the medieval castle Essay

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.

At first knights and soldiers in the armies were of little social status. “Many knights in fact possessed little more than peasants” (Spielvogel 244). War was looked as kind of a barbaric act in the beginning and many knights could be found fighting each other. While some of this was tolerated, as they were seen as “defenders of society”, the Catholic Church decided that there should be some ground rules. At the start of the eleventh century, the church urged knights to take an oath to protect churches, and to not harm noncombatants. These rules allowed for battles to follow a civil path and to be carried out in a noble way.

The once subjugated Saxons were required to raise a knoll that was twenty-one meters high and surrounded by a dry trench. There were Wooden pikes or posts that protected the buildings on top of the knoll, while to in the south and east of the knoll there were yards that were protected by banks and ditches this all this was to set in motion the ground work for the castle of Norwich. Edward Boardman a Norwich born architect completed the Norwich Castle, a medieval and fantastic defense structure in the city of Norwich which was one of the greatest castles of its time because of its architecturally advanced structure, a symbol of military power, and a symbol of political control that was founded by the Normans.

Just after Henry VII came to power, he called all the lords that helped him win the battle against Richard III to the tower of London, where he lived. The

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.

these walls, it decreased the amount of harm such as invasions from the city. In Document B, it

Welcome back to Current affair I’m joined by Michael Carton who plays Darryl Kerrigan in the much loved film “The Castle” the castle is a iconic Australian movie portraying a battling Australian family living in a low socioeconomic, near and expanding airport. The owner of the airport, air link wants to buy the kerryigan family home amongst others is in the way of the development. Darryl his family and friends mount a high profile high court battle in a successful attempt to protect their homes, this David Goliath battle highlights the Australian attitudes in relation to family and the family home. The concept of the family home as more then a building is reinforced by Wayne Kerrigan is longing to be back in the family home, the love

Eventually, Fawsley Manor, bought by Sir Richard Knightley, passed into private ownership of the Knightley family in 1416, after they came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066, first settling in Staffordshire.

Arguably the most important factor in the exertion of power over the English was the ability by the Normans to act militarily. The warlike attitude of the Normans, combined with the religious aspects that will be discussed later, provided them with a ready and capable army with which to support William’s claim to the throne. The early years of William’s rule, after the 1066 defeat of Harold, emerged as a sort of military occupation within England by the Normans. These years were crucial in the Norman advance within England. When William came to England he arrived with a large support of military men and much of these supporting military men remained in England because of their military duties. This army aided William not only in the initial battle against Harold, but later as well, through their

The wooden towers of a motte and bailey castle were removed and replaced with stone, because the towers were hollow, it was called a shell keep. Castles with a shell keep were better than the early Norman ‘motte and bailey castles’ because it was an expensive way of strengthening the motte, the fragile wooden fence around the motte was replaced with a stone wall. The castle engineers during the Norman period of time did not trust the motte to support the enormous weight of a stone keep, but the a common solution to that problem was to replace the wooden stakes enclosing the castle with a stone wall then building wooden buildings backing onto the inside of the wall. This construction was great because it meant that the walls could be thinner and lighter. The shell keep castles were less popular and were relatively short lived, the style stopped being popular very quickly. Castles like York castle Clifford tower have a stone

Before Edward became a king, he had been very good at building and constructions. Some of the castles he built are the Beaumaris Castle, Conway Castle, Harlech Castle and Caernarvon Castle.

The knights were the warriors of the time period in between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Renaissance, also known as the Middle Ages. Knights had to undergo years of training starting as a young boy. Though they were well trained, knight still needed protection. To protect themselves, knights would wear complex armor that usually took over and hour to put on, and usually needed the help of his squire. In order to fight well, they needed strong weapons. A knight’s weapons were sharp and durable.

Anyway used, it was a big dangerous Weapon. Medieval Warfare and Weaponry In the Middle Ages, the nobility of many cultures had large fortifications built to house a small town as well as themselves. These fortification were called castles, and they were so well defended that some historians have called it "the most formidable weapon of medieval warfare" (Hull 1). As one can imagine, conquering such a colossal structure cost much money, even more time, and many lives. There were three main ways to infiltrate a castle; each no more common than the other two. The first way to conquer to castle is known as the siege. In a siege, an army would bar passageways into the castle, and continue to pound away at the castle's defenses until it was vulnerable to a final attack. In this form of assault, the attacking party did not have to approach the castle, as was required in a storm, the second way to attack a castle. In a siege, large projectiles from catapults often bombarded the ramparts of the castle. Hunger, plague, or actual weapons such as Greek fire arrows killed off the defenders of the castle. Greek fire was a mixture comprised of highly flammable substances that was agonizingly hot. Bits of cloth were dipped into the Greek fire compound and wrapped it behind the head of an arrow, and then lit on fire. Yet another common tactic in the siege was undermining. Undermining was the digging of tunnels underneath towers. However, the purposes of such

Each wave of migrations and invasions brought different cultures and added to what is now modern-day the United Kingdom. The Romans left their numerous long roads, whose names became lost in time since there was no written records or inscribed sources. Built by the Roman army and long after they returned home, their roads survived, and some routes are in use today. The Normans built fortified castles, which was a new concept since before that time there was none in the United Kingdom. One example is Restormel Castle, which is in a circular in shape as well as surrounded by an entrenched circular ditch for protection against attacks. The Vikings left parts of their language in the names of the towns and villages, such as names ending in by are where Vikings settled first. Places ending in Thorpe are their secondary settlements, and places that end in ton is for town or city.

It is important for us today to remember that the functions of the Tower from the 1070s until the late 19th century were established by its Norman founders. The Tower was never primarily intended to protect London from external invasion, although, of course, it could have done so if necessary. Nor was it ever intended to be the principal residence of the kings and queens of England, though many did in fact spend periods of time there. Its primary function was always to provide a base for royal power in the City of London and