A report on Castle

Dating back to the early 12th century, the Alcázar of Segovia is one of the most distinctive castles in Europe.
Built in 1385, Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, England, is surrounded by a water-filled moat.
The Norman White Tower, the keep of the Tower of London, exemplifies all uses of a castle including city defence, a residence, and a place of refuge in times of crisis.
Windsor Castle in England was founded as a fortification during the Norman Conquest and today is one of the principal official residences of Queen Elizabeth II.
Baba Vida medieval castle build on the banks of the Danube in Vidin, Bulgaria
São Jorge Castle in Lisbon, Portugal, with a bridge over a moat
The wooden palisades on top of mottes were often later replaced with stone, as in this example at Château de Gisors in France.
A courtyard of the 14th-century Raseborg Castle in Finland
The 14th-century keep of Château de Vincennes near Paris towers above the castle's curtain wall. The wall exhibits features common to castle architecture: a gatehouse, corner towers, and machicolations.
Beaumaris Castle in Anglesey, North Wales, with curtain walls between the lower outer towers, and higher inner curtain walls between the higher inner towers.
A 13th-century gatehouse in the château de Châteaubriant, France. It connects the upper ward to the lower one.
Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland is surrounded by a moat.
Daorson, Bosnia, built around a prehistoric central fortified settlement or acropolis (existed there cca. 17/16th c. to the end of the Bronze Age, cca. 9/8th c. BCE), surrounded by cyclopean walls (similar to Mycenae) dated to the 4th c. BCE.
Borġ in-Nadur fort in Malta, built during the Tarxien phase and used until the Bronze Age.
The Bayeux Tapestry contains one of the earliest representations of a castle. It depicts attackers of the Château de Dinan in France using fire, a major threat to wooden castles.
Built in 1138, Castle Rising in Norfolk, England is an example of an elaborate donjon.
Albarrana tower in Paderne Castle, Portugal
The gatehouse to the inner ward of Beeston Castle in Cheshire, England, was built in the 1220s, and has an entrance between two D-shaped towers.
Krak des Chevaliers in Syria is a concentric castle built with both rectangular and rounded towers. It is one of the best-preserved Crusader castles.
The design of Edward I's Harlech Castle (built in the 1280s) in North Wales was influenced by his experience of the Crusades.
The northern walls of the Gran Castello in Gozo, Malta, were built in the 15th century.
Corvin Castle in Transylvania (built between 1446 and 1480) was one of the biggest in Eastern Europe at that time.
Castle De Haar, Utrecht, Netherlands.
The angled bastion, as used in Copertino Castle in Italy, was developed around 1500. First used in Italy, it allowed the evolution of artillery forts that eventually took over the military role of castles.
Neuschwanstein is a 19th-century historicist (neoromanesque) castle built by Ludwig II of Bavaria, inspired by the romanticism of the time.
Castello Dei Baroni, a country residence in Wardija, Malta, designed with castle-like features.
A 19th-century depiction by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc of the construction of the large tower at Coucy Castle in France, with scaffolding and masons at work. The putlog holes mark the position of the scaffolding in earlier stages of construction. The tower was blown up in 1917.
Experimental archeology castle building at Guédelon Castle site in France (2015).
God Speed! by Edmund Blair Leighton, 1900: a late Victorian view of a lady giving a favour to a knight about to do battle.
Highland castles such as Château de Montségur in southern France have become the popular idea of where castles should be found because they are photogenic, where in reality castles were built in a variety of places due to a range of considerations.
Srebrenik Fortress in Srebrenik, Bosnia: inaccessibility of location with only a narrow bridge traversing deep canyon provides excellent protection.
Almourol Castle in Portugal, which stands on a small islet in the Tejo River.
Tavastia Castle in Hämeenlinna, Finland, one of the northernmost castles in Europe. The exact date of construction of the castle is unclear, as far as it is known to have been built in the late 13th century, but the first mention of it in contemporary documents is from 1308. It was built close to Lake Vanajavesi.
An early 13th-century drawing by Matthew Paris showing contemporary warfare, including the use of castles (here Lincoln Castle), crossbowmen and mounted knights.
A reconstructed trebuchet at Château des Baux in Bouches-du-Rhône in the south of France.

Type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders.

- Castle
Dating back to the early 12th century, the Alcázar of Segovia is one of the most distinctive castles in Europe.

60 related topics with Alpha

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Explosion of the mine beneath Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt on the Western Front during World War I (July 1, 1916). Photo by Ernest Brooks

Tunnel warfare

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Tunnel warfare involves war being conducted in tunnels and other underground cavities.

Tunnel warfare involves war being conducted in tunnels and other underground cavities.

