first in any way - neither with a sword nor with a spear. And you had to climb them counterclockwise so as not to cover yourself with a shield.

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Imagine a mountain slope on which a knight's castle is built. Photo attached. Such structures were always built at a height, and if there was no natural suitable landscape, they made a bulk hill.

A knight's castle in the Middle Ages was not only about knights and feudal lords. Near and around the castle there were always small settlements where all kinds of artisans settled and, of course, warriors guarding the perimeter.

Those walking along the road always face their right side towards the fortress, the side that cannot be covered by a shield. There is no tall vegetation - there is no hiding. The first obstacle is the ditch. It can be around the castle or across between the castle wall and the plateau, even crescent-shaped, if the terrain allows.

There are dividing ditches even within the castle: if the enemy suddenly managed to break through, movement will be very difficult. If the soil is rocky, a ditch is not needed and digging under the wall is impossible. The earthen rampart directly in front of the ditch was often surrounded by a palisade.

The bridge to the outer wall was made in such a way that the defense of a knight's castle in the Middle Ages could last for years. It's liftable. Either the whole thing or its extreme segment. In the raised position - vertically - this is additional protection for the gate. If part of the bridge was raised, the other was automatically lowered into the ditch, where a “wolf pit” was set up - a surprise for the most hasty attackers. The knight's castle in the Middle Ages was not hospitable to everyone.

Gate and gate tower

The knightly castles of the Middle Ages were most vulnerable precisely in the area of the gate. Latecomers could enter the castle through the side gate via a lifting ladder if the bridge was already raised. The gates themselves were most often not built into the wall, but were located in gate towers. Usually double doors, made of several layers of boards, were sheathed with iron to protect against arson.

Locks, bolts, cross beams sliding across the opposite wall - all this helped hold out the siege for quite a long time. In addition, behind the gate there was usually a strong iron or wooden grille. This is how knightly castles of the Middle Ages were equipped!

The gate tower was designed so that the guards guarding it could find out from the guests the purpose of the visit and, if necessary, treat them with an arrow from a vertical loophole. For a real siege, there were also holes built in for boiling resin.

Defense of a knight's castle in the Middle Ages

The most important defensive element. It should be tall, thick and better if it is on the base at an angle. The foundation under it is as deep as possible - in case of undermining.

Sometimes there is a double wall. Next to the first high one, the inner one is small, but impregnable without devices (ladders and poles that remained outside). The space between the walls - the so-called zwinger - is shot through.

The outer wall at the top is equipped for the defenders of the fortress, sometimes even with a canopy from the weather. The teeth on it existed not only for beauty - it was convenient to hide behind them at full height in order to reload, for example, a crossbow.

The loopholes in the wall were adapted for both archers and crossbowmen: narrow and long for a bow, widened for a crossbow. Ball loopholes - a fixed but rotating ball with a slot for firing. Balconies were built mainly for decorative purposes, but if the wall was narrow, they were used by retreating and allowing others to pass.

Medieval knight's towers were almost always built with convex towers at the corners. They protruded outward to fire along the walls in both directions. The inner side was open so that the enemy, who penetrated the walls, would not gain a foothold inside the tower.

What's inside?

In addition to the Zwingers, other surprises could await uninvited guests outside the gates. For example, a small closed courtyard with loopholes in the walls. Sometimes castles were built from several autonomous sections with strong internal walls.

Inside the castle there was always a courtyard with household facilities - a well, a bakery, a bathhouse, a kitchen and a donjon - the central tower. Much depended on the location of the well: not only the health, but also the life of the besieged. It happened that (remember that the castle, if not just on a hill, then on the rocks) cost more than all the other buildings of the castle. The Thuringian castle Kuffhäuser, for example, has a well more than one hundred and forty meters deep. In the rock!

Central tower

The donjon is the tallest building of the castle. From there the surrounding area was monitored. And it is the central tower that is the last refuge of the besieged. The most reliable! The walls are very thick. The entrance is extremely narrow and located at a high altitude. The stairs leading to the door could be pulled in or destroyed. Then the knight's castle can hold a siege for quite a long time.

At the base of the donjon there was a basement, a kitchen, and a pantry. Next came floors with stone or wooden floors. The stairs were made of wood; if they had stone ceilings, they could be burned to stop the enemy on the way.

The main hall was located on the entire floor. Heated by a fireplace. Above were usually the rooms of the castle owner's family. There were small stoves decorated with tiles.

At the very top of the tower, most often open, there is a platform for a catapult and, most importantly, a banner! Medieval knightly castles were distinguished not only by chivalry. There were cases when a knight and his family did not use the donjon for housing, having built a stone palace (palace) not far from it. Then the donjon served as a warehouse, even a prison.

And, of course, every knight's castle necessarily had a temple. The obligatory inhabitant of the castle is the chaplain. Often he is both a clerk and a teacher, in addition to his main job. In rich castles, churches were two-story, so that the gentlemen would not pray next to the mob. The owner's ancestral tomb was also built within the temple.

Think about why such walls were built in the castle

Answers:

So that during a siege they are not pierced with a ram