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Castles
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Fortifications and earthworks had been employed for defense since the Stone Age.
True castles did not appear in Europe until the ninth century, however, partly
in response to Viking raids and partly as a manifestation of decentralized
feudal political power. From the ninth through the fifteenth century, thousands
of castles were constructed throughout Europe. A 1905 census in France counted
more than 10,000 castle remains in that nation alone.
During the feudal period, local nobles provided law and order, as well as
protection from marauders like the Vikings. Castles were built by the nobles for
protection and to provide a secure base from which local military forces could
operate. The obvious defensive value of a castle obscures the fact that it was
primarily an offensive instrument. It functioned as a base for professional
soldiers, mainly cavalry, which controlled the nearby countryside. At a time
when the centralized authority of kings was weak for a number of reasons, a
network of castles and the military forces they supported provided relative
political stability.
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| Castle Evolution |
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Beginning in the ninth century, local strongmen began dotting the landscape of
Europe with castles. These were first of simple design and construction but
evolved into stone strongholds. Many of these belonged to kings or the vassals
of kings, but the majority appear to have been built out of self-interest by
local nobles. They were justified by barbarian threats, but the nobles employed
them to establish local control. This was possible because Europe had no
strategic defenses and no strong central authorities at the time.
An example of the castellation of Europe was the Poitou region of France. There
were three castles there before Viking raids began in the ninth century and 39
by the eleventh century. This pattern was repeated across Europe. Castles could
be built quickly. Until the appearance of cannon, castle defenders had a great
advantage over any attackers.
Widespread castle construction and the maintenance of large bodies of soldiers
for their defense resulted not in peace and mutual defense against invaders but
incessant warfare.
The Evolution of the Castle
The earliest castles were of a type called the "motte and bailey." The motte was
a broad, leveled mound of earth, typically 50 feet high. A large wooden tower
was built atop the motte. Below the motte was an enclosure within a wooden
palisade called the bailey. Here were placed storehouses, stock pens, and huts.
Both the motte and bailey were small islands surrounded by a water-filled ditch,
excavated to construct the motte. A bridge and steep narrow path connected the
two parts of the castle. At a time of danger, the defensive forces withdrew into
the tower if the bailey could not be held.
In the eleventh century, stone began replacing earth and wood in castle
construction. The wooden tower atop the motte was replaced with a round stone
fortification called a shell keep. This grew into a tower or keep. A curtain
wall of stone enclosed the old bailey and the keep, and was in turn surrounded
by a ditch or moat. A single fortified gate protected by a drawbridge and
portcullis led into the castle. The best-known example of a basic keep-type
castle is the original Tower of London, built by William the Conqueror. This
large square structure stood by itself at first and was whitewashed to draw
attention. Later kings improved this castle with the curtain walls and other
improvements seen today.
Castle design advanced when crusaders to the East returned with news of the
fortifications and siege engines they had encountered in their travels.
Concentric castles were designed that enclosed a central keep within two or more
rings of walls. Walls were strengthened first with square towers and then with
round towers. The angled corners on square towers were easy to shear off, making
the whole tower very vulnerable. Round towers were more resistant to attack.
Embattlements were added at the top of walls and towers to make fighting from
above more effective.
Cannon appeared in Europe in the early fourteenth century, but effective siege
artillery was not used until the middle fifteenth century. Castle designs
changed in response to the power of cannon. High perpendicular walls were
replaced by low sloping walls. By the middle of the fifteenth century castles
were in decline because of the rising power of kings. In the eleventh century
William the Conqueror claimed ownership of all castles in England to get them
out of the hands of nobles. By the thirteenth century it was necessary to ask a
king's permission to build a castle or strengthen an existing one. Kings worked
to demilitarize castles to minimize their usefulness to potential rebels.
Castles were abandoned as living quarters for nobles and fell into ruin.
Fortified towns were increasingly important because the wealth of the land had
shifted to the cities.
Castle Construction
Construction of a castle might take less than a year or up to 20 years to
complete. For several centuries castle-building was an important industry.