Explosion of the mine beneath Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt on the Western Front during World War I (July 1, 1916). Photo by Ernest Brooks
Example of a mine gallery with timber roof support
A Confederate counter mine burrow at Fort Mahone, Petersburg, Virginia
Explosion of a mine seen from a French position. 1916
Access to German counter-mining shaft – Bayernwald trenches, Croonaert Wood, Ypres Salient
Mine craters – Butte de Vauquois memorial site, Vauquois, France
German trench destroyed by the explosion of a mine in the Battle of Messines. Approximately 10,000 German troops were killed when the mines were simultaneously detonated at 3:10 a.m. on 7 June 1917.

Since antiquity, sappers have used mining against a walled city, fortress, castle or other strongly held and fortified military position.

Château de Chinon from the south

Château de Chinon

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Château de Chinon from the south
The castle viewed from across the Vienne
La Tour de l'Horloge (clock tower)
The Tour du Coudray, a keep, was built during the reign of Philip Augustus, and in the early 14th century was used as a prison.
Inside the royal apartments before they were restored in the 21st century
The remains of the Fort St George in 2005, before the visitor centre was built.
Fort du Coudray, the castle's westernmost enclosure
Museum model of how Château de Chinon may have appeared

Château de Chinon is a castle located on the bank of the river Vienne in Chinon, France.

Raglan Castle, main gatehouse, south-east front

Raglan Castle

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Raglan Castle, main gatehouse, south-east front
Reconstruction of Raglan Castle around 1620
The castle's state apartments (left), library (centre) and gatehouse (right)
Aerial photograph, showing the English Civil War defences around the castle: red and blue triangles represent the location of Parliamentary and Royalist earthwork bastions; A and B indicate the locations of the Parliamentary and Royalist artillery batteries.
The slighted side of the Great Tower
Engraving of the state of the castle in 1798
Plan of the castle, after Augustus Pugin: A – Great Tower; B – Moat; C – Gatehouse and bridge; D – Closet Tower; E – Pitched Stone Court; F – Office wing; G – Pantry; H – Kitchen; I – Parlour; J – Hall; K – Buttery; L – Long Gallery; M – Fountain Court; N – Apartments; O – South Gate and bridge; P – Moat walk
The west side of the Stone Pitched Court, with the hall and oriel window
The Grand Staircase, restored between 2010 and 2011
The view from the top of the Great Tower, showing the thick walls, the remains of the apron wall and a turret, the moat, the moat walk and a space for a classical statue
The buttress in the Pitched Stone Court was damaged during the slighting of the castle. Archaeologist Lila Rakoczy suggested that the depth of the stone being removed indicates that a statue or decorative form of stone was originally present, and the removal of high-status and visually prominent material would have been a symbolic act.

Raglan Castle (Castell Rhaglan) is a late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales.

A sally port in the flank of a bastion at Dömitz Fortress in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

Sally port

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Secure, controlled entry way to an enclosure, e.g., a fortification or prison.

Secure, controlled entry way to an enclosure, e.g., a fortification or prison.

A sally port in the flank of a bastion at Dömitz Fortress in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
A blocked-up medieval sally port at the Cittadella in Gozo, Malta
The Old West Sally Port at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland
Vehicular sally port

Sallies are a common way for besieged forces to reduce the strength and preparedness of a besieging army; a sally port is therefore essentially a door in a castle or city wall that allows troops to make sallies without compromising the defensive strength of fortifications.

Replica battering ram at Château des Baux, France

Siege engine

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Device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare.

Device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare.

Replica battering ram at Château des Baux, France
Siege engine in Assyrian relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III 743-720 BC from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud)
Roman siege engines.
A stone-throwing machine set to defend a gate, in the fresco of Guidoriccio da Fogliano by Simone Martini (14th century).
The medieval Mons Meg with its 20" (50 cm) cannonballs
One of the super-heavy Karl-Gerät siege mortars used by the German army in World War II
A German Big Bertha howitzer being readied for firing

A typical military confrontation in medieval times was for one side to lay siege to an opponent's castle.

Château de Langeais

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The ruins of the 10th-century keep
Modern tableau of the marriage of Anne of Brittany to King Charles VIII
The château was rebuilt in the 15th century.
The north-east face of the 10th-century keep
Drawbridge

The Château de Langeais is a 15th-century Flamboyant Gothic castle in Indre-et-Loire, France, built on a promontory created by the small valley of the Roumer River at the opening to the Loire Valley.

Hallaton Castle in Leicestershire, England, showing a well preserved post-invasion earth motte (l) and bailey (r)

Castles in Great Britain and Ireland

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Important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066.

Important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066.

