Why Did They Build Castles During The Middle Ages

Spain has the most formidable castles in the world. Spain has more than 1000 Spanish castles recorded through history. The castles were built for various reasons. However, the primary reason was to stop the Arabs when they invaded Spain in 711. The Spanish built so many of them in fact. These castles were mostly concentrated in the northern part which was where the Arabs advanced when they attacked. And when the Spanish military moved to reconquer the peninsula towards the south, they built additional strongholds to prevent the Arabs from reclaiming Spain. These castles were known as Castilla.

Square keeps were good because of the immense thickness of the walls. The walls in square keeps were often up to 5 metres thick, and 30 metres high. This added to the strength of the castle because the walls could easily withstand attacks from siege weapons such as magonels and trebuchets. Text Box: Because of the

As knights increased their social standing, with some becoming nobles, the idea of owning a castle became a common idea. War was often a way for one side to gain large amounts of wealth, which allowed more castles to be built. This allowed for the development of many different types of castles.

Castles are huge, strong houses, where kings and lords once lived with their families, soldiers and servants. They were built to provide safety from attack and to display the owner's wealth. The first proper castles were built in England after the Norman Conquest in 1066. They were introduced by William the Conqueror, when he invaded England from his homeland in France.

Castles were extremely important during 1066 – 1500 and they changed overtime to get more protection. A castle is a fortification that was used in the middle ages to protect territory against an invasion. They were important during these times because many kings and lords wanted to show off how wealthy they are and they used them as bases, controlling their land and people from a higher point.

Because castles were used for residential and administrative purposes along with warfare, they had important buildings and people to defend. There were often multiple baileys encompassing the various buildings, but the outer bailey was the most important. While rather simple compared to later castles, its structure was sufficient for defending against the weapons at the

They were much bigger than square keep castles. Concentric castles main feature was their walls. They had two or three walls around the keep. Because the inside walls were built higher than the outside walls, defenders could shoot arrows over the heads of the soldiers defending the outside walls. Even if an enemy broke though the outer walls, there was a second castle defended and with supplies waiting for them.

Moats also made it very difficult for attacking armies to get near the castles, so this made their shooting much less accurate. Not only this, but moats also made it easier for defenders to shoot arrows. It would be tough for a knight to shoot an arrow directly at someone standing at the foot of the castle, but it became much easier when someone was standing behind the moat. Castle architects designed castles very strategically, they placed the castle on high grounds where it would be very easy to see if an invading army was coming. They made symmetrical castles which helped give broader sight lines, and they made taller towers that would help maximize the view for the watchtowers.

One reason why castles were important during the Middle Ages is because of their design. Castles were supposed to be designed as a base for military defense. Some of the hand were far from perfect. They consisted of a motte which was a mound of earth surrounded by a ditch and had a bailey which is where other buildings would be placed. Later in history stone castles started to emerge with lots of innovations from the previous designs of castles.

It's called "the curtain" because it covered the castle and everything within. This wall was the primary source of defence, it was designed to be incredibly sturdy and resistant against attckers. The outer curtain wall was more than 2 meters wide (more than 6ft). Generally the middle or centre of the wall would be made out of harsh rocks and rubble and the outer parts were made out of gigantic stone. The gigantic stone was laid like a modern day brick.

The Siege of a Castle was a guarantied victory, but it took a long time of patience. Patience was the key to victory with this strategy, however it was scarce in the battlefield, because of the angry, impatient soldiers waiting to get home to their families. The city walls were suppose to be fortifying a position that could not be easily overrun, and that it could be strong enough to enable the defense to maintain that position for a long period of time. Siege of a fort, castle, or city walls had four basic concepts. The Sieging technique was directly directed towards these four. In order for the attackers to get inside they would have to go over the wall, tear a passage through the wall, dig a tunnel underneath it, or just wait until the defenders surrendered.

This caused the need for castle designs to be changed. The first castles were mounds of earths which were built for defence as enemies had difficulties climbing over them. The Normans then developed the Motte and Bailey castle designs. "A Motte was a large mound of earth, and a Bailey was the flattened land beside the mound."[4] Motte and Bailey castles took a small amount of time to build and it was very hard to attack. Castle architects developed a way to further strengthen the Motte and Bailey Castle which was building "a shell keep - a thin ring of stone around the buildings on top of the castle Motte."[4] Castle architects then constructed a castle made from stone. Stone was much harder to be stormed by attackers and it was protected against fire. A new style of constructing castles developed which was the gothic style. Gothic castles were much more imposing and comfortable to live in. In 1270, concentric castles were then developed. "They had thicker outer walls and rings of extra outer walls."[4] Concentric castles were very expensive stone castles. In Northern Wales, Edward I built some concentric castles. After the development of cannons, castle walls were easily destroyable. The nobles then decided to turn the castles into imposing grand

It was Henry III that renamed the castle the Tower of London. Even though he used it as a penitentiary, he continued to use it as a palace and kept amused the guests and many came with offerings of animals. He built the Lion Tower; a zoo where he kept the giftes and were his visitor could see wild animals.

Ever since its creation by Gundolf in 1078, the Tower of London has served many purposes. Whether it was a royal residence or prison and torture chamber, most importantly, it has been a significant symbol and monument of English history and architecture. A small, modest building, many tourists are surprised to see the Tower of London, as it is not the magnificent, tall tower they were expecting. For some years, the Tower of London was used as a royal residence where monarchs would stay for a night before departing to continue their journey the next day. More interestingly, it was used as a prison, torture chamber, and execution grounds.

The White Tower was protected to the east and south by the old Roman city walls, while the north and west sides were protected by ditches and an earthwork with a wooden wall on top. The tower was reinforced on the two western corners by square turrets, by a round tower housing the main staircase on the north-eastern corner, and by a half-round projection housing the chapel on the south-eastern corner. Inside, each of the building's four levels was divided into three parts. The lowest level contained access to the well while the main entrance was situated on the floor above and reached by a timber staircase. In the 12th century a 'fore-building' was added to the south front of the White Tower to protect the entrance. From very early on the enclosure contained a number of timber buildings for residential and service use.