Renowned master masons were in high demand and gangs of castle builders moved
from site to site. Towns wishing to build cathedrals had to compete for skilled
workers with lords wishing to build castles.
Construction of Beaumaris Castle in North Wales began in 1295. The design was
symmetrical, with no weak points. At the height of its building, it required the
effort of 30 blacksmiths, 400 masons, and 2000 laborers. Laborers did most of
the excavation, carrying, lifting, well-digging, and stone-breaking. This
particular castle was never completed. The massive castle at Conway, built in
Wales by Edward I of England, took 40 months to build.
Castle walls were masonry shells filled with stone rubble and flint mixed with
mortar. Wall width ranged from 6 to 16 feet.
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| Castle Defense |
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The basic principal of castle defense was to maximize the danger and exposure of
any attackers while minimizing the same for defenders. A well-designed castle
could be defended effectively by a small force and hold out for a long period. A
stout defense allowed well-supplied defenders to hold out until the besiegers
could be driven away by a relief force or until the attacker was forced to fall
back by lack of supplies, disease, or losses.
Keep
The keep was a small castle often found within a large castle complex. This was
a fortified building that often served as the castle lord's residence. If the
outer walls fell, the defenders could withdraw into the keep for a final
defense. In the case of many castles, the complex began with the keep, which was
the original fortification on the site. Over time, the complex might have been
expanded to include an outer wall and towers as a first line of defense for the
keep.
Walls
Stone walls were fireproof and protection against arrows and other missiles. An
enemy could not climb sheer walls without equipment such as ladders or siege
towers. Defenders on top of the walls could shoot down or throw objects down
against attackers. Attackers wholly exposed in the open and shooting up were at
a great disadvantage against defenders largely protected and shooting down. The
strength and protection value of castle walls was increased where possible by
building on cliffs or other elevations. Gates and doors in castle walls were
minimized and given heavy protection.
Towers
At the corners of and perhaps at intervals along a long wall, towers were placed
as strong points. Towers extended out beyond the vertical plane of the wall
face, allowing defenders in a tower to shoot along the face. From a corner
tower, defenders could shoot along two different wall faces. A gate might be
protected by towers on each side. Some castles began as simple towers and
evolved into a greater complex of walls, an inner keep, and additional towers.
Battlements
Walls and towers were often improved to provide greater protection for
defenders. A platform behind the top of the wall allowed defenders to stand and
fight. Gaps were built into the upper wall so defenders could shoot out or fight
while partially covered. These gaps might have wooden shutters for additional
protection. Thin firing slits might be placed in the upper walls from which
archers could shoot while almost completely protected.
During an assault, covered wooden platforms (called hourds) were extended out
from the top of the walls or from towers. These allowed defenders to shoot
directly down on enemies below the walls, or drop stones or boiling liquids on
them, while being protected. Hides on top of the hourds were kept wet to prevent
fire. Stone versions of hourds, called machicolations, might be built over gates
or other key points.
Ditches, Moats, and Drawbridges
To accentuate the height advantage of the walls, a ditch might be dug at their
base, completely around the castle. Where possible, this ditch was filled with
water to form a moat. Both ditches and moats made direct assaults against walls
more difficult. Armored men risked drowning if they fell into even relatively
shallow water. Moats made undermining a castle's walls difficult because of the
risk of the mine collapsing during construction and drowning the miners. In some
cases, attackers had to first drain the moat before moving forward with an
assault. Then the ditch had to be filled in places to allow siege towers or
ladders to go up against the wall.
Drawbridges across a moat or ditch allowed the castle occupants to come and go
when necessary. In time of danger, the drawbridge was raised, reestablishing the
ditch and sealing the walls. Bridges were raised by a mechanism within the
castle that was protected from the attackers.
Portcullis
A portcullis was a strong grating that slid down the walls of the castle gate
passageway to block the entrance. The gate of a castle was inside a gatehouse,
which was a strong point in the castle defense. The passageway of the gate might
be through a tunnel in the gatehouse. The tunnel was blocked by one or more
portcullises, in the middle or at the ends. The winding mechanism that raised
the portcullis was in the top of the gatehouse and heavily guarded. The
portcullis itself was usually a grating of heavy timbers or iron. Defenders and
attackers could both shoot or stab through the grating.