Hallaton Castle in Leicestershire, England, showing a well preserved post-invasion earth motte (l) and bailey (r)
Folkestone Castle in England, a Norman ringwork castle
Dinas Powys Castle in South Wales has been abandoned for around 600 years
The stone keep of Chepstow Castle in Wales, built in a Romanesque style
The Norman square keep of Goodrich Castle in England, with the original first-floor doorway still visible above its later replacement
The shell keep of Restormel Castle in England
Pickering Castle in England (right), and the counter-castle from the years of the Anarchy (upper left)
The Bass of Inverurie in Scotland, a large motte and bailey castle built in the mid-12th century
Trim Castle in Ireland, built immediately after the Norman invasion
Dover Castle in England, built to a concentric design
A reconstruction of a trebuchet
A contemporary sketch of Lincoln Castle in England at the start of the 13th century, defended by a crossbowman
A reconstruction of Edward I's chambers at the Tower of London in England
Llywelyn the Great's Castell y Bere in Wales
Edward I's Caernarfon Castle in Wales
Bodiam in England, a castle designed as a luxurious private home
The late 14th-century tower keep of Warkworth Castle in England
Carisbrooke Castle in England, shortly before the addition of cannons to its defences in the 14th century
A reconstruction of the English city of York in the 15th century, showing York Castle (r) and the Old Baile (l)
Linlithgow in Scotland, rebuilt as a royal palace in the 15th century
A reconstruction of the palatial Kenilworth Castle in England around 1575
Clonony Castle in Ireland, a 16th-century tower house
Ravenscraig Castle in Scotland, showing its curved, low-profile fortifications designed to resist cannon fire
St Mawes Castle in England, one of Henry VIII's Device Forts
Bolsover Castle in England, following its redesign at the beginning of the 17th century
"Roaring Meg", a surviving example of a civil-war mortar
The ruined walls of Corfe Castle in England, slighted after the English Civil War
Carlisle Castle in England, modernised in the 18th century to defend against Jacobite invasion
Wardour Castle in England, preserved in the 18th century as a fashionable ruin
Carrickfergus Castle in Ireland, retrofitted with gun ports for coastal defence in the early 19th century
Edinburgh Castle in Scotland in the middle of the 19th century, already a popular tourist location by the Victorian period
Penrhyn Castle in Wales, an early 19th-century recreation of a Norman castle
Beaumaris Castle in Wales, showing its restored appearance following work in the 1920s
Durham Castle in England, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1980s
Wigmore Castle in England, preserved in an unconserved state following its acquisition by English Heritage in 1995
Archaeological investigations in 2009 attempt to identify the exact location of Ampthill Castle

Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050s, the Normans began to build motte and bailey and ringwork castles in large numbers to control their newly occupied territories in England and the Welsh Marches.

Trakai Castle (Lithuania), an island castle

Lowland castle

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Trakai Castle (Lithuania), an island castle
The moat at Calvörde Castle was linked to the River Ohre via a canal system
Groß Raden, castle from the Early Middle Ages

The term lowland castle or plains castle (Niederungsburg, Flachlandburg, Tieflandburg) describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur.

William as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry during the Battle of Hastings, lifting his helmet to show that he is still alive

William the Conqueror

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William I (c.

William I (c.

William as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry during the Battle of Hastings, lifting his helmet to show that he is still alive
Château de Falaise in Falaise, Lower Normandy, France; William was born in an earlier building here.
Diagram showing William's family relationships. Names with "---" under them were opponents of William, and names with "+++" were supporters of William. Some relatives switched sides over time, and are marked with both symbols.
Column at the site of the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes
Image from the Bayeux Tapestry showing William with his half-brothers. William is in the centre, Odo is on the left with empty hands, and Robert is on the right with a sword in his hand.
The signatures of William I and Matilda are the first two large crosses on the Accord of Winchester from 1072.
Family relationships of the claimants to the English throne in 1066, and others involved in the struggle. Kings of England are shown in bold.
Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry whose text indicates William supplying weapons to Harold during Harold's trip to the continent in 1064
Locations of some of the events in 1066
Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Normans preparing for the invasion of England
Modern-day site of the Battle of Stamford Bridge in the East Riding of Yorkshire
Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings.
The remains of Baile Hill, the second motte-and-bailey castle built by William in York
Norwich Castle. The keep dates to after the Revolt of the Earls, but the castle mound is earlier.
Map showing William's lands in 1087 (the light pink areas were controlled by William)
The White Tower in London, begun by William
English coin of William the Conqueror
A page from the Domesday Book for Warwickshire
William's grave before the high altar in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, Caen
Statue of William the Conqueror in Falaise, France

As part of his efforts to secure England, William ordered many castles, keeps, and mottes built – among them the central keep of the Tower of London, the White Tower.

Bent entrance of Citadel of Aleppo, Syria

Bent entrance

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Defensive feature in medieval fortification.

Defensive feature in medieval fortification.

Bent entrance of Citadel of Aleppo, Syria

In a castle with a bent entrance, the gate passage is narrow and turns sharply.