Barbican
A strong castle had both an outer gate and inner gate. Between the two was an
open area called the barbican. This was surrounded by walls and designed to be a
trap for any attackers who got through the outside gate. Once inside the
barbican, attackers could only go back out the outer gate or fight their way
through the inner gate. In the meantime they would be targets for arrows and
other missiles in the open.
Defenders
A relatively small number of men could guard a castle in peacetime. At night any
drawbridge was raised and the portcullis was lowered, effectively locking the
door. Under threat of an assault, a much larger force was needed to defend a
castle.
Competent archers and crossbowmen were needed to shoot from the walls and towers
at attackers making an assault or just preparing for one by attempting to drain
the moat or fill the ditch. Each attacking casualty lowered the morale and
fighting power of the attackers. Heavy losses from missile fire could cause the
attackers to break off.
If the attackers managed to actually close for hand-to-hand fighting, a strong
fighting force of swordsmen was needed to hold them off. Men were needed to
throw down rocks or pour hot liquids from the hourds. Men were needed to make
repairs to damaged wall sections or put out fires started by flaming missiles.
An aggressive defense looked for opportunities to sortie out from the castle and
raid the besieging army. A quick raid that burned a siege tower or trebuchet
under construction delayed an assault and lowered the morale of the attackers.
In times of emergency, local peasants were enlisted to help with the defense.
Although untrained as soldiers and not skilled usually with the bow or sword,
they could help with many of the other tasks.
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| Castle Siege |
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Capturing or defending strongholds was a common military activity during the
late Middle Ages because of the proliferation of castles and fortified towns and
their strategic importance. Although a small force could hold a castle, it took
a large force to take one. The attacker had to have a sufficiently large army to
control the countryside around a castle, fight off any relieving force, and
assault the stronghold directly or at least hold the siege tight. This was an
expensive proposition.
As an army approached the castle, the locals usually withdrew inside, taking
anything of value with them, especially food and weapons. If the siege was
expected to be a long one, however, peasants not capable of fighting might be
refused entrance to conserve food. There were many recorded instances of people
being thrown out of towns under siege to preserve food. When English king Henry
V besieged the city of Rouen, the defenders expelled the weak and the poor to
conserve food. The English refused to allow these unfortunates through their
lines. Old men, women, and children huddled between the city and the English
army for months, scrabbling for scraps and dying of starvation, until surrender
was negotiated.
As an army approached, the possibility of surrender and terms might be
negotiated immediately, especially if the castle or town was undermanned. The
attackers weighed carefully the chance of assaulting the stronghold if
negotiations failed. If a quick assault was thrown back or was judged too risky,
the attackers sealed off the castle and began a siege. Once siege artillery had
fired at the city, the siege was officially underway. To withdraw without good
reason was dishonorable and unacceptable in most cases.
A large siege was something like a social event. The fifteenth-century siege of
Neuss lasted only a few months, but the attackers built up a large camp that
included taverns and tennis courts. Nobles taking part in sieges made themselves
comfortable, often bringing along wives and their households. Merchants and
craftsmen from neighboring towns rushed forward to set up shop and provide
services.
Siege Formalities
The reality of warfare during this period was that castles and towns were very
rarely captured by assault. Assaults were usually an act of desperation or made
much easier by acts of treachery or stealth. Unless the garrison was greatly
under strength, it was just too costly in lives to assault. It was much more
typical to orchestrate a siege according to the prevailing rules of warfare and
honor and take the castle with relatively little loss. It would be treason for
the defenders to surrender without a fight so the siege was maintained and the
castle walls were battered. If the castle's owner was not inside, his deputy in
charge, called a castellan or constable, could surrender the castle with honor
after so many days if no relief force had appeared. Castellans often requested a
contract that specified exactly what were their obligations and under what
circumstances they would not be punished for surrendering.
In those rare instances where surrender was not an option or an option
disdained, it was the accepted policy that little mercy was shown after a
successful assault. Common soldiers and even civilians inside might be massacred
and the castle or town was looted. Captured knights were kept alive, usually,
and held for ransom. All attackers received a share of the spoils. Practical
application of this policy was a further inducement for defenders to negotiate
surrender after a reasonable period of siege. King Henry V of England took the
city of Caen after a long siege in 1417. He then allowed his army to sack the
city from one end to the other in payment for the defender's stout resistance.
Every man in the city who was not a priest was killed. At his next stop, the
castle of Bonneville, the defenders agreed to surrender the keys after seven
days with no relief, even though both sides understood there was no prospect for
relief.
The Krak des Chevaliers was the most famous of the Crusader castles in the
Middle East and still stands impressively in modern Syria. It was defended by
the Knights Hospitaller during the era of the Crusades and withstood over a
dozen sieges and attacks over 130 years before falling finally to Egyptian Arabs
in 1271. The story of its capture was unusual but typical in the sense that the
defenders did not fight to the death.
The Arabs disdained an attack on the main gate of the Krak des Chevaliers
because breaking through there led into a series of deadly narrow passages and
on to a second, even stronger gate. They attacked the south wall instead by
undermining the great tower at the southwest corner. This got them inside the
outer curtain wall. Before attacking the even stronger central keep, however,
they tried a ruse. A carrier pigeon was sent into the castle with a message from
the Hospitaller's grand master, ordering the garrison to surrender. Outnumbered
and with no hope of relief, the defenders accepted the command of the message,
understanding it was a fake, and surrendered the great castle with honor.
Mines
The key problem to taking a castle or fortified town was overcoming the walls
that prevented entry and protected the defenders. One solution to this problem
was undermining a section of the wall so that it collapsed. This was only
possible before castles had moats or after the moat had been drained. It was not
possible to undermine when the wall was built on solid stone.
The miners dug a tunnel up to the wall and then along it under its foundation.
The tunnel was supported by timber supports that gradually took on the load of
the wall overhead from the earth that was dug out and removed. At a prearranged
time, the timbers in the tunnel were set on fire. As the timbers burned the
support for the wall overhead disappeared gradually and a section of the wall
collapsed, if all went as planned. The collapsed wall created an opening for a
direct assault by soldiers into the castle.
Mines were laborious and time-consuming. Defenders who became aware of the
tunneling reinforced the threatened wall with a secondary wall so that the
collapse did not completely open the defenses. Defenders were also known to
countermine, digging their own tunnels under the walls trying to intercept the
enemy tunnel. When the tunnels encountered each other, actual fighting broke out
underground.
Siege
The besieging army set up positions around the castle to prevent escape or
sorties by the soldiers inside. The nearby farms and villages were taken over by
the besiegers. Patrols were set to bring notice of any relieving army
approaching and to forage for food. The leaders of the attackers examined the
situation and decided whether to simply besiege the castle or to actively
prepare to attack it. If the castle was to be simply starved into surrender, the
attackers concentrated on keeping the defenders caged in and preventing any
relief force from lifting the siege. Choosing how best to attack a castle might
involve any of the following options:
* Undermining a part of the wall.
* Selecting a wall section to breach by battering it
with hurled stones (or with cannons, although
these were not effective until around 1450,
near the end of this period).
* Selecting a part of the ditch (and moat, if
present) to fill.
* Building siege towers and ladders to scale the
walls.
* Choosing a gate or other section to batter with
a ram.
The speed of work on assault preparations was in proportion to the urgency for
taking the castle, the prospects of surrender, and the manpower available. If
the attackers had ample supplies of food, no relief was expected, and the
defenders were likely to surrender after their honor had been satisfied, work on
assault preparations might be little more than a show. If the attacker's
supplies were short, relief was expected any day, or the defenders were
obstinate, preparations might go forward day and night.
When preparations were complete, the defenders were given one last chance to
surrender before the assault.
Siege Equipment
Siege equipment was used to get past the walls and other defenses of the castle
so that the superior strength of the attacking army could be brought to bear
against the defenders at a minimum disadvantage. Most equipment was designed to
knock down or breach the walls. In addition to the simple scaling ladder, siege
equipment most commonly used during the Middle Ages included the trebuchet, the
mangonel, the siege tower, the battering ram, and the pavise.
Once a breach was made or a siege tower put in place, a volunteer force of
soldiers led the assault. This force came to be known as the "forlorn hope,"
because of the casualties they were expected to take. But the successful
survivors of this force were usually the most highly rewarded with promotion,
titles, and loot.
The trebuchet was a large catapult powered by a heavy counterweight, usually a
large box of rocks. The long throwing arm was pulled down against the mass of
the counterweight and a large stone was loaded. When the arm was released, the
heavy weight dropped down, pulling the throwing arm up, and flinging the large
stone missile in a high arcing trajectory. Missiles thrown by this weapon
plunged downward and were best used to smash the tops of towers, embattlements,
and hourds. It was difficult to damage sheer vertical walls with the trebuchet
unless the missiles came down right on top of the wall. The trebuchet was
assembled out of bow shot and defended against a possible sortie by the
defenders seeking to burn the weapon. The trebuchet was useful for smashing
wooden roofs and then setting the rubble on fire with incendiary missiles.
The mangonel was a different type of catapult powered by twisted ropes or strips
of hide. A ratchet gear twisted the ropes, building up tension. When released,
the ropes spun, flinging the throwing arm forward. When the arm hit a heavy
restraining bar, any missile in the basket at the end of the arm was thrown
forward. The restraining bar could be adjusted to change the trajectory of the
missile. Mangonels had a flat trajectory, in comparison to the trebuchet, but
could generate the same power. It could take a large number of mangonel shots to
do any appreciable damage to a wall. The thrown missiles and pieces of the
broken wall helped to fill in the ditch, however, creating rubble pile which
attackers could climb.
Siege towers were moved close to the walls and then a gangplank was dropped from
the tower to the top of the wall. Soldiers in the tower could then advance
across the gangplank and engage the defenders in hand-to-hand combat. Such a
tower was often huge. It had to be protected with wet hides to prevent being
burned. It was ponderous to move because of its weight. It had to be either
pushed forward or pulled forward against pulleys previously mounted on stakes
near the base of the castle wall. The ground had to be prepared ahead of time,
usually with a roadway of flat wooden planking on heavily packed earth to ease
the tower's movement. A fighting area on top of the tower let archers shoot down
into the castle as the tower approached. Soldiers mounted the stairs inside the
tower once it was close. Assaults from a siege tower were never a surprise to
the defender because so much preparation had to be done. The defenders took
steps to build up the threatened part of the wall or prevent the gangplank from
dropping. They attempted to grapple the tower as it approached and pull it onto
its side. Up to the last moment of the assault, siege engines would fire on the
target section of wall to disrupt the defender's preparations to receive the
assault. If the first group of attackers from the tower got over, a steady
stream of men would follow over the gangplank to complete the capture of the
castle.
A battering ram had a large pole with an iron head that was slung inside a
moveable housing and rolled up to a wall section or gate. Once up to the wall,
the pole was swung back and forth against the wall. The force of the blows broke
through the wooden planking of the door or stone wall, creating an opening for
attack. The roof of the ram was covered with wet hides to prevent burning.
Operating battering was dangerous work. Enemies above dropped large rocks,
boiling water, or burning fat on the ram, attempting to destroy it or kill the
men operating it. Even when a gate or drawbridge was smashed, there were usually
several portcullises and the gatehouse to be fought through. At the siege of
Tyre during the winter of 1111-1112, the defending Arabs came up with an
ingenious defense against the ram. They threw down gappling hooks, grabbed the
ram, and pulled it away from the wall. Time after time they were able to disrupt
the use of the ram.
Attacking archers and crossbowmen took shelter on the ground behind large wooden
shields called pavises. A narrow firing slit at the top of the pavise allowed
the man behind to shoot up at the defenders. England's King Richard I, the
Lionheart, received a mortal shoulder wound from a crossbow bolt when looking
around the side of a pavise.
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